On Powepoint

One advantage that I have noticed in the constant use of Powerpoints is how much you can recycle with them. There is a large amount of material in that format for language learning all over the internet, and most of it is designed to be shared and adapted to different programs (I found a good collection here). I think that sharing these ideas across the internet is a great way to combine different methodologies in the FL teaching, and I have used many of them in my own classes. I bring a new PP presentation every other class and it has been particularly useful in vocabulary and conjugation exercises. The students seem to respond very well over all, and I try to include a good combination of grammar and humor so it can also have an entertaining effect. I believe PP works as a great complement to the use of the board and chalk, specially because of the great variety of material and multimedia formats you can include in them, and is a lot more appealing than transparencies.
My last PP in class was from an idea I saw on a website. The slides presented a flash card game to practice the conjugation of some verbal forms and it can be used as an interactive challenge between two halves of the class. The students download the PP from my website the night before to learn the new words and they came prepared to play with a good pronunciation as well.
I think that PP can be a great teaching tool, yet I also make an extensive use of the board, and the CD and Video players. The most obvious reason to use PP these days is because, when used well, they can condense the content of the class in a very friendly, creative and fun way. I think that specially in FL they have a lot of potential, and as the technology evolves there are more resources to combine many language skills at the same. This could create an environment of relaxed immersion in the foreign culture as well.