1. Word stress.
Listen to the words. Put them in the correct box, according to their stress pattern.
Now listen again and repeat the words.
3. Sentence stress.
Stressed words are words which have more emphasis than others because they are particularly important for the meaning of the sentence. Stressing words makes a spoken presentation more dynamic and easier to follow.
Listen to the example.
Today I'm going to talk about computer games.
Now listen to the following sentences and mark the stress.
Listen again and repeat the sentences.
4. Rhetorical questions.
Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require an answer. They can be used effectively in a presentation to create interest and to add emphasis.
Compare extract 1 from a presentation with a rhetorical question and extract 2 from the same presentation without a rhetorical question.
Not only is our new range of watches very reasonably priced, but they are extremely good quality. So how have we done that? Basically we have reduced costs by removing unnecessary packaging but maintained our excellent quality of craftsmanship. They are available at most reputable jewellers.
Not only is our new range of watches very reasonably priced but they are extremely good quality. They are available at most reputable jewellers.
Most rhetorical questions are wh- questions (including how) or questions using the negative form of the verb. For example:
How is this done?
How can we do this?
So what’s the best way of doing this?
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be able to …?
Complete the following extracts with rhetorical questions.
6. Two presentations.
Listen to the two presentations again and mark the statements true or false.
Now listen again and read the transcript.
8. Speaking Tutorial 2.
Send your tutor an email suggesting a day and time for the speaking tutorial.
During the tutorial, you will practise making a presentation. Follow the steps below.
A presentation
Prepare a presentation to give to your tutor during the speaking tutorial. You could choose a product or service related to your work or to a hobby. Alternatively, look for an advert for a product or service in a magazine or newspaper and prepare a presentation for that.
Your presentation should follow the model below. If you decide to refer to any visuals, send them to your tutor in an email before the day of your tutorial.
1. Introduction
Explain what you are going to talk about and what points you are going to cover. Useful expressions include:
Today I'm going to talk about ...
I'll begin by ...
Firstly, ...
Secondly, ...
Then, ...
After that, ...
Finally, ...
2. Detailed information
Here you should give more information about the points you said you were going to cover in the introduction. It is useful to refer to visual material at some stage. Useful expressions include:
If you'd like to take a look at this bar chart, ...
As you can see in this graph, ...
As this diagram shows, ...
If you look at the pie chart, ...
Let's look at this table.
Let's move on to the product specifications.
3. Summary
Here you should briefly summarise what you have spoken about. It is important that you finish on a high note. Useful expressions include:
I'd like to close by saying ...
To summarise, ...
To conclude, ...
Does anybody have any questions?
Useful phrases for the speaking tutorial:
Hello, this is ....
Can I speak to ..., please?