Portuguese Year 5: Planning an oral presentation and linking your ideas
Portuguese, Year 5 (Portugal): Choose the purpose (inform, retell, take a stand), make a bullet-point script and link ideas with connectors, pronouns and consistent tenses.
Purpose first, then a plan
An oral presentation has a purpose: to inform (exposition), to retell (tell again, in the order things happened) or to take a stand (defend an opinion with reasons). Plan before you speak: 1) purpose and audience; 2) two or three ideas: the events, the aspects or the reasons; 3) an order: introduction, development, conclusion; 4) a bullet-point script, not a text to read out. If the topic has different points of view, discuss them first and only then choose yours.
Speech has to hold together
Whoever listens cannot go back, so the links must be in your voice. These are the cohesion elements: connectors («porque», «mas», «por isso», «primeiro»); anaphora, that is, taking up something already said, like «ela» for «a horta»; adverbs such as «hoje» or «depois»; the same verb tense in each part; and agreement («as ideias são boas», not «as ideias é boas»). Without them, the listener gets lost.
Taking a stand: a class garden
Topic: «A turma deve ter uma horta?» (Should the class have a vegetable garden?) Step 1: purpose, to take a stand, in favour. Step 2: script: position · reason 1 · reason 2 · request. Step 3: you say: «Proponho uma horta na turma. Primeiro, aprendemos ciências na prática. Depois, ela ensina-nos a cuidar das plantas. Por isso, peço que votem a favor.» (I propose a garden for the class. First, we learn science in practice. Then it teaches us to look after plants. So I ask you to vote in favour.) Step 4: you check cohesion: connectors (primeiro, depois, por isso), «ela» = a horta, adverbs of time, all in the present.
Reading a script, or “and then… and then…”
There are two mistakes. The first is writing everything out and then reading it or memorising it: it sounds like reading, you lose the audience and, if a word slips, you are lost. Take only the bullet-point script. The second is linking everything with «e… e depois… e depois…» (and… and then… and then…): all the ideas seem the same. Choose the connector for the relation: cause («porque»), contrast («mas»), consequence («por isso»), order («primeiro», «por fim»).
Where you see this
You see this when a video maker presents a subject in parts and links each part to the next, when a TV reporter moves from one news item to another, when someone defends a proposal at a class meeting, or when you tell a friend what happened at break. Speaking well always means having a plan and linking its parts.
Test what you learned
You are going to tell the class there should be a reading club, giving two reasons. What is the purpose of this oral text?
- a) To take a stand: defend an opinion with reasons
- b) To expose: inform about a subject without taking sides
- c) To retell: tell again what happened, in order
Correct answer: a) To take a stand: defend an opinion with reasons — Yes: you say what you think should happen and support it with reasons.
Complete: «Choveu muito, ___ o jogo foi adiado.» (It rained a lot, ___ the match was postponed.) Which connector links the cause to its consequence?
- a) mas
- b) por isso
- c) porque
- d) ou
Correct answer: b) por isso — Yes: «por isso» introduces the consequence of what was said before: the rain caused the postponement.
Your presentation is prepared and you are going to the front of the class. What is best to take with you?
- a) The whole text written out, to read word by word
- b) Nothing: improvising always works out
- c) A script of key points in order, to speak in your own words
Correct answer: c) A script of key points in order, to speak in your own words — Yes: the script keeps the order and lets you look at the audience and speak naturally.
Keep exploring
Other languages
Loading MyLeoNes™…