Abstract
In this paper, the authors discuss specific methods and innovative trends in education. They analyse the conditions for effective teaching and focus on modern teaching practices. The primary method of foreign language education consists mainly of a communicative approach with a dominant orientation on cultural aspects. The authors are not only concerned with linguistic competences but also point out how they can be achieved. In the research part, they set as their primary goal the observation of the use of illustrative means in German language teaching in terms of the changes that can be brought about by teachers themselves through the simplest possible intervention - in our case, by pictures, under which one can imagine materials ranging from the most concrete to the more abstract representations of reality.