Lesson 1: Descriptions of People
Resources
4 photos, each with a group of friends/relatives on. Stick them to a blank sheet and, if possible, photocopy the sheet 10 times. Otherwise use your initiative!
Class size: anything, but taken as 40 for the purposes of this plan.
Standard: advanced (Thanh Hoa, Quang Ninh, Vinh but not Xuan Mai).
Part 1
- Divide the class into 10 groups of 4, and give each group a set of the photos.
- Teacher reads out a list of new vocab to be incorporated into this lesson: middle-aged, checked, curly, blazer, sleeveless, complexion.
Teacher then reads out a description of someone in the photo, and the students have to label the photo with which person is being described.
EG;
‘Christine is middle-aged, and she has short dark hair. She is wearing a black and white checked shirt’.
‘Jack is 18 years old, and he has curly blond hair. He is wearing a white top’.
‘Gillian is small and has quite long, light brown hair. She is wearing a blazer.’
‘Julia has light brown hair which has been tied back. She is also wearing a black sleeveless top.’
‘Andrew has blond spikey hair and has a pale compexion. He is wearing a tie and blazer.’
‘Derek is Julian’s father. He has very short brown hair and is wearing a T-shirt’.
Give the groups 2 minutes to write down their answers. Then read out the descriptions again so they can check that they have the right answers.
Then go through the answers. Students put hands up and volunteer . Reinforce the need for the vocab list to be learnt for the next week.
Part 2
- Descriptions can also be used to express emotions. Eg: ‘When I came to Vietnam, I felt anxious’.
- Start with a closed exercise working singly: students write down an emotional description to suit the phrases ‘an exciting trip’, ‘the best day of your life’ and ‘an interesting dream’.
- Each student writes down their responses; teacher monitors.
Conclusion of Lesson 1
Invite the students to read out their examples.
Lesson 2 – Physical Descriptions
The aim of this lesson is to teach the students detailed physical description. This should include height, weight, and color of hair/eyes, smiley/sulky and so on. This lesson should also be made as fun as possible.
Materials
1) Classroom materials
2) Pictures of famous people
3) Weighing scales
4) Tape Measure
Procedure
Simple enough really. Work your way through the questions and answers and utilise the previous lessons dialogue. The questions and answers are…
Q: What colour hair do you have?
A: I have _ hair
Q: What style of hair do you have?
A: My style of hair is __ (fair, wavy, straight, short, long, curly, kinked)
Q: What colour eyes do you have?
A: I have _ eyes.
Q: Are you tall or short?
A: I am _ (Tall, short, average)
Q: How tall are you?
A: I am __ centimeters tall (use tape measure)
Q: Are you fat or thin?
A: I am _ (Fat, thin, average)
Q: How much do you weigh?
A: I weigh __ kilograms (Use weighing scales)
Q: Are you smiley or sulky?
A: I am _ (smiley/sulky)
Q: Are you handsome? Are you beautiful?
A: I am handsome / I am beautiful / I am ugly
Be sure to back all of these questions up with solid speaking exercises and reinforcements from things learned in previous lessons. E.g. gender, religion and so on. After the students have discussed themselves – get them to talk about famous people from the pictures you have brought to the lesson. Be sure to have the students constantly copying the material from the board and make sure that Ajarn Marayad is poised with her chalk at all times.
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