39 ESL Vocabulary Activities: For Teenagers and Adults - Jackie Bolen, Jennifer Booker Smith 2015

Draw a picture, but someone else Is talking
Games and activities for all levels

Skills: Speaking/Listening

Time: 10-15 minutes

Materials: Blank paper

This is a fun way to practice body parts or descriptive words (big, small, long, etc.) and I guarantee that everyone will be laughing throughout this activity. The students sit back to back and one person is the “talker” while the other one is the “drawer.” The person talking describes something that he/she is looking at to their partner (a face, a body, a city, a monster) and that person draws what he/she hears. The results are usually hilarious and fun to show to the rest of the class!

Teaching Tips:

Some useful functional language that you can practice with this activity is language asking for clarification. You can pre-teach some language surrounding the topic, such as:

How ... (long, tall, etc.)?

What do you mean?

I didn't understand, could you say it again?

What did you say? I couldn't hear you.

This activity can get quite loud so it's best to ask students to spread out in the classroom, if possible.

If you teach absolute beginners this is still a great activity, but you might have to do it in a more teacher-centered way. For example, the students could describe a picture to you that you draw on the board, or you could describe something to them and they all draw their own versions of it.

Procedure:

1. Two students sit back to back but close enough to talk to each other.

2. Give student A a picture of some kind, based on whatever you are teaching. I usually put something up on the screen or whiteboard and have the “drawer” sit with his/her back toward the screen.

3. Student A describes the picture to student B who must draw it without looking at the original picture. Student B can ask some questions to student A to clarify if necessary.

4. Compare the original picture with the drawing and laugh a lot!