Teach english new edition r

Example 3: the portrait interview (almost any level)
The following speaking sequence shows how portraits can be used to provoke questions 
and answers which can then develop into a very involved conversation. The am ount of 
conversation will, of course, depend to a 
large extent on the level of the students: 
at lower levels they may ask questions like 
‘How old are you?’ to the people in the 
portrait (see below), whereas at higher 
levels the questions (and answers) may be 
significantly more complex. This kind of 
activity can work well with both children 
and adults. The activity develops in the 
following way:
Stage 1 
- students are put into three groups.
Each group gets a copy of ‘The Arnolfini 
Marriage’ by Jan van Eyck - or a large version 
of the painting is projected onto a screen.
Stage 2 
- each group selects either the man, 
the wom an or the dog. They have to look 
at the picture carefully and then come up 
with as many questions for their character 
as possible. Every student in the group m ust 
make a copy of all the questions produced by 
the group. (One group of advanced students 
produced questions for the m an such as,
‘How long did it take to have your picture done?’ and ‘W hat is written on the wall?’. For the 
woman they put, ‘Why don’t you replace the missing candles in the chandelier?’ and ‘Why 
is your room so untidy?’ and for the dog, ‘Why don’t you run from such a dark room?’ and 
‘How did they manage to keep you in that position for such a long time?’)
Stage 3 
- students are put in new groups of three (one from each of the original three 
groups). Each student in the group takes on the identity of one of the two characters they 
did 
not
prepare questions for. The student with the questions for them interviews them, 
and the other student has to follow up each answer with a subsequent question.