Visual+arts

Integrating visual arts in the ESL classroom will foster: //(from: []//

-higher thinking skills -enhanced multicultural understandings -multiple intelligences -build self esteem -gain positive emotional response to learning

The approach I mostly identify Visual Arts with is the Language Experience Approach.

One activity that I have chosen that I do in my own classroom is after I finish reading a story, I ask my students to draw their favorite part and try to write a sentence about it. My students are still quite young that drawing and coloring are still very important to them. I feel that they need to do this because this is going to help them grow in many aspects such as their writing, comprehension, expression, cognitive skills, etc. It also helps me to understand if they comprehend what is going on in the story. My students love to do this activity because they love to color and they love to practice how to write. I see the difference it has on them from the beginning of the year where the picture where difficult to make out and they used a lot of scribbles to the end of the year where pictures are more identifiable and sentences are formed. My students represent the reliability of this activity. It does work when done properly. Do not expect a lot from the beginning, focus on their effort. The second activity found at http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/explore provides a variety of lesson plans for grades K-12 that focus on the visual arts. The lesson plans provide objectives and descriptions for the teacher. I selected this site because it provides a variety of activities for all teachers. The art teacher suggested that I visit this site because it targets the “Arts.” I did not personally find activities that I could do with my young students but I found a lot of phenomenal activities for grades 3 and up. I think those students would benefit from the activities provided because they can comprehend larger tasks and they have to really use their second language.