LESSON PLAN
Conversation class
Topic: First Impressions
Language level: Intermediate
Duration: 1 hour
Language skills:
· Speaking: ask relevant questions in order to obtain specific information; provide required information/description; express opinions; describe people (appearance and character)
· Listening: identify and understand specific details/information
Objectives: By the end of this lesson, students will be able to discuss first impressions and how accurate they are; practice describing a person’s face, body and character.
Language:
· Vocabulary: adjectives describing appearance and character
· Grammar: use of descriptive adjectives; question formation; comparatives and superlatives
· Pronunciation: topic-related vocabulary
Materials / Resources:
· Handouts provided by the teacher
Procedure:
- Warm-up
- Write the proverb on the board: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”
- Ask students what it means.
- Ask if they think it’s true
- Introduce the topic: First impressions
- Ask students how much they can tell about a person by their appearance (age, job, hobbies, education, personality, hobbies, marital status)
- Optional: ask students to judge you by your appearance
- Pair / Group Activity
- Write a list of adjectives describing character/personality on the board (dangerous, greedy, intelligent, kind, married, not smart, crazy, generous) and ask students: When you look at someone, what makes you think they are…
- Elicit as many answers as possible
- Ask the following questions: Have you met someone who you hated right away even though you didn’t know them? / When are the most important times to make a good first impression? / What are the best ways to make a good first impression? / Do you make first impressions based on what people wear?
- Pair/Group Activity
- Divide students in pairs or groups of 3, or 4 depending on the class size
- Give each pair/group a set of pictures of different people
- Ask each pair/group to come up with two or three comments about the people in the pictures
- Each pair/group shares the comments with the class
- Encourage the rest of the students to agree or disagree
- Give feedback