The effect of Microsoft PowerPoint is gradually being observed in schools and universities today. Microsoft PowerPoint has been known to improve student’s literal reading, proving to be a valuable aid to teachers and educationists. Colorful templates, a variety of fonts and a range of multimedia tools make these presentations an attractive medium of education and information.

Some practical suggestions when using Microsoft PowerPoint presentations in a class:

How do you improve students’ reading comprehension through Microsoft PowerPoint type programs?

• Show a picture and have the students take turns asking and answering- Who, Where, When, What, and Why questions about the picture.
• Haven them read a short projected passage and the orally answer Who, Where, When, What about the passage.
• Project a passage from Microsoft PowerPoint on a White board and have students circle the literal answers to questions about the passage.
• Have students read a short passage and then select the corresponding picture from four possible Flickr or Google choices.

Here are a few ways in which you can improve students’ reading vocabulary skills through Microsoft PowerPoint

• Have a listing of the sight words that the students are to know and read
• Show words or pictures and have students pick which one does not rhyme (bee, tree, three, moon)
• Create a class story about the school and have pictures to match each sentence. “This is William’s desk.”
• Show students a word and have them write all words associated with that word and group those words. For sports, students might list hockey, football, ticket, glove, hot dog, and hoop
• Have students identify vocabulary by topic – show them pictures of ten occupations
• Show a Flickr or Google picture with many details such as a street scene, a restaurant scene or a kitchen and have them identify all the critical words from the picture.
• Teach student root, prefixes, and suffixes through interactive PowerPoint with word groups such as bicycle, biplane bifocals.

The focus is on teaching vocabulary strategies in addition to the meanings of individual words. We create vocabulary Microsoft PowerPoint’s with the words coming from each of our stories. The Microsoft PowerPoint presentation can be used to introduce the vocabulary because it has pictures or during independent work time for students to review what has been discussed. Sometimes a slide without any words but containing only pictures is a powerful way of communication.