Warming up to posters

A lesson involving poster creation may need to be introduced by supplying the class with many examples of posters and advertisements and if they are extremely sophisticated, a historic overview and discussion of posters and design.  A beautiful website that has such an overview is at http://www.artsalive.ca/collections/posters/posterhistory.php?lang=en.  Another excellent, brief article on the elements of design can be found at http://www.digital-web.com/articles/elements_of_design/.

Recent presidential campaign posters are a good subject of analysis as well.  After the subject is introduced, students may proceed with the activities below and can also reference the design concepts during the process of their class project.  An additional, historical approach is to take an ad campaign for a long standing product and to note how it has changed through the decades.

Class activities for ESL Connects Worlds divide into:

1.  Careful observation and description

2.  Discussion of the poster message

3.  Optional research project

4.  The design process

5.  Critical lens essay

1.  Careful observation and description

Teacher prompt:  Each student should describe one element of the poster, and make sure not to repeat a point that any other student has made.

Grammatical prompt:  there is, there are, present continuous, look, seems, modals

There is a group of students speaking with each other.

The woman on the left is holding a coffee cup.

The student on the right looks Korean. 

The students could be on a break from class.

Wrap up writing:  Please write 4-5 sentences describing this poster for someone who has not seen it.

2.  Discussion of Poster message

The motto or slogan of the poster are words that forever penetrate.  Having students analyse the message is an exercise in the specific and targeted use of language.  The greatest impetus to student intellectual activity is the scope and variety of teacher questions, with examples below:

Teacher prompts:

a.  How does language and English, specifically, connect people?

b.  Note the use of the word, "worlds," in the motto.  Why is that important?  How are people like worlds?  Can you think of any saying in your own language that compares a person to a world?

Wrap up activity:  In this poster, the artist chose to represent worlds as people dressed in different world fabrics.  Can you think of any other image or images that could have been used to represent this concept?  Draw a little thumbnail sketch of an alternative and share it with a partner or the class.

3.  Optional research projects: 

A.  English is an official first language, an official second language and/or the language of school instruction in many parts of the world.

Research:  What is the position of English in your home country?  In an area of your choice or a part of the world suggested in the poster?  Is it an official language?  Who studies it?  Write a paragraph about your findings and report back to the class.  Make sure you cite the website where you found your information.

B.  Advertising campaigns are based on the perfect, punchy motto.  

Research:  Think of a product that you love--food, clothing, a type of car, technology or a service-- and look for advertisements for it in newspapers, magazines or electronic media.  Report on the motto and ad campaign for this product to the class.  What makes the motto in the ad effective?  How do the words reinforce the visuals and vice versa?   In your opinion, what makes an ad campaign successful?

Note:  You can analyze the presidential election ad campaigns as well!

4.  The design process 

Break the class into groups of 4-5 students who will collaborate on design, text, image and execution.  Tell the students that they can:

a.  reillustrate the motto, "ESL Connects Worlds"

b.  depict another motto such as "ESL Builds Bridges" or "Be Part of the Future:  Study ESL."

c.  create their own motto

Give examples of good mottos (short, punchy) and bad ones (long, wordy, e.g.:  If you want to be successful and happy, you should study English)  The group should collaborate or establish the motto and then divide into designers, illustrators, photographers and typographers by choice or skill.

Note:  The poster can be completely hand illustrated and lettered, combine photos and word processing generated text, or end result in simple thumbnails, depending on the time available.  Both finished products and mockups will generate a huge amount of langauge.  Finished posters can be executed for homework or extra credit.  Students can also use stock images for photos for classroom use.  Excellent free images can be found at stock x-change at www.sxc.hu.  Please note, that such images can only be used freely if they are used in your classroom and not for commerical purposes.

Wrap up activity:  Class critique

Each group presents their thumbnails or finished posters to the class and discusses their mottos, artwork and concept.  The audience should be invited to offer positive feedback.  Have students find a good point in each selection.  Applaud!

5.  Critical lens essay:

Noted physicist and futureologist Michio Kaku has said:

Everywhere I go in the world the elites all speak English as a Second Language.  In the future, Planet Earth will be like that.  Everyone will speak their own native language but on top of that, there will be a planetary language, probably English.

Question:  How would having a planetary language have a positive or negative effect on the world?

Activities for beginners:

Students with very limited verbal activity would benefit from the following activity sequence: 

1.  Follow careful observation and description step.

2.  Teacher prompt for dictionary and show and tell exercise:  Look up the word "connects."  What does it mean?  What part of speech is "connects?"  The motto of the poster is "ESL Connects Worlds."  Can you think of any other verb that would fit that motto or noun that would complete it? (e.g. unite; people).  Rewrite the motto on a half page of paper and place it in front of you.  As we go around the room, everyone should read his or her motto out loud.

3.  Teacher prompt for individual design exercise:  Each student should create a small sketch of their motto with a complimentary illustration.  Post these on the wall.   Each student should write several sentences about their new poster idea, using the present tense.   They should then come to the poster wall, point to their poster and read aloud their descriptions.  (Alternative idea:  Other students can talk about similarities and differences between the poster ideas in a rudimentary way).

4.  Homework or extra credit:  Create a beautiful poster, hand-lettered or using word processing, with a collage, illustration or photo to illustrate your motto.  Hang on wall as part of student gallery.