Including Software Presentations in the EFL classroom: PowerPoint and Prezi

Hi there! This time I would like to comment on the second practical work we carried out for this subject. The assignment was to work in groups of three and to design an imaginary lesson based on a topic provided by our teacher (“Night Out”), including either one of these two programmes or both of them.  We took some ideas from Unit 5C from New English File Elementary coursebook and organised our lesson including both software presentations.

Concerning PowerPoint Presentations, I have already worked with it for other subjects in the teaching programme. At the beginning, as it always happens to me, I felt that it would be impossible for me to use it, but, by exploring the programme little by little, I was able to do it. Yes, I couldn´t believe it but I did it!! For the abovementioned practical work we worked with this software so as to deal with the song “Dancing Queen” by ABBA, which was related to the topic of the lesson. We wrote the lyrics and students were expected to choose the right option while listening to the song twice. Then, they looked at the official video of this song with the lyrics written on it in order to check  whether they have chosen the correct option. Apart from that, we also prepared another PowerPoint presentation aiming at practising the pronunciation of the past forms of a limited number of verbs presented in the coursebook.

Even though it took us time to prepare the two PowerPoint Presentations, I must admit that the huge challenge was Prezi. I felt rather lost as I had never used this programme before. Fortunately, one of my classmates explained to me how it works.  We prepared a presentation in which we described our last night out. My group consisted of 2 girls (Rocío and I) and 1 boy (Renzo), therefore, we described “Renzo´s Night Out” and “Rocio´s and Gisel´s Night Out.” We used the vocabulary the learners had already seen and added some new vocabulary items. The objective of this presentation was to provide a model for the students to describe their last night out as a final project which would be presented to their classmates in two weeks’ time.

 My first reaction when our teacher proposed this practical work was relief because it was in groups and you always learn from your peers. But the challenge, as I mentioned before, was the Prezi presentation. To my surprise, it is not as difficult and scaring as I thought! It is a bit more demanding and time-consuming but more eye-catching and engaging for students. Therefore, it did worth a try!

As it usually happens with technology, there are advantages and disadvantages. Some benefits of implementing this kind of presentations in the EFL classroom are that they are easy to organise ideas and modify, you can insert images, they are colourful, attractive and with innovating designs, they also break the mould (especially with Prezi Presentations) which will catch students´ attention easily. On the other hand, some drawbacks I could mention are that you need basic equipment if you want to display it for the whole class (you need a computer and a beamer), it is not advisable to use too many animations, flying letters, and sound effects since they distract the audience, achieving the opposite effect.

Having said all this, I would like to give you two pieces of advice: the first one is that it is marvellous to include technology in the classroom but don’t forget that, just like coursebooks, it just is a tool that should support the teaching and learning process and we couldn’t include it just because it is original and in fashion. We should always bear in mind the objectives of the lesson. And my second piece of advice is don’t panic, just start exploring the programme little by little by trial and error and in that way you will discover all the functions the software offers.

PowerPoint 

Prezi

Below I share with you the Prezi Presentation we prepared for this imaginary lesson. Hope you like it!

Beating off a new challenge: Google Docs

Hi everybody! I want to share with you the reason why I feel tremendously excited today! At last I was able to create a Google Docs on my own!! Today I was determined to find the way out to do so, it doesn’t matter how much time it would take me. I have already worked with this type of programme but the only action I could perform was just writing as somebody else created it and invited me to be part of it. Now let me tell you a bit about this new progamme introduced in 2010.

Google Docs is a freeware web-based application offered by Google. It allows you to create documents which can be shared, opened, altered and edited by different users at the same time from different places. If you create a file, you have the advantage of deciding who can have access to it. Another benefit I can highlight is that you can access to your files from everywhere provided that the computer has Internet connection. Furthermore, not only does it automatically save the information while you are typing but it also allows you to view past edits.

The only inconvenience I would like point out is that you cannot work on it if internet connection is lost. In that case it would be advisable that you back up the data on your computer by going to “File,” then you select “Download as” and there you have about 6 options to download you file.

Personally, as I told you before, I have used this programme many times for doing group practical works. In many occasions, I had to travel to my hometown, which is far away from the city I am studying, and by using Google Docs we could accomplish our tasks successfully. Even in one occasion we also included “Skype” simultaneously so as to exchange our opinions while typing on the Google Docs.  Definitely, it was like being working face-to-face.

All in all, it is a highly recommendable programme, especially if you have a tight schedule which does not allow you to set a date in which all the members of the group are able to meet.

I do acknowledge that sometimes technology drives us crazy but when you are able to fulfill your aims, you feel so satisfied that that pushes you to keep on trying.

I found a step-by-step tutorial which shows and explains you how to use Google Docs from the very beginning. I hope you can profit from it and also give it a try! Good luck!!