Picture activities

You in pictures

Aim of the activity

To practise language related to personal characteristics

Preparation

If possible, make an OHT of the worksheet. Make one copy for each student.

Procedure

Project the OHT and give each student a worksheet. Check that students know the names of all the objects. Ask students to think about themselves and choose the five images that best represent them.In pairs or small groups, ask the students to explain their choices to each other.

Variations

Ask the students to choose one image that represents:their mother / fathertheir teacher / the class as a wholetheir best friendand then explain their choices in groupsThe following variations can be used when students know each other well:b)

In pairs, students guess each other’s choice of images before the discussionc)

Students circle their five objects. The worksheets are then collected and randomlydistributed. Students try to guess whose worksheet they have before the discussion.

From Inside Out Intermediate Resource Pack

Reveal/ Flash a picture

Aim of the activity

To focus the students' attention at the beginning of a lesson.

Preparation

Find a picture with a lot of detail on it. It should be at least A4 size. Put a blank piece of paper on top of it so that it is hidden.

Procedure

Hold the hidden picture up at the front of the class and slowly slip the blank piece of paperdown to reveal the picture underneath. As you do this, pause for the students to guess the hidden details in the picture. Alternatively, flash the picture quickly in front of the class and ask them to call out what theythink they saw in as much detail as possible.Flash it a second time if necessary.

Reveal a famous person

Aim of the activity

To focus the students' attention at the beginning of a lesson.

Preparation

Find a picture of a famous person and stick "post-its" all over it to conceal it. Alternatively, if you have the necessary facilities, photocopy the picture onto an overhead projectortransparency and cover that with "post-its".

Procedure

Display the concealed picture and tell the students that they are going to guess who thefamous person is by asking you

yes/no

questions.Each time someone asks a question requiring the answer

yes

, take off one of the post-its inorder to reveal part of the picture.The person is thus revealed bit by bit as the "post-its" are removed.The activity ends when somebody guesses the identity of the famous person.

Guess a picture

Aim of the activity

To focus the students' attention at the beginning of a lesson.

Preparation

Find an interesting picture. It doesn't matter how big it is.

Procedure

Hold the picture so that you can see it but the students cannot.Tell the students that they are going to guess what the picture is by asking you

yes/no

questions. Do not give them any more information than that until they ask you questions. Alternatively, describe the picture (either giving true information or describing somethingtotally different) and ask the students to guess whether the description was true or false.Finally, show the picture for confirmation.

Predict the other half of a picture

Aim of the activity

To practise present continuous for actions happening now. To recycle a vocabulary area.

Preparation

Find a picture with a lot of detail, people in action and vocabulary items as appropriate.

Procedure

Display the picture on an overhead projector or copy the picture with one half missing andhand out a copy to each pair of students in the class. Ask the students to guess what is happening in the other half of the picture. They can eithershout out their guesses for you to write on the board, or write a list of sentences to bechecked off by another pair of students when the other half of the picture is revealed. Set atime limit or a minimum number of sentences. Reveal the other half of the picture and awardpoints for correct guesses.

Predict the headlines and stories from photos

Aim

To predict the headline and content of newspaper/magazine articles and to heightenmotivation for reading.

Preparation

Choose a selection of newspaper/magazine articles (of interest to your students) with photosillustrating them, one for each pair of students. Stick them on separate sheets of paper withthe photo on one side and the headline and article on the other. Number them.

Procedure

1)Put the students in pairs. Give each student a photo to look at. Tell them not to look at theheadline and article just yet.2)Tell the students to predict the content of their article by looking at the photo and to inventa headline to go with it and to write it on a piece of paper. Under the headline, tell them towrite a sentence summarising the article.3)Tell the students to turn over and read their article.4)Collect in the photos/articles and display them on a desk or on the floor. Collect in thepieces of paper and number them. Display these next to the photos/articles.5)Tell students in pairs to match the predicted headlines to the photos.6)Give the correct answers and discuss any problems.7)Tell students to choose another article to read in pairs.

Alternative

Divide the class into two groups. Group A students receive a photo relating to a newspaperarticle and group B students receive the headline relating to the same article. Students standup and find their partner by reading out the headline or showing and describing their photo.Once the students have found their partner, they can sit together and try to work out whatthe whole article is about. Each pair of students can then prepare a short talk telling the restof the group about the possible content of their article.