Presenting in English (1) Room 2210
Week 12 & 13 (2018.05.24 & 05.31)
We finished off Unit 5 and got started with Unit 6 these weeks, and continued thinking ahead to our final Major Assignment. Toastmasters instructions and the evaluation form are linked here.
You should be getting serious about your final presentation now, and be ready to present and upload it during Week 14. You can record your speech anywhere you like, but make sure you have an audience and we can see and hear you speaking. Our classroom and time is available for you to use for recording your videos during Week 14. The deadline for uploading your recording to YouTube and on the Canvas discussion area is Sunday night, June 10th. Be sure to write up a self-evaluation for this project too, and give feedback to two classmates in the Canvas discussion area before we meet week 15.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 11 (2018.05.17)
We began this week's class session by looking at a few of our classmates' presentations on video from chapters 3 and 4.
We moved on to begin looking at Chapter 5 in the text, which deals with presenting opinions.
Then, because the topic is a good fit for this part of the semester, AND because it's an excellent example of an organized speech, we watched a TED talk on "How to Make Stress Your Friend."
We wrapped up the session by continuing to hit the highlights of Unit 5, including thinking about our homework assignment which will be due after Week 12 (deadline midnight May 28th) , a video of the speaking assignment from Unit 5 or Unit 6 (not both).
JBH also suggested looking at a mini-lesson from the 6 Minutes website on putting together a persuasive presentation that he said could be very useful for a quick lookover when you are planning a persuasive presentation, either from the chapter or for a major assignment.
The rest of the semester should look something like this (tentative schedule):
Week 12 class Finish Unit 5/Move into Unit 6/(and more)/homework: prepare and upload Unit 5 or 6 speech.
Week 13 class Wrap up Unit 6/(and more)/homework: create and refine your major assignment speech.
Week 14 Present/upload final major assignment speech videos during class time (Organize Your Speech)
Week 15 Review major presentation videos in class
Week 16?
Questions? Ask 'em.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 10 (2018.05.10)
This week, we continued working with Unit 4, looking at the language and structures to use when giving a presentation about a process.
Remember, your homework assignment due Monday (5-14) at midnight is to upload the assigned presentation from either Unit 3 or Unit 4 to the Canvas discussion area and give feedback to two classmates using the sandwich approach. YOu should have given feedback to two classmates in Canvas before we meet May 17th. Also, be sure to look at the self-evaluation pages (101-108) and write up a brief self-evaluation of your Unit 3/4 assignment. You can attach it as a comment to your speech video or email it to me if you would rather not share it with everyone.
We also got started looking at impromptus this week, and thinking ahead to our final Major Assignment. Toastmasters instructions and the evaluation form are linked here.
You should be starting work on your final presentation now, and be ready to present and upload it during Week 14. The deadline is Sunday night, June 10th. Be sure to write up a self-evaluation for this project too, and give feedback to two classmates in the Canvas discussion area before we meet week 15.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 9 (2018.05.03)
Please remember to upload your major assignment videos to YouTube and paste the link in the Canvas Discussion area for feedback and grading. The YouTube links make the videos much easier to work with than just uploading a video directly to Canvas. Thanks!
This week, we worked our way through Unit 3 with surveys and phraseology from the exercises. We didn’t play audio or video files in class. That is the students’ problem. Be sure you do listen to or watch the files at www.cambridge.org/presentyourself and write the answers in your book. Please bring your books with you to class May 10th and in future class sessions to verify that you are doing the homework. Homework counts!
Next week, we will do something similar to what we did this week with Unit 4. Please read the material, listen or watch the files, and complete all written answers you can do on your own in Units 3 and 4 before you come to class. We will be uploading the presentation assignment from either Unit 3 or Unit 4 to YouTube (your choice) by the end of next week and attach the YouTube link to the Canvas Discussion area by midnight Sunday night, May 13th. Also, remember to give feedback to two classmates on their Unit 3/4 presentations before we meet in class May 17th
You get to choose whether your homework presentation video will be based on the Unit 3 or Unit 4 assignment, but you need to have a small audience while you speak (at least three people, one of whom may be your camera person). Please follow the assignment instructions, be creative, and do not turn in any videos less than three minutes in length. While these are “just” homework videos, we still want to spend our time practicing saying something worth saying. That way, your classmates and I will have something worth listening to.
Don't forget those weekly words, quotes, and jokes.
See you next time,
JBH
Week 6-8 (2018.04.12/2018.04-26)
These weeks in class we wrapped up Unit 2 and put together a talk about travel, then got to work on our major presentation -- The Icebreaker. We met during mid-term week to review a few mid-term presentations and give some feedback.
Please remember to give thorough, helpful feedback to two classmates on their major presentations ASAP. Also be sure to get ahead of the class in the textbook by reading and pre-answering questions in Chapter 3 and beyond. We will be returning to the book when we meet Week 9, talk about a homework assignment, and soon, start working on our next major presentation to be graded for quality points.
You should also do a thorough self-evaluation and don't make it all negative. Be fair to yourself. Submit that to Canvas also, or if you don't want to make it public info, email your self-evaluation to me [email protected].
One more thing: Please be sure that you use the assignment label when you submit to canvas and include your name in the subject heading too, so I can find assignments and people by labels under the discussion list.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 5 (2018.04.05)
This week, after our Word, Quote and Joke of the Day, we continued by moving through the points of Unit 2, going over ideas about how to talk about travel destinations, activities, and great vacation ideas.
In the second half of the session, we watched a TED speaker from Peru tell us about a boiling river in the Amazon. We used the "sandwich" technique to think about the good points and possibilities for the talk on an interesting faraway place.
One important point we talked about as we critiqued this talk was about its significance. Remember when you are giving a presentation to think about the audience and answer the important question--"So what?"-- in some way.The unit also covered some ways to open and close presentations, as well as tips for using PowerPoint or other presentation visuals and body language when we are speaking.
Use these tips and ideas in the chapter as starting points to build on. Hopefully, they will be helpful for your presentation, but don't feel like you have to follow the book's template exactly. Do your presentation your way. Take what you can use and leave the rest.
This week, please prepare and present the talk assigned on page 31 of the text. You should present your talk in front of people (at least two or three) and upload a video recording to YouTube for homework credit. Please prepare and upload your Unit 2 presentation to YouTube by the class early deadline (midnight Saturday for the Tuesday class, and midnight Monday for the Thursday class). Comments should be complete before class time. Please use the attached form to comment on classmate presentations. Answer as many questions as you can, as completely as you can. Thanks!
After you've completed your Unit 2 upload, be thinking ahead about your major assignment due at midnight April 22nd. You will have time be able to use the classroom and class time for your presentation during Week 7 (April 19th), but it might be better to do the assignment earlier in another location if you can. Remember, you need to present your speech in front of an audience of at least three or four people, including your camera person.
We will be meeting as usual Week 6 to talk about our great vacation idea videos, brainstorm a bit for our major assignments, and move on to Unit 3.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 4 (2018.03.29)
Week 4, we wrapped up Unit 1 by looking over a few videos about A Person I Admire along with some class feedback after talking over what we had seen on our own as we viewed each other's speech videos.
We then took a look at our first major assignment. For that assignment, you will also be doing another YouTube presentation to a small audience to share with the class and to watch yourself presenting. Your Icebreaker will be completed before or during week seven (April 15th-21st).
You should also be looking ahead at Unit 2 and thinking about that presentation, which will count for homework points, and give you more practice presenting. More details will be coming soon about that assignment, as well as some video examples. Feel free to start looking things over for yourself with help from Six Minutes public speaking website. Info on the Icebreaker is linked here.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 3 (2018.03.22)
In class this week, we saw some really bad Bad Speeches along with some amazing Visions of what is to come. We also got ready to share our first homework assignment online with our classmates with a link to a YouTube video of our presentation of "A Person I Admire" from Unit 1 (page 19) of the course textbook.
In addition to the guidelines in the book, remember to make a connection between yourself and the person you admire. What is the reason for you to tell us about this person? How have they affected your life? Don't just make it a report on the life of the person you admire.
Please record yourself presenting this speech using a video camera (phone), upload it to YouTube, and share it to the class Canvas discussion area. You should comment on the videos of two other speakers on the blog. Hopefully, everyone will get comments from two peers, so try not to comment on a post that already has comments from two people.
When you make comments, for this speech, I suggest using the "sandwich" approach. Make a positive comment about a specific thing or two that you liked about the speech, then suggest something specific that could be improved, and conclude with an overall positive comment about the speech as a whole. This is good practice for a general way to give constructive feedback that can be useful and appreciated.
Speech YouTube links should be posted to Canvas by midnight Monday night. Comments on two classmates should be complete before class time.
Thanks!
JBH
In class this week, we saw some really bad Bad Speeches along with some amazing Visions of what is to come. We also got ready to share our first homework assignment online with our classmates with a link to a YouTube video of our presentation of "A Person I Admire" from Unit 1 (page 19) of the course textbook.
In addition to the guidelines in the book, remember to make a connection between yourself and the person you admire. What is the reason for you to tell us about this person? How have they affected your life? Don't just make it a report on the life of the person you admire.
Please record yourself presenting this speech using a video camera (phone), upload it to YouTube, and share it to the class Canvas discussion area. You should comment on the videos of two other speakers on the blog. Hopefully, everyone will get comments from two peers, so try not to comment on a post that already has comments from two people.
When you make comments, for this speech, I suggest using the "sandwich" approach. Make a positive comment about a specific thing or two that you liked about the speech, then suggest something specific that could be improved, and conclude with an overall positive comment about the speech as a whole. This is good practice for a general way to give constructive feedback that can be useful and appreciated.
Speech YouTube links should be posted to Canvas by midnight Monday night. Comments on two classmates should be complete before class time.
Thanks!
JBH
Week 2 (2018.03.15)
We got to know each other a bit better this week using the "Getting Ready" chapter in the book.
We also got started talking in front of the whole group.
Next week:
1. W-Q-J
2. Present your Bad and Vision Speech. For your topic, use the ideas from the rest of the "Getting Ready" chapter and be creative. Have fun!
3. Pre-read and be ready to discuss Unit 1.
See you in class!
JBH
Week 2 (2018.03.15)
We got to know each other a bit better this week using the "Getting Ready" chapter in the book.
We also got started talking in front of the whole group.
Next week:
1. W-Q-J
2. Present your Bad and Vision Speech. For your topic, use the ideas from the rest of the "Getting Ready" chapter and be creative. Have fun!
3. Pre-read and be ready to discuss Unit 1.
See you in class!
JBH
Getting Started (posted 2018.03.10)
Tips for your Videos
Here are a few other things to keep in mind for your assignments.
1) Feel free to practice the speeches as much as you want and watch yourself to find areas for improvement. For the one you submit, however, do it in one take. Don't start over if you mess up because in a real situation you would just have to keep going. If there is a major distraction, such as a child calling for you, then act accordingly. Also, don't edit your submission; this is speech class, not a video production class. There is no editing in real life presentations.
2) Ideally, we'd like to see you from the waist up, not just your face and shoulders. Stand for all speeches.
3) You might want to practice speaking to the camera a few times with the camera turned off. A lot of people, myself included, don't really like being recorded, so you might want to de-sensitive yourself to it.
4) Watch your video before you post it to make sure that the sound is acceptable. It doesn't have to be professional quality, but it should be understandable.
5) Post your videos as Unlisted, not Private.
Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates and Professor
First, a Practice Video
One thing that makes this course different from other courses you've taken is that you need to record, save, and upload videos of your speeches. For some students, this will be easy because you've either done this before or you pick up on this kind of thing easily. For others, this may not be the case. Therefore, please start working on this skill set this week; don't wait and take a chance on not submitting your first video correctly and on time.
Please record, save and upload a quick practice video on YouTube. It can be very brief and on anything you want. It's ungraded, but please post a response in Canvas, including the link to your practice video, after you've done it. For the Canvas discussion title use “Your Name/Practice Video.” If you want, you can delete it after this week. The important thing is that you know how to do it.
And don't just upload an existing file. Part of the process is recording, saving the recording as a distinct file, and uploading.
Please use landscape orientation for the video: this means long, not tall. It fits better into the YouTube frame.
Finally, please set your videos as Unlisted, not Private. If they are Unlisted, only those of us with the link can view them, not the whole world.
Second, Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates and Professor
We will work closely together this semester, sharing opinions and comments.
We will also participate in several peer review sessions. All of these exchanges are easier and more comfortable if we know one another a bit better. Please take a moment to introduce yourself and share something about you. The bullets below are some ideas to guide your posting.
* Your name, what you do, your hobbies, etc.
* Your greatest communication challenges.
* A little known fact about you
* The best communicator you know, and why
Take time to review the posts of your classmates and respond to at least three.
Again, post to Canvas and title the discussion “Your Name/Intro”
Thanks!
Please post your introduction video ASAP--by Monday morning. That will give your classmates time to respond before we meet again March 15th.
Tips for your Videos
Here are a few other things to keep in mind for your assignments.
1) Feel free to practice the speeches as much as you want and watch yourself to find areas for improvement. For the one you submit, however, do it in one take. Don't start over if you mess up because in a real situation you would just have to keep going. If there is a major distraction, such as a child calling for you, then act accordingly. Also, don't edit your submission; this is speech class, not a video production class. There is no editing in real life presentations.
2) Ideally, we'd like to see you from the waist up, not just your face and shoulders. Stand for all speeches.
3) You might want to practice speaking to the camera a few times with the camera turned off. A lot of people, myself included, don't really like being recorded, so you might want to de-sensitive yourself to it.
4) Watch your video before you post it to make sure that the sound is acceptable. It doesn't have to be professional quality, but it should be understandable.
5) Post your videos as Unlisted, not Private.
Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates and Professor
First, a Practice Video
One thing that makes this course different from other courses you've taken is that you need to record, save, and upload videos of your speeches. For some students, this will be easy because you've either done this before or you pick up on this kind of thing easily. For others, this may not be the case. Therefore, please start working on this skill set this week; don't wait and take a chance on not submitting your first video correctly and on time.
Please record, save and upload a quick practice video on YouTube. It can be very brief and on anything you want. It's ungraded, but please post a response in Canvas, including the link to your practice video, after you've done it. For the Canvas discussion title use “Your Name/Practice Video.” If you want, you can delete it after this week. The important thing is that you know how to do it.
And don't just upload an existing file. Part of the process is recording, saving the recording as a distinct file, and uploading.
Please use landscape orientation for the video: this means long, not tall. It fits better into the YouTube frame.
Finally, please set your videos as Unlisted, not Private. If they are Unlisted, only those of us with the link can view them, not the whole world.
Second, Introduce Yourself to Your Classmates and Professor
We will work closely together this semester, sharing opinions and comments.
We will also participate in several peer review sessions. All of these exchanges are easier and more comfortable if we know one another a bit better. Please take a moment to introduce yourself and share something about you. The bullets below are some ideas to guide your posting.
* Your name, what you do, your hobbies, etc.
* Your greatest communication challenges.
* A little known fact about you
* The best communicator you know, and why
Take time to review the posts of your classmates and respond to at least three.
Again, post to Canvas and title the discussion “Your Name/Intro”
Thanks!
Please post your introduction video ASAP--by Monday morning. That will give your classmates time to respond before we meet again March 15th.
Week 1 (2018.03.08)
Our first day got off to a good start with students and the instructor introducing themselves to each other.
The second item on the day's agenda was demonstrating our regular daily routine for starting class with a Word, Quote, and Joke of the Day. Don't forget, someone needs to present those at the beginning of class each week. Please write the Word and Quote of the Day on the board or have them ready to go on the classroom computer when class begins on the hour. If one of these is your job and you are going to be absent, please find a replacement. If there is no replacement the week after you have taken one of the roles, it will be yours again.
Where to look?
For Words of the Day: www.nytimes.com/column/learning-word-of-the-day
For Quotations of the Day: www.quotationspage.com
For jokes of the Day: Google for "ESL jokes."
Detailed instructions are on the "Resources" page linked here.
FOR NEXT WEEK:
Please get the book (Present Yourself 2, second edition, Gershon, Cambridge); pre-read and be ready to discuss the first “Getting Ready” unit (pages 1-7) when we meet week 2.
See you in class!
JBH
