In my latest set of lessons, students are asked to describe the interiors of homes while looking at works of art by Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. I thought of one of his paintings recently because I am reading the book Les Yeux de Mona and the painting is one of the works discussed in the novel. In the paintings, students will see the interiors of a Dutch home in the 17th century. It is possible that this is a first for them. I hope the images will spark their curiosity.

Should any of your students travel to Paris and visit the Louvre, ask them to find the painting of the Astronomer by Johannes Vermeer. Paintings from this artist are rare to find outside of Europe, so also encourage them to see his paintings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Frick Collection in New York City, and the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

You will notice that I use a lot of games and activities to encourage students to use the vocabulary for objects and furniture found in homes. This vocabulary doesn’t come up naturally in conversing about oneself, which is why I was happy to find these images in art. Speaking about art is a natural prompt for conversation. Between the games, activities and talking about paintings I give students more than a dozen opportunities to use the vocabulary in natural conversation.

PLEASE NOTE: This unit assumes that students have already learned the vocabulary for the rooms of the house as well as prepositions of place. Also, please look in the speaker notes of the presentation for additional teaching ideas.