MODULE 6 Describing (E-LEARNING)

This part divides into two main sections, they are Describing I and Describing II. Describing
I is going to focus on how to describe people and things while Describing II is about how to
describe people and things and comparing them.
Describing I
Right after comprehending this section, students are expected to be able to:
1. Classify the expressions of how to describe someone.
2. Use the expressions of how to describe someone.
3. Classify the expressions of how to describe things.
4. Use the expressions of how to describe things.

A. PRE-SPEAKING ACTIVITY
Activity 1
Instructions: Work in pairs. Think of your answer to the following questions. Then discuss
your answer with your partner.
1. How does your partner look like?
2. What type of face does she/ he have?
3. Does he/ she have straight/ curly/ wavy hair?
4. What type of eyes does she/he have?
5. What type of body does she/ he have?
6. What type of nose does she/ he have?
7. Does he/ she have brown/ bright skin?

Activity 2
Instructions: work in pairs. Think of your answer to the following questions. Then discuss
your answer with your partner.
1. How would you describe your village/ city? Are there beaches or mountains, shopping
malls?
2. How is the climate?
3. How many people are there inhibiting your village/ city?

Activity 3
Instructions: Discuss about how different each village or city has with a group of 3 or 4
students and share your discussion to the whole class.

B. WHILE-SPEAKING ACTIVITY

Describing people and things

It is quite common in English to describe people and places. In describing, words such as
have, be, and there are commonly used as well as some pre-modifiers such as number,
quality, shape, and color. By way of example:
 Mataram is a small city
 Sydney is the Australia’s oldest, largest, and liveliest state capital.
 She has curly black hair

In describing people and things you may combine more than one attribute to a thing and
person by using conjunction and, contrast by using but, or you may give an alternative by
using or. Pay attention to the following examples:

 Jakarta is Indonesian’s largest and most populous city with more than 14 million
people inhibiting this city.
 Silma is beautiful and clever students.
 It is a colorful modern city but it also has many beautiful parks around the area.
 Hamzanwadi University is the best university in town and is the largest one.

Useful Expressions
 Selong does not have a natural beauty with green parkland like Yogyakarta.
 She has rosy cheeks when smiling.
 Silma is slim
 His eyebrows are bushy that makes him look very scary.

Activity 1 Describing Place

Instructions: Work in pairs. Ask your partner to describe his/ her house or part of the
house including living room, bedroom, or kitchen. After about 5-10 minutes, the lecturer
may ask randomly three to four students to describe their partners’ house or part of the
house. The activity may be continued by a question session.

Example: Silma’s bedroom is small but comfortable. It has a single bed with a pillow and
a bedside. The color of the wall is pink that makes the room girly.

Activity 2 Describing Place

Instructions: Look at the picture and the information below. Work in pairs and develop
questions (for describing) based on the picture and the information and practice them for
questions and answers. For example:

What is Hamzanwadi University?

Describe the surrounding of Hamzanwadi University!
 Source: Google Images
Activity 3 Describing Place (CONTINUED)
Instructions: Based on the information provided above and the discussion you conducted
with your partner, tell your partner about how you feel if you have an opportunities to be
one of the students in Hamzanwadi University.

Activity 4 (Pairworks)
Scenario 1:
Your friend just moved to a rented house. Find out as much as information about the house
as possible by asking him/ her questions. Next, tell and describe the house to other friends.

Scenario 2:
You are at the airport. You are waiting for your friend to arrive he/she told you that he/she
would be on the flight arriving at 8 o’clock. It is now 11 o’clock and you have not met
him/her yet. Ask a person waiting at one of the counters if he/ she knows anything about
your friend.
Practice orally with your partner and exchange the role. After practicing, write down the
description.

Scenario 3:
Describe the nicest part of the city to someone who does not live there.

Activity 5 Mini-roleplay (Pairwork)

Directions: Discuss and develop a dialogue with your partner about the situation below
and practice it.

Lecturer A and student B meet in the corridor. B has a class in another building but he is
not sure how it is like. He asks the lecturer to explain what C Building looks like.
 Activity 6 Describing and Matching
Possible Suspect

Student A
Look at the photofit of people suspected of having been involved in a crime. Unfortunately,
they have been muddle up. Choose two halves which you think go together then describe
them to a partner.

Student B
Look at the same pictures as your partner and see if you can identify which picture your
partner is describing.

Reverse roles and repeat the procedure until you have described all the people.

C. POST-SPEAKING ACTIVITY

Activity 1 Written Description

Get a picture of your friend or family members. Write a description based on the picture.
Bring the picture and describe it to your classmates in the following week so that he/she
can draw it for you.
You may also bring the picture of your favorite holiday spot such as a beach or mountain.
Write a description based on the picture. Bring the picture and describe it to your classmates
in the following week so that he/she can draw it for you.

Describing II
Right after comprehending this section, students are expected to be able to:
1. Use the expressions of how to describe someone.
2. Use the expressions of how to describe things.
3. Use the expressions for comparing people and things.

A. PRE-SPEAKING ACTIVITY

Activity 1
Instructions: Think of your answer to the following questions. Work in pair and practice
with your friend.
 1. Ask your partner to describe his/her favorite parts of her/his house, city or village.
2. Ask him/her about his/her opinion.

Activity 2
Instructions: Work in pairs. Do the following activity with your partner.
1. Tell your partner about your house, and ask him/her to draw a sketch about the house.
2. Later, ask him/her to tell you back about her/his sketch and you draw back.
3. After that, compare both sketches whether they have similarities or differences.

Useful Expressions

 My room consists of 5 rooms. They are 3 bedrooms, a kitchen and living room
 My uncle’s house is small but comfortable. It is a two-storey building with 3 bedrooms
upstairs.

B. WHILE-SPEAKING ACTIVITY

Activity 1 Describing your pet (Group Work)

Instructions: Work in groups and tell your friends that your cat is missing. Ask them
whether they saw it and explain to them about your cat. After that, ask one or two to repeat
what you have explained to them.

Keywords: kinds of cat such angora, domestic cats, Siamese, Persia etc.

Activity 2 Listen, Describe and Draw

Instructions: you will hear part of IELTS test which tells about somebody who lost her
briefcase. After listen to the conversation write down the detail about the briefcase in the
box below. At the end, you are expected to be able to draw the briefcase.

Missing Briefcase
1. ………………….
2. ………………….
3. ………………….
4. Etc.

Activity 3 Describing Missing Person

Situation 1: Your friend has been missing for two days. Describe him/her to the police
about his/her physical appearance and what he/she was wearing for the last time so that the
police knows the clue of him/her.

Situation 2: You came to the mall with your friend. The two of you got separated each
other. Ask someone or the security of the mall if he/she has seen your friend anywhere.
C. POST-SPEAKING ACTIVITY

Activity 1 Comparing
Instructions: Get a picture of your house and bring along to the class (sharing). Describe
the picture before your friends and also compare your house to your partner to see the
differences and similarities.