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Resources


Iraq - Activities with Photos

Aims:

  1. To develop skills in 'reading' images
  2. To develop empathy
  3. To show a variety of images of Iraq

Activities:

  1. The bigger picture
    • Choose a photo.
    • Show a small section of the photo to the class, and ask them to tell you what is happening.
    • Gradually show more and more of the photo, asking for re-interpretation at each stage.
    • Do the responses change much? Have the children noticed different things in the picture as being significant?
    • Can they imagine what is outside the picture frame? Give the children a copy of the picture and ask them to place it on a sheet of larger paper and draw what is not shown. They should be able to justify what they have drawn.
    • They could write a story or newspaper report about what they think happened either just before, or after the photo was taken.
  2. Captions
    • Ask the children to look at look at the photos in some factual books. What do they notice about them? The photos have captions which briefly put them in context, and illustrate some point within the text.
    • Give out some varied photos and ask the children to write a fitting caption for each photo. The captions should be written on separate pieces of paper.
    • Gather up the photos and the captions, and redistribute them among the class. Can people match the captions to the correct photos?
    • If more than one person has written a caption to a particular photo, how do they compare?
    • It can be interesting to include photos of one's own country, without pointing this out at the beginning. How does our view of a country affect what we see?
  3. How would I feel?
    • Give the children a photo that includes a person. They should use any information in the picture to try and build up an understanding of the person – gender, age, clothes, surroundings. Try to imagine what they might be doing, where they are, and where they are going/have come from. What might they be thinking, doing or saying? What job do they do? What about their family? What might their name be?
    • Supposing that person were me – what would I be thinking, feeling, hoping?
    • If several children have had the same photo, how do their responses compare?
    • It can be interesting to include at least one photo where you know the background of the person. How do the responses measure up against reality? Are there any obvious stereotypes?

For access to some useful photos, see the resources page