76
STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
9.4
STUDY SKILLS
GIVING A SHORT TALK
1
a
Louise works for a company that makes chocolate.
Part of her job is to give talks about the company. You
are going to see a video of her talk but before you do,
here are four questions she always asks herself before
she starts to prepare a talk. How do you think she
answers them?
1
What is the topic of my talk?
2
Why am I going to say it (e.g. to inform, persuade,
amuse)?
3
Who am I going to talk to?
4
How much time do I have for the talk?
1
b
9.1
Watch the beginning of her talk and answer
the questions above.
2
a
9.2
Watch the second part of the talk and
complete these notes. Write one or two words/
numbers in each gap.
2
c
Look at Video script 9.3 on page 159 and find the
phrases Louise uses to:
1
introduce the first topic.
2
finish a topic.
3
summarise/conclude a topic.
4
start a new topic.
2
d
Match these phrases with 1–4 above.
To summarise, … First, I’d like to talk about …
Turning now to … That’s all I want to say about …
In conclusion, … Let me begin by
-ing
…
To conclude, …
I’d like to start by
-ing
…
3
Look at the list of things below you should do when
you prepare a talk. Complete the gaps with the words
in the box.
charts information notes order
practise pronunciation
1
Find out some interesting
.
2
Put your ideas in the best
.
3
Make some
to help you to remember
things in the talk (including key vocabulary).
4
Prepare some pictures or
to make
your points clearer.
5
Check the
of difficult words.
6
the talk.
4
a
Prepare a short talk of about two minutes on one
of these topics.
•
your life story
•
the history of your family/university/town/city/
company
Use the points in Exercise 3 and the phrases in
Exercise 2c and 2d to help you.
4
b
Analysing performance
Work in groups. Take turns
to give your talk. When you listen, look at this list.
How well does the speaker do these things:
very well
,
OK
or
needs to improve
?
He/She …
1
welcomes the audience.
2
tells the audience what he/she is going to talk about.
3
speaks slowly and clearly.
4
sounds interested in what he/she is saying.
5
tries to build a relationship with the audience.
6
chooses vocabulary that he/she thinks the audience
will know, and explains any difficult words.
7
uses language (grammar and vocabulary) that is
generally correct.
8
looks at everyone in the group.
2
b
9.3
Non-verbal features
Watch the whole
video. Below are some typical mistakes people make
when giving presentations. Does Louise make these
mistakes? If not, change the sentences to explain what
she does.
1
She looks down at her notes all the time.
She looks up at her audience.
2
She makes eye-contact with only one or two people,
often on one side of the room.
3
She makes a lot of nervous movements or gestures
(e.g. pushing her hair back with one hand).
4
She’s wearing old, scruffy clothes.
5
She stands in front of the screen, so the audience
can’t see her slide show.
History of chocolate
Mayans discovered chocolate in
about
1
AD
.
They made a
2
from
roasted cocoa beans – ‘chocolatl’.
Spread to Aztec civilisation
(modern
3
).
In
4
, Hernán Cortés drank
chocolate with Moctezuma.
Cortés returned to Spain in
5
, taking cocoa beans
with him.
Chocolate became popular with
6
in Spain.
It took nearly
7
to spread across Europe because the
Spanish kept it a
8
.
In 17th century, chocolate
9
became popular in London.
In 19th century, chocolate became
10
and the first
eating chocolate appeared.
