Oral Expression and Public Speaking

General description of the course

In this course we will focus on diction, register, body language, organization and other presentation skills. The aim is not only to improve the participants' communicative performance as future teachers and public speakers in a range of fields, but also to improve their confidence and sense of well-being in a public arena.

Starting with the controlled environment of pre-prepared texts and reading aloud, we move to group work in set role-play activities (informal and formal settings), then to pair work and finally to a formal, individual presentation of an academic topic.  Class feedback will be an important part of the discussion, and the class will be given the same assessment forms as those used by the teacher, so that all comments should have a common foundation.

The course requires you to have a good monolingual English Dictionary (one that provides both pronunciation and register information), and access to English-speaking TV and Radio (the internet can provide this).  Photocopies will also be provided.

The course is graded as follows: 

Set piece 10%

Role playing 30%

Formal Presentation 30%

Oral Exam 30%