Introducing Poster Presentations to Students | Possible topics | Narrowing the Topic | Researching/Writing up | Sketching the Posters | Revising Presentations | Making Full size Posters | Setting up Poster Presentations | Student Audience Tasks | Timing | Using Posters to Evaluate Student English | Problems | Conclusion | Appendix 1 Handout for Students | Poster Presentation Report Form
Poster presentations are oral and written language projects that require students to choose a topic, design the artwork and layout, and make a poster that illustrates in some manner the topic they wish to talk about.
Making oral presentations in English is highly beneficial for students. Often in-class speeches and speech contests have been used for this purpose. However, there are several dissatisfying features of speeches. First, often the speech is given only once. Second, the students not speaking are so busy thinking about their own speeches they pay no attention to what is being said, losing an opportunity for listening practice. Third, speeches are often limited to expository or narrative topics. Finally, speeches allow for only non-verbal interaction between the speaker and audience. Poster presentations offer a number of ways of overcoming the limitations of traditional speech-making. This article looks at a way of developing oral language skills through public presentations.
Both speeches and poster presentations help students learn to choose, narrow and research a topic, and write a presentation. In addition, poster presentations help students develop such skills as:
If teachers choose to use them for evaluation, poster presentations also offer a less formal way to evaluate students' English. The main benefits of poster presentations are that students who are presenting have an opportunity to talk about material of interest to them with small groups of their peers a number of times. This is a realistic and relatively non-threatening way of developing fluency about a topic. The visual support of the poster removes some of the pressure of having to remember details in English.
Poster presentations can be used in both English language classes and content-area classes which are taught in English.
To introduce poster presentations to my students, I give them a handout (Appendix 1) explaining what I want them to do and giving them some suggestions for topics. I then show them photographs of past presentations or samples of posters other students have made. This is much more effective than simply telling students I want them to make a poster. Seeing what other students have done helps to fire their imaginations and they usually have little difficulty finding their own idea of what to do.
I also give them a list of possible topics to choose from (Appendix 1). These fall into three main categories:
Any other topic of interest (pending teacher approval). I don't allow any two students to do a poster on the same topic.
After students have seen samples of past posters, I have them choose a topic in which they are interested and write it down on a piece of paper that I circulate through the class. Usually, I'll do this near the end of the class and encourage them to think about the topic they have chosen and look for information during the coming week. The following class, I give them an opportunity to change their topics if they have found the one they chose earlier to be too difficult to do. The amount of class time spent working on the posters depends on the independence of the students. Some work well on their own with only periodic conferences with me. Others need more direct supervision in class.
The next step is to narrow the topic to the point where it can be covered satisfactorily in a poster presentation lasting about 5 minutes. For example, when a student chose the topic of soccer, I pointed out that he couldn't describe all of soccer in a short poster presentation. He eventually narrowed it to a description of the main strengths and weakness of the teams in the Japanese professional soccer league, including the special skills of their stars.
Next, I have students research and write their presentations outside of class time. If while they are researching their topics, they find they want to change topics, I usually allow them to do so. After they have completed their research, I have them write up their presentation. I then go over what they have written with them. We then move on to the next step which is:
In order to help the students visualize their posters before they make a large-scale drawing, I have them draw a B-5 (7" X 10") size sketch of their posters. This allows them to work on the balance between artistic aspects of the posters such as pictures or drawings and the written word. I give them some ideas of how to present material on the posters such as flow charts for showing processes, different kinds of graphs and charts for presenting figures. Usually the students are much more competent artistically than I am so I rarely advise them on their art work other than to ask questions that help them clarify their posters.
Making the posters gives the students a chance to practice
combining graphics and text in a way that communicates meaning
clearly. Students need to be reminded that a poster is not an essay
written on big paper that they just read. I emphasize that the point
of the poster is to act as a visual support so they can look at it
and remember what they want to say, in the same way as speakers uses
notes.
After they have completed B5 (7" X 10") sketches of their posters, I have them go back and look at the information they have gathered in their research. Because what they have written from their research often does not fit exactly with the way their poster is organized, I encourage them to look at their poster and write down exactly what they want to say about each part of the poster. Depending on the size of the class you have, you may want to collect these compositions and make suggestions on them, or if you have time and a sufficiently small class, you may just go around the class and go over them with the students individually. At this point I remind students that they cannot bring any notes other than their posters.
For their posters, students may use any large piece of paper they
have. The back of a large calendar is often suitable. The paper at my
local stationer is about 110 x 80 centimetes (43 x 31 inches). I
recommend students use a full-size sheet or cut it in half depending
on the layout of their poster and the amount of information they want
to explain. I have the students do their posters in pencil and then I
check them before they begin to colour them or write with permanent
ink. This allows me to catch spelling errors and other small mistakes
that creep into the posters as they are being made. Once I have
checked them they can complete them.
The actual poster presentations vary depending on the size of the class and space in the classroom. I use the largest empty classroom I can find so there is enough space between the posters that sound of one presentation does not interfere with another.
I give the students pieces of two sided tape and have them put it on the back of their posters. As this tape is extremely sticky, it will damage certain types of walls and paint (and even frosted glass). Experiment in an inconspicuous place before risking damage to the classroom. I often use the black-boards, windows and doors in some classrooms.
It is best to divide the class into three groups. The first group of 1/3 of the students put their posters up and stand next to them. Give the remaining 2/3 of the class Report Forms (Appendix 2) and have students circulate around the room listening to a predetermined number of poster presentations and taking notes.
Make sure that all of the presenters have at least one person listening to their presentations. Prevent large groups from congregating at one poster. Initially, you may have to tell students to move on to a new presentation. After one or two presentations, they will usually move themselves.
After the first presenters have given their presentation several times, the second group put up their posters and give their presentations. This continues until all groups have had a chance to listen to and give presentations.
Poster presentations do not benefit the presenters only. In order to encourage those who are listening to listen actively, I give them a form similar to the one in the one below and have them fill in information on the form as they listen to the presentations. At the end of class they write their name on the sheet and turn it in. Change the categories to match the information you want them to find out. Report forms allow the teacher to ensure that the students all see a minimum number of poster presentations and that they listen and take notes. Students should also be encouraged to ask questions at points where they would like clarification about something in the presentation. Give them some sample questions to ask or requests to make such as:
Estimating how long to give for poster presentations is somewhat difficult. It depends on:
If the teacher wants to see all the presentations, it will be difficult to have more than 12-15 presentation per hour.
Poster presentations can be used as a form of evaluation at the end of a term. To facilitate this the teacher should use a form similar to the student Report Forms, but change the categories to judge the content of the presentation, the visual effectiveness of the poster and the fluency of the presentation. It is also possible to evaluate how well students have listened to the presentations. This is done by marking the amount of vocabulary and new information students recorded as they listened to the presentations.
Poster presentations are always one of the most enjoyable times of the year for both teacher and students. Students especially enjoy the feeling of being an expert on a subject and presenting their knowledge to their classmates. Most of them feel it is a valuable way of learning to present material that interests them and at the same time improve their oral English skills.
Any other topic that interests you, but check with me first.
Presentations should be about 4-5 minutes.
A good poster combines graphics (graphs, flow charts, etc.), pictures and words. A poster is not simply an essay on a big piece of paper.
You can use something like the back of an old calendar if it is large enough. Or you can buy 110 x 80 cm. paper for about ¥50 a sheet.
You poster will be marked on the content of the presentation, the visual effectiveness of the poster and the fluency of the presentation.
To help students learn as much as possible from listening to the presentation, I give them a Poster Presentation Report Form to fill in as they move around the classroom. To maintain the formatting, I have saved it as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file. Click here to view the Report Form. Click here to download a free version of Adobe Acrobat PDF reader.
Usually the Poster Presentation Report Form is placed lengthwise across a piece of B4 (14" x 10") to give the students more room to write.