Samar CO #3+4

 Date/Time: 6/27/25

Topic/Skill: Speaking (Beginner Level)

Dr. Rios was teaching students how to outline their speaking for a 45-second presentation. The justification he used is that often, they will be asked their opinion on a topic and will need to give a concise, direct answer. On the board, he wrote a brief outline they could use as an example for their own outlines. Then, he would give the students a question about their opinions, such as “Do you believe in ghosts?” Students would have about 10 minutes to write a quick outline. When everyone finished their outlines, Dr. Rios went one by one, asking them to answer the question in a spoken form using the outline as a guide. He did this about 4-5 times so the students would feel comfortable speaking and using outlines. Each time, you could tell the students got more invested and showed vast improvement between practices. Towards the end, Dr. Rios gave a quiz where students had 45 seconds to record themselves on their phones answering a surprise topic. They submitted it to Canvas and then had to write out their recording as homework. Students were very involved because of the pressure of needing to turn in an assignment at the end of class. Dr. Rios only gave feedback on the conciseness and speed of their speeches, rather than grammar. I learned that practice can be seemingly redundant, but it is necessary. They were doing the same thing over and over again, but Dr. Rios made sure to make the topic interesting. I see the importance in that because if students get bored, they’ll put in less effort and show no interest in what they’re learning. You don’t need to have a crazy activity to keep engagement; sometimes, just a random, funny, or relevant topic is enough to catch interest.