Monday, February 10, 2014

Taiwan ESL Summer Art Classes

During the summer I taught art to the elementary students.  We learned about famous artists, created paintings inspired by their work, and completed writing projects appropriate for the students' levels.

Besides building vocabulary through the subjects of the artwork we studied, it was exciting to introduce sentence patterns such as, "I wonder..." and "I wish..."

One artist I introduced is Faith Ringgold.  Though some aspects of American culture are pervasive in Taiwan, African Americans and African American culture are rarely represented.  Yet at the same time, when I looked into Ringgold's art, I saw the dense urban world these children lived in.

I found a narrated copy of Tar Beach on YouTube to make up for not having a copy of Ringgold's beautiful book in Taiwan.

So the students flew over their own city.


They also practiced the proportion drawing I had done back on Maui.



The students wrote about what they imagined, what they wondered, and where they flew.

As always, we showed proof of learning.