With the increasing ease of creating high-quality user-generated content, English is fast becoming the language of self-published content alongside more formal academic and professional content. The learners who grow up in this world want to interact in many ways, so an English language class should of course prepare students to interact in many different modes, both inside and outside the classroom. What are some ways we can combine the need for academic and social English? One way is to use tasks and content that encourage students to think critically about all the information that they see, and how meaning is constructed or enhanced by its visual presentation. Life, Third Edition presents new opportunities for students to explore visual literacy with new content and activities in addition to the classic approach of inspiring curiosity about real people and real stories. We’ll explore these opportunities and how they can benefit students. In this webinar, National Geographic Learning academic consultant Andy will give an overview of visual literacy: what it is, when we use it, and why it’s important in our daily lives. Andy will also demonstrate some activities that can be done to promote and increase visual literacy and critical thinking in the English classroom using materials from the upcoming third edition of a Vietnam best-seller, Life.
