PechaKucha in Google Slides

PechaKucha is so much fun! When I started to present the idea of PechaKucha to my colleagues, it was a bit difficult because everyone thought I would be talking about some new digital tool again. PechaKucha isn’t really digital at all, it is rather a format for giving presentations. Here is how you can turn a regular presentation into a PechaKucha in Google Slides.

PechaKucha has all the benefits

PechaKucha comes from Japan, but it has quickly spread worldwide because it is simple, fast and fun. In the original version, the speaker gets exactly 20 images to be displayed 20 seconds each. That means that the presentation will last for a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Precisely!

When you get the chance to give a PechaKucha, it is vital to choose pictures with care and practice what you want to say to the audience. You can not exceed the time limit, and no one wants to listen to someone who is silent for even a little as 10 seconds on each picture. In other words, practice is the key to success. In Japan, this format has become so popular that PechaKucka evenings are held with lectures on a wide variety of topics during the same evening.

Now to my students! I teach a B-level group studying Swedish for immigrants, and they really need to get started speaking their new language. These weeks we were having “holiday and work” as a general theme, and it felt like a good time to end the project with a presentation that had a fun and international twist!

I planned the project to last for two weeks, and the first Monday the students got to choose 10 pictures they liked on Pixabay. At least three of the images they choose had to be about their jobs or future jobs. They saved their images on Google Drive in a folder they shared with me. In that way, I could print them out so that the students could take them home to practice their speeches.
The students got to choose Picturers on Pixabay that they thought represented themselves and their lives.

After this, they were given a blank paper where they placed their images in order from 1 to 10 and started writing sentences for each image. The students do not have many Swedish words on B-level, but they got to make different sentences with the words they knew. It could be “I like the forest”, “It’s nice in the forest”, “I often walk with friends in the forest” and alike. They got the week to practice talking about their pictures and to keep the time frame of 30 seconds.

Education and ICT on social media

The students got to choose Picturers on Pixabay that they thought represented themselves and their lives.

The following Monday, we opened our Chromebooks again, and I showed the students how to turn a presentation into a PechaKucha in Google Slides. They got to create a presentation with their 10 pictures and put it in the folder they shared with me. When everyone had finished their presentation, they got until Friday to practice.

The last step before showtime was to open their presentations and select “publish to the web” under the file-menu. This will create a link that may be accessed from any device, and it’s easy to display your presentation wherever you are.

You get to choose how long each image should be displayed, and I set it to 30 seconds. A link is generated that you can place in a Google document or, if you want to be fancy, on a website in Google Sites created in the honour of the day.
When it was time to hold the presentations, the students worked in groups of 6-7 students. They got one Chromebook per group, and I opened a document containing everybody’s presentation-links.

The students made their PechaKucka in Google Slides

When it was time to hold the presentations, the students worked in groups of 6-7 students. They got one Chromebook per group, and I opened a document containing everybody’s presentation-links. When a student clicked his name, the pictures began to appear for 30 seconds each, and it was necessary to remember what to say! Of course, I was kind and helped them with questions if they forgot what to say, I think it’s essential that presentations are fun and not mixed with horror! The first student who held a PechaKucha seemed a little nervous, but pretty soon, all of them started to relax and enjoy the concept.

The project went super well, and I will do this again in different subjects!

Share on social media!

Is it a rainy day – keep reading. . !

Collaborate easily with Padlet

A brand new history timeline

Free Headers for Google Classroom

Beautiful clips for YouTube – Free!

PechaKucha in Google Slides