To introduce the concept of "life passages," show the class a book, pointing out its "chapters." Say:
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Note: Marking the chapters with paper clips will make this procedure easier. |
Life is like a book with many chapters. The first chapter is the baby.
The next chapter is the child; then, the teenager.
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Note: Write each of these "chapter" words on the board as you go along. |
Continue naming the "chapters" of life - young adult, adult, and "senior citizen" or elderly person. Then go back and write beside each word an important event that goes with each stage; e.g., beside the word "baby" you might write "learning to walk and talk." Beside "child" you might write "pulling the first tooth," or "starting to school," or "learning to read." For teenager, you might write "high school graduation" or "getting a drivers license."
The "baby chapter" and the "elderly chapter" are similar in every culture. For example, in the U.S., the normal weight for new babies is six pounds. And all elderly people have changes in their hair - both the amount and the color.
In small groups of three, make a list of the ways babies are the same and elderly are the same all over the world. See which group makes the longest list of ways they are the same.
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Note: Name a few countries weel known to EFL students, or from countries represented in your class in an EFL setting. |
Let the group with the longest list write their list on the board.
Point to the words "baby" and "elderly" on the board.
Between "baby" and "elderly" there are many differences (things not the same).
To talk about similarities and differences in people, we use physical attributes. (Write these two words on the board as you say them.) Physical attributes include (listing them on the board as you speak):
!!!More Advanced!!!
Add a category called "other" for more advanced students, to include beard, moustache, glasses, freckles, dimples, etc.)
To illustrate, say:
When Angela comes to class, we know this is Angela, because she has long, blonde hair and beautiful brown eyes. She has a lovely smile, too. We call these "physical attributes."
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Note: Substitute the name and physical attributes of one of your students. |
Write these words on the board, then list the words associated with the various attributes.
Conclude by distributing Handout #1: Vocabulary for Describing People. Read these and say:
Listen and circle words you do not understand. We will talk about these.
!!!More Advanced!!!
With more advanced students you may call attention to an important sociolinguistic cue, i.e., a caution not to tell a person she or he looks "fat" or "skinny" even if the person is a baby! This is true for the United States, but not everywhere. In Japan, for example, parents love to hear people say, "You have a very fat baby." This means they have been good parents!
This would be a good time also to tell all students not to ask about age and weight. Some mind and some do not mind, so itıs safer not to ask!
Take time to write on the board a few ways to compliment physical attributes, e.g., "You have [nice] [beautiful] [lovely] ________." Or, "I like the color of your __________." Explain that "beautiful" and "lovely" are usually said about females, while "handsome" usually refers to a male.
In the U.S., the correct response to a compliment is "Thank you" or "Thank you very much." Compare this to Hong Kong and some other places where it is considered polite to deny compliments by responding with self put-downs.
!!!More Advanced!!!
1 Distribute Handout #2: Pair Activity With Physical Descriptions. Ask students to fold the paper in the middle to simplify instructions and help students focus on one task at a time. Ask students first to tell about themselves. When finished, they may open the paper to full size and interview their partner. Novice students may simply call out the attribute or category and answer with single words. More advanced students are to ask questions and answer with complete sentences.
Write the following on the board and ask students to copy. Or you may prepare a handout to distribute.
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Question What is your gender? What is your age? What is your weight? What is your hair color? What is your hair type? What is your eye color? Are there other things? |
Answer I am _______________. I am _______________. I weigh _____________. My hair is __________. My hair is __________. My eyes are _________. I have (a) ___________. |
When everyone is finished, ask them to describe their partner to the whole class or to another "pair," if your class is quite large.
2 Tally statistics as the reports are given and write these on the board or an overhead transparency. Pointing to this information, introduce and practice the use of some and all. For example, all students have black hair. Some are tall and some are short.
3 To practice comparative and superlative adjectives, have students line themselves up according to height. Then talk about the comparisons, e.g.:
[Name of student] is taller than [name of student].
[Name of student] is shorter than [name of student].
[Name of student] is the tallest.
[Name of student] is the shortest.
Do several "taller than" comparisons, then several "shorter than" comparisons. Put two students side by side and ask:
What can we say about [name of student] and [name of student]?
Let students make the comparison. Do several of these. Next ask:
Who is tallest?
With your hand, motion for height. If no one catches on, you supply the answer. Then begin placing students together by threes. Ask each group to talk about who is tallest. Then repeat the process asking them to talk about who is shortest.
1 Let the students line themselves up according to hair length,
using longer than, shorter than, longest, and shortest.
Guide students to think of other ways to talk about attributes. For example, group according to eye color.
2 Guide students to create individual time lines. Include
personal attributes at each stage of life. Share these in small
groups or with the whole class.
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