Photos are a brilliant tool for teaching or revising language. They’re flexible, engaging, and easy to use. With just a few well-chosen images, you can practise grammar, review vocabulary, or simply have a bit of language fun.

Here are ten quick and effective ideas for using photos in your English lessons. All you need are the photos - no prep beyond that!

 

1. Vocabulary revision

Photos you’ll need: images that include lots of items from a specific vocabulary category (e.g. food, clothes, furniture).

Students work in pairs, groups or individually. Give each student or group a photo. Their task is to name as many objects in the image as they can. For an extra challenge, set a time limit or ask them to find a specific number of items.

 

2. Write the dialogue

Photos you’ll need: photos of people talking or interacting.

Great for practising functional language. In pairs or small groups, students create dialogues based on what the people in the photo might be saying. Use a variety of scenarios to practise different contexts - ordering food, complaining, chatting, giving directions, and more.

3. What’s going to happen next?

Photos you’ll need: action shots (e.g. someone chopping vegetables, a person about to cross the road).

Students describe what they think will happen next. This is a great way to practise future forms like going to or will.

 

4. What just happened?

Photos you’ll need: scenes with a mystery element or aftermath (e.g. a messy room, a spilled drink).

Students discuss what might have happened before the photo was taken. Excellent for practising past tenses or modals of speculation, and for encouraging creative thinking.

 

5. What’s happening now?

Photos you’ll need: pictures showing people doing different activities.

Students describe what they see using the Present Continuous. The more varied the actions, the better for generating rich language.

 

6. Storytelling with photos

Photos you’ll need: a selection of photos showing different scenes, actions or characters. Ideally, choose several with the same people in different situations.

In pairs or groups, students put the photos in an order and create a story. You can support them with sequencing phrases like first, then, suddenly, in the end, etc.

 

7. Find your partner

Photos you’ll need: any kind of photo, printed and cut in half.

Each student receives half of a photo. Their task is to find the person with the other half, but they must do so by describing their half, not by showing it. A fun way to practise descriptive language.

 

8. Describe and draw

Photos you’ll need: any photos depending on your language goal - use room photos to practise prepositions of place, or portraits to practise describing appearance.

Students work in pairs. One describes their photo while the other draws what they hear. They then compare the drawing with the original image and swap roles. Afterwards, discuss similarities and differences.

 

9. Appearance and personality

Photos you’ll need: portraits of different people.

Students begin by describing physical appearance. Then they move on to guessing the person’s personality based on visual clues. They can also compare and contrast different people using language for speculation (e.g. He might be…, She looks like…).

 

10. Guess what it is

Photos you’ll need: a photo cut into pieces or digitally zoomed-in for online use.

Show students one part of a photo and have them guess what it could be. Reveal more pieces gradually, or zoom out bit by bit, until someone guesses correctly. A fun warmer or filler activity for any level.

 

We hope these ideas spark inspiration for your next class. Let your students' imagination run wild! Happy teaching!