Introduction
“Describing a Farm Picture” is a fun activity which challenges the students’ communication skills but also allows them to be creative. The students draw a picture based entirely on their fellow student’s descriptions.
This activity is based on the activity of the same name by Samabanis et al. (2013).
Target group and Time
This activity is suitable for English language students from 4th grade. There is no limit to language proficiency since the pictures can be adapted accordingly. Also, the learning focus can be varied. However, the skill of building simple sentences and basic descriptive vocabulary is needed.
The time frame should not be less or longer than 10 – 20 min, depending on the learners’ proficiency and the number of rounds played.
Learning objectives
The main learning objective of this activity is to practice communication skills but also collaboration skills. The students learn to trust in their abilities and to describe things with words they already know. The presentation of the results provides an opportunity for reflection and understanding of how misunderstandings can occur.
Instructions to set up the activity
The teacher provides different pictures. For young language learners, it is advisable to choose simple pictures with only a few structures. Optionally, all the pictures can have a similar theme. In our case, the pictures were all related to the farm. The number of pictures depends on the number of students and the time available.
Other than that, blank sheets of paper, as well as pens and a firm base, should be available for drawing.
Letting it run
One person from each pair is then handed a picture. The other person is handed a sheet of paper, a pencil, and a firm base. The students are given a specific amount of time, depending on their language level. For 5 & 6 graders 5 minutes per person is enough time. After drawing, students are asked to compare their drawings with the original pictures. They are asked to think about the differences they can point out. They are also asked to think about how they could communicate some things differently in the future so that the other person knows better what they mean.
Then the teacher collects the pictures, asks the students to swap the equipment and hands out new pictures to the other student in each pair.
Reference:
Sambanis, M. et al. (2013) DRAMA TO GO! Hints and hands-on activities for the classroom. Scenario (Cork). [Online] VII (1), 83-84. http://research.ucc.ie/scenario/2013/01/Sambanis/05/en
