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Our daugther


Patrick

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Our daughter is 14 and is in year 3 eme she as been told that she needs to do a presentation in front of her class mates. she as been told that if she does not speak about her self and the future she will not be put forward for her diploma. Not to happy with one or two other teachers and considering prehaps other options than this school. Would welcome any ideas many thanks
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My first reaction is that (to use some of my former life management-speak) you should see this as an opportunity rather than a threat.

I rather doubt that any teaching staff would be looking for presentation perfection from a youngster of 14.  Far from it, just the confidence to stand up and deliver 2 minutes (?) worth of rational arguement .............. and in a language that isn't her natural tongue.

They're pushing her - perhaps no bad thing for any youngster.

My only worry would be whether she has been singled out as the only one to have to do this - if that were to be the case, then I'd be much more concerned, in fact it would be totally out of order. I'd be staggered if that was the case.

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Don't forget that the rather wooden and mechanical 'je me présente, je suis NormanH, je suis d'origine anglaise alors vous

allez avoir beaucoup de difficultés à me comprendre à cause de mon

mauvais accent...j'ai plus que 65 ans bla bla bla' is very standard in hundreds of situations in France.

If you go for a job interview it is one of the first things they ask it :  'Présentez_vous, vous avez 15 minutes' was the first  thing I heard when I started looking for work, and I was completely tongue- tied as I had ben expecting a question led interview.

In a similar way if you go on a course or attend a meeting where people don't know each other this sort of 2 minute postage stamp of who you are is expected to say in front of the whole group.

I wouldn't see it as anything to get worried about, just as Gardian says an opportunity to practise in a controlled and safe environment something that will be expected later.

I was recently introduced to a French MP who is one of the few in Europe Ecologie les Verts to have been actually elected.  I managed to to blurt out "Je suis NormanH . je suis plus alcholo que écolo"  ...[6]

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Our two boys are in the French education system. There are several stages in the exam procedures that come later (the History of Art exam for example) that need your child to be able to assimilate a lot of information and produce a short presentation. TPE for the BAC is another good example. The more your child practises it, the easier it will become. I taught in a Leadership school and supervised presentation preparation. IMO you should get your child to practise in front of you, time it, watch examples on YouTube etc give help advice.

Which diploma are you taking about? I doubt they can stop her taking the Brevet!
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[quote user="NormanH"]... if you go on a course or attend a meeting where people don't know each other this sort of 2 minute postage stamp of who you are is expected to say in front of the whole group.[/quote]

Quite true.

I've had to "present" myself (in English, which was more of a foreign language at the time than it is now) more times than I can remember for job interviews and training courses...

I did it for United Airlines, trying to get a job as a flight attendant (they offered a place on the training course, but I chickened out), I did it for Kodak at the start of a 7-day training course at Hemel Hampstead and for various refresher courses during my working life in England...

I do a bit of English conversation with a few youngsters in the village, and I ask them to speak about themselves for a couple of minutes, as a way to assess their fluency and to get them used to speaking without a text to refer to. We do variations (family, hobbies, carreer, lottey win...) and they get more comfortable and less self-conscious about ad-libbing in a foreign language very quickly...

Could it be that a teacher has suggested your daughter is not ready for the exam because she's not yet ready to speak in front of her peers...?

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