Start with introducing the students to new personality-based vocabulary. I used a PowerPoint with gifs showing all the new vocab so that students would get a visual understanding. I also got them to repeat each word after me. Then I gave the students 2 minutes to look over all the new vocabulary. Afterward, I got them to do janken with their partner and then had them quiz each other on the new words. 2 minutes with one student doing the English and the other student doing the Japanese and then switching. I'm not expecting them to actually remember all the new vocab at this point, I just want them to start practicing getting used to the new words.
Then I go over the information on the handout and explain to them how to make sentences about personality. For the adverb part, there is a star beside "not at all" this is because you need to explain to the students that the "not" comes before the adjective and the "at all" comes after the adjective.
Then have students write descriptions for the characters below. Tell students it is okay if they aren't familiar with the characters! They can just make up a personality for them. Also, tell students they should write at least 3 sentences for each character.
Before they start writing, explain to them that they are not allowed to draw a friend until they finish all the writing first. Students get super excited about the drawing part and if you don't tell them not to draw, they will draw instead of doing the writing activity. I also make them do the descriptions of Gudetama and Kiki first, have them share what they wrote with their partners, and then have them do the last part.
For the "draw your friend here" part, tell them they can draw anyone! It can be a family member, teacher, anime character, etc, because some students are too shy to draw a classmate.
(Prior to this handout I did a lesson on zodiac signs and explained how in Western culture we tend to use zodiac/star signs to describe personality types instead of blood types. I went through all the star signs and their personality traits and had students discuss whether they thought they were accurate. In my presentation, I included teachers from our school and their zodiac signs as well as some famous characters/people so I'm not uploading that presentation just because it's very personalized to my school! But it was a really good way for students to practice the new personality vocabulary. )
I love the idea of getting students to describe different characters.
This is a great idea, I'm trying to make my own introduction to describing words to fit the activity - but I'm struggling with explaining 'charming' because when I look for translations into Japanese, as far as I know, it doesn't seem to carry the nuance that it would in English. Any advice?
@Sean1112 魅力的 (miryokuteki) is probably the closest word
Thanks!