Writing Activity - A Pic Is Worth 1000 Words

The old expression, a picture is worth a thousand words, can be turned into a challenging and fun ESL writing activity. It may be accomplished in one session or as an assignment followed by a presentation in another class as an extension. And it works best with middle school, high school, university, and adult ESL learners from between A2–C2 on the CEFR scale. The following paragraphs will walk you through it.

Start With a Picture

Break your class into teams. If you can mix levels and cultures in your groupings, even better. For homogenous classes, the photos you select should have some cultural significance. If a mixed-culture class, try settling on images that aren’t overtly offensive and relate to everyone. You can use the same picture for everyone or a different picture for each group. The following are only examples of images you can use:

Family photos

Humorous photos

Dream-like photos

Human experiences

Historical photos

Scenic photos

Again, these are only ideas, but be sure you have categories for your photos (e.g. historical images, technology, sci-fi, fantasy, business, finances, family, nature, social issues, etc.). It would be difficult to use each of these categories in one class.

Furthermore, using one genre at a time offers more focus on writing. It also reinforces common vocabulary and at times, common grammatical structure. Members will understand that their text must relate to one category or subject and gain focus.
 

A Thousand Words

The thousand words in the title isn’t a target word count—class members can only do what they’re capable of doing. On the other hand, learners are challenged to think of what to say about the picture with as many words as they can effectively and efficiently utilize within the allotted time or writing parameters. You can even involve the entire class in a word-storming activity where the vocabulary generated is displayed for all to use. And the best part is they’re not working on it alone. The following ideas will help you settle on an approach for your activity.

They can create a story.

Using a picture as the backdrop, teams can write intriguing stories that captivate the readers. This approach facilitates longer texts and more detail.
 

They can create an advertisement.

Challenge learners to examine the picture for something that might be advertised. Then they write an advertisement. This method would require less words but more creativity.
 

They can make a humorous narrative.

Select a humorous image or images. Then students take the idea and develop a humorous short story. This helps them master the language by bending it to create the humor.
They can turn it into a news report.

If the image lends itself to a type of news category, learners can be tasked to write a three-minute news report on it. Going this route would require more formal language.

The possibilities are almost endless for a creative ESL teacher. Then, as team members work together, they can help each other overcome weaker areas through others with stronger skills. Care should be taken not to allow one member of the group to dominate the writing, however. That would defeat the purpose of what we’re doing here.

Present

After constructing the text, students submit it to you to check for errors. The reason it needs to be checked first is because you don’t want class members to speak or hear inaccurate grammar. As teachers, we want to work toward positive reinforcement of the language structure. Another, more personal reason, is that you don’t want whoever is presenting to feel embarrassed by potentially poor grammar.

Once you’ve provided feedback, and the team revises the text, it’s time to present. You can display the image on a projector or use something as simple as a printout. One member of the class can read their text while the class listens.

As the teacher, you can take note of pronunciation issues. Another idea is to have each member of the team read a paragraph or section. This involves everyone in the group from start to finish.

Competitive Twists

If your class is so inclined, you can turn “Pic/1,000 Words” into a competition using the following ideas.

1. Word Count

Determine the winners based on a simple word count. It’s a little weak, but it works for a one-class/one-hour activity. Of course, you’ll want to create criteria for the word count such as not allowing a certain number of repeated words.

2. Descriptors

Another angle is counting the accurate descriptors. The team with the widest range of description wins. For this, you might have descriptors for each picture already listed privately and use them as a checklist for each team’s work.

3. Grammatical Accuracy

Another variation is judging the grammatical accuracy. A checklist would be good to keep it fair. For example, you could construct a checklist with various grammar issues and tick each box when you come across one. The team with the least number of errors wins.

4. Put Them All Together

If you want something for advanced or even university classes, you can put all the afore-mentioned criteria together into a checklist. Then, look for accurate word choices, cohesiveness, and overall impact of the narrative.

5. Timed

If this is something you want to keep within a timeframe, you can set a time limit. For example, if you want to limit it to one class period, give 20 minutes to write. For an assignment, you can give 24 hours. This is more challenging while limiting the time needed to complete the activity.
 

Language Goals

Of course, as ESL teachers, we do not just have arbitrary activities to keep people occupied in class. There should be purpose and goals to what we do in class. That said, A Picture Is Worth 1,000 Words, targets the following primary and secondary ESL areas:

1. Writing Skills (Primary)

The target for this activity is to develop creative writing skills. Writing skills involve accurate use of lexis and structure combined with the ability to tie it all together into a cohesive message. As ESL learners work through their text together, they can each contribute something.

2. Speaking Skills (Secondary)

By asking each team to present their text orally, they’re challenged to produce the language clearly. They’ll develop reading fluency and more accurate pronunciation with the help of teacher feedback.

Final Thoughts

If you’ve been looking for something to liven up your writing lessons or your ESL classes in general, A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words, can do the trick. Furthermore, each team has the chance to use their imagination to write the text that matches the image and the assigned genre. Finally, you can provide fun or interesting images that stimulate thinking and produce writing aimed at English language development. And that’s our goal as ESL teachers.

Give it a try and let me know how it went.

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Author: Jerry S. (based on a previous article written for OnTESOL several years ago)

Author bio: Jerry is a marketplace English language trainer of 21 years and Senior TESOL Certificate Instructor affiliated with Midwest Education Group, with a wide range of experience and education ranging from bachelor to doctorate degrees in various fields, who writes articles, blogs, ESL e-learning materials, academic papers, and more.

Photo by Amador Loureiro on Unsplash.

5 Ways to Teach English Without Technology

Throughout your career teaching English as a language, you're often exposed to technology for lesson delivery. It seems like these days, some technology can even run on autopilot.

You prepare lessons using videos, podcasts, and images. You adhere to pedagogical methodologies integrating technology into the classroom. But, . . . the environment you're now asked to teach in doesn't have access to the tech you're used to.

You've just stepped through a time warp from modern technology and teaching conveniences into a world where there are no classroom computers, projector screens, podcasts, YouTube, PowerPoint, iPods, iPads, or other electronic teaching aids. What you see before you is an eager group of people with notepads and pens. In fact, all you have in the classroom is a whiteboard, an easel, chairs, windows, and four walls. What do you do now? What is your Plan B?

In fact, it is often technological bells and whistles that detract from what matters—interacting with learners at a fundamental (human and meaningful) level toward acquiring the target language.

I'm going to show you that technology is not the end all be all of English language teaching. In fact, it is often technological bells and whistles that detract from what matters—interacting with learners at a fundamental (human and meaningful) level toward acquiring the target language. Technology is only one tool for English language learning. Sadly though, many English language teachers (ELTs), schools, and academies are under the impression that technology is indispensible. I'm here to tell you it's not.

Below are a few ideas for teaching in situations with little to no technology that may help you gain confidence in such situations.

The Whiteboard Is Your Friend

Many, if not most classrooms are equipped with whiteboards (some still even have blackboards). Sadly, they are an oft-forsaken relic of the old days of teaching. However, whiteboards can be excellent tools.

As an ESL teacher in the trenches, it's always good to have at least one or two markers in your teaching bag. Use your markers to draw images for your learners to understand nouns, verbs, or even concepts. Try writing sentences for dissection (parsing); list words in similar groups, and create charts demonstrating relationships.

With a few flicks of your wrist, you can turn a whiteboard into a powerful learning aid.

Paper Copies Work Great

With concerns over the environment, handouts are considered a thing of the past among many ESL teachers. However, I'm referring to copies. You can use one copy held high to show the information and ask students to take notes. You can also post or distribute one or two originals and ask learners to do a quick handwritten copy on their notepads.

As an English language teacher with limited means, copies can be used strategically. Copies of key pages or elements (not all) of the lesson material can provide visual and technical assistance for key activities or instructions.

The teacher can facilitate copies for group work, use them to stick on the walls for games, and use specific copies for complex images that can be discussed. It's important to be wise with your printing and copying because many schools or academies in low-economic areas do not have large budgets for such things. But handwritten copies can do the job. 

Discover the Artist Within

Even drawing on a large blank piece of paper (an A4 paper taped together if need be) can show or demonstrate the language point.

This can speak a thousand words in English to your students. Use your sketch to elicit 1,000 words of description or sentence construction—even make it into a game. The game focuses on which team can express the most words that describe the image. This can be perhaps 100- 1000 words depending on the class dynamics and the wining target you set.

Another version of the game is to describe an image of one or multiple activities (e.g., a man sitting on a bench in the park). The group that provides the most grammatically accurate or complete narration wins.

Teachers who invest a little time in drawing can become image-makers without technology. Not only that, but teachers who can draw, or at least try to draw, are providing visuals for the learners in the class who cannot make sense of certain ideas. Sometimes simply writing words out is helpful even without images.

Instead of talking as is the norm, teachers can draw their way to engaging learners more without technology.

Develop Your Acting Skills

When you have nothing left, you have yourself.

English teachers are sometimes called “edutainers” in the classroom for a reason. That means, sometimes, you will have to act things out so your students can follow along. You can act out a dialogue stepping from one side to the next to change character. You might also need to change your voice, or even act out certain elements of dialogue to help learners visualize and hear the target language.

In that sense, who needs videos, right! Step outside your comfort zone, and don't be afraid to put on a little show when needed. You might be pleasantly surprised at how your class members respond.

Use The World Around You

Maybe you're reading this and thinking, I can’t act, and I can’t draw; making copies is problematic, and the whiteboard is unusable. What to do in such cases?

When there are no other options available, use the world around you for your teaching enhancements. You can ask the students to look outside the classroom and describe what they see. Try asking them to narrate what they see.

In addition, you can point to objects or specific scenes and have students explain what they see in English. You can ask them to act out what they see, then speak about what they see. It could be something as simple as a garden outside with flowers. Encourage students to narrate a gardener’s actions in the garden, or they can describe the sky. Learners can describe the clothing of people walking outside, and the list goes on.

The benefit is that these are familiar concepts for students to start with. Then you can aid them in branching out to the unknown (Krashen’s I + 1 if you will, or we can say scaffolding—going from known to unknown by way of connections).

It is literally a world of possibilities!

Wrapping Things Up

If you are transitioning from a high-tech to a low-tech environment, it's not the end! It is but a new experience for you to master as an ESL teacher and to gain more confidence. Keep these ideas in mind to be better prepared to step into a low-tech classroom.

Students want to use English not just to see English being used (as we share with our technology). They do not just want to be entertained but enabled to communicate. The frills, bells, and whistles come later.

Use basic elements to gain interest, to engage your learners, and to aid in teaching even without the technology of modern classrooms. And remember, the important part is not the technology that you have but how you use what you have available for the benefit of learners.

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Author: Jerry S.

This is an update of a blog post I wrote for the OnTESOL blog several years ago.

Author bio: Jerry is a marketplace English language trainer of 21 years and Senior TESOL Certificate Instructor affiliated with Midwest Education Group, with a wide range of experience and education ranging from bachelor to doctorate degrees in various fields, who writes articles, blogs, ESL e-learning materials, academic papers, and more.

Photo by Ryunosuke Kikuno on Unsplash.

Creating Dialogues from Small Talk

When you lack adequate prep time, there are other things you can do with students besides free talking. Today I'm introducing a short series on how to make practical lessons when you have little to no time to prepare. 

As some teachers reading are aware, there are times when you aren’t able to prepare a full-length lesson. Sometimes you're tasked to sub a class. At other times you’re tasked to teach a new class that just popped up. Or, you walk into a classroom not knowing what you’re going to teach.

This is a series on creating lessons with limited preparation time. Our first article will be on how to make a tailored dialogue just from small talk with your adult students. In other words, by taking a little time to get to know your learners, you can better understand the contexts that they're using English in.

How a Dialogue Might Look

For example, if your adult private lesson student works as an IT analyst, you can ask him about his job. You can find out in what contexts he uses English. Then, determine what they talk about (of course no company secrets).

Let’s say you discover through his introduction that Juan works as an IT analyst in an international software company and shares weekly updates with his colleague in the U.S. via video chat. 

By way of conversation, you ask him what he specifically does. He tells you that he gathers data on clients accessing the company software download site. Then you ask Juan the name of the person in the U.S. he often speaks to when reporting this information. He tells you her name is Susan. 

Now you have pretty much the basics to create a dialogue. You can collaborate with him to fill in the rest (an exercise in itself). After, by way of dialogue, you can build more confidence in him using English in this context.

Example Dialogue

Your dialogue might look something like this: 

Juan: Hi Susan! Good morning. How're things today? / What's new?[1]

Susan: Hi Juan! Not too much. Just trying to keep my head above water.[2] How about you?

Juan: Ya, I know what you mean. Same thing over here. I'm putting in a lot of hours.

Susan: Ya, me too. So how's the data looking?

Juan: We've had more traffic this week thanks to the bad weather in our region.[3] It's keeping everybody home. And not only that, we've gotten[4] a much wider range of locations than previous weeks.

Susan: That's good news. Not about the weather—the visits, I meant.

Juan: Have a look at this chart—I'll share my screen. One moment.

Susan: Ya, I see what you mean. What about OSs and browsers?

Juan: Most of the OSs were Windows, but there was a spike in Linux usage. It might be due to the higher numbers. As for browsers, Chrome and Firefox were still first and second. 

Susan: Got it! Can you share your numbers with me? Just attach the document to the chat.

Juan: Sure thing. Well, that's about it. Anything on your end? [5]

Susan: No … oh wait, yes—management here wants to know if you can send email alerts when anything unusual occurs. 

Juan: Sure. I'll do that. Well hey, it was nice seeing you again, but I have to run. Talk to you next week. Take care. [6]

Analyzing the Dialogue

The reference numbers above indicate teaching points that help create a well rounded lesson for your learners.

1. How to open a conversation.

Juan can learn how to open conversations. By simply beginning your dialogue with something you might naturally say, Juan can learn to do the same.

2. Expressions for being busy.

Teaching Juan expressions you might naturally use to indicate you’re busy can help teach him new vocabulary.

3. How to transition.

Inserting a transitional statement such as this can teach Juan how to change topics. It shows him how he can use English to direct the conversation instead of the other way around—being led by the conversation.

4. Appropriate verb tense for the context.

By speaking English in a natural way, you are showing Juan proper use of verb tense. This is something that is natural for you, but not for him. By not overlooking the obvious, we can make the lesson more practical for Juan.

5. | 6. How to wrap up and end a conversation.

Learners I meet are often unclear as to how to wrap up or end conversations. This natural manner of closing the dialogue can be a big help to Juan. 

Tying Up Loose Ends 

Your learners would probably also appreciate this and all of our points above. That’s because sometimes, they’re tired of learning book English. 

They often want to know how the language is naturally spoken. They want to understand and sound like what they hear on Netflix. 

Of course, this is just an example. As you gain details from your students, you can make it more real. You’ll also want to involve them in creating the dialogue to find out how you can make it even more practical for them. 

What about group lessons?

Some readers may be asking about group classes. Well, it works pretty much the same, but you’ll want to try and find a balance or middle ground with the contexts. You don't want other class members who are not IT getting bored with IT dialogues. 

Wrapping Things Up

Dialogues are a great way to teach real-world interactions. You can use them not only to teach what to say (i.e., structure and vocabulary), but also how to say it (i.e., pronunciation, intonation, word choices, expression, …).

That makes this lesson material practical in application targeting learner needs. 

Furthermore, there will likely be more than one context where students use English. That being the case, you’ve just created a series of potential lessons to work on with your learners.

In the end, you’ve entered a classroom without a lesson but came in with your own Kung Fu. That means you may not have a packaged lesson to teach but you can quickly adapt and overcome the situation.

Not only that, you’ve provided perhaps an even more practical lesson for your learners than they may have experienced before from other teachers who might play it by the book. Stay tuned for the next installment. 

What do you think? 

Share your experiences with this lesson about creating dialogues. Or, share your experience walking into a classroom unprepared. Was it a disaster or a triumph?

And remember, you can always contact me to learn more about teaching English as a Second Language. I offer an internationally-accredited TESOL course as well as coaching for certified teachers.

END

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Author: Jerry S. 

This is an update of a blog post I wrote for the OnTESOL blog several years ago. 

Author bio: Jerry is a marketplace English language trainer of 21 years and Senior TESOL Certificate Instructor affiliated with Midwest Education Group, with a wide range of experience and education ranging from bachelor to doctorate degrees in various fields, who writes articles, blogs, ESL e-learning materials, academic papers, and more.