ETF 56/3 pg41-48

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TRY THIS

Thousand-Word Pictures

LEVEL: High Beginner (can be adapted for

more advanced levels)

TIME REQUIRED: 30 minutes

GOALS: To develop written and oral

descriptions of a picture; to make comparison

statements describing similarities and

differences; to identify cultural elements in a

picture and compare them to elements from

students’ own local culture

MATERIALS: An interesting, culture-rich

picture (photo-selection criteria are provided

in the Preparation section); paper; pens or

pencils; a projection device to display the

picture (optional)

BACKGROUND:

Have you ever heard the saying “A picture

is worth a thousand words”? It suggests that

pictures often communicate information more

quickly and more clearly than a written text

can. Pictures can be a great source of cultural

information for English language learners.

Images can provide examples of both surface-

level culture (e.g., food, clothing, and art)

and deeper cultural elements (e.g., traditional

or religious celebrations and interpersonal

relationship norms).

This activity, in which students analyze a

picture and develop cultural comparison

statements, uses some of the same techniques

presented in the article describing the Cultural

Facilitation Model, beginning on page 2. In

this case, students use a picture as “cultural

evidence.” This activity can be used with

any level, from high beginners to your most

advanced students. You can find ideas for how

to adapt this activity for higher-level students

in the Variations and Extensions sections.

PREPARATION:

1. Find a picture showing a culture that

is different from your students’ local

culture. This article includes four

example pictures that you can use.

• The picture you select can relate to

any situation, but it’s best to find a

fairly complex image showing many

items, more than one person, and

people engaging in real-life activities

rather than posing.

• Think about the vocabulary and

grammatical knowledge that students

will need to describe the picture.

Prepare to teach or review those

items. If you have been studying a

certain vocabulary topic, try to find a

picture that relates to that topic. For

example, a picture of a traffic jam or a

busy road could provide opportunities

to practice vocabulary related to

transportation. If you have recently

taught terms for family members, a

picture of a family party or holiday

celebration is a good choice. A picture

of a classroom or a school-supply

store would give students a chance to

use school-related vocabulary.

• When you evaluate a picture, try to

write sentences about it yourself,

using the grammar and vocabulary

you have taught recently. If you

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Picture 1: Marching band leaders in a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade

can think of at least five descriptive

sentences, the picture is probably rich

enough to use with students. You can

also think about how the scene in the

picture would be different if it were

happening in your own community;

this can be helpful because students

will make cross-cultural comparisons

during the activity.

• Once you have found a suitable

picture, be sure that you are allowed

to use it for educational purposes

according to international or local

may need to share the picture’s

source and the photographer’s name

during the activity. For information

on finding free, open-source pictures

to use with this activity, see the

Appendix on page 48.

2. Decide how you will share the picture

with students during the activity. If your

class has more than about ten students,

a picture printed out or copied on a

standard-size sheet of paper will be

too small for the whole class to see in

sufficient detail.

• If you plan to use paper copies of

the picture, prepare enough copies

so that students can look at the

picture in groups of four to eight

people.

• Another option is to digitally share

the picture. You can electronically

share a picture you found online,

or you can digitize a print picture

by taking a photo of it with your

mobile phone, then share the

image file.

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Photo by Tabitha Kidwell

Picture 2: A children’s playroom in Chicago

o If you have a digital projector, you

can project the picture file in a

large format on a whiteboard or

wall in the classroom.

o If you are in touch with students

via a messaging app like WhatsApp

or email, you could send the

picture file directly to students.

They can look at it on their own

mobile devices, alone or in small

groups.

o You could also send students the

picture’s URL (website address)

or write the URL on the board

so they can access the picture on

mobile devices or class computers

(if available). If the picture’s URL is

very long, you can use a free service,

such as bitly.com, to shorten it.

PROCEDURE:

1. Preteach or review a small number of

vocabulary words that will help students

describe what is happening and what they

see in the picture. Be sure to include words

that are needed to describe the picture’s

important or unusual aspects. Keep these

words on the board during the activity.

2. If necessary, review the grammar that

students will need to use to describe

the picture and write sentence frames

on the board to support students’

descriptions. For example, to describe

Picture 1, the picture of the marching

band on page 42, students could use

the present continuous tense to write

sentences like Three people are leading a

parade and Musicians are walking behind them.

To describe Picture 2, the picture of the

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Picture 3: A musician playing guitar and singing by the side of a street

children’s playroom on page 43, students

could use the phrases there is and there are

to write sentences like There is a table and

There are clothes hanging up. You and your

students can use similar sentence frames

to write sentences describing Picture 3

(page 44) and Picture 4 (page 46).

3. Display the picture for the whole class to

see, or distribute printed or small-screen

digital copies of the picture to groups

of four to eight students. Give students

a moment to look at the picture, then

briefly explain the context of the picture.

For example, for Picture 1, you might

say, “These are members of a secondary-

school marching band participating in

a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, a

city in the southern part of the United

States.” For Picture 2, you could say,

“This is the playroom in the house of a

family with small children in Chicago,

a large city in the United States.”

4. Ask volunteers to comment on aspects of

the picture they find unusual, interesting,

or different from their own local culture.

If needed, ask questions to guide student

responses. For example, for Picture 1,

you might ask students, “Who is leading

the parade?” or “What are the students

doing?” Encourage volunteers to

focus on describing the picture rather

than interpreting or evaluating it. For

example, if a student says, “The family

is rich” for Picture 2, you could point

out that the audience cannot know that

information for sure just by looking

at the image, and you can encourage

students to say instead, “The family owns

a lot of toys.”

5. Write one example sentence about the

picture on the board. If using Picture 1,

you might draw students’ attention to

the top right corner and write People are

watching the parade.

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6. Tell students to write at least three

sentences to describe elements in the

picture that they consider unusual,

interesting, or different from their own

local culture. Though three sentences

should be the minimum, encourage

students to write as many sentences as

they can during the time provided.

7. Walk around the room to monitor

student progress, read students’

sentences, and offer feedback.

8. When most students have written at least

two sentences, invite several student

volunteers to write a sentence on the

board as the rest of the class continues

writing. Continue until there are at least

six sentences on the board.

9. As a class, review the sentences on the

board. Work together to correct any

major grammatical or informational

issues. Don’t slow the activity down

by spending too much time discussing

grammar—if you observe any high-

frequency errors, plan to review the

associated grammar points at the end

of the activity or in a future lesson. Ask

students if anyone wrote a sentence

about an important detail in the picture

that is not yet on the board; add

sentences that students suggest.

10. Tell students to imagine that a situation

similar to the one in the picture were

taking place in their community. Ask

them what would be the same and what

would be different about the setting,

people, activity, and other items seen

in the picture. To get students started,

you might ask a specific question about

the picture. For Picture 2, you could

say, “This family has a room used only

for children to play with their

toys. Would it be the same in our

community?”

11. Ask students which of the sentences on

the board would be different and which

would be similar if the context of the

picture were their own community. To

help students develop their answers, you

can write these language frames on the

board:

• In the picture, [old sentence], but in

our community, [new sentence]. (This

shows that things are different.)

• In the picture and in our community, [old

sentence]. (This shows that things are

the same.)

Support students as they share ideas

about how to change the original

sentences on the board to reflect

comparisons made to the local cultural

context. Write the comparison sentences

on the board. Figure 1 lists examples

of how students’ descriptive sentences

about Picture 2 could be changed into

comparison statements that use the

language frames.

Original sentence Comparison sentence

The baby is sitting in a chair. In the picture, the baby is sitting in a chair, but in

our community, babies are usually held by adults.

There is a slide in the room. In the picture, there is a slide in the room, but in

our community, slides are usually at parks.

The children have a toy truck. In the picture and in our community, children

have toy trucks.

Figure 1. Using language frames to create comparison statements about Picture 2

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Picture 4: People picking out pumpkins for Halloween

12. Tell students to review the sentences they

wrote and change them to add contrasting

information about their community’s

culture or to comment on cultural

similarities they observe. Students can

use the sentence frames and example

sentences on the board for support.

13. Have students read their new sentences

to a partner.

14. With the whole class, discuss the

similarities and differences between the

culture shown in the picture and their local

community’s culture. Discuss why these

similarities and differences might exist.

VARIATIONS

Local Photos

1. Follow Steps 1 to 9, as listed above.

2. For homework, ask students to find or

take a picture of a scene in their own

community that is similar to the scene

shown in the picture you discussed.

Students should bring the picture to the

next class.

3. During the next class, ask students

to write three to five sentences

comparing the first picture and their

own picture. Encourage them to build

on the sentences they wrote during

the previous class by using the pattern

“In the rst picture, [old sentence],

but in my community, [new sentence]”

to describe differences and the

pattern “In the picture and in our

community, [old sentence]” to describe

similarities.

4. Have students read their sentences to a

partner.

5. With the whole class, discuss the

similarities and differences between the

culture shown in the picture and the

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culture of their community. Discuss why

these similarities and differences might

exist.

Higher-Level Students

Advanced students should be able to describe

pictures without the support of sentence

frames and vocabulary review. Here are

options to adapt this activity for higher-level

students:

• Provide a number of pictures to choose

from and allow students to choose a

picture to write about, based on their

own interests. Have them share their

descriptions with someone who wrote

about a different picture.

• Display a number of pictures around the

room, along with a large sheet of paper

and some markers for each picture. Have

students walk from picture to picture

independently, writing descriptive

sentences about each picture on the papers

and reading the sentences others have

written before them. Continue until each

picture has at least five sentences. Then,

divide students into small groups and have

each group discuss cultural differences

between their own local culture and what

they see in one of the pictures. Tell each

group to update the sentences about their

picture and share some of their updated

sentences with the class.

• Rather than having students write

isolated sentences, ask students to write

a paragraph about the picture, including

appropriate transition words. Have

students read their paragraph to a partner,

then write an additional paragraph

explaining the differences and similarities

between their own local culture and the

culture shown in the picture.

EXTENSIONS

Culture Investigations

Have students research the cultural aspects

of one detail in the picture. For Picture 1,

students might research Mardi Gras traditions

or extracurricular music programs at

American secondary schools (also called

“high schools”). For Picture 2, students might

research typical American houses or beliefs

about raising children. Picture 3 suggests

topics such as street-side musicians and

entertainment, while topics related to

Picture 4 include Halloween, pumpkins

and jack-o-lanterns, and autumn traditions.

Students can present their research to the

class in an oral presentation. Or they could

write a short paragraph about what they

learned, and these paragraphs could be

displayed with the picture in the classroom

or on a class blog or website.

Enter the Picture

Have each student take on the role of a person

in the picture. Tell students to imagine what

the person is seeing, doing, and thinking.

Have them write a journal entry from that

person’s point of view. Ask students to read

their journal entry out loud, and have the class

guess which person’s point of view is being

described.

This activity was written by Tabitha Kidwell, a

doctoral candidate in Applied Linguistics and Language

Education at the University of Maryland. She has taught

language and trained teachers on five continents. Her

research focuses on how to integrate culture within

language classes.

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APPENDIX

Finding Pictures

If you have limited access to the Internet, newspapers and magazines can be good

sources of pictures, even if they are from your own community. If your school library

has picture dictionaries, they often include pictures of interesting scenes. If you have

a chance to travel to another country or a different cultural context within your own

country, take pictures of scenes that are interesting or curious to you.

If you have Internet access, the following websites are good sources of pictures:

• Pixabay.com – Offers over 1 million copyright-free images and videos

• Photosforclass.com – Has only images that are appropriate for schools and

automatically includes any required citations when you download images

• Foter.com – Shares images that are in the public domain and free for all to use.

Search or browse by categories like food, sports, and education.

• Unsplash.com – Publishes images by photographers who chose to share them for free

• The “What’s Going On in This Picture?” column, The New York Times (https://www.

nytimes.com/column/learning-whats-going-on-in-this-picture) – Every Monday,

The New York Times shares an interesting, caption-free picture for students to analyze

and discuss; the newspaper reveals the photo’s original caption on Thursday.

• Your Shot community, National Geographic (http://yourshot.nationalgeographic.

com) – This site lets photographers share their pictures with others. Search

categories include culture, people, and places. Be sure to give credit to the

photographer who took the picture.