This is a fun activity which can be used with all groups, just select a follow-up activity that is appropriate for the age and level of the class but the basic procedure is the same for everyone.

Procedure

• Give each student a piece of paper and some coloured pencils.
• Tell them that you are going to play some music and you want them to draw whatever comes into their heads.
• As music is playing, all students should be drawing.
• After 20 or 30 seconds, stop the music.
• Students stop drawing and pass their picture to the person to the left of them in the circle.
• Play the music again and they continue with the drawing the person next to them had started.
• Stop the music again, pass pictures on and this continues until the end of the song.
• When you have finished each student will have a picture that several students contributed to.
• Then it's up to you what to do with the pictures. Here are some ideas:
  • Label everything on the picture.
  • Describe the picture to the group or a partner.
  • Imagine that the picture represents the dream you had last night. Explain your dream to the group. (You could ask another student to analyse the dream.)
  • The picture is actually a postcard. Write the postcard to a friend telling them all about the place where you’re o holiday.
  • If there are people in the picture, use them to create a dialogue.
  • Imagine the picture was a photo taken at 5pm yesterday. Describe what was happening.
  • Put the pictures up around the room and create your own art gallery.

Note: Different types of music tend to produce very different pictures. Reggae or Latin American music tends to get tropical island or beach scenes, dance music tends to get cityscapes and classical or chill out tends to get more abstract pictures. Experiment and see what your students produce and adapt follow-up activities accordingly.

By Jo Budden

This was taken from:                                         http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/language-assistant/games/chain-drawings