AE Live! Teacher Professional Development Events - AE Live 18.4 - Thinking Critically about Illustrations

Presenter: Hema Ramanathan Every culture has its own unique visual art forms, be they drawing and painting, crafts, architecture, or filmmaking. However, visual content is sometimes overlooked in ELT—especially at intermediate and advanced levels—despite research that indicates interpreting illustrations requires and develops critical thinking skills. In resource-limited classrooms, textbooks are often the primary content resource for both teachers and students. In an effective textbook, illustrations are not merely decorative: interpreting an illustration can be a window into the climax of a story, the mood of a poem, or the comparative importance of characters. In an English class, all of this translates into language learning. In this presentation, we will analyze visual art features and how illustrations can be used for critical thinking skills development and in different writing genre activities. To learn more English or to get additional resources for English language teaching, see: http://www.facebook.com/AmericanEnglishatState  http://www.facebook.com/AmericanEnglishforEducators http://americanenglish.state.gov http://openenglishprograms.org