I’m sure most of us are familiar with worded ink drawings or more simply artwork created by using words instead of lines. I’ve always been fascinated by it so while looking at the picture above today, it just dawned on me! What a great way to help students revise vocabulary used to describe people! It would also work great with students who simply hate writing! The idea is to ask them to create their own portrait of a person using words instead of lines. To make the task a bit more challenging, your class will have to use words –mainly adjectives- that describe each particular facial feature (and not just random words). So, for example they would have to write adjectives such as long, pointed, hooked etc. to design their person’s nose. If you have young learners who are not yet familiar with a wide range of descriptive words, you can simplify the activity by giving them a list of key words, such as round, long, full lips etc. Then, get your students to “draw” their portraits bearing in mind that the way the key words will be arranged in the picture will have to demonstrate their lexical meaning. For example, they can use the word hooked as many times as they wish until they have created a nose which is shaped like a hook!
