Personality Adjectives Practice for ESL Students

English students need to learn how to describe character and personality in English to be successful communicators, but this is no simple task for learners. Plan activities that are engaging and relevant to your students to make the content of these lessons more meaningful. Start with these fun vocabulary-building exercises. Introducing the Activity These intermediate-level exercises allow ESL students to practice conversational skills while focusing on broadening their character adjective vocabulary. Students will use questionnaires to develop their personal description vocabulary in addition to completing matching and fill-in-the-blank exercises that test their understanding. To begin your lesson, pair students up and ask them to give each other the questionnaire in Exercise 1. Have students check for the correctness of questionnaire answers together afterward. Then, either together or independently, have students complete Exercises 2 and 3. Personality Description Practice Exercise 1 Ask your partners the following yes or no questions about a friend or family member. Listen carefully to what they have to say and record their answers with any additional details or examples they provide. Are they usually in a good mood?Is it important to them that they always be successful?Do they notice your feelings?Do they often give presents or pay for things for you?Do they work hard?Do they become angry or annoyed if they have to wait for something or someone?Can you trust them with a secret?Are they a good listener?Do they keep their feelings to themself?Do they find it easy not to worry about things?Do they seem to think that everything will always turn out okay?Do they often change their opinion about things?Do they postpone things or procrastinate?Are they happy one moment and then sad the next?Do they generally like to be with and around people? Exercise 2 Match these adjectives to the qualities described in the questionnaire. Note for teachers: For an extension activity, have students write the opposite of each adjective as well. generouseasygoingambitiouscheerfulhardworkingtrustworthyimpatientoptimisticsensitivemoodysociableindecisivereservedlazyattentive Exercise 3 Use a character adjective to fill in the blanks. Search the context of each sentence for clues about which adjectives would make sense. Hes the type of person whos always whistling at work. He rarely gets angry or depressed, so Id say hes a rather ______________ person.Shes a bit difficult to keep up with. One day shes happy, the next shes depressed. You could say shes a ______________ person.Peter sees the good in everybody and everything. Hes a very ______________ coworker.Hes always in a rush and worried hes going to miss something. Its hard to work with him because hes really ______________.Jennifer always makes sure that everybody is taken care of. Shes very ______________ to the needs of others.You can believe anything she says and rely on her to do anything. In fact, shes probably the most ______________ person I know.Dont count on any work getting done with him around. He doesnt usually work very hard and can be pretty ______________.Id say she cant be disturbed by anything and shes happy to do whatever youd like. Shes very ______________.Be careful about what you say to Jack. Hes so ______________ that he mi ght start to cry if you made  a joke about his strange-looking shirt.  I swear shed give the deed to her house to anyone that needed it. To say she is ______________ is an understatement! Exercise 3 Answers It is up to you what adjectives you want your students to use to answer Exercise 3, but here are some sample answers that would work. cheerful/easygoingmoody/sensitiveoptimisticimpatient/ambitiousattentivetrustworthylazyeasygoing/cheerfulsensitive/moodygenerous Sample Personality Adjectives Follow up this vocabulary-building activity by teaching your students more adjectives to describe personality traits. Help them understand that there are countless words that can be used to describe the same quality. The following five personality traits are considered by psychologists to be the main qualities of character. This table gives adjectives to describe a person based on whether they do (positive adjectives) or do not (negative adjectives) possess a given quality. For example, a person who displays agreeableness is cooperative. Familiarize your students with these adjectives and provide them with authentic opportunities for practice using them. Sample Personality Adjectives Personality Trait Positive Adjectives Negative Adjectives Extroversion outgoing, talkative, social, friendly, lively, active, fun shy, reserved, quiet, timid, antisocial, withdrawn Openness open-minded, receptive, nonjudgmental, flexible, curious narrow-minded, rigid, stubborn, judgmental, discriminating Conscientiousness hardworking, punctual, thoughtful, organized, careful, cautious, obedient, responsible lazy, flaky, careless, reckless, irresponsible, negligent, rash Neuroticism patient, optimistic, easygoing, calm, self-assured, stable, reasonable impatient, pessimistic, brooding, anxious, sensitive, moody, insecure Agreeableness good-natured, forgiving, amenable, genial, consenting, generous, cheerful, cooperative disagreeable, ill-tempered, irritable, rude, spiteful, bitter, uncooperative More adjectives that can be used to describe aspects of someone's personality based on big five traits