Разработка видеоурока "Building art out of legos"
план-конспект урока по английскому языку (9 класс)

Today we are going to watch a video, that will show us how a hobby can become a profession and how a children's game can form a masterpiece.

1. Answer the questions:

1.Do you have a hobby? What is it?

2. Who do you want to be when you grow up?

3. From your point of view what kind of job is the best:

a) highly paid job,  b) job for the public good, c) job that you enjoy doing.

4. Look at the picture. Do you know how this game is called?

2. Study the vocabulary and explain the meaning of the meaning of the underlined words and expressions:

1. There are a lot of works of art in the local museums.

2. It is not polite to interrupt a person speaking.

3. Working on the computer can spoil your vision.

4. My father is a full-time artist. He earns his living by making sculptures of wood.

5. Kittens are absolutely viable at the age of three weeks.

6. Two-dimensional movies are not popular anymore, three-dimensional movies took there place in the cinemas.

7. The pictures are usually square or rectangle.

3.  Before watching the video make your predictions weather the following statements are true or false:

1. Lego is a game only for kids.

2. Lego art is not popular in the United States.

3. There are a lot full-time Lego artists in the United States.

4.  Adults see Lego art differently than children.

4. Now watch the episode for the first time, check your answers and say what this video is about.

1. Nathan Sawaya did not like his job of a lawyer and that is why he decided to become an artist.

2. Nathan Sawaya is a great artist that decided to quit his routine job for the sake of art.

3. There are a lot of different artists in the United States that make exhibitions in the museums to sell there works of art, and Nathan Sawaya is one of them.

Watch the first part of the video (0:00 – 1:43) and do the following exercises.

5. Say if the following statements are true or false or there is no information about them.

1.  Nathan can not work without interruption because he needs rest.

2.  Legos are made of plastic and they can be of different colors.

3.  Before making a new piece of art Nathan makes a picture of it.

4.  Nathan works all day long without any rest.

5.  Nathan decided to quit his job as three were too many people who were interested in his creations.

6. Nathan sometimes regrets that he has quit his job.

6.  Choose the best answer for the following questions:

1. How is one piece of lego called?

a) stick                b) brick                c) stone

2. What was Nathan's previous job:

a) lawyer        b) economist        c) ecologist

3. Nathan created a source where everyone could see his works. What was it?

a) a newspaper                b) a museum        c) a website

4. How often did Nathan work?

a) every weekend         b) every night        c) every weekend and most nights

Watch the first part of the video (1:44 – 3:33) and do the following exercises.

7. Fill in the gaps in the following sentences.

1. "The worst day as an artist is still _________ than the best day as a lawyer. So I don't regret my ___________."

2. His art works have found their _______ into American museums. This show was held at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut.

3. When I do the ___________ portraits, it is a lot like painting because I'm using the Lego bricks as the paint essentially.

4. Sawaya uses Legos like a traditional artist uses bronze, clay or _________.

5. The artist has said that he only used rectangle pieces. And yet he manages to get this ________.

6. The head of the Flinn Gallery, Vivian Chen, has high praise for Sawaya's __________.

7.  It is a person swimming in deep water. The legs are kicking and the arms are doing the _________   _________. But what drew people to this is that you could feel the flow of the water. You could feel the action of the arms.

8. Answer the following questions.

1. Why does the head of the Flinn Gallery, Vivian Chen, have high praise for Sawaya's creations?

2. Why is Nathan not ready to sell one of his creations - an artist struggling to escape from the body of a lawyer?

9.          Translate the following sentences to English.

1. Художник использует только квадратные детали.

2. Эта скульптура похожа на человека, несущего очень большой карандаш.

3.  Взрослые воспринимают лего иначе чем дети.

4. Я не готов к тому, чтобы эта скульптура отправилась к кому-то домой или в офис.

10. Questions for discussion.

1. Did you like the video that you have just watched?

2. Do you think Nathan is happy with his profession?

3. Would you like you future profession to be connected with your hobby?

The script of the video.

Legos are not just for children. They can become works of art in the hands of adults like Nathan Sawaya.

NATHAN SAWAYA: I dont notice the time passing. I just, this is what I do and I enjoy it. So I can just work for hours without being interrupted.

Legos are made of plastic. Each piece is called a brick. Bricks come in different colors and sizes.

NATHAN SAWAYA:I think the most important thing is having a vision in my head before I start putting down that first brick. And then it is just a matter of putting the bricks together to make it look like the vision I have.

Sawaya is one of a very few full-time Lego artists in the United States. He creates works of art from these simple building blocks.

NATHAN SAWAYA: "Although I work probably every weekend and I work most nights, you know, I'm doing what I love so it doesn't feel like work."

For several years, Sawaya worked as a lawyer. That left him little time for building Legos. But he found enough time to set up a personal website.

NATHAN SAWAYA: "There was a day when my website, brickartist.com, it crashed because it had too many hits. So I realized, all right, it is time to make a change because there was a viable market out there to be an artist."

Sawaya says he has no regrets about his new career.

NATHAN SAWAYA: "The worst day as an artist is still better than the best day as a lawyer. So I dont regret my decision."

His art works have found their way into American museums. This show was held at the Flinn Gallery in Greenwich, Connecticut.

NATHAN SAWAYA:When I do the two-dimensional portraits, it is a lot like painting because I'm using the Lego bricks as the paint essentially.

Sawaya uses Legos like a traditional artist uses bronze, clay or paint.

BOY: "The pencil one."

GRANDMOTHER: "Oh, the pencil one! It looks like a man carrying a very big pencil. See that? Would you like to make something like this?"

BOY: "Yes, but look at that!"

GRANDMOTHER: "I know, that's really neat."

Adults see Lego art differently than children.

WILMA NACINOVICH: "The artist has said that he only used rectangle pieces. And yet he manages to get this roundness."

The head of the Flinn Gallery, Vivian Chen, has high praise for Sawaya's creations.

VIVIAN CHEN:"It is a person swimming in deep water. The legs are kicking and the arms are doing the freestyle motion. But what drew people to this is that you could feel the flow of the water. You could feel the action of the arms."

Some of his larger pieces sell for tens of thousands of dollars. But he will not sell this one -- an artist struggling to escape from the body of a lawyer.

NATHAN SAWAYA: "It is still very personal. I put it out there as part of the museum exhibit so it is touring and people can go and enjoy it. But I'm not ready to have it going to someone's house, you know, someone's office and never see it again."

I'm Karen Leggett.