PowerPoint in the classroom:

PowerPoint in ESL classrooms.

On m site, www.esl-galaxy.com , I have shared and continue to share some fantastic PowerPoint (ppt) presentations ready-made for use in ESL/EFL classrooms. I am not giving you anything I have not tried. Many teachers including me have used them without any problems.

Why use PowerPoint presentations ( ppt)?

Teaching ESL, EFL especially to large classes of kindergarten, primary schools and absolute beginner students, can prove to be a nightmare at times. As a teacher of large classes especially, I found the use of ppt presentations a great teaching aid. (Note: by large classes I mean classes of 40-80 students). If you have taught English in places like China, such large classes are not uncommon.

Not only did PowerPoint (ppt) help me drive home the language points to the students easily, but it also reinforced the language in form of games, quizzes and other activities, all built around ppt. An example is this Places around memory game. As a highly advanced user of ppt in the classroom, I have adapted many EFL, ESL classroom games to meet the needs of large classes especially. If well planned, using ppt to teach English to large classes takes away at least 50-70% of the difficulties of teaching large classes.

Don’t get me wrong, ppt presentations are not only great for large classes. I have developed ppt presentations for self-study with good results. High level ESL students consider it a professional and modern tool for teachers. Not only can you add sound into ppt for listening exercises, but you can also customize slide transitions, and insert action buttons for interactive exercises. It is a highly versatile language teaching tool and the extent to which you can use may only be limited by your creativity.

Modern technology can sometimes be a subtle dictator. As a language teacher I found that more and more classrooms get equipped with computers and projectors, making it unlikely we would escape from using them. The question is, why try to escape in the first place. Modern equipment are very tameable.

I’m sure some people out there will be wondering how to use ppt in classrooms without computers or overhead projectors. That is exactly what I thought a few years ago. This led me to start converting PowerPoint to DVDs which can be played on most DVD machines, PowerPoint video files, PowerPoint to flash videos for self studies.

Visit www.esl-galaxy.com/powerpoint.htm to download ready-made ppt presentations for ESL classrooms.

By Futonge Kisito

Webmaster & TEFL teacher: www.esl-galaxy.com

Contact me: eslgalaxy@yahoo.com

Kisito has taught English in a couple of countries for over 6 years and in 2005 decided to set up his own TEFL website to share his ideas with other teachers.