3 TEFL/ESL Presentation Scripts For Use In The Classroom

There are times when your students need a helping in hand in how to structure a presentation. Below are four example presentations which include signalling language and useful vocabulary related to the subject. These scripts are incredibly useful in creating a foundation for your students to use.

Historical figure presentation script

Historical figure presentation template

• Introduction – How do we define an important person from history? (2 minutes)
• My favourite historical figure (2 minutes)
• Their childhood (2 minutes)
• Their education (2 minutes)
• Their achievements (2-3 minutes)
• Why I like them (1 minute)
• Conclusion (1 minute)
• Questions (2 minutes)

Speaking script

Nikola Tesla: An extraordinary life

Good morning everyone and thank you for attending my presentation today. I would like to begin by talking about my childhood. As a young boy growing up in London, my father, who was an electrical engineer, used to bring home many strange and interesting tools. Since then I have always been interested in electricity and inventions. This led to me read about the life of Nikola Tesla.

Moving on to his early life. Tesla was born in Croatia in 1856 and grew up in a small village called village Smiljan. His father was a priest and his mother was a housewife. She often wrote poetry and taught Tesla to develop his memory skills, something that would be useful later in life. He had three sisters and a brother.

Now I’d like to have a look at his education. When he attended High School he said that the demonstrations from his physics professor made him interested in electricity. He said the classes the made him want “to know more of this wonderful force”. This was the beginning of his interest in invention and working with electricity. Then, when he was older he studied physics at University.

Let’s shift focus to his creations. Tesla created more than 300 inventions. For instance, he invented A/C electricity as well as many creations related to magnets. He also invented the hydroelectric power station and wanted to build a station on Niagra Falls. He also invented a type of X-ray machine which is similar to what we use today, as well as many works related to wireless power. To give a good example of this, some of you use a wireless charger for your phone, is that right? Well, in actual fact that was first demonstrated by Tesla in 1899. Isn’t that amazing.

Finally, I would like to explain why I admire Tesla. The reason I like Tesla is that he was very determined and wanted to create inventions to help humanity. He was never interested in money, but to only invent.

In conclusion, I feel that Tesla has been ignored over the years as many other inventors have become more popular than him. But I feel that his creations can be seen today all around us but many have never heard of him.

Thank you for listening to my presentation. I will now take questions from the audience.

Natural world presentation script

Natural world presentation template

• Introduction – What is a fish? (2 minutes)
• Types of fish (5 minutes)
• Fish from around the world (2 minutes)
• My favourite fish (2 minutes)
• Conclusion (2-3 minutes)
• Questions (2 minutes)

Speaking script

Hi everyone. Thanks for coming today, I’m going to have a short chat about fish.

I’d start with the variety of fish we have on Earth. Scientists have identified more than 27,000 types of fish in our oceans today. Scientists are actually discovering more than 1,500 new species each year. Generally speaking, there are two broad types of fish that we see in the world today. The first, which scientists call anadromous (“a-na-drom-ous”), is a when a fish is born in freshwater, like a river or a stream, and move to salt water to live their adult life. Later they return to freshwater to reproduce or spawn. An example is the salmon. The other is called catadromous (“ca-ta-drom-ous”). These are born and live their whole lives in saltwater and also spawn in the same waters. Eel is an example of this type of animal.

Moving on. The whale shark is the largest fish in the world. It is often found in South-east Asia and in the Indian ocean. It often grows to more than 16 meters in length and weighs several tons. These fish are often hunted for food or for medicine and are increasingly becoming endangered. In the coral reefs of the Indo-west Pacific lives the smallest fish in the world, which is only 1cm long and is called Trimmatom nanus, which is its scientific name.

Next, I’d like to talk briefly about my favourite fish. The porcupine fish is incredibly interesting, as it is able to take in water and turn its body into a ball to stop other fish from eating it.

To sum up, there is a great diversity of fish in the sea with a tremendous variety of characteristics and colours.

Greatest inventions presentation script

Greatest inventions presentation template

• Introduction – What is an invention? (2 minutes)
• Talk about a problem (5 minutes)
• Introduce the invention which fixed the problem described earlier (4 minutes)
• Say why you liked it (2-3 minutes)
• Conclusion (2 minutes)
• Questions (2 minutes)

Speaking script

Good afternoon everyone. When I was a child my father was a real geek and would often bring home new and unusual gadgets. I wondered why these machines were created and what my father saw in them. The way my father put it was “these inventions were unique, innovative, and proven to work to either fix a problem or to make our lives simpler”.

Now moving on. If we were to think about problems in the world then there are so many that need our attention. Around the world, many millions of people live without clean access to water. Sometimes families are also located far from a water source and so, they are forced to walk long distances to collect water each day.

To find a solution to fix this problem, we can use an invention which can help people cheaply and quickly clean local sources of water. The Lifesaver created by Engineer Michael Pritchard does just that. The invention comes in the shape of a large water bottle which has two chambers. One fits inside the other. The user scoops up water from any source and then closes the device. The cap has an attached pump and handle which the user then pushes downward a few dozen times. once significant pressure build up the water cap on the other end can be released and fresh water comes spurting out.

I’d like to look at why I like this invention. The inventor says that the product is cheap, and it is. It is able to clean one liter of water for a few pennies. And the product lasts a long time and replacement parts can be found easily.

With all this in mind, inventions are unique and novel solutions to help make our lives; better, easier and more healthy.

I’m happy to take any questions from the floor. Thanks.

Final thoughts

As a teacher, the scripts above can be used in class to; highlight important language, show structure, and style, and help students understand what a script should look like.