Home Tutor Scheme Lesson Plan Topic: Describing People LESSON OUTCOMES - Describing People Describing Introduction 1.

Warm up questions Appearance 2. Vocabulary Functions & 1. Structures for describing appearance Structures 2. Description Order 3. Modifiers: very, quite, really Describing Introduction 1. Vocabulary Character Grammar 1. Adjective order Extension Grammar 1. Compound adjectives To give a description of a person, your student needs to understand the vocabulary to use, what details are important, and the order in which to give the details. Pictures are very useful to teach appearance vocabulary.

Phase 1: Describing Appearance

Warm-up Questions 1. Whos your favourite movie star? 2. What does he/she look like? 3. How do you describe yourself? 4. Do you look like your brother/sister? 5. Who do you look like, your mum or your dad? Vocabulary 1. Take down the description words used in answers to Question 2 & 3. Ask your student to put them under the correct heading (see attachment 1 at the end). 2. Introduce more vocabulary using the pictures available from http://www.learnenglish.de/basics/appearances.htm Structures 1. Structures for describing appearance. What does he/she look like? --Age He/She is young / middle-aged / elderly / old. a baby/ toddler / teenager. in his/her 20s / 30s in his/her early / late 20s. Height He/She is 165cm tall. of average / medium height. tall / very tall / rather tall. short. Build He/She is fat / overweight / plump /chubby skinny /thin / slim / plump. well-built. muscular.
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Hair/face Clothes Distinguishing Features 2. Description Order

He/She has (got) black, straight hair. a round / long / square face. He/She wears a hat / earrings. is in black. He/She wears glasses / contacts / braces. has (got) a tattoo / a piercing.

Study the descriptions in Vocabulary 3 and work out the order information is given. 1) General characteristics: age, height, build and gender. 2) Details such as hair and any other distinguishing features, like the eyes or the nose, a beard, a moustache, glasses, etc. For example, Anna is quite young, she is in her twenties. Shes very tall and thin. She has long brown and curly hair and beautiful blue eyes. Exercises 1. Look at the pictures and descriptions 1) Match the descriptions with the pictures. 2) Use the information to describe the people, first orally, then in written. around 20 / tall / slim / beautiful / long straight hair in his 40s /short / stocky / mustache really cute / wavy hair / big beautiful eyes around 60 years old / short curly hair / glasses a wide face / darkskinned / muscular young / of medium height / a ponytail

For example, 1) She is around 20 years old. She is tall, slim, and beautiful. She has long straight hair.

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2. Use Attachment 1 to introduce more vocabulary General beautiful, pretty, handsome, sexy, cute, good-looking Face Shape square, oval, round, triangular Skin freckled, fair complexion, tanned, wrinkled, silky, baby-soft, glowing, dry, callused, rough, dark-skinned, olive-skinned Eyes almond-shaped, squinty Lips thin/full lips, pursed lips, pouting lips Hair texture wavy, curly, straight, spiky, buzzed, shaved, neatly-combed, cropped Lots of hair: thick, bushy, coarse Little hair: think, scraggly, limp, flat, balding, bald, bald spot, has receding hairline Hair Styles braids, ponytail, pigtail, bun, twist, flip, layered, chopped, spiked, slicked down Treated hair: permed, dyed, bleached, highlighted, weaved Facial hair beard, goatee, mustache, sideburns bearded, unshaven, clean-shaven, trimmed, neatly-trimmed Cultural note Help your student to become aware of words that people usually find offensive. For example, we often say a bit overweight instead of fat. Vocabulary exercise: Reply with the opposite description. Example A: I thought you said he was the short, chubby one. B: No, no, no, not at all, hes the tall, thin-faced one. 1) A: Was that his brother, the dark-skinned, wavy-haired one? B: No, completely the opposite, his brothers 2) A: So Charlenes that rather plump, fair-haired woman, is she? B: No, youre looking at the wrong one. Charlenes

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3) A: So, tell us about the new boss; good looking? B: No, Im afraid not; rather 4) A: I dont know why, but I expected the tour-guide to be middle-aged or elderly. B: No, apparently shes really 3. Describe the people in the pictures below (Alternatively cut out some pictures of people from magazines). It is also a good opportunity to go over the clothes vocabulary and structures.

3. Modifiers We use modifiers with adjectives to express the degree or extent of the quality described by the adjective they precede. 1) really: Her hair is really long; I love it. 2) very: John is a very happy boy always smiling. 3) rather: Her eyes are rather small but her face is very pretty altogether. 4) quite: My boss is quite tall. 5) quite a: She is quite a pretty woman in her forties. 6) not very: Mary is not very intelligent, but she works really hard. 7) a little/ a bit: She is a bit shy, dont you think so? There are two other words that can be used to modify the quality of the colours. 1) light: She has beautiful light blue eyes. 2) dark: Her hair is dark brown, but not as dark as yours. Practice 1. http://www.britishcouncil.org/kids-games-face-match.htm Listen to the descriptions and find the right person. This is a great way to practise listening for key words and to reinforce vocabulary learning. 2. Talk about your ideal of a handsome man / a beautiful woman. 3. Whos your favorite move star? Can you describe him/her in more details now?

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Phase 2: Describing Character

Vocabulary Use the words below to describe yourself, your best friend and someone you dislike. For example, My little sister is really sweet. My friend Maria is very responsible and polite. My mum loves her. Susan is not only intelligent, but also very hard-working. Peter is quite shy and quiet, but hes very friendly. ambitious bossy capable, caring, cheerful, close-minded, confident, (in)considerate, creative dull easygoing, emotional, empathetic, energetic friendly, funny generous, gentle hard-working, (dis)honest, humorous imaginative, independent, intelligent kind lazy, loyal mature, mean, modest, moody nave, narrow-minded, naughty, nice, noisy open-minded, optimistic, outgoing, organised patient, pessimistic, polite (un)reliable, (ir)responsible, rude selfish, sensible, sensitive, serious, shy, sincere, smart, sociable, strong-minded, stubborn, stupid, sweet, sympathetic thrifty, tolerant Exercises 1. what are the antonyms of the following words? 1) responsible ---2) intelligent --3) optimistic --4) generous --5) humorous --6) polite --7) mature --8) hard-working --9) outgoing --10) reliable --2. Choose the best answer to complete the sentences. 1) I really like people who are ______________ because they always believe that things will work out in spite of difficult challenges. a) dependent b) humble c) optimistic 2) Monica is very ______________ and always gives her time and resources to help those who are in need. a) ambitious b) generous c) reliable 3) To be honest, my father can't stand coworkers who are ______________ and won't consider new ideas or ways of doing things.

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a) close-minded

b) dishonest

c) inconsiderate

3. Complete the following sentences. 1) I like someone who is ___________ because ________. 2) I enjoy being around people who are _______ because _______. 3) I can't stand people who are _______ because _________. Grammar: Adjective Order When you use more than one adjective, you have to put them in the right order, according to type. An opinion adjective explains what you think about something. Examples: silly, beautiful, horrible, difficult A size adjective tells you how big or small something is. Examples: large, tiny Age An age adjective tells you how young or old something or someone is. Examples: young, old Shape A shape adjective describes the shape. Examples: square, round, flat, rectangular Colour blue, pink, reddish, grey Origin An origin adjective describes where something comes from. Examples: French, lunar, American, eastern, Greek Material A material adjective describes what something is made from. Examples: wooden, metal, cotton, paper Purpose A purpose adjective describes what something is used for. These adjectives often end with "-ing". Examples: sleeping bag, serving bowl Opinion Size Some examples of adjective order Opinion Size Age Shape Colour Origin Material Purpose smart young English man huge round metal bowl small red sleeping bag Note: 1) If there are more than two adjectives, use commas after each adjective except the last one, ie no comma between the last adjective and the noun. For example, Alice prefers black, Italian, leather furniture. 2) If there are two adjectives, no comma is used. For example, She has got pretty long hair. 3) The rule is to avoid using more than three adjectives in a row. Only include those really relevant and important. Exercise: Choose the right answer. 1. He was wearing a ________ shirt. 1) dirty old flannel 2) flannel old dirty 3) old dirty flannel 2. Pass me the ________ cups. 1) plastic big blue

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2) big blue plastic 3) big plastic blue 3. All the girls fell in love with the ________ movie star. 1) handsome new American 2) American new handsome 3) new handsome American 4. I used to drive ________ car. 1) a blue old German 2) an old German blue 3) an old blue German 5. He recently married a ________ woman. 1) young beautiful Greek 2) beautiful young Greek 3) beautiful Greek young Practice Read the following passage (Alternatively you can read the passage to your student as a listening comprehension exercise). My Friend Lara Let me describe my friend Lara Dang to you. She is twenty-two years old and she studies English at AMES Surry Hills. She was born in Vietnam. Lara is slim and very tall about 180cm. I think she is the tallest of all my friends. Shes got black straight hair down to her waist and pretty brown eyes. She is very pretty, in fact; and boys are always asking her out. Lara has an open personality and is a lot of fun. She is caring and kind and loves animals. She also enjoys talking to people and sharing good moments with them. 1. Conversation questions. 1) How old is Lara? 2) Where does she come from? 3) Where does she study? 4) What does Lara look like? 5) Is she a nice person? 6) Do you want a friend like Lara? Why? 7) What kind of people do you usually get along well with? 2. Use the passage as a model. Talk about / Write on one of your friends/family members. You can also add information such as marital status, clothes, abilities and likes & dislikes.

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Extension: Compound Adjectives Compound adjectives are used regularly in daily English. A compound adjective is a single adjective comprising more than one word. The words in a compound adjective are usually grouped together using hyphens. One type of compound adjectives ends with ed. For example, open-minded, middle-aged, dark-skinned. Exercise: Rewrite the sentences using compound adjectives. 1. Sue is a girl with fair hair = Sue is a _______________ girl. 2. He writes with his left hand = He is a _________________ man. 3. Jim has got blue eyes = Jim is a _________________ boy. 4. He is a boy with dark skin = He is a ________________ boy.

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Home Tutor Scheme Lesson Plan Topic: Describing People Attachment 1 Talking about A Persons Appearance Age Height Figure/build Hair Face Distinguishing Features Clothes General

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