Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! It’s a zoo at Sprout English this week! Most kids love animals, so lessons and activities involving animals usually get their attention. Our Lesson of the Week is on Hippos, and materials writer Tara Benwell will be blogging for us on Thursday with a fun activity involving animals.
I thought I’d share one of my favorite animal activities to do with young learners. Students get practice with descriptive adjectives in this activity. 
They think they’re describing their favorite animals, but it’s actually a surprise personality profile! This activity always results in lots of laughs.
Step 1: Start by asking students what their favorite animals are. Have students call out answers. Next, ask students how they would describe one or two of those animals. Write some of the adjectives on the board, such as soft, cuddly, cute, playful, lazy, big, small, dangerous, etc. Students often make the mistake of using nouns in this activity, so a quick review of nouns vs. adjectives might be in order. You can remind students that there are two adjective patterns in English: 1) BE verb + Adjective and 2) Adjective + Noun. So any adjectives they pick must be able to follow the patterns (e.g., bunnies are cute; cute bunnies works, but bunnies are energy; energy bunnies does not).
Step 2: Next, write the following on the board (or make a worksheet):
1. Animal: ________________
Adjectives:
________________
________________
________________
2. Animal: ________________
Adjectives:
________________
________________
________________
3. Animal: ________________
Adjectives:
________________
________________
________________
Step 3: Write an example on the board, such as:
Animal: _____ panda_____
Adjectives:
_____cute_______
_____cuddly_____
______lazy______
Step 4: Get students to fill in the worksheet or copy it from the board. They have to think of three animals, with three descriptive adjectives each. While they’re working, circulate to check spelling and make sure they aren’t using nouns. Have faster students offer suggestions to slower students.
Step 5: Once everyone is finished, tell them that this is actually a surprise personality profile! Put students into small groups, and tell them they must read out their adjectives with the following sentence beginnings:
1. I think I am:
________________
________________
________________
2. My friends think I am:
________________
________________
________________
3. I am really:
________________
________________
________________
Give your example of the first one: I think I am cute, cuddly, and lazy. A lot of the sentences will be funny (e.g., I think I am furry) and should result in lots of laughs! You can get groups to read out some of the funnier ones to the whole class.
You can find lessons on animals in the Discovery Center section of Sprout English.
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