Pecha Kuchas with your students

What is a Pecha Kucha?

( pronounced /’petʃaku’tʃa/ ) 

“Pecha Kucha (ペチャクチャ?), usually pronounced in four syllables like “pe-cha-ku-cha”) is a presentation format in which content can be easily, efficiently and informally shown, usually at a public event designed for that purpose. Under the format, a presenter shows 20 images for 20 seconds apiece, for a total time of 6 minutes, 40 seconds. It was devised in 2003 by Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Tokyo’s Klein-Dytham Architecture (KDa), who sought to give young designers a venue to meet, network, and show their work and to attract people to their experimental event space in Roppongi.[1] They devised a format that kept presentations very concise in order to encourage audience attention and increase the number of presenters within the course of one night. They took the name Pecha Kucha from a Japanese term for the sound of conversation (“chit-chat”). Klein and Dytham’s event, called Pecha Kucha Night, has spread virally around the world. More than 170 cities now host such events.[2][3]”

From Wikipedia

I first heard of Pecha Kucha’s during the 2009 IATEFL Conference and have delivered a few myself cine then!! The first one I watched by Lindsay Clanfield explained it very well but as YouTube links expire, I have found an alternative with Heilke Philps

Classroom Application

So, of course, I played the online videos to my students and my trainees and, eventually, it occurred to me that it would be interesting to have them present their own Pecha Kuchas. After all, teachers need to hone up their presentation skills and be able to perform with energy and enthusiasm when appropriate!
They all responded with great enthusiam!

Language learners as well have a lot to benefit from using this format of presentation, or it’s short alternative (Ignite, according to Heike in the video above) which is 10 slides only (or really, even fewer according the level of your learners and what you want them to do!)

Choosing a topic

With trainee teachers

Ideally, I would have assigned them a syllabus related topic, such as giving classroom instructions, monitoring and correcting, insights from discourse analysis, or some such non-exciting topic… But the horrified look on their faces when I suggested these topics was enough to make me change my mind.
I decided to let them choose their own topics to motivate them more!

Their first one was a 3 minute version rather than the full 6-minute one. My trainees came up with a variety of ideas, none of which had anything to do with ELT!!!

After their first presentations which were fantastic and full of evidence of a great amount of preparation, research and rehearsal going into their preparation (as anyone who has done a Pecha Kucha will testify), the time came to negotiate their assessment.

I suggested to them that they could prepare their own Pecha Kucha and this could go towards their oral assessment. I still have two of their powerpoint presentations, one on “Sex & the City” and another one on “The 2008 December Riots in Athens”. I was unfortunately not tech savvy enough to record them! Sorry!

More applications of the idea are obvious for any level and topic and not just for assessment!
I am interested in any additional ideas you may have and encourage you to add them.

With  Language Learners

It’s a great tool to get them to practise sustained talk – long turns are now regularly assesses in higher level exams where students are expected to hold the floor for one or two minutes developing a given topic.  Pecha Kuchas offer a great practice ground for this type of exam preparation.

Post Script

03.05.2026 

More than 15 years later, we are still using this technique and it still challenges and motivates students for different types of courses to present and keep talking  on topics they have chosen; more recently, we have been using this technique with Business English short courses, starting with 5-10 slides only, depending on the level

These days powerpoint is not the only tool available – some great presentation ideas and templates can be accessed through canva.com – even the free version – and many college students are familiar with this app as well as with google slides or other similar ones.

The original Pecha Kucha rules

• do not allow animations in the slides
• allow for 20” per slide
• allow for 20 slides

These rules can be bent.changed when it comes to student – use them at your discretion.

The feedback from our own students is excellent – the activity gives them a great rush as well as motivation to do well – try it and let us know how it went.

N.B.This is also a great topic for Module 2 Experimental Practice Assignment.