Basic Speaking Skills

Sprachenzentrum der TU Darmstadt

Wintersemester 2023/24
Instructor: Melanie Lipinski M.A
melanie.lipinski@tu-darmstadt.de

Preparing a student input

Curiosity and interest are the biggest motivators for communication. And the urge to
communicate and share our ideas is the best motivator to drive our language learning.

You will be providing the material for our weekly class discussions, in which you will be able to
practice sharing your opinion, exploring various perspectives on a topic or issue, and discussing
with your peers.

A good class input can be a:

news story
science talk
piece of art
poem
photograph
or something else…
Anything that sparks interest and presents a multi-layered basis for discussion.
Sources can be internet news, social media, YouTube, or your own personal archives of favourite
material. While pop science and cultural artefacts are fine, your source should be reliable and
scientifically verifiable – Political, ideological, or religious material is not appropriate. Check
your sources for reliability!

Preparation:
One week before your discussion input:

 Send your discussion questions to me so I can proof-read them (e-mail address above)
 Post a link or .doc of your discussion content and a list of the most relevant vocabulary
(ca. 10 words) to the Moodle Wiki for your peers

On the day you present:

Bring:
 discussion questions printed out (about 10 copies) with the vocab list attached
 Your discussion artefact – articles and texts printed out (10 copies – no longer than 2
pages), or a mobile device if you are presenting a video (subtitles should be activated)

During the class you will:

 Summarize your topic to the small groups, and review the vocabulary with the group
 moderate the discussion (about 30 minutes)
 verbally sum up the results of your discussion at the close of the discussion period.