I don’t know about you, but for me, presentations and opportunities to speak are crucial to my students’ language development. But then, after all the work and enthusiasm, a classload of students sits down for the long-awaited moment of truth… only for 80-some percent of them to tune out. And why not? The pressure is not on them. It is on the speaker(s), the presenter(s). Those remaining in their seats are merely delighted it’s not their minute in the hot seat.
While I always try to fight this by placing some sort of responsibility on the seat-warmers, it is just recently that I have resurrected an old listening guide I once created & adapted it for my ELL classes. It should actually be good for most classes now – generic enough without becoming boring, I think. Check it out & use it if it works for you. Adapt it if you wish. Make it more or less difficult by varying criteria: do they have to complete one for every presentation or just one or two of the presentations? Maybe they have to do the form for every presentation, but only speak up and ask their question (and record the answer) for one. You get the point. Page 2 is slightly simpler with a smidgeon more of a scaffold for the lower emerging students. Starters could use it too with a bit more help, of course, whereas developing & expanders should be good to go with page one and just a bit of an introduction.
It’s here right now, but its home will be under the “Teaching ELL” tab.
Secondary ELL in Surrey 