Blog Challenge: Compare and Contrast Photos

I previously mentioned in my Free iPad Apps for the ELT Classroom post that I used these photos in a recent class, and Brad Patterson's compare and contrast photo blog challenge gives me the opportunity to go into a little bit more depth about how I used them.

Taken from the Guardian eyewitness iPad app

Taken from the Life magazine iPad app

It was the day after the riots in London escalated and became international news. My student (in a one to one class) is an anglophile, having lived in London for a year, so there were was only one topic of conversation in that lesson. She's an intelligent person who is prepared to speak about almost any subject and can really engage with meaty subjects.

The conversation turned from what happened to how and why it happened. In my opinion, these are complex social matters that cannot be discussed glibly and I was delighted that we were able to have such a high level conversation. I made the point that I think there are some serious problems within British society that will take generations to solve, if the population is willing.

Where the photos came in was that I was quickly and vividly able to illustrate my point. The first photo was taken during the riots, a stunning image that captures the intensity of what happened. The second was taken in 1940 as London came under attack during the Second World War. The point I wanted to make with these similar images was that a huge project of rebuilding was undertaken with political consensus after the war, so there is no reason that it couldn't be done again. I think that by using these similar images I was able to reinforce my point without needing to resort to rhetoric or time consuming online research.

The lessons I learned from this were:

•  images can be compared to emphasise arguments, which could be the grounds for an interesting activity in the future.

• we don't always have to think of these resources as the seed of an activity. We can just as easily use them during our natural conversation with the student in all manner of ways (to illustrate, to explain and to refute for example).

• never underestimate the students ability to engage in high order thinking. Their difficulty may be in the ability to express those thoughts, but that doesn't mean they won't surprise you if you give them the opportunity. It also displays how much you respect them as an individual, not just as a student.

• don't be afraid of expressing your own opinions. Obviously you have to be able to read the situation and react sensitively, but in general my students are paying to have lessons with me and if I can, I will be myself. Conflict isn't good, but conversation and the sharing of ideas is always healthy.

You can read plenty more posts in this blog challenge. Go to Brad's original post for links (here).

Read more ►

Ideas From The Guardian: 24 Hours In Pictures

Photo by me.

I’ve been reading the Guardian newspaper ever since I was a teenager, and though I can no longer pop to the newsagent to pick one up, it is still my main source of news and comment. From the news articles to the various podcasts, I don’t think I could live without it. It’s the only newspaper that I know of that has a TEFL section, which should make it popular with us teachers too.

One of my favourite pages is 24 Hours in Pictures. Every day they publish a collection of around fifteen recent images. This includes pictures from current global events, as well as other notable images. It’s a great resource that can be used in a variety of ways, including as a conversation starter. Below is an example of how I used the page in an upper intermediate and above lesson about photography:


1) Begin with a general discussion about photography to gauge the level of interest and knowledge about the subject.

2) Go through the pictures and discuss them, concentrating on the technical aspects of photography rather than any issues raised. This is an opportunity to introduce some relevant vocabulary, such as composition, framing, use of light, portrait, landscape etc.

3) Then ask the students to choose their favourite image. They then explain why they chose this one in particular.

4) Ask students to imagine that they are a judge for a news photography competition. They have to give a prize to the best news photograph. What criteria would they use to decide on a winner? Hopefully they will use some of the qualities mentioned in point 2, as well other things such as capturing a moment etc.

5) Show the clip from the BBC Culture Show below. I stop the clip at the 3 minutes 45 second point, but you could show more if you wish. The chances are you’ll need to play the video more than once, even if your students are very advanced, so decide how you want to structure their tasks. For my upper-intermediate student, for the first listen, I just asked her to summarise the main idea.



6) For the second listen, I asked her to listen again and note down anything the judge says she looks for in a prize winning photo.

7) The students then compare the list they made at point 4 with the judges criteria.

8) If you want to do some language work based on things that came from the video, you could do it at this point.

9) Finally, you could finish by discussing the issues raised in the photos.

Possible follow ups activities:

- Homework: Ss uploads one of their own photos to http://www.fotobabble.com/ and describes what is happening and why they like this photo so much.

- These articles can be used for further reading on the subject.

 

Read more ►