As a follow-up to my earlier post about using infographics, I’ve written a five-step plan to designing a lesson based on an infographic.

1. Find the infographic.

Most of the infographics I use have come from Pinterest.  I have a separate board for each theme that I teach, so that as I begin each unit this year I will start by checking the appropriate board.  Feel free to follow me (Madameshepard) if you need someplace to start.  I have also found infographics on my own by typing in a theme (vacances/education/famille/etc.)  and the word “infographie” under Google Images at google.fr.  When choosing infographics, I look for those that are easily comprehensible (based on visual clues, previously-learned vocabulary/cognates, etc.), contain a wealth of cultural information, and are relevant to the students’ lives.

2. Prepare the infographic for student use.

Many infographics are too large to be printed in their entirety on a sheet of paper for the students (the print would be too small to read).  I use the snip tool to snip separate sections of an infograph and then copy the section to a Word document.  I can then enlarge each snip so that it can be read by the students.  I also like to project the original infographic so that the students can see how it is set up, how colors are incorporated, etc. in the original image.

3. Design an interpretive task.

I use a modified version of the ACTFL Implementing Integrated Performance Assessments (http://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/implementing-integrated-performance-assessment) to design my interpretive tasks.  Most of my infographic interpretive tasks include the following sections: Key Word Recognition, Main idea, Supporting Details, Guessing Meaning from Context, and Cultural Comparisons. I found that these activities really help the students to build the vocabulary they need for the unit in a contextualized way.

4. Design an interpersonal task.

For novice learners, I provide personalized questions related to the content of the infographic.  The students interview each other and then I choose a few students to present their information to the class as a formative assessment.  For intermediate learners I design a more open-ended task such as a role play, graphic organizer, etc. These interpersonal tasks are a great way to help the students develop the skills they’ll need on the IPA.

5. Design a presentational task.

The final step to using the infographic is to design a presentational task.  I usually make this a written task that requires the students to relate the content of the infographic to their own experiences.  The students can use the feedback they receive on this task to guide their summative writing performance on the IPA.

Here’s another lesson using an infographic for a unit on Vacations. vacationlesson2

How do you incorporate infographics in your lessons?