The student should visit the BBC News website and read several online articles about news events that are happening in this country and around the world. The articles change almost by the hour moving with news events as they happen. The website organised the news articles by category but also by how recent the events are that are being reported. The student should read several articles until they find one that they find personally interesting.
First Week of the Activity:
The student prepares a presentation that they are going to give to a chosen family member/s the next week. The presentation will concern the news story that they have read and the objective will be to communicate the news story and any issues raised by the story as a presentation – that is the student standing up before their family audience and delivering a prepared examination of topic. To help with this the student is encouraged to read around the news story or topic. For example, if the news story was about an animal being mistreated then the student should use the internet to research Animal Rights as a topic. The student might also want to read the same story in different online news sites – for example the online versions of different national newspapers.
Students can then draft what they are going to say, produce cue cards, find objects for presentation, images from the internet etc to make the presentation an interesting experience for the audience. The student should prepare for the presentation by rehearsing what they are going to say and practice their delivery. They might want to use a mirror for this.
Second Week of the Activity:
The student will want to consolidate their rehearsal of the presentation and gather their materials. They might also want to take several ‘dummy runs’ on their own. They should then gather their audience and deliver their presentation and confidently, professionally and clearly as they possibly can.
The main family member (e.g. parent) chosen to be the audience can then give the student generalised feedback (no levels or grades – that happens with the teacher in the classroom during a different speaking and listening activity). At the end of the presentation, as well as delivering the appropriate amount of encouragement and praise, the parent can use the Speaking and Listening: Presentation prompts to help the student continue to improve their presentation skills. The student should take on board the feedback and attempt to incorporate the advice not only into their next speaking and listening homework but also speaking and listening assessments in class.
