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A great way to get your students using multiple versions of description in a clear and distinctive way!
I used this as a Valentine's Day activity but it could really be used at any time of the year. Working with different types of adjectives can be tricky, so we focused on two types of descriptions - what is the person like, and what does the person look like. this requires some practice with adjectives of personality and some adjective phrases like 'with the red blouse' or 'holding the balloon.' (adjective clauses could also be used here)
Each student received 3 blank Valentines and 3 names of their classmates. On the outside of the Valentine was 'This Valentine is for the person...' and the students would fill in a physical description, such as 'with a gray sweater, that is a woman, and sitting near the window.'
On the inside of the Valentine was 'I think you are ...' and space to fill in 4 NICE adjectives of personality (stress the nice part) and 'and I really enjoy having you in my class!'
The students filled in these adjectives and adjective phrases, then put all the Valentines in a box. Each student pulled out 3 and then took turns reading the physical descriptions on the front while the rest of the class would yell out who the Valentine was for. When the student received the Valentine, they would read the personality description outloud and say thank you. To save time, you could also just have them walk around the room and find the person, but this does not allow for much monitoring of proper grammar.
The students really seemed to enjoy this activity and it gave them a clearer distinction between different types of descriptions. I have print out Valentines in a word document that I can send if you email me:)
Alison E. Gould
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