Opening MAQAM © MAQAM. Photo Marleen van Veen
NT2 education

Stad en Taal: Storytelling with Foam

Storytelling with Foam is a museum program for students with Dutch as a second language, form literacy groups to the higher educated. During the lessons, the participants are the ones speaking and practice speaking skills. You will look at photography, talk about what you see and use the camera yourself.

About the workshop

Since Foam became a part of the Stad en Taal program, we proved that talking about photography is highly suited for language development. The stories behind photography in Foam are suited for discussions with participants for whom Dutch is a second language, form literacy groups to the higher educated.

Lesson 1: preparational class given by the language teacher
With the help of the teacher manual and the workbooks for the participants, you will talk about the 6 pictures form the teaching toolkit. Based on these photos you make word cards, which are used later in the workshop and during the museum visit.

Lesson 2: photography workshop at the lesson location
For the workshop, a Foam museum teacher comes to the teaching location. During this lesson, everyone makes a special photo inspired by a personal story.

Lesson 3: museum visit and festive presentation
The museum visit starts with an interactive tour of the museum under the guidance of your own museum teacher. After this, the stories and photos of all participants will be festively presented in Foam.

For an optimal learning result, we recommend that you follow the complete package of three lessons. Because of the structure of the lessons, the teaching material lasts better. If your group does not have enough time to spend, you can opt for a package of two lessons. One of these lessons is always the preparatory lesson by the language teacher.

Learning goals

  • Get acquainted with Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam and the cultural life of the city
  • Consciously learning to look at photography
  • Develop fluency, listening and writing skills in the Dutch language
  • Enlargement of your vocabulary
  • Presenting personal stories with the help of photography
  • Gaining more self-understanding and self-confidence

Background information

Storytelling with Foam is part of Stad en Taal, an initiative of the township Amsterdam in which five Amsterdam museums participate. These museums offer approachable programs in which language and cultural participation are stimulated. The publication of Cultuur netwerk Nederland describes the outcomes and experiences of this Amsterdam City and Language project.

Questions or special requests?

Contact the Education department via educatie@foam.org.

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