Picture This! – ELTons winner 2022!

A dynamic participatory ESOL and photography project

We’re delighted that Picture this! won the Local Innovation category at the 2022 ELTons Awards of the British Council. 150 entries were received from 45 countries worldwide and panels of experts worked independently to find the entries that best showed excellence in innovation and functionality to meet the needs of English language learners and teachers around the world.
What the judges said: “Innovative, fun, imaginative, and engaging.”

We’d love to share our approaches and support you and your learners to get snapping and get writing! Please do get in touch to find out more about our online or face-to-face training and support offer and rates. Email Sarah Sheldon here.

An introduction to Picture this!

During 2020 Learning Unlimited worked in partnership with Fotosynthesis, a leader in participatory visual media, on Picture this!, a participatory ESOL and photography project funded by the GLA as part of the ESOL plus Arts initiative.

The original plan had been to deliver face-to-face participatory photography workshops with supporting ESOL classes culminating in pop-up exhibitions in south London in spring 2021. However, due to the pandemic, the project went online and became something completely different – something far richer, more exciting and with greater potential for upscaling. The work created, the self-confidence gained and the teaching and learning practices developed, went above and beyond what was originally planned and expected.

Please visit our online exhibition where ESOL learners, volunteers and facilitators have all exhibited their work, along with some supporting audios and work in home languages: https://www.fotosynthesiscommunity.org/picture-this/

Examples of activities and works created as part of the Picture this! project


Free downloadable resources:

The Picture This! toolkit – Guidance and resources for ESOL practitioners
Here we share what we learnt from this project – tips, tools, activities and resources to run your own ESOL and photography course or simply to embed in your regular ESOL classes. Download for free here.

The Picture This! book
As we were unable to hold a ‘real life’ exhibition, in addition to our online exhibition, we created a fabulous book of all the work produced to give to each participant. You can download the pdf to simply enjoy or use in your classroom. If you’d like to buy a hard copy of the book, please get in touch.
Download for free here.


Please get in touch:

  • if you’re interested in commissioning Picture this! online or face-to-face training for your staff/volunteer team
  • if you’d like us to run a Picture this! course for your ESOL learners
  • if you’d like to find out more about Picture this!

We’d also love to hear your feedback!