Several years ago I was teaching a beginning level class. One student in the group, Juan, seemed particularly shy, he was afraid of making mistakes, and reluctant to participate. One day, I gave each student an unusual picture of a person, and I asked them to describe the people in the pictures. Juan's photograph showed a young woman swimming with a killer whale in a deep blue sea. Juan came up with a remarkably long story about a woman who had a pet killer whale. When he gave his description, Juan's classmates were fascinated by his vivid imagination. Juan was surprised and thrilled by his classmates' appreciation. He instantly lost his inhibitions toward speaking English in class, and he participated actively from then on.
This experience convinced me that visuals, especially 'unusual' pictures, foster students' imagination, which in turn motivates them to use English. I found that there are many reasons to use magazine cutouts or other pictures in class. With pictures we can:
• teach, practice, or review new vocabulary
• do guided practice (drills)
• practice grammatical structures
• practice listening comprehension
• do writing activities
• do semi-guided or free speaking practice such as problem solving activities, role plays, discussions, etc.
Depending on the purpose of the activity, a task can take up five minutes at the beginning or end of a class, or last 20 minutes or more in the main part of the class.