B1 – The Artist in Me

We are slowly coming to the end of this Preply course titled Culture Vulture. The fourth lesson deals with art and the meaning behind it. Students get a chance to learn the vocabulary needed to describe photos (and paintings) and finish the lesson by choosing the best painting for their teacher’s virtual or real classroom.

So far, students have already had a chance to talk about their music tastes (The Power of Music), reading habits (Are you a Bookworm?), and favourite films (Cinema of the Future). Finally, the time has come to talk about art in all its forms. I am not an art expert or a connoisseur, but I can appreciate art when I see it. Unfortunately, art is often misunderstood and underappreciated, so I hope this lesson will put some new light on this subject and will show that art is more of a feeling than just a canvas in a frame.

If you are following this course, scroll until the end of the post to get a PDF presentation and a short lesson plan with all the answers.

As per usual, begin the class with a short pair or group discussion. Present students with three paintings and ask which pictures show art in their opinions. One picture shows a modern painting, the second shows cave paintings, and the last is a modern mural. To help students show them adjectives that could be used to describe each painting, for example, creative, contemporary, or vibrant. Finish by asking about students’ art preferences and the reasons behind their answers.

The next part of the lesson focuses on a short video by GCFLearnFre answering the question, What is Art?. This YouTube channel is worth visiting as it’s got a lot of short animated videos that would work well in EFL classes. Before watching the video, students discuss four questions, including the title question and the purpose of art. Watch the video and check if the students’ answers were correct.

Since the video is short, I thought you could watch it again and listen for the missing words. Students read six sentences and predict the type of missing words (adjective, noun, etc.). Watch the video again and write the words as they appear in the recording. If necessary, watch it again. Check the answers and elicit correct spelling. This task is similar to Cambridge PET Listening Part 3 and could be used to practise for the exam.

In the next part of the lesson, students look at different paintings and revise the vocabulary needed to describe them. The vocabulary is divided into five categories, saying what you see, saying what is happening, describing where things are, what to say when you don’t know the word for something and speculation. You can either model this activity as an example or do it together to provide a structure and order of the answer.

Students work in pairs and take turns describing the painting. Ask them to listen to each other carefully and provide speaking feedback at the end of their turns. If you would like to practise a bit more, you can give more pictures to describe or turn it into a drawing dictation in which one of the students describes a picture and the other draws what they were told.

Finish the class with a short group discussion. Students look at five different types of paintings and choose one that would best fit the teacher’s background or a digital/real classroom. Monitor the activity and elicit answers from each group. Remember that there are no wrong answers, only ideas.

If you have some spare time at the end of the lesson, you can use the discussion points, similar to Cambridge PET Speaking Part 4. Students discuss the meaning and price of art, the types of art, such as graffiti, and whether computer programs can create art.

What does art mean to you? Do you find enjoyment in looking at art pieces?