TEACHER’S NOTES

ESL / EFL RESOURCES Pen Friend

Activity Type Introduction

Reading and writing
activity, group work
Language Focus
Describing height,
weight, facial features,
clothing and general
appearance.
Appearance adjectives
In this light-hearted describing people activity, students invent a
person and write a letter to a pen friend as that person, describing
their height, weight, facial features, clothing and general
appearance.
Procedure
Explain that the students are going to write a letter to a pen friend
by inventing a person and describing their appearance. However,
each sentence in the letter is going to be written by a different
student.

Divide the class into large groups (8 to 12 students) and have

Aim each group sit in a circle.

To invent a person and
write a letter to a pen
friend as that person,
describing their height,
weight, facial features,
clothing and general
appearance.
Give one copy of the worksheet to each student.
The students begin by inventing a name and age for the person
writing the letter. Students complete the first sentence with the
information and fold the letter along the dotted line, so that the
sentence they have written is hidden. Students then pass the
letter to the person on their right.

After that, students invent the next piece of information about the
Preparation person's appearance and complete the second sentence, e.g. 'I'm
very tall and quite odd-looking'. Encourage the students to be as
Make one copy of the imaginative or amusing as they like.
worksheet for each
student. When the students have completed the second sentence, ask
them to fold the paper along the dotted line as before and give it
to the person on their right.
Level
This process is repeated until all the sentences have been
Pre-intermediate (A2) completed.

When the last sentence has been written, ask the students to give
Time the letter to the person on their right. Students then open out
25 minutes their letter and read it aloud to the group. This is their new pen
friend!

If there are any words or phrases that the students do not

understand or think are incorrect, tell them to ask the student
who wrote the sentence to explain or correct the word or phrase.

Afterwards, have some students read out their letters to the class.
The letters should make an entertaining read.

As an extension, students can then use the same worksheet to

write a reply to their new pen friend.

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 DESCRIBING PEOPLE'S APPEARANCE

ESL / EFL RESOURCES Pen Friend

Dear Pen friend,

My name is ........................................ and I'm ......................................... years old.

Today, I'm going to tell you what I look like.

I'm ................................................... and I'm quite ...............................................

I've got ............................................... hair and ............................................ eyes.

I have ............................................. ears and a ............................................. nose.

I have .......................................... eyebrows and ........................................... teeth.

My head is shaped like a/an .....................................................................................

Today, I'm wearing ..................................................................................................

Some people say I look like a/an ..............................................................................

But I think I look like a/an .......................................................................................

Please write back to me soon and tell me what you look like.

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