ESL PowerPoint Demonstration The Effective Use of Presentation Software in the ESL Classroom By Daniel Craig University of Illinois ESL 401 J

Beginning A New Presentation First open a new presentation, if it PowerPoint doesn’t open one automatically.

Now You Have a Choice You could have the program help you develop a presentation, but that’s not fun. Choose “Blank Presentation” under the “General” tab.

Click to add title Click to add text

Add a Title to Your Presentation Now it’s time to add text to your presentation. Develop a presentation, which could be used in a 101 class in one of the fields represented in your group. Teach a basic idea briefly (about 5-10 slides)

Playing With Fonts (1) Adjusting the Font values, is the easiest way to make a presentation appear more interesting. Using the font tool bar is probably the method that you know the best. This bar allows you to change some of the basic formatting of the fonts.

Playing With Fonts (2) The drawing toolbar on the bottom of the program is also helpful. It allows you to easily manipulate font colors and various drawing tools

Playing With Fonts (3) Of course the most powerful tool is accessed from the “Format” pulldown menu. Choose “Font” and this will open a new window.

Playing With Fonts (4) With this window you can do many things with your fonts. You can choose the font style, font size, color, bold, italics, and some special effects: underline, superscript, subscript, etc….

You Can Also Add Backgrounds First go to the “Format” pulldown menu. Click “Background.” Click the drop-down box on the bottom.

Backgrounds (2) Then click “Fill effects.” Here is the new window you will see. Here you have many choices on how to fill-in your background. I chose the “Picture” tab.

Backgrounds (3) If you want to insert a picture, click on the “Picture” tab. Then click “Select Picture.” You will then be able to choose a picture from a file on your computer or diskette.

Adding Pictures (1) Adding pictures to your presentation is very useful. Just click the “Insert Picture From File Button” Here you will be able to choose a picture from a file.

Adding Pictures (2) These pictures can be moved and resized using the small squares surrounding the picture. The ones in the middle re-size the picture up and down. The ones on the corners re-size the entire picture equally.

Adding Arrows I choose to use the arrow button. Then hold the left mouse button over the point where you want the arrow to begin and drag it to where you want it to end, then let go of the button. Then adjust the thickness of the arrow by choosing the line thickness button

Adding Arrows (2) There are many other tools for drawing other shapes. Click on the “AutoShapes” button for various categories.

Adding Special Effects (1) I’m sure you’ve seen seen interesting special effects on PowerPoint Presentations. You can add these easily and yet they add so much more interest to your presentation.

Adding Special Effects (2) You don’t have to have those annoying sounds. You can just use the animation. Press the “Animation” button on the tool bar above. Put the curser over a button, and you will see a comment pop up and tell you what that button does.

Adding Transitions (1) Transitions are special effects that are applied when slides are loaded. Go to the “Slide Show” pull down menu Click on “Slide Transition…”

Adding Transitions (2) Here you can choose a transition in the pull down menu. You can also choose the speed of the transitions. A sound can also be applied. Lastly, you can choose when the transition will take place.

Presentation Slide Show Click on the “Slide Show” pulldown menu. Then click on “View Show” This will automatically begin the slideshow, which will take up the entire screen. What you’re seeing now is the slide show.

Slide Show Navigation (1) You can use the left/right arrows on the keyboard to move forward & backward. Or you can click on the button shown faintly on the bottom left side of the slide show or click the right mouse button anywhere on the screen to see this menu.

Slide Show Navigation (2) “Next” and “Previous” are rather self-explanatory. “Go” will let you go to any slide in your presentation.

Using the Pointer & Pen By clicking on “Pointer Options” you get a nice little surprise. Using the “Arrow” just gives you something to point with. The “Pen” will let you draw on the slide show, which is really cool!