Amazing Describing People and Appearance Listening, Vocabulary and Language Exercises
30th December 2023
Learning the language and vocabulary for describing people and their appearance is useful because:
It helps you communicate with others about the people you see.
It helps you to identify people.
It helps you to express yourself.
It helps you to connect with people.
It helps you to better understand the people around you.
1 Describing appearance
This is an elementary multiple choice and /picture matching activity for talking about appearance. Multiple choice and matching activities are no-stress activities (I hope!).
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2 Expressing opinions about appearance
A more advanced speaking and vocabulary exercise for agreeing/disagreeing with opinions about appearance.
3 Elements of appearance vocabulary worksheet (with audio and answers)
This is a listening/speaking exercise introducing and exploring the language and vocabulary of appearance for describing people. Students listen to the audio and match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures.
Elements of appearance vocabulary (PDF)
(see this exercise on YouTube)
4 What does she look like?
This is a listening/speaking exercise for describing people. This exercise focuses on a missing woman. Students can complete the listening exercise and then write their own conversation.
5 What does he look like ? (conversation listening/speaking activity)
In this conversation or speaking exercise students practice listening and creating a conversation describing someone’s appearance. They use the conversation skeleton below to create their own conversation. This could also be adapted to be a speaking activity.
What does he look like? conversation (PDF)
6 What do they look like ? (with audio and answers)
This is a describing appearance listening, vocabulary and writing exercise. First, students listen to the audio and match the items (A-I) to the pictures. Then students use the vocabulary in the center of the worksheet or their own ideas to write descriptions of the people in the pictures.
Describing people and appearance listening and writing (PDF)
7 Clothes and accessories listening/vocabulary (with audio and answers)
This is an elementary English language listening/vocabulary exercise introducing and exploring the language and vocabulary of clothes and accessories. Students try to match the vocabulary with the appropriate pictures. Or the exercise can be used as an introduction to the vocabulary and the students listen to the audio and match the words to the pictures.
8 Describing people word sorting
This is an ESL exercise to help students become familiar with vocabulary for describing appearance. Students sort the words into the appropriate columns.
Describing appearance word sorting (PDF)
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9 What do they look like 2? (writing activity)
This is similar to the second exercise above but with different pictures.
Describing appearance writing 2 (PDF)
10 Describing a person
In this writing exercise students brainstorm information about a person they know well. Then they write a more wholistic description of a person including appearance, personality and other aspects of his/her life.
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Very interesting, creative and useful activities. It will definitely be very handy for me for my lessons plans.
Thank you 🙂
I agree
Thanks for the comment. I really appreciate any positive or useful feedback.
Thanks a million for your lessons.
That help me teach my pupils easily.
Excellent material!! Thank you so much!!
Awesome speaking materials for elemantary and secondaries. both funny and didactic. Thank you
Sus actividades ,me complace decir k son perfectas para lo k mis niños necesitan, muchísimas gracias.
I am so happy I found this website)))))
Simple yet so useful. Perfect, thank you
Thanks so much for the comments. Much appreciated