Imagine a magic room

I used the My Magical Room image (see below) when talking about Creative Commons copyright and photos on Flickr. Afterwards, I realised it was ideal for working into a session on what is sometimes called the third conditional - that 'What would you do if ...?' kind of thing. Here's a rough sketch of what came before and after.

Running order

• Warmer - (your choice)
• What's the difference? - probable < > improbable
• Ordering dictation - unlikely, improbable, not a chance, perhaps, maybe, probably, possibly, definitely
• Describe - photos: overview, position, action, feelings - use Describing Pictures at englisch-hilfen.de
• Imagine - My Magical Room
• Language - 3rd conditional: If you could QandA
• Close - odd one out hmwk Qs

The pictures
Here are two useful images for the describing photos phase:

People Participants at Tidepool by mikebaird

Circular Procession by Ahron de Leeuw

And here's the image that inspired the session. We had one copy of it in the centre of the table, everyone was leaning in to look and their imaginations kicked in before I could even start sharing my idea of how the task should run. Wonderful!

My Magical Room by Maggie-Me

The grammar

The 3rd conditional was formalised by a series of further "If you could ... wh- would ... ?" questions, aiming to cover all wh- variations in the second half of the form. For content, think: 

• million Euros
• which song
• what bird
• where visit
• when retire
• live life again
• how long holiday
• etc.

Get Creative

Can't wait to use this list of Twenty Rules of Thumb for Creativity. Sources include one idea each from Einstein, Lao Tzu and Aristotle, and two from Jonas Salk; there's also one instance of repetition. One or both of these themes provide a way into the list for learners. The list has been put up by someone from AlliedSignal (now Honeywell).

First ideas

• An ordering task for relevance / perceived importance / usefulness.
• Use as preliminary task in a writing workshop, creative or otherwise.
• Getting pictures of Einstein and the others might work for some.

Who is Jonas Salk?!
Ha! Look at this teaser from google's returned search:

Jonas Edward Salk (October 28, 1914 – June 23, 1995) was an American medical researcher and virologist, best known for his discovery and development of ...

Well, I guess you either know it or you don't. Me not know! Answers on a postcard ;)