Quick Guide
- Keywords: Describing appearance, communication, task-based learning, pair work
- Learner English level: Pre-intermediate, intermediate
- Learner maturity: University
- Preparation time: 5 minutes
- Activity time: 20-30 minutes
- Materials: Photo worksheet (Appendix), timer
In this communicative pair task, students analyze a photo lineup, describing the appearances of individuals and identifying the person absent from their partner’s lineup. I implement this task twice during our unit on describing appearances—once at the beginning and once at the end. This repetition allows students to gauge their improvement by assessing how efficiently they accomplish the task on the first and second attempts.
Preparation
Step 1: Print the four sets of photos (Appendix A) and make enough copies for your class. Half of the students will be A and half will be B.
Step 2: Cut along the dotted lines to create lineups for students A and B.
Procedure
Step 1: Briefly introduce the idea of describing a person’s appearance. One way to do this is to show a photo and ask students to describe it; another way is to have students describe a classmate for the teacher to guess.
Step 2: Divide students into A and B. Partner each A student with a B student and have them sit facing each other.
Step 3: Explain that each student will be given a photo lineup which contains one person who is absent from their partner’s lineup. The aim of the task is for both students to identify the missing person within the ten-minute time limit.
Step 4: Distribute photo lineups A1 and B1 to students. In each pair, one partner should be A and one should be B. Make sure the students hide the paper so that their partner cannot see it. The answers can be found in Appendix B.
Step 5: Write some useful phrases on the board to scaffold the activity. For more advanced students, elicit some examples from them. For example:
My Person 1 has short, straight, black hair and a beard.
What does your Person 3 look like?
Does he wear glasses?
My Person 5 looks like a teacher.
Can you see someone with red hair?
Okay. I think my Person 2 is your Person 6.
Step 6: Tell the students they have ten minutes to identify who is missing in their partner’s lineup and start the timer.
Step 7: Some students may finish early. Approach those students and ask them to describe a person on the lineup to you. Use this as a springboard for conversation until all students finish or the ten minutes are up.
Step 8: If you have time, or after teaching the topic in detail, do another round with photo lineups A2 and B2.
Variation
The activity could be done digitally to save ink. Save the lineups as PDF files, have students download the files and view them on their computer screens.
Extension
As a follow up activity, choose a few students to describe their ideal future partner or a family member to the class. As they do so, listen, ask questions, and generate an AI image of that person using an online tool such as Bing Image Creator. This is generally highly engaging and provides a change of pace from the main time-limited task.
Conclusion
This activity is challenging, interactive, and a lot of fun. Feel free to change the photos or add more for higher levels of students.
Appendices
A color version of the appendices is available below:
