Museums, art, opera and realia in class

My travel to Austria has equipped me with loads of realia, that is real items found in everyday life, which will help me teach ESL components effectively but most importantly in a highly creative way! Don't forget that the use of real life objects that students can touch, feel and why not smell and taste, makes our lesson more vivid So, let's start!

Take a photo or a postcard of an opera house or a music hall (below: Vienna Opera House) and talk about the music history of a specific country. Compare it with your country's music and motivate them to visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8L4vvJFpBA so as to have them listen to Mozart Orchestra in Vienna Opera House. You can even show them Hansel and Gretel performance in Vienna Opera House on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obffbOgOnbg.






Moreover, a wide range of museum guides which I have collected from all my educational visits to museums will give me the opportunity to create some intercultural activities. You can have students find information about these museums, their exhibitions, you can even experience an online museum tour. For example you can visit https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/beta/partner/natural-history-museum-vienna and get some insight in Natural History Museum of Vienna and tour yourself around through the magic power of virtual tours. Then you can visit a different museum virtually eg the Natural History Museum in London https://artsandculture.google.com/partner/natural-history-museuum and compare the different structure, gallery, exhibits, layout. You should try to find out what subjects interest your students the most and guide them accordingly. Ancient or modern history? Modern art? Natural History?Make your choice and have fun.




                                                                                                                                                                            

 Other realia that can be used is postcards. Using postcards from famous paintings can bring students closer to art. They can touch them and observe the details. A nice idea would be to buy an embossed postacard as I did in Klimt's Kiss postcard that will excite students even more.
You can ask students collect information about these paintings and present it in class. Another group of students can write about the possible feelings and thoughts of the characters painted, their possible life journey and why not create a fictional story in which these characters are starring. You may even use different art postcards which students should compare and contrast, find out about the different artistic influence and movement or even have the postcards personas to intercommunicate!Use your students imagination and help them practice their speaking and writing skills through communication, cooperation and research.





The final postcard shows one of my favourite paintings by Klimt, The Kiss.
Apart from gathering information about the cultural background and history of this painting, the life of Klimt and the cultural movements he got inspired by, students can create a story based on this scene painted.
They should take into consideration questions like:
-Who are these people?
-Why are they in such a pose?
-Are they hugging or are they in a hostile pose?
-What happened before this scene was painted?
-What happened after this painting had been completed? 





Your ideas will generate even more ones. Try to make the most of your journeys, educate yourselves, open your heart and mind to new cultures and try to infuse new elements and fresh ways of thinking and teaching in your lessons. Inspire your students and create lesson plans that will urge your students find new inclinations and interests! Help them connect with the rest of the world and feel a part of a large community. This will motivate them and convince them to never give up!

Have fun,
Maria P.

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