Describing Things (Adjectives) Lesson Plan

Notes:

In this lesson students will use some common adjectives to describe things and sing a catchy song about describing animals.

Lesson Procedure:

Warm Up and Maintenance:

See our "Warm Up & Wrap Up" page.

New Learning and Practice:

1. Introduce the adjectives
You are going to introduce the following adjectives by drawing pictures on the board: big / small, long / short, fat / thin, strong / weak, fast / slow. Don’t worry if you are not very artistic – even simple line drawings will do.

First start by drawing two lines vertically down the board so you divide the board into three equal sections. Then do the following for each set of adjectives:

big / small: in the first section draw an apple (as shown below). Elicit "apple" and write "an apple" under the picture. Then, in the second section, draw a really big apple – fill up the whole section. Teach / Elicit "big" and write "a big apple" under the picture. Finally, draw a really small apple in the last section, teach / elicit "small" and write "a small apple".

Chorus each of the phrases three times. Then erase the pictures of the big and small apples. Invite one student up to the board and pointing in the middle section say "draw a big apple". Then invite another student up and say "draw a small apple" pointing at the last section. Give each student a round of applause.

For the rest of the adjectives, follow the same drawing on the board procedure:

long / short: draw a pencil (long and short).
fat / thin: draw a cat (fat and thin).
strong / weak: draw a man (strong – with big muscles, weak – a stick man with no muscles at all).
fast / slow: draw a car (a fast, sporty car, zooming around and an old, broken down car with smoke coming out of the exhaust).

Introduce the adjectives

2. Play "Adjectives Pictionary"
Start by playing on the board so everyone understands how to play. Erase everything from the board except the two vertical lines from the previous activity. Invite three students to the board and stand them in front of each blank section on the board and give them a marker / chalk each. Say "Draw two thin snakes and one fat snake". When the drawings are finished select a winner for the best picture. Play another round or two on the board with different students (use different adjectives and nouns each round).

Next, put students into groups of three and give each student a large piece of paper to draw on. Shout out the adjectives to draw and give everyone 1 minute to complete their drawings. At the end of 1 minute get everybody to hold up their pictures – you are the judge and you have to select the best picture from each group of three students as the winning picture. Then move onto the next drawings – play until all the adjectives have been practiced. Here are some ideas for drawings:

Play "Adjectives Pictionary"

thin / fat snakes
big / small houses
fast / slow snails
long / short carrots
strong / weak animals (e.g. dogs, lions, elephants, etc.)

3. Sing "Let’s Look at the Animals (Adjectives Song)"
There are two options for this song – either listening and doing the worksheet or singing along doing the gestures. Or you can do both! See the section below Gestures and activities for "Let’s Look at the Animals".

Lyrics for "Let’s Look at the Animals"

Chorus:
Let’s look at the animals,
Look, Look, Look! What’s that?

Verse 1:
It’s a bear and it’s big.
It’s a bear and it’s big.
It’s a big bear!

Chorus

Verse 2:
It’s a mouse and it’s small.
It’s a mouse and it’s small.
It’s a small mouse!

Chorus

Verse 3:
It’s a snake and it’s long.
It’s a snake and it’s long.
It’s a long snake!

Chorus

Verse 4:
It’s a hippo and it’s fat,
It’s a hippo and it’s fat,
It’s a fat hippo!

Chorus

Verse 5:
It’s a horse and it’s fast,
It’s a horse and it’s fast,
It’s a fast horse!

Chorus

Verse 6:
It’s a lion and it’s strong,
It’s a lion and it’s strong,
It’s a strong lion!

(download MP3 here)

Gestures and activities for "Let’s Look at the Animals"

There are two options:

Listening worksheet – use the "Let’s Look at the Animals Song - Listen and Circle" worksheet. As you play the song students listen and circle the animal which best fits the description in the song.
Actions. Get everyone to stand up and do the following actions as they sing along to the song:

"Let’s look at the animals, Look, Look, Look!": put your palm above your eyes as if you are looking into the distance
"What’s that?": point at an imaginary animal
bear: act big and strong and show your claws
mouse: act small and run around like a mouse
snake: move your body like a slithering snake
hippo: act big and fat (blow out your cheeks) and roar
horse: gallop around like a horse
lion: act big and strong and roar like a lion

We also have a video that you can stream in class to sing along with (Internet connection required):

4. Play "Animal Races"
Now we will have fun running across the room using the animal vocabulary in the song. Clear all the tables and chairs from the room. Line everyone up at one end of the room and lie a rope across the other end of the room (the finish line). This isn’t going to be an actual race – there will be no prizes for the first across the finish line, but prizes can be given for the best performance (stickers, stars next to names on the class poster, praise, etc.).

Start modeling the first "race": say "Run like a big bear" and demonstrate running like a bear (roaring and clawing the air). Then start the race and give your prize to the best performance (at this point make it obvious that the fastest isn't the winner – the best performance wins!).

Play "Animal Races"

Now do more races:

run like a big bear
run like a small mouse
slither like a long snake
wade across the river like a fat hippo
gallop like a fast horse
chase a deer like a strong lion

5. Do the "Adjectives – Draw the Opposites" worksheet
Sit everyone down at their desks and give out the worksheets. Have the students draw the opposites. As they are working, circulate and ask questions (e.g. What is this?, Is this a slow horse?, etc.).

6. Read classroom reader "Monster Friends"
We'll end the lesson with a fun story. Before class, download and print off the reader "Monster Friends". As you go through each page, point to the pictures, elicit each of the different body parts and adjectives. Have fun asking other questions as well, such as the different colors of the monsters, for example:

Teacher: (reading from the story) This is my friend Dodo (pointing at the picture). What color is Dodo?
Students: He's blue!
Teacher: Yes, that's right! And look at his arms! Wow! He has ... (eliciting the adjective)
Students: Long!
Teacher: Yes! He has long arms. And is he short?
Students: No, he's tall!
Teacher: That's right! He's much taller than Susie!

Read classroom reader "Monster Friends" Get the students really involved in the story by asking lots of questions and asking them if anyone in the class has similar characteristics to the monsters (e.g. the tallest student, the fastest student, etc.).

After reading the story, give out a reader worksheet to each student and have everyone match the monsters to their adjectives. Then go through the answers as a class.

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Alternatively, watch our video version of the reader (Internet connection required):