Exposition on Public Safety: A Class ACtivity

As you can see on the picture there is a lady next to a chart full of information and pictures. She was one of my students and she was conducting a very informal exposition on Public Safety. I asked all of my students of my Adults 10 class to participate explaining different aspects on the topic given, the very last day they finished their studies and they all did wonderfully. It was not a requirement for them to finish but it was me who wanted to see how well they could do in a similar situation so I paid attention to their approach to the topic, their command of the language and their demeanor.
On the first aspect I saw no essential difference from what they would probably have done if the exposition had been in their mother language and what they did using the target language. They tried to be "completists" and explain everything in detail just likethye would have done it in Spanish.
On their command of the language there is still a couple of things to "tune up". My students have a lot of vocabulary at their disposal, more sophisticated language, but they still need a bit more of confidence to stop playing safe and dare to use more complex structures. Also I noticed a bit of Mother Tongue Interference, however nothing that rehearsing a little more could not easily correct.
On their demeanor though somewhat nervous, which is understandable, you could see that knowing the language conferred them onfidence to the point that there was no hesitation when answering my questions so they  showed that information was transferred directly and not translated into L1 then in L2 and back.
The value of these activities is that though they are considered controlled practice it still gives you information on the amount of formal language they have assimilated and how well they are using it. A proper observation of the strenghts and weaknesses each student has should be suppoorted by the careful taking of notes on each individual presentation. If possible seesions to give feedback ought be included as the aftermath of this class event.

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