THE CREATURE

DISEÑO
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ACTIVITY: The creature – Group work: writing
TIME: 45 min
AIM: To describe the appearance and (in) abilities of an imaginary creature
LANGUAGE: Functions 1.1 expressing (in) ability in the present and
1.2 Describing people and animals Grammar: Modal can, Present simple tense
PROCEDURE
Before class: Make one copy of the worksheet for every 10 students.
In class:
1. Write the following words on the board: color, number, size, shape, height, hair style, build, positive adjective, negative adjective, length, part of the body.
2. Ask students at random to go to the board and write an example of each category. For example: blue, nine, small, rectangle, tall, curly, fat, good, ugly, short, arm. Elicit other examples orally from the rest of the students to recycle vocabulary related to descriptions.
3. Write the name FRANKENSTEIN on the board. Do some brainstorming around it. Encourage them to say at least one word from each category that they relate to this character. For example: green, monster, bad, big, square head, etc.
P E4. Arrange students into rows of up to ten. Explain that they are going to invent their own creature in rows, in which each student is going to describe the way they imagine its different features by completing a description. If necessary, write a similar beginning paragraph on the board and have a couple of students fill in the blanks.
R on L5. Give the first student of each row a copy of the worksheet. Ask them to silently read the first paragraph only and complete it by writing the words required. Tell them they should not show it or discuss it with the others.
6. When they finish, ask them to fold it to the back of the page and pass it to the person behind them. The next student should follow the same procedure to complete the second paragraph without reading the first one, fold it and pass it to the student behind him or her.
7. Students continue until the description is over. Make sure you’re available during the process for any language questions they may have.
8. Collect the descriptions and stick them around the classroom. Ask students to go around and read them in order to choose the funniest creature. Encourage them to correct any mistakes they might find.
PERFORMANCE EVIDENCE: Students can use language creatively and appropriately by selecting lexis, phrases and grammatical resources in order to produce short, relevant texts (article) regarding peoples’ and/or animals’ (in) abilities and physical characteristics.
REFLECTION ON LANGUAGE: Students notice that adjectives have a fixed order: size + color (e.g. She has big brown eyes) and that some words are used to replace a proper noun (e.g. Maria is a nurse à She is kind à Everybody likes her à Her cousin is a doctor), and use such language features appropriately.
POSSIBLE FOLLOW UP: You can have students draw the monster they liked best and encourage them to write more about it. You can recycle structures and vocabulary learnt in first grade by giving them a questionnaire about its routines, habits and preferences. For example:
How old is it?, Where does it live?, Does it have a family/a pet/a hobby?, What’s its favorite sport/dish?,
What time does it wake up?, What does it like doing at the weekend?, etc.
IDEAS FOR EVALUATION: You can use either the original description or the follow up composition to evaluate students’ written performance, focusing mainly on some features such as the use of personal pronouns and possessive adjectives, the correct order of adjectives and the correspondence between subject and verb. If you use the original description, have your students work together with the rest of their row and make any necessary corrections as well as to elaborate in order to produce a final extended version. For example:
This creature is short, plump and green with purple spots. It has four long arms on each side of its body, with three small fingers each. Its legs are long, thin and yellow with a fat, big, red toe, etc.