English Speaking Tools

DESCRIBE what you can see in the photograph:

WHO are the people? WHERE are they?

WHAT are they doing?

The photo shows… In the picture we can see… In this picture there is/are… In the foreground we can see… In the background there is/are…

AT THE TOP

AT THE BOTTOM

IN THE MIDDLE/CENT

RE

ON THELEFT/ON THE LEFT-HAND

SIDE

ON THE RIGHT/ON THE RIGHT-HAND

SIDEOther prepositons of

place:In, on, under, below, above,

near, next to, etc

In the top left-hand corner In the bottom left-hand corner In the top right hand-corner In the bottom left hand-corner Directly opposite

We use present continuous: A boy is listening to music… The girls are talking to each other.

Go BEYOND the picture and try to infer/imagine from what you actually see:

HOW do people FEEL? WHAT are they THINKING?

Which TIME of the day/year is it? WHY are they there?

It looks as if they…/It looks like + noun/ They look + adjective

She seems to be + adjective/ + verb+-ing He appears to be + adjective/ + verb+-

ing I get the impression that he is… Perhaps they are celebrating something Maybe the reason they look so serious is

because… She might be /may be/could be/must

be/ can’t be a busy working mother

Use Past Simple and Past ContinuousThe woman was walking home when she saw

the accident

Use Time Connectors:

After, as, at first, as soon as, finally, later, then, while

If you are using more than one photograph talk about both, saying what makes them similar and what makes them different

In this picture there are… whereas in this one there are… The first picture was taken at night while the second one

wastaken in the…

While that woman looks happy, this one looks rather sad. That picture was taken… This one, on the other hand,

was taken in…

Revise the comparative of adjectives and adverbs.

Try to think of a general topic the photograph could be related to (Food, Pollution, Art, Clothes…) and talk about that topic in general. Vocabulary should be as specialized as possible.

Tell your opinion about the situation shown in the photograph and talk about similar experiences you are familiar with

Useful Expressions: I wouldn’t like to be in their shoes.

The first photo reminds me of my own childhood

Personally, I’d love to visit a place like that

1. DESCRIBE2. IMAGINE3. COMPARE AND CONTRAST4. RELATE THE PHOTOGRAPH TO A TOPIC5. PERSONAL FEELINGS ABOUT THE

PHOTO