I haven’t posted for a while, but I wanted to share this delightful little tale with your. Our daughter is a teacher of English as a Second Language in the North of England and her story really moved us. She then wrote it up and here it is.

“Every few weeks, I assign my students presentation topics and they have to go away, work together, do the research, put together a PowerPoint or the like and present on a particular topic. The first one was inventions, the second a country and this latest one was on a sport or hobby of their choice. 

One of the groups did it on chess and I was super impressed because not only did they put together a really informative and interesting PowerPoint (which included historical information as well as a trailer for The Queen’s Gambit amongst other facts), they also brought in and used a real chessboard and pieces and some books on chess to demonstrate and really bring to life what they were talking about. One of the boys clearly led on all aspects but I was super impressed with his natural leader abilities as he directed and enabled his group to shine, even though they were much less confident and able in their English fluency. 

Later on came another presentation, this time on Formula 1. They opened their presentation by asking some of their audience (including me) what our favourite hobbies were. 

Student: And also, my favourite hobby is going to the gym, and the others in my group love reading and football. So why are we talking about Formula 1 today? Because Kasia once said that it was her dad’s favourite sport to watch on TV. 

Needless to say, I was quite taken aback as I confirmed he wasn’t making a joke. (This particular student has taken months to come out of his shell, but it transpires he is very funny.) Blimey, I thought. They actually listen to me!

So they continued their presentation, which included some interesting information about Formula 1, which I never thought I’d say because I find it incredibly boring. Goes to show you that you can always find an interesting angle on any topic if you put your mind to it. They included facts and figures and mentioned how expensive it all is. Especially the cars and engines.

Later on, he quipped:

You saw earlier that the group who presented about chess brought in a chessboard, but I checked my bank account and I just couldn’t afford to bring in an F1 car to show you all. Sorry about that. This video on how quickly they can change the tyres will have to be enough.