“Some Like it Hot” Presentation
ESL 251 f13 – Himes
How to do it:
The Rules:
 Form a group of 3 to 4 people that you wish to work with. The group must have at
least one person whose first language is not the same as yours. Exchange
phone numbers and e-mail addresses right away!

All presentations will take place in week 6 on February 11th and week 8 on
February 25th.

You will present for 8-10 minutes and all members of the group are expected to
speak for an equal length of time. (If groups go over we will run out of time!)

You must use visual aides (I mean it!). Overheads should be in a 36-point font.
Power point should be in a 24-point font. Do not pass around anything during
your presentation; it is distracting. If you cannot get the power point computer
and projector set up and working in 3 minutes, you will have to cancel that part of
your presentation.
Choose your topic:
 As you watch Some Like It Hot, you may have some questions about the history
or about the movie or the people that you would like to explore. Think about a
topic for your presentation that relates to the movie in some way. Here are some
suggestions:

Prohibition, bootlegging (illegal selling of home-made alcohol), speak easies,
addiction and vices (e.g. gambling, alcohol, chasing women), biographies of the
actors (Marylyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, Jack Lemmon, George Raft…), Jazz music
of the 20’s and 30’s, interesting stories about the making of the movie, the
Bureau of Prohibition and Elliot Ness, a famous gangster of the 20’s and 30’s (Al
Capone, Bugs Moran, Hymie Weiss…), The Depression, a lesson on the slang of
the 20’s and 30’s compared to today, attitudes towards women in the movie…

The list is endless. You may want to read about some of these topics first to get
an idea of what you like before you make your final decision.

Talk to your teacher about your topic because only one group may talk about a
topic.
Information to build your presentation with:
1) Choose a topic that you would like to learn more about because if you want to,
your classmates would probably like to as well.
2) Focus on only one topic for the entire group. NOT one topic per person
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3) Give the topic of your presentation and how it relates to the film. This includes
reminding us about the part of the film you are talking about. You may also need
to quickly summarize a part of the story or an event. For example ask the class,
“Remember when the police were chasing the hearse? Remember how clear
liquid came pouring out of the coffin from the bullet holes? Did you wonder what
it was and why it was there? We are going to explain.”
4) Be ready to answer their questions about anything they didn’t hear properly or
didn’t understand during your presentation.
Organizing your Information
Think about what your audience already knows about the topic and what you
must do to make your presentation relevant to them. Also think about how you can keep
them interested in what you are saying.
♦ Start with an introduction. An introduction usually contain the following elements:
1.
a short attention getter
a.
a quote
b.
a question
c.
a personal story
d.
an appropriate joke
2.
your purpose/thesis “Tonight we are going to share with you the events of
the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre…”
♦ The body comes next. The body will be the bulk of your presentation. It will be broken
up into sub topics. Students often take turns presenting these subtopics.
3.
Transitional words hold the body together.
a.
Sequence: first, second third, next, then after that, at first, earlier,
now, since
b.
Additional information: furthermore, in addition, in fact, besides that
c.
Cause/effect: as a result, for this reason, therefore, so, since hence
d.
Comparison/contrast: on the one hand, on the other hand, however,
although, in spite of this
4.
Pause between subtopics and the body.
♦
The conclusion is how you wrap up your presentation and how people will
remember it.
5.
The conclusion summarizes the main points of the presentation and restates
the main idea (thesis of the presentation).
6.
You may want to finish with an appropriate quotation, brief story or a
surprising fact.
7.
Finish with a concluding sentence such as, “Thank you for listening. Are
there any questions?” DO NOT say, “I am finished,” or “That’s it.”
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Helpful Hints
A.
Exchange e-mail and phone numbers so that you can easily contact each
other. Appoint a leader for your group who will divide your tasks among group
members and organize your efforts. Work together outside of class anyway that
is convenient.
B.
You will be receiving a group grade, so everyone’s hard work is important.
Ideally, each member of the group should do equal quality and equal amounts
of work. This is not always the case though, so check each other’s work when
possible. Unfortunately in the past, students have plagiarized summaries and
lowered the grade for the entire group.
Because this is a group assignment with a group grade, you will have to
work around any who are unable or unwilling to do their share. You will all
receive the same grade. This is not fair, but that’s how group activities are
judged in school and in life. Also, if you find that you will not be able to
complete your assigned task, please let the other members of the group know
as soon as possible beforehand so that they can take up the slack.
C.
In case some one has an emergency and cannot make it to class, be prepared
by having duplicate copies of each other’s notes or other vital information.
D.
You may practice your presentation and even video tape it in the Listening and
Speaking Lab.
E.
Use note cards during your presentation. Do not read your presentation this is
BORING and hard to understand. Also, do not memorize your presentation
because you will not speak naturally.
F.
Speak clearly. For example, speak loudly enough for the entire class to hear
you. Use your diaphragm (the muscle under your lungs that allows you to
breathe) to project your voice to the back of the classroom. Do not mumble or
talk to your bellybutton, and do not chew gum. Remember, most people are
lazy and will strain for only a short time to hear you if you are too quite. Relax
and speak at a normal pace with enough variation in intonation to keep your
audience’s interest.
Make eye contact with the whole audience. Look at both sides of the room as
well as people in the front and people in the back. You are not just talking to
the teacher; you are talking to everyone. When you don’t look at people, they
start to feel left out and bored. Good eye contact includes removing any hat or
other article of clothing that interferes. Look at your notes as little as possible.
G.
H.
I stress again that you need visual aides. Make sure they are big enough that
someone can see them from across the room. Put up key words, not long
sentences. Remember that you are all language learners and cannot always
understand each other so having an outline of your presentation available and
photos that stress key points will make your words seems clearer to everyone.
Most people are quite visual anyway and love to see what you are talking about
even if they can understand you perfectly.
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I.
Remember that you have a friendly and supportive audience. If you make a
mistake, just go on and don’t worry about it. The rest of us probably won’t even
notice. We all make mistakes, and the point is to learn from them. Everyone in
the class wants you to succeed, so relax and enjoy your chance to be the
center of attention.
To find information about your topic, you may go online and type key words into a search
engine such as Google. You may also go to the library and check the database for
information. A reference librarian can help you.
Internet Movie Database – Some like It Hot
A description of the movie, photos, clips, lists of characters, actors and more
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053291/
Wikipedia – Some Like It Hot
Another description of the movie, photos, clips, lists of characters, actors and more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Like_It_Hot
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