Describe & Compare Lesson Plan

Main Lesson Plan

Purpose and requisites:

The lesson is aimed at intermediate-level students.

They should already be able to simply describe people
physically (hair, clothes, height, etc.) and also have some
basic vocabulary for character traits. They also should
know how to compare terms with at least moins que / plus
que. The lesson will introduce new description-related
vocabulary for character traits and new ways of expressing
comparison and impressions about people.

Lesson objectives:
Communication: Describe someone, express
moderation or emphasize impressions
Grammar focus: Comparison, negative form,
quantity adverbs
Vocabulary: Physical description - adjectives
(review), character traits (new)
Culture: The French language frequently uses
the negative form in everyday language instead
of saying things directly, especially when it
comes to expressing an opinion about someone.
This lesson also introduces many idiomatic
expressions, excluding slang, and proverbs

Learning outcome(s):
By the end of this lesson students will:
have gained rich vocabulary and linguistic tools to
better describe someones character.
be able to describe someone accurately and
master nuances to remain polite while doing so.
be able to compare peoples characters, qualities,
and flaws.
be able to describe and compare people using
idiomatic expressions, used in everyday French.
have improved on the negative form.
have learned phrases and proverbs.
be able to express intense impressions, overreact,
and emphasize peoples qualities and flaws.

Material:

magazines with pictures of celebrities

text (included in the lesson)
optional: video documentary
(biography or portrait)

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Describe & Compare Lesson Plan

Main Lesson Plan

Bridge-in:

Guidelines and tips :

1- Confidence: Teacher will let students show what they

are capable of by having them describe male and female
celebrities (preferably French) in photos.

1- Guidelines for students: Simply describe this person

as best as you can. If you know who he/she is, you can
introduce him/her to other students. If you dont, you may
end your description by suggesting a possible job from how
he/she looks (singer, actor, politician).

Each pair or small group of students should work on one

celebrity. They do not have to know who the celebrity is.

2- Correction triggers new vocabulary: Based on

students work (which usually is focused on clothes and
hairstyle at lower intermediate level), teacher provides
new vocabulary both physical and character traits related.
List of words should include the following terms : lgant,
glamour, classe, distingu, styl, sduisant, souriant,
sympathique, tendance, mystrieux, superbe, mignon,
charmant, agrable, and sociable.

Students need a framework for their work; indicate how

many sentences they should write at minimum.
2- Always provide the feminine form if applicable. Each new
adjective is listed on the side of the white board. To introduce
new words, the teacher must have a reasonable amount
of different images to use, to make obvious comparisons
instead of using English. Examples: she is stylish, she is not
etc. Provide the rest of the vocabulary if the correction did
not allow introducing all of the listed words.

If time allows, introduce more vocabulary.

Make sure students learn: intelligent/bte, agrable/
dsagrable, heureux/malheureux, and prtentieux/modeste.
List of expressions should include: avoir lair (+
adjective) and avoir tendance (+tre, but explain that
it could also be used with other verbs. Insist that it is a
habit; do not explain that the adjective tendance is in fact
a neologism and primarily a noun, but explain that it has
a different meaning in the phrase avoir tendance .), and
quelquun de (show that even if the subject is feminine,
the adjective after this phrase is always masculine. The
same rule applies to avoir lair but everyday language
uses the feminine form as well.)

3- Negative form and comparison: The text will show

students how to use the new vocabulary and how to use it
in the negative form. The text uses some of the new words
and some negative sentences, as well as comparison
expressions, proverbs, adverbs for nuances, and phrases
to emphasize qualities and flaws.
Tasks consist of classifying bolded expressions whether
they describe the person positively or negatively. Have
students use a star rating to decide whether the expressions
are strongly emphasizing (***), moderate (**), or simply
negative/quite neutral (*).

3- Teacher can read the text so students recognize the

new words and write them down each time they do. Then
distribute the text so each student can read a part of it
aloud. Allow sufficient time for questions, before starting
the classification, in case there are unfamiliar vocabulary
words.
Proverbs should be explained before the task starts.

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Describe & Compare Lesson Plan

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Text:

Classez les mots et les expressions en caractres gras en deux

parties : impression positive et impression ngative. Notez ensuite
les expressions des deux listes avec des toiles : trois toiles pour les
expressions fortes, deux toiles pour les expressions modres, une
toile pour les expressions neutres.
Thomas nest pas vraiment lgant mais lorsquil doit sortir, il a toujours
lair distingu. Marie, elle, fait trs attention sa tenue et ce, en toutes
circonstances, pour la vie quotidienne et pour le travail, comme pour
les sorties du soir ou du week-end. Thomas a pour habitude de dire
quelle est plutt glamour, ce qui nerve un peu Marie. Thomas nest
pas quelquun de prtentieux mais il a tendance tre dsagrable
avec les personnes quil ne connat pas. Cest de la timidit parce
que Thomas pense quil nest pas franchement sduisant et il a
souvent peur de dplaire. Pourtant, les femmes, en gnral, trouvent
que Thomas est vraiment charmant. Un peu plus style mais
surtout bien plus souriante que Thomas, Marie a lair de quelquun
dassez sympathique. Gnralement, on trouve que Thomas est un
peu trop mystrieux, franchement pas sociable et que Marie est
beaucoup plus intelligente. Cela dit, ils sont tous les deux tout fait
sympathiques une fois quon les connat mieux. Le plus gros dfaut de
Thomas, cest quil est ttu comme une mule. Quant Marie, elle est
bavarde comme une pie. La timidit, elle ne connat pas!

Pretest:

To be able to use the vocabulary and create

their own expressions from the ones they
have classified, students must work on quiz
1. Review or introduce:
plus que
moins que
plus/moins
aussi que / pas aussi ... que
and more if possible :
autant que
comme
tout autant que
Teach could check to see if the students
know the irregular forms:
bon / meilleur que
mauvais / pire que

Answers

Positive
a toujours lair distingu **
plutt glamour **
vraiment charmant ***
un peu plus style **
bien plus souriante que ***
a lair de quelquun dassez
sympathique **
beaucoup plus intelligente ***
tout fait sympathiques **
Negative
pas vraiment lgant **
nest pas quelquun de prtentieux *
a tendance tre dsagrable **
pas franchement sduisant **
un peu trop mystrieux **
franchement pas sociable ***

Describe & Compare Lesson Plan

Answer Key - French Quiz #1

3- Read the text and answer the true or
false questions below:
Thomas nest pas vraiment lgant mais lorsquil
doit sortir, il a toujours lair distingu. Marie,
elle, fait trs attention sa tenue et ce, en toutes
circonstances, pour la vie quotidienne et pour le
travail, comme pour les sorties du soir ou du weekend. Thomas a pour habitude de dire quelle est plutt
glamour, ce qui nerve un peu Marie. Thomas nest
pas quelquun de prtentieux mais il a tendance
tre dsagrable avec les personnes quil ne
connat pas. Cest de la timidit parce que Thomas
pense quil nest pas franchement sduisant et il
a souvent peur de dplaire. Pourtant, les femmes,
en gnral, trouvent que Thomas est vraiment
charmant. Un peu plus style mais surtout bien plus
souriante que Thomas, Marie a lair de quelquun
dassez sympathique. Gnralement, on trouve que
Thomas est un peu trop mystrieux, franchement
pas sociable et que Marie est beaucoup plus
intelligente. Cela dit, ils sont tous les deux tout
fait sympathiques une fois quon les connat mieux.
Le plus gros dfaut de Thomas, cest quil est ttu
comme une mule. Quant Marie, elle est bavarde
comme une pie. La timidit, elle ne connat pas!
1. Marie est gnralement plus classe que
Thomas. True
2. Thomas est charmant mais il est
trop timide. True

3. Thomas a lair bien moins sympathique

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learning
resources
que Marie.
False
4. Thomas ne plat pas aux femmes. False
5. Les gens disent que Marie nest pas aussi
intelligente que Thomas. False
6. Marie aime la mode. True
7. Si on est ami avec le couple, Marie est vraiment
plus sympathique que Thomas. False

Describe & Compare Lesson Plan

Main Lesson Plan

Games and role play:

Games to use character traits and physical description

1. Game 1 is called qui suis-je: A student picks a
celebrity and other students have to find out who
he/she is by asking questions. Students must only
answer yes or no. Teacher should indicate a maximum
number of questions allowed and count them.
2. Game 2 is called lenqute: A student asks
questions to others to find out who is the criminal.
Answers must only be yes or no. The detective
student must leave the classroom so other
students can choose who the criminal is. Only the
criminal student is allowed to not tell the truth.

Role play to use character traits

Have pairs of students prepare a short role play by
choosing one of the following situations :
A teenager wants to go out with girlfriend/
boyfriend but parents wont allow: The
teenager has to convince his/her parents
that the girlfriend/boyfriend is a good
person with many positive qualities.
A couple has met new friends, who are also
a couple, but they dont quite agree on their
new friends: The man (or woman) is friendly
and seems to have many qualities, whereas
the woman (or man) is not that friendly.

Closure:
Homework should include worksheets
(and possibly quiz 2).
Teacher also could ask students to write short texts
describing their favorite persons in the world.

Assessment:
1. Free-text writing is a good way of checking how
students can use what they have learned in this
lesson. A video can also be used, but it has to
be a portrait/biography of someone of interest,
artist, politician, historical character etc. preferably
controversial but not too much. With a video, a
debate is the best way to work on the assessment.
2. Exercise 1 on quiz 2 may be used to assess
comparison skills, but could it also be the opportunity
to organize a small debate or used instead of the
video.
3. Correcting the worksheet is also a good assessment.
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