TESOL, ESL, KET, PET, Conversation, Using Images, Teaching Strategies,

1. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Bushra Alshakhly
 Instructor of English
 Cambridge KET/PET
Examiner
 Laureate College of
Excellence, Mecca,
KSA
 June, 2015

2. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Photos and pictures can be used
effectively in teaching TESOL.
 Teachers can use them as a warm-
up to elicit some ideas about what
is going to be presented.
 They can be used to illustrate an
ideas that is hard to explain.
 They are appropriate for all
students’ levels and all ages.
 Teachers can made endless stories
using these images
 They help students elicit descriptive
language that is hard without
prompts.
 Students can react in many different
ways to the question: What do you
see?

3. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 What do you see?
 Do you see two faces, or a
vase?
 You can ask the students to
come to the screen and talk.
 You can pair students up or
divide students to groups
and ask one of them to talk
for the group.
 Students enjoy the freedom
of choice when they feel
unthreatened
 Give low level students
some clues to use, such as,
face, vase, draw, or a
picture.

4. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Students can
remember important
adjectives about the
weather, for example.
 Or they can talk about
their favorite season
and the words
associated with them,
such as, cold, hot,
snow, swimming,
coats, etc.

5. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Students can talk about
facts. This is the level
that students are still in
their comfort zone.
Questions such as:
 What are the five
continents?
 In which continent is your
country located?
 How many oceans and
seas are there around
your country?
 Where are the deserts
located?
 And so on.

6. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Images can be used to
review vocabulary and
prepositions; for
example:
 _ Where is the dog in A?
 _ The dog is on the chair.
 _Where is the cat in C?
 _ The cat is behind the
TV.
 _ Where are the books
shelves?
 _ They are between the
two cats.
 And so on.

7. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Elicit a higher level, basic
conversation to make sure the know
the “wh” questions. The answers
have to be in simple present tense.
 Ask the students to pair up to write
a small paragraph describing the
woman for example. Write about
her name, age, job, or describe her
and her clothes
 Sample questions:
 What do you see in the picture?
 How many people are there?
 What are they doing?
 Where are they?
 Do you think they are friends or a family?
 Where do they live?
 What time of year do you think it is? Is it
cold or hot?
 What are they wearing?
 Give me one sentence that one of them
maybe is saying in this picture.

8. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Talk about the place: They are sitting in a café, in the city, at
home, in the park…
 Describe position: On the right, on the left, in the middle of the
photo, in the background, next to, behind, in front of…
 Describe people’s age: They are in their twenties, they are about
twenty…
 Describe people’s clothes: They are wearing… (use one or two
adjectives to describe the clothes: pattern, color, material…)
 Describe people’s actions: They are reading the newspaper,
cooking…
 Describe people’s roles: He is probably a waiter, a student…
 Describe people’s feelings: He seems sad, frightened, happy…
 Your opinion: In my opinion the photo is very funny, sad,
interesting…
 Describing a
photo is a higher
level thinking
task. It is usually
the (Part 3) of
Cambridge Test
(PET).
 Two students are
each given a
color photo to talk
about it in details
for almost one
minute.
 Look at this
picture and tell
me what you see.
 On the right,
under the picture,
some hints of
what is expected
from the students
to talk about.

9. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Students need to learn how to think
freely. They need to know some
methods to express their need of time
to think, and strategies for hesitation,
such as:
 Well, Um, ……
 Let’s see
 I mean….
 I guess…..
 Ok, You know…..
 So, ……
 Just a moment, …..
 I’m not really sure, …..
 What else? …….
 Well, let me think, ……
 (All) right, …….
 You see what I mean? ……
Remember
 In this photo I can see…
 Talk about…
 place
 position
 people’s age
 people’s clothes
 people’s actions
 people’s roles
 people’s feelings
 Your opinion

10. TESOL: ELICITING CONVERSATION THROUGH IMAGES
 Now let’s practice.
 In this photo I can see…
 Talk about…
 place
 position
 people’s age
 people’s clothes
 people’s actions
 people’s roles
 people’s feelings
 Your opinion