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English Conversation Class - Talking about People (1)
Beginner level

Description

In this lesson, the students will be introduced to the vocabulary and functional expressions used to describe people in photographs.

Materials

Abc Power-point presentation 'Talking About People'
Abc 'Talking About People' matching game.
Abc Flashcards
Abc Bag of Clothes
Abc 'Clothes' worksheet
Abc 'Clothes' vocabulary cards to match 'Clothes' worksheet
Abc 'Describe the People' Handout
Abc 'Guess Who' Handout

Main Aims

  • To provide fluency speaking practice in conversations in the context of describing people in photographs.
  • To provide practice of the vocabulary for clothing and descriptions of people in the context of discussing photographs

Subsidiary Aims

  • To provide clarification of words used for items of clothing in the context of observing their use to describe people.
  • To provide clarification that 'he/she is wearing' can be used to describe people, in the context of identifying people in photographs.
  • To provide clarification that words used for items of clothing are nouns in the context of describing people by the clothes they are wearing.

Procedure

Warmer/Lead-in (10 minutes) • To set lesson context and engage students

Direct the student's attention to the power-point, slide 14 - 22. Elicit the vocabulary relevant to each picture, to revise the language used to describe people. Hand out the matching activity. Give a description of each person one at a time. The students are to find the right person and place him/her on the chart.

Exposure (10 minutes) • To provide context for the target language through a text or situation

Direct the students' attention to power-point slide 23. The picture shows a woman looking through the crowd. Tell a story about the woman, acting out the situation. Say: The woman is looking for her husband. She can't see him. She remembers he is wearing a blue T-shirt and white shorts. She describes her husband to someone nearby. They look for him together. Look at power-point 24. Say: We can describe people by the clothes they are wearing. What is this man wearing? How can we describe him? Could this be the man the woman was looking for? Take some clothes out of a bag. Say: Look at these clothes. Can you tell me what they are? 'T-shirt', 'shorts', 'blouse', 'skirt', 'jumper', 'cap', 'hat'.

Highlighting (5 minutes) • To draw students' attention to the target language

Demonstrate what to do in the activity by holding up the handout and pointing to the first item say: 'This is a ...' With hand gestures, direct the students to work in pairs. Give each pair a worksheet which illustrates the items of clothing mentioned in the previous activity. Direct them to tell each other the names of the items. Monitor the students as they practice naming the clothes. Observe any weaknesses in pronunciation to correct during the model and drill stage. Class feedback: Model and drill the vocabulary for each item of clothing illustrated.

Clarification (10 minutes) • To clarify the meaning, form and pronunciation of the target language

Direct the students' attention to power-point slide 25. Elicit the name of each item of clothing and explain that the vocabulary used to name items of clothing are nouns. Show where the stress comes in each word and direct the students to say the words again. Hand out vocabulary cards which match the pictures on the 'Clothes' worksheet. Direct the students to work in pairs to match the written words with the illustrations. Leave power-point slide 25 visible while the students complete the activity. Class feedback: With a teacher's set of 'Clothes' worksheet and vocabulary cards, hold up each word card for the students to see, and show which illustration it matches. Elicit the vocabulary with each item of clothing.

Controlled Practice (10 minutes) • To concept check and prepare students for more meaningful practice

Give each student a "Describe the People" handout. (Also power-point 26) Draw the students' attention to the first picture, and invite them to describe the first person. Elicit: The lady is wearing a blouse and a skirt. She has long, wavy, blonde hair. Write the sentence on the board. Show stress. Model and drill the sentence. Continue with the following pictures. Direct the students to practice describing the people to each other, using the sentences formed together.

Semi-Controlled Practice (10 minutes) • To concept check further and prepare students for free practice

Introduce a guessing game to the students. Describe a person from the 'Guess Who' handout (also power-point 27), one sentence at a time until they guess which person was the focus. Then in pairs, get the students to play the game with each other, taking turns to describe and guess.

Free Practice (5 minutes) • To provide students with free practice of the target language

If time permits, allow the students freer practice with the target language by describing other students in the class. The other students can guess who is being described.

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