Yes Yingwen, now that you have a classroom where you could use power point I would definitely recommend it. The possibilities are endless. The only negatives I can think of are those that Fish already mentioned. And in the case of breakdowns with the technology, it's always an opportunity to flex your spontaneous creative muscles.

It takes a little time to get creative with it, but hey you're on vacation now so what the hell - why not? The help section is pretty good and there are tutorials on the web to help you also. There's also a good website I just discovered recently called "presentation zen." Very interesting stuff with lots of links and recommendations for good presentations.

Some reasons I like power point so much, not necessarily in order of importance:
1. When I decide to do a power point presentation, the creative juices start flowing.
2. Students like it. When they see me pull out my flash disc, a sort of hush falls and a kind of anticipation builds. As any good teacher knows, anticipation is great, it starts the synapses snapping.
3. It's clean: I hate the toxic, Chinese chalk. It gets in my lungs and on my hands and clothes. My hands are always dry for days if I use it. Wish they'd use more whiteboards here.
4. Your graphic choices are nearly unlimited. Clip art of course, but also your own photos or photos from the web. I'll try to attach one here from a pay website - just one of their samples. But as you'll see in "presentation zen" there are many free sites with pictures you could use. And of course there's pictures all over the web.
5. The more experienced I get with power point, the quicker I get at designing a lesson plan that moves quickly and engages students. This is something that Fish pointed out that is definitely necessary - keepin' things moving, and I definitely agree with him on that point. By the way, I choose one student from each class to have the computer up and running before I get there, and to be my "tech adviser" should I run into any problems. Turning on the power point projector and lowering the screen only takes a minute and I can choose someone else to do it if I'm otherwise engaged with students. I think that Fish referenced needing a laptop, but if your university has it together, they probably have a computer in your classroom - so you're good to go.
6. Power point presentations can be very active and interactive.You can also add sounds and music, although, I can't do that on this computer because, naturally, I don't have a legal copy of XP and the stuff that comes with it. (amazing how even the most prestigious universities won't spring for the legal stuff)
I've also found that using MS Word in class can be useful. Why bother with the messy old blackboard? You can enlarge the font for those with eye problems - seems to be lots of those, and you can use color options for highlighting. Underlining, bold, italics etc. are all features that can be put to good use.

I kind of laugh at myself sometimes though. I use to be pretty anti-tech, and I still believe in the personal touch when possible; albeit, I can't escape the practicality and usefulness of it. And oh well, life is about change eh?

On another note, I used to teach MS Word to immigrants in America. It was amazing how they took to it and used it as a learning tool. Now I like to remind my university students of the more practical applications in MS Word. Several students presented me with excellent end of term vocabulary charts last month - complete with tables, borders and the excellent use of delineating colors. And of course there's the aspect of spell check and the thesaurus that I see as valuable aids also.

Well, give it a try Yingwen, I'd like to hear about your progress and would love to share ideas with you.
Take care and my best to ***.