Procedure:
- The instructor explains the terms “slam” and “book slam” (see below) two to three weeks in advance. S/he informs the class about the project and the necessary preparations:Students must decide (alone or in groups of two) on a book (or another text, e. g. from a magazine) that they want to present. They should also think about how to create a 3-minute presentation. It should be as creative, attractive, informative and funny as possible (example: rap, recount freely, read out loud, advertising spot, etc.). Various examples can be found in the internet by googling the word “book slam”.
- Preparing and practicing the preparation (one week ahead; time requirement: one lesson).Once the students have decided on their presentation concept, they discuss their idea with another student or team for feedback and suggestions for improvement. Important: the summary of the content must be kept to a minimum; there is no time for details. Students must think about what would be of greatest interest to the listeners and how their presentation could attract attention to them and their book.
- Implementation (time requirement: one lesson):Each student (or team of two students) is allocated three minutes for their presentation. Two student time keepers enforce the time with a stop watch and a whistle. The public evaluates the presented texts or books by awarding points to them. They raise cards with the chosen number on a scale of 1–9; someone adds up the total and notes the result for each book or text on the board. The winner is the book or text with the most points. All books and texts will be exhibited and may be checked out by the students.
Remarks:
The rules of book slam are based on the event format of poetry slam: a very short presentation that is judged by members of the audience.
Variants:
Book slams can be optimally staged in cooperation with regular classroom instruction. That means that they will be conducted bilingually of course. Events like parents’ evenings or in conjunction with partner classes are also an excellent framework for book slams.