How often do you do art projects in your French classroom? Maybe not as often as you’d like, but do you know how much art can help students? Art can help with so many aspects of your students’ lives, from SEL to language learning too. Read on to learn how Art can help students in your French classroom.
Today I’m interviewing the teacher-author Marissa.
In case you don’t know her, she’s an amazing French Immersion teacher who does lots of art projects in her classroom. She has lots of insight, tips, and suggestions on how to add more art to your teaching.
This is a post in a series of interviews, where I’ll be chatting with amazing educators so we can learn their tips and strategies to make our own lessons even more enticing, effective, and fun!
How Art Can Help Students in the French Classroom
Now on to the interview!
Lucy: Hi Marissa, you’re different from previous interviewees in this series because I actually connected with you first on Instagram, not on the TpT Forum or on TpT Facebook groups. I guess that’s one of the positive aspects of social media: the fact we can get to know truly interesting people we wouldn’t otherwise have met. From your Instagram profile I learned you’re a master organizer and that you love doing art projects in your classroom. Today, we’ll be talking about art and my first question is: why do you have your students do so many art projects?
Marissa: Hi Lucy! I am so excited to be part of this series. Well, the easy answer is because I love art, and so I enjoy teaching it. We do art every Thursday afternoon for about 45-60 minutes. I know it’s not every teacher’s cup of tea, but I find it’s one of my students’ favourite parts of the week. I almost always have a sample of the project and I display it the morning of so that they get a glimpse of what they’ll be working on later that day. They often point and say things like “Madame, we get to make that?” “Wow, this is so cool! Hey ___ come check this out.”
I recently went to a workshop about art as a form of therapy. I’m sure we’ve all noticed at some point that once students are fully engaged in a project; how quiet it gets. They’re concentrating and those social struggles so many have don’t matter during art because everyone is working in their own little bubble. For students with anxiety, art can be a very soothing activity. There are often repetitive movements, you must focus on one thing which lets your other worries go away for a bit, and at the end you have something to show for yourself. Art is also a great exercise in doing things step by step. When my student’s see my sample, they often say that it looks hard. Once I’m teaching it though and we’re going step by step they realize that now it’s not that difficult when broken down into easier chunks.
L: Do you feel that art actually helps with language learning? If so, why?
M: While it’s not always directly tied to a language activity, the vocabulary needed for art is different from other terminology that we use daily in class. This introduces students to new vocabulary, and it’s used in context. Things like “découpe”, “trace”, “la peinture”, “une ligne droite, une ligne courbée”…
Art instruction in French is a great way to work on oral comprehension skills. Students must listen to the instructions and understand them to be able to create their project. Sometimes they need to both listen and follow my directions visually. When teaching art, I model A LOT! I model things like how to do different kinds of brush strokes, how to mix paint, how to mold clay into a certain shape or how to pull apart a cotton ball to maximize the amount.
If you extend your art project to have a written component, now you’ve added even more language into it. This could be writing an “about the artist” write up, a description of the project, writing a story or even a poem.
L: Do you always try to integrate art into your lessons about other subjects? Or do you keep the art projects as stand-alones? Or do you do both?
M: Both! Stand-alone projects are often for a holiday or season because they’re just fun. I think you’d go crazy trying to link every project to some other topic, so don’t force it. Sometimes a project naturally links with something else but sometimes it doesn’t.
It also doesn’t have to be directly related to a specific lesson. Doing a project with spring cherry blossoms? I’m sure that links to your science curriculum somehow, even if you’re not specifically learning about seasonal changes in plants at that time.
It’s important to remember that learning about materials, texture, line, shape, colour etc. are all part of art curriculums across grades so who said it had to connect to anything else. Part of the joy of art is creativity, trying out a new medium or a new technique. Art can just be art!
L: Could you give an example of an art project you’ve done that was integrated with other subjects?
M: Absolutely! Can I please pick two though?!
I do a project called “Fraction Peacock” in the spring. At the end of our fractions math unit we create a peacock using slices of paper circles. The body is 3/4, the head is 1/8, the feathers are either 1/4 or 1/8. Creating something by using math is a great opportunity to see that math isn’t just in a workbook but that when you design something, math is often involved so it’s a real-life application.
Another favourite is making the Earth and writing a poem for Earth Day. We use old magazines which gives a new life to the paper inside. We find green and blue paper that gets ripped up to create an Earth. This can easily relate to your Earth Day conversations about recycling, reusing, conscious use of materials etc. I wrote the haiku but if your students are more advanced, you could have them write their own. Alternatively, they could write a promise to the Earth. There are so many ways to add a written component to this project.
L: What kind of feedback do you give students about the result of their art projects?
M: I very rarely have strict criteria at this age (grade 2 & 3) and the goal is just to try your best. If I do have criteria, I usually explain this as I’m giving instructions, so things like “your project needs to have 3-4 trees and the background needs to have either a warm colour palette or a cool colour palette.”
I give most of my feedback while they’re in the process of doing the art project. I’ll wander the room and comment on their work. I think it’s best to give feedback about specifics. Rather than saying that something looks nice, tell them what you like about it or what they’re doing well. “I love the detail you did on the branches”, “your cutting is getting better, look how neat and smooth that edge is!”, “I like the colours you chose”.
L: I know it might be hard to pick just one, but what’s your favourite classroom art project? Why?
M: That’s such a tough one! I’d say one of my favourite projects is the Ted Harrison inspired landscapes that we do after our Canada unit. We learn about the provinces and territories and then focus back on our own province for this project. I live on the coast of British Columbia and it’s known for its natural beauty. We celebrate the beautiful style of this artist while being inspired by our local landscapes. I love this project because of the vibrant colours and the way that it creates so much shape in the mountains, sky and water. With very few criteria, they can let their creativity shine. It’s a very visually appealing piece that when put against a black background really pops.
L: What is ONE piece of advice you’d give teachers regarding art projects in the French classroom?
M: As language teachers we are used to explaining things using gestures and visuals. This is key in art instruction too. Go slow and be clear in your steps. You will have better success if you slow down and go step by step. Rushing will lead to frustration for both you and your students. If I can give you any advice about teaching art in general, just go for it. Art can be messy and shockingly, as someone who strongly dislikes mess, I’m ok with it because during art time, it’s creative time. There are things you can do to make the mess easier to manage. One easy way is to have your students do one part at a time, then put those materials back before moving onto the next stage. For example, if we’ve drawn something that they’re going to paint, once they’re done with the pencil, put it away. Then get the Sharpie, then put that away before getting a paint brush. The paintbrush gets washed right away. If you’re looking for more tips on how to teach art without going crazy, check out my blog post: 10 Tips for Teaching Art in Elementary.
L: That’s a great blog post, Marissa. Thank you for sharing!It’s been a pleasure to interview you and see that we share a love of art! Thank you Marissa!
If you’d like to learn more about Marissa and what she shares about teaching French, check out her blog Mme Marissa and her TpT store. Also, make sure to stop by her Instagram account and let her know you’ve read and enjoyed this interview.
Thank you for reading about how Art can help students in the French classroom!
Merci!
Lucy
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