How to Use Photos of the Week

Photographs are wonderful teaching tools. They capture moments in time and help us to tell stories and facilitate discussions.

In this blog, I share some ideas for how to use Ellii's Photos of the Week to bring current affairs and global news into the ELT classroom. 

Our Photos of the Week section shares five photos each week from our media partner, The Associated Press. These photos depict diverse stories from around the world and help learners to explore these topics in more detail.

You can use these hot off the press or take a step back in time to find out more about key stories from recent history. 

1. Assign as speaking homework

These photo prompts are designed for self-directed learning. You can assign them to a class or an individual student to prepare them for an upcoming lesson or to give them additional practice of something you've been working on in class. 

Students are prompted to look at a photo, read a short description, and talk about the photo. The instruction is deliberately flexible to allow students to add their own ideas, knowledge, or creativity to the topic.  

For example, take this photo of women voting in Guinea: 

You could encourage students to: 

• Describe the photo using adjectives
• Say what the people in the photo might be thinking or saying
• Say what they know about the topic—and what they'd like to know more about
• Predict what might happen next 
• Guess what happened before the photo was taken
• Imagine what the story is about

Students don't necessarily need to know the backstory to the photo in order to use it as a speaking prompt. The aim is to get them talking and using their English. But you could let them research the story more before recording their answer. 

2. Discuss in class

These photos work really well in class. Simply present one at a time or all of them at once and ask students to share what they know and what they would like to know about each photo. 

Here is a photo of Venezuelan migrants on a boat between Panama and Colombia: 

You could ask the students: 

• What can you see? 
• What do you know about this story or place? 
• How does this photo make you feel? 
• How do you think the people in the photo feel? 
• What would you do in this situation?

Before the lesson, you could read about each story and share some interesting extra information. You could also facilitate some debate around each photo. 

3. Improve research skills

These photo prompts are perfect for developing research skills. They can serve as a introduction to the topic. 

Have students work in pairs or small groups. Have them choose a photo that intrigues them. Ask them to write a list of all the questions that they have about the photo.

Let's use this photo as an example: 

Students may write questions such as: 

• Who is Melanie Santiler? 
• What kind of music does she play? 
• Who else plays at Shangri La in Havana? 
• In what ways is the music scene in Havana changing? 

Once they have a list of questions, have them research the answers online and take notes. Finally, have them share their findings. Some ways they could do this include:

• a vlog
• a presentation
• a poster
• a sketchnote or infographic
• a blog post
• a social media post
• a news article
• a role-play interview of one of the people in the photo

Here are some further classroom ideas, taking an inquiry-based learning approach: 

• Inquiry-Based Learning: A Quick Guide for ELT Professionals

If you'd like some more ideas on how to use photos in class, check out these blog posts: 

• How One Image Can Develop Visual Literacy & Critcial Thinking Skills
• How to Use Pictures as Grammar Prompts

How do you use photos in class? How would you use Photos of the Week? Share your ideas with other teachers in the comments!