UNIT 4:

OBJECTIVE: IN THIS UNIT, YOU WILL LEARN HOW TO

TAKE PART IN WRITTEN AND ORAL INTERACTIONS
DESCRIBING SITUATIONS IN THE PAST AND GIVING
PSYCHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF PEOPLE
USING APPROPRIATE LEXICAL AND GRAMMATICAL
STRUCTURES IN DIFFERENT CONTEXTS.
Warm up: Watch the following video and then
answer and discuss the questions with a partner.
Think about this:

1. What are you like?

2. How would you describe your best friend’s
personality?
3. What’s your mother like?
4. What are Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie like?
5. Is your dad a hard-working person?
6. Are you an arrogant person?
 Talking about personalities
To describe people’s personality in English we use adjectives
such as: talkative, hard-working, easy-going, arrogant, clumsy,
irresponsible, messy, honest, brave, caring, inspiring, etc.

1. A: What are you like?

B: I am an easy-going guy.

2. A: How would you describe your personality?

B: I am a nice person. I am also very confident and
responsible.

3. A: What’s your mom like?

B: She’s just adorable.
4. A: How do you describe Samantha?
B: She is very irresponsible and messy.

5. A: How would you describe Peter?

B: He is arrogant and selfish.

6. A: What were people like in the past?

B: They were hard-working and very polite.

7. A: How were your grandparents when they were

younger?
B: They were brave and energetic
 Positive and negative adjectives

Positive adjectives Negative adjectives

adorable abusive
brave jelous
calm pathetic
capable selfish
cheerful silly
confident slow
credible weak
determined snobbish
honest greedy
 Check out these short conversations and
practice with a partner
1. A: Did you see our new classmate?
B: No, I didn’t. What was she like?
A: She looked very confident.
B: Really? Is she smart too?
A: Yes she is. But she is also a little
arrogant though.

2. A: What do you think about the

new professor?
B: He’s kind of crazy, don't you think?
A: I guess he is, but he was outstanding
from the first class. He was awesome.
3. A: Do you remember Diana of
Wales?
B: No, I don’t. What was she like?
A: She was so kind.
B: Really? Was she charismatic too?
A: Yes she was. But she was also a
little naughty at times.

4. A: What were your parents like

when they were younger?
B: They were quite cool and
relaxed.
A: Really? Now they are boring
then ha, ha.
Describing people’s personality

1. She is a very active person 2. He is so pessimistic

3. He is such a rude man 4. She is quite lazy

 5. He is a spiritual person 6. He’s very patriotic

7. She is an intellectual woman 8. He’s romantic

 Activity: Drag and drop the adjectives under the pictures
cooperative emotional daring generous creative Energetic
How were you in the past?

If you want to describe how someone was in the past, you need
to use simple past forms. Check out these examples:
● Macaulay Culkin was cuter and more talented when he was
younger. What happened to him?
● Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain became a very famous
couple and had a baby called Frances. They were polemic
and crazy, and gave a lot of material for press to buzz and
speculate.
 Activity:
Answer the following questions. Write your responses in the
blank spaces.

1.How were you as a little boy?

___________________________________
2.Were you messy or tidy?
___________________________________
3.What was your sister or brother like?
___________________________________
4.Was your best friend cute or ugly?
___________________________________
5.How were your friends when you were younger?
___________________________________
6.What did you use to do when you were little?
___________________________________
Watch this video about pronunciation of regular past tense
forms. Take notes of the rules for further practice:
Think about this:

1. How did you pronounce the regular past

forms?
2. What are the rules to pronounce the past
forms?
3. How would you pronounce the regular forms
after watching the video?
Speaking in past: As mentioned before, regular verbs in their
past form take a final -ed. However, the pronunciation of that
final “-ed” changes depending on the sound it follows:

After voiceless consonant
sounds (sh / s / ch / p / k
/ f / x), we pronounce “–
ed” as /t/
Voiceless means that
when you pronounce that
sound, your vocal cords
do not vibrate.
After a vowel and voiced After /t/ and /d/ sounds,
consonant sounds ( b / g we pronounce “–id”.
/ l / m / n / v / y / n / z),
we pronounce “–ed” as
/d/ (For the
pronunciation of “voiced”
sounds, there is vibration
of the vocal cords).

wash washed /wɒʃt/ phone phoned /fəʊnd/ visit visited /visitid/

kiss kissed /kɪst/ turn turned /t3rnd/ start started /stɑrtid/
watch watched /wɒtʃt/ play played /pleɪd/
drop dropped /drɒpt/ follow followed /fɒləʊd/
 Activity:
Drag and drop the verbs under the right phoneme according
to their pronunciation.
played washed helped landed started

called loved kissed waited danced

/t/ /d/ /id/

Describing others

General Age Height Hair

appearance
What does she How old is she? How tall is she? How long is her
look like? hair?
She’s about 25. She’s one meter
She’s tall with red She’s in her seventy eight It’s medium length.
hair. twenties. centimeters. It’s short.
She’s gorgeous. She’s young. She’s pretty tall. It’s long.
She’s fairly short.
Does she wear
glasses?

Yes, she does, and

she has blue eyes.
Think about your mom:

1. How tall is your mom?

2. How old is she?
3. What does she look like?
4. How long is her hair?
5. What clothes does she wear?
6. Does she wear contact lenses?
Describing famous people

If you want to describe famous people, it is necessary to

mention key information about celebrities: Age, look,
personality, occupation, marital status, likes and dislikes,
eccentricities, etc. For example:

● Mel Gibson is 60 years old.

● He is a famous actor and
director.
● He has Irish ancestors.
● He is catholic and conservative.
● He is charismatic and smart.
● He has green eyes and is
handsome.
● Lenny Kravitz is 52 years old.
● He is a famous singer and producer.
● He won the Grammy Award for
Best Male Rock Vocal Performance
four years in a row from 1999 to 2002.
● He is Christian.
● He is charismatic and smart.
● He is Afroamerican and handsome.

● Scarlett Johansson is 31 years old+

● She is a famous actor and singer.
● Johansson is considered one of
Hollywood's modern sex symbols,
● Johansson has appeared in advertising
campaigns for Calvin Klein, L'Oréal and
Louis Vuitton
● Johansson celebrates a "little of both"
Christmas and Hanukkah,
and has described herself as Jewish.
Activity: Look up information about these
celebrities and write the info in the blank spaces

Name: ________________________
Age: __________________________
Look: _________________________
Personality: ____________________
Occupation: ____________________
Marital status: ___________________
Likes and dislikes: ________________
Eccentricities: ___________________

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monica_Bellucci
Name: _____________________
Age: _______________________
Look: ______________________
Personality: _________________
Occupation: _________________
Marital status: ________________
Likes and dislikes: _____________
Eccentricities: ________________

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Clooney
Name: _____________________
Age: _______________________
Look: ______________________
Personality: _________________
Occupation: _________________
Marital status: ________________
Likes and dislikes: _____________
Eccentricities: ________________

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Leto
Activity: Reading comprehension

Batman is a fictional superhero appearing in American

comic books published by DC Comics. The character
was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger,
and first appeared in Detective Comics #27 (May
1939). Originally named the "Bat-Man", the character
is also referred to by such epithets as the Caped
Crusader, the Dark Knight, and the World's Greatest
Detective.
Batman's secret identity is Bruce Wayne, an American
billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, and owner of
Wayne Enterprises. After witnessing the murder of his
parents Thomas Wayne and Martha Wayne as a child,
he swore revenge on criminals, an oath tempered by a
sense of justice.
Wayne trains himself physically and intellectually
and crafts a bat-inspired persona to fight crime.
Batman operates in the fictional Gotham City,
with assistance from various supporting
characters, including his butler Alfred, police
commissioner Jim Gordon, and vigilante allies
such as Robin.
Unlike most superheroes, Batman does not
possess any superpowers; rather, he relies on his
genius intellect, physical prowess, martial arts
abilities, detective skills, science and technology,
vast wealth, intimidation, and indomitable will.
A large assortment of villains make up Batman's
rogues gallery, including his archenemy, the Joker.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batman
Answer the following questions according to the text.

1. Which was one of the epithets used for Batman?

a) The Dark Knight.
b) The Commissioner.
c) The Joker.

2. What does Batman look like?

a) A detective.
b) A bat-inspired persona.
c) A millionaire man.

3. Why did Bruce Wayne decide to become a vigilante?

a) Because he wanted to impress the Commissioner.
b) Because he loved being a super hero.
c) Because he witnessed the murder of his parents.
4. Who is Batman archenemy?
a) Jim Gordon.
b) The Joker.
c) Robin.

5. Who are some of Batman’s collaborators?

a) Robin and Alfred.
b) Gotham and Joker.
c) Bob Kane and Bill Finger.
ANSWER KEYS
Activity: Drag and drop the adjectives under the pictures

cooperative

Energetic

emotional
daring creative

generous
 Activity:
Drag and drop the verbs under the right phoneme according
to their pronunciation.

/t/ /d/ /id/

helped played started

washed called landed

kissed loved waited

danced
Answer the following questions according to the text.

1. Which was one of the epithets used for Batman?

a) The Dark Knight.
b) The Commissioner.
c) The Joker.

2. What does Batman look like?

a) A detective.
b) A bat-inspired persona.
c) A millionaire man.

3. Why did Bruce Wayne decide to become a vigilante?

a) Because he wanted to impress the Commissioner.
b) Because he loved being a super hero.
c) Because he witnessed the murder of his parents.
4. Who is Batman archenemy?
a) Jim Gordon.
b) The Joker.
c) Robin.

5. Who are some of Batman’s collaborators?

a) Robin and Alfred.
b) Gotham and Joker.
c) Bob Kane and Bill Finger.