For anyone who is not yet aware of it: #Eltchat is a Twitter hashtag which offers Twitter-based discussions that take place every Wednesday at 12.00 and 21.00 BST/GMT (when the clocks change). The topics, all related to the ELT industry, are listed on the  #Eltchat website, together with some background reading, a few days in advance of the discussions. The tag #eltchat can also be seen throughout the week as an identifier of all things that might interest those who work in the EFL industry.

On 29.05.2013, the 12.00 BST discussion was on the topic “How to use a great resource like Eltpics for your teaching”. Here is a long-overdue summary of all the fantastic ideas that were generated during this #Eltchat:

First of all, what is Eltpics? 

• Eltpics began in 2010 as an image resource bank created by and for teachers in the ELT sphere  (tweeting an intro from FB page) (@Marisa_C)
• Great idea by them, and helps to avoid copyright issues etc. Also, nice and easy to access. (@jo_sayers)
• RT @Marisa_C: huge congratulations for making the shortlist at the #Eltons awards in 2013 #eltchat > yay, seconded!! (@cerirhiannon)
• Here is the link to the #eltpics on facebook  (@Marisa_C)
• Here also you can find the #eltpics photostream on Flickr (@Marisa_C)
• So, it looks like a great collection of free images for teachers by teachers (@Marisa_C)
• best to follow the #ELTpics FB page. Every 2 weeks new set announced (@JulieRaikou)
• And here’s an article in Spanish to introduce #eltpics to non ELT Spanish teachers (@pacogascon)
• And great to not have to worry about copyright (@jo_sayers)

Ok, great, sounds good, but how do I use these #Eltpics images correctly and legally?

• What’s the proper way to attribute #eltpics if using them on the web? #eltchat – in class I would assume there is no issue right? (@Marisa_C)
• [This is] for [correct] image attribution  (@JulieRaikou)
• If using pics on the web, author name, license details (for example, CC BY-NC 2.0) and link back is good practise (@esolcourses)
• Using them in class is not an issue, although if you are printing out/sharing then you should include author credits (@esolcourses)
• And if you embed in blog, the photo itself will link back to the flickr page (@jo_sayers)

What about some practical ideas for what I can do with these images in the classroom?

• The “take a photo and…” #eltpics blog is a great place to start  (@cerirhiannon)
• I like using the sets with  mosaic maker    –  set the no. of squares  for mosaic , paste in the URL & voila! (@cerirhiannon)
• Another thing I like to do is ask students to spot pics that have been/could have been taken in their part of the world (@cerirhiannon)
• Making collages can be useful. was introduced to @PicMonkeyApp the other day too, via @ij64 (@teacherphili)
• Great for personalising vocab sets (@cerirhiannon)
• Picmonkey is one of my favourite sites for editing images, with great tools for adding text and effects (@esolcourses)
• Picture Karaoke is a fave – slideshow images with or without words/phrases to use obligatorily (@Marisa_C)
• –> Slideshow of images – with timer – and you can add a word or phrase at bottom or not. Ss keep talking storytelling (@Marisa_C)
• Students can choose photo and write crazy captions a la Spike Milligan – see old post here  (@Marisa_C)
• For anyone who’s interested there are a few ideas and a web tutorial on PicMonkey here  (@ij64)
• Did a 10min talk on mobile photos recently, ideas would work just as well with #eltpics (@Shaunwilden)
• Do check out the blog (address here) lots of guest posts on how to use #eltpics in different ways (@Marisa_C)
• Here’s a link to a write up of @fionamau ‘s presentation on using #eltpics at TESOL Spain this year (@cerirhiannon)
• Ask ss to find the pic that best represents them (either from topic or all) (@jo_sayers)
• Good use for critical thinking skills is getting students to find/make connections between pics (@jo_sayers)
• Students makes a connection (the less obvious the better), and others decide if they agree/it’s true and discuss. (@jo_sayers)
• Like @fionamau ‘s idea – choose faces from feelings set to set up role cards and talk about different opinions on the same topic (@cerirhiannon)
• Learners take pictures of places that are important for them and then describe them here or upload ELTPics (@Whippler)
• Here is one of the reasons I love #ELTpics
• Start the class with 4 pictures based on the same topic/subject and ask students to work out what the connection is between them (@nroberts88)
• Describing pictures in only 6 words (@nroberts88)
• Loved this close-ups post by @cerirhiannon on #eltpics back in the days (@Marisa_C)
• Describing pictures in only 6 words #eltpics; nice one.. then make a poem 🙂 (@Marisa_C)
• ask students to look for images to replace the ones in a CB  from one of the #eltpics sets & explain their choice (@cerirhiannon)
• Term-long proj: redesign CB! (@BobK99)
• Here’s a link to the post (replacing images in CBs) (@cerirhiannon)
• You could get students to take a pic to add to #eltpics themselves! (@jo_sayers)
• How about getting students to choose an eltpic and then try to recreate it for homework, then show result next lesson and tell about how they did it (@LizziePinard)
• Then play spot the difference between students’ pictures and originals (@LizziePinard)
• A follow-up to idea of a pic for HW: Ss pick one write detailed description – exchange with sb else who must draw pic (@Marisa_C)
• More ideas for using images: here (@LizziePinard)
• Give students a few key words/ask them to think of words related to topic, then give random pic and challenge to make relevant sentence (@pjgallantary)
• If you make mosaics mixing students ‘like/hate/love’ or ‘wish I had,could,were/wish I hadn’t/wish people wouldn’t pics, partners speculate (@fionamau)
• Give ss a pic each – they describe and partner draws pic OR they arrange items in room/other students into a tableau (@pjgallantary)
• You can use images from the Sequences set for “blind” ‘spot the difference’ pairwork i.e. don’t show partner, describe & find differences (@fionamau)
• Choose four/five pics – ‘which one is the odd one out and why?’ (@pjgallantary)

And if I want more images than #eltpics has to offer?

• You can use this page to just search Flickr for creative commons images (@esolcourses)
• Or this has all kinds of search options (@jo_sayers)

I know – hard to believe so many ideas could be generated in a single hour! But so it was. I hope you enjoy experimenting with them – why not comment below and let us how it went? And if you have any ideas for using images, please also share them with us by commenting below. 🙂