The Conference of teachers

Last week we had a very interesting assignment: to imagine ourselves as participants of the conference of teachers. We picked up cards and we were to present the activities that were written there to the audience. The task was not only to describe the activities, but also to try to find all possible benefits of them to make the rest of participants of the conference want to use them in English classes. We had an opportunity to choose only three the best presentations. In the first lesson there was no time for preparation of our presentations, so we basically gave a speech on the spot. The next day we had to change something in our presentations and perform again in front of our group mates. Now I am going to compare two videos of my presentations and find out whether I improved my speech or not.

To be honest, I liked my 1st performance more than the 2^nd. There I used gestures, my movements were not awkward, the voice was quite loud. All in all, it should be mentioned that I felt more comfortable and confident when I talked on the spot. I did not learn my speech by heart that is why it sounded more natural than my speech in the 2^nd video.

However, I understand that this speech was far from perfect. There were many things that I did wrong while giving a talk. For example, my body language leaves a lot to be desired.  It was wrong that I stood at one place, touched the table and covered my mouth. Besides, I did not make a constant eye contact with the audience because I glanced at my notes. There were many pauses when I got confused and lost the train of thought.  The way I ended my speech was also unsatisfactory. It sounded as if I was glad that the torture finally finished.

I expected that I would perform for the second time without doing mistakes and that I would be self-assured while speaking because I had time to prepare. Unfortunately, my expectations did not become a reality. For sure, there were some improvements, but in general, the second performance was not successful. Firstly, I would like to point some advantages of it. The speed of my speech was much faster. I added some more detailed explanation of the activity that I described.

One can say that I looked very nervous and anxious at the second day of “the conference”.  I stammered badly because I forgot what I was going to say. Also it was not really nice that I used my notes many times. It is considered to be a sign that a speaker did not devote much time to preparation. In fact, I prepared a lot, but still I did not remember everything I had to say. In my opinion, I was just struck by panic and I remember that I was the last one who performed there. I started to compare myself with other speakers and realized that I was worse than them. It was wrong thing to do because one should try to become a better version of himself or herself. I failed to try to contact with the audience. The question I asked at the beginning of my second performance was quite silly and was not so necessary. Moreover, I did not like the way how I responded to the answer I received. I could do it more emotionally. Additionally, the problems with body language did not go away: I still avoided making eye contact, stayed at one place.
To conclude, I should learn to control my emotions and should not let them take over me while giving a public speech. Definitely, I should have changed a lot more things in my performance and should have prepared better.

It's Sai
29/02/2020