Develop students' visual literacy with this differentiated classroom activity designed to strengthen understanding of how the sequencing of images creates meaning in visual texts.

Using The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Lothian Books, 2006) as a mentor text, students move beyond simply describing illustrations to analysing how sequences of images communicate ideas, emotions and events without written language. Through scaffolded analysis tasks, students interpret visual features, justify their thinking with evidence, and explain how illustrators deliberately guide readers through a narrative.

Pair these student activities with the matching teacher slides and lesson plan. Click here to view the complete bundle.

Designed to complement explicit teaching, these activities provide meaningful opportunities for students to independently apply their understanding while catering for a range of learning needs through differentiated levels of support.

What's included in this classroom activity?

• Three differentiated, single-page activities with increasing levels of support and challenge
• Structured analysis tables guiding students to examine image sequencing, visual features and the meaning they create
• Opportunities to interpret character emotions and infer meaning using visual evidence
• Tasks requiring students to explain how visual choices shape the reader's understanding
• A progression from supported analysis to increasingly independent application

Perfect for upper primary classrooms, this classroom activity strengthens visual literacy, comprehension and analytical thinking while helping students confidently interpret image sequencing across visual and multimodal texts.

Format: PDF

Aligned to Australian Curriculum Outcome: Explain how the sequence of images in print, digital and film texts has an effect on meaning (AC9E5LA07).

Please note: This activity is designed to be used alongside The Arrival by Shaun Tan (Lothian Books, 2006). Teachers should have access to their own copy of the text and provide opportunities for students to view the illustrations directly during the lesson. Additional student copies of the text are recommended where possible. This resource contains references to the text for educational analysis purposes and is intended to support classroom discussion and learning.