Public Speaking in the Language Classroom

August 2025

This issue was published in collaboration with JALT’s PIE SIG. In March, we explored best practices for teaching Speech and Presentation in the language classroom. This month, we thought it’d be worth taking more time to really dive deep into the nuts and bolts of public speaking. From building our students’ confidence to strengthening their speaking stamina, let’s take an in-depth look at teaching public speaking. 

“It’s alright to have butterflies in your stomach. Just get them to fly in formation.”  – Rob Gilbert

APA Reference for this issue: 

(author). (2025). (article title, sentence case). MindBrainEd Think Tanks: Public Speaking in the Language Classroom, 11(8), (pages).

Watch before you read...

Building on our initial exploration of presentation skills this past March, we’re teaming up again with JALT PIE SIG to take a deeper dive into public speaking. Our Main video focuses on developing children’s speaking skills in school settings. In the More podcast episode, Kathy Brooke discusses ways people can build confidence when speaking in public. Then, Heather Kretschmer introduces the Think Tank.

In the Think Tank, Gordon Rees explains how he used radio drama and presentation activities to bring reading to life in his class. Next, David Kluge shares a gradual approach to lengthening presentations, making the presentation experience more manageable for students. Harumi Kimura reflects on her observation of an elementary school teacher who effectively presented herself to her class in different ways, both as teacher and language learner. Finally in our Plus, Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti takes us on a historical journey, highlighting the contributions of Charles Darwin, John Dewey, and Lisa Feldman Barrett, who have shaped our understanding of emotions.

Building Confidence in Public Speaking

Sarah D. Rees & Kathy Brooke

Our Thoughts on Public Speaking

Public Speaking and Self-Efficacy in the Language Classroom Heather Kretschmer

The woman sat in the first row of the large lecture hall full of fellow faculty members and listened to the speakers present one by one as she waited for her turn to speak. Closer and closer her presentation time approached. Her stomach churned. Her heart started racing. She took slow, deep breaths, which didn’t help one bit. “It’s not fair,” she thought grimly to herself. After all, her presentation would take less than five minutes; she had practiced what she was going to say; and while she wasn’t a native speaker in the language she was presenting in, she was fluent. She rolled her eyes at herself because she had given presentations in her native language without feeling quite so anxious. Why did presenting in a foreign language have to be so nerve-wracking?

Think Tank Articles

Caption: Walt Disney Studio technicians recording sound effects. (Source: Getty)

Radio Drama: A PAL You Can Count On Gordon Rees

A few years back, I was asked to teach an EFL reading course for second-year students at a foreign language university. I had never taught reading before, and initially, I struggled with how to make the class truly engaging. The curriculum was predetermined, and the textbook we used was dry. Week after week, we fell into the same routine as we worked through the text. I felt like I was boring my students to death. At the time, I didn’t realize it, but what I needed was a good PAL to help bring these reading classes to life!

Applying the “There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly” Principle to Giving a Long Presentation David Kluge

A few years ago, I started writing a reading textbook that was composed of chapters, with each chapter containing four units on a related topic. The first unit would introduce the topic in general. The second unit would give a large-scale example of the topic. The third unit would give an individual-based example of the topic. Finally, the fourth unit would be a review of the chapter. Part of the review was a PowerPoint presentation on what the students had learned. The problem was that by the time we got to the end of the chapter, the students had pretty much forgotten what we covered at the beginning. The intention in writing the book with the general-to-specific format was that students would build on their learning so they would acquire well-rounded knowledge of the topic. Unfortunately, the students treated each unit as a stand-alone and felt it was fine to forget as soon as they were finished with that particular unit. However, suddenly assigning one long presentation at the end of the semester that covered what students learned throughout the previous three units was too large of a burden for students at this level of proficiency to do well given the amount of time available. How could this problem be solved?

Teacher Voice, Student Voice: Switching Identities Harumi Kimura

All teachers are performers. In this short article, I’d like to share my experience of observing one English class at an elementary school, where the instructor sometimes put on a teacher hat and at other times wore a learner hat, switching her identities at will, in one class meeting. This experience has drastically changed my perspective of “good” teaching approaches in elementary English classes in Japan.

Think Tank Plus

Great Ideas from the Brain Sciences: How Emotions Steer Learning Mirela C. C. Ramacciotti

Let me ask you a question: can you define emotions? If you say that they are universal and innate, you must have digested information based on the works of Charles Darwin. But if you say that emotions are intentional and ready the body for action, you must have followed John Dewey’s footsteps. Now if you think that emotions are constructs that may vary from person to person, you are indeed up to date and know the works of Lisa Feldman Barrett.

Call for Contributions: Ideas and Articles Think Tank Staff

Become a Think Tank star! Here are some of the future issue topics we are thinking about. Would you, or anyone you know, like to write about any of these? Or is there another topic you’d like to recommend? Do you have any suggestions for lead-in, or just plain interesting, videos? How about writing a book review? Or sending us a story about your experiences? Contact us.

Going Deeper

Barack Obama's top 4 speaking techniques

This video analyzes the speaking techniques used by Barack Obama in an interview with Hasan Minhaj. Obama’s use of summary prompts, analogies, and examples makes him a clear and engaging communicator. He also shows vulnerability and a sense of humor, which makes him relatable and likable. By modeling these techniques and teaching them to your students, you can help them develop the skills they need to become confident and effective communicators in their own personal and professional lives.

And Now for Something Completely Different...

The Blob Opera

The Blob Opera lets you create, record and share your own opera songs. The tool is free and requires neither registration nor music experience. The project was created in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture and features the voices of four opera singers, which were recorded and used to train a machine learning model. A quick, interactive tutorial shows you how to manipulate the four blobs to change pitch and vowel sounds. After the tutorial, you can travel virtually to stages in cities around the world, and play around with traditional and classic songs from each location.

Since the blobs only sing vowels and no lyrics, it’s a great opportunity for students to use their imagination and creativity to write their own lyrics in the target language. Ask students to record short clips of the blobs singing and then write what they imagine the lyrics are. You can then ask students to share their lyrics with the class, or even create a class songbook with all the different versions.

The MindBrained Think Tanks+

is produced by the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) Mind, Brain, and Education Special Interest Group (BRAIN SIG). Kyoto, Japan. (ISSN 2434-1002)

Editorial Staff

      Stephen M. Ryan               Curtis H. Kelly              Julia Daley     

 Afon (Mohammad) Khari     Heather Kretschmer     Nicky De Proost

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