Describe and draw

Objective & content

By the end, A2- pupils can describe where things are in a simple picture with there is and prepositions of place, and ask for help when they don't understand: On the left, there's a table. There's a cat under the table. Is it next to the window? Can you say that again, please? The bank is 13 projectable slides: a how-to slide, then 12 simple pictures (a cat under a table, a house and a tree, a snowman, a fish bowl, a school desk, a kite on a hill...), each with a "Pupils B: don't look!" band and the useful phrases.

Pedagogical guide

Use it as a five-minute warm-up with a real reason to speak and listen: pupil B can only draw what pupil A says, so every word counts. The pictures are deliberately simple, with a few things clearly placed, so the task stays on the language and not on drawing skills. Questions like Is it next to the ...? and Can you say that again, please? give pupils B a way to take part. Comparing the drawing with the picture at the end shows straight away which instructions worked. The slides are interchangeable: show one per lesson.

Suggested procedure

1. (1 min) Show the how-to slide and read the example together. Pupils B turn their backs to the screen with a pencil and paper.
2. (3 min) Show one picture. Pupils A describe it; pupils B draw and ask questions.
3. (1 min) Everyone turns round and compares. Pupils say what is the same and what is different: The ball is on the table, not under it!

Adaptations

• [S] Before starting, the class names everything in the picture together, so pupils A have the words they need.
• [A] Pupil A changes one thing on purpose; pupil B finds the mistake when the class compares. Or pupils swap roles and describe the next picture.

Materials & prerequisites

A projector or screen, plus a pencil and paper for each pupil B; the bank is a 16:9 PDF, one slide per page, with no printing needed. Assumes there is / there are, the main prepositions of place and common colours.