I like using pictures from magazines - they can be adverts from clothes stores, fashion magazines, normal magazines or junk mail leaflets.
Cut out lots and lots of pictures. Here are some ideas of activities you can do.
1) Writing descriptions: Give each pupil or pair a picture. They must keep it secret. They write a detailed description (This person is wearing ...). Then you put all the pictures in the centre of the room or up on the board. Each description is read out and the other pupils try to be the quickest to find the corresponding picture.
2) 20 questions: All the pictures are visible to everyone. One person chooses a picture but doesn�t say which it is. The other pupils must ask yes/no questions to determine which picture it is. (Is the person wearing a hat? Is the person�s coat red?) The winner is the person who needs to be asked the most questions before their picture is guessed.
3) �Find someone who�: Give a phrase (He is wearing a black coat) and pupils must point to any corresponding picture.
4) �Find the mistake�: Each pupil takes a picture. They write a description of the picture but include one (or two or three) mistakes. Tell the pupils beforehand how many mistakes to include. The pupils then read their descriptions to a partner or to the whole class, and the listener tries to note the mistakes and correct them.
All of these activities work best if you model them first with the whole class!
It is quite a lot of work to cut out the pictures, but they are invaluable. I have a folder of pictures that I collected nearly 15 years ago when I was a language assistant, and I still use them!
