The Best Strategies For Using Picture Dictionaries With ELLs

rapplw / Pixabay

All ELL teachers use Picture Dictionaries, and I’ve been thinking lately about different strategies about how to use them in the classroom.

I recently put out a request on social media for ideas.

Here are some of them (please share more):

This is a simple sequence I’ve sometimes been having peer tutors use with my students:

1. Teach ten words and how to say them – point to image, say the word, ask group to repeat it
2. Test students verbally – point to image, ask students to say what it is.
3. Teach students how to read and write the same ten words – peer tutors point to image, say it, and write it on whiteboard
4. Test students – point to image, say it, and ask students to write the words on the whiteboards
5. Peer tutors can repeat this sequence with some or all of the words if they think their students need more practice.
6. Peer tutors write a simple sentence on a whiteboard with one of the words, and ask their students to write a sentence using the same word.  They repeat that for each word.
7. Repeat sequence with next ten words.

Page travel! The OPD has words in context (depicted in scenes) so once a word is seen and practiced in one context, learners can scan the pages (or the e-book) for places where the word shows up in a new context.

— Jayme AG (@lthrtdlrng) March 16, 2022

Not exactly pics, more video. Get sts to create their own.https://t.co/z9dA3nyP9y

— Bee Green (@BeeBrurigr) March 16, 2022

I often use the Feelings and Emotions page to help students describe the characters’ feelings in a story. Quizlet flashcards are easy to make and a great resource. https://t.co/EnzhznlSXw

— Aaron Douglas (@aaronkyled) March 16, 2022

Here’s an online interactive Pictionary dictionary.

Teenie Hamester said:

Kids can play “ I spy with my little eye..”

Kids can write a story about the page and include X amount of vocabulary words. Probably need to have a teacher sample of a different page first as a model.

Emily Murray Wicks:

Write sentences about the pictures, add speech bubbles if there are people, do a “where’s Waldo” type game where kids give each other clues and they have to guess the picture each is describing.

Alycia Hamilton Owen:

Scavenger hunt for___ [nouns, verbs, things that make sound, things that we see outside, etc]; also use to study text features of a picture dictionary with an eye toward publishing a class picture dictionary.

The Oxford Picture Dictionary has a good YouTube video channel that ELLs could watch at home to help them practice English.