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GENERAL ENGLISH · HISTORICAL FIGURES · PRE-INTERMEDIATE (A2-B1)

DA
VINCI
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1 Warm up
The Renaissance (meaning rebirth) is a period of European history in the 15th and 16th centuries when
people took a new interest in art and science.

One of the most famous people from this time is Leonardo da Vinci. Look at the pictures and say what
you know about da Vinci.

1) a sketch of a design for a helicopter 2) a model of a design for a flying machine

3) The Last Supper 4) Mona Lisa

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2 Vocabulary

Choose the best option to complete the definition of the words in bold.

1. A canal is a man-made road / lake /river that is used for transporting people or things.
2. A portrait is a picture showing a beautiful view / story / person.
3. A sketch is a simple / small / colourful drawing.
4. An architect is a person who builds/ designs / sells buildings.
5. An invention is a new idea or design for something that is beautiful / useful / expensive.
6. Religious ideas relate to what people believe about / of / for god or gods.

Match the words with their meanings.

accurate / curiosity / imagination / observation/ sensitive / talented

1. an interest in other people and the things around you:

2. being able to do something like painting or drawing easily and well:
3. correct, with no mistakes:
4. showing an understanding of how other people feel:
5. the act of looking at something carefully:
6. the act of making pictures in your mind or thinking about something in a creative way:

How do you think these words will be used in the story of da Vinci’s life?

3 Listening 1

You are going to listen to information about Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). Before you listen, look
at the numbers and the information. Then listen to find matching pairs of items.

1. 20 a. pages of sketches

2. 15 b. paintings which we know da Vinci painted

3. 1000s of c. years before his inventions became real

4. 500 d. years working for the duke of Milan

5. 2 e. years working in France

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4 Listening 2

Read the questions. Can you remember the answers? Listen again to check.

What painting did da Vinci create while he was working for the Duke of Milan?

1.

What did da Vinci believe was the most important thing an artist needed to learn?

2.

What was unusual about the way da Vinci wrote?

3.

What were three inventions that da Vinci sketched designs for?

4.

What sort of projects did da Vinci work on as an architect and engineer?

5.

Why did da Vinci move to France at the end of his life?

6.

Da Vinci’s sketch showing his design for a tank, and his mirror writing signature

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5 Language point
Read the sentences and answer the questions.

Part 1

1. In addition to sketches of everyday objects, he also sketched many new inventions.

2. Because he was talented, he went to train with the artist Andrea del Verrocchio in
Florence.
3. Da Vinci’s curiosity ..., artistic talent and hard work made him the perfect Renaissance
man.

In sentence 1, two forms of the word sketch are used as different parts of speech. How are they
different?

In sentences 2 and 3, there are also different forms of another pair of related words. How are these
different?

When you learn new vocabulary, it’s a good idea to learn the related forms in the word family. Study
the table below.

noun verb noun adjective

imagination imagine accuracy accurate

invention invent curiosity curious

observation observe religion religious

sketch sketch sensitivity sensitive

talent talented

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words from the table.

1. It’s not easy to write a completely sentence in English!

2. Do you ever what you will be doing in twenty years?
3. That young man has a great for writing - I know he’ll be successful.
4. I’d really like to a door that you can open with your feet.
5. Most people are very about life in other countries.
6. Some people don’t go to church every week, but is still important to them.
7. The scientists completed their of the stars and wrote a report.
8. The doctor showed a lot of when she was talking to us about our experiences.

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Extension - do one or both of these tasks:

• Choose three words and use them to write original personal sentences.
• Choose three words and say something about da Vinci that you learned in the listening.

6 Talking point

Discuss these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. What do you admire the most about da Vinci?

2. What would you ask da Vinci if you could meet him?
3. Imagine that da Vinci was alive today. What do you think he would be working on?
4. Do you know any left-handed people or are you left-handed? Do left-handed people have special
talents? What problems do they have?
5. Da Vinci’s famous paintings have been copied many times and used in many different ways. How
are these two pictures being used?
6. What do you think about this? Do you know any other famous paintings that are used in this way?

Read these three quotes from Leonardo da Vinci. Which one is your favourite and why?

"Learning never exhausts the mind."

"Art is never finished, only abandoned."

"It had long since come to my attention that people of

accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them.
They went out and happened to things."

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7 Optional extension

Artists use a lot of different equipment and materials when they work. Put these words into the
correct part of the table.

acrylic (paint)brush crayon frame canvas easel

pastels palette watercolour sketchbook oil ink

equipment materials

1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

9 10

11 12

Answer these questions in pairs or small groups.

1. Which of these items can you see in the picture?

2. Which of these materials have you worked with before? Which would you like to work with?
3. Do you enjoy looking at or making art? Why/not?

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Transcripts

3. Listening 1

Historian: Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany, Italy in 1452. He received a basic education and,
because he was talented, went to train with the artist Andrea del Verrocchio in Florence.

Historian: Around 1483, da Vinci went to work for the duke of Milan. He stayed with him for almost
twenty years. During this time, he created his famous painting, The Last Supper. Da Vinci
believed that the most important thing an artist needed to know was how to see.

Historian: He developed this skill throughout his life, in both religious pictures and in portraits of
real people like the Mona Lisa. His style combined accurate observation and sensitive
imagination. Today there are only around fifteen paintings which we know da Vinci
painted.

Historian: During his life, da Vinci worked in Florence, Milan and Rome. He was always drawing and
produced thousands of pages of sketches of people, animals, birds, and nature. Da Vinci
was left-handed, and he often used mirror writing to explain what he drew. In addition
to sketches of everyday objects, he also sketched many new inventions.

Historian: These included machines resembling tanks, airplanes and helicopters. Da Vinci’s designs
were good, but at that time there were no engines to make them move. The world had to
wait another 500 years to see inventions like these really working.

Historian: Da Vinci was also an architect and engineer. He designed palaces and villas and worked
with leaders on projects like canals and city defences. In 1517, the French king invited da
Vinci to move to France to plan a new capital city. He spent the last two years of his life
working there before he died in 1519.

Historian: He also finished the Mona Lisa. Da Vinci’s curiosity about how things worked, artistic
talent and hard work made him the perfect Renaissance man.

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Key

1. Warm up

5 mins.
The purpose of this stage is to introduce the topic and arouse curiosity. Work with the whole class to talk about
the pictures. It’s fine if the class have limited knowledge – they will discover more about da Vinci during the lesson.
Note: the name is usually pronounced /dA:­vIntSi:/ in English.

2. Vocabulary

10 mins.
Explain that students will need to know some vocabulary to understand the listening. In the first exercise, students
select from multiple choice options to define meanings. In the second exercise, students match words and definitions.
Check answers with the class including pronunciation - stressed syllables are underlined. Note that the Language
point later in the lesson explores word families for some of these items.
Pose the follow-up question for students to discuss in pairs for a couple of minutes. This will help to prepare them
for the listening. You could elicit some brief responses around the class to conclude this stage.
1. river 2. person 3. simple
4. designs 5. useful 6. about

Matching
1. curiosity 2. talented 3. accurate
4. sensitive 5. observation 6. imagination

3. Listening 1

10 mins.
First, go over the task and the way the numbers are said so students know what to listen for. Then students can
listen to the recording and check their ideas. If they need a second listening, that’s fine. Before you check answers
with the whole class, students can check answers in pairs.
1. d 2. b 3. a 4. c 5. e

4. Listening 2

10 mins.
Go over the questions with the whole class. Students should work in pairs before listening to recall/predict the
answers and then listen again to confirm/find the answers. They can check answers again in pairs before you
go over the answers with the whole class. You may need to elicit/explain the meaning of mirror writing (writing
backwards from right to left so that the text can be read with a mirror) and tank (an armoured vehicle used in war).
The picture will help.
If any students need extra support for this exercise, you could make the transcript available to them while they
listen or after they listen. Students often enjoy listening and reading anyway - if you haven’t repeated the listening
more than twice so far, they may want to do this now.
1. The Last Supper.
2. How to see.

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3. He was left-handed and used mirror writing.

4. Tanks, airplanes and helicopters.
5. Palaces and villas for rich families and canals and city defences.
6. To plan a new capital city for the French king.

5. Language point

10 mins.
In this stage, students follow up word families from the items in the Vocabulary stage. They need to understand
the concepts of parts of speech, noun, adjective and verb for this activity.
Go over the short presentation activity with the whole class and call attention to the table. Drill pronunciation of
the items so that students can see how the stressed syllable sometimes changes as the word gets longer. You may
also need to explore the meaning of sensitive, as this can be a false friend for some students with some L1s, often
confused with sensible.
Explain the task and give students a few minutes to complete the gap-fill. Monitor and support as necessary.
When you check answers, you could ask students to justify their ideas. You could extend the task by asking
students to choose three of the words in the table to use in original personal sentences or to talk about da Vinci.
They could also do this task for homework.
1. Sketches is a noun (plural) and sketched is a verb (past simple).
2. Talented is an adjective, and talent is a noun.

Gaps
1. accurate 2. imagine 3. talent 4. invent
5. curious 6. religion 7. observation 8. sensitivity

6. Talking point

10 mins.
Students can work in pairs or small groups to discuss these questions. If your classroom set-up allows, students
could move round the room, forming small groups to discuss one question at a time, changing groups for each new
question. Conduct a quick round-up of answers either after each question or at the end, encouraging students to
give reasons and examples for their answers. For the quotations, be ready to elicit/explain the meaning of exhaust,
abandon, and accomplishment or allow students to use dictionaries.

Da Vinci’s famous paintings have been copied many times and used in many different ways. How are these two
pictures being used?
-The Mona Lisa is on an advertisement for glasses. The Last Supper uses modern people to make a political point.

7. Optional extension

10+ minutes.
Go over the introduction and elicit one example from the word list for each column in the table. Students can
continue the task in pairs. They could use a dictionary or ask the teacher for help with unfamiliar words. Check
answers, including meaning and pronunciation. Students can then discuss the questions in pairs or small groups.
Monitor and support as necessary, encouraging students to speak in full sentences using the target language.
1. canvas
2. acrylic

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3. easel
4. crayon
5. frame
6. ink
7. (paint) brush
8. oil
9. palette
10. pastels
11. sketchbook
12. watercolour

Which of these items can you see in the picture?

-palette, (paint)brush, ink, acrylic, oil, watercolour (in squares).

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