I find your ideas in sections 3 and 4 are excellent and crucial.

My job involves teaching people to give business presentations in English. They are in Germany and for some of them, who were born in Romania or Poland for example, they are speaking in their third language. Presenting in a foreign language needs a slightly different approach because it is usually impractical for the speaker to write out the whole presentation, or to try to memorise it.

Also, tests require that they speak without notes … quite a challenge.

As yet I don´t have all the answers, but am experimenting with trying to get the students to devise an image for each segment and then to explain the image in a conversational way.

So far only about a quarter of the people I work with seem at ease with this idea. It is hard to separate yourself from the verbal prompts. Another part of your article, the part which I want to try to work with next, is the part that says “Take one segment at a time. Say it out loud as you drive to work or in between other tasks. Make note of how comfortable the words feel as you say them out loud.”

I think that if people try to explain their next image, one at a time, to others in the group, they will gain confidence and hopefully see their explanation expanding, improving, sharpening up and becoming more fluent as they progress.

As I write this, another idea has come to mind. Why not do without written words completely? Scary thought.

Thanks again
Jenny

Moving on to better things….I hope you are having a great time reviewing and planning the things that really do matter – the things that bring passion into your life!