Fictional self-introductions from a picture
Steven D. Nelson
| GRADE LEVEL: | JHS 2 +3 |
| SKILLS: | Writing, speaking |
| TIME: | 20-40 minutes |
| MATERIALS: | Random pictures of people from magazines attached to a lined sheet of paper |
| OBJECTIVES: | To practice writing and composition skill |
| | To practice creativity and imaginative skills in English |
PROCEDURE:
1. Browse through some old magazines and cut out pictures of faces and people that look interesting. I recommend using all types of ages and races, even animals if you want. The pictures should not be too large; no larger than 5X5cm is probably best.
2. Attach the pictures to the top of an A4 sheet of paper with about 7-10 wide lines on it. Make several copies of the final sheet.
3. Show the sheets to the students and ask them to choose one with a picture that appeals to them the most. Ideally, all the students should each have a different picture. Then ask them to write a fictional self-introduction in the first person about the person, on the lines below the picture. They can write whatever they want about the person, but it must be in correct English. Give them ideas of things to write about – age, occupation, hobbies, family, nationality, favorite sports/food, etc. Encourage them to be creative in devising stories about the person in the picture, and distribute Japanese-English dictionaries to them so they can look up words they don’t know.
4. (OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED) When all the students have finished, have them review their fictional self-introductions, and then one-by-one read them to the class while showing the picture they chose.
5. (OPTIONAL) If you have extra time, or if there are students who finished their first sheet quickly, ask the students to write another story about a different picture, but this time in the third person. (e.g. “This is Barney. He’s a plumber from Manchester, etc.”) Using third-person constructions is something that students often don’t practice enough, so this is a good opportunity for them to do it.
NOTES:
The idea for this activity was modified from Chris Heyd’s 2006 Mid-Year Conference presentation (thanks Chris!). Chris’s original idea was to use all kinds of different pictures and have students write anything they want about them, so if you want you can try this as a variation. I like this activity because I believe the ALT is best utilized in the classroom when getting the students to produce their learned language skills, primarily speaking and writing. This activity can be a lot of fun as well as educational for the students, and you may be surprised at how creative your students can be.
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