Amazing Describing People and Appearance Listening, Vocabulary and Language Exercises

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!).

(download PDF)

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2 Expressing opinions about appearance

A more advanced speaking and vocabulary exercise for agreeing/disagreeing with opinions about appearance.

(download PDF)

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.

(download PDF)

(see YouTube video)

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.

Clothes and accessories (PDF)

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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Describing People Home

 

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.

Describing  a person  (PDF)

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