languagefeats: A way-out, easy way to talk about art for intermediate-advanced students

Welcome to my wacky world! I am a flutist. I am also a language teacher. In addition, I have been described as quirky. When you put these three things together, you get this activity for the language classroom.

When I was teaching English at the Université de Paris III, I was always trying to find ways to engage the students so that they were so compelled to speak that they dropped their inhibitions. I had somehow been thinking about the great experimental composer / musician, John Cage. You may know his famous piece, 4'33'', where the entire piece is silent.

So, one day, I took my flute into class, with a music stand and a copy of his piece, and I "performed" it. There are three movements, but because they are all tacet (silent), I put my flute up to my mouth for a certain time. Then, to change movements, I put it down and put it up again to signal the next movement. At the end of the piece, I wrote this question on the board: Is this music? Why or why not? When I began to teach French, I just translated the question into French.

Another activity that works well is to project a picture of Marcel Duchamp's R. Mutt and to write on the board: Is this art? Why or why not? As a follow-up, students can create their own music or art and justify it in the target language.