Jazz Up Your Lesson
GUESS THE CHARACTER!
This game is a nice way of activating the vocabulary connected with traits of character. You will need a flipchart and 2 sets of photographs.
1. Give out the following chart with adjectives. Let the students talk about themselves, their relatives and friends in pairs. Activate the constructions like:
What are you like? What is he/she like? What does he/she look like?
2. Make 2 teams of students. Give a set of photographs to every team, so that every student in every team has 1 picture. The sets of photographs must be the same in both teams.
3. Ask the students to write 5 sentences about the character of the person in their picture.
4. Let one student read his/her description not showing the photograph itself and the other team tries to guess who that is. In case the student guesses that it is said about the person in his/her card he/she shows the card.
5. If the guess was correct – that person goes on with his/her description of the person in the picture.
THE SECRET OF YOUR FAVOURITE ANIMAL...
This game can be used as a separate game for training traits of character vocabulary or can be used as a continuation of the previous game.
The teacher gives the task:
1. Describe your favourite animal with 5 adjectives.
2. Describe your second favourite animal with 5 adjectives.
3. Describe your third favourite animal with 5 adjectives.
When the students complete the task the teacher gives the explanation:
1. The first description is what you think others think of you.
2. The second description is what others really think of you.
3. The third description shows who you really are.
You may wish to use this table of the Chinese calendar as linguistic support. It puts the traits of character according to the years of birth and the corresponding animal.
| Rat | Ox | Tiger | Rabbit |
| +
energetic jolly charming sociable humorous generous intellectual sentimental honest persistent | +
hard-working strong methodical original patient silent | +
smiling magnetic lucky strong honorable liberal-minded courageous generous passionate | +
clever hospitable sociable friendly sensitive careful cautious ambitious |
| -
aggressive greedy small-minded power-hungry destructive suspicious tiresome | -
proud reserved rigid authoritarian jealous slow stubborn | -
vain rush disobedient rebellious argumentative undisciplined | -
timid thin-skinned old-fashioned hypochondriac squeamish |
| Dragon | Snake | Monkey | Rooster |
| +
artistic enthusiastic lucky healthy generous sentimental successful independent | +
wise sympathetic lucky calm decisive attractive philosophical elegant compassionate | +
merry enthusiastic witty clever fascinating passionate youthful intelligent inventive | +
enthusiastic popular lively stylish amazing generous adventurous industrious courageous |
| -
showy demanding irritable long-mouthed stubborn discontented | -
lazy possessive tight-fisted changeable vengeful | -
vain adolescent unfaithful untruthful untrustworthy | -
pompous proud pedantic short-sighted boastful mistrustful |
| Dog | Pig | Horse | Goat |
| +
faithful loyal noble modest devoted prosperous courageous selfless respectful dutiful intelligent | +
loyal sincere honest loving sociable sensitive sensual truthful peaceful intelligent | +
gifted athletic charming quick-witted hard-working entertaining powerful skillful cheerful independent eloquent | +
artistic peace-loving sweet-natured lovable creative inventive amorous tasteful intelligent |
| -
cynical critical moralizing stubborn defensive | -
naïve insecure gullible defenseless non-competitive earthy scrupulous | -
weak unfeeling hot-headed selfish tactless impatient ruthless rebellious | -
insecure pessimistic unpunctual undisciplined dissatisfied irresponsible |