Visual memory is an activity I learned about in the book Common Ground. It is a type of memory game that leads to communication. Students will look at an image and study it for a specific amount of time. Then the teacher will hide the image and ask a series of questions to start the communication process.
How to Set It Up
You will need to find an image that relates to something you are working on. If you are doing a housing unit, it may be the floor plan of a house. If you are working with art, it might be a piece of De’VIA art. The image can be art, a map, before/after images, or clothing someone will pack on a trip.
You want the image that you select to have a lot of details. The image can be an authentic resource or just something you found on the Internet.
The image can be anything to match the level your students are at. So this works with any level in your language classroom.
Set-Up
After you have selected the image. Display it so the class can see it. Tell students to study it for 3 – 4 minutes. Students should not talk or discuss the image. Just observe and take in the details.
When time is up, hide the image so students can’t see it. Then begin to ask questions.
Question Ideas
- What color was the house?
- How many people were in the photo?
- How many people were standing? Sitting? Sleeping?
- What was the dog/cat doing?
- What are they eating?
- How many children?
- What was the house made from?
- Was there lawn or gravel?
- Was there a pathway to the door?
You can have students write down the answers or you can discuss them after each question.
Then, pop the picture up again and check the answers.
How can you use this in your classroom?
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