Building a short presentation
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| introduction | 引言 | yǐn yán |
| body | 主体 | zhǔ tǐ |
| conclusion | 结论 | jié lùn |
| transition | 过渡 | guò dù |
| keywords | 关键词 | guān jiàn cí |
| rehearse | 排练 | pái liàn |
| questions | 提问 | tí wèn |
The talk is built, not improvised
- A four-minute presentation written as prose runs to seven when spoken. Every unrehearsed talk overruns.
- GAC001's presentation is short and formal, and it is marked on structure and delivery, not on vocabulary.
- A student with simpler English and a clear structure scores above a student with better English and none.
Three parts, said aloud
- Introduction 引言: what you will cover. Body 主体: two or three points. Conclusion 结论: what to remember.
- Say the structure out loud — the audience cannot see your plan. I'll cover three things.
- Each body point gets its own transition 过渡. Moving between points is where an unrehearsed talk stalls.
Put the parts of a short formal presentation in order.
Saying the structure in the introduction is what lets an audience follow the rest.
Write the opening sentence of a three-minute talk about your school, naming the three things you will cover.
Naming the points is what makes it a plan. Promising three things without saying what they are does not help the audience.
A weak opening: "Today I want to talk about, um, transport in my city, it is a big topic and very interesting."
A strong opening: "I'll cover three things about transport in my city: what changed in 2021, who it helped, and what it still does not solve."
The second is not better English. It is a plan, said out loud, and the audience can now follow anything that comes next.
What should be on your cards?
Keywords prompt you without turning the talk into reading, and they let you recover if you lose your place.
Notes, never a script
- Use cards or a slide with keywords 关键词 — five or six words per point, not sentences.
- A script produces reading, and reading is what loses the marks: no eye contact, flat delivery, no repair when you lose your place.
- ⚠ Memorising a script is worse still. One forgotten sentence and the whole thing stops.
Your rehearsal runs 90 seconds over. What is the right fix?
Speaking faster in a second language reduces what the audience understands. Cutting keeps the talk intelligible.
Rehearse against a clock
- Rehearse 排练 standing, aloud, with a timer. Silent reading hides every sentence you cannot actually say.
- Time the first run and cut, do not speed up. Speaking faster in a second language reduces what the audience gets.
- Prepare the three questions 提问 you would least like to be asked, and answer them.
Which phrases signpost a talk? Choose all that apply.
A signpost tells the listener where they are. "It is very interesting" tells them nothing.
Signposting is worth more than vocabulary. First, the reason for this, to sum up — these carry an audience through a talk even when individual sentences are imperfect, and they are the cheapest marks in the module.
Do not put your talk on the slide. A slide the audience is reading is a slide they are not listening to, and a presenter reading their own slide aloud scores badly however accurate the English is.