Title: Objects description

Lesson plan elaborated by: Magdalena Trysińska

Topic:

How to describe an object?

Target group:

7th‑grade student of an eight‑year elementary school.

Core curriculum

I. Literary and cultural education.

2. Receipt of cultural texts. Student:

1) searches for the necessary information in the text and cites relevant parts of journalistic, popular or scientific texts;

2) organises information depending on their function in the message;

3) interprets works of art (painting, graphics, sculpture, photography);

II. Language education.

2. Differentiation of language. Student:

3) knows ways to enrich vocabulary.

III. Creating statements.

1. Elements of rhetoric. Student:

1) functionally uses rhetorical means and understands their impact on the recipient;

2) collects and organizes the material material needed to create statements; edits the compositional plan of his own statement;

3) creates a statement using the appropriate composition for a given form and the principles of linguistic consistency between paragraphs; understands the role of paragraphs as a coherent whole of thought in the creation of written utterances and applies the paragraph rhythm (interweaving of paragraphs longer and shorter).

The general aim of education

The student develops the ability to describe objects.

Key competences

• communication in the mother tongue;

• communication in foreign languages;

• learning to learn;

• social and civic competences.

Operational objectives

Student:

• characterises the description as a genre;

• recognises different types of descriptions;

• searches for the necessary information in the text;

• creates a description of the selected object;

• consciously chooses vocabulary depending on the type and purpose of the description;

• uses dictionaries.

Teaching methods / techniques

• giving: information lecture, explanation;

• controlled discussion;

• exhibiting: film;

• practical: exercise exercises;

• programmable: using a computer;

• practical: description exercises.

Forms of work

• individual activity;

• collective activity.

Lesson plan overview (Process)

Introduction

1. The teacher acquaints students with the goals of the classes. Then, together with them, he sets out the criteria for success.

2. The teacher reads the description of the chosen subject prepared by him before the lesson. It would be good if it was a very detailed description. Students, listening to the teacher's words, draw the subject in the notebooks or on a sheet of paper. When they are finished, they compare their drawings. The teacher asks students what has helped them to accurately reproduce the object.

Realization

1. After the exercise, the students read a fragment in the abstract „What is the description?” while listening to the recording of the abstract.

2. Students using the mind map create a definition of the description. What elements make up the description? Write the word DESCRIPTION on the board, students add, for example, colors, shapes, size, material, spatial relations, information about appearance, character traits, values, etc.

3. Students individually perform exercises in the abstract, aimed at enriching the vocabulary useful during description (ex. 1‑3).

4. The teacher prepares 20 cards with illustrations of various objects or names of objects (all may belong to one category, eg trees, exotic fruits, items related to Polish Christmas traditions, musical instruments). He/she chooses one student in the class who draws a card. Then the student describes the object he sees in the picture (his appearance, purpose), without using his name. The task of other students is to guess the name of the object.

5. Students analyse the content of the advertisement found on the internet (ex. 5 from e‑textbook). They discuss the language resources used in it.

6. Students watch a short film indicated in the abstract and perform a related task: they search for the necessary information in the film.

7. By using information obtained during the lesson, students create their own descriptions. They pay attention to the purpose of the text: a description intended for an encyclopedia, the Internet, a literary description. Descriptions can be created individually, in pairs or in a group.

Summary

The teacher asks the students questions to summarise. Eg.

• What is a description?

• What should you remember about creating a description?

• What should be described at first? What should be described next?

• How can we avoid repeating words?

Homework

Prepare three different versions of the description of one of the watches presented in the illustrations in the abstract.

The following terms and recordings will be used during this lesson

Terms

Texts and recordings

Objects description

A description is a form of expression that serves to provide information about the appearance of a character, object, animal, phenomenon. We describe the situation, landscape, weather or work of art. A typical description of an object should contain i.e.: information about its shape, size, colour, material that it is made of, its purpose, properties, advantages, disadvantages, distinguishing features. In literary texts, descriptions serve to show the character, the place of action, and describe the background of events. Description works on our imagination, so it is worth using a variety of language resources to colour it. The skill of describing will be useful not only during Polish classes, but in everyday life, for example, when we write an advertisement about the sale or losing something.

The first stage of every description includes a thorough observation of the object. Then, we collect information about it and gather the vocabulary. To avoid repetitions, we use synonyms, periphrasis of the described object. After that, we should group the collected information by subject in separate paragraphs and decide on the order they appear in the description. It is worth to apply the principle: from the general to the detail. At the end, we read the entire text, remove the repetitions, check whether we have not abused the verb „to be”, or whether we have used various sentences. Editing, correction and additions are necessary.

Surprising comparisons, unusual metaphors, idioms will emphasize the attractiveness of the description.