Inkblots, Norman Rockwell, and New Yorker Ads: Let's Talk (and Read, Write, Listen, Guess, Interpret…)

Inkblots, Rockwell illustrations, and magazine ads have proved an effective means of provoking active language use. Their appeal to inventiveness on the part of each student is a strong motivating force. They can be used effectively at all levels of language instruction, even in beginning courses, and can be linked to the four basic language skills. Perhaps most important, they provoke individual response leading to collective discussion. The present article illustrates these propositions by discussion of the use of one inkblot, a Rockwell illustration called “After the Prom,” and a New Yorker ad. In each case the illustration is given, and tactics for individual work, small group interaction, and full class discussion are described. Vocabulary building, techniques of interpretation and discussion, and selected grammar points are highlighted. In addition, an interview (with transcript) of native speakers reacting to the visual materials is used for listening comprehension, further vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, and topics for written exercises. Follow‐up exercises (students choosing their own ads for presentation to the class, cross‐cultural issues, video tapes of foreign language television commercials, etc.) are also described.