English Club: #13

Topic: Describing character/personality.

Large group:

1.  (20 min) Describing character and personality. Pass out the handout and go through the adjectives describing character and personality. Ask for a description of each word.

Careful / Hard-working / Worried/anxious / Cheerful
Selfish / Active / Curious / Secretive
Aggressive / Strict / Careless / Shy
Independent / Stubborn / Confident / Boring
Tolerant / Ambitious / Reliable / Sensitive
Gentle / Naïve / Generous / Loyal
Self-controlled / Moody

2.  (15 min) Choosing sides. Ask for the difference between adverbs (modify verbs) and adjectives (modify nouns). Discuss the following adverbs, giving the below example sentences: Always, usually, sometimes, rarely, seldom, never, extremely, very, a little, not very.

Examples:

I am always cheerful in the morning.

I am extremely careful when I am driving.

I am not very shy when talking with my friends

Next, have everybody stand up. Finish this sentence using an adverb and an adjective from the above list: I am ______. Instruct your students to stand on one side of the room if they agree and the other side if they disagree. Finally, give each side an opportunity to give examples from their lives.

Small groups: Divide into as many groups as there are facilitators.

3.  (20 min) Who am I? Have each student write three traits that best describe themselves and two traits that don’t describe themselves on a piece of paper (using both adverbs and adjectives). Collect the papers and randomly pass them out again. Have the first volunteer describe himself using the traits written on his paper giving examples of this trait in his life.

4.  (15 min) Discussion questions. Facilitate discussion in your small group with the following questions.

·  Do you tend to make friends with people who possess certain character or personality traits?

·  Which character traits are the best to have? Explain.

·  What are your weaknesses (choose 1-3 words from the vocab list)? Explain.

·  How has your personality or character changed over the years? Give examples.

·  Have them finish this sentence: “In the future a want to be more _____.”

·  Describe the members of your family using both adverbs and adjectives.

5.  (10 min) Oral anecdote. Explain to your group that they are to try and remember as much as they can about the anecdote as your read it to them. Read the anecdote to your group and ask questions to test their comprehension (examples found in part A). Next, ask if there are any unfamiliar words in this story. After reading a second time, ask one student to summarize what happened in this story and have another student explain why this story is funny.

Large group: (10 min) Idioms. Go through the following idioms:

·  He is a wallflower / ·  I am gullible
·  You are a class clown / ·  She is the life of the party

English Club – Describing character

always, usually, sometimes, rarely, seldom, never

extremely, very, a little, not very

Careful / Worried/anxious
Selfish / Curious
Aggressive / Careless
Independent / Confident
Gentle / Generous
Self-controlled / Tolerant
Hard-working / Cheerful
Active / Secretive
Strict / Shy
Stubborn / Boring
Ambitious / Sensitive
Naïve / Loyal
Moody / Reliable