THE USE OF ART TO TEACH LANGUAGE

Presenter: Nancy Smith Allegheny College

Box 30

520 N. Main St

Meadville, PA 16335

Email:

nsmith@allegheny.edu Website: http://webpub.allegheny.edu/employee/n/nsmith/

VOCABULARY ACTIVITIES (When doing vocabulary items I tell them who the artist is but I rarely show them the titles of the paintings.)

1. Family I show them the painting and let them guess the family relationships. I also point out some details of the painting such as the placement of the king and queen in Goya’s painting and the reflection of the king and queen in the mirror of Velazquez’s painting.

Goya Carlos IV of Spain with his family

El Greco The Holy Family

Velazquez Family of Felipe IV Las Meninas

2. Weather Simple question looking at each painting and saying what the weather is. I have them do this in pairs as I show each painting and then we go over them afterward. I give a brief history of the style and era while we go over the weather expressions.

El Greco View of Toledo

Goya Kite

The young women

Snowstorm

3. Parts of the body I have a student volunteer come up and use the computer to point out various parts of the body, which the students then name.

El Greco Saint Andrew y Saint Francis

The old Gentleman

Goya The clothed Maja

4. Colors and shapes I stand and point out certain shapes and colors on the paintings and they names. I have done this orally or with the students grouped in threes and we go over it afterwards.

Miró Harlequin’s Carnival

People and dog in sun

5. Food In pairs students make a list of all the foods that they see in the paintings. The longest list wins. In general I use still life paintings.

Juán Sánchez Cotán Still life with fruits and vegetables

Juán Van der Hamen y León Still life with fruits and glassware

Francisco de Palacios Still life with braided bread

6. Musical instruments Looking at Cubist paintings, students working in groups of 4 try to determine what musical instruments they see. We go over it afterwards.

Picasso Violin and Clarinet, Still life on a piano,

Guitar, sheet music and wine glass, Musical instruments

7. Clothes In pairs students make a list of all the foods that they see in the paintings. The longest list wins.

Botero Presidential Family

Self Portrait with Louis XIV

GRAMMAR ACTIVITIES

Beginning level 1

1. The verbs whose meaning may be “to be”: ser, estar, haber (hay), hacer (with weather), tener (with certain expressions as hunger, thirst, etc. As we learn the different uses of these verbs, I use each verb individually showing them a painting and having them, in groups, write complete sentences using the verb to describe a painting. Once we have learned them all, I show them a painting and they write a sentence for each verb. I’ve done this as group work and also for evaluation purposes during a test.

Goya Third of May 1808 in Madrid

The Triumph of Baccus

Velazquez Old Woman Frying Eggs

Las Meninas

El Greco The Holy Family

2. Talking about the past, present and future (ir + a + infinitive) I show the students a painting and they tell me what they think happened immediately before the scene using acabar de + infinitive, what is happening (using the present progressive [estar + gerund]) and what is going to happen (using ir + a + infinitive). I do this activity as a brain storming session.

Goya Kite

Saturn

Bullfight

Velazquez Las Meninas

3. Expressing “this, that, these and those” I use paintings that have three levels of something to look at. I use this idea to introduce the concept of the three levels of este, ese and aquel, etc. I point objects out in the painting and use the demonstrative adjectives as I go along. I then ask questions giving them options. Example: Do you prefer this man or that man? or This building is a home. What is that building? etc.

El Greco View of Toledo

Goya Summer

4. Comparisons Using two different paintings minimized on the same screen, I have them write comparisons. They work in pairs and try to create as many creative comparisons as possible both of equality and inequality.

El Greco Old Gentleman

Velazquez Portrait of Philip IV

Menipo

Prince Baltazar Carlos

Juan de Pareja

Las meninas

Beginning level II

1. Interrogatives The students work in pairs. I show a painting and have them create a question (to which they must know the answer.) for each of the question words: what, when, where, why, who, how and which. Then they form a group with another pair and take turns asking each other their questions.

Velazquez Prince Baltazar Carlos

Las Meninas

2. Superlatives I show them three paintings or a painting in which I designate three people to compare. Working in pairs, they come up with as many superlatives as they can such as oldest, youngest, shortest, tallest, etc.

El Greco Old Gentleman

Velazquez Portrait of Philip IV

Menipo

Prince Baltazar Carlos

Juan de Pareja

Las meninas

3. What has happened and what will happen Looking at a painting the students, in groups of 3-4 tell me what has happened (using the present perfect) and what will happen (using the future tense)

Goya Summer

Bullfight

Intermediate level

1. Likes and dislikes Students individually choose paintings, write 5 sentences about their or someone in the painting’s likes and dislikes using verbs that function as the verb “gustar” but they can’t use “gustar”. Then they must tell me why they like or dislike something. They get together in groups of 3 and each read their favorite and discuss similarities or differences of opinions.

2. Imperfect versus preterit Students work in pairs, choose a painting from a list of options that I give them and “tell a story” in the past about the painting. I usually suggest a Goya action painting that takes place outside. They give the background information with imperfect and then the actions with preterit.

3.Reactions and recommendations Students work in pairs and choose a painting to which they can give 4 reactions and a recommendation to the artist. Then they get together with another pair to discuss their reactions. I encourage them to find a pair that chose the same painting or at least the same artist. I give them the following expressions to choose from which of course means they must decide if the expression uses the subjunctive or not.

Creo que ... Es verdad que ... Ojalá que ... Dudo que ... Espero que ... Pienso que ...

Es increíble que ... No creo que ... Recomiendo que ... Es mejor que ... No me gusta que ...

Temo que ... Es una lástima que ... Sugiero que ... Supongo que ...

4. Hypothesis Students work in groups of 3. They choose a painting by a certain artist and as a brainstorming session, we work up a list of questions using hypothesis. Then with their group they must answer the questions trying to come to some consensus.

Examples: If you were the artist what color would you change?

If you could change something in the painting what would it be?

If you could add something to the painting, what would you add?