ORAL PRESENTATIONS

A very important part of studying for a degree is oral presentations. At school and at secondary school we have always been forced to present some topics. Sometimes we were the ones who chose them and some other times we were not. The reality is that we do not like presenting anything to our classmates. Even if they are old friends of ours, we always feel embarrassment. A missing piece of oral presentations is that they are focused on us learning how to deal with shame and learning how to be able to present any topic.

We always feel shame when we are forced to speak in public. We may be in the street or at any place and we do not feel any shame but when it comes to talk to the class we feel very insecure. The point is that we should not get that feeling when talking to people we are supposed to know. Then, where does that feeling come from? Embarrassment comes from the fear some people suffer of being ridiculed. There is actually a very common phobia of people being scared of speaking in public. This is kind of a mental problem and there are people that have a really bad time when they have to present something. However, although it is very difficult to overtake this concern, all we need to do is to face the situation and just carry on.

By continuously exhibiting and speaking in public, we can develop our skills and stop that silly fear some people suffer from. People have problems when presenting some topics in their mother tongue so when they have to present the same topic in a foreign language, people have more problems. It is a fact that we always feel more confident when taking in our mother tongue. For instance, when I am forced to explain to the class some issue talking in English I feel very nervous and always think that I would surely be better standing up for the same issue in Spanish. However, this is a common mistake of every foreign speaker: we tend to think in our mother tongue instead of thinking in the language we pretend to speak. In order to learn how to develop any issue we may be asked for, we need to stop being scared of mistaking.

Overall, oral presentations always make us feel insecure and shy. The point is that we have to learn from them in order to deal with shame and to present different topics. In so many courses we are expected to do this type of things without doubting so, let’s start from now and acknowledge the principal key of oral presentations.