Problems with presentations and essays

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Today in expression class we've been given our sheets of results. The purpose of this class is to give oral presentations.

That's what the teacher had written on my sheet:

My presentation was about Lord of the Flies, a book I'm fond of.
I've underlined the things I want to discuss. They are recurrent problems.

A) A list + elaborating.

Well in fact, there wasn't just ONE list, there were a few. Making list is the way I organize my knowledge. I tried to explain the purpose of each of those lists, what they revealed. I don't know how the presentation should have been done.


B) Personal opinions + argumentation.

It's really hard for me, I've never succeeded in this yet. In philosophy, I would make a catalogs of theories and thoughts and explain why they exist, and I would not choose any of them. As a result, my teacher finally said: you've got to choose. But I've never been able to.
I just feel like an observer and a describer. I don't know how to be something else. That's why I sometimes feel I'm not intelligent: I am more an encyclopeadia than someone who produces original ideas.


C) The monotonuous voice.

Assuming English is not my mother language, one could think the flat and monotonuous voice is due to my accent. But I've been told this also when I had been given speeches in French (my mother language). This happens when I give a speech, and when I read aloud.


Any advice concerning these facts?

Good job!

I think that this constructive criticism applies to many non-AS people as well.

I understand you are being sarcastic as this criticism is not at all constructive since my teacher only states mistakes and doesn't explain how to get rid of them.

Sarcastic? Not at all!

I was only trying to say that those criticisms aren't unusual and nothing to be too worried about.

As for how to improve... try using one of those hand-held tape recorders or your computer microphone if you've got one. Read your speech in various styles - your 'normal' way, 'animated', etc. - then play it back and find out what works and what doesn't.

Allright. Thanks.

I taught for eight years and what I found really helped me with that was to pick an individual in the room to 'teach' to and also to pretend I was another person who was an expert in whatever I was teaching . . . people always told me I was a good teacher . . .

My essays are like a list of arguments. I also have a lot of trouble elaborating an argument because I think it is already all said and I do not know how I can explain further. Lately, I have been thinking it could be related to (my lack of) theory of mind. Indeed, I realized that if I know something, I used to (and I still do if I do not pay attention) think that then, other people also know it.

I notice that your teacher said you were able to handle the questions you were asked, which is really great.

Concerning the first point, maybe you can ask a friend to make a kind of general plan you will then use to write your essay, like an example.

I can relate to the second part, but I am not just a describer. I am an observer and an analyzer. It does not keep me from being called a "walking encyclopedia".

I can not help concerning the third one, as my voice is either too flat or too accentuated. Maybe practising theater plays could help...

I have the same problem. At first, it was only my French teacher who pointed it out, my monotone and my lisp...but I have always struggled with French pronounciation and whatnot so I blamed it on that. And thus, each oral presentation brought my mark down, with no end in sight.

And then I did an English presentation...my mother tongue...and for the first time ever, I was given feed back.

Once again...Monotone. (I don't lisp in English...thankfully). And I spoke too fast (a problem I've had for a few years now). It was then that I realised that the problem was not my poor oral French...it was a problem on a whole. Now that I look back over the years, I can recall that in elementary school my marks in Oral (both languages) were always lower than my other marks under that subject.

I'm still trying to find a way to combat the problem...My strategy right now is to do amazing in other catergories, so that the actual speaking part doesn't hurt my mark too much...And from what you showed from your teacher, you are doing good in other areas...