Teaching English Through Art
It was more like teaching self-confidence through art with proof in the improvement of a second language.
In 2012, I lived in Marid, Spain as an au pair for a single mom and her six-year-old daughter. Daily activities like sharing meals, getting ready for school, and grocery shopping were areas for simple and choppy conversation. It wasn’t until I started helping the daughter with her English homework that I noticed her frustration and disinterest. I then searched for new ways to help translate my joy for learning.
In a used book store in the back of a bar, I stumbled upon Education Through the Arts by Herbert Read (1974) which helped compartmentalize the many areas of the developing mind and how to understand communication through drawings.
English homework became an opportunity for art. One day we learned verbs done in a park and instead of writing sentences about walking, jumping, and playing ball, we drew a park full of people doing different activities. This helped her visually remember the verbs she already knew in Spanish and it also helped me remember this project ten years later.
There are many ways the brain stores memory, both long and short-term and when learning a second language, it’s helpful to try out and utilize different senses, especially the ones that spark joy.
I was getting positive feedback from my au pair family and soon included some of her classmates. With more students, I developed the lesson to their social dynamic. These girls enjoyed making up stories so I had them write a short play in English. When their parents picked them up, they performed their play and were thrilled by their communication, silliness, and self-expression.
I started teaching English freelance and attracted clients with a customized teaching lesson that emphasized creativity to activate left and right-brain learning. I typically taught in weekly lessons for 1-2 hours and found that my most receptive demographics were kids ages 6 - 15, a couple of high school students, and a few adults who wanted conversational practice.
In one family I tutored a high school boy in conversation and his younger sister in drawings. Another family was more interested in drawing and playing fútbol. One girl enjoyed reading so I would bring new and interesting books from the library and we would reflect on what she liked.
There were two brothers around the ages of 8-10 and it was clear that they didn’t like their workbooks from school but loved to play this racecar game. Since my Spanish was simpler than their English, the only way they could teach me how to play was by patiently practicing their English. Pretty soon, they were able to make up and explain their own rules and all we did was play.
The mother of these boys shared that the younger brother had one of the lowest grades in his English class when I started tutoring him. In as little as three weeks, he rose to the top of his class with so much enthusiasm that others improved as well.
Living in a city that supports the arts is an important aspect to see the benefits of arts in education. Madrid is a wonderfully creative city, rich in museums, parks, murals, and bookstores dedicated to philosophy, women’s studies, or graphic novels. I befriended many artists, architects, writers, filmmakers, and dance therapists.
This is where my career journey in the arts left off before my experience with Crohn’s disease. As I’m currently learning to teach meditation, I am grateful that it has revitalized my joy for teaching, community building, and reexploring art as a therapy for self-improvement.
