The Shape of Home: Language Learning Through Art

This workshop was developed and offered in collaboration with “Open Doors English”, a non-profit language school based in Ithaca NY which teaches EFL classes to non-native English speakers.

During the workshop English learners practiced their English language skills in a welcoming atmosphere while engaging in a textile art activity. Students reflected on belonging, home and displacement and shared these memories with each others through language, needle and thread.

Learning, practicing and sharing embroidery skills in a comfortable social setting resulted in improving English language skills while building community. Weaving the social fabric together is particularly essential when people are displaced and language skills developping.

The “shapes of home” students created during the 2 hour workshops included outlines of maps, concrete and abstract places, pet portraits, names of loved ones and other memories reflecting belonging… In a follow-up workshop students created a button with their creations to create wearable memories of the shared experience.