British banknotes: J.M.W. Turner

Objective & content

This Look Closer episode (the third episode of the mini-series British banknotes) is a short documentary about J.M.W. Turner, the painter on the back of the Bank of England's twenty-pound note. A single narrator presents Turner's early life in London, his face taken from a self-portrait, and The Fighting Temeraire, the painting behind him, which people in Britain voted their favourite in 2005. The narrator then looks closely at the painting: Turner painted back the masts the real ship no longer had and put the sunset in the wrong place, so he chose a beautiful picture over the exact truth. It is a comprehension episode: the narration uses the present simple and the past simple (with was and could not), there is and the imperative look, and no grammar point is taught. Learners listen, then answer the 10 questions in the app: 7 on facts and 3 on vocabulary (masts, warship, steamboat).

Materials & prerequisites

The folder holds the audio, the slideshow and the script. Each pack is a one-page PDF with the text, three pictures, the key words and the 10 questions: a pupil pack, and a teacher pack with the answers highlighted. It also has a pupil sheet and a teacher sheet with the answer key. It has no lesson plan. Play the episode twice, hand out the pupil pack, then use the closing question (Which painting would you put on a banknote?) to let pupils choose and describe a painting they like. Learners should know the words ship, river, sun and face, and be able to read years such as 1775 and 2005. The pack's key words explain the new words (note, pound, painter, warship, steamboat, break up, mast).

Curriculum alignment

Tagged portrait-self-portrait (5e, "Portrait, autoportrait", Cycle 4). The episode targets CEFR level A2-.