Children reading together

A Picture-Talk Activity for English Speaking

Sample teaching article · Practical ideas to adapt to your classroom.

Choose a picture children can discuss

Use a clear picture of a market, garden or classroom. A drawing on the board also works. Choose a scene with familiar objects and people, and avoid showing so many details that children struggle to focus. Tell learners that they will observe, speak and then write.

Begin with observation

Give children a quiet minute to look. Ask: What can you see? Who is in the picture? What are they doing? Let children first discuss in pairs, using their home language when needed. Introduce a few English words connected to their answers and write them on the board.

Build sentences together

Start with a short model: “I can see a tree.” Invite children to change the object. Then extend the sentence: “I can see a tall tree.” For actions, use an example such as “The girl is reading.” Keep the first round predictable so children can concentrate on speaking.

Give class-wise tasks

Class 3 learners can name five objects and say two short sentences. Class 4 learners can describe people and objects in four sentences. Class 5 learners can create a short conversation between two people in the scene. Adjust these tasks to learners’ actual reading and speaking levels.

Let every child practise

Give pairs two roles: speaker and listener. The listener points to the object or action mentioned, then the roles change. Invite a few pairs to share, but also listen to children who rarely volunteer. Model a corrected sentence gently and give the learner another chance to say it.

End with one independent response

Ask children to draw one object and write a sentence about it. Check whether the sentence matches the picture and makes sense. Keep a note of words or sentence patterns that need another lesson. The next day, use a different picture with the same speaking pattern.

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