Young learners love talking about their friends and family members. They also love showing off photos of their favorite people. You can combine these two interests with fun websites (or apps) like Fotobabble. Fotobabble allows your students to make talking pictures.
Here is a fun activity you can do to practice nations and nationalities with Fotobabble:
1) Ask your students to choose a personal photo (digital) that contains at least two people from different countries. The photos can be stored on your students’ phones, cameras, or computers.
2) Help your students review or learn the nation, nationality, and language of each person in the picture. Make sure that your students can pronounce the words properly.
3) Share this website link with your students: www.fotobabble.com. Invite your students to visit the site via a computer or mobile device. This can be done during class time or for homework. Ask students to create a log in name and password, so that they can use Fotobabble often.
4) Ask your students to upload the photo they chose to Fotobabble. (If they want the photo to be “public”, they should make sure they have permission from the people in the photo.)
5) Invite your students to record a short description of the people in the photo. They will need to “allow” Fotobabble to access the microphone on their computer or mobile device. Students should identify each person’s nation, nationality, and first language. (They don’t have to identify the people by name.)
Fotobabbles can be shared through a link or an embed code. Have your students share their talking photos in one of the following ways:
1) Email them to the teacher.
2) Email them to other students.
3) Embed them in a class blog.
4) Share them on a social media site, such as Facebook.
Review all of the different nations and nationalities that you and your students gathered in your talking pictures. Which nations are not represented? Do any of your students know people from these countries? Challenge students to make a class photo album of people from all over the world! If you like Fotobabble, you may also want to try Blabberize.
Find this related lesson in the Conversation Station / Present Simple Dialogues 1.
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