Using mobile photos for the Cambridge speaking photo tasks

An obvious resource to draw on to help students prepare for the photo tasks in the Cambridge speaking tests are mobile photos.

Today, I’m going to share a lesson plan based around a short video advert.  The idea is to encourage students to use their imagination and to ‘see’ more.  It could also be used to work on the Cambridge B1 Preliminary, B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency photo tasks. In my next post, I’ll share some ideas for using it with B2 First and C1 Advanced.

Before you do these activities, go to the Drive and download the Key and the Handout for discussing the photographs.

Warm-up

If your students bring their phones or tablets to class, ask them to open up the photos on their phone/Tablet.

Ask them:

How many photos do you have stored there?  What are the photos of?  Are there any selfies?  Where were they taken?

 The video

•  Tell them that you are going to show them a video showing different people taking photos.
•  Play the video.
• Ask them which photo the girl at the end in the pink costume might be looking at.

Ideally, if you have time, play the video again and get them to try and count the different photos, to notice how many were selfies and if there were also any videos made.

• Now, tell them to talk in pairs or groups about the photos that were taken on the video:

         How many different photos were taken in this video?  Can you guess?

        Which photos can you remember?

        Were there any selfies?

        Were there any videos?

NB  See the key for this.

Key to the advert and photos.

 The task

Now, tell them that they will see the video again – several times.

Tell each student to choose one of the photos that someone is taking and answer the questions on the handout.  

Let students watch the video several times. (You could also give them the link and let them watch it at home).

Students share their answers to the questions.  (In bigger groups, do this in groups of 6-7.)  They compare their answers, especially if they have chosen the same photo!

*If you liked these ideas, you might be interested in a related post, where I shared tips for doing well in Part 2 of the B1 Preliminary Speaking Test.