in-class speaking exercises?
As I’ve mentioned before, I teach a 3000-level course on Scientific and Technical Presentations. I’m making some changes this time around as I whack the syllabus into shape, and I’ll write more about that shortly. But at this particular juncture, I seek the infinite wisdom of my readers.
I’ve gotten good reviews both times I’ve taught this course, but one thing that consistently gets mentioned is a desire for more in-class speaking exercises. Right now, they interview and present each other on the first day of class and we do some impromptus later in the semester. They present formally and informally five times. But we don’t do any small, ungraded things that are just plain exercises.
This is a 55-minute, MWF class, so exercises can’t take a ton of time. From just reading the roster and not having met anyone yet, it looks like this particular class may be about 50% ESL. If it turns out that they are, I’ll need to be more careful than usual about culturally-dependent content. This rules out quite a few of the exercises I’ve heard about.
And so I turn to you, smart readers. What in-class speaking exercises have you folks used in class? Are there any books on the subject you might recommend?
Comments
Mos def, have them do impromptu within class. Escalate from just info about themselves to another student to information about something they know about, to information that is specifically scientific or technical, including hobbies, etc. Have some include writing down an outline, some spent contriving an outline in their head prior. Do some with no active listening (no one nodding or making any encouraging gestures), some with active listening. Have the listener take notes and then review the structure with the speaker. These should all be regimented, but informal. Starting with one other person and forcing people to change partners through the class will make each person more comfortable. It will also develop active listening skills. Usually I do a pair together, to drive home the comparison. This means doing one speech without active listening, one without. One with an outline, one without. The listener should always be critiquing. And each pair of exercises should take no more than 30 minutes, discussion to follow. I found this good to do at least a day or two a week, since listening to someone talk is no fun. Besides, the book is not that good. Why read about speaking, when you can discover these things yourself?
Posted by: Spirophita | September 1, 2006 2:20 PM