One Word Images
A TPRS technique where teachers build extended stories and discussions from a single word or image, creating rich comprehensible input through detailed descriptions and personalization.
One of the differences between what we do here and what they do elsewhere in terms of CI is that we always start with an image. You can pick any kind of an image you want, but the best tableaux and stories come from one word and also individually created images. Why? It is because […]
In this video taken from our Ultimate CI Book 2 training course, Tanya creates a basic (QL1-QL4) one word image. I recommend this video to anyone who wants to see some of the finer points of OWIs done right. https://youtu.be/Bop05NEMQeA
If we sense that the class is willing to continue and engagement is still high, we can also add some of the details listed below to truly personalize the character even more. Of course, we need not worry too much if we don’t get to these additional questions when building the One Word Image. This
Elena Overvold, a high school teacher in Portland who uses the Invisibles, has said this: …just add a few characteristics at a time—maybe 1 or 2 or 3. No need to get a ton of details. I saw a one-word demo in Korean. We added very few details but the presenter went slowly and… it
Why are One Word Images so engaging? One reason is that they are based on group creativity. Another is that the students understand everything—we have spoken sufficiently slowly about a simple topic that was built together from one word in English. A third reason that One Word Images are so engaging is that there is
If our rate of speech is painfully slow to us, then it is at the right speed for our students. Unfortunately, the opposite is also true. If we feel comfortable with how fast we are talking, then it is painful for our students. There can be two to four seconds of silence between each short
At first the One Word Image is amorphous and undefined. All we know is that somewhere in this space in front of the room, a cat or a car or a slice of pizza exists. The fun is in learning its particular details. The students will bring the object to life by responding to a
At first the One Word Image is amorphous and undefined. All we know is that somewhere in this space in front of the room, a corn dog or a chicken or a star sh exists. The fun is in learning its particular details. The students will bring the object to life by responding to a
Once we have used L1 to decide what we want to build, it is time to use only L2. We bring the object to life in the target language. The first step in bringing the object to life is to say the word for the object, which we have written on the board in L1
I am concerned that the term “One Word Image” is being redefined, on other CI sites and at workshops. This eight-part series from A Natural Approach to Stories defines the term in the way I originally intended: We can begin to collect compelling portraits via a shared classroom strategy called One Word Images. The class
I found another article from Nathaniel, from 2015: Should we mix CI instruction with textbook instruction? Nathaniel Hardt discusses why it is unwise to do so: 1. Kid-centered comprehensible input instruction is of interest to kids. Textbooks are not. When required by my school to use a textbook, I decided that I would try to
On Mixing TPRS/CI with the Textbook – Nathaniel Hardt Read More »
When doing one word images, as we walk to the word on the board, we put our hand on it, then we say it. We don’t say it while we are walking toward the board, which can confuse the kids*. Thus, in the sentence: …the apple has a hat on its head…. we first walk
