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 Vocabulary

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

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)

 T. Jones
French I
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 Masculine
Agreement Plural
Blue
Green
Brown
Gray
Hair – Les Cheveux
Gender & Number Masculine / Feminine
Agreement / Plural
Brunette / Brown
Blond
Black
Red
Long
Short
Straight
Curly
 T. Jones
French I
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 Large (8 ½ Medium Very small Torn or No Picture
Celebrity x 11”), neat, size, neat (wallet size) crumpled
(1) easy to see picture neat, picture picture
picture
Physical Complete Nearly Description Description No Physical
Description description, complete is good, but lacks depth, Description.
(3) able to description not very vague,
guess missing no complete, missing
celebrity particulars, missing one several
without but not or two particulars
looking at specific particulars (i.e.: eye
picture. enough to (i.e.: eye color, hair
guess color, hair color or
without color or type, etc)
looking. type, etc)
Spelling No mistakes Few Some Many Incomprehensible
(2) in spelling. mistakes in mistakes in mistakes in due to number of
spelling. spelling. spelling. errors.
Grammar No mistakes Few Some Many Incomprehensible
(2) in grammar. mistakes in mistakes in mistakes in due to number of
grammar. grammar. grammar. errors.

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

D = 1.0 – 1.9 F = Less than 1

Score _______________________

Comments ____________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
 T. Jones
French I
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 Entire Few (1-2) Some (3-4) Many (5 or Drawing not
Matches description details in the details in the more) details attempted OR
Description was followed description description in the Description
to produce were left out were left out description was not
the drawing. of the of the were left out followed at
drawing. drawing. of the all.
drawing.