Austin TP4

This time, I helped Michel work on his presentation skills. I helped him create a presentation to his class about the Bongo drums, which are a prominent musical instrument in his home country of the Ivory Coast. He knows more about them than I do, so I gave him a lot of freedom in saying what he wanted. He surprised me with his grasp of the language and grammar, so I didn't have much to say on that. However, this turned out to be more of a speech class than an English lesson. What I mean is, I helped him with something that maybe CIES had overlooked: public speaking. I told him to first give me the speech in his native French, so I could watch his mannerisms, and body language. I could soon tell this needed a lot of work.

He got up and stood by the doorway, and started speaking in French, rapidly and with a clear voice. However, the body language was a disaster. He kept his head down, and stared at the floor the whole time, or he stared at the ceiling. "Eye contact" I pointed out. "You have to make eye contact with your audience. No matter what language you are speaking, people want to feel connected."

"Also your hands" I said. Michel's hands were in his pockets, which is a no-no. "If you're at a podium, keep your hands up there. And talk with your hands." I know Europeans like to do this: gesticulate with their hands. It gives emphasis to their words, and gets your attention. After this basic tutorial in body language, we switched to English. I was amazed at how much different he was. This was a speech I wanted to hear. And I don't even play the bongos.

Michel is really skilled at using transition words, and beginning new points. "First of all, secondly, also, however, finally". I would say that is his best skill when it comes to the English language. I wish I could take credit for that, but he already knew how to do that before I met him. I have to give props to the people at CIES for that. Thanks for getting him ready for me, and making my job easier.