Abstract:

This study deals with the experience of teaching Arts in the academic field, emphasizing its value as a language. We are teaching a four months program on Art learning and appreciation to Early Childhood Educators (mostly kindergarten active teachers). We try to focus this proposal exclusively on Arts as a way to communicate ideas and feelings by analyzing art works and images.

Spanish Universities, within the Bologna process, have favored their abilities for an international communication and specialized formation. However, there are some disciplines, where these needs are often disregarded. The importance of learning the language of Arts should be urgently considered because such competence will enable these professionals to communicate and understand more effectively in an increasingly image-oriented world.
Several American universities and cultural institutions are already offering majors on Art Teacher Educator. This trend may be mirrored by European universities to effectively prepare future childhood teachers for a better communication with their students and deal with their feelings.

The professional job that an Early Childhood Educator will carry out requires knowing how children come to understand paintings as descriptions of their interests and activities, and how they progress from simple images to richer symbols and to full use of metaphor and artistic style in expressing complex life experiences. This understanding and conception of images should be understood as a common language. Exploration and encouragement are potential values for creating an art-world free of boundaries that gives back to art the global dimension inherent to its visual language.

Keywords:

Art, teaching, language, communication, university.