Can you help with a lesson plan on appearances?

[waxposse]

Hi there,
I am just finishing my TEFL course and am now required to write up a lesson plan. I have decided that I will plan the lesson around describing a persons appearance (Elementary, Beginners) and had a couple of questions.

I thought a good warmer (and I guess and obvious one for most teachers) would be to use the "head, shoulders, knees and toes..." rhyme to refresh the students memory of body parts, do you think this is a good way to start the lesson?

Also, I had an idea that somewhere towards the second half of the lesson it may be a good idea to play some sort of version of Guess Who? Whether I divide the class into two (and alter the game in some way to give a clear winner) or I simply split everyone into pairs (and get them to play the original version) I'm not sure yet but do you think that this is a good way to check if the students have taken the first half of the lesson in?? Would the game take too long to explain??

Thanks for any help you can give!!

[Lucy]

Hello,

I think your idea of playing guess who is an excellent way to practise the target language.

It will be easier to demonstrate the game rather than trying to explain how it is played. You could pin up 4 pictures with corresponding names and the question 'who is it?' or 'who am I describing?' You can then describe one of the people and invite students to guess who it is. Do a couple of examples yourself and then invite a student to describe a picture while the other students guess. When you think all the class have understand, they can work alone using different pictures. I think pairwork or groupwork is preferable for this activity. If you divide the class in two for this, each student will say very little.

The warmer might work with your group depending on their age and attitude. Some people might find it childish. The other issue is that the song practises vocabulary of body parts but not the structures needed for discussion. You will also need to work on structures before the description stage.

Best of luck,

Lucy

[waxposse]

Thanks for your input, it was much appreciated. I think I have my lesson plan finalised now, could you check it over for me and give me a heads up if there's anything lacking?? Cheers...

---------------------

PREPARATION:
Level: Beginner (Elementary)
Lesson Length: 45 Minutes
Objective: Describing a persons appearance
Target Language: Adjectives to describe appearance:
hair (short long, wavy, curly),
age (young, middle-aged, old),
body (tall, short, fat, thin, average),
nose (long, short, large, small),
eyes (large, small),
ears (large, small)
accessories: (glasses, jewellery etc…)
Sentence forming: “s/he has” +adjective
“s/he is” + adjective
Assumed Knowledge: Body parts, colours, clothing, rhyme for head, shoulders, knees and toes
Anticipated Problems: Students may try to use some of the newer words they have learned to describe other body parts (ex. “he has a tall body” or “she has short ears”.
Possibility that some students may want to use the gerund form of has “s/he is having long hair /a tall body / earrings”
Solutions: When pre-teaching unknown vocab, ensure that students know that some adjectives should only be used to describe certain things. Drilling should ensure the students know which ones are suitable.
Ensure that students know that the word have cannot be used in it’s gerund form in this case through controlled practice and drilling
Preparation and Aids: Pictures of different types of people (includes some with just face and some with whole body), white board markers, pictures of people (with names at the bottom) for game of “guess who?”. Homework handout. Picture drawn by myself for activity “draw me!”

LESSON PLAN:

1 Warmer. Use the rhyme “head, shoulders, knees and toes” (this rhyme will have been used previously when teaching the students body parts) to refresh the students memory of body parts T-S S-S 5 minutes

2 Plenary. Write body parts on the board and ensure all students understand S-T 2 minutes

3 Presentation: present a picture of a person to the class, ask them to describe him/her, including clothing/accessories etc… elicit as much as possible “s/he is…” s/he has…” Do this twice, using different pictures (make it personal by asking the students to name the person) T-S 5 minutes

4 Show table on the board setting out “s/he is…” and s/he has…” +adjective (long/short/curly hair, large/small eyes etc…). Ask the students to describe two to three more pictures using the words on the board T-S S-T 5 minutes

5 Pair work: students describe their partner . Plenary. PW S-S S-T 3 minutes

6 Presentation: line up four to five pictures on the board (either just face or whole body). Describe a person and ask the student to shout BINGO! (put their hand in the air) when they think they know who it is.
This can also be done by placing the four or five pictures around the room and asking the students to “find” the person I am describing. T-S 3 minutes

7 Pair Work: divide the students into different pairs, give them five pictures for use in “Guess Who?” Every student should have a chance at describing one person from the five given. PW S-S 8 minutes

8 Plenary: write any grammatical errors on the board, drill. T-S 5 minutes

9 Presentation: (Possibly earlier stage??) Place my own hand drawn picture on the board face down. Ask students to draw the person I am describing. At the end of the activity turn over my drawing and students can check to see if their pictures are correct T-S 2 minutes

10 Presenation: Ask student to come up to the board, give them another hand drawn picture and ask them to describe the person to the class. Choose two to three more to do the same.
Plenary: check students understanding. Drill once again. S-T T-S 6 minutes

11 Homework: give the students a handout which includes the table of “s/he is…” s/he has…”. Ask them to go home and write down a description of two people they know, 1 Minute

[Lucy]

Your lesson plan seems very good on the whole. Here are just a few comments:

I'm not sure about the timing. For some activities you allow too much time and for others not enough. I suggsest you review this.

I think stage 9 should come earlier in the lesson. It involves students understanding which means it should come before they start producing the language.

In stage 8 for the plenary, you should think about how you'll correct errors.

I'm not sure about your choice of vocabulary. Do we really say "a short nose"? Maybe we do, I'm not sure. "Average" is not sufficient to describe a body. She has is not usually used with an adjective.

I hope it goes well

Lucy