Hispanic art and culture, such as the work of Frida Kahlo, can be effectively used to teach Spanish.
Frida Kahlo's portraits are a diverse and colourful resource to use as an engaging point of discussion in Spanish class. Kahlo employed narratives of life, pain, revolutionary Mexico and the popular woman in her self-portraiture to present a 'female Christ-figure'.
How this can be used in the classroom:
- Use Kahlo's portraits to get students to describe: opinions, colours, shapes, styles, prepositions, ser/estar and interesting adjectives.
- Explore the notion of identity: How many facets to a character? What items would you choose to represent yourself and why?
Lucy Meyer, who teaches MFL at Bexley Grammar School, was inspired to suggest this teaching idea after hearing Dr Luis Rebaza-Soraluz (King's College London) speak about The Passion According to Saint Frida at the New Teacher Subject Day on Spanish Art.
Schools Programme members can download the resources from the event in the PTI Staffroom.
Want to discover more inspiring subject knowledge? See our upcoming courses and events for 2016/17, including our CPD subject days: French language: Translation and the media, Exploiting Hispanic literary texts for language manipulation and Using films and image in the Spanish classroom.
Find more knowledge nuggets here.
Image: By Franco Folini via Flickr, licensed via Creative Commons (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/).