My neighborhood Week 13

The topic for the week was Neighborhood.  Students prepared a mini presentation about their neighborhoods.  They had to use the vocabulary taught during the week to describe their neighborhood.  Since I couldn't upload the videos of the presentations, I decided to post a picture of one student's presentation notes.  After the presentation, students were allowed to ask one question about the presenter's neighborhood.

Class activity week 13

Students found pictures of people in the newspaper and cut them out. They then put 9 pictures on a grid and brainstormed adjectives which could be used to best describe the people. The students used their grids to play picture "bingo" by calling an adjective and crossing a picture if it could be used to describe someone on their grid.Students then discussed the appropriateness of their decisions.

Family Activities

This week we took a look at two things. One was related to our own families and the activities that we do with them.  Students wrote paragraphs to reflect what they do with their families whether eating or going out to amusement.  We also practiced reading comprehension with numerous activities in writing and remembering information based on "family activity" in a fictional story about going to the amusement park and a family member got lost. The following pictures shows what we did:

Family Profile

Students were tasked to write a profile of a fictional family using grammar learnt from units – 13,14 and 15. Multiple drafts were done wherein students had to use present participles to describe family members and past participles in passive sentences. They then had to use modal verbs and adverbs to add sentences describing certainty and possibility. After this they had to add an unreal conditional sentence for each family member to describe an impossible wish.

Week 13 East London A2+ Technology Posters

Week 13 East London A2+ Technology Poster

Students in East London class were told to make posters of one type of technology they discussed in class and draw or print a picture of it and label all its parts. Once labelled all parts needed to have a description of how you use it. 

Week 13 West London B1 Acting the gestures

Students in west London class were learning different gestures used all over the world. Students were put into groups of 4 with one student not allowed to speak and doing the gestures. The rest of the group had to say exactly the right meaning as the gesture. Then writing using modals and adverbs what their group member was gesturing. 

Example statements :

I think he may/might be saying hello 

or 

he is probably/could be telling us to be quiet. 

The class then discussed which gestures they did or didn't know and gestures they use in KSA. 

Writing about ones hometown

Students wrote a paragraph about their hometown giving advice to a visitor of things to do.

Week 12 - Work on Final Presentations

In Weeks 10 and 11 students decided on the topic for their final presentation. In Week 12 they researched the topic and, most probably, decided on the main points they would like to cover in their speech.

In Week 13 it is time for them to start practicing talking about their topic. What are the activities students can engage in to be able to start practicing making presentations and get feedback from their teachers and fellow students?

Visual Outlines

This week we worked on writing sentences (sentence structure) in regards to sports.  Each student had to draw a mind-map or other visual for themselves to help as an outline for writing about the sport that they chose. The picture here is of one example of how students can use a visual outline in organizing their thoughts.

Question for week 12

How to help students research their topic for the final presentation ?

this is the group input:

1. Search the topic  on the  internet 
2. Go to places related to your topic
3. Go to the public library for ideas 
4. Interview people for information 
5. Get some opinions by doing a survey or questionnaire

6- Wikipedia
7- Brainstorming 5 points
8- Asking questions
9- having  group discussions

Week 11, Requests and offers

Students practised requests and offers. They designed a menu and engaged in a restaurant role play which was recorded for further critique

Week 11 Mindmap Final Presentation Visual Outline

One of the student assignments this week was to do individual (A1 level) or pair work (0 level) mindmaps based on their final presentation topics.  The students on both levels were challenged by the teacher to not just do a few subcategories with their topic but were encouraged for at least three sub-groups that went down to include several examples within their branches.  This visual outline is the first in prepping students to layout their work and provide enough information that they can study for their presentations or other skills in the future.

Week 11 West London B1 jig saw reading activity

Students were put into groups of four. Each group member was given a part of a story of how 2 people became successful. They were not allowed to show each other what was written. They had to read each part to the rest of the group. By listening the group had to number each other 1 to 4 to put the story in the correct order. They then had a list of statements that they had to decide which story each statement was about. 

Week 11 East London A2+ information gap food recipe conversation

Ss were given parts of a conversation. Each student read out their part of the conversation about a good recipe. Without seeing the group had to decide what order the conversation was in by numbering each student, one to five.

Students then listened to an audio of the three conversations to see if they got the conversations in the correct orders. 

Students had to finally glue the conversation in its correct order. 

Week 10 - Mind Map / Presentation checklist - Bilaal (CS Manchester)

This week the focus was on developing presentation topic research and working on introductions,

Students were to think of topics and subtopics for their presentations. They completed a very basic mind map based on a discussion of what they deemed appropriate ideas that they could work on.

They also worked on introductions making sure they complete the items in the checklist provided. They were given a template introduction in a jumbled format and had to match stages and sub-stages of the presentation with the correct sentences. They then produced their own introductions.

Speaking activity about clothes Week 10 Level A1

An activity that enabled the Ss to interview each other about their choices of clothes.  Each student initially wrote about himself and then had to prepare three questions to ask another student.  The student then documented the responses.  This activity gave Ss an opportunity to speak and create their own questions and answers.

Week 10 A2+ East London conversation house or apartment?

Ss had to create a conversation between two friends deciding on what type of place they want to live in. A house or an apartment. They had to include discussing size of rooms, number of rooms, cost of rent, neighborhood and the furniture. 

Present perfect phrases

Students watched short clips from movies using phrases in the present perfect.
They worked in groups to write the phrases using the present perfect.

Making wishes

Students were provided with pictures of situations that they had to attach a problem to. Once this was done they had to write three wishes to express past regret or future wants in the thought bubble of the person in the picture.

Question for the team

Hi Team,

In Weeks 10 and 11 students will explore and decide on a topic for their final presentations. For levels other than A0, the topics should be ESP related.


How can we help students with choosing the topic?

Story Writing

This week we continued to look at stories and how they may be used for media in presentations.  But instead of watching a movie we read and used words from our reading that can be made into our own stories.  The previous week we got introduced to what is a story and answered questions from it to understand the story, since unlike the movie where there is action to follow we needed to follow the direction of the words.  This week presented a challenge for the students to focus on their own stories or past experiences they would like to share.  We only used another story to again help with some ideas for our own stories to tell.  In the coming weeks we hope to get more enriched into reading as well as elaborating on our own writing to tell not just a bio but an exciting story about our lives. Here is an example from the book we are using to help us get familiar with story writing.

Week 10 East London A2+ Pair memory dictation

Students in pairs had to read a conversation which was outside the class on the wall. They then had to read a sentence remember it and go to tell their partner what it said. They did this until they finished the conversation. Example :

Ss then had to correct the spelling mistakes underlined by the teacher. This activity uses all the four key skills speaking listening reading and writing. Also helps a lot with their spelling. 

Building students confidence

presentation contest Semester 1 -2015-2016

" if you tell me I will forget, 
if you show me I will remember,
 but if you involve me I will learn."

Preparing students to give presentations  is a goal we focused on since the start of  this intensive English program in 2010 . It is a skill we in the program think of seriously and we continue developing and learning.

We also document the  best students presentations through out the program, and we shared them online for students and teachers  to watch and to be inspired by. We believe that it can be done, and we believe that students can learn to do it.

Presenting  is a skill that needs preparation and practice. It help build students confidence, and after all it is a 6 month intensive English program. We need to help students overcome the fear of standing up and presenting in English. We think five month is enough time to do the job.


Here are some links to students presentations in the program (2010 -2015) :

1- Saleh Abdullah - childhood memories

2-  Hani Laban - Service recovery at hotels

3-  Turki Alsulamani  - Respect and relationships

4-  Ahmad Barnwi - Respecting your parents

5-  Hamza Ali Abdullah - safety 

6-  Ahmed Mohammed Seddeq - My Childhood memories

7- Abdulrahman Fahd Alharbi - American used cars

8- Abdulaziz Alzahrani - introducing himeself
9- Mohammad Abu- bakr Aidaros - Solar energy 
10- Abdul majeed Halawani - Computer networking 
11- Mohannad Alshiri - Learning English
12- Hussian Badaood  - Linux Vs Vesta
13- Sultan Mohammad Bakr - protecting homes from thieves 
14- Ahmad Altalhi - Car tips
15- Abdulrahamn Makki - My training period 
16- Saifudden Alsohaimi - types of networks
17- Ramzi Bafana - Why I choose to study Electrical power
18- Alaa Jameel  Bahhah - Parts of an A.C unit
19- Aied Alnafai - Water power

The secret is how to coach students step by step to go  through the process. It does not happen over night and no one has a magic stick. There must be a plan and time schedule to make sure we are all on the page and that we are working together to achieve a common objective on time.

Not all students are going to perform the same, some do fine, some will struggle, others will resist, because they are shy and never trained for it before, But we need to work  together to help students over come their fear. It is said that nine thirds  of educations is encouragement. Break the skill into simple steps and encourage them along the way. Let them choose a topic they like.

We  should not criticize students while they are giving presentations. We  should not over criticize students after they deliver their presentations. We should  not let anyone make fun of students while  practicing and presenting. We need to make sure the whole class clap and cheers at the end of each presentation. we need to create a fun comfortable positive classroom atmosphere so that no one is afraid to stand up and present and that all students support each other and work as a team. Positive feedback is constructive, but negative feedback can be destructive.

We can not force students to give excellent presentations, but we can show them how by  supporting ,coaching , engaging  and encouraging them everyday. It is a continuous process. The process is more important than the final product. Not all the students will give an excellent presentation, but all have to try their best and go through the process.


Check out the link -  students program blog on presentations:
http://jedeng.blogspot.com/search/label/presentations?updated-max=2012-06-21T14:57:00%2B03:00&max-results=20&start=20&by-date=false