Dictionary skills – picture dictionaries

Picture dictionaries

Picture dictionaries are considered to be a very useful tool for both teaching and learning English. These dictionaries use pictures (photos, drawings etc.) to illustrate what the headword means. The picture dictionaries are usually organized by the topic rather than in the alphabetical order. Mostly they are used for teaching younger children and as the disadvantage I would name is that they provide only a limited number of words within the topic.

In this section I would like to give only a few simple tips how to work with this kind of dictionary and I want to focus on one activity more deeply – creating topic based picture dictionary.

Anyway, here are some really essential tips for using the picture dictionary or the sets of flashcards which can be regarded as the specific kind of picture dictionaries as well:

• matching the picture and the meaning of the word
• you can write a word with missing letter or letters and help the pupils to guess the word by showing the picture
• you can scramble the letters of the word or misspell it and again you help the pupils to re-order it while showing the picture
• picture dictionary hangman – the teacher or one pupil writes gaps for each letter of a word and asks the other pupils to guess what letters are in it. But for wrong letter you or the pupil draws a small detail of the picture to give the other pupils help
• copying small parts of the picture and the other pupils guess what it is
• memory chains – one pupil touches a picture and says something about it, e.g. what it is, an adjective describing it, where it is and etc. The next pupil touches that same picture and does the same thing (say the same sentence), then chooses another picture and again says the sentence about the picture. The chain continues until one pupil forgets the sentences or says something wrong.
• storytelling – one pupil „writes“ a story or a short dialog using pictures and the other pupil tries to rewrite it in words.

But the aim of this chapter is to show how I use pictures to create the picture dictionary within the lesson. 

1. Creating Christmas picture dictionary

DESCRIPTION 

1. Several days or weeks before Christmas ask the pupils to bring various leaflets from supermarkets. Of course, they should contain some pictures connected with Christmas.
2. At the beginning of the lesson you can tune the pupils in to the topic, e.g. with the hangman game with the word Christmas.
3. Ask them if they have some idea why they have their leaflets. Then ask if they know what the picture dictionary means. Explain that they are going to create a picture dictionary with the Christmas theme.
4. The pupils choose pictures from the leaflets, cut them and look up the meanings in the dictionary if necessary. Then they stick the pictures on a large piece of paper and write the correct word next to each picture.
5. Encourage the pupils to remember more words connected with Christmas if the range of the pictures is not satisfactory. Add drawings and the words to the picture dictionary.
6. When this activity is finished, you can pin the paper on the notice board or on the wall.

COMMENTS    

I usually do this activity with lower classes and we have a lot of fun with it. But it works quite well both with the 8^th and 9^th classes. In these classes you can add more difficult and less known words than in lower classes or you can focus on typically British and American expressions connected with Christmas. Of course you can adapt this activity to other festivals and topics. 

2. Creating topic based dominoes

DESCRIPTION 

1. Choose the topic (again it can be Christmas or sport, animals, Easter…) and tell each pupil a Czech word connected with the given topic. If they do not know the word in English, they can look it up in the dictionary.
2. Distribute the paper strips to each pupil and ask them to divide each strip into two halves. They draw a picture onto the first part, the second part is empty.
3. Choose two pupils to show the pictures and to stick them side by side on the wall. Ask the rest of the class for the correct word for the second picture and choose one pupil to write it in front of that picture (on the first card).
4. Choose another pupil with the picture and the activity continues up to the last pupil and the last picture. The last square belongs to the word for the first picture.

COMMENTS

I use this activity while enriching topic based vocabulary. If the pupils have some difficulties with drawings, they can use pictures from magazines or leaflets as it is described in the previous activity. The pupils usually appreciate having the domino line in the classroom because they can learn new words easier. This visual material helps them to remember unknown expressions.