Van Gogh Museum
Bring Vincent van Gogh into your classroom

A painting in eleven words

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Slide 1: Slide
Art and designEnglishPrimary EducationLower Secondary (Key Stage 3)

This lesson contains 20 slides, with interactive quiz and text slides.

time-iconLesson duration is: 20 min

Introduction

The students write eleven-word poems based on paintings by Vincent van Gogh.

Instructions

General learning objectives
- The students will look at a painting by Vincent van Gogh and describe it in an eleven-word poem.

Materials required
- Writing materials
- A sheet of paper or a print-out of worksheet 'Eleven words' for each student

Optional variations
1. Write a group poem with the entire class before having them write individual poems. A sample poem is given for each painting.
2. Instead of having each student write a poem, you could compose all the poems together as a class.

Worksheets

Items in this lesson

Slide 1 - Slide

Story: This is a painting made by Vincent van Gogh when he lived in the city of Arles in southern France. Take a good look and memorize all the details you can.
Then count down from ten to one and proceed to the next slide.
The Yellow House (The Street), 1888
The Yellow House

Slide 2 - Mind map

Ask the students to list all the objects and colours that they saw in the painting. To write the possibilities on the whiteboard, click the pencil icon on the menu.

Slide 3 - Slide

Display the slide, and have the students briefly identify objects and colours that were not in the word web.




Summer
yellow house
under blue sky
train crossing a bridge
Arles

Slide 4 - Slide

Then read this poem aloud. Ask questions like: - How many words are in the poem? (Eleven) - Does the poem mention things that are also in the word web? - How many words are in each line? (1-2-3-4-1)

Slide 5 - Slide

Using the diagram in the slide, explain the form of the poem: 1 word, 2 words, 3 words, 4 words, 1 word.

Slide 6 - Slide

Point out that the poem could easily have been about other things in the painting instead.

Slide 7 - Slide

Ask the students what else they might put in the second line of the poem. Then show them the painting briefly one more time.

Slide 8 - Slide

The Yellow House (The Street), 1888

Slide 9 - Slide

Ask a few students what they would choose as the second line of the poem. You can fill in the blank boxes with possible answers by clicking the pencil icon on the menu.

Slide 10 - Slide

Tell the students that they will be given paper or worksheets so that they can each write one or more eleven-word poems of their own. Then pass around the sheets of paper or worksheets.

Slide 11 - Slide

Meanwhile, tell them they can choose from several of Vincent's paintings. Then show them the slides for each individual work. Each one includes a sample poem in the notes, which you can use however you wish.

Slide 12 - Slide

Potatoes
large dish
hands holding forks
a woman pours coffee
Strange
(The Potato Eaters, 1885)

Slide 13 - Slide

Self-portrait
dark eyes
full orange beard
face filled with colours
Vincent
(Self-Portrait as a Painter, 1887-1888)

Slide 14 - Slide

Bedroom
two chairs
large yellow bed
the window barely open
Quiet
(The bedroom, 1888)

Slide 15 - Slide

Bouquet
sixteen flowers
green and yellow
brown hearts dry petals
Vase
(Sunflowers, 1889)

Slide 16 - Slide

Thunderstorm
dark light
thousands of crows
over rustling yellow stalks
Storm
(Wheatfield with crows, 1890)

Slide 17 - Slide

The Yellow House (The Street), 1888
Assignment

Slide 18 - Slide

Tell the students how much time they will have to write their poems: about five minutes.

Slide 19 - Slide

While they write, leave this slide on the board for reference.
Who wants to read their poem to the class?

Slide 20 - Slide

Finally, ask a few students to read their poems to the class. As they read, display the relevant painting on the board, or have the other students guess which painting the poem describes.