ID350X: Spanish American Film

Guidelines for short oral presentations

1. Any unknown vocabulary should be presented to the class before beginning the presentation. The student presenting will provide his or her classmates the students with a handout which includes the date, the title of the presentation, a brief description and an outline, the name of the student presenting, and a vocabulary list. This handout must be discussed with your instructor before your presentation. There must be no errors in your handout! You must discuss with your professor the topic of you presentation at least one week before the presentation. Failure to comply with this specific point could mean a significant diminished grade for the presentation.

2. DO NOT READ THE PRESENTATION! You will have to memorize the presentation. You may only have a note card. If you read your presentation, you will automatically loose points off your grade. Power Point can help you and your audience to navigate through your ideas and presentation.

3. You should have visual aids to present your topic, but be sure to use them wisely. Since you have taken the time to prepare them, be sure to use them correctly and efficiently (i.e., show them and go over the visual aid with the students. Use your time wisely and effectively!). Again, Power Point is an excellent tool for oral presentations.

4. In addition to make sure that to use your props effectively, make frequent visual contact with your audience. Never turn your back on your audience! Do not fidget or play with your hair, hands, or pencil! Whenever using the projector or transparencies make sure that you are not blocking your audience's vision. Also, make sure that there is enough information presented on the transparency, but do not give the whole idea away by putting too much information on it. Maintain your audience's interest!

5. Prepare 2 or 3 meaningful questions to test your fellow students at the end of the presentation.

6. You must be well prepared to answer the questions the students might ask at the end. This will be an important part of your evaluation.

7. This should be a fun experience: think of interesting ways to present your material. Be creative!

8. Every word used, both in the oral presentation, should be in Spanish. If you are not able to find the meaning of a word in Spanish, substitute that word for another in Spanish. Do not use the word in English!

9. The presentation should be completed in the amount of time indicated by your instructor.

10. The presentation should be about a relevant or important topic and it should be related to Latin America or the Caribbean in some way or another. This should be a learning experience for everybody!