This is me! Using iTech with YLEs

 My very flexible Friday afternoon class always gives me a decent energy boost at the end of the week, and today was no different (but Masa "Get well soon").

We were reviewing parts of the body. We've already drawn ourselves and designed monsters etc with funny ears or green hair etc. Wanted to try something else.

Tip. Get your students to pose naturally, before you start explaining what you are going to next if they are going to get shy. If they are already shy, do it the other way around, and show the disguise they can make.

I actually got the idea from one of the kids before class, as he had a mobile phone. I asked him what his number is (something else we have practiced lately - number fluency as well as useful thing to remember!) and he didn't know. He explained that he only used it for the camera - so I posed and his mates had a giggle. Mmm. Idea!

Quickly took the portraits I wanted on my iPhone (would let them, but chaos would decend/blurry pics etc.and we were in a hurry). With the image above, we opened it up on the phone with FaceGoo. Friends immediately piled in to distort the image - hilarious. You can get big/small features easily & have a whole chat about that ("Do you have a big nose?" is usually a bit insensitive!). Here, we added some facial hair - but we could have gone with fangs, even noises etc. A cool app for Y85

The image on the right we opened with a "Face in the Hole" app (there are plenty to choose from), and everyone suggested the usual body-builders, chimpanzees etc before she agreed with the final result. You resize the face you are inserting behind the template, rotate to fit etc.

The actual English language practice bit I was aiming for came next, as we stuck postcard-size prints into their books (you can always use inside front covers/fly pages for this kind of 'extra', if you do not have them set up with a scrapbook or file/folder) which they then labelled. Need to know new words here obviously 'tail', 'moustache' and 'beard'. The children then talked about themselves/described their pictures.

The beauty of using the tech is that it gets you past the reluctant artists or as here in Japan, the generic anime style of drawing. No rubbing out either or scruffy UFO type productions! Very personalised and at the same stroke, one step removed - imagination time! Despite the protestations, children immediately had to show mums what they had been howling about.

Disclaimer: Make sure you have permission to use their pictures - and be careful about disclosing their identities...basically don't.