How to describe a picture Answer: where? Who? When? What/What is happening? How many? How big, small, long, short etc Whose? Why? Consider the five senses: what can you SEE, HEAR, SMELL, TOUCH, TASTE Where? Choose the right word: The girls are on a (plane/ship) You can see the (sea/park) It is not clear which (nation/nationality} the people are Maybe American? When? Choose the right word: The weather is (fine/bad) It looks like the scene is taking place in (winter/summer) Who? Put the missing words back in: There are two in the foreground They are quite Their black is tied back They are blue t-shirts and There is a police officer near them Everybody is them and photos girls watching hair shorts taking young wearing What? Rearrange the sentence: off two are a the side of ship jumping girls Why? There may be many reasons for the girls’ action Any ideas??? Replace the words from the box This photo was _ at sea on quite a big ship The blue sea is very and the weather is fine In the foreground, there are two women or girls They look about eighteen or nineteen They are on the edge of the deck and they are their noses They have no special swimming or diving equipment! They are off the side of the ship into the sea The photo is taken just as they are jumping The man who is the closest to them is in He is holding a and he is keeping other men back He is stopping anyone from getting too to the girls In the background, there are more people They have _ and they are taking photos of the girls Some are quite close and others are up on a higher deck From what we can see, it looks like quite a modern, well-equipped The girls must feel ! They can smell the brine and the cool sea breeze against their faces They may be jumping for a dare, or perhaps they are new recruits into the Navy and have to prove that they are able swimmers There might be a dinghy beneath them on the sea that they can swim to, or maybe there are already divers in the sea who will them There are two buoys in the water Maybe they have to reach them and bring them on board as part of training young vessel holding jumping taken chain close cameras scared feel uniform help lifeguard standing calm Key: jumbled sentence: Two girls are jumping off the side of a ship This photo was taken at sea on quite a big ship The blue sea is very calm and the weather is fine In the foreground, there are two young women or girls They look about eighteen or nineteen They are standing on the edge of the deck and they are holding their noses They have no special swimming or diving equipment! They are jumping off the side of the ship into the sea The photo is taken just as they are jumping The man who is the closest to them is in uniform He is holding a chain and he is keeping other men back He is stopping anyone from getting too close to the girls In the background, there are more people They have cameras and they are taking photos of the girls Some are quite close and others are up on a higher deck From what we can see, it looks like quite a modern, well-equipped vessel The girls must feel scared! They can smell the brine and feel the cool sea breeze against their faces They may be jumping for a dare, or perhaps they are new recruits into the Navy and have to prove that they are able swimmers There might be a dinghy beneath them on the sea that they can swim to, or maybe there are already divers in the sea who will help them There are two buoys in the water Maybe they have to reach them and bring them on board as part of lifeguard training IDEAS FOR USING THE PICTURE 1) Put the class in groups Ask each group to annotate the picture Then, one student form each group moves around and looks at the other groups’ work, reports back to own group and adds ideas (Activity called ‘Envoy’) 2) Pair work One student has the picture, describes it to the other The other student does a brief diagram or written description – then compare with the picture 3) Splat! Put the picture up on screen The students go to the board in twos Teacher says a sentence, the first one to touch it is the winner Sample sentences: He has got a chain She has a ponytail It is blue and calm… 4) True or false? Written exercise, or else give each student cards, T or F, to hold up, as you read Do as a memory exercise, or with the picture on view Sample sentences: a) There are three girls ready to dive in the sea (F) b) There is a guy holding people back (T) c) This incident takes place at sea (T) d) It happens on a plane (F) e) The ship is white (T) f) The sea is choppy (F) g) The girls feel relaxed (F) h) They are wearing swimsuits (F) i)They are sunbathing (F) j) They must feel frightened (T)