All of my colleagues who have seen Triptico have fallen in love with it and it has finally got some of them using the IWB interactively and not just as a projector screen. However, some of them have had difficulty in creating backgrounds to use with the magnet activity which is limiting the way they are using it. I think that this is such a shame as this is such a great tool for starters and plenaries.
I am sure that most of you are already producing your own background images without any problems but if you are not, then here is a simple way of creating them using good old PowerPoint.
- Download this blank slide which is the perfect size for a Triptico Magnets activity.
- Design your background.
- Go to Save as from the file menu.
- Underneath the box where you enter the file name before saving you will see a dropbown box called Save as type. From this dropbown box select JPEG File Interchange Format and then press Save.
- You will be asked if you want to export all slides or just the current one, select to export only the current slide.
- When you load the Triptico magnets activity you need to select the JPEG file which you just saved as your background image.
I have created a series of backgrounds which I use for starters and plenaries in my A Level Spanish classes which which you can download here – I hope they are useful.