MULTIMEDIA-ENGLISH
Describing Pictures (WabiSabiTeacher)
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3:31
Video page URL
https://multimedia-english.com/videos/course/describing-pictures-wabisabiteacher-4968
Description

Learn how to describe a picture in English. In this lesson you will find how to name the parts of a picture, how to explain what you can see, what is happening, and many examples of picture description.


LOOK AT THE RELATED VIDEOS BAND FOR MORE (click on the 4 blue balls).


On this video you will see the different parts of a picture so you can say where everything is: in the foreground, on the left side (also "on the left-hand side), etc.


Also, you will learn how to talk about where people/things are and what they are doing.

Transcript

(transcription by AI)

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**Dum dum dum da dum dum da dada da da da  
Da da da da da da da da**

Welcome to Flip. Today, we will describe pictures. Describing pictures is a good way to learn in any language. You often need to describe new things or situations, and pictures bring the outside world into the classroom. You can use them to give your stories more details or learn new words in a fun way.

Let's start with some basic words that describe where things are in the picture. In this one, there's a group of three people in the center of the picture. In the background, you can see three mountains, but the group is in the foreground. In the top right corner, you can see some snow on the mountains, and in the lower left corner, we see grass or hay. The people sitting at the bottom of the picture are looking at the blue sky at the top of the picture. You probably know a lot of these words already, but it's good to review them before we go into more detail.

Now that we know the basics, let's look at how to describe things in relation to each other. When you are describing a scene to someone who hasn't seen it, it's like you're painting a picture with your words, and that's what we are going to do now.

In this picture, there is a woman. She's walking down the street. Beside her, there is a house. On top of the house, there's a roof, and some birds are flying above the house. Around the corner, next to the house, there is a bike. At the front of the house, you can see two windows and the door. In front of the house, a man is driving his car. Across the street, there's a cat hiding behind a tree. The dog, Meerut, is watching the cat in a park behind the house. We can see a yellow trash can between two benches.

Note that we always use the -ing form for things that are happening in the picture: the girl is walking, the man is driving, and the dog is watching.

And finally, you can make your story more interesting by adding information about looks and emotions. This woman looks very happy. She is wearing a pretty pink coat. It looks like a warm morning in spring.

Pictures will help you find out which words are still missing from your vocabulary. It's up to you to use that and learn new words. See you in class.

Explanations

Here are some useful guidelines:

- Always start by saying what the picture is about

- Start describing what the most important thing in the picture is, and then talk about other things around it

- Start with a brief description of things, and then, if you have time, give more details

- Talk about what you see, but also about what is happening

- Use your imagination, speculate about things you don't know but you can imagine by looking at the picture (don't get too wild here though)

- It is ok to give your personal opinion and reaction to what you see, that will make your description richer, more personal and more original.