Author: Khardiata Wade (Senegal) | Published on 1 April 2025
Read what Khardiata says about this activity:
The 8th of March is considered as International Women’s day and that is why people around the world celebrate this day; to show that women are as important as men and deserve to be respected and treated equally. This Lesson Plan uses this day as a springboard for discussion and focuses on the linguistic objective of exploring and using personality adjectives.
Stage 1: warmer (2 minutes)
We begin by playing a game called “In and out”. All students form one line. If the teachers says ‘In’ the students stay in the line, and if the teacher says ‘Out’ students must move out of the line.
Teacher says:
'First, let’s all form one line in the front of class.'
Once one line has formed, continue with the instructions:
'If I say ‘In’, you must stay in place. If I say ‘out’, you must move out of the line. Let’s play!'
Play the game quickly for 2 minutes to physically engage the students and then allow them to return to their seats.
Stage 2: listening task (8 minutes)
The teacher says:
'We are now going to have a listening activity.
I want you to listen and write down any new or interesting words.
We will discuss these words after the listening activity.
Are we ready to begin?'
The teacher reads aloud the Text from Appendix One, using an appropriate pitch and pace:
The teacher asks:
'Let’s check – which words were new or interesting? Tell me.'
Write elicited words on the board. Then check for understanding and practice pronunciation.
Stage 3: reading comprehension task (30 minutes)
This is a group work activity.
Teacher says:
'Now, we will work in groups.'
Organise groups and give each group a copy of the text.
'Okay, your task is now to find adjectives that are used to describe people. This is a fast, skimming task and you have 3 minutes to complete. Ready? Go!'
After 3 minutes, stop the activity and elicit responses from the learners. Use their responses and create example sentences. Ideas are given below.
Anticipated responses:
| Adjectives | ||
| Word | Meaning | Pronunciation |
| brave | someone who is very dynamic, very courageous | /brəɪv/ |
| ambitious | having or showing a strong desire and determination to succeed | /ӕm’bɪᶴ.ᵊs/ |
| intelligent | having or showing intelligence, especially of a high level |
/ɪnˈtɛlɪdʒ(ə)nt/ |
| famous | known about by many people | /ˈfeɪməs/ |
Teacher instructions:
Example sentences:
- My mother is very brave, she works nightshift and has to walk to work in the dark
- My sister Awa would like to be a doctor, she is very ambitious.
- My aunt is very intelligent and is now a headmistress of the largest school in our district.
- Youssou Ndour is a famous singer
Encourage learners to share other adjectives the know to describe peoples personalities. Add them to the list on the board.
Stage 4: output - write comparative sentences (10 minutes)
In this part, the learners will use comparatives and write sentences.
Remind learners of the structure.
'Who can tell me the grammar pattern we use to compare people?'
Elicit and board answer.
If the learners are not clear, take 3 minutes to remind them. Write on the board:
- Short adjectives – adjective + er + than
- long adjectives – more + adjective + than
Example sentences:
- Moussa is taller than Fatou.
- Fatou is more intelligent than Samira.
Elicit examples from the learners.
The teacher says:
'How many comparative sentences can we create in 5 minutes? Tell me your ideas for sentences now!'
Support orally. Give positive feedback when correct and gently guide to correct answers if incorrect.
The teacher says:
'Great teamwork! Now, we will work individually. Take your notebooks and you will create 5 comparative sentences. You have 10 minutes to do this.'
The teacher monitors as the students work and supports where needed, noting any common errors to be addressed at the end of the lesson.
Stage 5: feedback through peer correction (10 minutes)
Once the writing task is complete, the learners will swap notebooks and correct each other’s work.
The teachers says:
'Now we will work in pairs.'
Wait until learners are in pairs.
'We are going to help each other and give feedback on our sentences. You will identify and correct any errors for your partner. Ready? Swap notebooks and begin now!'
Teacher monitors and supports where needed. After a maximum of 10 minutes, the learners can return their notebooks to their partner. Teacher can give overall feedback identified from monitoring.
The teacher says:
'Good work everyone! I really liked how you….INSERT EXAMPLES FROM YOUR MONITORING HERE'
'We need to remember to … INSERT EXAMPLES FROM YOUR MONITORING HERE'
The teacher asks:
'What did you enjoy most today? What did you learn today? What will you use from today?'
Elicit responses and acknowledge appropriately.
Close the lesson and thank learners for their work.