Classroom Activity

ELL Advanced

Use the following artworks and activities to build your students' comprehension, speaking, and writing skills.

Shown from about the waist up, a woman with smooth, pale skin sits in a chair facing our right in front of a canvas on an easel in this vertical portrait. She leans onto her right elbow, which rests on the seat back. She turns her face to look at us, lips slightly parted. Her dress has a black bodice and a deep rose-pink skirt and sleeves. She wears a translucent white cap over her hair, which has been tightly pulled back. A stiff, white, plate-like ruff encircles her neck and reaches to her shoulders. She holds a paintbrush in her right hand and clutches about twenty brushes, a wooden paint palette, and a rag in her left hand, at the bottom right of the canvas. The painting behind her shows a man wearing robin's egg-blue and playing a violin.
Judith Leyster, Self-Portrait, c. 1630, oil on canvas, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Woods Bliss, 1949.6.1

Language

Reading Comprehension Activity: Read information about the life of artist Judith Leyster. What facts about her life interest you most? Explain why. How can you relate what you know about her life now with her expression in this self-portrait?

Listening Comprehension/Speaking Activity: Watch a video about the life of American artist Edward Hopper. Write down five interesting facts about Hopper from the video and share with a partner. Compare your choices.

Reading Comprehension/Writing Activity: Read about the life of artist Arshile Gorky on the National Gallery of Art website. After reading his biography, select three facts about it that you find interesting. Write a paragraph and share it with a partner.

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