Final Chinese Oral Presentation

Third-year Chinese had its final oral presentations on Friday. We were split up into groups of six, and had to give ten minute presentations on the topic that we’d written our final research paper on. Each presentation was followed by a five minute Q&A. I made mine on Powerpoint, which was a good idea because I didn’t have to memorize as much of my presentation. Moreover, my stupid animations and pictures were able to hold everyone’s attention when I was sure the subject matter would not.

It was a little nerve-wracking because the teacher filmed our presentations. She joked (I hope) about putting them up on YouTube.

Anyway, as much as I hate weekly oral presentations (which are usually just mindless recitations of our weekly essays), I’m glad they made us do a final one. It was the first time I got to hear a lot of my peers speak at length in Chinese about a subject they knew about. The presentations, coupled with the Q&A sessions, made me think about how far we’ve all come in just two years of language study.

It’s strange thinking that when I first started college, I looked at memorizing the four tones with trepidation. Palatal. Retroflex. Stringing grammar patterns together. All of those things that seemed like huge obstacles when starting Chinese have come together in a remarkable way.

I guess I like final oral presentations because they get me to think about my improvement. Final exams just don’t have the same effect. I can regurgitate grammar patterns and vocab on paper. Great. No, for me, that feeling that my pursuit of a language is rewarding only manifests itself when I realize that I can effectively communicate, in real time, with other people.