Ultra
Ultra
ESL lesson
What Do You See?
Students enter the unusual NYPL Picture Collection, learn how pictures are described and filed, and practise making clear classification choices.
- Level
- B1 / Intermediate
- Time
- 75–90 min
- Format
- Video Lesson
Lesson materials
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Lesson overview
This B1 lesson uses The New York Public Library's short film The NYPL Picture Collection Behind the Scenes to introduce an unusual public collection of around 1.5 million pictures. Students discover how staff record where pictures come from, choose subject headings and file images so that other people can find them.
The print lesson builds focused archive and classification vocabulary while developing visual literacy. Students notice foreground and background details, use precise picture-description language, follow the collection workflow, identify several valid subject headings for one detail-rich photograph, and justify which heading would be most useful for a searcher.
In the final production stage, pairs build a clear file for one original picture by writing a short description, proposing three subject headings and defending the most useful choice. The Ultra extension, The Picture Desk, uses a 24-tile visual challenge board with File It Under, Zoom Out, Picture Words, Which Picture?, Spot the Clue and What's the Connection? tasks.
Learning outcomes
By the end of the lesson, students can:
Describe important details and positions in a picture.
Explain why one picture can fit more than one subject heading.
Use archive and classification vocabulary in context.
Choose and justify a useful category for a picture.
Teaching at a glance
The essentials for planning this lesson.
- Level
- B1 / Intermediate
- Teaching time
- 75–90 min
- Language
- Vocabulary · Functional Language
- Skills
- Speaking · Listening
- Topic
- Culture
- Format
- Video Lesson
Lesson structure
A practical sequence from warm-up to final task.
-
Notice and prepare
Students compare what they notice and learn the key language of a picture collection.
-
Inside the collection
Students watch for the main idea, then follow a picture from its source to its folder.
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Describe and classify
Students describe original scenes, choose subject headings and justify their decisions.
Lesson materials
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