Wanna know why I think writing prompts with pictures are amazing for writing and speaking practice with your students? Then let me tell you about a neat trick I learned in teacher training. Use postcards to help students write and speak in the target language! Writing prompts with visuals are amazing to trigger students into using language out loud or on paper, and postcards are a tangible visual that your student will love.
When I was in teacher training, my teacher used to always bring cute activities or methods to get students to engage with the language that they were supposed to learn. One of those times he brought his enormous collection of postcards that he had received from people over the years. And yes, these were postcards that had personal messages to him on them.. I might not want to use those, though 🙂 But he had us use those as an icebreaker to introduce ourselves. That’s how he showed us that postcards are amazing as prompts for speaking or writing!
If you’d like a list of topics to get your students to talk or write about throughout the year, then grab my free Topic Picker Cheat Sheet here!
What are some good writing prompts?
Postcards are great writing prompts! Other good writing prompts that use pictures are images from magazines or newspapers, posters of nature or urban settings, photographs of all varieties, and picture books, which contain great pictures too. The great thing about writing prompts with visuals is that students can infer things from the postcards, and they can use their imagination. Whatever they come up with when looking at the postcard, it’s their own insight. And when a student comes up with their own thing to talk about, that results in much more fluency when the student uses the target language!
Writing prompts for fun with postcards
The great thing about postcards is that they are small, sturdy, and easy to handle. Over the years I have acquired a huge pile of postcards from all over the world, and they are easy to bring to class and tuck away again. Unlike my teacher, I use blank ones that I bought specifically for the classroom. I bring them to class, lay them all out on a desk, and students may choose one that calls to them. And then what? There are roughly two options:
These postcards can then serve as creative writing prompts with pictures when I want my students to do some narrative writing. I will ask them to write a story using the picture they chose. What is the story behind this picture? They must come up with a fictitious story to tell here.
They can also serve as descriptive writing prompts with pictures when I want students to give a more factual account of the picture they see. What colors do they see? What images? What shapes, sizes, materials, etcetera? They can also infer what’s going on and talk about that. This way the task would be more informational rather than fictional.
Choice and ownership = fun
By letting them choose their own prompt, you’re giving them choice and ownership over their learning. Students love that, and research shows they do much better in class when they receive these things. So, when you’re next in a fun place where they sell postcards, grab some for your classroom. Or even get some from your hometown! Or, grab this set from Amazon* if you want a set of 40 cards right away. I know your students will love these writing prompts with pictures and will have a lot to say about them 🙂
Check out these other articles about speaking and writing prompts:
Top 5 best writing prompts for creative writing for your students
How to give your students amazing writing prompts for fiction
How to teach storytelling in a fun way with story dice
5 reasons why using objects helps fluency of speaking
*This is an affiliate link, but I love this product!
