CLIL in Art
Aims:
Content: introduction to Dalí and surrealism
Language: artistic skills
Skills: listening and speaking/writing
Lexis: vocabulary to describe paintings – the objects in the painting, colours and
shades (can be adapted according to language level of students)
Preparation
•
All you need for this lesson is one copy of the description of the picture for you, a
copy of the picture to show the students (following copyright regulations) for example
this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swans_Reflecting_Elephants and (optional) copies of
the description for the students.
Procedure
• Tell your students to get out a blank sheet of paper and drawing materials.
• Read out the description of the picture one line at a time and let students draw what
you describe. You might prefer to read the whole description once before students
start to draw and then read one line at a time. Read at a speed suitable for the
language ability of the students and give enough time for students to draw before
reading the next line. If your focus is art then give more time, if language is more
important give less time. You may need to read each line several times. Tell students
not to look at each other’s drawings until the end. (Optional – give students the
written description of the picture to see if they want to make any changes)
• When the students have finished drawing, tell them to look at each others’ pictures –
this usually leads to a lot of laughing!
• Finally, show the class the original picture.
Extension
This activity can be followed up in several ways:
• Speaking and listening – give pairs of students new pictures and tell them to
describe and draw, as above.
• Writing – give students other pictures and ask them to write their own descriptions.