UNIT 5: PEOPLE AROUND US

DESCRIBING APPEARANCE
Activity 1: Vocabulary

These words describe people’s physical appearance. Add them to the table below. You can also add more
words to the list.

not very long a moustache

skinny slim muscular overweight good medium a beard
sideburns
looking length

attractive about 160 freckles dark wear narrow narrow in her 50s bald

AGE HEIGHT BUILDING/WEIGHT

 (am/is/are) (am/is/are) (am/is/are)
Baby Short Thin = skinny
Child Medium-height Slim = slender
Kids Average-height Chubby = plump
Boy Tall Fat
Girl *fairly Heavy
Young = teens = teenagers *quite Overweight
Adult *pretty Average build
Old = elderly *very
around 25
in his 30s
HAIR COLOR HAIR STYLE HAIR LENGTH
(have/has) (have/has) (have/has)
Black Straight Short
Brown Wavy Long
Blonde Curly Shoulder-length
Fair Spiky Medium-length
Red Teased
Grey Bald
*light Pony-tail
*dark

SKIN COMPLEXION EYES SPECIAL FEATURES

(am/is/are) (have/has) (have/has) (am/is/are) (have/has)
White Fair/pale skin Black Pretty A mustache
Olive- Dark skin Grey Handsome A beard
skinned Brown skin Blue Good-looking A mole
Light-brown Green Charming Freckles
Tanned skin Brown Elegant Dimples
Dark Plain
Big
Small
CLOTHES (wear/wearing)
Shirt Sweater Cap
T-shirt Tie Hat
Blouse Suit Glasses
Skirt Sandals Earrings
Dress Shoes (high-heels) Necklace
Shorts Tennis shoes Watch
Pants Boots Bracelet
Slacks Trainers Ring
Socks
Stockings
Activity 2:

Answer these remarks with the opposite description, try to use the words in the table above

EXAMPLE: A: I thought you said he was short, chubby one.

B: No, no, no, not at all, he’s the tall, thin-faced one
1. A: Was that his brother, the dark-skinned, wavy-haired one?
B: No, completely the opposite, his brother’s …

2. A: She’s always quite well-dressed, so I’ve heard.

B: What! Who told you that? Every time I see her, she’s …

3. A: So Charlene’s that rather plump, fair-haired woman, is she?

B: No, you’re looking at the wrong one. Charlene’s …

4. A: So, tell us about the new boss; good looking?

B: No, I’m afraid not; rather…

5. A: I don’t know why, but I expected the tour-guide to be middle-aged or elderly

B: No, apparently she’s only …

Read these descriptions. What are the missing words?

A. She is around 40. She is tall, slim and * Now match the descriptions with the pictures.
beautiful. She has long straight black hair.
She also .......... humanitarian work.
B. He .......... average height and average
build. He .......... brown hair. He ..........
handsome.
C. She .......... really cute. She .......... medium
length wavy hair, and .........big beautiful
_______ ________ _________
eyes.
D. He .......... tall and average build. He ..........
a crew-cut, and he .......... dark-skinned.
He ..........three songs.
E. He ..........elderly. He .......... short curly
hair, and won an Oscar on 2005 for Million
Dollar Baby. ________ ________ _________
F. He .......... a wide face and a light
complexion. He ..........very muscular. Vincent is his real last name.
Activity 3: Work in pairs and take turn to draw pictures of a family. Listen to your partner
describe a family and sketch a picture of them.

Student A: My father and my two older brothers are all well-built with broad shoulders. My

father is going bald but he still has a very youthful appearance for someone who is over forty.

My brothers both have thick hair and bushy eyebrows. My younger brother is only tow and is

very small, but he is very cute. My mother’s side of family mostly have dark hair – in fact my

mother had jet-black hair when she was younger, before she went grey – but on my father’s

side some have fair hair and some have ginger hair.

Student B: Hello. I am Weird Weirdson. I have the best family of all, but my family members are…
well… a bit weird. Let me tell you a bit about them. My father, Mr. Weirdward Weirdson, is a bit fat.
He has two arms like a normal person, but he has four long legs and two toes on each foot. He is kind,
but he gets angry when people don’t understand something. He is bald. My mother, Oddlin Weirdson, is
a really tall woman. She is taller than my dad and is always happy. She has very long curly red hair and
can walk faster than all of us, because she has four legs. Oh, did I forget to tell you that she has four
eyes too? I also have two brothers. They are twins, Crazy and Odd. I love them so much, because they
are very small and always worried about something. They are only one year old so they crawl on their
six feet and hands. They both have short blond straight hair. I have a sister who is invisible, but I think
she is beautiful… And finally, I am Weird. I’m thin and tall, and I wear glasses, three pairs of them
because I have six eyes! I get scared when I see a monster!