T. Jones

French I

Lesson Plan – Physical Descriptions

Language Standards:

Standard 1.1:Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions

Standard 1.2:Students understand and interpret written and spoken language on a variety of topics

Big Idea(s): Language is used to give and receive information. There are four modes of language: reading, writing, speaking, and listening. There is more than one way to ask a question. Adjectives help us to describe people.

Essential Questions: How do you describe a person’s looks in French? How do you ask a question in French?

Topic(s) / Performance Skills / Language Structure Content / Vocabulary
Physical Descriptions / Describe how a person looks. / Pronoun + Être (present tense) + Adjective
Noun + Adjective
Adjective Agreement (Gender + Number) / Grand/e, petit/e, beau, belle, jolie, jeune, vieux, vieille, cheveux brun/e, blond/e, noir/e, roux, courts,longues, frisés, raides, yeux, bleus, verts, marron, gris, mince, gros/se
Questioning / Ask about a person’s looks (in order to prepare a description) / Inversion questions using Avoir
(A-t-il/elle…) / Avoir, Comment est-il/elle?

Objectives: SWBAT describe how a person looks and ask about a person’s looks. SWBAT obtain information from a person (by asking questions) or from written and spoken text concerning a person’s physical description.

Preparation: Give students the guided note worksheet and ask them to fill in the words that they already know in French. Circulate around the classroom to identify which words the majority of the students know. Ask students to share their responses.

Presentation: Describe the physical traits of three well-known celebrities who have the traits that students did NOT already know in French. Emphasize all the new vocabulary and indicate the specific trait in the photo. Be certain to use the inversion question format during the presentation to ask students if a celebrity has a certain trait. This will reinforce the new vocabulary and the inversion question form. Post the pictures of the celebrities on the blackboard as you describe them. Have students fill-in their guided note sheets during the presentation. After the presentation, review the vocabulary to make sure everyone has filled in all the boxes with the correct terms.

Practice/ Performance Tasks:

Activity 1 - Post all the celebrity photos on the board. Read a description of a celebrity and ask students to identify who you are describing.

Activity 2 – Tell students you are thinking of a celebrity (posted on the board) and they must guess who (Qui est-ce?). Students must use the new vocabulary and the inversion question form to ask yes or no questions about the celebrity’s looks until they can identify the chosen celebrity.

Activity 3 - Have students write a six sentence description of a celebrity posted on the board. Do not have students name the celebrity!

Self-Evaluation: Have students pair with a classmate and exchange descriptions. Classmate should be able to guess the celebrity being described. If the classmate is unable to determine the celebrity, then the description may be faulty and the student should rewrite it.

Expansion: Have students describe themselves.

Assessment: Essay & Performance Assessment (See Below)
Name______Period ______Date ______

Guided Notes Sheet

Directions: Fill in the French equivalents for the following words.

Physical Characteristics – Caractéristiques Physiques
Gender Agreement / Masculine / Feminine
Tall / Big
Short / Small
Handsome
Beautiful
Pretty
Young
Old
Thin
Fat
Eyes – Les Yeux
Gender & Number Agreement / Masculine Plural
Blue
Green
Brown
Gray
Hair – Les Cheveux
Gender & Number Agreement / Masculine / Feminine / Plural
Brunette / Brown
Blond
Black
Red
Long
Short
Straight
Curly

Name______Period ______Date ______

Physical Descriptions Essay & Rubric

Directions: Find a picture of any well-known celebrity of your choice. Then write at least six sentences describing that celebrity. Check your composition for spelling and grammatical errors.Turn this rubric in with your picture and description!

Criteria / A (4 pts) / B (3 pts) / C (2pts) / D (1 pt) / F (0 pts)
Picture of Celebrity
(1) / Large (8 ½ x 11”), neat, easy to see picture / Medium size, neat picture / Very small (wallet size) neat, picture / Torn or crumpled picture / No Picture
Physical Description
(3) / Complete description, able to guess celebrity without looking at picture. / Nearly complete description missing no particulars, but not specific enough to guess without looking. / Description is good, but not complete, missing one or two particulars (i.e.: eye color, hair color or type, etc) / Description lacks depth, very vague, missing several particulars (i.e.: eye color, hair color or type, etc) / No Physical Description.
Spelling
(2) / No mistakes in spelling. / Few mistakes in spelling. / Some mistakes in spelling. / Many mistakes in spelling. / Incomprehensible due to number of errors.
Grammar
(2) / No mistakes in grammar. / Few mistakes in grammar. / Some mistakes in grammar. / Many mistakes in grammar. / Incomprehensible due to number of errors.

A = 4.0 – 3.5B = 2.8 – 3.4C = 2.0 – 2.7

D = 1.0 – 1.9F = Less than 1

Score ______

Comments ______

______

Name______Period ______Date ______

Performance Assessment & Holistic Scoring Guide

Directions: You are a sketch artist. The police have asked you to make a drawing of the suspect in a pending case where the only witness speaks nothing but French. The witness’s description of the suspect is below. Draw the suspect to the best of your ability.

C’est un homme. Il est grand et mince. Il est blond et les cheveux sont frisés et longues. Le nez est petit et les oreilles sont grandes. Les yeux sont grands et bleus. La bouche est très mince.

Criteria / A / B / C / D / F
Drawing Matches Description / Entire description was followed to produce the drawing. / Few (1-2) details in the description were left out of the drawing. / Some (3-4) details in the description were left out of the drawing. / Many (5 or more) details in the description were left out of the drawing. / Drawing not attempted OR Description was not followed at all.