Picture story teaching & other visual
literacy ideas for ESL teachers

Excellent set of elementary ESL lessons using
pictures with  a variety of topics & techniques
incl;- School-related vocabulary and present continuous (PDF)

-Pairwork activity with pictures: problems at school
(PDF)

-Problem solving and emotions (PDF)

Picture card site for vocabulary and behaviour
Dressing & Undressing,  Clothes,  Body Parts,
, Leisure, Home & School,  Behavior,  Emotions,  Fire Safety,  Safety Signs, Street Safety



Memory picture cards for students

Printable memory cards: various themes incl.
body parts, nutrition etc.

Spotlight on Vocabulary: Concepts memory
match exercise with gifts  (see PDF samples)
Spot the difference puzzles for ESL classrooms

Find the 10 differences between the left picture and the right picture! ocean scene (PDF)

There are ten differences in these two pictures of a pirate ship(PDF)

Find the 9 differences in the bottom picture!!
farm scene (PDF)

Find the differences: street scene (PDF)

Find the 4 differences. between the top and. bottom picture (cat) (PDF)

Spot the Difference Puzzles: classroom scene
(download samples)

Spot the difference:outdoors scene (PDF)

Spot the difference: cooking scene

Spot the differences: animals (PDF)

Storyboard templates for English language classrooms

Nice clear storyboard template(PDF)

Storyboard form with action, audio and comments

Storyboard worksheet (html)

Campaign Ad: Storyboard Template (PDF)



More advanced picture  teaching ideas for teachers

Metaphors: Responsibilities are like weights:
A metaphor and idiom lesson for talking about
responsibilities using pictures (PDF) Intermediate

Speaking task: Compare and contrast 2 pictures, commenting on the damage that mankind has caused to our planet (word)

Answer questions about pictures: city street scenes (intermediate-word p 5-8)

Modern art lesson  (PDF) teaching opinions,
adjectives and connectors

Other picture  teaching workhseets and ideas for teachers

Sequencing story: Martha Grizzly's car trouble(PDF)

Sequencing recycling lesson using  scrambled pictures (PDF)

Sequencing pictures lesson for oral health (PDF)

Sequencing: a trip to grandma's house (PDF)

A short guide to picture teaching ideas (PDF)

Sequencing: "From cow to you" elementary (PDF)

Household Furniture Crossword Puzzle (with pictures) (PDF)

Pictures as Icebreakers: Optical
Illusions

Are the horizontal lines parallel or
do they slope?/Can you count the black dots? etc (PDF)

Making Waves, Shimmering Squares (PDF)

Picture based  lessons for ESL teachers

ESL Work with Illustrations exercises insl. Drawing | Sentence Creation | Fill-in-the-Blank | Multiple Choice

Picture dictation lesson guide

Picture Dictation (elementary)

Partial Pictures teaching idea

Use pictures to create a story (word)

Advanced picture dictation (science)

Lesson Plan- Describing Picture Scenes

Picture Sentence Teacher Worksheets: elementary

Work with Illustrations exercises incl. Sentence Creation | Fill-in-the-Blank | Multiple Choice

Adapting a picture story

Picture story activities incl. "Conference with teacher", "Mean kid at school", "A sick child"
Elementary (PDF) Too tired to do homework (PDF)

Cartoons for the classroom archive

Caroon analysis worksheet (PDF)

Comic Creator: online tool for composing  comic strips for a variety of contexts (prewriting, pre- and postreading activities, response to literature, and so on)

Catchy Captions: Students write captions for pictures cut from newspapers and then match the real captions to the pictures.

Picture Stories

Pairwork with (educational) pictures

Pairwork speaking activity: what are they doing?
(PDF)

Pic/sentence prediction for present continuous

What are they doing? pictures worksheet 1 (PDF)

Which picture is it about? Writing sentences

Pic Tac Toe
A fun visual-linguistic lesson plan for presenting,reviewing and comparing verb tenses

Partial Pictures: To consolidate asking and answering "What is this?"

Adjective Gallery

Picture Stories and Thought Groups

Activities round a Group Picture

Dating Game: describing people activity using
pictures with the aim of getting students talking

Improving writing through the use of  imagery

Ideas for using pictures for  ESL teachers

Superlative island

Other Ideas for teaching with pictures

Lesson plan: showing pictures (photos) to describe personal experiences and share information

Picture conversation: Korea old and new (PDF)

Handouts/worksheets/templates/charts for students to use with pictures/photos (Word p. 3/4)

Teaching ideas for using pictures

Fun with pictures idea

Using spatial skills

Spatial thinking list questions  and sample student activities (PDF)

Spatial Skills Test

Workplace visual aids, drawings
and pictures for ESL and other
language teachers

Workplace drawings  incl. grocery store, fast food
restaurant and gas station..."find the hazards" (PDFs)

Building basics lessons with lots of excellent  drawings of  work related themes incl.
construction equipment, gardens, painting, plumbing(PDFs)

Workplace drawings including hazardous waste,
Big Brother, dropped wrench, you're fired (PDFs)

Great office equipment vocab pictures and matching exercise p69-70 (PDF)