Friday, May 27, 2011

Te@ch Me Prezi Part 4: Adapting a Reading Text



Prezi is one of the leading Web 2.0 applications embraced especially by language teachers since it has the capacity to present information in a completely different way. In my previous Prezi posts, I have tried to show the basics of how to create a Prezi. In this post, I am going to show one way of using a Prezi in the reading classroom. Using Prezi as a tool to accompany the reading class can be an efficient and fun way to address the students' perceptions and their desires to experience something different. Here is how you can do it:



1. Paste (or write) your paragraphs into the editing canvas. This is quite easy, since all you have to do is to select the text in your Word document and then paste it  (ctrl + V) anywhere on Prezi's canvas. Since all your paragraphs will be zoomed in individually, it is not important whether they have the same font size or not.


A pasted paragraph and all paragraphs in one view


2. Decide how you are going to present your reading text. In other words, with what kind of media are you going to supplement your reading lesson? What I do is to decide which vocabulary/concepts need clarification through dictionary definitions, pictures or videos. Usually as a teacher you already know this when you prepare your lesson. Here are some techniques that you can use:

a) Dictionary definitions: You zoom into a word and paste/write the dictionary definition under/into the word.


You can write definitions of words "under" the words

b) Images: You zoom into the word/concept and insert an image into a suitable place in the word. .

The image has been inserted into the letter "n". It will be displayed full-screen in the presentation


c) Videos: You insert a video into the word/concept.



This video has been inserted above the "rowing" concept

3. Determine your paths. As you know, Prezi is a linear presentation tool, which means that the information is presented in a sequential fashion. You have to number your objects on your canvas in the order that you want to present them. You will have to know in which order you are going to present your reading text and which items you will focus on while teaching it. Here are some techniques for determining your paths (of the righteous?):

a) Set your path numbers for your pre-reading part. If you have prepared a pre-reading part for your reading text, all you have to do is click each object in the order that you want your presentation to progress.


b) Select a whole paragraph as a path in your presentation. This way, the whole paragraph will be visible on the screen.
This paragraph has been selected multiple times to return to  full paragraph view
c) Select the words/concepts you are going to zoom in to show definitions/images/videos.


The word and an image in the word have been selected in the path

d) Copy/paste a sentence/structure that you want to deal with individually onto a different place in the canvas and include it in the path. This way you can work on it separately (on screen) if you want to.

The sentence has been positioned vertically to isolate it from the main paragraph

e) Repeat above steps with the remaining paragraphs. This is how the whole presentation path will look like:


This is how the presentation looks like in Prezi:


Previous Prezi Posts:

Te@ch Me Prezi Part 1: What is it?
Te@ch me Prezi Part 2: The Basics
Te@ch me Prezi Part 3: The Bubble Menu

5 comments:

Deniz said...

Hello Hakan,

I have used Prezi both in my workshops and lessons and I think it is a great tool.
The reading lesson you prepared is also impressive. I have a question: How do you use this prezi in the reading lesson? I mean, do you have your students read from the presentation or do you go over each paragraph after they have finished reading the photocopies?

Thank you :)

Hakan Senturk said...

Hi Deniz,
Thanks for your positive comment. I usually make them read each paragraph from the text/book and later draw their attention to the paragraphs on the screen with Prezi. I progress paragraph by paragraph, however, this can change depending on the text or the strategies I want to teach. It all depends on how you approach your reading class. You can create your presentations parallel to that approach. I pay attention to the fact that the presentation should accompany my teaching instead of taking completely over.

facebook fan page said...

As like binary system
is there any other language by which i can creat A ?

Sharon said...

Thanks for your post. I personally find Prezi to be difficult to use, but I recognise the benefits is has. The problem I think is that it moves so much that it's easy to get motion sickness.

Hakan Senturk said...

I agree with the "moving so much" part. However, that's the beauty of creating a good Prezi presentation. When you are subtle enough with your presentation, people won't even notice that it is moving...

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