Some of my students hit a wall last week. It was like all motivation had been sucked out of the class. We started a new unit on art and the excitement was gone! I love art and thought my Spanish 3 class would too, but it wasn’t the case. I don’t like to “give in” if students are slacking off but I know if they aren’t involved – no learning will happen.
We took time in class for students to share their opinions about in English – why they like or don’t like it – and I was shocked! They all said it was boring and they hated learning about it in English. I took a little time and told them about some of my travel experiences and art I had seen and what art really is. I found out that they had seen and critiqued a ton of art in humanities and were a little burned out.
This got me thinking… I don’t like art because I have “learned” about it. I appreciate it and see the beauty in it because I have experienced it. Just like language. We as teachers have all had our opportunities to experience the culture and language. Without those experiences, simply studying can get old.
What experiences can you give to your students while they are in your class?
Trying new fruits, recipes, or candies?
Learn a new dance?
Play soccer against the French class (Spain vs. France)?
Create a replica of a Hispanic artwork?
Skype a real Hispanic?
After my class’ little breakdown, I told them this was not their humanities class. We are going to do things different and ask them to give me a chance. The next day, we learned about Hispanic artists (back in the language again) and used the Akinator app to answer questions about Kahlo, Picasso, Dali, and Botero. Then we took a day to experience art. Here’s what they created…
Then they put their paintings on their blog with the hashtag #EquipoDali, #EquipoPicasso, #EquipoKahlo, or #EquipoBotero.
I didn’t have a huge language production day but now students are a lot more excited about art and actually know these artists.
I put a lot of pressure on myself to be sure students are learning and using new language every day but I have to remember that it is a process. My dear friend Elena told me that when I was first learning and it stand true now. As your students work through this messy process of learning – be sure to give them those little experiences that keep them excited and interested in the language! It makes a big difference!
I was on a student trip through spain this summer and our guide did a really fun project to get them ready for the Prado/Reina Sofia museums. They split into groups and were given a picture of a work of art. Then they had to write a short blurb to try to sell the artwork to an investor.
They had a ball and used a lot of language. Keep in mind they had no way of researching or gathering information, just going on their feeling about their particular piece of art. Lots of language production, lots of fun. The chaperones were the buyers and we got to pick our favorite”sell” at the end. One young man said his Miro would make a great placemat. and forgot his Spanish, switching into German.
Sounds fun! I think it’s important to let them be honest about their opinion of the art. Mine had fun making jokes about poor Frida Kahlo! They learned to appreciate her but it was a totally natural reaction!
I love your blog! Today we went to the computer lab and used picassohead.com. Each student designed his/her own Picasso inspired head and wrote a description of it in Spanish. Now I have some wonderful student-created art hanging in my room. I am going to pass out the descriptions tomorrow at random and have the students match the descriptions with the appropriate “painting.” I LOVE using art in the classroom. Hope to run into you at ACTFL!!
Love PicassoHead – Just made one and I’m definitely going to bring the idea to class.Thanks so much for sharing!
I’m sorry to hear your students weren’t all that excited about art at first. I teach a unit on it in Spanish 3 as well and it will come up later this 9 weeks. It’s tied in to a history overview of La Reconquista and La Conquista of The Aztecs and Incas. I show them a lot of art from the time periods we studied and progress to more modern examples. I was *shocked* how much they loved it last semester…they begged me to do more! I’ve already told this semester’s group and they keep asking me when we’ll start!
Thanks for sharing your ideas and PicassoHead. It’ll be hard to get to a lab because of state testing when I do that unit, but I may make it a group station with my computer.
Some great ideas! I’ve also been teaching the art unit and have started to post what we’ve been doing, with more to come as we go along.
http://www.learningtoteachalsoteachingtolearn.blogspot.com
Thanks Barb!
Love your blog and all your ideas! Thank you so much for sharing