Introduction

The aim of this article is to demonstrate why and how paintings can contribute to raising intercultural awareness in young learners (YL). It might be presumed that both Polish and English paintings used in a language classroom can stretch pupils’ thinking, prompt unexpected reactions and at the same time teach elements of culture. However, we should not expect children, from the culture of television, film and video, to respond to still silent images without help. Therefore, a description of the Children’s Writing Project at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge will be presented since it can serve as one of possible examples to follow. Additionally, a range of practical suggestions aiming at 11 and 12 year old concerning paintings and a creative use of English will be proposed. The standpoint taken here is that learning a language is an educative process and one of its outcomes might be an (inter)cultural literacy.

“This Fitz me Fine”. Fitzwilliam Museum Children’s Writing Project

A brief presentation of the above project is necessary in order to see why some of the ideas explored during the event can be of use with YLs. The undertaking took place in Cambridge, England at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Participants were English children aged between 7 and 11 years old, most of them had never visited a museum before. The philosophy behind the project was following: the paintings on display at the museum contain thoughts, beliefs and feelings; their messages are communicated in the unique and specific language of visual arts. The aim was, then that children pass the stage of passive looking and with their thoughts recreate the pictures for themselves, and finally interact with them. Noting that looking at static objects like paintings and reacting to them can be found strange for children, three sessions were planned, each one lasting for a maximum of two hours.

(a)     The first session focused on communication and took place in the quietest place of the Museum. The discussion ranged over methods of sending messages, highlighting the precision and scope of words; word games were played both for fun and to focus the children’s attention to language.

(b)     The second session took place in front of a painting, The aim was to combine acute observation with precise verbal expression. Tasks varied; children were asked to describe a painting to an imagined blind friend; or to sit in silence for a time period, select a number of words describing an aspect of a painting. These activities often resulted in a class poem which built confidence and fluency. Besides, they were led through a simple analysis of the painting based solely on what they could see.

(c)     The emphasis of the third session changed. Up to this point the children had worked aurally and as a class. This time they searched for a painting that made them pause and having found one they would settle down and look, and sink into their thoughts. Then they wrote down these thoughts. What has to be stressed that the word poetry was not mentioned at all. However, the writing produced was often poetic and the thoughts always personal.

Here is an example of one of the participant’s thoughts evoked by a painting Heneage Lloyd and his Sister, by Thomas Gainsborough:

Windy gloomy

Darkish clouds

Trees everywhere

Her silky dress drooping down

I felt sad

I felt horrible

I felt cold

She was looking sad

I felt sorry for her

She was holding on

Arm in arm with a boy

I wouldn’t like to be there. Claire Hagger

Intercultural approach

Different traditions have grown up regarding the teaching of culture in spite of the fact that language teachers agree that language is part of culture, or vice versa, and that language learning should not be limited to linguistic performance, but should include understanding of the culture of its native speakers (C2). Within an intercultural approach (IA), however, an attempt is made to deal with learners’ own culture (C1), too. Therefore, by finding similarities or differences, by contrasting and comparing C2 and C1 learners are invited to develop a reflective attitude to their own culture (Risager 1998: 244).

Towards (inter)cultural literacy

Within the numerous concepts of cultures one of the definitions sees it as the “activities and ideas of people with shared traditions” (Collins Dictionary of the English Language). This notion of ‘shared tradition’ implies that there are common links within a group of people. Hirsch (1987: xvii) drawing on anthropology explains that effective communication requires shared culture, and that shared culture is a result of transmission of specific information to learners. According to Laib it is cultural literacy that embodies and transmits culture and what he further explains is that literacy is the ability to shape and reshape language, and what is more it is a ‘heightened form of a dialogue’ and the means of transcending barriers. In the light of this definition cultural literacy is perceived as goal rather than a skill and as the end result of education (1988: 286).

In foreign language and culture acquisition with an intercultural focus, the notion of (inter)cultural literacy will have to be employed ¹ and it would mean that only by accumulating shared symbols, and the shared information that the symbols represent in L2 and C2 and in L1 and C1 learners will be able to communicate effectively with members of a foreign language community as “to be culturally literate is to possess the basic information needed to thrive in the modern world” (Hirsch 1987: xiii).

Rationale for using cultural products in a language classroom

The question to be posed here is whether the above assumptions of IA and (inter)cultural literacy are attainable in young learners. In order to answer it attention should be shifted to the fact that the concept of education which is often used as a justification for learning foreign languages sees it as “fostering openness to others” (Zarate 1997:20) and that education as such stands in opposition to the most painful of exclusions, that is that of ignorance (Geremek 1998:232). With references to the above, it can be argued that one of the goals of language learning should be (inter)cultural literacy and one of the possible ways to achieve it is to work with products of culture. Another argument is provided by Best (1985:10) who emphasise the fact that it is of importance to “keep alive a natural response to art” in children. If this could be transferred to a language classroom together with aspects of creativity, then it seems that wider educational objectives are about to be fulfilled.

Consequently, if paintings are perceived as being elements of culture, namely cultural products, which are a result of activities of individuals who share the same culture, then, understandably, there should be a place in a language classroom where those cultural products are dealt with.

Paintings as a means of cultural familiarisation

The value of paintings as a teaching tool is widely recognised ², however paintings are still used only occasionally in a language classroom. One of the reasons might be a common understanding that pictures should be looked at with reverence and being the works of art belong to a museum, or, a more simple explanation might be: the costs of photocopying. However, paintings can be approached with ease when they are treated as cultural products.

There is another aspect of a cultural significance when paintings are concerned. A picture can be looked at as showing the way reality is interpreted by a painter. His/ her visual interpretation however is influenced not only by his/her individualism by also by culture in which he/she lives. Therefore, an artist’s work expresses not only his/ her own thoughts and feelings, beliefs and values but also those which are most important for the community in which he/ she lives (Oseka 2001, Gazeta Wyborcza). Therefore, paintings are stamped with an artist’s individual touch and also reflect the cultural reality of his/ her community.

What do pictures introduce then that can be of relevance to 11 and 12 year olds? Here are some examples:

A.      Names, both in titles of paintings (Heneage Lloyd and his Sister) and in the names of painters themselves (Thomas Gainsborough). This can lead to pronunciation practice.

B.      Places which have been painted. They can be looked up on a map for instance; an example is a drawing by T. S. Lowry of his own house at Mottram-in-Longdendale, Cheshire.

C.      Family Most painters painted members of their family (Gainsborough his children, Lowry, his mother). This point is well illustrated by one of Whistler’s celebrated works entitled Arrangement in Grey and Black: Portrait of the Painter’s Mother. The portrait itself starred in a film with Mr Bean.

However, focusing on these very basic issues when working with pictures seems not to be enough. What is often overlooked is that children have much more to offer in terms of creative thinking, and it is paintings that can liberate these forces.

Creative meaning-making

In the debate over the nature of creative thinking one of the approaches is to see it as a special kind of thinking “that involves originality and fluency, that breaks away with existing patterns and introduces something new” (Fontana 1991: 111). He further argues that creativity would be involved in divergent thinking which as explained after Guilford is

“ the ability to generate a range of possible solutions to a given problem” (ibid.). It will be readily seen that both the notion of divergent thinking and the fact that creative thinking introduces ‘something new’ can be exploited in a language classroom. The below mentioned stages of the creative act can provide a framework for the classroom activities.

And, they are as follows:

1.       Preparation, which is primarily concerned with the recognition of a particular problem

2.       Incubation, during which the problem is thought about.

3.       Inspiration, when the possible solution to the problem comes abruptly into the conscious mind.

4.       Verification, when the solution is tired out (ibid: 115-6).

In light of the above it is easily seen that if these stages are taken into account in a language classroom, not only time should be allowed to go through them but also appropriate conditions, and preferably good atmosphere created. Therefore, there should be a warm up session that would precede the actual lesson.

Introductory lesson

This ‘warm up’ session or an introductory lesson should, if feasible, cover the following aspects:

§         Paintings brought to the classroom should be of a puzzling nature e.g. Lowry’s Woman with a Beard, Van Dyck’s King Charles I or Olbiński’s poster Free Shakespeare in Central Park.

§         Children’s curiosity should be aroused as to what these particular paintings show. ³

§         Questions could be asked similar to the ones below:

(a)     What is the picture about?

(b)     When do you think it was painted?

(c)     What makes you think that?

(d)     Is anything the same today?

(e)     What colours are used?

(f)       Do you think the people are more important to the picture than the buildings or the landscape?

Lesson proper

From time to time YLs should be given an opportunity to close their books and use their imagination instead. ⁴ Objectives of this type of a lesson are as follows:

q       To use words and expressions known from language classes and other sources

q       To play with words and thoughts and to present the outcomes in an unconventional way

q       To tame works of art

q       To became aware of the common, shared knowledge of both C2 and C1

q       To take the mystique out of writing ‘poetry’ ⁵ or rather, own thoughts

One of the lesson’s themes devoted to combining culture and creativity could be “A visit to an art gallery”. The stages of the creative act presented above impose some order onto the classroom procedures:

1)       Preparation phase:

§         display paintings on the wall, cover their titles, so learners do not know their country’s origin

§         paintings are to be both Polish and English and if teachers are concerned with European integration just few from other parts of Europe

§         as in the Fitzwilliam Museum Project children are to choose one picture and time is allowed to write down their thoughts or associations connected with this particular painting

2)       Incubation phase: in order for pupils to rove freely over their accumulated store of knowledge, and especially vocabulary

§         music can be played,

§         a ‘magic hat’ can be put on (it is invisible and thanks to it things can be perceived in a new and special way),

§         word-trading session undertaken,

§         a ‘table of inspiration’ displaying objects pupils have brought inspected.

3)       Inspiration or illumination phase: hopefully, in the surge of creative excitement pupils would write their thoughts down in a simple form

4)       Verification phase:

§         learners’ ‘thoughts’ are read aloud and pupils try to match them with paintings

§         if ‘thoughts’ are too personal or learners too shy to read them aloud, their work is just shown to the teacher, corrected if necessary, or

§         ‘thoughts’ are put on display board if agreed by majority

§         suppositions are verified as to the country’s of origin of the paintings; finding similarities and difference between the pictures of C2 and C1.

Conclusion

To achieve the above briefly sketched conceptualisation of culture teaching one of major aims as teachers must be to offer children a rich, broad based developmental pattern of education. Within this wide perspective a creative use of English can be explored, and hopefully, (inter)cultural literacy although sounding a bit far-fetched for young learners aimed at. It might be anticipated that a similar view will be expressed after a lesson with cultural products: “The value of art in school is that it makes us use imagination and it makes a person use his senses, especially sight - it is a sort of poetry for the eyes”. ⁶ In an English language classroom it is a poetry for the thoughts.

NOTES

¹ It is important to acknowledge, at this point, that literature on FLT while emphasising behavioural aspects in language instruction puts less stress, especially at early stages of learning, on cultural achievements in both C2 and C1. It might be argued, however, that learners should get to know their cultural background so as to be able to understand foreign speakers’ background and then, according to assumptions of an intercultural approach, reflect on their own background. In other words, if learners are to be able to interact on equal terms with other people from Europe in future, they should be aware of their own culture and the culture of a target language community. This means adopting wider educational aims and remembering that both enculturation and acculturation processes take place at school and in a language classroom.

² During the workshop an excerpt of a BBC 2 video documentary was shown. It presented ways of working with paintings in art education in the United Kingdom.

3 Those examples were chosen on purpose as each of them seems to be of a unique character. Lowry’s drawing depicts a woman with a beard, but what is of significance here is the painter’s warm attitude towards his sitter whom he met on a train. Van Dyck’s painting is a triple portrait of King Charles I and the task for pupils is to guess why he was portrayed in this way. Olbiński’s posters because of their powerful images may appeal to young minds.

4 Mariola Bogucka stressed this point in her talk during the conference.

5 What might be considered here is Langer’s suggestion that “the poetic use of words is not essentially communicative. Language is the material of poetry, but what is done with this material is not what we do with language in actual life” (1957:148). If this point is accepted, then the attitude of a teacher and YLs themselves to the products of learners’ imagination may be more relaxed.

6 A comment of a 15 year old who took art for ‘O’ level (Clement 1986:1).

References

1.       Best, D. (1985) Feeling and Reason in Arts. London: Allen and Unwin

2.       Clement, R. (1986) The Art Teacher’s Handbook. London: Hutchinson

3.       Fontana, D. (1991) Psychology for Teachers. United Kingdom: British Psychological Society in association with Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

4.       Geremek, B.(1996) “Śpójność, solidarność i wykłuczenie” in Edukacja: jest w niej ukryty skarb: Raport dla UNESCO Międzynarodowej Komisji do spraw Edukacji dla XXI wieku pod przewodnictwem Jacques’a Delorsa Warszawa: Stowarzyszenie Oświatowców Polskich

5.       Hirsch, E.D. Jr. (1987) Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company

6.       Laib, N. K. (1988) “Book Review” in Language Learning vol. 38, No. 2, pp.279-287

7.       Langer, S. K. (1957) Problems of Art. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons

8.       Oseka, A. (2001) Gazeta Wyborcza, Magazyn

9.       Risager, K. (1998) “Language teaching and the process of European integration” in Language Learning in Intercultural Perspective. Byram, M. & Fleming, M. (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

10.   Sword, F. (ed.) (1989) This Fitz me Fine. Cambridge: Cambridgeshire County Council

11.   Zarate, G. (1997) “Cultural issues in a changing Europe” in Extracts from five compendia. Strasbourg: Modern Languages Section, Council of Europe