SPEAKING AND LISTENING: A GUIDE TO PREPARING YOUR PRESENTATION

During this course, you will need to complete one speaking assignment, as a video call with your tutor.

Please note that you will need to arrange the video call with your tutor in advance. If you fail to show up for the video call, you will be given one chance to rearrange. If you fail to show up for the second prearranged video call, your tutor will issue you with a 0.

TOP TIP! Try to sound natural and spontaneous. If you have the whole speech written out, it is very easy to then become tempted to just read it out. It is important to avoid this as you will lose marks; your tutors are assessing your presentation skills.

Try writing just cue cards if it is a topic you know well, and practice your presentation before your video call to check you can remember everything you want to say. The cue cards should just include the key points of your presentation - avoid using full sentences, just key words which will remind you what you need to say. If you practise, then the key words will help you remember your points and you can create a natural presentation and the sequence should be easy to remember.

If you are unsure how to create cue cards, you could use the 3-step approach below to help you prepare.

Write the presentation out so that you can include all the main points.
Then, summarise the main ideas in note form.
Finally, reduce the main ideas to key words only and create your cue cards.

Do watch this video for some extra tips and also some tips for dealing with stress just before you do your presentation:

Here is an example of each process about the topic ‘ambitions’ – please note, this is only part of a presentation. Try to make your speech between 3-4 minutes long.

Remember to refer to your assignment sheet for the topic of your presentation. This is an example ONLY. Your assignment should not be about 'ambitions'.

The speech written out:

Good morning. Today, I will be speaking to you about my main ambition in life. I would love to become a veterinary surgeon. I have always had pets and I enjoy looking after them. At the moment we have two dogs, a cat, three rabbits and some fish. You can probably tell; my family are all animal-lovers too! I live in a rural village in the south-west of the UK and I also regularly ride horses. My favourite subject at school is also Science, particularly Biology.

I know that it is a long process to become qualified as a vet, but I know it will be worth it. To become a vet, you need 5 GCSEs (including Maths, English, and Science) and 3 A-Levels (or equivalent) including Science subjects. They need to be high grades so that a university would accept you. Then the degree takes five years, and it needs to be a degree approved by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS). You can choose to specialise in a particular type of animal or work in a general practice which is what I hope to do. Although I may decide to be an equine vet as I do love horses.

To help me prepare for this, I volunteer at my local animal welfare centre. I help keep the kennels and cages clean and take the dogs out for walks. It’s great exercise and I have also met some friends along the way too, we all share a love for animals. I am also hoping to shadow a vet for some work experience soon. I think it is important to know what the day-to-day life of a vet is really like.

I know the job can be difficult. Sometimes, you may have to face difficult and moral decisions about what is best for animals who are sick or unwell. I think it is important to have good communication skills too as you also need to work with people, and this could be challenging particularly if you have to tell them sad news. You also may have to work long hours and sometimes be called out for emergencies.

But I am sure the rewards will outweigh this. Helping animals each day (and their owners) would be my dream career.

Main ideas: Summarise each paragraph (P) in a few lines or in note form:

P1: Introduction, why I want to be a vet: love animals, have pets, where I live (rural / south-west), hobby horse-riding, favourite subject Biology.

P2: Qualifications: 5 GCSEs, 3 A-Levels (including Science) and a 5-year degree approved by the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. Specialise or general practice. Equine vet / horses.

P3: Preparation: Volunteer work, clean and walk dogs, exercise, friends who all love animals. Work experience with a vet.

P4: Difficulties: Difficult / moral decisions, good communication skills, working with people (sad news), hours, emergencies.

P5: Rewards / helping animals. Dream career.

Cue Cards: Once you have practised your presentation, you then should be able to just use key words on a cue card:

- Introduction: reasons, animals, pets, live, horse-riding, Biology.
- Qualifications: GCSEs, A-Levels, degree, RCVS, specialise, general, equine.
- Preparations: Volunteer, work experience.
- Difficulties: Moral decisions, communication, people, hours, emergencies.
- Rewards: Help, dream.

Try practising by talking to yourself or in front of someone else, just using your cue cards. Don’t worry if you pause or stumble, that happens in natural speech!