Activity: describing others in English

In this post, let us see how to conduct an activity on 'Describing Others' in our day-to-day situations. Conducting this activity in the classroom for ESL Students is, as always quite challenging. Students in the classroom may hesitate to talk in English in class as they fear making mistakes. The facilitator or teacher must handhold/encourage the students until they feel comfortable while conducting this activity.

Activity: Describing Others

Goal of the activity:

The students are able to be more expressive about their perceptions of one another. This activity will help to establish goodwill among the students in the class.

Preparation:

Bowl of chits with names of the students written on them.

Time:

This activity takes approx. 90 minutes to complete. However, it may extend if your students' number is more in your classroom or it depends on the learning level of your students.

Steps to conduct this activity:

• Place the bowl of chits on the table.

• Ask each student to pick out a chit. The person will have to describe the person whose name is written on the chit. He can describe his attire, his manners, his features, etc. For example, he can say that the person is tall or short; fair or dark; has short or long hair; has a mustache or is clean-shaven; etc.

• Next, the student has to mention one good quality that he thinks the person has. For example, he can say that the person is helpful, or polite, or has a sense of humor.

• Continue the activity till all students have spoken about some other student in the class.

• If the student picks up his own name, he can drop the chit back into the bowl and pick up another.

• Ensure that no student has been left out – the good qualities of all students should have been expressed in the class.

Note to the Teacher:

By way of a variation, ask the students not to drop the chit back into the bowl if it carries their own name. Some humor can be brought into the class if a student picks up his own name and has to describe his physical self as well as mention the good qualities he possesses. 

You can encourage shy students to be more expressive about themselves. For example, to a student who refuses to mention anything good about himself, you can ask playful questions like: “So are you not helpful”; “So if somebody asks you something, do you not answer truthfully?”, etc

The teacher/facilitator can modify this activity according to the age group of the students.

--------

You may also like: How to conduct 'Self-Introduction' activity in your classroom. {alertInfo}