Using PowerPoint to Create Information Gaps

The latest "Grammar and Beyond" newsletter from Cambridge carries an article on how to use PowerPoint to create an "information gaps" learning activity for the classroom. Read the simple technique here. While the author describes how she used the technique for practicing irregular verbs, I have used the same technique for reviewing vocabulary. I had the front-facing students read off PowerPoint slides, each showing a sentence with the vocabulary word covered by an opaque shape. The students sitting with their back toward the front had to listen and guess what the missing word was. Then, after a set time, I revealed the missing word, using a PowerPoint animation trick, to the cheers of some and the surprise of others.