6 Oral Presentation
In this assignment, you will create an oral presentation of your bucket list, the things you want to accomplish before dying. For specific instructions about the content and structure of this presentation, refer to the specifications and rubric. 
Below is a link to a model Bucket List oral presentation. Review the model and the transcript, then complete the awareness questions that follow.
Transcript of Model Bucket List Presentation (5 items)
Hello and welcome to my presentation. My name is Donna and in this presentation I’ll share the 5 items on my Bucket List, the things I want to do before I die. I have to admit that it wasn’t that easy to come up with a list of 5 things. Maybe that’s a good thing, because it means that I’ve already achieved many of the personal goals that I set out for myself when I was younger, such as graduating from university, getting a master’s degree, getting married and raising a family. Similarly, I’ve also been blessed to visit many of the places that I dreamed of visiting as a teenager, such as the pyramids in Egypt, Alaska, the Panama Canal and Venice in Italy. This is because I’m much older than most of you, and so I’ve had more time to cross items off my Bucket List. Nevertheless, there are still some things left to look forward to, and it is these items that I will share with you today.
The first item on my Bucket List is to visit Hawaii. Since I was a child, I’ve dreamed of visiting these beautiful, tropical islands. My fascination with Hawaii started when I was young. My mom’s company offered an incentive trip to certain high performing employees and my mom and I babysat her boss’s children while he and his wife were on the trip. When they returned, they brought us various souvenirs, and since that time I’ve had a strong wish to visit the islands. Adding to my fascination was the fact that many of my favourite TV shows had episodes set in Hawaii, such as the Brady Bunch, Fantasy Island and later Hawaii 5-O and NCIS: Hawaii. The tropical setting looks gorgeous and while there I hope to attend a luau, see some hula dancing, tour a pineapple plantation and visit Pearl Harbour. I hope to visit Hawaii to celebrate my 60th birthday in a few years. I want to spend a few days in Oahu and then take a week long cruise around the Hawaiian islands. At that point, I will be able to cross one more item off my Bucket List.
The next entry on my list is also a place that I would like to visit, namely The Netherlands. I have been interested in the Netherlands since I read The Diary of Anne Frank as a child. When I was younger, my mom visited the Netherlands and was able to tour the house where Anne and her family hid from the Nazis. I am so intrigued by this story and I dream of also seeing this house in person. As well, my favourite flowers are tulips, which of course are in very plentiful supply in the Netherlands. I also love river and canal cruises, and of course Amsterdam is built all around canals, so I’m sure there would be many opportunities to take such a cruise in the Netherlands. Taking a moonlight canal cruise sounds like a dream come true to me- very romantic! Finally, I’m also a big fan of both cheese and chocolate, which are two of the main exports of the Netherlands. I hope to sample some of the delicious Dutch cheeses, such as Edam and Gouda, close to where they are produced, rather than after they have been shipped thousands of miles to Canada.
The third item on my Bucket List is not so much about visiting a certain place, but rather about experiencing something that happens only in a few places. Specifically, I want to swim with the stingrays at Stingray City in the Cayman Islands. I visited the Cayman Islands in 2004, as part of a Panama Canal cruise. The islands themselves are beautiful, and they have some of the clearest, most beautiful turquoise water that I have seen anywhere. My daughter and I were booked for a shore excursion to Stingray City, and we were stoked to feed and pet the stingrays, which we heard felt soft and smooth like velvet. Unfortunately, on the day we were there, the water was too rough, and the management decided it would not be safe for anyone to visit, in case a wave lifted the person up and then accidentally set them down on a stingray, which might startle the normally docile animal and lead them to sting. We were so disappointed and since then I’ve felt that I really missed out on a special experience, so I’d like to visit the Caymans again and cross this item off my list once and for all.
The next item is a dream that I share with my friend, Mauricio, who is also an ESL teacher. Mauricio lives in the village in Mexico where my parents have spent the winter for more than 30 years. We have a long-standing friendship and we both returned to university as “mature” students to study linguistics and fulfill our goal of teaching English to others. Since graduating, we have stayed in touch as we both began our careers in this field and we have long had the dream of opening a language school in the village. But not just any language school! Our language school would have a very specific mandate. We would call our school The Robin Hood Language School. Does that give you a clue about what we want to do? Are you familiar with the character of Robin Hood? Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw from British folklore. He has been depicted in many movies and TV shows, such as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, starring Kevin Costner. Robin Hood was known for robbing from the rich and giving to the poor and that is sort of what we want to do with our language school, although we don’t intend to rob anyone. In the village, there are many wealthy retired Canadian and American people who are native English speakers, most of whom do not speak any Spanish. Similarly, there are many locals who speak Spanish as a first language, but whose lives could be greatly improved if they could also learn English. Our dream is to offer very expensive Spanish lessons for the ex-pats and to use that money to subsidize very cheap English lessons for the local people.
The last item on my bucket list is more of a wish than a goal, because it is something that is not in my power to realize. One of my fondest dreams is to have a grandchild and I hope and pray that one day this wish will come true. Family is the most important thing to me. I travelled a long road to create my family, by adopting my daughter from Mexico as a single mother 24 years ago. Although sometimes we fight, like all families, being her mother has been the best thing in my life, and I dream to share some of the experiences we have shared with my grandchild. I can’t wait to read him or her bedtime stories, bake Christmas cookies and travel to fun and exciting places such as Disney World. I also want to help my future grandchild learn about his or her Mexican and Canadian heritages, and make sure that he or she learns both Spanish and English. For sure my grandchild will be very spoiled, both by me and by my parents, if they live long enough to share in this blessing. I hope that one day my daughter will enable me to fulfill this dream.
All in all, life’s been very good to me so far, and much of the Bucket List that I would have created when I was younger has now been completed, but hopefully I will have the time and opportunity to cross these remaining items off my list. I hope you’ve enjoyed my presentation and that you have gotten to know me a little better in the process. Thank you for listening and do you have any questions?
Awareness Questions