Paragraph Writing, Week 6 Writing a Photo Essay

Overview In this lesson, students will write short captions for a photographic essay. As a class we will write four captions for a photo essay on “Rabat: A Capital City!” Students will then practice in small groups to write a caption of one of several photographs. A home assignment will be for groups of two-three students to take four photos that illustrate their daily lives as students or at home and write captions for them.

First Hour Begin by showing the scene from The Class in which the teacher, Francois, shows the student, Souleyman, how to write a photo essay (this is optional but it makes a good intro and I have the video).(Start at 1:05:15). Discuss the idea of a “photo essay” with the students. What is the purpose of captions? It shouldn’t be to tell viewers what is in the picture, but to help them understand what is important about what they are seeing—to help them make sense of the photo.

First Hour, Contd. Let’s imagine that we have been given the assignment as journalists to write a photo essay for a blog about the beauty and importance of Rabat/Sale. Show photos; have students select eight as a class to write about. As a whole class, write the first three captions together, focusing on ideas that will “sell” the photo and provide a positive image of the cities.

Second Hour Put the students in five groups and assign one of the five remaining photos to each group. Have them write a caption for their photo in the first 30 minutes. In the second 30 minutes, have students share their captions. Collect these for compilation and a blog post. Assignment: In groups of 2-3, students will take 4 photographs and write captions of them to explain any facet of their daily lives as students or at home. The students are to copy their photos and captions on a Word document and email them to the instructor or another possible location (for example, a Facebook page for the class).