Visual Literacy in the English Classroom - Handouts

I was invited to give at talk at the 40th Anuual  Regional Teacher Training Event in Alicante on January 17, 2014. These are the handouts for that talk. I have also posted links to the videos as well.

Handouts

The City Limits

Health

London

ABSTRACT

Travel and study abroad are both an integral part of language learning. Both go hand in hand and allow language learners to move beyond the textbook and the language classroom to put their skills to the test and to hear authentic language as it is spoken by native speakers. The purpose of this workshop is to demonstrate ways to help teachers prepare creative and exciting lessons using pictures and memorabilia, such as menus, metro maps and advertisements, from their past travels.  This workshop is of special interest to teachers who are looking for ways to bring the culture and customs of English-speaking countries to life in a meaningful way to help improve student’s language skills, as well as sparking their interest in travelling to an English-speaking country." 

A picture is worth a thousand words." This cliché we have heard a thousand times, or more, yet we do not really take into account the words of wisdom that are staring us right in the face. We find that the use of pictures in English textbooks is to accompany a reading and that many of these pictures are stock photos of people with outdated clothes and hairstyles. We have to remember that pictures are also sources for teaching culture. When the teacher carefully selects the right picture that is rich in information, and that is of high interest to students, this image can help students to explore not only the culture and customs of English-speaking countries, but also the richness of the English language. 

We must teach our students visual literacy, or the skill of reading pictures to find relevant and important information, make inferences, and locate meaning. This helps students to develop a new range of skills and even students who do not learn English quickly are not eliminated from the learning experience because they are considered poor language learners. We must also stress that good reading skills can also be learned from visual sources, such as pictures, video and movie clips.