SPEAKING-LESSON 3

LESSON 3
ART &
ARCHITECTURE

“Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates

aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this
environment produces wellbeing.”
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LESSON OUTLINE Luis

Barragan -
1 Lesson 2 review 15 minutes

2 Exam skills 30 minutes

3 Learning strategies 30 minutes

4 Language focus 40 minutes

5 Lesson summary 5 minutes

STUDENT'S NOTES
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LEAD-IN
Activity 1: Read these reactions to works of art. Do you think the person liked the art
he/ she was reacting to? Write Yes, no, Not sure next to each one.
1.I’m not sure what to make of this one 7.I don’t quite get the point of it.
2.I can really relate to this. 8.It evokes strong feelings of nostalgia/
3.This is very powerful. empathy/ sadness.
4.I’m not sure what the artist is trying 9.I wouldn’t hang it on my wall. To be
to convey. honest, it leaves me cold.
5.I like the simplicity of this. 10.It’s too abstract for my taste
6.There’s a bit too much going on.

Activity 2: Look at the examples of art on the page. What is your reaction to them?
You could use some of the expressions from exercise 1.

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SPEAKING PART 2 – LONG RUN

For Part 2 of the Speaking test, you talk for 1-2 minutes,
based on instructions on a task card. You have one
Making
minute to make notes for your talk. Make sure you cover
notes
all four points on the card.
Activity 3: Look at Part 2 task card and the notes a candidate called Claudia made
in preparation for her talk. How could they be improved?

Describe someone whose creative or artistic work you like.

You should say:

What you know about the life of this person
 What kind of creative work this person does/ did
 Why you like his/ her work

And describe the way his/ her work make you feel.

The artist I like is

Salvador Dali.
Born – around 1904?
Catalunya, Spain.
Died – late 1980s?
He was famous as
a

Activity 4: Listen to the candidate doing the task. Take notes on

the content.

Don’t waste time writing unnecessary

words like articles (a, the) or prepositions
(in, to, at). Just write the key words. Use
initial or shortened forms of words to save
time.
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Activity 5: Swap notes with a partner

1. Did your partner use “key word notes” (without articles, prepositions,
etc.)?
2. Did he or she use short forms?
3. Do his or her notes cover all the points on the task card?

Activity 6: Work together to improve both sets

of notes. Activity 7: Make your own notes for
the task in Activity 3.

Part 2 tasks do not require any specialist knowledge, so here you

don’t have to talk about an artist in the sense of the fine arts
(painting, sculpture, drawing, etc.) You could talk about someone
from other creative fields such as music and film making
Activity 8: Show your notes to your partner. Can he or she understand what you
are planning to say?

Activity 9: Look at the notes another candidate, Yaz, made for his talk on his
favorite artist. Discuss the advantages or disadvantages of using the style of
notetaking.

Activity 10: Rewrite your notes as a

mind map.

The bullet points act as a structure for your talk.

Structuring a long
Use a range of spoken discourse markers to help
turn
make your structure clear to the examiner.
Activity 11: Look at the script of Claudia’s talk about Dali. Divide it up into the four
points on the card. Has she talked about the four points in order?
The creative person I have chosen is
Salvador Dali. I visited the Dali
foundation
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in figures last year, and it made a Another reason is that he was quite
great impression on me. He was born unconventional – and even eccentric in
in Catalonia in Spain. I’m not sure of
(1) his behavior, so that makes him an
the exact year but I think maybe interesting character, who was not
around 1904 and he died in about the like other people. The same is true of
late 1980s, when he was in his 80s. his art. And what’s more, he didn’t just
He was a surrealist painter, so he used stick with painting. (6) Later in his life
symbolism a lot. (2) What that means is he did sculpture and worked on film
in his paintings things don’t look like sets. (7) So, to put it in a nutshell, I like
what they are. One of his famous the fact that he was innovative and
painting is called The Persistence of totally different from others. (8) Oh, and
Memory and it shows watches or one more thing, the colors in his work
clocks that are very soft, (3) which is are amazing, so they’re goof to hang
supposed to show that time is not as on your walls – not the originals of
most people understand it. He was course! His work makes me feel proud
fascinated by Maths and Science, and because he’s from my country – from
so am I, so that is one reason why I
(4) my region, (9) actually, and he brought
Activity
like him.12: Match the underlined phrases andfame
discourse markers (1-9) in the script
to Catalunya.
above with their functions
(5) (a-i)
a. To emphasize that this is surprising To add something the speaker had
information e. forgotten to say
b. To introduce a f. To add a further reason
clarification g. To introduce the first reason
c. To show a shift in time h. To talk about intention
d. To show uncertainty i. To summarize what has been said

Activity 13. Listen to Yeaz’s talk. Fill in the gaps, using up to THREE words.
For my creative person I’m going to talk about the British artist David Hockney. So,
1. saying that he was born somewhere in the North of England,
possibly Yorkshire, but I’m not 100% sure about that. I’d say he was born in about
the 1930s as he’s still alive today but he’s getting on a bit.
Ok, 2. to talk about his art. He’s a modern artist and he was part of
the Pop Art movement. 3. a painter, he’s a photographer and
printmaker, so he’s pretty
versatile. He paints country scenes and for some reasons he used to love painting
swimming pools.
So why do I like him? 4. , it’s because of the colors he uses. His
paintings are so bright and cheerful. They how real things you can recognize; 5.
they have a modern feel. Lots of modern art is so
abstract, you have no idea what it’s supposed to be, but Hockney is different. 6.
, when I see Hockney’s paintings, I feel happy
and relaxed. I feel as if it’s warm and sunny. I suppose it’s that feel-good factor that
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makes me like him so much. So, 7. .
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Activity 14: In pairs, work together to practise the Part 2 task in Activity 3. Use the
following points to guide you.
1. Choose a set of notes to use either from Activity 7 or Activity 10.
2. Plan what you will say and make a note of useful phrases and discourse
markers you might use.
3. Take turns to give your talks. If possible, record them.
4. When your partner is speaking, check that they:
 Cover all the points on the task card
 Structure their talk well using discourse markers.
5. Give each other feedback using the recorded talks and the notes you made.
Activity 15: Repeat your talks and see if you can improve them.

EXAM SKILLS

Do this sample test with a partner. Take turns to ask and answer.
Part 1:
1. Do you enjoy drawing and painting? (Why? Why not?)
2. Did you enjoy drawing and painting when you were a child? (Why?
Why not?)
3. What kind of things did you do in Art lessons at school?
4. Do you have any art in your home?

Part 2:

Describe a visit to an art gallery or museum where you saw

artworks or interesting objects.

You should say:

 Where this place was
 What kind of art you saw
 How you felt about the visit

And say whether you would recommend the place to a

friend.

Part 3:
1. What can you learn about different cultures from their
art work?
2. Should Governments fund art galleries and public art
projects?
3. How do you think art might develop in the future?
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HOMEWORK

Practice answering the following questions in the IELTS test:

Speaking Test – Part 1:
1.Do you like art?
2.Do you think art classes are necessary? (Why?)
3.How do you think art classes affect children’s
development?
4.Are you good at art?
5.What kind of paintings do people like?
6.What benefits can you get from painting as a hobby?
7.How often do you visit art galleries?
8.What kinds of things do you like to draw?
9.Is it easy to learn how to draw?

Speaking Test – Part 2:

Describe a piece of art (a painting, drawing,

sculpture or decorative object) that you like. You
should say:
- what the piece of art is

- where and when you saw it

- what it looks like or what it shows

- and explain why you like this piece of art.

Speaking Test –Part 3:

1.Describe the general purpose of art. Why do people enjoy art?
2.Do you think that art is as important as academic subjects when it comes to
educating children?
3. What are the advantages and disadvantages of art education?
4. Why do you think some people enjoy looking at paintings and sculptures
and others do not?
5. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being an artist?
6. Do you think that some people are naturally better artists than others?

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