Pablo Picasso in the 6th Grade

This lesson was a first one in the 6th Grade. The topic was chosen by a coincidence. I just came across www.picassohead.com and simply knew I HAD TO make use of it.

AIMS:

To get to know some details of Picasso's life; understand notions like "cubism", "abstract", "angle", recognise the most important pictures of this author; prepare a Picasso-like painting online; give a short presentation;

Task 1

Ask students some LOTS and HOTS questions:

Who is a painter? What painters do you know? Who is your favourite one? Why do you like their masterpieces? Have you ever heard about Pablo Picasso? What do you know about him? What did he paint?

Asking these questions makes your students more attracted by the topic.

Explain the aims of the lesson.

Task 2

Show them a film without stopping, asking them about what is being painted (their answers were: bacteria, roses, a fish, a rooster/chicken). This film shows a real mastery of Picasso.

Task 3

Children are given copies of Picasso's biography. I simplified the text so that they had no bigger problems with understanding. Then they try to answer some of the questions concerning the contents of the text - discussion.

Ask them about more complicated vocabulary. Then they note down new words - both content and compatible ones.

Task 4

Divide students into groups of 3-4. Each group is given a set of 7 photos and their titles. Their task is to match them into pairs. This is a funny activity taking into consideration cubism ;) Sometimes they have problems to figure out the right position for the painting :)

Task 5

No teacher assessment again. Instead play this film:

Here they can find all of the paintings from the task. If there are any mistakes (and there always are) they correct them alone. Afterwards, you can discuss together the content of the pictures trying to recognise some characteristic elements.

Task 6 - homework

Each student has my email address and we also try to work online via Edmodo. This time their homework is to create a Picasso-like painting by means of www.picassohead.com and then send it to me. At the next meeting they will be asked to tell the rest of the group something about their project. Functional language used here - phrases to describe location plus body parts (mainly head).

Examples of students' works

Examples of students' works