Picture Dictogloss

Instead of reconstructing a story in words, students draw what they understand as the teacher tells it. On retelling, they refine their drawings and add words — building from comprehension to production.

Procedure

1. Tell a story at normal speed. Students listen and draw the events/scenes in pairs.
2. Retell the story. Students refine their drawings and add any English words they can catch.
3. Pairs compare drawings with neighbouring pairs and try to retell the story in English using their pictures.
4. Optional further retellings — each time students refine both drawings and language.
5. Teacher can display the original text or retell slowly for final checking.

Tips

• Ideal for low-level or less motivated learners — drawing removes the pressure of immediate language production.
• Shows students how much they can actually understand, even when they can't produce the language.
• The gap between what they can draw (receptive) and what they can write (productive) is itself a teaching moment.
• Students often embellish stories with creative details — this is good-natured and motivating.
• De-stresses the language class atmosphere while maintaining genuine comprehension work.