by Venie Gaki

ESL/EFL

How Can Students Develop Writing Skills Within The Discipline Of Arts?

by Venie Gaki, ESL/EFL Faculty

One of the primary goals of an ESL teacher is to help students whose first language is other than English, improve their productive skills in all disciplines. For the advanced level of English learners, the last unit for the year was titled “The need for art”.

All students seem to understand the importance of art in our lives, the need for art...At least, this is what ESL 2 students seemed to comprehend when the unit was introduced.

Art….an indispensable component in most people’s lives….

Art….an inherent need that helps people express feelings and emotions….

Art….a means of delivering historical and socio-political information about an era ….

However, they unanimously said that when it comes to appreciation, they don’t know what to say or write when a teacher requests for such a task. When they are “forced” to visit a museum - indeed, “forced” was the exact word they used- they feel that they suffer from an affliction….Instead, they keep thinking about the game they would be playing or the movie they could be watching...And all this reminded me of a TED-talk I had watched by Tracy Chevallier, the author of the book “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, the book that became a beautiful film in which Scarlett Yohansson stars.

And then it dawned on me….What if I asked students to think of a story, their own story, inside the painting? What if they could come up with their own version of the relationship of the figures in a painting? My hypothesis was that if they took ownership of such a task, they would be more interested in researching about the artist, the painting, the socio-political framework and the historical background within which the artist created the painting!

And so it happened!

For the successful completion of this project, we first watched Tracy Chevalier’s TED-talk “Finding the story inside the painting”, in which the presenter urged the audience to skim through the paintings in a museum and then focus on the one that makes them “stop in their tracks”.

We took a virtual tour in the Louvre and the National Gallery in London and asked students to look at the painting that made them stop in their tracks. I provided them with a site that included the 50 most famous paintings of all times. Each student picked a painting that had caught their attention. The first exercise was to ask questions that started with an interrogative pronoun without having done any research whatsoever; “who is the man?” or “ who do you think he is looking at?” and “where is he and what is he doing?” But most importantly “why is he looking in that direction or why is he there doing what he is doing?”

Students answered the questions using their imagination and gut feeling. This what they needed to write a summary of their story; their first draft.

Then, they were asked to do research on the artist and the era in which he or she created the painting. Finally, their task was to place their story in the historical background of the painting. The stories I read were magnificent!

The Mona Liza, Starry Night, Cafe Terrace at Night, American Gothic, The Persistence of Memory, The Kiss, The School of Athens, Portrait of Madame Recamier, Impression, Liberty Leading the People were some of the stories that the students wrote.

Some of the students took the story one step further and made trailers for potential movies!

The last step was to write the critique of the painting, using all the terms and conventions that pertain to such a written task. They were happy to do so, as they saw the painting from a different perspective now; not the expert’s, not the teacher’s, but their own, giving their own interpretations, making their own assumptions. Not only had they learned to write an academic paper and critique art, but also to value and cherish art!

These are two students’ stories :

The Persistence of Memory, by Melina Andreaki

There they are, at Gunther’s small thatched house at the center of the dreary and squalid village named Saint Redbor. It was late at night, the narrow streets were empty and a mist was lingering above the straw roofs of the tiny cramped houses. Every Friday after school, the group of friends would visit each other’s homes and stay there overnight. As expected, they wouldn’t be able to drift asleep until the sun comes out behind the distant and tall mountains surrounding the village.

-I’m sick and tired of playing the games over and over again. Asik, the youngest one from the group whined. Let’s do something different tonight.

-How about hide and seek around the whole house! Snapped in Rory. Rory is a young girl with long, ginger, curly hair. She got these huge green eyes, deep as a well and when she gives you that look she could get away with anything. She is the most energetic and imaginative one of the bunch.

-Yes! Yes! Let’s play but we should be careful not to wake up my parents. They are fast asleep after a long tiring day at working at the market. Imagine how crossed they would be if we were to wake them up. They would send all of you home and put the blame on me once and yet again! Gunther grumbled.

Gunther is a 13year- old -boy of a strong build, with messy, dark hair which is like a maze around his round face. He is the oldest one from all and is the caretaker of the group. He is the one that gets in trouble almost all of the time even though he isn’t responsible for his friends’ mischives.

So the game started off with Gunther being the seeker and the other two looking for a place to hide in order to win the game. Rory decided to hide in the kitchen under the round table with the white woolen table cloth that Gunther’s mom knitted. As for Asik, he still hasn’t figured out a good hiding spot. So he is walking at a fast pace looking for somewhere to hide. Suddenly, from the corner of his dark blue eyes, he saw a twisted and crooked wooden staircase that led to the attic. Even though he knew his friend’s house like the palm of his hand, the attic was the only place he had never been. Attics were not his favorite things, they were quiet, dark and full of spider webs. The idea of going up there scared him but it was an opportunity to challenge himself. So up he goes! When climbing up the stairs he saw a claustrophobic, wet, dusty room full of old furniture, half broken toys, boxes filled with ripped clothes and various tools. As he was trying to find a hiding place he stumbled at books and boxes and in order to keep his balance he held onto something covered with an old dusty cloth. He stood up and saw a twingly blue light coming from under the piece of cloth. The light gave him an unearthly feeling, it made him very curious so he lifted the cloth up. It revealed a magnificent, strange looking device that was unknown to Asik. He observed it for a little while and he came across what seemed like two odd tickets placed on a wooden mantel. He immediately shouted for his friends to climb up the stairs to join him.

-Guys, guys! Come up here! I found a weird looking machine hidden in the attic.

His friends heard him and ran upstairs.

-What is this strange looking machine? Did you know it was here? How does it work? Exclaimed Asik.

-I have no clue. I have never come across this machine before. It’s so complex and looks as if it’s haunted. Said Gunther, the one who knew every nook of this attic. Don’t go near it, it might be dangerous! It probably doesn’t even work.

-Seriously? Get out of here! How dangerous can a machine be? Rory teased Gunther and walked closer to the machine. See? It isn’t that much of a deal. A stupid old machine can’t harm us, come closer.

-Hey look! I found these two cool tickets while I was observing the machine before you guys came upstairs. What if we put them in the machine? Maybe it will play music or something!

-Yes yes! Put the ticket in that slot. Rory got even more excited upon their discovery.

On the other hand though, Gunther was not so sure how safe putting the ticket in the slot would be so he backed up a little. Asik grabbed the orange ticket which appeared to have a hand drawn purple eye on it and under it the words “IN PROPER PLACE”. As soon as he placed the ticket in the slot another light turned on, it was neon green this time. Suddenly, the whole machine started to glow. You could hear a slight roaring coming from the inside of it.

-Haha! I proved ya wrong Gunther! It really works. Laughed Rory moving Gunther.

A blue thunder looking line glowed on top of the object. Asik got closer to the light and attempted to touch it since it was very louring. As soon as he laid one finger on the light he started feeling nauseous. His vision became blurry. He tried to back off but his finger seemed as if it was glued to the light. He yelled for help from his friends and Rory immediately grabbed him by his other hand and tried to pull him.

-Rory don’t touch him! It’s dangerous! Get away from him! Gunther yelled in panic.

But it was too late, Rory had already come in contact with her friend Asik and she felt the same way as him; blurry vision and very nauseous. The two friends were in shock and slowly started fading away. First, their legs started disappearing and slowly their whole body...

Gunther couldn’t believe his eyes. He was shaking and couldn’t breathe. His friends just disappeared in front of his eyes. They could be lost forever. Who knows. He might never see them again. What if he was just dreaming? He knew from the start that it was a bad idea to come in contact with that strange machine. He was slowly trying to recover from the shock and was trying to figure out what his next step would be. Should he follow his friends and try to rescue them by using the last ticket or go downstairs and wake up his parents in order to call the police for help.

-I can’t just abandon them. How are my parents and police going to help anyway? This isn’t just like any other troublesome situation we have been in. They wouldn’t even believe me.

Without a second thought, he grabbed the second ticket from the mantel. This ticket was pink and a moth with spread wings seemed to be drawn on it. He approached the machine with his hand trembling and he placed the ticket in the same slot. He started feeling nauseous once again, the whole room was whirling around him and his vision was getting blurry. He finally felt as if he was suspended from the ground. He wasn’t in the attic anymore. In a couple of seconds his vision came back. The world around him was black and what seemed like a black hole had devoured him. He couldn’t open his mouth and speak, maybe from the shock or maybe from the side effects of the machine. He wasn’t sure. The journey in “who knows where” wasn’t long. Only a couple of seconds. Around him he saw different colors, shapes and sizes of clocks that their hands were spinning at the speed of light until they melted and started liquidizing. At the end of the tunnel of clocks he saw a bright blue light which blind him and prevented him from seeing or even hearing anything.

He woke up at an unknown place. He opened his eyes and tried to make out what just happened. It was a vast area, covered by sand. It was at dawn. An unwelcoming smell came from the misty sky. He couldn’t remember much. All he remembered was that he found a strange machine and somehow lost his friends and had to find them as he was older and responsible for them. He couldn’t place things in order. He was still a bit nauseous from all the spinning but he tried to reach out at a dead tree’s branch to stand up. When he eventually managed to stand up, he looked around and saw a clock hanging from the branches of the tree like a used piece of cloth hung up to dry. More clocks in peculiar colors were laid around in the distance. Some were brown as if they were burned, some were radiating blue and some others were bright white. He scanned the area trying to find his friends or any sign of life. Where have his friends been?

To be continued…

The swing, by Elena Sisini Xanthopoulou There she is, resting on her swing, placidly swinging back and forth. In each forward movement she stretches legs upwards trying to reach the sky. Along with her legs, her peach colored dress decorated with white lace, follows her paced movements forming magical waves. Meanwhile the warm sunbeams find their way through the dense foliage of the trees only to stumble on her skin, filling her with the pleasant feeling of warmth and satisfaction. Contrary to the warmth of the sunlight, the environment around her is wet and suffocating, as the heat is trapped under the trees, having no way out. Even though during the hot days of the summer the weather conditions become unbearable, this small, magican garden has a special place in her heart. It’s her most favorite place on Earth, it’s her shelter, her second home, which is full of despondent and gleeful memories. The metallic, tall, black gate which is guarded by two stone lion statues is the only entrance to the garden… at least the only visible one. In the heart of the garden, a white, ancient greek- styled with blue roof kyosky can be found. Eight marble columns support the blue with golden details roof. In the middle of the kyosky, on a marble one foot table, a sculpture is placed. The simple but at the same time unique sculpture has a special meaning for Rose Stawarski; the girl on the swing. The statue is nothing more than an average sized, porcelain heart surrounded by a golden protective case which also allows the observer to see its content. On the shiny, golden case, two calligraphy capital initials are carefully engraved. E. F. What do they stand for?.... For her first, true love of course; Edward Fernandez. He was a wealthy, handsome man but his money never mattered to Rose. What she mostly loved about him was his big heart, kindness and capacity to forgive others. In his big heart was where she, herself found the dagger dipped; what an irony right? After he got murdered, for two years she fell into depression. Her life froze

and nothing mattered to her anymore. She stopped taking care of her garden and even attempted to burn it. That was when she realized she had to start moving forward and so she moved his corpse to her garden and buried him where the kyosky is built today. She also locked her memories of him in the poseline heart and threw the key away. Once in a while she visited him and talked to him for hours but slowly after months and years were passing, she forgot him and so she started a new life. She had a new beginning and she started taking care of herself again. She started getting out of her house and going on long walks with her friends. She was proud of herself and her accomplishments but still there were times she felt guilty and angry. She felt guilty because she forgot about him and started flirting with other guys. But she also felt mad, she was still in love with him and when things started getting serious with other men, she became vulnerable and weak. Soo weak she would give up and finally end up 26 and single.... Now that you know more about her background let’s get back to the present. Oh yes… we left her swinging back and forth. Her movements are joyful but her facial expression is not, she looks nostalgic and miserable.

-“Rose, are you thinking of him again?” a voice coming from behind the buses asked her. It was her best friend Eliza. Eliza has been there for her throughout all the stages of grief Rose went through. -“Yes… I am.” Rose slowly replied, leaving a sigh at the end. “Everytime I start having feelings for someone else, I feel like I am replacing him.” She added. “I just can’t get over him. I never will.” She complained.

-“O yes you will! That’s why I am here, remember. To cheer you up. So guess what, we are going out tonight.” Eliza said with enthusiasm as she was moving towards her. Rose intensely stopped her swing by touching her legs to the ground. She opened her mouth to say something, probably to argue with Eliza on why she doesn’t want to go out but before she managed to say something, her friend interrupted her.

-“Oh give me a break Rose!” She said, throwing her hands to her side. “I know you don’t want to come but it’s been three years now since he... you know ‘died’ and you can’t stay here forever.” She quickly added. “Yes, enough is enough, we are going out tonight!” she assured herself.

Finally, Rose was convinced and deep down she knew from the beginning that she had to move on, find someone else and get married because marriage was each woman’s destination.

Later on in the afternoon, after she and Eliza got nicely dressed and prepared, they attended the summer event, one of the most important of the year. They are both wearing long dresses covered with silver, shiny glitter. Rose’s dress is light blue and on top of their curly, brown hair there are carefully placed three white roses. Along with them, fifty other guests arrived in their fancy carriages. Each carriage is carried by two magnificent horses and is escorted by at least one chauffeur. After about half an hour, everyone was gathered in the main hall and the music started playing. The couples started dancing merrily in the rhythm of the music and everyone seemed happy except Rose. She was at the bar looking down at her drink and then a man approached her. He was wearing a dusky, formal suit and his head was covered with a silver mask allowing only his eyes to be seen. He intensely stared into Rose’s eyes and then slowly took his mask off to reveal his face. By it’s sight, Rose’s heart stopped beating for a second; then she fainted...