oral presentation, effective or not in elementary school?

[cyndie]

Hi,
I'm a currently doing my English as a second language degree and during my practicum,
My teacher wanted me to have my elementary students do an oral presentation in order for me to evaluate their oral skills. I personally don't think that this is the best way to test these kids anymore. Doing a game where they would have to talk is a much more representative activity to do to evaluate their language then to make them speak in front of the class. Even I have some times a little bit of stress when I teach. Imagine those little children standing there with their text, which they totally learned by heart, in front of a big class. Also, the fact that they learned their texts is also not representative of a real life situation. I strongly recommend the abolition of these presentations for the sake of the kids.
Do you agree with me?