Most ESL describing people lesson plans begin with physical characteristics. Because these concepts are easily observed and described or depicted in illustrations, they can be a great starting point for beginning students.
Many textbooks devote a chapter to introducing these characteristics. However, materials for these lessons are everywhere. For example:
Teachers can use photos in books, ads cut from magazines, or pictures printed online. Laminate loose papers to create an image bank you can use again and again.
Online worksheets are a helpful resource.
Record snippets of a television program so students can describe the actors.
Teachers should take care when using any activity that requires students to describe each other. Depending on the maturity level of the class, this can lead to hurt feelings. This would be an opportune time to discuss larger cultural issues related to appearance and being sensitive to others. For instance, in many parts of the Spanish-speaking world, it would not be unusual to hear an overweight man referred to as “El Gordo”. However, it would not be acceptable to use a similar nickname like "Fat Guy" for someone in the U.S.
- Using the correct adjectives:
The first thing that every teacher has to do is teach to the students the correct adjectives which are use to describe people. You, as a teacher, can do it using some pictures about different person with different physical appearances.
The students have to know the correct form to describe a person; you have to teach them the easy form, because they are children. We recommend you use the following examples to teach it: - Put a picture about a thin person and then start to describe it, like: she is thin and is very tall.
- To describe people’s hair remind students to use the correct form, the first one adjective is which describe the length of the hair, then use the correct adjective describe the colour and finally the style of the hair. For example: He has short black curly hair.
- For describe people’s eyes you have to follow an order. The adjectives have to describe first the size of the eyes, then the shape and finally the colour. For example: She has big round blue eyes.
Practices the following sentence structures:
She/he is …………………………
She/he has ……………………….
Does he/she have …………………….?
Find some pictures of famous people from the web or in magazines - pop stars, sportsmen, TV stars etc.
Exercises:
1. Write a table (see below) containing any adjectives you have already taught to describe people.
2. Pair work: hand out four or five different pictures - one student can write down a description from a picture and the other student must guess who it is and vice-versa.
3. Game: Show all the faces. You or a student choose one picture and the others must guess which one by asking closed (yes/no) questions.
4. For homework – The students write a description about themselves, another student, or their English teacher (if you are brave enough).
Posted by:
Elienai Ferrer
Nicsarahi Zapata
Rosmary Díaz
