As both a professional photographer and an English language instructor, I often incorporate photography-based projects and tasks into my classes. At TESOL 2017 in Seattle, Washington, USA, I presented on building skills in vocabulary, oral expression, creative writing, empathy, community awareness, and self-expression through photography-related lessons and activities.

The power of a photographic image is that it can express, provoke, and communicate even when words can’t or are too limiting. In Photography and Writing: Alternative Ways of Learning for ESL Students,Friesen (2012) writes that images can serve as both starting blocks and communicative tools in second language acquisition and can provide students with ownership of and immediate success in their language learning. Connecting linguistic and social ideas to students’ own photography makes the content more meaningful and personal, thus retaining interest and encouraging engagement (Dell’Angelo, 2014). In addition, images and image-making can promote critical thinking and serve as catalysts for verbal and written expression among English language learners (ELLs; Ewald, 2015; Baker, 2015).

Once considered an expensive and limited-access art form, photography (and its primary vehicle, the camera) is now a ubiquitous part of our digital and mobile lives, and image-making is, for many, a daily practice. A lot of our students have access to cameras on their mobile phones and are bringing this technology with them right into our English language classrooms. Because this technology is something students are already engaging in, teachers can spend less time promoting buy-in (including stimulating interest among even the quietest of learners) and instead jump right into utilizing its potential as a language-learning tool.

During my presentation, I highlighted six activities, all of which I have used within my own language classrooms. These activities can be modified for any level of ELL or photographer.

1. Vocabulary or Thematic Scavenger Hunts

Alone or in pairs, students use their cameras or phones to find and take photos according to clues and tasks listed on a scavenger hunt prepared by the instructor. Ideas for them to photograph can include vocabulary words, adjectives, sights around the school/neighborhood/town (especially great for familiarizing intensive English program students with their new host home and surroundings), or topics that accompany textbook or curricular themes. They can share their photos through online photo albums and accompany them with oral or written reflections on what they discovered. Learning objectives include listening skills, following directions in English, teamwork, problem-solving, and creative thinking.

2. Storytelling

For this assignment, students take one photo of their world (hanging out with friends, home life, etc.) and write a few sentences or paragraphs about it, depending on their level. Very beginning levels can also use their photos to work on basic vocabulary or adjectives. Photos and writings can be shared electronically with the class or printed and put on display. A variation on this activity is to have learners swap personal photos and use them as a prompt for creative writing assignments or stories. The objectives of this activity are sequencing and storytelling, writing, grammar, and connecting content to personal lives and interests.

3. “A Day in the Life” or “How to…” Photo Essays

Learners choose a particular aspect of their world to showcase and take a series of photographs illustrating it. Example topics could be “A Day in the Life of an ELL/a skateboarder/a teenage sports fan/an international student in the USA/etc.” They could also demonstrate how to do or make something (how to fry an egg, how to use Instagram, how to make a bet, etc.), and photograph the steps involved. Afterward, they can orally tell or write about the photos in their essays, working toward the objectives of sequencing and storytelling, oral and written expression in English, and understanding the varied perspectives of their peers.

4. Personal Vocabulary Albums

Because more and more students have their own mobile phones with cameras, this is an especially fun and easy way for them to study and remember vocabulary words. For each chapter, unit, or theme, students take photos of things that reflect particular vocabulary words (or, if an idea, their interpretation of it) and then upload them onto a free online photo hosting site. The vocabulary word will be used as the title for the photo that represents it, and photos uploaded into separate folders to clearly identify the chapter, unit, or theme. For ease of study, learners can just flip through the photos on their phones and have their own personal visuals to help them remember the words rather than abstract definitions.

5. Adjective Scramble Warm-up and Prompt

This is one of my favorite activities for those dreaded Monday mornings! It is engaging and takes up very little class time. Project or show to the class an interesting or very active photo (in which lots of things are going on). Partners should discuss and write down as many adjectives as they can think of together to describe the photo—they have 1 minute to do this with one pen and one piece of paper per pair to encourage talking. Afterward, the pairs count the number of words they wrote down; the winning group calls out their adjectives, giving other groups an opportunity to jot down any that they didn’t cover. Asking follow-up questions about the photo can help to stimulate more conversation among classmates. It’s even possible to use the photo further for a writing or impromptu speech prompt. Give each student his or her own day to bring in a photo and lead the class through the warm-up!

6. Blogging

I have used blogging at almost every level and have found it to be a helpful tool in providing individual feedback and in creating online student portfolios. Creating their own blog websites using a free online blog hosting platform, students design the blogs in such a way that they become spaces in which they truly like to spend time. Every week, students complete a blog post assignment related to a theme or chapter in the textbook or related to a local event/place or cultural celebration. The “Day in the life of…” or “How to…” essays could also easily become blog posts. For each post, students must also use their own personal photograph to enhance their writing. By the end of the semester or school year, they will have complete online portfolios that show objectives have been met in academic and evaluative writing, expressing opinions, descriptive writing, grammar and vocabulary in context, and web publishing through blogging.

Conclusion

The best part of these six activities is that they encourage the use of students’ own imagery (rather than appropriated or assigned images), rendering the content more personal and relevant. Think about your students, levels, and classroom situations when modifying the activities accordingly to make them a truly unique part of their language learning experience.

References

Baker, L. (2015). How many words is a picture worth? Integrating visual literacy in language learning with photographs. English Teaching Forum, 53(4), 2–13.

Dell'Angelo, T. (2014, December 1). Literacy through photography for English-language learners. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/blog/literacy-through-photography-for-ells-tabitha-dellangelo

Ewald, W. (2015, February 12). Literacy through photography blog. Retrieved from https://literacythroughphotography.wordpress.com/wendy-ewald/

Friesen, H. L. (2012). Photography and writing: Alternative ways of learning for ESL students. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 40(1), 39–43.

Crystal Bock Thiessen graduated with bachelor's degrees in both photography and Spanish and received her master’s in TESL from the University of Central Missouri. After teaching EFL in Sapporo, Japan for 3 years, and in Lugansk, Ukraine for 1 year as an English Language Fellow, she currently works as a U.S. State Department English language specialist and as an ESL instructor at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, USA.