Artspeak: English as a Foreign Language Workshop

English is the international language of art and can be read and heard in every art context, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to speak. In this workshop, students are invited to improve their language skills by analysing artworks in the classroom as well as visiting exhibitions and discussing ideas in the museum/gallery context.

Despite the dominance of English in the art world, many people still lack confidence when discussing complex ideas. This four-day workshop using Art English will give participants the opportunity to critically engage with images and exhibitions, discuss theories of art and articulate individual ideas.

The morning session will include classroom-based seminars analysing and exploring topics such as the museum and curating practices, language and art, or portraits and anti-portraits. Here we will look at a diverse selection of modern and contemporary artworks and focus on making logical arguments, defending theoretical positions, using socio-political vocabulary when forming opinions, and identifying the appropriate language for debating and disagreeing. Topics will relate to the exhibitions we visit in the afternoon. Participants will gather ideas in small teams or individually and later present them to the wider group.

In the afternoon session, language skills will be challenged within the real-world context of a gallery or a museum. It will involve getting to know the Berlin art scene through its galleries and museums, and discussing exhibitions in situ.

By the end of the course students should have:

• increased confidence when describing artworks
• increased ability to express complex ideas
• increased confidence in forming opinions and debating with other students
• widened their vocabulary and become aware of any recurring grammatical errors

Schedule

10:00 – 13:15               Seminar (15-minute break)
13:15 – 14:00               Lunch break
14:00 – 17:00               Museum/gallery visit

(Schedule could vary slightly depending on the amount of time needed for gallery visits)

Knowledge requirements

English level B1/B2 and above

Rosemary Hogarth is a visual artist, English language teacher, and translator based in Berlin. Born in Scotland, she trained as a painter at the Glasgow School of Art and studied art history and theory at the University of Glasgow. She has been teaching English for over a decade and specialises in interdisciplinary lessons where language and subject matter are given equal weight.

www.rosemaryhogarth.com