Learn art English in this lesson about 'Street Art'

Intro

1. Learn Vocabulary - Learn some new vocabulary before you start the lesson.

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• fall in love
• hooligan
• tag
• theme

• vibrancy
• sculpture
• Banksy
• graffiti

• mural
• social justice

2. Read and Prepare - Read the introduction and prepare to hear the audio.

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When you think about art, you probably think about going to a museum. However, these days, more and more art is coming out of museums and onto the street. Some street art is designed to add beauty and vibrancy to the city streets. Colorful murals and sculptures give people something to look at besides buildings and sidewalks. Other street art is meant to send a message. For example, the artist Banksy creates pieces with a political or social meaning.

Many people love having colorful pieces of artwork out in the open. They think street art brightens up the city and gives it personality. However, other people think street art is just a form of graffiti. They do not like seeing pictures spray painted onto city walls. In fact, they would probably prefer to go to a museum!

Andy is telling Kelsey about a mural he saw yesterday. Listen to the dialog to find out what she thinks.

Dialog

1. Listen and Read - Listen to the audio and read the dialog at the same time.

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2. Study - Read the dialog again to see how the vocab words are used.

Andy_H

Kelsey

Andy_H:  Oh, man, Kelsey, I am just falling in love with this city more and more every day. Do you know what I saw yesterday?

Kelsey:  What?

Andy_H:  As I’m walking to the bus station, there was a giant, giant… it took over the entire wall… it was a mural of a tiger eating a broccoli stick. It was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen!

Kelsey:  Are you talking about graffiti?

Andy_H:  Graffiti? No, I’m talking about street art. Particularly, murals. You’ll see these things, you know, painted all around town, especially against brick… it really is just a nice way of bringing awareness to art and vibrancy in the city.

Kelsey:  I really don’t think it has a place in the city. I mean, it really just makes hooligans go around tagging different buildings, and I don’t like it.

Andy_H:  You know, I used to think that until I started looking into an artist called Banksy who goes around Europe and just makes all kinds of amazing graffiti that have all kinds of themes about social justice and awareness about what’s really going on in the neighborhood.

Kelsey:  Oh wow, I never thought of it that way. I should look into it more.

Grammar Point

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Quizzes

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Lesson MP3

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