Speaker
Description
Arts have been a way of self-expression and communication for thousands of years. Communication is multidimensional. In second language (L2) multilingual and multicultural classrooms, teachers constantly try to find (new) ways to facilitate the learning process, motivate their students and foster effective, creative and free communication in the L2. In this paper, we argue that painting can be used as a means of achieving those goals and as a link to other artistic creation like poetry and music. Furthermore, art exhibitions created by the learners combine task-based activities, project techniques, group work and lead to experiential learning. Specific reference is made to students’ paintings exhibitions at Modern Greek Language Teaching Center. Our exhibitions bring the L2 lessons into a more realistic dimension, outside the classroom, where language use is motivated by the need to express feelings, share ideas, transmit experiences and interact with other L2 speakers. L2 performance is thus improved through creative communication in an appealing context.
CV
Anastassia Mangana holds an MA in Teaching Greek as a Foreign Language (University of Athens), an MSc in Applied Linguistics (MSc with distinction, University of Edinburgh) and a PhD from the University of Edinburgh (with a scholarship from the University of Edinburgh). She has been teaching Greek at the Modern Greek Language Teaching Center since 1992. She also works as a trainer in seminars for teachers and teachers’ trainers. She has published various articles and chapters in collective volumes on language acquisition, grammar teaching, and language teaching methodologies. She is the author of the grammarbook-series “Exactly this!” and co-authored several textbooks and teaching materials for Greek as a first and second language.
