Do Well in Oral Expression and Nail Your Presentations -Algerian Students-

Speaking in English whenever we have the chance to is crucial to learn it. Unfortunately, talking with friends in English is not as fun and natural as talking in Arabic. Therefore, the only place where we can talk in English is the classroom. But with so much to learn, teachers kind of do all of the work, they lecture but never really discuss. I wish we had more chances to discuss lessons than to listen to the teacher explaining them. That’s how it is, and we’re only left with oral expression class to express ourselves. Being able to stand in front of a class, look your classmates in the eyes and speak might be very challenging to many students. Some fear the thoughts and judgements of the audience, others just do not like to have all eyes on them and sometimes it’s just nerves that cannot be controlled. The former should not be something that stop any student from speaking their mind, not caring about what other people think of us is a matter of age and personality. But if that’s what stops you from doing a great job in OE class then remember: no one is from Oxford or Yale, not even the teachers. All students are in that class to learn, some might be better than others but that does not give the right to anyone to think that their opinion and thoughts are not to be opposed. Your opinion does not have to match everyone else’s. As long as you respect theirs and say yours in a nice and respectful way, then you’re doing well. Do not care about those stupid little remarks and facial expressions that some classmates might have while you’re at the board. Luckily for me, the students of my group are all super nice, we all get well together, we even laugh at each other but with no bad intentions. We tell jokes even with the teachers. Oral expression has “most of the times” been cool. As for the nerves and body reaction to all those eyes looking at you, that cannot be changed but can be reduced.

Most of the time when presenting, even if we’re trying our best to stay focused and look calm, Forgetting an expression or word might mess up the whole thing, What leads to a major panic attack. To avoid that:

• ·          Use pictures and videos in your presentations. Pictures can remind you the points that you need to discuss and video literally speak for themselves. Of course, you do not want to be a statue and let the video do your presentation. But it helps a lot: grabs your audience’s attention, let’s you revise your thoughts and organise them. And seeing that everyone is enjoying your presentation can boost up your self confidence. That would help a lot. 
• ·         Make power points or put together your own videos. This is a really good trick to use if you’re discussing a lot of points and can’t remember some terms or you mix up some information. With the video guiding and reminding you what to say next. Your presentation will be a success.
• ·         Group presentations: if your teacher allows you to work in pairs or groups of three (or more), then that’s great because you won’t be standing alone at the board. You do not have to look all the time at the audience, but when you feel a bit nervous, you can turn to your partner (not for a very long time). Also, when working with partners, you feel more confident since you know that they can help you if you ever forget anything. Just make sure to have a part in the presentation. Do not count on them to speak for you all the time.

·         When looking up information, try to replace words that you do not know with synonyms that you know to avoid forgetting them when presenting. That’s not the best way to learn new words (unless you write down those words and try your best to remember and checking them from time to another) but it will help a lot with the mark and help you avoid  feeling nervous because of forgetting some word.

As for accent, listening and speaking skills; those can be improved by reading and listening.

Read books, news articles (they do not have to be about politics or sports, choose something that interests you.  However, it is good to get out of your comfort zone sometimes and learn about new topics). Listen to radio broadcasts, watch news channel, movie, series... As long as they do not contain subtitles in Arabic, it might be challenging for some students. But focusing on reading the subtitles and not listening to what the actors are saying won’t help much. You can use English subtitles, though. They are a bit fast, but they will help you with spelling and understanding the words. 


(This blog is a part of Studying English in Algeria (university students) check it out to know more about the topic)