IRELAND

OBSERVATION OF MY ORAL PRESENTATION

Presentation
I used a power point which helped the audience to comprehend easily. I think the topic which I chose was attractive. But I spoke too slowly and it lasted more than 7 minutes.

Body language and eye contact
I think I read the paper too many times and I didn’t hold the attention of the rest of the class, although I made some gestures.

Structure
The structure was ok because I started talking about geography and history to situate the audience in the country, then I talked about some important things they should know like food, drink and festivals, later I talked about curiosities like typical sports, and to conclude I invited them to go there if they wanted to improve their English. A part from that, it’s true that I didn’t use many connectors to pass from one idea to another.

Content
I searched for most of the information on the internet and in some geography books which I have at home. There was some new information but not many. I think the instructions were clear with some examples. I have to say it was difficult to choose what was the most important. It wasn’t really original.

Language
I have to improve my vocabulary. The grammar wasn’t incorrect and I used many relative pronouns which I learnt in class. The worst thing was that instead of using pause fillers, I said “erm” all the time. I also have to use more sentence linkers.

Pronunciation & intonation
I checked the pronunciation of some words on the internet but, I pronounced a few words badly like courses and complete, maybe because I was a bit nervous. I didn’t speak very fluently. I think I should change my tone of voice, instead of using a monotone all the time.

Self-evaluation
Here you have a literal transcription of my oral presentation. You will see that the worst were my pause fillers which were “erm” all the time. I have to recognize that I didn’t prepare as well as the last time. I think I only deserve a 6.5 .



TRANSCRIPTION

Good morning, I’m Gisela, and I’m going to talk about Ireland.

Geography. I think all of you know that Ireland is an island, erm… which is in the north of Europe forming the British islands. Erm… this island is divided by two erm two countries: the republic of Ireland which is in the Southern and.. the.. Northern Ireland which belongs to U.K., United kingdom and it’s in the erm north-western and the other is in the southern. Erm you can see… and I think all of you, you know it.

Landscapes: throughout, ai! Throughout erm… that island there are thousands of lakes and rivers which means that’s the.. there are wonderful.. landscapes, like.. you can see..

The history. Well, there are some people erm who say that the history is like an history tale because there are erm lots of history events. First, Ireland, in the first millennium before Christ, it was occupied by the Celts and they were who left the Irish language and... the Ireland culture. Then, it was the erm turn of the Christian culture which has aa.. which was very important… until the 3rd century after the Normand and England invasions. Erm Then, in the 3rd century it belonged to England. And it wasn’t until 1921 when the majority part of Ireland became independent. So here you can see… in… it’s the.. it’s the conflict that there are now with the Northern part of Ireland which wants to be independent of England. It’s like, its’s like a Catalonian conflict with Spain, and that’s why Belfast, the… the largest city in the northern Ireland, there are lots of.. this pictures. It’s the same case.

Well, the... the.. the most important celebration in this countr.. in Ireland is Saint Patrick’s Day. Erm… How they celebrate it? So, erm… they, they wears green clothes and they make parades erm in green and the symbol of this celebration is the Shamrock, Shamrock it’s erm.. four-leave clover, how you can see. and, in this celebration, this festival it’s celebrated by lots others countries like New York (it is not a country!!!) and others more.. But the most important celebration is in Ireland. And, they also celebrate erm the day erm after Christmas: saint Esteban, like us.

Food and drink. Well, the breakfast it’s a very original it’s like erm American breakfast, too and.. I can read all the ingredients that it has. Erm… there’re eggs, erm bacon (rashers), erm sausage, baked fresh tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, white pudding, black pudding, fresh fruit, brown bread, or toast, or scones, with a bit of butter and marmalade, and some juice, too. So you can see it’s very complete (bad accent). Then, the, the middle meal, in the middle of.. of the lunch, it’s the largest erm and then, som typical, some drinks which are from Ireland are beers , whisky and tea. The most famous beer from Ireland is Guinness beer. There’s also.. it’s also... erm popular the ... the ciders.. the ciders .. Ireland ciders, like some spots... publicity spots that we can see on... in summer.

Dublin. Dublin is the capital of..of..the republic of Ireland and there’s a erm.. very known University called trinity college.

Curiosities. Sports that they play are hurling, which is like a hockey, but on the grass and Peil Ghaelach, Gaelic football, which is an a.. mixture of rugby and football. There are erm groups of music from Ireland like U2 and The Coors which are very famous. There are lots.. lots more, erm.. instead of Robert Boyle, even Robert... ermm... which (who!) are very famous scientist erm.. Robert Boyle was who formed the Boyle’s erm law which is very erm important in Chemistry way. There’re more scientists like Douglas Cockcroft and John Tyndall who discovered the effect of... the Tyndall effect, in chemistry way, too.

And, I recommend you erm... to go there to.. to learn English because there are lots of courses (bad pronunciation). All, erm all around the island and they are very good, too. To conclude I show you these photographs to invite you to go there, that’s all.