I was reading some wonderful blog posts and saw that David Harbinson took up a drawing challenge which Sandy Millin started. I really enjoy including drawings to complement vocabulary – I believe that it brings the language to life and students either end up taking photos or copying my (usually poor) drawings which accompany the vocabulary. I suppose when I first started language teaching, I never included any drawings on my whiteboard and relied on flashcards (due to teaching young learners) or using my phone to translate words. However, the past few years, I decided that it was probably best to develop my skills in drawing. I have always been, what I consider, an artist with two left hands. I find it incredibly difficult to draw anything representing animals or anything complex on the whiteboard. I usually get ripped into by my young learners at how bad my drawings are. Nevertheless, I thought it would be great to take up the drawing challenge. Just below was a picture that I included in a young learner classroom around Halloween last year.
My best attempt at drawing a scary skeleton
The Rules (as described by Sandy)
1. Choose four things you often have to draw in the classroom, or that you’ve had bad experiences drawing in the past (!). I suggest a person doing a particular action or job, an animal, a vehicle, and a miscellanous object, but you can draw whatever you like.
2. Draw them in any way you see fit (on a board, on paper, on a tablet…) but don’t spend any more time on it than you would in a lesson.
3. Share the results for us to guess what they are.
My Drawings
I shall let my readers tell me what you think these are. You are probably wondering what number 3 is but I did say I was pretty awful at drawing pictures.
Thanks for joining in Martin! I think they’re:
1. a runner
2. a plane
3. a cat
4. a superhero arriving home?!
You got number 1 and 2 correct Sandy. I told you I am terrible at animals. I like your guess for number 4 but unfortunately that is incorrect.
Okay, I’m going to say Number 3 possibly a mouse? and Number 4, a burglar.
Number 3 is pretty close David. You got number 4 correct. Well done. Any other guesses to number 3?
Hamster?
Yep! A badly drawn hamster. 🙂