Google Arts and Culture: An Artist or Work of Art Presentation

Start by showing students a series of art work, preferably from their home countries and from different eras and different art movements. Ask students to describe each piece of art, identify the artwork name or artist if possible, and say what they like (or dislike) about the work and any feelings it evokes.

Alternatively, if you know anyone who teaches art, invite that instructor for a guest visit to provided a brief lecture on "what is art?"

Tell students that they are going to discuss art, read about an artist, and select an artist or piece of artwork to research and present about to the class.

Put students into small groups for some general conversation about art:

Conversation Questions: Art

1. How many forms of art can you name? What is your favorite form of art?

2. Have you visited many art museums? If so, which and where?

3. Who are some of the most famous artists from your country?

4. What is traditional art like in your culture?

5. Who is your favorite artist? What is the piece of art that they created that you like

the most?

6. Do you consider yourself to be artistic? What kinds of art forms do you like to

create? Have you ever tried drawing, painting, sculpting, or something else

artistic?

7. What do you think about modern art?

8. Is graffiti art? Why or why not?

9. Do you think that art is important to society? Why?

10. Why is some art so expensive? Do you think it should be more, or less,

expensive?

Note: If a portion of your class is offered online, students can answer the questions in a discussion forum in your class LMS.

1. For listening practice and for building students' background knowledge, select a TEDEd Lesson on Art that meets your students' proficiency level, your lesson objectives, and as possible complements the text you have selected. You can view the questions for the lesson and copy and paste them on a handout, or you can share the URL for the lesson and have students answer the questions online.

2. For grammar, teach present and past passive by guiding students through the Microsoft Sway slideshow "10 Famous Artists Today" and have them take notes on the handout "Present and Past Passive - Famous Contemporary and Modern Art." (Note: To progress through the slides, press the down arrow key or select the gear icon and choose display horizontally to make the slides advance slideshow-style). If your class is hybrid, students can be assigned to do this as part of their homework.

Have students complete the second part of the handout "Present and Past Passive - Famous Contemporary and Modern Art." Check in pairs and go over it as a whole class as needed.

Introduce a text you have selected about an artist or work of art by previewing the text: go over such text features as the title, subtitles, images, etc. Have students complete a KWL chart on a Jambord or Google Doc. After reading, have them complete the K column to indicate what they have learned.

Work with the academic vocabulary and reading comprehension questions from the text.

Distribute the assignment prompt, go over the options, and have students report what their topics will be.

As needed, select just one technology tool for the presentations and demo. For students who are more advanced technology users, you can give them choices.

Students will share their work by making oral presentations. You may want to follow up by giving a short quiz on notes students take during their classmates' presentations in order to increase active listening, as needed.

Use a student self-assessment on a Google Form, a rubric, or other means to provide feedback to students on their work and have students reflect.

Students will have gained background knowledge about art and artists and will have conducted online research in order to prepare and deliver an oral presentation. This project meets many college and career readiness goals.