This lesson is designed around an astonishing short film by Miguel Endara in which he records himself painstakingly creating a portrait of his hero using 3.2 million ink dots. The lesson also looks at the smallest works of art in the world by micro-artist Willard Wigan and the theme of heroes. Students also get the chance to make their own movie with themselves as the hero.

Language level: Intermediate (B1) - Advanced (B2.2)

Learner type: All ages

Time: 90 minutes

Activities: Watching short film and video; speculating; describing works of art; listening; answering comprehension questions; making own hero movie

Topics: Heroes; micro-art; inspiration

Language: Vocabulary related to super heroes; cartoon heroes; film stars etc.

Materials: Short film; TED video; pictures of micro-art; PowerPoint;

Downloadable materials: Hero lesson plan instructions     willard wigan micro-art slides     willard wigan comprehension questions

Step 1

Put your students into pairs and them to discuss the following questions:

Do you have any heroes?

What do you admire about your hero?

What qualities does a hero have?

After 5 minutes get feedback.

Step 2

Tell your students they are going to watch a short film in which an artist creates a work of art of his hero using 3,213,000 dots. Ask your students what they think the work of art will look like and who the artist’s hero is.

Here is the final picture Miguel created of his hero, his father.

Step 3

Write up:

Films     Silent films     Boxing     Cartoons     Comics     Children’s films     Children’s books

Put your students in pairs and ask them to think of heroes in each category. Give them 3 minutes and then get feedback from all the class.

Step 4

Tell your students they are going to see heroes from each of the categories in Step 3 created by the artist Willard Wigan. Show them this photo of Willard Wigan, ask them what they think it is he creates and how he does it.

Show them the images  works of art in the PowerPoint presentation. featuring heroes created by Willard Wigan and ask your students to identify the heroes and say what is unusual  about Willard’s art.

Willard is a micro-sculptor who creates the smallest works of art in the world.

The heroes are: 1. Betty Boop 2. Marilyn Monroe 3. Barack Obama and his family 4. Elvis Presley 5. Mini Mouse 6. Mohamed Ali 7. Buzz Aldrin 8. Charlie Chaplin(on the end of an eyelash) 9. The Incredible Hulk 10. Peter Pan

Step 5

Tell your students they are going to watch a video in which Willard Wigan talks about his childhood and his work in a TED conference. Students should watch the video and  answer the comprehension questions in the Scrid document below. Play the video until 9.54 and pause when he shows the Huf Haus in close-up. You may like to show the video with subtitles which you choose on the TED player.

I hope you enjoy the film, art work and lesson.