presentation topics for esl students

Creative Resources for ESL/EFL Teachers

ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

ESL presentation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. Great as a warm-up or a speaking lesson.

You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.

I used it with my students during our online lesson and we didn’t even have time to discuss all the topics, because they couldn’t stop talking. I was quite impressed how much they knew and also how well they could express their opinions.

One of the reasons why I love conversation activities is that I learn so much about my students. I think that we often underestimate our students and see them as the stereotypical lazy teenagers. Activities like these can show us that they are much more than that.

You can also download the PDF for easy printing below.

Other picture-based resources:

ESL Exam Speaking Picture Description and Questions

No-Prep ESL Picture Description Speaking Activity

Picture Based Speaking Activity For ESL/EFL Classes

Picture Prompts for Speaking and Writing: An ESL Activity

ESL Picture Description: Exam Skills Practice

Food and Travel ESL Lesson: Interactive Online Lesson

Conversation resources:

Popular Conversation Topics for (not only) Adults and Teenagers: 50 Questions

Conversation Starters: 30 Interesting Conversation Questions Not Only For ESL Students

Conversation Questions Gerunds and Infinitives: ESL Speaking Activity

30 Hypothetical Conversation Questions for ESL Students

ESL Conversation Topics

Best English Games to Play in Your ESL Classroom

Here is an extensive list of my favorite English games to play with my students. Board games Yes, you read that right. Cards Against Humanity. But! This is a family edition, so it’s clean. You can download if for free and print, but, make sure you feel comfortable using it,…

conversation questions comparative superlative adjectives

Conversation Questions: Comparative and Superlative Adjectives

Conversation questions for practicing comparative and superlative adjectives. 1. We use comparatives to compare two things (or people). This movie is more interesting than the one you chose. Susie is smarter than her brother. 2. Superlatives are used, however, to show the difference between more than two things or more…

At The Restaurant: ESL Pair Work and Role Play Lesson.

Not everyone can cook, but we all love food. It is a perfect conversation topic and even the shy students usually come out of their shells (seafood pun) when you ask them about their favourite food. Food is everywhere now, popular TV shows made home cooking fashionable, food blogs with…

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When you choose ESL presentation topics your students are passionate about, you set them up for success. They'll be more engaged in learning and more likely to retain the information you're teaching. So, how do you choose the proper ESL presentation topics for your students?

Choose topics you know will spark their curiosity and inspire their interest in learning. At the end of this article, you'll learn an easy-to-use presentation maker to help with your virtual lessons. Keep reading if you want to learn more about ESL topics and ideas.

Part 1. What Types of ESL Presentation Topics Are You in Search Of?

What's the secret to giving an ESL presentation that will keep your audience hooked? Flexibility. Also, tailor your topics to the student's proficiency level, interests, and learning objectives. Spark your students' curiosity with these engaging ESL presentation topics .

This category covers everyday activities, routines, and personal experiences. Daily life topics are often a good choice for beginners, as they tend to be familiar and easy to relate to.

Travel and Culture

Explore different countries, customs, and traditions. Students can present their dream destinations, cultural celebrations, or travel experiences. ESL presentation topics like this promote geography, tourism, and cross-cultural understanding.

Discuss the ever-evolving world of technology, from smartphones to social media trends. Students can discuss gadgets, apps, or the impact of technology on society, fostering language skills in a modern context.

Environmental Issues

Raise awareness about environmental concerns like climate change, pollution, and conservation. Students can propose solutions or discuss the importance of sustainable practices.

Current Events

Encourage students to share their views on global happenings. Ask open-ended questions to provoke students' critical thinking about the news. Avoid asking your students subjects that have a simple yes or no answer.

Literature and Arts

Explore the world of literature, art, and entertainment. Students can discuss their favorite books, movies, or artistic movements.

History and Politics

Delve into historical events, political systems, and influential figures. These ESL presentation topics encourage critical thinking and cultural awareness.

Food and Cuisine

Food is a universal language. It brings people from all walks of life to share experiences and create memories. And what better way to learn about others' culture than through their cuisines? Students can share their passion for food and cooking and express their unique cultural identity.

Part 2. How To Prepare Your ESL Presentation?

If you have chosen presentation topics for ESL students , it is time to start preparing. Here's a simple, three-step guide to help you deliver effective ESL presentations:

Use Data and Infographics for Less Content

Short attention-spanned students and visual learners often struggle with processing lengthy textual information. Using data and infographics becomes even more crucial in such cases. You can include charts, graphs, diagrams, and other visual elements that help to illustrate key points. Then, choose relevant statistics or facts that support your topic. Visual aids can capture attention and maintain their engagement throughout the presentation.

Make an Outline for Your ESL Presentation

Creating a clear outline is essential for maintaining the flow. Start with an engaging opening to attract your students' attention. Then, organize your content logically into sections or points. Use bullet points or numbered lists to keep information organized and easy to follow.

Practice Before Presentation

Rehearse your presentation multiple times, focusing on your pacing, pronunciation, and overall delivery. If possible, present in front of a friend or colleague for feedback. It will boost your confidence and help you address any areas that need improvement. Remember, the more you practice, the more comfortable you'll be when delivering ESL presentation topics to your students.

Part 3. 5 Best ESL Presentation Topics for All Students

Finding ESL presentation topics that work for all levels can be a challenge, but it's also a rewarding one. Here is a summary of ideas that work well for all proficiency levels, with specific ideas for each category:

These ESL presentation topics offer a range of complexity. It allows your students to engage in meaningful discussions while building language proficiency. Below is a brief explanation for each topic:

ESL presentation topics are a great way to learn English, build confidence, and learn about different cultures. They can be fun and rewarding for students of all levels. Beginners can start by sharing their daily routines and interests. It is a good way to practice using basic vocabulary and grammar in a fun way. Advanced students can delve deeper into cultural comparisons and environmental awareness.

Travel is another topic for ESL presentations for students of all levels. Beginners can explore their travel dreams, which is a fun way to improve their vocabulary and descriptive skills. Presentation topics for advanced ESL students can focus on the cultural and economic aspects of travel destinations. It can help them develop their descriptive and storytelling abilities.

travel destinations worldwide illustration

Talking about your favorite apps is a great way to improve your English skills. For beginners, it's a fun way to practice using vocabulary related to technology and apps. And for advanced students, it can be a springboard for discussing more complex topics like tech ethics and innovation. Plus, giving a presentation about apps is a great way to collaborate with your students and have a tech-related debate.

Talking about plastic pollution is a good way for ESL students of all levels to learn English and the environment. Beginners can start by discussing their own experiences with plastic pollution. What do they know about the causes and effects of plastic pollution?

It is a good way for beginners to practice using simple language in a meaningful context. Presentation topics for advanced ESL students can be more on analysis and solutions for global issues.

Recommending a book is one of the best presentation topics for ESL students . For beginners, recommending a book can be a simple way to practice using basic vocabulary and grammar structures. Advanced students can hone their analytical skills by dissecting literary and artistic masterpieces. It promotes thoughtful interpretation and expression.

Imagine students' eyes glazing over as you drone on about a topic they're not interested in or that's too difficult for their level. But now imagine their faces lighting up as you talk about something they're passionate about and that they can easily understand. That's the power of choosing the right topic.

Once you've chosen the right ESL presentation topics , you need the right tools to create an engaging and informative presentation. That's where Presentory comes in. If you're interested in how it can help you create ESL presentations that will capture your students' attention and help them learn, keep reading.

Part 4. Best Tool for Your ESL Presentation – Wondershare Presentory

Effective classroom communication and engagement are vital. Presentory, an innovative and user-friendly video presentation maker, empowers ESL instructors and education influencers. Want to create and present engaging virtual lessons? That's easy. With Presentory, you can smartly capture your students' attention.

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Key Features

Here are some of the features that make Presentory the best tool for your ESL presentation:

Import Source Material

Import more materials for your presentations. Add images, videos, and even existing PowerPoint presentations. No need to switch between apps – everything you need is at your fingertips.

Various Types of Font Resources

Choose from a wide selection of fonts to add a touch of creativity and professionalism to your presentations. Select the perfect font that matches your style and content effortlessly.

Beautification Effects

It automatically recognizes portraits and adjusts your image for a polished look. Say goodbye to distracting background clutter and hello to a clean, professional appearance.

AI Keying for Seamless Video Appearance

Removes the background image in the camera, leaving only the presenter's image. It also supports color picking, allowing you to fine-tune your video appearance effortlessly.

Support for Popular Conferences and Live Broadcasts

Stream your ESL presentation topics with popular conferencing platforms like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet. Deliver your content to a global audience with ease.

DIY Teleprompter

Adjust the window size, font color, size, and transparency to suit your preferences. Ensure a smooth and confident delivery every time.

Noise Reduction

Eliminate distractions and ensure crystal-clear audio with Presentory's noise reduction feature. Your audience will appreciate the clarity of your message.

Filter Effects

Add a touch of creativity to your ESL presentations with filter effects. Enhance the visual appeal of your content and keep your audience engaged.

The Bottom Line

No matter what ESL presentation topics you choose, make sure that they are something you are passionate about and can present in an engaging and informative way. With planning, you can create ESL presentations that are both educational and enjoyable for your students.

You can also add Presentory into your teaching toolkit and watch your presentations come to life with impact and engagement. With its intuitive interface and powerful features, Presentory is a good choice for ESL teachers and education influencers looking to show their expertise effectively. Try it today and watch as your students become more engaged and inspired.

Presentation Projects for Students | ESL Presentation Ideas

If you do presentation with your language classes , then you’ll need to check out some of these presentation project ideas. Get beyond the boring old PowerPoint presentation and use some of these creative ideas to bring a bit of excitement and life back into your classes.

Presentation Projects and Ideas for ESL students

Your students will love it, and it’ll also keep things fresh for you if you’ve seen the same old projects year after year.

Presentation Projects for ESL/EFL Students

Over the years teaching in a Korean university , I’ve had students do plenty of presentation projects, with varying degrees of success . I hope that you can learn from my mistakes and make your ESL speaking classes as awesome as possible.

Presentation projects, if set up well are an excellent way to add a bit of variety to the ESL classroom. After all, students get tired of hearing the teacher talk all the time! And you probably get tired of talking. I know that I always did! Plus, it’s fun to hear what students have to say.

Here are my top presentation projects for ESL/EFL students.

Basic speech (not recommended!)
Presentation, then discussion time
Poster presentation
Making a movie
PowerPoint presentation
Impromptu presentation
Teaching the class how to do something

If you teach business English, then the sky is kind of the limit in terms of what topics you choose. You could focus on just about anything that students may expect to present on when they start working in a company.

#1: A Basic Speech

Each student has to choose from a variety of topics such as family , food, dreams or hobby. They have to speak for between 1.5 and 2 minutes. I did this only once, with low-level students and it was ridiculously boring such that I never did it again.

The main problem is all the presentations are basically the same and go a little something like this: “I have a mom. She is 49 years old. She has brown hair and black eyes. I have a dad. He is 57 years old. My dad has brown hair and black eyes. He is short.” Word for word, almost the same!

Trust me, they were some of the most tedious and excruciating hours of my entire life. It was from this point on that I vowed to never set up a presentation like this again. I got a lot more creative and made students talk about things that were more varied and interesting.

Of course, the bad results from this experiment were totally my fault. I should have chosen more interesting topics for the students, or given them better guidelines. Seriously, better ESL presentations topics would have made a big difference here and I really have nobody to blame but myself!

Maybe Not Terrible if…

This style of presentation could have been far less bad if I had done a better job setting it up. I should have set the topic to something like, “Current events.” That way, students would have been forced to choose something in the news and the presentation topics would have been quite varied.

Or, I could have required some visual aids to make it a bit more interesting for the students.

101 ESL Activities: Games, Activities, Practical ideas, & Teaching Tips For English Teachers of...

#2: Presentation, and then Discussion Time

Each group has to give a presentation about a topic of their choosing and think of at least 5 interesting questions/surveys/activities that groups could discuss or do for about 20 minutes after their presentation. This often works best if the presentation is based on 2-3 articles that the students have to send you in advance.

This presentation project ideas had varying results, since some groups chose a topic that led to a lot of “yes/no” answers and discussions that lasted about 5 minutes, at most.

However, this could have been avoided by personally approving the topics in advance and requiring groups to submit their assignment for feedback a week or two before the actual presentation. I blame nobody but myself for the failure on this one!

This ideas for presentation projects isn’t a bad one, if you set it up well. It can work well for English majors or advanced level students who want a class filled with conversation and discussion.

#3: Poster Presentation

A poster is one of my favourite presentation projects. Each group has to choose a current controversial issue (like environmental pollution, suicide, North Korea) and make a poster that had English writing and some interesting pictures on it. Set a (low) max number of words or your posters will be terrible and filled with wordy death!

Then, the students have to do a presentation based on the poster where each group member speaks for 1-2 minutes, without a paper.

For this one, it’s very important that you require no paper script, or you’ll just have students reading off their notes. Also, don’t allow students to put too many words on the poster, or you’ll have students reading off of this.

If I ever did this again, I would do something where the audience was more involved, such as peer grading. Or, I would require each group watching the presentation to think of at least 1 question to ask and they’d get a point for doing so. Basically, it’d give the rest of the students in the class a reason to listen.

It’s potentially an excellent group presentation project!

ESL presentation ideas

#4 Presentation Projects: Making a Movie

Another ESL presentation idea is to have students make a movie. It’s easier than ever these days because almost everybody has a smartphone, and it’s free to upload the video to YouTube. This works particularly well if you teach film, art or fashion students and you’ll get some amazing results. It’s actually one of my favourite ESL projects these days.

You can have a fun “viewing day” in class and encourage everyone to bring a snack! It’s a nice change from the regular old textbook thing.

Here’s how I’ve done movie projects.

I put students into groups of 4-5. One person can “film” the project and then you can have 2-3 actors. Finally, one person might be designated the write the script or edit. However, I leave it up to the group how they want to divide the roles and not everyone has to appear on camera.
I set a minimum and maximum time for the movie (usually 3-5 minutes), as well as a certain number of English sentences that must be spoken during that time. It must be a story of some kind that makes sense.
I’ll usually give a topic or theme of some kind, but may leave it open.

I evaluate it based on the following things:

Quality of English
Interesting story
Quality of production (I don’t expect a lot, but just basic stuff like making sure it’s bright enough, we can hear the people talking, etc.)

The quality of English usually gets around 10 marks, while the other two categorie s are each worth five.

#5: PowerPoint Presentation

This has the potential to be very interesting, or PPT death. It all depends on how you set the presentation project up.

If you do go with this method, you should set a maximum number of slides and also a maximum numbers of words per slide (5-10?). Emphasize to students that you want to see pictures, charts, etc. and not a wall of text.

I generally allow each group to have 1 intro and 1 conclusion slide, and then 1 slide per group member. So if there are 6 students in the group, it’ll be 8 slides. I usually say that each student has to talk about their slide for 30 seconds to 2 minutes, depending on the level.

Teach students how to make good PowerPoints and then penalize heavily for not following your recommendations. You should also coach students on how to stand to the side and keep their body pointed towards the audience. Eye contact is key!

This is an excellent idea for presentation projects, if some key expectations are set out in advance. Eye contact/don’t look at screen, pictures instead of words on the PowerPoint, etc.

#6: Just a Minute Impromptu Presentation

If you want to give your students some practice with making impromptu, or off the cuff style of speeches, then Just a Minute may be exactly what you need. It’s a toastmasters style activity and makes the perfect warm-up activity for intermediate or advanced level students.

You can also turn this into a listening activity, instead of just an ESL presentation by requiring the other students in the group to ask follow-up questions. Try this one with your classes and I think your students will really enjoy the challenge.

Find out more about it here:

Just a Minute ESL Speaking Activity

Impromptu presentation skills are never a bad thing for students (or anyone) to practice!

#7: Teaching Others How to Do Something

One of the best presentation ideas for students is to get them to teach the class how to do something. I’ve done this a few times now and they are some of my most memorable classes.

The way it works is that students choose something they know how to do well. Students in the past having chosen things like:

How to fry an egg
Heading a soccer ball
Playing the guitar
Getting dates
Making sure their parents give them enough spending money
Eating out cheaply around the university
Getting the best class schedule

I allow students to bring in props, material or make a simple powerpoint presentation with pictures (no text) to explain.

#8: What are you Cooking?

If you want to have your students do some fun presentations in a more informal kind of way, then consider trying out “What are you Cooking?” Students have to plan a 3-course meal based on ingredients from their classmates and then make a presentation to the class who votes on the best menu.

Sounds interesting? I think you’ll love it so give it a try today. More information here: What are you Cooking?

#9: An Informative Speech

ESL Presentations FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about making presentation in English. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why are Presentations Important for Students?

Having students give presentations is important for delivering a positive learning environment. They can also help teach communication skills and assist with students feeling comfortable talking in front of a group of people. Finally, they are an engaging way to share ideas and help students build confidence.

What Makes a Great Presentation?

A great presentation is very memorable. This can be done in various ways, but graphics, images, relevant facts, story telling and humour play an important role. Finally, a memorable presentation motivates the audience to action.

What are the Advantages of a Presentation?

Businesses and people in general use presentations for various reasons. The advantage of them is that they can educate, motivate, and persuade in a more interesting way than the written word alone can.

Should Students Memorize Speeches?

Should you make students memorize their presentation, or not? It’s an interesting question and I certainly see points for both sides. However, I generally lead towards the memorization thing because…

It results in presentations that are far more interesting for the audience
I only require 30 seconds-2 minutes of speaking. It’s not a big task to memorize this amount
It helps students remember vocabulary and key phrases

That said, I do know that students get nervous and that this can be a big ask. It’s for this reason that I tell students to bring their notes up to the front with this, but to leave them in their pocket.

If they have an emergency (forget what to say!), they can take it out and use it. But, only once if they don’t want to get a penalty. After that, put it aside and continue on.

I’m usually kind and if a student has to do this twice, I don’t mind. My main point is that I don’t want students reading exclusively off of a paper.

What are some Things to Consider for Presentations in English?

If you’re going to have your students do an ESL presentation, there are a number of factors that you’ll want to consider.

How to explain the task in a simple way that students can understand what they need to do. How will you evaluate it?
When will students prepare (outside, or inside of class. A combination of both often works well).
What kind of equipment can students use (Projector, or not).
How students will deliver the presentation. Will you expect things like gestures and eye contact?
What kind of language will the students use? Will you teach them about the introduction (I would like to start by…) and conclusion (In conclusion, you can see that…), as well as transition sentences (Moving on to…). The style of the speech (persuasive, informative, etc.) is important for this.
What will the rest of the class be doing while the presentations are happening? Is there a listening task you can assign to make this activity even more valuable?

The biggest tip I can give you is to be clear about the terms of the assignment. And, also how you will evaluate it. If expectations are clear, results will be far better and your life will be easier as well because you won’t have to answer the same questions over and over again.

What are the Top 20 ESL Presentation Topics?

Here are some of the most common topics that you may consider assigning to your students:

Family (can be sensitive for some though)
Current events
If I had a million dollars…
Vacation (past or future dream)
Ideal first date
TV and movies
Favourite book
Time, and how do you spend it
An ideal first date
Jobs and work
Some future goals
A favourite restaurant
Money (saver or spender)
Future plans
Controversial topics
Teaching someone how to do something
If you were the president…

These interesting topics means that you presentation projects will be better than ever! No more boring, okay? Okay.

Do you Like these Ideas for Presentation Projects?

Amazon Kindle Edition
Bolen, Jackie (Author)
English (Publication Language)
148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

Then you’re going to love this book, 101 ESL Activities: For Teenagers and Adults . It’s an extremely practical, well-organized teaching guide that will help you plan your lessons in no time. The best part about it is that your students will be having fun, while learning English.

The book is available in both digital and print formats. The (cheaper!) digital one can be read on any device-Kindle, Mac, Pc, Smartphone, or tablet by downloading the free Kindle reading app from Amazon. It’s super-easy to have some top-quality ESL activities and games at your fingertips at all times.

Keep a copy on the bookshelf in your office and use it as a handy reference guide. Or, bring a copy with your on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. It really is that easy to make your English classes even better.

Check out the book on Amazon by clicking the link below:

Have your Say about ESL Presentation Ideas

What’s your top ESL presentation project ideas? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this a share on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’ll help other teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 15 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including 101 ESL Activities for Teenagers and Adults and 1001 English Expressions and Phrases . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: YouTube Facebook TikTok Pinterest Instagram

Great ideas! Thank you so much for such inspiring ideas for presentations.

I’ve been looking for some presentation ideas for my students here in South Korea and ran across your list. Thank you! Lots of good ones but I think I’m going to give the current events one a try. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Great info! Thanks for sharing your ideas for presentations. I love to do them but it was getting a bit stale for me so appreciate the new ideas.

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My Life! Teaching in a Korean University

in Life in the Classroom

Presentation Project Ideas | ESL Presentation Topics, Tips, Ideas & More

Over the years teaching in a Korean university, I’ve had students do plenty of solo and group presentations. I love to do them at least once a semester because they’re great for the teacher to take a break from being at the front of the class, and designed well, students really enjoy them as well. Of course, I had to come up with some ESL presentation topics. Keep on reading to find out my presentation project ideas to try out in your own classes.

Presentation Project Ideas

Let’s get into the best ESL presentation ideas and topics.

#2: Presentation and Discussion Time

Each group had to give a presentation about a topic of their choosing and think of at least 5 interesting questions/surveys/activities that groups could discuss or do for about 30 minutes after their presentation.

This presentation project ideas had varying results, since some groups chose a topic that led to a lot of “yes/no” answers and discussions that lasted about 2 minutes. However, this could have been avoided by approving the topics in advance and requiring groups to submit their assignment for feedback a week or two before the actual presentation. The duds were mostly my own fault!

The key is to set up the project in a better way. The teacher needs to prepare for this activity well in advance! And of course, get students to prepare in advance as well so they can have a chance to revise their presentation if necessary.

39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities: For English Teachers of Teenagers and Adults Who Want...

#3: Poster Presentation

Each group had to choose a current issue (like environmental pollution, celebrity suicide, North Korea) and make a poster that had English writing and some interesting pictures. Set a(low) maximum number of words, or your posters will be terrible! Then, they had to do a presentation based on the poster where each group member spoke for 2 minutes, without a paper.

Giving the students a reason to listen is key, so keep this in mind during your ESL projects.

More ideas for the classroom: Task Based Language Learning.

Topics for Group Presentations for ESL Students

#4: PowerPoint Presentation

This has the potential to be very interesting, or PPT death. It all depends on how you set the presentation project up. If you do go with this method, you should set a maximum number of slides and also a maximum numbers of words per slide (maybe 10?). Emphasize to students that you want to see pictures, charts, etc. and not a page of text.

Teach students how to make good PPTs and then penalize heavily for not following your recommendations. You should also coach students on how to stand to the side and still keep their body pointed towards the audience.

How to Make a Good PowerPoint Presentation (For ESL Students)

#5 Project Presentation Ideas: Making a Short Video

For homework in my conversation classes, I hated giving writing homework! It just seemed to defeat the purpose of trying to get the students to talk as much as possible.

In order to combat this, I’d often get students to make videos and then put them online on YouTube. I’d assign a topic that they had to talk about for a minute or two. Sometimes, I’d make an assignment where 2-3 of the students in the class would have to talk about something.

Or sometimes I’d require that students interview their classmates about something. It was really fun to watch these ones!

If you want to get creative, you could have your students make a short documentary or movie about a topic of their choice.

It’s simple, fun, and many students let me know that is was their favourite homework activity that semester.

#6: Impromptu Speaking Activity

If you ask your students, they’ll often tell you that they want to improve their speaking skills. By this, they often mean fluency. One way to do this is to use an activity like Just a Minute. It puts students on the spot and they’re required to talk about a certain topic for one entire minute.

It’s the perfect way to focus on speaking fluency because they can’t stop talking for the entire minute. You can make it into a conversation activity by requiring that students who are listening ask some follow-up questions.

Of course, do this in small groups for intermediate students, and only with an entire class for advanced level students. Or, consider using it if you teach ESL online .

#7: Infographic Presentation

Presentations are a regular feature of ESL classes, but your students may get overwhelmed at the thought of first creating and then presenting a full-length speech. This activity works very, very well for a small class of 5 students or fewer. Private classes are even better.

However, if you have larger classes, you can do these infographic presentations in a few different ways. The first option is to put students into teams of 3-4. Another one is to have students do them for a midterm or final exam. Finally, you can have 1-2 students do a PowerPoint presentation each class as a kind of warm-up and eventually, all students will have done one by the end of the semester.

Infographics have become a common way of presenting information, and your students can create and use one to provide the “meat” of an informative oral presentation. An infographic presentation will also provide an opportunity to research a topic in English. If your students work in an office, they are likely to use PowerPoint at work, so the combination of something familiar (PPT) with something new (English presentation) should reduce stress.

Any time you can get students up and out of their seats is a win!

Choose a Topic with Several Data Points

Have your students choose a topic of interest to them that has several data points. For example, if they have a favourite team, they can find the team’s current ranking, average points per game, number of championships, and so on to populate the infographic. The students should begin the project by researching several data points and finding an image or two online to use for decoration.

To create the infographic, the students will need to reset the margins to create the long, narrow look of an infographic. This is done by choosing a blank layout and changing the slide from landscape to portrait then adjusting the margins. Start with 10”/25cm by 30”/75cm and adjust if necessary.

Your students can use images, Smart Art, and/or charts to present the data they will report. However, you may want to give your students a time limit for choosing a layout or have them make a sketch before opening PowerPoint because the number of options can become a time-waster.

Layout First, Add in Data Second

Once the layout has been chosen, your students will need to fill in the data. If they are using charts, Excel will automatically to fill them in. Don’t worry, it’s pretty self-explanatory and the end result is right there for the student to see while working. Once the images are all in place, the students should add a brief explanation of each image. All images and text boxes can be resized, and the entire slide can be resized by adjusting the margins if there is more (or less) information than expected.

When the students are satisfied with the infographic, it can be saved as a JPEG. This will probably have taken an entire lesson, so the infographic presentation will be in the next lesson. You should tailor the focus of the presentation to your student’s level and needs. Lower-level students may only need to practice speaking without a script. Higher-level students may need to practice the use of gestures or inflection.

Teaching Tips for this Presentation Activity

If your students do not use PowerPoint at work and are not familiar with it (or if you do not want to spend an entire lesson making an infographic), you may want to have the students find an existing infographic online to present. Search for “infographic” on Google Images and you’ll find many of them.

A video of the infographic presentation can be helpful for your students. When students see and hear themselves, they can more easily see the areas that need improvement.

Procedure:

1. Have your students choose a topic of interest that would have several data points to research and present.

2. Have the students make a sketch of the planned infographic.

3. Using PowerPoint, have the students make the infographic (use a blank layout, in portrait, with the margins set to 10”/25cm by 30”/75cm).

4. In the next lesson, have the students present the infographic to you. According to the student’s level, have them focus on speaking without a script, using gestures, or inflection, etc.

5. Review the infographic presentation.

67 ESL Conversation Topics with Questions, Vocabulary, Writing Prompts & More: For English Teachers...

Amazon Kindle Edition
Bolen, Jackie (Author)
English (Publication Language)
278 Pages - 07/12/2020 (Publication Date)

What are Some ESL Presentation Topics to Consider?

There are a few classic ones in here, along with some fresh, new ideas for presentation topics that you’ll want to consider:

Teach someone how to do something
Something in the news lately
Controversial topics (and choose a side)
If I were president…
Favourite book, movie, restaurant, etc.
Vacations (past or dream for the future)
If I had a million dollars…
Ideal first date
Jobs and work
What the world will look like in 30 years from now
Money: Are you a saver, or spender?
What do you do when you get home from school?

Why Do ESL Presentations?

That’s a great question and we’re happy that you asked! There are a number of reasons why you might consider using presentations for an ESL project idea.

#1: Presenting is a Tangible Skill

Although I’m here to teach English, I always try to give my students some tangible skills they can take with them. For example, in a writing class , I teach students about hooks, thesis statements and topic sentences. This will be useful in any kind of writing, in any kind of language.

And, in my conversational English classes, I like to teach some presentation skills like eye contact, gestures, etc. Hopefully, they’ll use these things again in the future.

#2: They’re Ideal for Business Students

Many business people have to do presentations at work. Help them get some practise with this important skill in your classes.

#3: Helps Improve Listening Skills

When else do students listen for an hour or two, in English, that’s almost exactly at their level? During presentations. Just be sure to give some tasks to give students a reason to listen (see the section below).

#4: They’re Student Directed

I generally give some very vague guidelines as far as topics go. For example, any current events topic . Or, food/school/culture/history/hobbies. Not just one of these things, but perhaps all of them!

This way, they are free to choose whatever they’re interested in and care about. They are often more willing to learn now vocabulary than if I were to just assign a random topic.

Of course, for best results, do be strict about time limits, PowerPoint slides, etc.

#5: It’s a Break from the Usual

Teacher talks, students listen. Sounds familiar? Mix it up in your classes, and have the students do all the talking.

How Can I Increase Audience Engagement?

It’s an excellent question! How can you keep the rest of your students engaged and learning English while other students are doing presentations? There are a few related strategies I like to use to do this. Remember, presentations can be a source of some serious listening and vocabulary practice, so do everything you can to take advantage of this!

Idea #1: Worksheets

Sometimes I require the group or person doing the presentation to come up with a few quick comprehension questions based on their presentation. Multiple-choice, true/false or short answer works well for this.

Then, before their presentation, students have to hand out the worksheet to their classmates. This gives people a reason to listen, and even if there are no grades attached to this, most students will do it.

Idea #2: Follow-Up Questions

Sometimes I put the audience in groups of 3-4. Then immediately after the presentation, I give them a couple of minutes to come up with 3-4 interesting follow-up questions based on the presentation. I choose a few groups to ask one of their questions to the presenter. Or, everyone has a chance to ask a question in the smaller classes.

Idea #3: Peer Grading

Peer grading is an interesting thing I’ve tried in my more mature classes. I’ve almost never seen students watch so closely. Students find this kind of thing surprisingly fun!

I generally let students assign 50% of the grade to their peers, and then I reserve 50% for my own grade. It works best if you give students clearly defined categories that they have to evaluate.

The only downside is that it can take quite a bit of time to compile all the numbers from this in a bigger class.

Idea #4: Taking Notes

Sometimes I’ll require that students take some notes from the presentation. Generally, 4-5 bullet points work well per presentation. It’s great listening and note-taking practise for our students.

Or, get students to write down 3-4 phrases that they hear from each presentation. It’s simple but effective at getting students to work with the language.

Quick tips:

The key to this working well is to coach students about how to take notes. They don’t have to write full sentences, but just the key words or phrases.

At the end of class, I have students show me their notes for some participation points. This activity does not work that well if no points or grades are attached to their work.

Idea #5: Choose ESL Presentation Ideas Carefully

The final thing to do to increase audience engagement is to choose the topics carefully. If the students find them interesting, they’ll listen. It’s really that simple and the best way to ensure success is to come up with some great ESL presentation topics.

148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

How do I Make my Presentation Stand Out? Top 10 Tips

There are a few ways that you can really make your presentation stand out from the crowd. Here are some of the best ways:

Use an icebreaker
Tell stories
Consider using videos or pictures
Embrace the non-linear style
Interact with your audience (ask them a question)
Don’t forget about eye contact
Move around
Practice, practice, practice!

Don’t Forget This Book for Teaching Public Speaking!

If you want to teach presentations to ESL students, you’ll need this most awesome of books. It’s full of great resources for teaching public speaking.

Speaking of Speech: Basic Presentation Skills for Beginners

Trust me, it’ll make your life way easier and happier.

ESL presentation ideas

ESL Presentation Ideas FAQs

There are a number of common questions that people have about English learners giving presentations. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

How do I make a good ESL presentation?

There are a few simple steps you can follow for making a good ESL presentation.

Do lots of preparation and allow time for this.
Structure your presentation (beginning, middle, end).
Make notes on keywords but don’t write out full sentences.
Rehearse lots.
Use a PowerPoint slide or two but don’t include lots of text on it.
Allow time for questions from the audience.
Make eye contact and use hand gestures.

How do you write a speech for ESL?

To write a speech for ESL, check out these simple tips:

Consider using short sentences with contractions.
Use simple words like you’d use when having a conversation with someone.
Read your speech out loud as you are writing it.
Get someone to listen to you as you say it and point out any awkward or boring parts.

What is a good presentation topic?

A good presentation topic is one where you know a lot about the subject, either through personal experience or by doing lots of research. It’s also one that the audience has a general interest in.

How do you teach presentation skills to ESL students?

You can teach presentation skills to ESL students by using some of the following activities:

Recite a famous speech.
Give a presentation in a small group of 3-4 students.
Do a solo presentation and put it on YouTube.
Do quick presentations on a random topic with only a few minutes to prepare.
Act out a play with the class.
Work on things like eye contact and hand gestures.
Teach students how to structure a presentation well.

What are your Presentation Project Ideas?

Do you have any ideas for presentations for English language learners? Do you love, or hate presentation day in your classes? Leave a comment below and let us know! We’d love to hear from you.

And don’t forget to share this article on Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful resource.

Last update on 2022-06-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie is the author of more than 30 books for English teachers and English learners, including Advanced English Conversation Dialogues and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

You can find her on social media at: Facebook Pinterest

About and Contact

Jackie Bolen has been talking ESL South Korea since 2014. The goal is to bring you the best tips, ideas, and news for everything teaching English in Korea, including university jobs.

Contact Jackie Bolen and My Life! Teaching in a Korean University here.

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Address: 2436 Kelly Ave, Port Coquitlam, Canada

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15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students

I don’t think I am sticking my neck out too much by saying that most ESL students enjoy speaking activities more than typical reading, writing and listening activities. Tending to be more dynamic, true to life and fun, a good speaking activity can really enhance an ESL student’s fluency and confidence.

Here, I am going to offer you a series of ESL speaking projects that you can adapt and use for your ESL students. Let’s go:

Infomercial Activities

This is one of my favorite speaking projects by far. Show students some typical adverts from a shopping channel; I like to show some of the funnier products just for giggles and to encourage students minds to wander, take a look at this compilation to see what I mean.

Next, I ask students usually in pairs to come up with their own completely original product to sell on an infomercial. If students struggle to come up with a completely new product you can suggest they add a new twist to arnold product, or make a new product based on a combination of two or more others.

For example, in the past I have had: microwave televisions, hair dryers that double as vacuum cleaners and laptops that double as portable stoves.

I tend to also do a language lesson based around the language of selling and persuasion so that when students make their infomercial they will send realistic and they often like to know some of the sales phrases, tactics and strategies that are used in real life.

Just for fun, you can tell students that they have a certain amount of money to spend and after they have seen all the infomercials they get to spend it. Sales can be recorded and you can see which idea/pair has made the most money and are the winner!

Presentations

Give students a presentation of a topic of your choosing, perhaps your own hobby and model the format and language that you want the students to use.

I tend to share slides with the student with the title of each slide already inserted. Students then have to fill the space with suitable information for that slide.

So, for example, if I wanted my students to present their own hobbies then I would probably have six slides titled with questions:

What is my favorite hobby? Why did I start this hobby? What have I achieved doing this hobby? Who do I do this hobby with? What will I do next in this hobby? Other interesting info about my hobby.

Students then fill the slides full of pictures that relate to the question and then they talk about these to the group and answer questions.

Some students always want to write out a script for a presentation which I let them do on the understanding that they can’t actually read it when they present. I allow them to write it out just so they can build up some confidence in what they are going to say and check the language accuracy of it.

I do usually place sentence starters and linking words on posters behind the audience so that the presenter always has some support if needs be.

Of course, this could also be done as a recorded video task. I sometimes ask students to record a voice over on top of the slides. This can then be converted into a video format for sharing later.

A few other simple presentation topic titles for ESL students that could be used are: My Best Friend, Who Am I?, My Pets, My Future Career, My Family, The Last Celebration I want to, Why I am a fan of __________ (insert name of whatever they are a fan of).

At this point you might also want to read one of my popular article about how to make your students speak English , here

Hot Seat ing

Become an expert – As it sounds. Students spent a certain amount of time researching a topic that either they choose or that is given to them. They are then to become that character and the rest of the group has to ask them questions to find out as much as they can about them in a set amount of time.

You can award points for correct questions being asked and for grammatically correct sentences in response. Personally I like to do this at the beginning of a new topic and direct students to research different famous people.

For example, if we are going to be covering the topic of Travel as in the IGCSE ESL then I have students research characters, such as: Dr Livingstone, Joe Simpson, Ernest Shackleton, Amelia Earhart, Ranulf Fiennes, and so on.

I often have students create a mini glossary for their characters as well which other students can refer to as they are quizzing the character.

This activity is best for intermediate level and above students and even then you may need to provide texts at a suitable level for students to be able to access, otherwise students end up on Wikipedia reading very difficult text.

You can have the group make notes and write summaries of each character for homework if you also wish to work on summary writing skills.

Recommended reading: 15 Research Projects For ESL Students

The Detective Game

For this activity you make up a crime that occurred in a given location, the more gruesome the better and if you can personalise it to your location and environment more the better.

Divide the group into smaller groups of three or four people and then ask them to create their alibis for the morning, afternoon, or evening in question. These people are the suspects.

One group, however, is assigned as being the investigators and they individually quiz different suspects one to one to try and find inconsistencies in their group’s stories. This forces each group to consider exactly what they were doing, where and with whom very carefully and in great detail.

After interviewing as many members of each group and making notes about inconsistencies between group members the investigators then confer with each other to decide upon which group’ alibi is the most inconsistent. This group are then sent to jail.

Whilst the investigators are discussing this, the suspects discuss which investigator was the best at questioning them and finding out the inconsistencies. The suspects will then announce who this person is, and they earn a promotion. Finally, the investigators announce the losing group which will go to prison.

This ‘game’ has got real legs and could go in so many different directions, so don’t be afraid to improvise and have fun with this one.

Drama Activities

Acting out a chapter of a book. Pretty much as it sounds. Read through a chapter of a book with students or have them read it for homework before letting groups act out the chapter, or a scene from it.

This works well even if they all act out the same scene as each group will learn from the last and the acting/performance and language should get increasingly better throughout. Alternatively arrange it so that each group acts out the following scene to the last group and so the full story is told.

Storyboard and act out the student’s own story. Rather than act out a book, you could have students plan out a story, or at least part of a story on a storyboard. This can give a greater sense of ownership, achievement and ‘buy in’ from the students.

What happened next. Read the opening of a book and as a ‘cliffhanger is reached’ pause and have students work together to act out the ending of the story or the next scene at least.

This also works well with videos from YouTube, crime videos work well as do Walt Disney cartoons – even with adult learners for some reason!

You might also be interested in reading my helpful article on how to get your students speaking fluently , here.

Mind Map ping

Vocabulary relationships. Engage students in a subject which contains lots of relationships of cause and effect. Basically, you need to pick a topic and analyse what the different factors were that affected the main decision or characters involved.

In the centre of your mind map place the decision or a character that was made and then arrange influencing factors around this.

The larger the circle each factor is in and the closer it is to the centre of the paper the stronger the influence is. Students then need to explain their mind map and the relationships to the group. Others can question and agree/ disagree with them.

Topics can range from serious issues from history through to celebrity scandals, or even plots in a movie, such as, why did celebrity couple X and Y get divorced, or why did actor x decide to y in the movie xyz. Obviously, you can let the students self select these issues for greater interest.

Backs To The Board

A timeless classic not so much a speaking project but this can be developed into a full lesson’s worth of speaking and it works for groups of all sizes. It is excellent for reviewing vocabulary at the end of a project or to see what students know at the beginning of a topic.

Simply split the group into teams of no more than five and have one member of the group come to the front and sit with their back to the board.

The other members of the group form a ‘u’ shape around the person, or, rather than being sat literally against the board groups can be sat at tables with just one student having their back to the board.

All you then need to do is to write a word on the board and the students facing the board have to get the person not facing the board to say the word without literally telling them the word. They should be encouraged to use definitions, synonyms and examples of the word where possible.

Depending on numbers, students can just shout out when they think they have the answer, or with large groups I make the students raise their hand if they think they have the answer.

The danger with debates is that to the teacher they may seem boring, or at least they do to me but have to remind myself that just because I have done the debates dozens of times, they haven’t and even the most overdone/boring sounding debates may go down like fireworks with some groups.

With that in mind here are a few of the more traditional/boring debates for your students to get their teeth into:

Which is better, country life or city life?

Should animal testing be allowed?

Should school uniforms be gotten rid of

Are cats better than dogs?

Should women be paid as much as men?

Online learning is better than classroom learning

Does money equal success in life?

I also like to see if there is something going on in the students view of the world that is worth debating. For example, in Thailand the debate over whether Korean pop music is better than Thai pop music is a popular one.

I have had colleagues dive into debates about serious political topics with higher level students which have worked really well.

However, some topics are just too hot to handle and you don’t know who you are upsetting so be careful what topics you do debate, you never know who is listening, or who is going to offense at any of your personal views that you may let slip!

Here is a good resource for more ESL debate ideas .

Book And Movie Review s

This is pretty much as it sounds. I like to set a reading task for students over a holiday break and when they return they have to submit a video review of the book or movie they watched/read.

I usually show them a good movie review for ideas and ask them to follow the same format. Something like this review of Kung Fu Panda . This goes along the lines of: background information, main characters, plot explanation, favorite moments, final recommendation.

I’ve also done this with higher level groups for documentaries but with enough support and speaking frames pre intermediate students can engage well with this activity.

Conversation Question s

Don’t underestimate the value of pure lists of conversation questions. Students are often happy to just ‘have a chat’ and use the English that they do know.

It is great for their confidence and fluency, as well as requiring zero lesson prep, which is always a nice thing. Just be sure to rotate speaking partners to avoid students getting bored with the same partners and used to different accents.

Sometimes, depending on ability and interest levels I will teach three or four idioms at the beginning of the lesson and set the task of trying to naturally drop them into conversation later on.

There are lot of good sources of conversation questions, here are a couple: eslconversationquestions.com and esldiscussions.com .

ESL Exam Preparation Material

Some students are hugely motivated by doing well in exams such as the IELTS test, and IGCSE ESL speaking tests. Exam boards for tests such as these produce a plethora of practise material that is often available for free online and ready to be use.

My students particularly enjoy the IELTS speaking part 2 task where they are required to speak about a given topic and are given three bullet points to talk about. They are given one minute to prepare their ideas before they have to speak on their own for two minutes.

If you think your students might enjoy this then here are some good sources of free IELTS style questions: IELTS IDP and ielts-exam.net , and for IGCSE ESL speaking questions check out the role play paper here.

The added bonus of these activities is that there is always a grading criteria ready to be used so you can grade students and give them real reasons why they scored a certain level and what they need to do to score higher in the future.

Here are the IELTS speaking criteria for example which clearly spells out what is expected of students at different levels.

Finger Puppet Shows

One really good way to get shy students speaking I have found to introduce sock puppets. As silly as it sounds, there is something about using a puppet that takes away the pressure on the speaker and frees them up to speak.

Whether it is the element of hilarity of speaking sock or the fact that people are generally looking at the sock rather than the person it seems to work well.

Depending on the ability level I will either give pairs of students scripts to act out with puppets. They can introduce their own props as well to make it even more funny. Alternatively, I will do this as an improv.

I will read out a situation, for example, one of you has lost their passport at the airport. Then the students have to act out this scenes as best as they can.

Switch partners and introduce more situations and watch the energy level of the room pick up!

By the end of the lesson you may well notice previously shy students speaking confidently with other students having been drawn into the magic of sock puppets! A great little speaking project.

Role Plays With Idioms

I use this lesson pattern quite regularly and it works well. I start off with student matching idioms to meanings and then to example sentences with the idioms missing.

After going through these answers and doing any teaching necessary to aid understanding I will then hand out a dialogue but with all the sentences jumbled up.

Students then have to unjumble the conversation which contains one or more of the idioms being used in a natural way. Next, they read the dialogue through taking different roles each and then doing the dialogue again without looking at the words.

Next, students are given the task of creating their own dialogues using at least one of the idioms in an appropriate way. Students write out the dialogues, rehearse them and then act them out for the group.

You can also do this with phrasal verbs but either way it works out well and the routine can be used again when you are a bit short of material or are having a hangover day!

Barrier Activities

One favourite of mine that never fails to stimulate plenty of language use is to simply create your own barrier exercise. I like to get a nice chunky newspaper article related to what we are learning and then go through each paragraph and remove key details, such as: names, dates, place names, times, location etcetera…

I create two versions of this, the first one will have words missing from odd number paragraphs and the second copy will have words missing from even number paragraphs.

This prevents it from becoming confusing and make sure to keep one master version with no details missing and if you have time highlight the missing words in red so it is easy for students to check later.

Once the missing word copies are ready you can divide the class into two halves distributing sheet A to one half and sheet B to the other half. Allow them to work in groups at this point to work out what questions they need to ask the other half of the group in order to get the missing details filled in.

If you think this will be too difficult for them you can provide the questions in a jumbled up format so they have to rearrange them to make the questions,, or even give them the questions but they have to work out the order in which to ask them to correspond to the paragraph order.

After this preparation period students can then pair up with someone from the opposite half of the group to take turns asking and answering each other’s questions.

Make sure that students do not show each other their articles and simply just sit and copy the answers, clearly this simply defeats the whale point of the exercise.

Before starting this I also pre teach any tricky vocabulary that I know is going to come up in the article just to make sure the final questions and answer session goes without too much stopping and starting to ask about vocabulary.

After students have got the answers then you can either display the answers on an overhead projector, or send students back to their original half of the group to see if they have all gotten the same answers.

Jigsaw Reading

This is another easy way to get students involved in the language and speaking. Select a relevant article related to the topic you are studying and chop it up into paragraphs. Hand out A4 paper with a simple one column table with as many boxes as there are paragraphs.

Hand out the paragraphs to the students considering which paragraphs are more difficult and should go to the higher level learners and which are slightly easier and can go to the lower ability students.

Individually, students now summarise in their own words as far as possible their paragraphs and write the summary in a box in the table. Following this students pair up with students who had a different paragraph and they then read out their summaries whilst the other students make notes of it.

Rotate partners so that everyone can get every paragraph and after the first couple of times students have read their summaries, force students to turn over their paper and explain their paragraph from memory.

After the first couple of goes they should be able to do this and by the time they have explained to everyone in the group they should be reeling off their summary very comfortably.

A Word On Differentiation …

There is a lot of fun to be had for the students in the above activities but it is important to not forget that some students will require more support than others. Just asking students to do a role play with no support may be too much for some.

Always consider using speaking frames, having sentence starters placed around the room, ‘useful language’ handouts, and always show a clear model of what it is you are expecting the students to produce.

If you can tick those boxes then your speaking lesson will go that bit more smoothly.

All the best with your ESL speaking projects!

1) Address the subject

During a lesson, point out that it’s very rude for an audience member not to give their complete attention when someone is giving a presentation. Work together with your students to create a list of good and bad audience behavior on the board. You can show them the list of good audience behavior again, right before presentations start.

2) Demonstrate rude behavior

Bring a student to the front of the class for a role play . Ask the student to tell you a story about their childhood. As they speak to you, yawn, look around, play on your smart phone, sigh, give every sign that you don’t really care. When the student finishes, ask the speaker how he felt about your behavior. Ask the class if you were being a good listener. Next, repeat the role play, but choose a student to take your place and ask this student to demonstrate good listener behavior.

3) Teach the presenters

Teach your students techniques that increase student involvement that they can put to use during their presentations. One powerful technique is interacting directly with the audience by moving around, speaking directly to audience members, and asking questions. Another technique is to start off with an intriguing question or short quiz, leaving everyone eager to hear the answers. These techniques could be taught to the students several weeks before they present. You can give a short presentation to demonstrate a technique, then choose a student to model the technique for the class.

4) Carrots and sticks

Consider giving rewards or punishments to students based on how much they pay attention. You can offer a small prize to the student who is the most focused when others are presenting or tell students you will deduct points for students who don’t pay attention.

5) Move the students around

Before presentations begin, make sure that the first few rows of seats are completely full. Also, put students into pairs to break up groups that can’t help chatting away when they’re together.

6) Active participation

Assign a task that heightens involvement in the presentation. You can give the audience a rubric to follow each time a group presents. Students watch and listen, then assess each group. Alternatively, you can insist that everyone ask a question at the end of each presentation, thus encouraging everyone to pay strict attention.

When groups are presenting, scan the class from time to time. If you see students who are not paying attention, make eye contact and gesture for them to watch the presentation . However, overuse of this technique can result in spending too much time disciplining and ultimately missing out on the presentations.

While these techniques might not completely eliminate student inattention, they will definitely make students more aware of the relationship between audience and presenters, and help them improve at both roles.

What are your thoughts? What presentation ideas for ESL students can you offer ?

Hall Houston

Learning Language Online: Reflections And Reviews

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Privacy overview.

Professional development
Planning lessons and courses

Student presentations

In this article I would like to give you a few tips and some advice on what I've learned from helping students prepare and deliver presentations.

Why I get students to do presentations
Syllabus fit
Planning a presentation lesson
Classroom Management

Why I get students to do presentations Presentations are a great way to have students practise all language systems areas (vocabulary, grammar, discourse and phonology) and skills (speaking, reading, writing and listening). They also build confidence, and presenting is a skill that most people will need in the world of work. I find that students who are good presenters are better communicators all round, since they are able to structure and express their ideas clearly.

Presentation skills are extremely useful both in and outside the classroom. After completing a project, a presentation is a channel for students to share with others what they have learned. It is also a chance to challenge and expand on their understanding of the topic by having others ask questions. And in the world of work, a confident presenter is able to inform and persuade colleagues effectively.
Presentations can also form a natural part of task based learning. By focussing on a particular language point or skill, the presentation is a very practical way to revise and extend book, pair and group work. The audience can also be set a task, for example, a set of questions to answer on the presentation, which is a way of getting students to listen to each other.

Syllabus fit Normally the presentation will come towards the end of a lesson or series of lessons that focus on a particular language or skill area. It is a type of freer practice. This is because the students need to feel relatively confident about what they are doing before they stand up and do it in front of other people. If I have been teaching the past simple plus time phrases to tell a story, for example, I give my students plenty of controlled and semi controlled practice activities, such as gapfills, drills and information swaps before I ask them to present on, say, an important event in their country's history, which involves much freer use of the target grammar point.

Planning a presentation lesson Normally a presentation lesson will have an outline like this:

Revision of key language areas
Example presentation, which could be from a textbook or given by the teacher
Students are given a transcript or outline of the presentation
Students identify key stages of the example presentation – greeting, introduction, main points in order of importance, conclusion
Focus on linking and signalling words ('Next…', 'Now I'd like you to look at…', etc.). Students underline these in the transcript/place them in the correct order
Students are put into small groups and write down aims
Students then write down key points which they order, as in the example
Students decide who is going to say what and how
Students prepare visuals (keep the time for this limited as too many visuals become distracting)
Students practise at their tables
Students deliver the presentations in front of the class, with the audience having an observation task to complete (see 'Assessment' below)
The teacher takes notes for feedback later

It is important that the students plan and deliver the presentations in groups at first, unless they are extremely confident and/or fluent. This is because:

Shy students cannot present alone
Students can support each other before, during and after the presentation
Getting ready for the presentation is a practice task in itself
When you have a large class, it takes a very long time for everyone to present individually!

I find it's a good idea to spend time training students in setting clear aims. It is also important that as teachers we think clearly about why we are asking students to present.

Aims Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims:

To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue
To persuade people to do something
Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a first or second language

I set students a task where they answer these questions:

Why are you making the presentation?
What do you want people to learn?
How are you going to make it interesting?

Let's say I want to tell people about volcanoes. I want people to know about why volcanoes form and why they erupt. This would be an informative/awareness-raising presentation. So by the end, everyone should know something new about volcanoes, and they should be able to tell others about them. My plan might look like this:

Introduction - what is a volcano? (2 minutes)
Types of volcano (5 minutes)
Volcanoes around the world (2 minutes)
My favourite volcano (2 minutes)
Conclusion (2-3 minutes)
Questions (2 minutes)

Classroom Management I find that presentation lessons pass very quickly, due the large amount of preparation involved. With a class of 20 students, it will probably take at least 3 hours. With feedback and follow-up tasks, it can last even longer. I try to put students into groups of 3 or 4 with classes of up to 20 students, and larger groups of 5 or 6 with classes up to 40. If you have a class larger than 40, it would be a good idea to do the presentation in a hall or even outside.

Classroom management can become difficult during a presentations lesson, especially during the final presenting stage, as the presenters are partly responsible for managing the class! There are a few points I find effective here:

Training students to stand near people who are chatting and talk 'through' the chatter, by demonstration
Training students to stop talking if chatter continues, again by demonstration
Asking for the audience's attention ('Can I have your attention please?')
Setting the audience an observation task, which is also assessed by the teacher
Limiting the amount of time spent preparing visuals
Arranging furniture so everyone is facing the front

Most of these points are self-explanatory, but I will cover the observation task in more detail in the next section, which deals with assessment.

Assessment The teacher needs to carefully consider the assessment criteria, so that s/he can give meaningful feedback. I usually run through a checklist that covers:

Level - I can't expect Elementary students to use a wide range of tenses or vocabulary, for example, but I'd expect Advanced students to have clear pronunciation and to use a wide range of vocabulary and grammar
Age - Younger learners do not (normally) have the maturity or general knowledge of adults, and the teacher's expectations need to reflect this
Needs - What kind of students are they? Business English students need to have much more sophisticated communication skills than others. Students who are preparing for an exam need to practise the skills that will be assessed in the exam.

I write a list of language related points I'm looking for. This covers:

Range / accuracy of vocabulary
Range / accuracy of grammar
Presentation / discourse management- is it well structured? What linking words are used and how?
Use of visuals- Do they help or hinder the presentation?
Paralinguistic features

'Paralinguistics' refers to non-verbal communication. This is important in a presentation because eye contact, directing your voice to all parts of the room, using pitch and tone to keep attention and so on are all part of engaging an audience.

I find it's a good idea to let students in on the assessment process by setting them a peer observation task. The simplest way to do this is to write a checklist that relates to the aims of the lesson. A task for presentations on major historical events might have a checklist like this:

Does the presenter greet the audience? YES/NO
Does the presenter use the past tense? YES/NO

And so on. This normally helps me to keep all members of the audience awake. To be really sure, though, I include a question that involves personal response to the presentation such as 'What did you like about this presentation and why?'. If working with young learners, it's a good idea to tell them you will look at their answers to the observation task. Otherwise they might simply tick random answers!

Conclusion Presentations are a great way to practise a wide range of skills and to build the general confidence of your students. Due to problems with timing, I would recommend one lesson per term, building confidence bit by bit throughout the year. In a school curriculum this leaves time to get through the core syllabus and prepare for exams.

Presentations - Adult students

Presentation Article

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Speaking Activities

Conversation

Speech & Debate

English Speaking Countries

The News in English

Personality Traits Board Game

Let's Talk About Me

Lonely Student

Giving Support

Business Idioms 13: Public Speaking

Friends: The One With The Male Nanny

ESL Oral Presentation Activities ( See Activities )

Giving a speech is difficult in any language. Teach your students that it is natural to be nervous, but there are presentation skills they can develop to become better at public speaking.

Use these ESL speech activities to help students improve their posture, eye contact, gestures, and voice.

Jump to ESL Oral Presentation Activities

Types of Speeches

There are three basic types of speeches: Informative, Demonstrative, and Persuasive ( See Speech Topics at bottom ).

An informative speech tells the audience about something. It does not try to persuade. It’s only purpose is to give the facts. You can give an informative speech on just about anything.

A demonstrative speech tells or shows the audience how to do something. It gives clear steps from start to finish. Examples include how to cook a dish, how to build a house, or how to play a sport.

A persuasive speech tells the audience why they should do something. It gives clear reasons why the audience should change their mind and agree with the speaker.

Types of Delivery

There are four basic types of delivery: Impromptu, Outline, Manuscript, and Memorized.

Impromptu speeches are generally short and require little to no preparation. Usually there aren’t any written notes. The speaker must think on the spot. It’s common to be asked to give an impromptu speech at a special occasion like a wedding or to accept an award.

Using an outline is the most common type of speech delivery. The speaker prepares an outline which highlights key words and facts. Because there is something written, it is harder to maintain eye contact than an impromptu speech.

A speech with a manuscript has every word written down, so the speaker does not forget to say anything. It takes a lot of practice to sound natural with a manuscript because written English is slightly different from spoken English.

A memorized speech is the most difficult and takes a lot of preparation. The speaker must write a manuscript and then memorize every word. This is the popular route of the Speech Contests that I’ve experienced in Japan. The speaker can practice gestures and intonation, but memorized speeches usually sound lifeless and unnatural.

Speaking of Speech and Getting Ready for Speech are good resources for more ESL oral presentation activities.

Try Our ESL Oral Presentation Activities

Posture Practice

Eye contact.

Eye Contact Activity

Everyday Hand Gestures

Using Gestures In Presentations

Tongue Twisters To Practice Voice

Voice Inflection Activity

Debate Format: Final Debate

Debate: First Negative Constructive

Debate: Organizing The Opinion

Debate: Rebuttal Speech

Debate: Refuting An Argument

Giving Opinions

Giving Reasons

Activities by Topic

Being A Good Audience

Demonstration Speech Assignment

Informative Impromptu Speech

Persuasive Argument Activity

Persuasive Speech Assignment

Presentation Skills Final Exam

Speech Conclusion

Speech Introduction

Visual Aid Speech

Brainstorming ESL Writing Topics

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Free PowerPoint Lessons To Teach English

Download FREE ESL PowerPoint lessons and use them in class today. These PowerPoint lessons are great to use in lessons teaching English to English language learners. You’ll find vocabulary PowerPoints, grammar PowerPoints, seasonal grammar points, phonics PowerPoints, and more presentations covering the topics that ESL students typically study.

ESL PowerPoint Lessons

Browse through all our ESL PowerPoint lessons below.

Action Verbs
Big And Small
Comparative
CVCE Words With A
CVCE Words With E
CVCE Words With I
CVCE Words With O
CVCE Words With U
Daily Routine
Describing Appearance
Fall/Autumn
Family Members
Farm Animals
Feelings And Emotions
First Conditional
Five Senses
How Much Is It?
Jobs And Occupations
Natural Disasters
Onomatopoeia
Opposite Words
Ordinal Numbers
Past Tense Irregular Verbs
Pet Animals
Phonics A to Z
Places Around Town
Prepositions Of Place
Prepositions Of Time
Present Progressive
Present Simple
Quantifiers A Few and A Little
Quantifiers Much and Many
Random Name Generator
Rooms Of The House
School Subjects
Sea Animals
Second Conditional
Sickness and Health
Spring Vocabulary
Superlative Adjectives
Telling The Time
There Is There Are
Tongue Twisters
Transportation
Wh Questions
Winter Clothes
Winter Sports
Would You Rather
Zero Conditional

More Resources

You can find many more free ESL resources on Games4esl. Check out our free PowerPoint Games , Activity Videos , Online Quizzes , Worksheets , and ESL Printables .

Topic: Presentation Skills

As you can see in the slide (giving presentations)

Step into the world of presentations with this handy lesson! Students explore vocabulary for structuring presentations, read the text of a presentation and watch a video on how to communicate ideas clearly.

Presentation: putting skills into action

With this lesson plan, students practise giving a presentation in English by doing a lot of different speaking activities. The lesson is the third of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations.

Moving through your presentation

With this lesson plan, students learn plenty of useful phrases for presentations in English. They also prepare presentation excerpts, and learn how to start a presentation. The lesson is the second of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations.

How to nail that presentation

In this lesson about business presentations in English, students discuss presentation structures in depth, watch a video with tips on giving presentations, and learn useful words and phrases related to the topic. The lesson is the first of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations.

The city of the future is here

With this lesson plan based on a video about Toyota’s city of the future students learn some useful language for presentations and then practise their presentation skills.

The chair that conquered the world

This lesson plan about the chair that conquered the world includes a variety of tasks for students to learn new vocabulary related to describing furniture design and practise their presentation skills.

How do you like your milk?

In this lesson, students will learn advanced cooking verbs, discuss different types of milk and do an English class project.

Apple’s legendary keynotes

The objective of this lesson plan is to teach students some adjectives for describing products and show them a video analysing Apple’s legendary keynotes.

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Speaking exams
Typical speaking tasks

Oral presentation

Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but we're here to help you. Watch two students giving presentations and then read the tips carefully. Which tips do they follow? Which ones don’t they follow?

Instructions

Watch the video of two students doing an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam. Then read the tips below.

Melissa: Hi, everyone! Today I would like to talk about how to become the most popular teen in school.

Firstly, I think getting good academic results is the first factor to make you become popular since, having a good academic result, your teacher will award you in front of your schoolmates. Then, your schoolmates will know who you are and maybe they would like to get to know you because they want to learn something good from you.

Secondly, I think participating in school clubs and student unions can help to make you become popular, since after participating in these school clubs or student union, people will know who you are and it can help you to make friends all around the school, no matter senior forms or junior forms.

In conclusion, I think to become the most popular teen in school we need to have good academic results and also participate in school clubs and student union. Thank you!

Kelvin: Good evening, everyone! So, today I want to talk about whether the sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.

As we all know, cigarettes are not good for our health, not only oneself but also other people around. Moreover, many people die of lung cancer every year because of smoking cigarettes.

But, should the government make it illegal? I don’t think so, because Hong Kong is a place where people can enjoy lots of freedom and if the government banned the sale of cigarettes, many people would disagree with this and stand up to fight for their freedom.

Moreover, Hong Kong is a free market. If there's such a huge government intervention, I think it’s not good for Hong Kong’s economy.

So, if the government wants people to stop smoking cigarettes, what should it do? I think the government can use other administrative ways to do so, for example education and increasing the tax on cigarettes. Also, the government can ban the smokers smoking in public areas. So, this is the end of my presentation. Thank you.

It’s not easy to give a good oral presentation but these tips will help you. Here are our top tips for oral presentations.

Use the planning time to prepare what you’re going to say.
If you are allowed to have a note card, write short notes in point form.
Use more formal language.
Use short, simple sentences to express your ideas clearly.
Pause from time to time and don’t speak too quickly. This allows the listener to understand your ideas. Include a short pause after each idea.
Speak clearly and at the right volume.
Have your notes ready in case you forget anything.
Practise your presentation. If possible record yourself and listen to your presentation. If you can’t record yourself, ask a friend to listen to you. Does your friend understand you?
Make your opinions very clear. Use expressions to give your opinion .
Look at the people who are listening to you.
Write out the whole presentation and learn every word by heart.
Write out the whole presentation and read it aloud.
Use very informal language.
Only look at your note card. It’s important to look up at your listeners when you are speaking.

Useful language for presentations

Explain what your presentation is about at the beginning:

I’m going to talk about ... I’d like to talk about ... The main focus of this presentation is ...

Use these expressions to order your ideas:

First of all, ... Firstly, ... Then, ... Secondly, ... Next, ... Finally, ... Lastly, ... To sum up, ... In conclusion, ...

Use these expressions to add more ideas from the same point of view:

In addition, ... What’s more, ... Also, ... Added to this, ...

To introduce the opposite point of view you can use these words and expressions:

However, ... On the other hand, ... Then again, ...

Example presentation topics

Violent computer games should be banned.
The sale of cigarettes should be made illegal.
Homework should be limited to just two nights a week.
Should school students be required to wear a school uniform?
How to become the most popular teen in school.
Dogs should be banned from cities.

Check your language: ordering - parts of a presentation

Check your understanding: grouping - useful phrases, worksheets and downloads.

Do you think these tips will help you in your next speaking exam? Remember to tell us how well you do in future speaking exams!

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75 Unique School Presentation Ideas and Topics Plus Templates

Are you tired of seeing the same PowerPoints repeating overused and unoriginal school presentation ideas covering repeated topics in your classes?

You know what I’m talking about; we’ve all been there, and sat through yawn-worthy demonstrations, slides, or presentation videos covering everything from the solar system, someone’s favorite pet, past presidents of a country, to why E=mC squared.

school presentation ideas bored cat meme

From grade school to university, first graders to college students, we are obligated to create, perform, and observe academic presentations across a plethora of curriculums and classes, and not all of these public speaking opportunities fall into the category of an ‘interesting topic’.

Yet, have no fear! Here at Piktochart, we are here to help you and your classmates. From giving examples of creative and even interactive presentation ideas, providing presentation videos , and suggesting interactive activities to give your five minutes of fame the ‘wow’ factor that it deserves, this article is your guide!

Our massive collection of unique school and college presentation ideas and templates applies if you’re:

A teacher looking to make your class more engaging and fun with student presentations.
A student who wants to impress your teacher and the rest of the class with a thought-provoking, interesting topic.

A Curated List of Interesting Topics for School Presentations

Did you know that when it comes to presentations , the more students involved improves retention? The more you know! Yet sometimes, you need a little help to get the wheels moving in your head for your next school presentation .

The great thing about these ideas and topics is you can present them either in face-to-face classes or virtual learning sessions.

Each school presentation idea or topic below also comes with a template that you can use. Create a free Piktochart account to try our presentation maker and get access to the high-quality version of the templates. You can also check out our Piktochart for Education plan .

Want to watch this blog post in video format? The video below is for you!

The templates are further divided into the following categories covering the most popular and best presentation topics. Click the links below to skip to a specific section.

Unique science presentation topics to cultivate curiosity in class
Engaging culture and history presentation ideas to draw inspiration from
Health class presentation topics to help students make healthy lifestyle decisions
Data visualization ideas to help students present an overwhelming amount of data and information into clear, engaging visuals
First day of school activity ideas to foster classroom camaraderie
Communication and media topics to teach students the importance of effective communication
Topics to help students prepare for life after school

We hope this list will inspire you and help you nail your next school presentation activity.

Unique Science Presentation Topics to Cultivate Curiosity in Class

Science is a broad field and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed with too many topics to choose for your next presentation.

Cultivate curiosity in the science classroom with the following unique and creative presentation ideas and topics:

1. Can life survive in space?

2. Do plants scream when they’re in pain?

template for do plants scream when they're in pain

3. What are the traits of successful inventors?

template of what are the traits of successful inventors

4. How vaccines work

5. Massive destruction of the Koala’s habitat in Australia

template for massive destruction of the koala's habitat in australia

6. Left brain versus right brain

7. What are great sources of calcium?

template for great sources of calcium infographic

8. Recycling facts you need to know

template for recycling facts you need to know

9. Do you have what it takes to be a NASA astronaut?

10. The rise of robots and AI: Should we be afraid of them?

11. How far down does the sea go?

template for how far down does the sea go

12. The stages of sleep

13. Will Mars be our home in 2028?

template for will mars be our home in 2028

14. A quick look at laboratory safety rules

15. The first person in history to break the sound barrier

template for the first person in history to break the sound barrier

Engaging Culture and History Presentation Ideas to Draw Inspiration From

History is filled with equally inspiring and terrifying stories, and there are lessons that students can learn from the events of the past. Meanwhile, interactive presentations about culture help students learn and embrace diversity.

16. Women in history: A conversation through time

infographic template about women in history: a conversation through time

17. The sweet story of chocolate

18. A history lesson with a twist

template for a history lesson with a twist

19. The history of basketball

20. The origin of the Halloween celebration

origin of the halloween celebration template

21. AI History

22. What you need to know about New Zealand

infographic template about new zealand facts

23. 1883 volcanic eruption of Krakatoa

template for volcanic eruption of krakatoa

24. Roman structures: 2000 years of strength

template for roman structures: 2000 years of strength

25. The most famous art heists in history

template for the most famous art heists in history

26. Elmo: The story behind a child icon

template for elmo: the story behind a child icon

27. 10 things you should know before you visit South Korea

template for things you should know before you visit south korea

28. 8 things you didn’t know about these 8 countries

eight things you didn't know about these countries, template

Health Class Presentation Topics to Help Students Make Healthy Lifestyle Decisions

Want to learn how to engage students with healthcare topic ideas? Then consider using these templates for your next interactive presentation.

According to the CDC , school-based health education contributes to the development of functional health knowledge among students. It also helps them adapt and maintain health-promoting behaviors throughout their lives.

Not only will your presentation help with keeping students engaged, but you’ll also increase class involvement with the right slides.

The following examples of health and wellness interactive presentations include fun ideas and topics that are a good start.

29. How to look after your mental health?

how to look after your mental health infographic template, mental health, mental health infographic, eating disorders

30. The eradication of Polio

template for the eradication of polio, healthcare infographic, healthcare infographic template

31. How to have a healthy lifestyle

infographic template about healthy lifestyle, health infographic template

32. 10 handwashing facts

handwashing infographic template, handwashing visual

33. Myths and facts about depression

infographic template about depression, depression infographic template, infographic on depression

34. Hacks for making fresh food last longer

hacks for making fresh food last longer template, quarantine infographic

35. Ways to avoid spreading the coronavirus

template about how to avoid spreading the coronavirus, covid infographic

36. Mask protection in 5 simple steps

template about mask protection, covid infographic

37. Everything you need to know about the flu

cover photo of the presentation about everything you need to know about the flu, flu infographic

38. All about stress: Prevention, tips, and how to cope

template about stress prevention, tips, and how to cope , stress infographic

39. The importance of sleep

template about the importance of sleep, sleep infographic

40. Is milk tea bad for you?

template about milk tea is bad for you, health infographic

41. How to boost happiness in 10 minutes

template about how to boost happiness in 10 minutes, happiness infographic

42. How dirty are debit and credit cards

template of how dirty are debit and credit cards, credit card infographic

43. Why do you need sunscreen protection

template about sunscreen, sunscreen infographic

Data Visualization Ideas to Help Students Present Overwhelming Amounts of Data in Creative Ways

Data visualization is all about using visuals to make sense of data. Students need to pull the main points from their extensive research, and present them by story telling while being mindful of their classmates’ collective attention span.

As far as student assignments go, storytelling with data is a daunting task for students and teachers alike. To keep your audience interested, consider using a non linear presentation that presents key concepts in creative ways.

Inspire your class to be master data storytellers with the following data visualization ideas:

44. Are we slowly losing the Borneo rainforest?

deforestation infographic, template about deforestation, example of how to share about current events

45. Skateboard deck design over the years

skateboard infographic, template about skateboard deck design over the years

46. Food waste during the Super Bowl

super bowl infographic, food waste infographic, template about food waste during the super bowl

47. The weight of the tallest building in the world

building infographic, construction infographic, template about the weight of the tallest building in the world

48. Infographic about data and statistics

data infographic, statistics infographic

49. Stats about cyberbullying

template for stats about cyberbullying, cyberbullying infographic

50. How whales combat climate change

climate change infographic, template for how whales combat climate change

First Day of School Interactive Activity Ideas to Foster Whole-class-Camaraderie

Calling all teachers! Welcome your new students and start the school year with the following back-to-school creative presentation ideas and relevant templates for first-day-of-school activities.

These interactive presentations grab the attention of your students and are remarkably easy to execute (which is the main educator’s goal after all)!

51. Meet the teacher

meet the teacher template, introduction template, meet the teacher visual

52. Example: all about me

introduction infographic, about me visual template

53. Self-introduction

template about self introduction, introduction infographic, about me visual template

54. Tips on how to focus on schoolwork

template about how to productive, productivity infographic, taking notes

55. Course plan and schedule

course plan template, course plan visual, course list

Give our class schedule maker a try to access more templates for free. You can also access our presentation-maker , poster-maker , timeline-maker , and more by simply signing up .

56. Interpreting a student’s report card (for parents)

student report card template, student report card visual

57. Introduction of classroom rules

classroom rules, classroom rules template

58. Assignment schedule

course topics, assignments, course template, course infographic

59. Daily planner

60. Course syllabus presentation

61. How to write a class presentation

template for how to create a class presentation,

Topics to Teach Students the Importance of Effective Communication

Visual media helps students retain more of the concepts taught in the classroom. The following media topics and infographic templates can help you showcase complex concepts in a short amount of time.

In addition, interactive presentation activities using these templates also encourage the development of a holistic learning process in the classroom because they help focus on the three domains of learning: cognitive, affective, and psychomotor.

62. Interactive presentation do’s and don’ts

template for presentation dos and donts, presentation infographic

63. How to create an infographic

template about how to create an infographic

Recommended reading : How to Make an Infographic in 30 Minutes

64. How to improve your internet security and privacy

infographic template about internet privacy

65. What is design thinking?

what is design thinking infographic template

66. What are your favorite software tools to use in the classroom?

infographic template about educational software

Presentation Topic Ideas to Help Students Prepare for Life After School

One of the things that makes teaching a rewarding career is seeing your students take the learning and knowledge you’ve instilled in them, and become successful, productive adults.

From pitching a business idea to starting your podcast, the following topics are good starting points to prepare students for the challenges after graduation (aka adulting 101):

67. How to make a resume

68. How to start a startup

how to start a startup, startup infographic, how to temple

69. Credit card vs. debit card

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70. Pros and cons of cryptocurrency

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71. How to save on travel

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72. How to do a SWOT analysis

73. How to pitch a business idea

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74. Habits of successful people

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75. Starting your own podcast: A checklist

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Find out how a high school teacher like Jamie Barkin uses Piktochart to improve learning in the classroom for her students.

Pro tip: make your presentation as interactive as possible. Students have an attention span of two to three minutes per year of age. To keep minds from wandering off, include some interactive games or activities in the lesson. For example, if you conducted a lesson on the respiratory system, you could ask them to practice breathing techniques.

Maintain eye contact with your students, and you’ll get instant feedback on how interested they are in the interactive presentation.

Make School Presentation Visuals Without the Hassle of Making Them From Scratch

School presentations, when done right, can help teachers engage their classes and improve students’ education effectively by presenting information using the right presentation topic.

If you’re pressed for time and resources to make your school presentation visuals , choose a template from Piktochart’s template gallery . Aside from the easy customization options, you can also print and download these templates to your preferred format.

Piktochart also professional templates to create infographics , posters , brochures , reports , and more.

Creating school-focused, engaging, and interactive presentations can be tedious at first, but with a little bit of research and Piktochart’s handy templates, you’re going to do a great job!

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Need a good presentation topic? Here are hundreds of them.

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Anete Ezera November 04, 2022

If you’re looking for good topics for presentations, you’ve landed on the right page. In this article, you’ll find plenty of good presentation topics, tips on choosing the most suitable topic for you, and essential design elements to make your presentation a success.

Many factors go into an excellent presentation. You need to have confident body language and engage your audience to hold their attention. You also need eye-catching visual aids like images, data visualizations, GIFs, and others (all of which you can find in Prezi ), not to mention a great opening to grab attention and a strong closing line to stay memorable. However, the most essential aspect of your presentation is the topic. It’s the core of your presentation, so it has to be strong, insightful, attention-grabbing, and appealing to yourself and your audience in order to evolve into a successful presentation everyone will love.

good presentation topics: a woman giving a presentation in a business meeting

How to choose a good presentation topic

There are millions of topics you could create a presentation on, but what defines a good topic? If you’re struggling to either come up with a good topic for a presentation or you can’t decide between multiple ones, here are a few questions you should ask yourself before choosing a topic.

What’s the goal of your presentation?

When you’re choosing a topic, consider the meaning behind it. Ask yourself what the purpose of talking about this topic is, and what you want to say about it. Whatever topic you choose to present, the conclusion needs to provide a takeaway or lesson you want to communicate to your audience. A meaningful goal will make your presentation more memorable.

Are you interested in the topic?

If you’re not interested in the topic, others won’t be curious either. Interest, enthusiasm, and passion enrich your presentation and are noticeable when presenting. Interest shines through and inspires others to find the topic as fascinating as you do. Think about the last time you saw someone sharing something they were passionate about – their excitement drew people in to pay closer attention to what they were saying.

When choosing a topic, you need to find it or a particular angle of it interesting for yourself. For example, perhaps you’re not a pop music enthusiast, but you’re passionate about studying cultural phenomena. In this case, you can talk about pop music’s influence on early 2000s youth culture.

Will your audience find this topic relatable?

While you have to find the topic you’re presenting interesting, you also have to think about your audience. When choosing a subject, consider your audience’s background in terms of demographics, interests, culture, and knowledge level about the topic. Think about what others will find fascinating and relevant, so they’re not bored or confused during your presentation.

Do you have prior experience or knowledge about this topic?

Personal experiences are always great to share in a presentation, providing your unique perspective for anyone listening. While you can easily prepare your presentation based on a quick Google search, it won’t make the same lasting impact on your audience. Choose a topic you have some prior knowledge about, or have an interesting opinion you can share with others. It’ll make your presentation more engaging and memorable.

good presentation topics: a presenter on stage

Ideas for good presentation topics

It’s not easy to come up with a good presentation topic from scratch. It’s much easier to get inspired from other good presentation topics to build your topic on. Whether you’re looking for presentation ideas for work, about me presentation ideas, unique or easy presentation topics, you’ll find them all here.

Without further ado, here are some good presentation topics to choose from or get inspired by.

Presentation topics about social media

The role of social media in portraying gender stereotypes
How social media impacts our body image
How social media shaped Gen Z
The most significant differences between the Facebook and TikTok generations
The negative effects of social media
The positive impacts of social media
The effects of social media on behavior
How social media impacts our physical (or mental) health
How social media has shaped our understanding of mass media
Should we teach about social media in schools?
The rise of social media influencers
How AR Instagram filters impact our self-image
How to go viral on social media?
The origins of social media echo chambers
Social media as a news outlet

Author: Ish Verduzco

Presentation topics about movies

How movies influence our understanding of good and evil
Beauty standards represented in movies
How female characters are depicted in Hollywood movies
How horror movies and global fears have developed through time
The adverse effects of romance movies
How movies have changed our understanding of the Western culture
Charlie Chaplin and the silent movie era
The globalization of culture: Hollywood vs. Bollywood
The psychology behind the music in films
The ethics of using animals in movies
Social media’s influence on the film industry
The history of filmmaking
The role of color in movies
The cultural impact of romance movies
How are gender stereotypes depicted in Hollywood movies?

Author: Cinto Marti

Presentation topics about music

The impact of pop music on beauty standards
Should digital music be free for everyone?
The psychology behind the music in advertisements
The effectiveness of sound therapy
Can music inspire criminal behavior?
The psychological effects of metal music
The origins of K-pop
How does music influence our understanding of the world?
Can music help in the learning process?
The positive effects of classical music
The history of hip hop
Why is music education essential in schools?
The psychological benefits of playing piano
Can anyone become a famous musician?
The role of music in fashion

Author: Prezi Editorial

Presentation topics about health

The link between food and mental health
Inequality in the healthcare system
Myths about healthy practices
Simple practices that help you stay healthy
Health education in schools: Should it change?
Toxic positivity and mental health
The impact of superfoods on our health
The psychology behind unhealthy eating habits
Sex education in schools: Why should we have it?
How to trick yourself into getting better: The placebo effect
How to strengthen your immune system
How to tell if someone is depressed
The health benefits of regular exercise
The impact of junk food on mental health
Stress-caused diseases

Author: Prezi Education Team

Presentation topics about human psychology

What is social depression?
What triggers panic attacks?
The impact of testosterone on aggressive behavior
How to overcome social anxiety
Differences in the functioning of the brain of a child and adult
The impact of violent video games on children’s brain development
How does the use of social media influence our attention span?
How to overcome childhood trauma
The influence of marijuana on the human brain
How does behavioral therapy work
The psychology behind fame
The causes of personality disorders
The differences in brain functioning between men and women
What happens in therapy sessions?
The psychology of substance abuse

Presentation topics about self-development

The impact of exercise on productivity
How to deal with stress
How to deal with procrastination
The positive effects of meditation
Why new–year’s resolutions don’t work
How to overcome bad habits
The impact of negative thoughts
The negative effects of self-criticism
The role of creativity in self-development
Benefits of journaling
How to learn something fast
How to be mindful
The importance of curiosity
How to become more self-aware
Why it’s essential to spend time with yourself

Author: Nir Eyal

Presentation topics about education

What are the advantages and disadvantages of online education?
The positive effects of a gap year
Should university education be free?
Inequality in education access
How language learning benefits brain development
Emerging gender issues in education
The importance of socialization in school
School bullying and student development
The benefits of reading
Is the education system broken?
What you don’t learn in college
The link between education and brain development
The history of schools
The gender gap in STEM
The connection between equality in education and economic growth

Presentation topics about culture

Is graffiti a form of art or street vandalism?
Cultural diversity in the workplace
The impact of culture on gender roles
The issue with orientalism
Are humans the only species that has culture?
How do different cultures view death?
The ethical issues of pop culture
The impact of culture on personal development
Sexism in different cultures
The impact of globalization on local cultures
The viral spread of the #metoo movement
The history of subcultures
The problem with romanticizing toxic relationships in movies
90s pop-culture influence on fashion trends
The evolution of cultural psychology

Author: Devin Banerjee

Presentation ideas for work

What it’s like to be a digital nomad?
How to deal with workplace conflicts
The secret to a productive day
How to set achievable goals
The importance of diversity in a workplace
The positive effects of creative thinking at work
How to give constructive feedback
The characteristics of a valuable team member
Inequality and the glass ceiling
Racial discrimination in the workplace
Work habits of different cultures
How is work perceived in various countries?
Technological development and the future of work
The importance of a healthy work/life balance
The rise of health problems in office work

Author: Charles Huang

Presentation topics about hybrid work

The positive effects of hybrid work on work/life balance
Is hybrid work the future work model?
How to stay connected in a hybrid work model
The challenges of hybrid work nobody talks about
How to stay productive when working from home
The social effects of hybrid work
The economic impacts of hybrid work
Case study: Hybrid work model in [company]
What causes Zoom fatigue?
The problem with online meetings
Is hybrid work better than remote work?
How to develop a close relationship with colleagues in a hybrid work model
What kind of company culture is best for a hybrid work model?
Is hybrid work sustainable?
Cybersecurity consideration for hybrid working

Author: Barbie Brewer

Presentation topics about public speaking

The importance of body language in public speeches
How to appear confident when you’re not
How to become a better orator
The use of eye contact in public speaking
Breathing exercises that will calm you down before public speaking
The benefits of public speaking
Ways to improve public speaking skills
How to leave a great first impression on stage
How to engage your audience during a public speech
How to best structure your public speech
How to end your presentation speech
Can anyone learn to be good at public speaking?
How to prepare for a public speech
What not to do right before a public speech
How to address a controversial topic in a public speech

Author: Prezi Team

Presentation topics about entrepreneurship and leadership

The main principles of a good leader
The impact of leadership skills on professional performance
The mistake every entrepreneur makes
How to successfully lead a cross-cultural team
How to celebrate inclusivity in a diverse team
What are the common personality traits of a successful entrepreneur?
The impact of entrepreneurship on the global economy
The characteristics of a leader
The most common challenges of entrepreneurship
Can anyone learn to become a successful leader?
What affects new venture growth?
The psychology of leadership
What is crowdsourcing?
The benefits of being an entrepreneur
Common mistakes leaders make

Author: Jill Sinclair

Presentation topics about technology

The rise of technological development
Is technology addictive?
Should we use drones for military and non-military purposes?
The sustainability of electric cars
What are deepfakes?
Limitations of AI machines
The future of programming
Ethical issues of AI
The future of AR in business
How VR can be used in the medical field

Author: David Vandegrift

Sales presentation topics

How to make a cold email intro
What is sales enablement?
How to build better relationships with customers
The best way to improve pipeline management
Coaching via verbal and written role-play
How to plan cold calls
What’s a deal-breaker for most customers?
All about personalized coaching
How to manage objections
How to close more deals
How to keep your prospects engaged
Effective sales communication strategies
How to conduct a competitor analysis
The most valuable sales skills
What soft skills do you need to become a successful sales rep?

Author: Cindy McGovern

Easy presentation topics

Benefits of daily exercise and how to incorporate it into your routine
Simple and nutritious meal recipes
Tips for improving time management and productivity
The importance of recycling
The history of a local landmark or festival
Ways to reduce stress
Exploring different types of renewable energy sources and their impact on the environment
The basics of budgeting and saving money for future goals
The benefits of social media for professional use
Tips for overcoming stage fright
How to start a meditation practice
The impact of technology on modern society
The basics of personal finance
The health benefits of a plant-based diet
The history of Earth Day

Good how to presentation topics

How to create a successful social media marketing strategy
How to give a persuasive presentation
How to create effective and engaging content for your blog
How to discover your strengths and weaknesses
How to use project management tools to increase productivity
How to make the most out of boring meetings
How to build a personal brand
How to conduct effective market research
How to use data analytics to improve decision-making
How to improve your decision-making process
How to write a winning proposal
How to create a visually stunning presentation
How to manage stressful situations at work
How to make friends as an adult
How to network at work events

About me presentation ideas

My journey to becoming who I am today
My passion for [insert topic or activity]
My career aspirations and goals
My travels and adventures around the world
My hobbies and interests outside of work/school
My role models and influences
My strengths and weaknesses
My favorite books, movies, and TV shows
My proudest achievements and accomplishments
My favorite childhood memories
My family and friends
My education and academic background
My volunteer and community service experience
My personality traits and values
My vision for the future and how I plan to achieve it

Author: Adam Grant

Student presentation ideas

The history and evolution of video games
The history and cultural impact of tattoos
The impact of social media on body image and self-esteem
The effects of globalization on local cultures and economies
The role of education in promoting social justice and equity
The ethical implications of autonomous weapons in warfare
The impact of mass media on society and culture
The causes and effects of deforestation on biodiversity and climate change
The history and cultural significance of dance in different parts of the world
The psychology of addiction and recovery
The impact of the gig economy on labor rights and job security
The history and impact of feminism on gender equality
The benefits and drawbacks of renewable energy sources
The impact of colonialism on indigenous cultures and identities
The role of technology in promoting global connectivity and intercultural understanding

Author: Edward Quinn

How to create a good presentation

If you know what you want to present on, it’s time to create an impactful presentation that grabs everyone’s attention. Presentation design plays a crucial role in how your presentation is received and remembered. To stand out and leave a memorable impact on your audience, create a Prezi presentation. Instead of a linear, slide-based presentation, offer an engaging and dynamic storytelling experience to your audience. Breathe life into your presentation with motion, zoom, and spatial relationships. When creating your presentation, consider the following three essential elements:

Visuals play a significant part in presentation design. They evoke emotions, make a memorable impact, and give more context to the story. Not to mention, 65% of people are visual learners , so visual aids are helpful when explaining a complex topic.

In your presentation, include different types of visuals, such as images, videos, GIFs, and stickers, all of which you can find in Prezi’s content library. When selecting your visuals, consider what’s relevant and brings additional value to the story. Only add what’s meaningful and necessary. A video or image at the right place and time will enrich the viewing experience and make your presentation more memorable.

The layout of your presentation is the structure of your story. It’ll help you introduce the topic, intrigue your audience, and unfold the layers of your topic one by one until you disclose your main arguments and summarize the presentation. A good presentation layout has a hierarchical, chronological, or logical flow that leads the viewer from start to finish.

If you’re creating a Prezi presentation, you can create a dynamic storytelling experience by experimenting with your layout. Instead of going from slide to slide, you can zoom in and out of topics and experiment with different shapes, animations, and effects that draw the viewer into your story world. Here’s an example of a Prezi presentation with a great storytelling layout:

Author: Lydia Antonatos

Data visualizations can elevate your presentation from being a good one to a great one. By providing data behind your arguments, you’ll appear more trustworthy and confident in your audience’s eyes.

Add charts, graphs, interactive maps, and more to your presentations with Prezi Design. You can choose from a wide selection of charts and maps to illustrate your data. With interactive elements, you’ll be able to engage your audience and make a memorable impact.

Engaging visuals, a well-structured layout, and relevant data visualizations will provide a great starting base to create a memorable presentation. Discover other tips and tricks that make your presentation effective and capture people’s attention.

Choosing a topic for a presentation isn’t easy. When selecting a topic, think about the goal of your presentation, your interest and knowledge about the topic, and whether or not your audience will find it relevant and interesting for them. Also, get inspired by other topics that’ll help you figure out what you want to talk about. Lastly, when creating your presentation, consider the impact of visuals, layout, and data visualizations. To simplify the creation process, follow the step-by-step process of making a presentation with helpful tips and resources.

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10 Professional Development Ideas for ESL Teachers

Professional development for ESL teachers doesn’t only help you work more effectively—it helps you learn how to engage with students regardless of their age or nationality.

Continue reading to learn more about ESL professional development ideas and how they can be used to make you a better teacher.

1. Schedule ESL Professional Development Presentations

2. share teaching and esl professional development ideas, 3. regularly schedule staff meetings, 4. host teacher training workshops, 5. attend virtual courses and seminars on esl professional development, 6. take advantage of resources covering esl professional development ideas, 7. consider participating in a fellowship program, 8. forge authentic relationships with experts on social media, 9. subscribe to e-newsletters related to esl professional development, 10. evaluate student feedback carefully.

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The goal of an ESL professional development presentation is to help you and your colleagues become better ESL teachers. Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly presentations provide multiple opportunities to talk about something related to teaching ESL, as well as share ideas and strategies with each other.

Good professional development presentations focus on identifying pain points or weaknesses commonly found in the classroom and formulating actionable solutions to overcome them.

Presentations can focus on topics such as:

Trends in the ESL industry and how to seamlessly integrate these trends into the classroom
Ways to help students improve their English using social media
How to teach English classes online
Apps that help with teaching

Another great way to encourage professional development is to put a “resource box” in the teacher’s office. The idea is to have teachers write down teaching ideas, fun activities and teaching strategies and put them in the box. You can then open the idea box once a week during a teacher’s meeting and look at all the ideas and resources submitted.

If the idea of using a physical box sounds too archaic, you can also create a document or spreadsheet using Google Docs or Google Sheets , respectively, and give your colleagues permission to edit the document. They can then type teaching ideas into the document, which everyone can talk about during the next staff meeting.

Teacher’s meetings are an effective way to make sure that everyone’s on the same page when it comes to teaching goals , deadlines and teaching strategies . Unlike presentations, where everyone listens to one person talk about a specific topic, meetings require everyone to participate in the discussion and share their ideas and experiences.

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Staff meetings work best when they’re weekly or biweekly. That way, all staff members are more likely to stay up-to-date with news, resources and anything else related to teaching ESL. These meetings are also a good way to get feedback on teaching material like textbooks and software.

You can also turn staff meetings into short training events that focus on learning how to use new hardware and software, in addition to exploring ways to help students learn English more efficiently.

Workshops are a common way for educators to learn new teaching strategies and improve their pedagogical skills. Lasting anywhere from a full day to a week or longer, teacher training workshops are typically filled with lectures and activities that focus on specific areas like creating teaching aids, building rapport with students and using technology in the classroom.

One useful technology to bring into the classroom is FluentU , which provides engaging content for your students, no matter what age range or skill level they are. With FluentU, you can take a step back from the traditional textbook approach and encourage your students to learn languages in a more natural way.

Sometimes, teachers are unable to attend workshops and seminars in person due to scheduling conflicts and travel expenses. Fortunately, advancements in technology have made it easier for teachers to attend professional development courses without having to travel across or outside the country.

For example, the TESOL International Association hosts a number of online skill-building workshops and courses throughout the year , including virtual seminars covering:

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Cultural understanding in the ESL learning environment
Bringing social issues into classroom lessons
Ways to teach grammar more effectively

The best part about TESOL’s virtual seminars and courses is that they cover anything and everything involving English education and students, such as social and cultural factors that could influence the way students from various backgrounds learn English.

These courses help teachers take a more balanced and mindful approach to their students’ strengths and weaknesses, which in turn can improve the learning experience as a whole.

The best way for you and your colleagues to grow professionally is to have access to resources designed specifically for ESL teachers. The goal is to incorporate a number of different ideas and perspectives, making it easier for teachers to think outside the box when teaching in the classroom.

Here are some free resources to help you continuously grow as an ESL teacher:

British Council TeachingEnglish: The British Council has a wealth of free materials for ESL educators looking to sharpen their teaching skills and learn new and creative ways to engage with learners.
The TEFLology Podcast: True to its name, this podcast covers various topics related to Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL). Many episodes feature interviews with experts sharing their thoughts and perspectives on the field.
TEFL Training Institute Podcast: This podcast has a similar format as The TEFLology Podcast. Some episodes have just the regular hosts talking about the topic at hand, while many others have expert interviews.

While many ESL teaching jobs don’t require that you hold anything higher than a bachelor’s degree, additional qualifications could also aid your professional development.

For example, if you’re a U.S. citizen, hold a graduate degree in a field related to teaching the English language and have relevant experience, you may be qualified for the English Language (EL) Fellow Program . The fellowship lasts for about 10 months, and participants have the opportunity to teach in institutions of higher education in over 80 countries around the world.

As an EL Fellow, you can engage in specialized projects including but not limited to Curriculum Development, Program Evaluation, Testing and English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

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If you’re on a website like LinkedIn, you may already be following ESL/EFL teachers who regularly post about the industry and trends related to it. Instead of simply being a passive follower, you can comment on their posts that sparked your interest, engage in thoughtful discussions with them and gain expert insights you may not find anywhere else.

Building professional relationships isn’t too different from building other types of relationships. As long as you both benefit from your connection in equal measure and genuinely like each other, being in contact with an expert in your field will not feel like an entirely self-serving endeavor.

Instead of searching for teaching strategies and ESL industry updates via the digital behemoth that is the World Wide Web, why not let this information come straight into your inbox?

Many ESL teaching blogs offer the option to subscribe to their newsletter, such as the following:

TESOL English Language Bulletin: TESOL English Language Bulletin is a weekly e-newsletter from the TESOL International Association . You can subscribe to it here .
BusyTeacher: Aside from being a treasure trove of ESL teaching materials, BusyTeacher also provides an option to subscribe to their newsletter “BusyTeacher Weekly.” Here’s a sample .

Professional development activities shouldn’t be limited to what you do once classes end. If you’re unsure as to what aspect of your teaching you need to improve, student feedback can give you valuable clues .

For example, if students say something along the lines of “your classes are informative, but they’re boring,” you can take courses on how to make teaching ESL classes more fun without sacrificing their educational value.

Also, if your school doesn’t already employ a student feedback system, you can create your own. Here are some ideas on how to do so .

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Professional development for ESL teachers is an ongoing project. It may sound cliché, but teachers refer to themselves as “lifelong learners” for a reason. Being a good teacher is more than just learning how to teach from a textbook—it also requires you to learn how to connect with students from different backgrounds and learning styles, and come up with teaching strategies that work best for each individual learner.

By gathering and executing ESL professional development ideas, you’re able to continue to improve your teaching skills, as well as help your students reach all of their academic goals.

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20+ Great Business English Topics and Lesson Activities

For Business English students, it’s important that ESL lessons are based on the needs of their day-to-day work.

They want to practice situations taken from their professional environment, and discuss real-life Business English topics.

Some are: making phone calls, being able to hold and carry on conversations, speaking with colleagues, preparing and giving presentations, or negotiations.

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Coming up with creative activities and finding good topics for your lessons can be tough and time-consuming.

The Business English activities in this post will save you time and effort in making quality content for your lessons.

Business english: 20+ activities for ESL Lessons

About the Business English Topics And Activities

Topic: airbnb business travel, topic: commuting to work, topic: big business (amazon, coca-cola, netflix, etc.), topic: artificial intelligence and future technology, topic: music, bonus activity.

Lessons including well-designed activities will prepare your students for their professional lives and give them the necessary skills and vocabulary needed to communicate effectively in English.

The 20 activity suggestions you’ll find in this post relate to the topics of business travel, commuting to work, big business, artificial intelligence, technology, and music.

The activities you can do on these business English topics are from specific lesson plans based on videos , which come equipped with a range of different printable Business English worksheets , conversation topics, speaking exercises, listening activities, and writing exercises for adults.

Below are some examples of activities from these lessons that can help your Business English students improve their communication skills.

Airbnb has been expanding their services to open up the market for business travelers.

They are simplifying the process of booking and launched some tools which automatically organize your business trip expenses. This new business travel program is coming out strong.

Phone Calling
Writing Accommodation Descriptions
Leaving Reviews
Mobile App Concepts
Debate With Hotel Owner
Comparing and Contrasting

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the real estate, hospitality, or mobile app industries, but also in general for any businessmen or women who have to travel for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons: it’s controversial (hotel owners aren’t happy about AirBnB) and it’s a hot topic (more and more people are choosing Airbnb over hotels).

Airbnb is a relatively new global powerhouse, revolutionizing the hospitality industry the same way that Uber revolutionized the taxi industry.

Activity: Phone Calling

Put students in pairs or a group. Assign each student a different role from the roles below, or they can choose one.

Students have to imagine that they are Airbnb hosts who just hosted:

A small group of middle-aged business travelers
A small group of young adult party travelers
A small family of 4 with young children
An individual traveler who came with his dog

Students then ‘call’ their ‘friends’ (another student in the class) to either leave a voicemail or talk about the experience (or complain about the experience!).

They should describe how the experience was as the host for these types of travelers:

What was different about hosting each of their stays?
Was it positive or negative and why?
Did anything good, bad, surprising, or unusual happen during their stay?

You could even have them imagine what could be a positive and negative experience for hosting these types of travelers.

You could even get a bit more creative with this one by assigning a pair of students a role from the list above, and they have to call the ‘host’ (their partner) and ask them questions or make special requests about their stay, e.g:

Am I allowed to bring my dog to your property?
Is there a nice cafe in the area where I can bring my laptop to do work?
We have a baby who cries a lot during the night. Will this bother you?

Even though with Airbnb, you would probably just message the host online, but in this case, you can make it a phone call to practice speaking.

Activity: Writing Accommodation or Property Descriptions & Reviews

Students work with a partner or group and imagine they are Airbnb hosts offering a special, exotic, or unique type of accommodation rental.

They should discuss and agree on the type of home rental they have to offer, where in the world it is, and create their own online listing for this rental on Airbnb.

In the listing, they should explain what type of rental it is, the location, the check-in and check-out procedure, a description and special features of the accommodation, and other housing details and rules.

Make students offer something different or special about their property – something they wouldn’t get somewhere else. Remember, they want to sell the experience!

Students then present their accommodation profile description to the other students in the class and then give their listing to another student or group.

The other student or group then makes a detailed review for that listing, imagining they actually stayed there.

Activity: Creating Mobile App Concepts in the Sharing Economy

Put students in pairs and give them a list of other mobile apps in the sharing economy.

Neighborgoods

Based on the name of the app, students have to discuss and explain what they imagine the concept of the app to be and how it works.

After students work together for a couple of minutes, go around the class and ask them to report their answers. If they’re not able to imagine what it might be, you can just tell them.

Ask them questions like:

Would this type of app be useful for you? Why or why not?
Which app from this list would help you the most?

Try to create an in-depth class discussion about all of these apps.

For the apps listed above specifically, you can discuss things like:

If parking is a problem for your students (JustPark)
What they do with their dog when they go on a trip (DogVacay)
If they would be interested to drive with a stranger for many hours (BlaBla Car)
If they’ve ever eaten at someone’s home, from another country or culture (HomeDine)

Then, students can either work with the same or different partners to create their own concept for a mobile app in the sharing economy.

They should focus on things like:

The special features of the app
What problem it solves / Why it’s a good idea
How it works
What problems could happen when people use your app

An alternative to this one is I’ve also had students imagine that they were the founders of Airbnb, and they have to come up with their own detailed story behind the establishment of the company, which turned out to be a fun activity.

Activity: Debate Between AirBnB Representative and Hotel Owner

Put students in pairs or two small groups and they prepare for a debate.

One student or group takes the position of an AirBnB company representative and the other takes the position of a Hotel Owner.

Each side must prepare, defend, and present their positions to the other groups, presenting information about…

Why they believe their accommodation service is better (at least 3 advantages of your service) Students must talk about the top reasons to stay in a hotel over Airbnb, or vice versa.
If you think Airbnb should be legal or illegal and why (obviously the AirBnB rep will say it should be legal and the hotel owner will say it should be illegal)
The positive impact your service has on society and the economy
What actual people and guests have said about your accommodation services

You can refer to this article to help students talk about Airbnb versus hotels if they are having trouble coming up with ideas.

Your role as the teacher will be the moderator during the debate – generating follow-up questions for the students or groups when they present their sides. Keep the debate clean and flowing smoothly.

Activity: Comparing and Contrasting (Hotels vs. AirBnB or Uber vs. Taxi)

If for any reason you don’t want to make this an official ‘debate,’ another thing you could do is just make it a general, in-depth class discussion, conversation, or compare & contrast about the advantages and disadvantages of staying in Airbnb in comparison with hotels.

Make sure students talk about their own experiences.

Transition the discussion to the conflict between Uber and Taxi, because they are facing a similar conflict for similar reasons.

If your students enjoyed the discussion about AirBnB and hotels, an interesting follow-up lesson topic for you might be about a businessman who is building hotels designed for outer space .

Many businessmen and women in the modern world have to commute for hours and hours per week to their jobs or for work purposes. Sitting in the car or public transit like this can really have a negative impact on one’s overall lifestyle.

Telling a Story
Commenting on YouTube
Expressing Frustrations or Complaining
Talking About Lifestyle & Daily Routines

The reason this topic works so well in Business ESL lessons is that it reaches such a wide spectrum of people.

Everyone who has a job as an employee in a company, a school, a factory, etc has a unique situation. All Business English students usually have a lot to say about their experience commuting (or home office if they have that privilege!).

Activity: Telling a Story

Students work in pairs.

Student A: This student imagines that he/she spends a lot of time commuting and is very pessimistic about the situation.

This student believes that they have the worst commute in the world. Describe the situation in detail. The student should complain about it as much as possible and why they hate it so much.

They should take notes on:

Where you live
Your daily routine
Where you go to work
What’s so bad about the commute / What are the conditions of the commute
How commuting makes you feel

The student then has to tell one negative story that they have had during their commute.

Student B: This student imagines that they spend a lot of time commuting but is very optimistic about the situation.

This student loves the situation that they have. They should discuss and explain in detail why they have the best commute in the world, talk about it as much as possible and why they enjoy it.

Also, they take notes on:

They tell one positive story that they’ve had during your commute.

After the students write notes for their roles (give them a few minutes), have them describe their situations to their partner.

They should listen to their partner’s situation carefully because they should then report the details of their partner’s situation back to the class!

Activity: Commenting on YouTube

At the beginning of the video, the reporter complains about her long daily routine and commute, and then she says to the audience:

“Before you go and post that comment telling me to ‘move closer’, you need to see that I’m not the only person doing this.”

In pairs, students should come up with a response that the following type of people would write or say to the reporter in the YouTube comments section, e.g:

What could be a rude response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
What could be an empathetic response to that statement in the comment section of the video?
What could be a funny response to that statement in the comment section of the video?

Another activity you could do is give students some imaginary comments to that video, and then the students have to write responses to these imaginary comments. You can make it a speaking or writing activity.

For example, here are a few possible comments to that video:

Comment #1:

“Americans are completely crazy and lazy. You drive these huge cars to work and in reality , you don’t need to. Look at the Netherlands and Denmark – they have very efficient bicycle transport systems and bicycles are much more environmental. It’s stupid to drive everywhere.”

Comment #2:

“The best solution to this problem is self-driving cars. Our tax money should go more to support the production of self-driving cars. That way when people commute they can do productive things. The solution to public transit is getting better wifi connections on the subways and buses.”

You can instruct one student to write a response which agrees with each comment, and the other student to write a response which disagrees with each comment, something along those lines.

Activity: Expressing Frustrations & Complaining

Put students in pairs, or in two groups. You’ll distribute to each student pair or group two cards which read:

A: Riding on public transport
B: Driving in a car

Students must work together to come up with a list of all the things that frustrate them, annoy them, stress them out, or make them angry while (1) riding on public transport and (2) driving a car.

The group which comes up with the most things in the time limit (3 minutes should be good) wins.

This activity usually works really well because everyone gets angry, stressed, frustrated, etc. at some point while driving a car or riding public transportation.

A lot of good vocabulary can also come out of this one. You can even teach a couple of fun phrasal verbs related to driving when you talk about this topic:

Cut (someone) off – “I hate when I’m driving and someone cuts me off and then I have to slam on my brakes.”
Pull (someone) over – “I hate when I’m driving only a little bit above the speed limit and a police officer pulls me over.”
Freak out – “I hate driving with my father. He always drives aggressively and freaks out about small things.”
Run over – “I hate when I run over a nail or a sharp object and my tire goes flat.”
Hold (someone) up – “I hate when traffic holds me up and makes me late for work.”

You can use this activity for teaching students other terminology that is useful for expressing complaints or frustrations:

I get frustrated when…
I get all stressed out when…
It gets me so worked up when…
It pisses me off when…
I totally freak out when…
I lose my mind when…
It drives me nuts when…

Have students then use these expressions to talk about their frustrations commuting or about their job in general.

Activity: Talking About Lifestyle, Commuting, and Employment Situations

Spending hours commuting and then hours at the office has become so integrated into the modern working world that it can have quite a profound impact on our quality of life and lifestyle, which is why it’s good to talk about in a language lesson.

Here’s an activity you can do that will give your students a good opportunity to talk about their lifestyle, commute, and employment situation.

It’s also simple, easy to prepare, and generates quality conversation.

Print a number of statements on cards and give them to the students or write them on the whiteboard in class.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if they think the following statements are generally true or false and why:

People are generally happier if they travel to work by car instead of public transportation.
In the USA, people generally commute to work or school by train or bus.
10 days of paid vacation per year is fair from an employer.
Regular exercise helps people deal with stress from work.
People are more productive if they have a 4-day working week instead of 5.

Put students in pairs or groups. Have them discuss if the following statements are true or false for them personally and have them explain why:

There is a positive working atmosphere at my job.
I am satisfied with my work-life balance.
Every day I eat a balanced and healthy breakfast before work.
When I commute to work I try to be productive on the way.
I prefer working from home rather than going to an office.
I spend too much time at work socializing with my colleagues.

Speaking about daily routines is also a great activity if you’d like to focus on the present simple as a grammar point for your lesson.

Using big companies and corporations as a topic in your Business English lessons is practical for obvious reasons and you can make it fun too for your students.

It’s especially great to use big business as a topic if you actually have adult students who work in big companies, but they’re also applicable topics for students who have their own business or who work in smaller companies.

History & Fun Facts
Developing a Product
Making Slogans
Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Activity: History & Fun Facts About Big Companies

As a lead-in or warm-up exercise to a lesson about big business, you can search and find some fun or interesting facts or history about the companies.

One quick activity you could do to lead to a topic is a simple fill-in-the-blank that looks something like this:

Below are 5 interesting facts about Amazon. Let the students fill in the blanks with words that they think fit.

The founder Jeff Bazos wanted to name the company Amazon which has products from ‘A to Z’ symbolizing a large size, just like the Amazon ________________________ .
Amazon.com started as a bookstore in Jeff Bazos’ ________________________ .
The combined ________________________ of Amazon’s warehouses is enough to hold more water than 10,000 Olympic pools.
Today Amazon has more than 350,000 ________________________ .
One of Amazon’s first offices had a ________________________ which employees would ring every time a sale was made.

Below are 5 interesting facts about Coca-Cola. Fill in the blanks with words that you think fit.

The Coca-Cola ________________________ is recognized by 94% of the world’s population.
The word “cola” is derived from the kola ________________________ , which contains caffeine and can have medicinal value.
Coca-Cola can be a good ________________________ for insect bites on your skin.
Coca-Cola spends more money on ________________________ than Microsoft and Apple combined.
A few people once tried to sell the Coca-Cola ________________________ to Pepsi, but they were reported to the FBI.

A fun activity you can follow up with this one is instruct students to research any big business they have in mind and search for some fun facts about that company or the story behind how it started.

If they can’t think of one, you can give them a list of the biggest or most well-known companies in the world.

Have them give a few-minute presentation in the following lesson about the start or history of the company and a few fun facts about it. This is also good for developing presentation skills for adults in English.

They can use the questions below to help them give their presentation:

Who started the company and when? How did the idea originate?
What were some important moments in the company’s history?
What are some of the company’s most successful products or services? Describe them in detail.
What’s special or different about this company compared to the competitors?
What are some fun facts about your company?

Activity: Developing a Product

Amazon launched a prototype store called ‘Amazon Go’ in December of 2017 – it’s a type of grocery store where you can go shopping and add things to your virtual cart so that you don’t have to wait in line or check out.

You add the products to your shopping cart and you can just leave the store, and Amazon will automatically charge your account.

They have developed other types of products and services over the years that have been successful, such as the Amazon Kindle (E-Reader) and Amazon Echo (voice-controlled smart speaker/personal assistant).

In this activity, what you do is have students work together on product development for Amazon or for another big company.

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine to be product developers for Amazon and create two of their own products, or services provided and sold by Amazon.

They should discuss and create names for the products or services, which industry the products or services are in, and then write a description for each explaining how it works, what problem it solves, what’s so special about it, as well as what problems they have experienced in the development.

It can be a special kind of mobile app, tech gadget, clothing item, or something else.

Of course, it doesn’t necessarily have to be from Amazon. You can have students choose another company.

One way you could get your students to come up with a good idea is instruct them to think of some brands that they generally buy, and then brainstorm what products they think would be cool to have from those brands.

Or you can have them think of some problems or frustrations they have in their daily life and what product or service would solve those problems for them. In the case of Amazon Go, the problem was that people hate waiting in lines at supermarkets.

Remind students that it doesn’t have to be realistic, it can be something imaginary.

Most of your students who will do this activity probably haven’t developed a product before. Keep it basic, simple, and fun, and it should go ok.

You just want students to be creative and work together to make something special.

One time I had a group who made a personal assistant who did all of his presentations for him because he hated public speaking, which I thought was pretty funny.

Students should then present their new product to the other students or groups.

Activity: Making Slogans

This is a straightforward activity and easy to assign and it works great with any student who is in marketing. Students also tend to have fun with it.

Basically, all you need to do is assign students to make a slogan for whatever company or brand you’re discussing.

One thing I’ve done to make it interesting and add a little twist to it is to have students make a list of good and bad slogans for one company.

That one has definitely brought a couple laughs to the lesson, especially for the bad slogans.

Here are a few examples I’ve gotten from students for bad company slogans for Coca-Cola:

“Feed your sugar addiction.”
“Put on the big pounds.”
“Teeth are overrated.”

Anyway, give them some examples of some real slogans that have already existed for the brand before they make their own.

A few actual ones for Coca-Cola are:

“Open Happiness”
“Life Tastes Good.”
“Taste the Feeling.”

The advantage of having students make their own slogan or quote is that it lets student use creativity. When students have to think creatively, they’re forced to use important vocabulary terms and language structures in a special kind of way.

In any case, have your students share and present their slogans and quotes to the other students in the class.

Another great type of ESL group activities are information gap activities. Get 10 ideas here.

Activity: Analyzing the Impact of Technology on Jobs

Another great theme and activity that comes from a discussion about companies like Amazon, is analyzing the impact of technology on jobs.

That’s one big criticism of concepts like Amazon Go that I’ve discussed with my students. The more jobs that robots do for us, the more jobs they take away from humans (Amazon Go takes jobs away from cashiers).

One activity you could do on this is to have students brainstorm and come up with two more jobs, companies, or businesses that have been taken over or lost to technological advances.

Students should specify the name or type of the technology, which industry it is in, and three general impacts of this technology (can be positive or negative impacts).

Two examples I remember hearing from students was about VHS and video rental stores being lost to online streaming services like Netflix, and driving jobs being lost to self-driving cars.

Technology : Online streaming

Industry : Entertainment

It put VHS video rental stores out of business
It makes people lazier because they don’t go to the video store anymore
Illegal online pirating of films and TV becomes easier

Technology : Self-driving cars

Industry : Automotive

Less need for delivery drivers, truckers, and taxis
Fewer accidents on the road because machines are more precise than humans
People can focus on other things in the car if they don’t have to concentrate on driving

You can give these examples to your students if they don’t think of them.

You can also give students the task of coming up with two jobs where it could be very difficult for technology to take over. Which jobs do you think technology couldn’t do in the future? Students should specify why it would be difficult to take over these jobs using this technology.

Doing an ESL lesson activity about the impact of technology on jobs leads us to the next point: Artificial intelligence and future technology, which has its feet in many industries and certainly draws interest from Business English students.

Interview With a Humanoid Robot
Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot
Forming Opinions

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the IT or programming industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use technology regularly for their jobs.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – it can get a little dark (a humanoid robot which can communicate freaks people out a bit!) and it’s also relevant – artificial intelligence and machine learning is making its way into a lot of industries, products, and software these days.

It’s interesting when the stuff that used to be sci-fi stuff turns into reality, and that’s what you want to focus on in your Business English lessons.

Activity: Interview With a Humanoid Robot

Watch the video about Sophia the robot with your students.

Basically, what students do is make an interview with her.

Sophia the robot makes for a great English lesson, period. Students are usually quite intrigued by “her” and there are so many different directions you can take this lesson.

After watching the video, instruct each student to create and write five extra questions that they would want to ask Sophia. (Questions which are not in the video interview).

After they are finished making their questions, they ask their partner the questions they made. Students then answer their partner’s questions from the perspective of Sophia the robot.

Here are some words or topics students could either use in their questions or use just as general topics to help them make their questions:

After a student answers each question, their partner should try to ask a follow-up question or two – a question you ask on the spot based on the answer you get.

Explain the concept of a follow-up question to your students and show them examples:

Original question : “What emotions do you feel?”

Answer : “I feel curious.”

Follow-up question : “Why do you feel curious?”

Answer : “I feel curious because I want to know why I was created and why I’m different than normal humans.”

Follow up question : “Can you imagine why you were created?”

Having students ask follow-up questions is great practice for developing interview and conversational skills because they have to think on their feet without time to prepare.

Activity: Making a Sci-Fi Film Plot

Watch the sci-fi short film about ‘Sight Systems’ which forecasts the evolution of ‘Google Glasses’ and Virtual Reality (which are also great topics to discuss in your Business English lessons).

After you watch the video with your students, a fun activity you could have your students do is to imagine that they are directors creating the next scenes to the short film they just watched about Sight Systems.

They should work in pairs and discuss and write what the next five scenes will be. Have them describe the scenes in detail and explain what happens in each scene.

Students then share what they came up with the other students in the class.

After this, put the students back together and they should come up with a short plot for a similar type of short film that they saw.

The plot must focus on the dangers of future technology. Alternatively, you could give them the option of creating a movie plot focusing on the bright sides of technology.

Activity: Forming Opinions and Interview Quotes

This activity can actually be applied to a range of different topics.

Put the students in pairs and have them imagine to be speaking from the perspective of the following companies or people.

Students have to make an opinion from the standpoint of each company or person.

Gas Company
Electric Car Company
Solar Panel Company
Environmental Activist
Auto Technician
Car Consumer

For the people above, you could have students imagine they were interviewed about their thoughts on electric charging highways.

What do they think about electric highways? Do they support or oppose them? Let them explain their opinion.

Then they have to agree on what would be the most important quote or statement from that interview.

Give students some useful phrases for expressing opinions to help them make their opinions or quotes, which are at least three sentences long and they explain their opinion.

You could give students an ideal example quote from an interview with an Environmental Activist:

“In the long-term, electric charging highways will be a great solution for decreasing pollution because it promotes the consumption and usage of electric vehicles, which are much better for the environment than gas-powered vehicles. However, in the short-term, electric charging highways could produce a negative impact on the environment because of the intense construction work that will be needed to create these highways all across the country. Therefore, I see a positive long-term effect and a negative short-term effect.”

You want your students to form something similar for each of the roles, then students should present the opinions or quotes they made together to the rest of the class.

Doing ESL lesson activities about music is fun and there’s a lot of different directions you can take this topic in a lesson.

Music is also a big business with all of the jobs in music production, sound technology, festivals, online streaming services like Spotify, and these days even vinyl is making a comeback.

Organizing an Event
Making a Business Plan
Giving a Presentation

This topic works especially great with Business English lessons in the music industry, but also in general for any businessmen or women who use are interested in music.

This is an especially engaging Business English topic for a few reasons – people love music and it’s a big part of life for many people.

Activity: Organizing an Event

Have students work with a partner. They should imagine they are event organizers and are planning a festival concept for next summer.

They want to make it even better than the Belgian festival “Tomorrowland” and the most luxurious festival in the world.

What luxuries will there be? What special things can be added, implemented, planned, organized, or done in order to create a better festival experience for the guests?

Students should discuss these points together. They can use the discussion questions below to help them:

What special luxuries, things, offers, products, facilities, and features you will provide?
What will be different about the campsite? How will you make it better than Dreamville?
Describe the atmosphere. What’s unique about the stages and performances?
Describe the security concept. How will you make the event safe and what are the policies?

Students should then give a presentation about their festival concept to the other groups and describe in as much detail as possible what the festival will be like.

After hearing from the other groups, students can discuss which festival concept was the best and why and give advice about what might help their festival to be better.

Activity: Making a Business Plan

Students work together with a partner or group. They imagine that they are opening a vinyl store in their town. They must make a business plan and a to-do list.

Watch the video “Czech businessman leads vinyl revival” here.

They can answer these questions in their business plan:

What is the name of your vinyl shop?
Other than vinyls, what will you need to get started?
How will your vinyl shop stand out from the competition?
Describe what kind of theme or atmosphere the shop would have. How would you decorate the shop/front window?
Describe your ideal kind of customer or target market.
Describe your ideal kind of employee or shop assistant.
What could be some clever ways to advertise your shop?
What will be the biggest challenges of opening the shop?

Students can then present their business plan to the other students in the class.

Activity: Giving a Presentation

Students work with a partner or group. They imagine they are giving a presentation to a group of vinyl fanatics.

They should choose from one of the topics below they’d like to do a presentation about, or they can also make their own topic.

They should prepare and give a one-minute presentation to the other groups on their chosen topic.

Even if they don’t know much about the topic, you can just instruct them to be as creative as possible and come up with some interesting things to talk about.

Here are the topics they can choose from:

How to create a sustainable future for vinyl
The guide to shopping for and listening to vinyl like a pro
The future of music
Why the age of vinyl in the 70s beats today’s digital age
The steps to starting up a successful vinyl shop

You can have students do research on the internet if they have access.

You can also give students the choice to also come up with their own idea for a presentation, anything in the music sector. It doesn’t have to be specifically related to vinyls.

The most important thing is that students have a structure for their presentation, have researched important information about it, and teach the class something interesting.

You can also have students include one of each of the following things in their presentation:

A problem (Music has become too digital in modern ages.)
A statistic or fact (Over 7.6 million vinyls were sold in the US in 2018.)
An opinion (We believe that vinyls will continue to be popular for years.)
A quote (Zdenek Pelc said, “If people like something, they need something touchable.”)

This one last bonus activity you could do will help your students develop the skills they need for business and professional reasons.

Have them give a “show and tell” presentation or just simply talk about three gadgets, tools, products, services, etc they’ve bought in the recent past related to one of their personal interests.

Have the students teach the class either how to use this product or service, how it works, why they bought it, what the features are, what problem it solves for them, etc.

Here are some actual examples from my students, which you can show your students to give them an idea of what you’re looking for:

A new running watch
A subscription to Netflix
A Nintendo NES Classic Edition
A new bicycle helmet
A portable speaker

All of these activities referenced are meant to be engaging for your adult students in Business English lessons, but the most effective way to do them is with the full lesson plans via the links above.

Watching the videos with your students should generate extra discussion and give you extra content to work with.

Find more resources and ideas for your ESL lessons here.

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3 thoughts on “20+ great business english topics and lesson activities”.

Brilliant content. Relevant topics and articles with comprehensive structural lesson plans. Thank you.

Practicing the business English lessons in he student life can be very helpful in longer run. This helps in the proper development of the individual for professional world. Thanks so much for sharing this!

This sight seems to be very good. Complete lessons for a teacher like me. Thank you so much for sharing it free of charge.

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120 Presentation Topic Ideas Help You Hook Your Audience

Updated: January 15, 2024

Published: August 09, 2023

Cooking is easy. The puzzle is figuring out what to eat. As soon as you know that, you can get started. The same holds for presentations. The sooner you can whip up a good, informative, and catchy topic, the easier the rest of the process becomes.

man presents presentation topics to a group

Pick a good topic that resonates with you and your audience to set a strong foundation. But select the wrong topic, and it becomes difficult to connect with your audience, find mutual interests, or hold their attention.

So, let’s learn how to develop thought-provoking and relevant topics for your presentations. You’ll also find some best practices to make your presentation memorable.

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How to Choose a Great Presentation Topic in 5 Steps

120 presentation topic ideas, 5 presentation tips.

How to Choose a Great Presentation Topic. Be novel. Begin with the end in mind.

4. Choose an appropriate presentation style.

There are many ways to present a topic. Your personality, the topic at hand, and your audience’s personas will help you determine which style would best fit you and your audience.

Select a presentation style that will communicate the main idea clearly and have a lasting impact on your audience.

For instance, explore a freeform style presenter by Sir Ken Robinson.

5. Engage with your audience.

Work on your presentation skills to make a strong connection with your audience, get through to them and leave a mark.

Think of the presenter as the link between the topic and the audience. A strong or a weak presenter can make a difference between a presentation being a thriving success or a boring failure.

Hone your skills by engaging and interacting with your audience. Make them feel like a part of the presentation and not just spectators. 70% of marketers have found presentations with interactive content to be more effective than those without.

Here are a few ways you can make your presentation interactive:

Start your speech with uncommon questions to your audience. Involve them from the get-go, like ask to raise their hands if X.
Make eye contact to build credibility and show confidence. Don’t stare at your slides or notes. Smile occasionally and talk to the audience directly.
Have an active and confident body language. Don’t stand in the same place the entire time. Move around the stage.
Don’t be monotonous. Speak as you would to a colleague — with enthusiasm.
Ask close-ended questions in between to keep the audience engaged without losing time. Address them using their names to keep things interesting.
Share personal experiences and stories that your audience will find fascinating and relatable.
Practice thoroughly before you present so you’re fluent with the material and delivery.
Energy and excitement can be quite contagious. Make sure you exude enough to spread some to your audience.

Feeling Inspired Yet?

Now you have all the right ingredients for choosing amazing topics and a hundred ideas to drive inspiration from. So, go ahead and start cooking presentations that will blow your audience away.

Don’t forget to choose a super-relevant topic and add meaty information. Do it with excitement to make it enjoyable for you and your audience. Best of luck!

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ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations
ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations. ESL presentation topics for intermediate and upper intermediate students. Great as a warm-up or a speaking lesson. You can use the slideshow and share your screen on Zoom or other app when teaching online. Just click on the full screen option in the top right corner of the slideshow.
ESL Presentation Topics and Ideas: A Complete Guide
ESL presentation topics are a great way to learn English, build confidence, and learn about different cultures. They can be fun and rewarding for students of all levels. Beginners can start by sharing their daily routines and interests. It is a good way to practice using basic vocabulary and grammar in a fun way.
Presentation Projects Ideas ESL/EFL Students
Plus, it's fun to hear what students have to say. Here are my top presentation projects for ESL/EFL students. Basic speech (not recommended!) Presentation, then discussion time. Poster presentation. Making a movie. PowerPoint presentation. Impromptu presentation. Teaching the class how to do something.
180+ Presentation Topic Ideas [Plus Templates]
List of Presentation Topic Ideas for Students. We know how difficult it is to come up with an interesting presentation topic idea on the fly. That's why we put together a list of more than 200 ideas to help you out. We've organized these presentation topics for students by subject so you can easily browse through and find what you're looking for.
ESL Presentation Topics
1. Have your students choose a topic of interest that would have several data points to research and present. 2. Have the students make a sketch of the planned infographic. 3. Using PowerPoint, have the students make the infographic (use a blank layout, in portrait, with the margins set to 10"/25cm by 30"/75cm). 4.
15 Speaking Projects And Activities For ESL Students
Presentations. Give students a presentation of a topic of your choosing, perhaps your own hobby and model the format and language that you want the students to use. I tend to share slides with the student with the title of each slide already inserted. Students then have to fill the space with suitable information for that slide.
Presentation Ideas for ESL Students
1) Address the subject. During a lesson, point out that it's very rude for an audience member not to give their complete attention when someone is giving a presentation. Work together with your students to create a list of good and bad audience behavior on the board. You can show them the list of good audience behavior again, right before ...
Student presentations
Presentations normally have one or more of the following aims: To inform/ raise awareness of an important issue. To persuade people to do something. Form part of an exam, demonstrating public speaking/presentation skills in a first or second language. I set students a task where they answer these questions:
EFLSensei
ESL Oral Presentation Activities. Giving a speech is difficult in any language. Teach your students that it is natural to be nervous, but there are presentation skills they can develop to become better at public speaking. Use these ESL speech activities to help students improve their posture, eye contact, gestures, and voice.
7 ESL Activities for Public Speaking
4. Give presentations in small groups. 5. Prepare solo presentations using PowerPoint. 6. Do improvised presentations on random topics. 7. Do some drama activities. Download: This blog post is available as a convenient and portable PDF that you can take anywhere.
ESL Speech & Presentation Topics
Studying ESL categories and topics before a class presentation will aid a student's performance and is paramount to obtaining good grades. Learn more about presentation topics such as hobbies ...
20 Presentation Tips for Your ESL Students
Establish audience rapport. Be aware of your body language. Understand cultural differences. Maintain interest by varying the speed, volume and pitch of your voice. Deal with listeners' questions politely. Respond to your audience positively. These tips are condensed from Presentations in English. Written by Josef Essberger for EnglishClub ...
Free PowerPoint Lessons To Teach English
Download FREE ESL PowerPoint lessons and use them in class today. These PowerPoint lessons are great to use in lessons teaching English to English language learners. You'll find vocabulary PowerPoints, grammar PowerPoints, seasonal grammar points, phonics PowerPoints, and more presentations covering the topics that ESL students typically study.
Presentation Skills Lesson Plans
Business. In this lesson about business presentations in English, students discuss presentation structures in depth, watch a video with tips on giving presentations, and learn useful words and phrases related to the topic. The lesson is the first of the three-part series of lessons about delivering presentations. Unlimited Plan Show.
Oral presentation
Personal online tutoring. EnglishScore Tutors is the British Council's one-to-one tutoring platform for 13- to 17-year-olds. Giving an oral presentation as part of a speaking exam can be quite scary, but we're here to help you. Watch two students giving presentations and then read the tips carefully.
75 Unique School Presentation Ideas and Topics Plus Templates
History is filled with equally inspiring and terrifying stories, and there are lessons that students can learn from the events of the past. Meanwhile, interactive presentations about culture help students learn and embrace diversity. 16. Women in history: A conversation through time. Get this template.
Need a good presentation topic? Here are hundreds of them
Data. Data visualizations can elevate your presentation from being a good one to a great one. By providing data behind your arguments, you'll appear more trustworthy and confident in your audience's eyes. Add charts, graphs, interactive maps, and more to your presentations with Prezi Design. You can choose from a wide selection of charts ...
1,049 Topic English ESL powerpoints
EFYL Topics 4/4. This is the fourth and the last power point Jeopardy type game where the students take turns to answer a question about an A2 related topic. It has six options being number one the easiest and six the hardest. If the student answers the question correctly he/she will play again. The awarded points/prices will be up to the teacher.
29 ESL Conversation Topics for Adult Students
15. Crime. Crime may not be on the top of people's lists of favorite topics but it's something that's talked about. Depending on someone's life experiences, it may be something that has affected their lives. Learning to discuss it could help in the long run.
10 Professional Development Ideas for ESL Teachers
1. Schedule ESL Professional Development Presentations. The goal of an ESL professional development presentation is to help you and your colleagues become better ESL teachers. Weekly, bi-weekly or monthly presentations provide multiple opportunities to talk about something related to teaching ESL, as well as share ideas and strategies with each ...
1,353 Discussion English ESL powerpoints
A selection of English ESL discussion ppt slides. Log in / Register. Worksheets. Powerpoints. Video Lessons. Search. Filters. Browse Topics: Grammar Topics General Topics. 1,353 Discussion English ESL powerpoints ... Shopping discussion. Speaking on the topi. 1366 uses. Wescobar. Discussion Language. gives students discu. 384 uses. NickJBooth ...
20+ Great Business English Topics and Lesson Activities
The reason this topic works so well in Business ESL lessons is that it reaches such a wide spectrum of people. Everyone who has a job as an employee in a company, a school, a factory, etc has a unique situation. All Business English students usually have a lot to say about their experience commuting (or home office if they have that privilege!).
120 Presentation Topic Ideas Help You Hook Your Audience
Step 3: Be novel. Make sure you either select a new topic or bring an entirely new and unique perspective to an already covered issue. For instance, don't make a presentation on the "best lead generation strategies.". Your audience has probably heard those dozens of times already. Corny.
51 Best Presentation Slides for Engaging Presentations (2024)
Use clear and legible fonts, and maintain a consistent design throughout the presentation. 2. Visual appeal: Incorporate visually appealing elements such as relevant images, charts, graphs, or diagrams. Use high-quality visuals that enhance understanding and make the content more engaging.
ESL Conversation Questions for Adults
Our comprehensive pack of ESL conversation starters, covering most common daily topics, is specifically designed to get your students talking and prepared for real-life conversations about everything! They will never feel unprepared again! Conveniently compiled into one folder, download dozens of questions covering: Travel.
2024 Digital Humanities Research Showcase
12-12:30 pm -- Lunch, Welcome Remarks, and Presentation on "A Decade of CESTA Data" 12:30-3:30 pm -- DH Research Fellows' Showcase 12:30 - 1:50 PM : The Meaning and Measurement of Place with presentations from: Matt Randolph (PhD Candidate in History): "Bringing AI to Archibald Grimké's Archive: A Case Study of Artificial Intelligence for Histories of Race and Slavery" This digital project ...

ESL Presentation Topics: 12 Mini Presentations

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ESL Conversation Topics

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In this article

Part 1. What Types of ESL Presentation Topics Are You in Search Of?

Travel and Culture

Environmental Issues

Current Events

Literature and Arts

History and Politics

Food and Cuisine

Part 2. How To Prepare Your ESL Presentation?

Use Data and Infographics for Less Content

Make an Outline for Your ESL Presentation

Practice Before Presentation

Part 3. 5 Best ESL Presentation Topics for All Students

Part 4. Best Tool for Your ESL Presentation – Wondershare Presentory

Key Features

The Bottom Line

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#1: A Basic Speech

Maybe Not Terrible if…

#2: Presentation, and then Discussion Time

#3: Poster Presentation

#4 Presentation Projects: Making a Movie

#5: PowerPoint Presentation

#6: Just a Minute Impromptu Presentation

#7: Teaching Others How to Do Something

#8: What are you Cooking?

#9: An Informative Speech

ESL Presentations FAQs

Why are Presentations Important for Students?

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What are the Advantages of a Presentation?

Should Students Memorize Speeches?

What are some Things to Consider for Presentations in English?

What are the Top 20 ESL Presentation Topics?

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