06. The Hound of the Baskervilles

How does the cross-section between the social, cultural and historical contexts of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Dr Watson and ourselves as readers affect our understanding of The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902)?

The continuous assessment has four parts, of which the speaking part will be taken together with another student. Each week, two different students will receive two different colour photographs that they will have to describe, before a more general conversation with the teacher and other colleagues on the same topic.

Next, another pair of students will present one aspect of the above question, in order to prepare for the in class essay at the end of the first semester in January. This element should last about five minutes, but it will not be assessed; students will only receive formative feedback.

At home, you should prepare with a bilingual dictionary for around 30 minutes. Here are a few guidelines:

Content

• Like an essay, your presentation should have a thesis statement, with at least three subtopics that each develop a point with an example and an explanation. 

  • For a presentation on our social context, for example, the thesis statement refers to our social context and the subtopics may refer to any or all of the following: friends, class, sex equality or nuclear/extended family structure.

• Although some research may be necessary, it can be tempting to plagiarise the work of others; by including personal elements in your presentation, you will avoid this while maintaining the interest of the audience. 

  • For a presentation on our social context, for example, you should refer to observable data regarding your own social context:

    • how would you describe your social class? 

    • do you think it is fixed? if not, how and why can it change? 

    • is social class an important issue for you in Swiss society? 

    • if you have knowledge about another society (for example, British society), is social class more or less important in this ‘other’ society? 

• Ask and answer questions during your presentation; some of the best presenters have been able to set the audience to work themselves! 

• It can be a good idea to finish with a rhetorical question or a quote, but is not always appropriate, so consider this when planning your presentation. 

Format

• You may use visual aids, which include photographs, facts and figures, or quotes; do not include a lot of written information and do not read from your visual aids!

• Make eye contact with the audience. 

• Although your presentation will not be assessed summatively, do refer to the mark scheme: 

  • Vary your intonation to enhance communication. 

  • Speak slowly. 

While you should have notes, do not prepare a text that you read aloud; the purpose is not to practice your pronunciation, but to develop your presentation skills!