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Teaching Strategies

Picture Dictation

The teacher describes a picture, or sequence of pictures, to students who draw what they hear. The aim is for close listening, the drawing should be quick and simple.

Normally the exercise takes about 20-30 minutes, depending on the length of the dictation.

Prepare a text that is appropriate to the level of the learners, is written in simple visual terms and has a series of steps.

  1. Tell the students the number of visuals they will be drawing, or the shape of the picture if there is only one.
  2. Read each step aloud to the class twice, allowing time for the drawing.
  3. Where there is a series of visuals, the students work in pairs to retell the sequence.
  4. The students check their visual against the original.

Variations:

  1. Have one or two confident students drawing their pictures on the board so that the other students can copy when they are unsure (if they judge they are correct).
  2. Picture dictations can be done in pairs, one students reading and one drawing.

BBC: Picture Dictation
Using Picture Dictation Exercises for Practising All Four Skills

Picture Dictation

Year 11 Science: Meiosis

Picture Dictation

The pairs separate, with one of each pair going towards each pole along the spindle fibres.
The DNA of each chromosome is replicated to form two chromatids per chromosome. This happens as the nuclear membrane begins to break down.
The spindle fibres pull the chromatids of each chromosome apart. The chromatids move along the spindle fibres towards the poles.
The nuclear membranes around each haploid nucleus begin to break down.
The cytoplasm of the cell divides to form two haploid cells i.e. each cell has half the number of chromosomes of the original cell.
The chromosomes line up in homologous pairs along the equator of the cell. While in pairs, homologous chromatids can exchange lengths of their DNA, mixing up the genes.
The cytoplasm of each cell begins to divide and the nuclear membranes form.
A cell has two homologous pairs of chromosomes in its nucleus, one long pair and one short pair.
The end result of meiosis is 4 haploid cells each with a different combination of genes. These cells mature to become the gametes.
The chromosomes again line up along the equator, only this time in single file.

Contributed by Madeleine Ware