ENGLISH FOR THE ARTS

Academic Year 2025/2026 - Teacher: ELENA TRINCANATO

Detailed Course Content

SYLLABUS

English for the Arts – Second-Year Course

Entry level: B1

Target level: B1 plus

📌 Course Description

This course introduces students to English for the Arts at an intermediate (B1) level. The aim is to help students understand and use simple English to describe artworks, talk about artists, and understand basic texts related to art and tourism


🎯 Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

  • Understand simple texts about art and tourism  (B1+ level)
  • Use basic art vocabulary (colors, shapes, techniques)
  • Describe an artwork in simple English
  • Write short texts (emails, descriptions, paragraphs)
  • Take part in guided conversations

🧩 Course Content

Module 1: Basic Art Vocabulary

  • Colors, shapes, materials
  • Art genres (painting, sculpture, etc.)

Module 2: Describing Artworks

  • Simple sentences for image description
  • Use of adjectives and prepositions

Module 3: Artists and Art Movements

  • Simple biographies
  • Introduction to main art movements

Module 4: Museums and Exhibitions

  • Basic museum vocabulary
  • Understanding short descriptions

Module 5: Writing Skills

  • Writing simple paragraphs
  • Formal and informal emails

Module 6: Speaking Skills

  • Describing images orally
  • Short guided presentations

📚 Teaching Methods

  • Interactive lessons-Communicative Approach
  • Practical activities and group work
  • Use of images and videos
  • Guided exercises

📝 Assessment

  • Participation
  • Written assignment: a written test based on garmmar structures Level B2 of CEFR
  • Final oral test: general English  est tand "English for the Art" test.  Description of an Art work in English  for specific purposes (English  for the Arts)  

📖 Materials

  • Simplified texts
  • Images and artworks
  • Educational videos
  • Vocabulary sheets

 

 

Learning Resources

Course handouts provided by the instructor

 

Reference Textbooks:

“Art Today”-English form Visual and Multimedia Arts. Clegg-Gabriella Orlandi

 Zanichelli

 

“English grammar in use”. Murphy

Oxford University Press

 

 

🌐 Online Learning Resources

  • British Council – LearnEnglish (art & culture topics)
  • Tate – Museum texts and glossaries
  • MoMA – Online collection and descriptions