Exercise 1: Read and translate the text:

The Arts cover an extremely wide field. They are encountered both in our education and leisure as we move from childhood to adulthood. Painting, sculpture and modelling are usually met at an early age both as a form of play and at school where they provide release from reading, writing and arithmetic. Literature often appears in the form of bedtime stories. Many children's stories have become classics.

When children reach their teens, they generally develop an interest in cinema. For some this is mainly entertainment provided by Hollywood blockbusters, but others progress to more challenging films. Most school pupils read novels as part of English Literature and are also introduced to Shakespeare, though they are more likely to take an interest in contemporary drama as provided by television soap operas.

A visit to a music store will reveal a sizeable interest in classical music, especially among older people. Opera and ballet appeal to a minority of the population and are usually expensive both to stage and to watch.

Exercise 2: Answer the questions:

1. Does your country have any well-known artists who are famous for cinema, theatre, literature, ballet, opera, classical music or painting?

2. What are your "top three" art forms? Explain the reasons for your choice.

3. In what ways were you encouraged to appreciate the Arts at home and at school? What jobs in the Arts world would be suitable for you? 

4. Give the names of your favourite novel, author, play, dramatist, film, film director, musical composition, composer, painting and painter. Why do you like them? 

5. Which country would you visit to appreciate the Arts? What would you plan to see?

6. Do you think there should be greater or less censorship of the Arts in your country?

Exercise 3: Find the "odd one out":

	A	B	C
1.	a classic	a masterpiece	a work of art
2.	opera	ballet	theatre
3.	modelling	sculpture	painting
4.	to appeal	to interest	to appreciate
5.	to stage	to screen	to put on
6.	galleries	museums	studios

Exercise 4: Conversation: Use the questions below to have basic English conversations about art and artistic ability.

1. Do you have any artistic talent?

2. Can you draw or paint pictures well?

3. Do you know anyone who is a good artist? What kind of art can they produce?

4. Do you enjoy going to museums and looking at paintings or sculptures (shapes cut from stone)?

5. What kind of art do you like most?

6. Who are some famous artists that you have heard of?

7. Do you have a favorite painting? If so, describe it and explain why you like it.

Exercise 5: Discussion:

1. Do you think music and dancing are forms of art? Explain why or why not.

2. Do you think of cartoons and comics as art? Again, explain!

3. Do you think graffiti (writing on city walls) is art? Why or why not?

4. Do you think website design is a serious art?

5. What do you think our world would be like without art?

6. Do you think governments should spend money on art and museums, or should art only be promoted by private citizens?