Presenting in pairs is a way to lessen the burden of presenting things in front of the whole class. Even though doing solo presentations is a good confidence builder, it is challenging speaking in a second language and solo speaking just makes is stressful when the main goal of an English lesson should be to get the students talking!
When to use pair presentations
Pair presentations doesn't have to just be about making it easier, it can be about making the use of the language more natural via two way dialogue.
A travel language lesson may have the students working towards the goal of individual presentations in the form of a self-introduction. Why not make this into a dialogue:
- Hello!
- Hello!
- I want to go to Italy.
- Why?
- I like food. I want to eat pasta. I want to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
- Oh. I want to go to America.
- Why?
- I like nature. I want to see the Grand Canyon. I want to go surfing.
Dialogues can be more difficult so it may work better in more advanced classes. But if you have a class of students that are enthusiastic, they probably shouldn't have too much trouble with this. (Especially in the case of Hi, friends! lessons that have four classes for each lesson.)
There are also opportunities for younger students to use dialogue versus a monologue presentation.
ie. Family lesson - A lesson I have done with young students based on family vocabulary was to have students draw their family and introduce their family to the class. Instead, this could be a dialogue that students present in pairs:
- Hello!
- Hello!
- Who is this?
- This is my mother. (Repeat until everyone is introduced, then change roles.)
How to use pair presentation
- Pair presentation can be in the form of dialogue (which can make it a little harder because of the extra lines to remember).
- Pair presentation can also be two students doing their monologues together. Having two students do their monologue, alternating line for line, takes the stress off by having a classmate there with you, and it can be fun!
This is also a good way to increase the confidence of some of the less able students if you can pair them up with a stronger student and have the stronger student go first.
Make it fun with a demonstration showing how the second person should try to say it with bigger gestures and more emphasis on certain words:
- Hello.
- Hello!
- My name is Ryou.
- MY name is Jyun!
- I want to go to France.
- I want to go Brazil!