Easy ESL Picture Warm-up Activity

If you’re looking for a quick and easy, no-prep warm up activity for your ESL class, this is a great one to keep in your back pocket!

This idea is so simple, it’s brilliant.

At the beginning of class, ask students to choose one picture from the past week to show their partner. Students should explain what is happening in this picture, who they were with, what they were doing, how they felt at that time, etc. Think of this as “Show-and-Tell” in picture form.

Then, require the student who is listening to ask three questions about what their partner shared. If the student showed a picture of himself studying at the library, perhaps his partner could ask, “What subject were you studying?” “Do you often go to the library?” “Do you prefer to study in a library or in a coffeeshop?” “Did you study by yourself or did your roommate come with you?” or “Do you remember any new vocabulary words from your study session?”

After one student has shared his picture and answered three questions from his partner, have them switch and repeat!

Why does this work?

Well, from a teacher’s perspective, this requires zero preparation for you. Perhaps you could write a few example questions to prompt the student who is sharing information, but that’s all you’d have to do! (For example, “Why did I choose this picture?” “How did I feel when I took this picture?” or “Why was this a memorable moment last week?”) It’s also great because it could be used week after week. There will always be new events and new pictures to share in class.

From a student’s perspective, it’s a simple, low-pressure activity that still allows them to chat in English with a partner. Sometimes, ESL activities can lean a little heavily on having students share their opinions about things, so it’s nice to practice a slightly different form of conversation. If students know that you will ask them this question week after week, they also are able to prepare for it. That means, even if it’s the student with the lowest English in the class, he can still at least be prepared for this activity and start the class off on the right foot.

In addition, it’s a great chance to practice the normal chit-chat and small talk we experience on a daily basis. If students really want to speak the language with natives, there are going to be a lot of conversations like, “How was your weekend?” “Did you go to the game?” or “Have you tried that new restaurant downtown?”

At its most basic level, it’s the perfect exercise in past tense. Students will have to be aware of their verb tenses as they talk about what happened last week, and answer possible questions about what they will do next week or how they feel about it now.

This is truly one of the activities that I keep in my back pocket. If I’m having trouble coming up with a warm-up activity, this is a great one to go back to. You can even use it in other situations as well! If you have a spare five minutes before class ends and you’ve run out of material, this is an easy activity to pull out. Give it a try!