Art History Presentation

I've just woken up from a nap...ah... I was up quite late last night because I was preparing a presentation for today. My leaving it to the last minute, but still getting it done, will be no surprise to those of you knew me throughout high school and uni! :-) Some things never change...

On my first day of school, back in September, I was introduced to the art teacher Mariano. I mentioned to him that I enjoyed studying art history in my senior year and then at university for two years. He asked me then to give a short presentation to some of his secondary students on a topic of art history that I really enjoyed. Inwardly I was thinking, 'Oh dear oh dear oh dear,' but I just smiled and said, 'Si!'

A few weeks ago he mentioned it to me again, and we fixed today as the date. I spent about 6 hours in the past few nights preparing a 30-minute talk with a PowerPoint of photos. My subject was cathedral arquitecture during the transitional period between Romanesque and Gothic, with my two main examples being Durham Cathedral and St Denis. It's an area on which I've written more than a couple of essays and done extra reading and research, and I also find it really interesting. I love visiting cathedrals and ancient churches.

The main problem with giving this presentation was that I had to do it in Spanish!!! I wrote out a complete script for myself because I was scared to go up and then go blank! All the technical terms of arquitecture were difficult to translate, but I got through it in the end.

What was discouraging was the pupils' lack of attention and rude behaviour. They whispered and laughed among themselves during my entire presentation, although they were old enough to know to stop that. I found that very difficult to deal with and felt that from a teaching point of view my spending 6 hours in preparation had been a waste of time. Some of their behaviour is cultural, but I don't know how to distinguish between the talkative cultural part and plain disrespect. To me, it all seems like disrespect. Needless to say, I was rather discouraged by the end of my presentation.

However, there are some positive sides to it, of which some of my fellow Scottish volunteers were kind enough to remind me: I got great practice for my Spanish in preparing a long oral presentation, I got to review a subject that interests me, and the art teacher appreciated it. Also, he gave me a thank you card with a painting he had done himself on the front. It's wonderful! I've attached a photo below. It's called 'Mujer Mochica' ('Mochica Woman'; apparently, Mochica is an ancient Peruvian civilisation), and I'm thrilled to have it. Mariano is a lovely older man (he's been at the school longer than any other teacher...40-something years!), and I'm glad that I got to do something for him even if the students weren't so cultured in their appreciation for art and history... ;-)

'Mujer Mochica' by Mariano Lint