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.

Dynamic Dyptych

The saying goes that a photo's worth a thousand words. True enough, but as a creative source, there's even more value to be found when two images are presented together as a dyptych.

Winter (Varanasi India) by Ahron de Leeuw

Fun Show and Barbecue 12th July 2008 033 by Beachcomber1954

First Ideas

How related or distinct the images are is up to you. Once students are familiar with the dyptych concept, let them create their own to work with; the amount of guidance or restriction you run with is yours to decide - just as it is when you do the creative work of making a dyptych yourself. You might want to consider:

• Teaching aims - e.g. descriptive terms, present continuous for current actions, comparatives, themed discussion ...
• Titles - include or not; the difference they make; creating suitable ones; copyright requirements on reverse if appropriate
• Connective contrast - apparent/subtle < > similarity/difference
• Surrealist approach- random selection, any connection comes only from the viewer's imagination
• Theme - social commentary, activity, cultural difference, pastimes, location, behaviour ...
• Narrative - description, explanation, expectation, before and after, what happens next ...
• Dialogue - what do they say?, scriptwrting scene from a play, 
• Role playing - re-enactment, re-creation, 

Your turn

Have you ever used a dyptych? 

• What did you do?
• What worked? 
• What went wrong insight and opportunity for new ideas did you encounter? 

Creative Commons Magic

Everyone knows that photos are a wonderful resource in teaching, so I've made searching through the Creative Commons on Flickr a regular habit.

Creative Commons on Flickr

The advantage with using photos from the Creative Commons is that they have a less restrictive copyright than usual, meaning you can more likely use them without fear of the owner calling in the copyright police. 

Important though, is to actually follow the image owner's copyright requirements. If you choose only to search in the Attribution section of the Commons, then all you have to do is make clear who took the photo. A click through link is best of all, otherwise include where the photo is hosted, in the following case, on Flickr.

My Magical Room by Maggie-Me on Flickr 

Best of all though, is that the images you find are often more interesting than a lot of the 'protected' copyright stuff. 

Idea

If you had your own magical room, what would you put in? Add a comment below if you feel like sharing ;)

Opposites

Opposition, or its absence, is a recurrent theme whatever field you're operating in, and a natural source of stimulating conversation. The following EFL outline makes use of linguistic and cultural opposites, and has a simple descriptive task at the end

Homonyms
A hefty list of opposites on englisch-hilfen.de, it continues over pages two, three & four.

• select/given 3-5 words mix/match task to definition
• write/find homonym
• share to group + put to projector
• extend to cultural differences

TED Opposites
Weird or just different, Derek Sivers' TED talk on intriguing, cultural differences

• gist > write/select correct one word description
• detail > differences between: American & Japanese cities; Chinese & Western doctors; West African music beat & 'our' music;

Productive
Describe a photo; use a local photo if possible to demo the possibilities. Something like this:

• prepositions of position
• give people descriptions
• prepare text ideas in pairs, but write as individuals
• peercheck making suggestions for improvements
• work into an FCE type photo comparison task

Use:

• coming towards / going away,
• at the top/bottom
• in the foreground/background
• on the left / right
• towards the top/bottom/left/right/
• in the centre/on the edge