The Big Picture

Topics  such as  first impressions,  being yourself, and fake news have been specifically selected to address some of the challenges young people face today, encouraging them to reflect and think critically. All content  is directly related to bilingual areas, social-emotional learning, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

If you want to see the complete list of themes, you can download the catalog.

Each unit is subdivided into thought-provoking questions that examine different angles of the unit’s topic. Each question relates to a primary language skill, although all skills appear throughout each section. 

The unit’s introductory pages provide students with a clear roadmap outlining the learning path they will follow. For example: 

The activities in The Big Picture have been carefully planned to achieve a perfect balance between structured, language-focused activities and activities designed to encourage the student to actively think about the learning object.

Se puede observar un ejemplo en esta actividad: 

Research has shown that the use of authentic materials increases student participation and motivation, exposes them to real-world language, and improves cultural understanding.

At Milton, we are proud to collaborate with real people from all over the world which has allowed us to share their inspiring ideas, projects, and words directly with our students. In the Reading and Listening sections, Reading y Listening, students will get to know these people through personal audio recordings and texts that are part of their own personal projects. 

For example,  in this Unit we meet Isabel Hui from the USA, who won a writing contest from The New York Times.

In collaboration with International College Spain, we have created a new and authentic series of videos that examines the ideas and attitudes of young people, around the topics covered in The Big Picture.

These “Big Questions” are an opportunity to put critical thinking into practice through debate among young people, one of the most effective ways to reflect, compare ideas and consolidate learning.

The Big Picture is designed with inclusion at its core. The skill development is structured and color-coded and helps create a visual cue for students to easily identify the skills they are working on in each section.

The grammar and vocabulary for each unit are presented in two different styles, offering teachers maximum flexibility. These sections can be done in any order, depending on the needs of the students.

In Language Lab, grammar is presented formally through mind maps and other visuals, with detailed grammar tables and additional hands-on activities available in the Grammar essentials section .

In Language in contextstudents activate their prior knowledge and identify new linguistic elements through real-world contexts. Here is an example:

The Big Picture offers teachers a dual system of skills-based tasks and projects, including individual, pair, and group activities.

The tasks require little or no preparation on the part of the teacher and can be used as activities for students who finish early or assigned as homework.