Listening skills lesson plans: Talking about people

Procedure

1. Put students into groups and tell them to list as many adjectives as they can that describe personality. Write annoying on the board as an example, and then give students one minute to think of as many other personality adjectives as they can. When they finish, tell each group in turn to call out one adjective and write them all on the board. Mark the word stress and review pronunciation. Finally, tell students to put a plus sign (+) next to the positive adjectives and a minus sign (–) next to the negative adjectives. Optional extension: Add the –ed form of any –ing adjectives, such as annoyed/annoying. Tell students to call out any other personality adjectives they know that can end in both –ed and –ing (for example, bored/boring, interested/interesting, etc.). Point out that –ed personality adjectives describe how someone feels, e.g. embarrassed, while –ing personality adjectives describe someone who is, e.g. embarrassing
2. Explain to students that they are going to hear a young woman called Rebecca describing various members of her family, as well as herself. Give each student a copy of the chart from Worksheet 7. Give students time to study the chart. Explain they must listen and complete the missing information. When students are ready, play the recording.

   Answers:

   a. Brad
   b. mom
   c. Bill
   d. generous
   e. moody
   f. bossy
   g. argumentative
   h. sympathetic
   i. even-tempered
   j. sociable
   k. annoying

3. Give each student a copy of the Question Sheet. Put students into pairs and ask them if they can complete any of the answers. Give them a few moments to discuss their ideas, and then play the recording again while students listen and complete any remaining answers.

Answers:

a. her mom
b. her dad
c. because he always talks to people in the street
d. because he’s very stubborn
e. because he always tells her what to do
f. because she likes to give presents and help people
g. her mom, because she never gets mad or annoyed

1. Write I wish I was on the board. Explain that wish with the simple past is for things that you would like to change at the present time. Tell students to listen again to the recording and note two sentences Rebecca says using this construction. Explain they should write each sentence they hear.

Answers:

a. I wish I was like her
b. I wish he was a little more easygoing

Post-listening tasks

1. Tell students to note the names of three people they know well (either family or friends). Tell them to make a list of two personality adjectives to describe each person. Encourage them to think of one positive adjective and one negative adjective for each person. Explain they should also try to give a reason for their choice of adjectives. Write an example on the board to start them off, such as:

James (my brother) amusing – he loves to tell jokes
selfish – he never thinks of anyone but himself

When they are ready, put students into groups and tell them to talk about the people on their list. Tell them to also say what they would like to be different about each person. Refer to your example on the board as a model: My brother’s name is James. He’s amusing because he loves to tell jokes. I think he’s selfish, though, because he never thinks of anyone but himself. I wish he wasn’t so selfish.

1. Now tell students to think about themselves. Tell them to list three adjectives that describe their personality. Encourage them to note reasons why they think those adjectives apply to them. Then put them into groups to exchange their ideas. Explain they should ask the other members of their group to say whether or not they agree with the adjectives they chose.
2. Write I wish I was more… / I wish I wasn’t so… on the board and tell students to make sentences about themselves and tell the people in their group. For example, I wish I was more confident. I wish I wasn’t so fussy.