Writing About Photographs With English Language Learners

Photographs offer excellent support for English Language Learners to use in writing. They can be used to help students generate ideas.  Visual vocabulary support is built into a high quality photograph. You can easily differentiate a writing assignment based around photographs.

Writing about Photographs with Newcomers 

1. Label objects in the photograph.
2. Provide students with a list of objects found in the picture and have them label it.
3. Write simple sentence frames. (I see _______. I hear ______. The _____ is blue.)

Writing about Photographs with Level 1 and 2 ESOL Students 

1. Have students talk about what they see in the photograph.
2. Present students with a writing prompt around the photograph.
3. Review sentence frames and additional vocabulary to assist with writing.
4. Allow students to talk about ideas with a partner or in a small group before writing.

 

 

 

 

Writing about Photographs with Advanced ESOL Students 

1. Present students with a writing prompt around the photograph.
2. Allow students to talk about ideas with a partner or in a small group before writing.
3. You can use sentence frames to introduce complex grammar structure or new vocabulary words for students to include.

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Check out these picture writing prompts I designed that come with a writing prompt, vocabulary bank and sentence frames.

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