STUDY AND WRITING SKILLS
115
11.5
4
b
Take it in turns to deliver your presentation.
The listener should take notes using the evaluation
questions below. After the talk, give feedback to each
other on the presentation and performance.
5
Prepare a short talk (five minutes) about a festival or
event you have been to / regularly go to. Work in small
groups and deliver your talk to the rest of your group.
Answer any questions they may have.
WRITING SKILLS
A SHORT FORMAL REPORT
6
a
Read the report by an organiser of a street festival.
Choose the most suitable heading for each paragraph.
a
Conclusion
b
Audiences
c
Performers
d
Recommendations
e
Refreshments
f
Introduction
6
b
Work with a partner to discuss the following.
1
What were the good points about the festival?
2
How can the organisers improve next year’s festival?
7
Making generalisations
There are several examples
of making generalisations in this report. When you
generalise, you say that something is true about most
people or things. Look at two examples of words/
phrases used to generalise from the report.
Overall, the festival was highly successful …
Most of the performers were excellent …
Work with a partner to find other examples of
generalising in sections 2–6 of the report.
8
Imagine that the festival you talked about in
Exercise 4 has now taken place. Write a report on the
festival, with recommendations for improving it next
year. Use ‘generalising language’ where appropriate.
Repor t on Chi ldren’s Fest ival
(April 15–20)
1
Overall, the festival was highly successful,
attracting over 50,000 people. The weather was
good, although it rained heavily on the first day.
Most of the performers were excellent and well
received by the public.
2
People attending were mainly families. However,
there were people of all ages, and a large number
from the various ethnic groups in our community. The
acts appealing to children were particularly popular.
3
The majority were comedians and children’s
entertainers, but there was a wide variety of acts
from over 20 countries. Almost all of the performers
started and finished their acts on time. Perhaps
the highlight of the festival was the comedy routine
from an American children’s entertainer.
4
There were many outlets offering hot and cold food.
On the whole, people were satisfied with the quality
of the food and service. However, some people
complained that the queues were too long at the
more popular outlets and said that there needed to
be a greater variety of ethnic foods.
5
The festival gave great pleasure to a large number
of people and it brought together the different
cultural communities within our city. In general, the
sponsors were very pleased with the organisation of
the festival. Most of them wanted to participate in
next year’s festival.
6
●
Ways of reducing crowds at the most popular
events should be considered.
●
More signs need to be provided and a wider
variety of food offered.
●
Programmes showing daily events should be sold
to spectators.
●
Special access for mothers with young children
could be arranged.
●
It is vital to hire more security staff.
●
We must start to advertise the event much earlier.
PRESENTATION EVALUATION
Rating: 1–5
(1 = needs improving, 3 = good, 5 = excellent)
Eye contact with audience?
Stated the purpose of the talk / how it was
organised?
Spoke clearly (not too loud or soft)?
Spoke at a good pace (not too fast or
slow)?
Body language (confident, relaxed, no sign
of nerves)?
Slides or visual aids?
Total score
/30
