Random Power Point Presentations

A number of people have asked for more information about the Random Power Point Challenge activity, which has proven to be quite popular. In the first entry I described how I use this activity with gifted students. For this entry I’ve added some thoughts about using the Random Power Point Challenge in a rather less daunting way. I’m also uploading some of the presentations themselves.

The original challenge – difficult!

The presentation consists of ten slides and is titled ‘Noticing trees more effectively – a beginner’s guide’. That is all the students are told. They have ten minutes to prepare. The slides contain a combination of images and bullet points, most of which have precious little to do with the topic. Here is an example.

To make it even more challenging, I threw in a few unexpected instructions which required the presenters to perform various tasks mid-presentation. On one slide they are told to adopt a strong Hungarian accent. On another slide they are even told that they have to talk about trees for a few moments in another foreign language (i.e. a language other than English and Hungarian). There is also a story about trees that they have to improvise based on visual prompts. In short, it’s tough!

You can download the complete presentation here: noticing trees more effectively

Have fun with it. Adapt it according to your needs and preferences and try it out in class. Do let me know what you think about it, too!

Describing your weekend

It occurred to me that we could use a tamed and “de-clawed” version of the Random Power Point Challenge to make the tired old classroom activity of describing what you did at the weekend more enjoyable. The recurring problem I have with asking my teenage students to describe what they did at the weekend is  1) they don’t want to  because 2) it’s none of my business.

Here’s one solution. Create a power point presentation called ‘What I did at the weekend’ and fill it with images recognisably connected to common free-time activities. Students have to improvise a plausible narrative based on the images that come up (coffee – radio – dog – walking – telephone call – football match etc.) Although some improvisation and creative story-telling skill is required, the task is straightforward and manageable – and certainly nowhere near as daunting as  ‘Noticing trees’. Another advantage is that students are able to demonstrate an ability to describe events in the past without having to compromise the privacy of their own lives.

You can download the complete presentation here: What I did at the weekend

Your comments and feecback are welcome.

Starting gently – food and drink

Finally, I thought that the Random Power Point Challenge could also be used at elementary level as a high-adrenaline activity to revise a topic area or practise speaking skills.

Tell the students they should revise a topic area that you have covered in class – for example food and drink. Tell them that in the next lesson one of them will have to do a 10-slide presentation on the topic. The slides will contain both pictures and prompts. No nasty surprises. At this stage the students do not know who is going to have to give the presentation, so hopefully they will all go home and revise 🙂

In the lesson choose a student at random or encourage someone to volunteer. In this case, the slides provide the students with relevant ideas and useful language.

You can download the complete presentation here: Food and drink

What do you think?

4 thoughts on “Random Power Point Presentations

  1. Weronika

    I absolutely love the idea of Random Power Point Challenge. I’m going to do “What I did at the weekend” with my students next week:) Hope they’ll enjoy it too!

    Reply
  2. Edmund Dudley Post author

    Hey Weronika 🙂
    I hope they like it. I just realised that the picture of the tickets in the ‘What I did at the weekend’ presentation shows the difference between a genuine match ticket and a forged one. I wonder if any eagle-eyed students will notice this?
    I think I’m definitely going to start getting students to do this regularly – and to build up a collection of random power point challenges made by students.

    Reply
  3. Andrew

    Ha! Thanks , Edmund. Noticing trees more effectively is truly random. The presentations are, as you say, a great way of reviewing topics. I’m thinking of one for superlatives, maybe using images from the Guinness book of world records, where the students race to guess the record.

    Reply
    1. Edmund Dudley Post author

      The superlatives idea would work very well with this, wouldn’t it? Again, it could be tailored for different levels. You could have a straightforward one (tallest man, fastest animal, etc.) or get them inventing all kinds of weird and wonderful records on the basis of more ambiguous pictures.

      Reply

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