The "Random Photo" Game: Use Your Phone Gallery to Speak English
Many students ask for new books or apps to practice speaking.
But the best tool is already in your pocket. It is your smartphone.
Specifically, it is your photo gallery.
Your phone has hundreds of pictures.
These are pictures of your friends, your family, your food, or your trips.
These photos are special because they are your story.
When you talk about your own life, you remember words better than when you talk about a textbook topic.
How to play the game alone
You can play this game anywhere.
You can play it on the bus, in your room, or while you wait for coffee.
You do not need a teacher. You only need your phone.
First, open the photo gallery on your phone.
Close your eyes or look away, and scroll up and down very fast.
Then, put your finger on the screen to stop.
Open that one picture.
Now, you must speak out loud for one minute.
Do not think too much. Just describe what you see.
To make it easy, answer three simple questions about the photo.
The three magic questions
When you look at your random photo, answer these questions in English:
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Question 1: Who is in the photo?
Use simple sentences.
"This is my brother," or "This is my cat," or "This is me."
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Question 2: What is happening? (Present Continuous)
Describe the action in the picture right now.
"We are eating pizza," or "He is sleeping on the sofa," or "I am walking in the park."
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Question 3: When was this? (Past Simple)
Remember the time.
"This was last summer," or "I took this photo two days ago."
These three questions cover the most important grammar for beginners.
You practice nouns, the Present Continuous tense, and the Past Simple tense together.
Why this helps your brain
Textbooks often have pictures of people you do not know.
It is boring to describe a stranger in a stock photo.
Your brain does not care about them.
But when you see a photo of your own birthday or your own city, you have feelings.
You feel happy or funny.
When you have emotions, your memory works better.
You connect the English words directly to your personal memories.
Make it a daily habit
Try to do this one time every day.
It takes less than two minutes.
If you find a photo of an object and you do not know the name in English, this is good.
Stop and look for the word in a dictionary.
Because it is your object, you will remember this new word for a long time.
You do not need to speak perfectly.
You are speaking to yourself, so there is no pressure.
The goal is to move your mouth and use English to tell your own story.
So, open your gallery now.
Find a random photo.
What is happening in it? Tell your story in English.