http://www.architonic.com/aisht/elisabeth-school-brullet-de-luna-arquitectes/5100925
Dear Sir or Madam I am displaying this mail with you to make you aware of the projects that are currently under development around Europe and reaching out to embrace other parts of the world.
I have been working on an English language art project which has incorporated many different schools from around Europe. I believe this project will benefit your students. The following project is always a good way to a pleasurable start of the new term and can be worked on over a number of weeks or months.
YOUTH MURALS
The aim of the project would be helping to bring subjects together to work towards a clear objective,bringing life into learning and learning to life.Art geography,history,culture,music and the English language are some of the subjects where all teachers can work towards the same objective.
The primary purpose of the project is to use art work with language as a communication - grammar is important, but as,you know,there �s a bigger picture. Language is no longer seen as being learnt through mechanical exercises, it �s developed through students interacting and engaging.
What �s the point of reading and writing anything if you don �t know why you �re doing it?
Well in advance of teaching, teachers can,collaborate and share their ideas for planning through a mind mapping process. Meaningful, creative activities are planned for, ensuring that all staff members know exactly what the children will be learning and why.
I have begun adding some extra activity along with some basic class plans within the the new web page.
This is to spark ideas and enable our project to move towards a better ,more beneficial line of communication.
The idea will provide rich experiences in analysis, exploration, reflection, observation,imagination, experimentation, and communication. Opportunities to practice the arts will benefit students cognitive development and enhance literacy and language development The universal language of art elements and images; will access multiple,intelligences; and encourage critical and conceptual thinking along with technical and creative,problem-solving skills.
Students engaged in quality arts curricula develop confidence and find,outlets for individuality and self-inquiry. While engaging in a variety of learning styles, their,imaginations and visual awareness are stimulated and they learn to understand the work of others,and express their own point of view. Through the arts, young people have opportunities to develop their voices; enhance multicultural awareness; take pride in heritage; and recognize their role in respond to and participate in the world at large. By placing art within the context of the lives of ELLs and enabling them to express their ideas,visually as well as by speaking and writing, teachers can:
Build on prior knowledge.
Create a bridge between written and spoken language.
Make learning relevant and meaningful.
Help students develop self-esteem.
Foster creativity.
Develop an appreciation of the past.
Highlight similarities and differences.
Foster higher order thinking skills.
Promote high levels of analysis, reasoning, and questioning.
Support creative thinking.
Model problem solving.
Emphasize interpreting and communication of ideas.
Enhance students ways of observing, responding to, and representing the world.
Students will make works of art that explore different kinds of subject matter, topics,themes, and metaphors. Students will understand and use sensory elements, organizational principles, and expressive images to communicate their own ideas in works of art. Students will use a variety of art materials,processes, mediums, and techniques, and use appropriate technologies for creating and exhibiting visual art works.
This practice is meaningful to students, motivates and supports language acquisition.
Students will look at local artiest of there countries,and create work based on what they have seen and using the techniques they have been taught. They will incorporate the language that they have been taught in the English class and express the meaning of the paintings, art work that they have made,within mail addressed to schools in other countries.
The teachers will work together sharing ideas and techniques.Creating works of art and exchanging methods to practice. They will try out new ideas that they have exchanged with the other participating schools from around Europe. Working with the participating schools they will help build an art and crafts web site that will show art work in process and will give the instructions for future teachers that visit the web to follow.
Teachers will assist students with practicing the basic conversations that have been agreed between teachers of the schools participating . They are to be held live with the aid of Skype over the net and at an arrange time between one o �clock and three o �clock Spanish time line once or twice every month.
Art is a means of self-expression and gives form to our invisible feelings and ideas. It helps us define ourselves as individuals. For this reason it can be very challenging and therefore very rewarding for children to collaborate on an art project. Collaborative art balances individual talents with the common goal of the group. Students must learn to appreciate each other �s differences and similarities in a supportive atmosphere of teamwork. Collaborative art focuses on cooperation rather than competition. Artists work together as equals and pool their ideas. Each child is like a little culture all her own. By experiencing the creative flow on her own, a child comes to understand herself and her own inner experience. By working with others, she gains similar insight into her friends and classmates. Parents and teachers should be aware of the cultural and social blocks that exist among groups of students. Creative projects and an open-minded approach to teaching can provide a supportive, creative atmosphere where social and cultural development and understanding can take place. By creating art a child will necessarily express some aspect of his own experience. With enough time and cultivation, she can develop the ability to relate, through her own experience of the artistic impulse, to that of someone from another country. This access to the cultural experience of another can promote an appreciation for their humanity, even when the details of their culture are radically different from the child �s daily experience. By combining the practice of art with exposure to art from around the world, a teacher will foster not only a deeper understanding of what art is, but also an appreciation of the culture that created it, giving access to the inner experience of that culture, thereby promoting tolerance and a willingness seek common ground. Art can function as a bridge to understanding others as well as ourselves. To become comfortable with the creation of art is a vital step toward healthy, tolerant consciousness. Children should be allowed to create on their own and encouraged to create in collaboration with others, in order to foster in them the ability to appreciate and perhaps understand the inner experience of other hearts, minds and cultures. Teachers need to emphasize that art isn �t right or wrong. To create art is to expose yourself to the scrutiny of others. This is never easy. A teacher needs to ensure that her young students have a positive experience in the creation of art. The point of any project is to help the student experience a creative flow. The children get very caught up in the projects and have a lot of pride Creative group activities teach children how to work together toward a common goal, building both their individual self-confidence as well as their ability to contribute as a member of a team. I try to incorporate all the grammar that has been taught in to a song and that is sung as the children work.If we are painting the sky i sing a weather song,if we paint some thing with a lot of color we sing the rainbow song.what ever you paint you can find or make up a song.I try to sing the song at different tempos and speeds it keeps the young children attention.I might play a song of classical or a nursery rhyme that they have learnt or are learning. You can practice conversational English asking question as they work. Adaption is the key to expanding any topic that is taught bringing subjects together can be done in one session by the teacher or within a topic by individual classes Cumming together to obtain the same set goal.Art paints the mural,English explains the mural,music chooses a song national anthem to sing and that could be recorded on a disk and sent with the mural .Geography explains a little about the route that the murals will take. With a little thought the project can spread as far as you wish it to cover.
As we join together our Cultural heritage affirms our identity as a people. Preserving your culture is significant as it is a manifestation of the freedom of belief and of expression. The children we are teaching are the asset of the family and our nation they will carry forward this rich culture for generations to come. Our society�s backbone is its rich culture; never should we lose it at any point of time. That is why it is essential that we teach our kids the importance of our Culture!
By understanding other cultures we understand ourselves better.
As the world is becoming more and more global and we coexist on a more global level we can�t just think there�s only one right way of living or that any one is valid. The need for coexistence makes the coexistence of cultures and beliefs necessary. In order to not make such mistakes, the best thing we can do is get to know other cultures, while also getting to know our own.
I hope that your school will be able to join us in our Endeavour of to understand each other.
I would welcome your thoughts and ideas. We hope to hear from you in the near future. Regards Teacher Nick
