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Appearance and Personality: A London Street Interview

About This Lesson

In this listening exercise, we'll practice understanding how people describe their appearance and personality. You'll learn vocabulary for talking about physical characteristics and personality traits.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand descriptions of appearance and personality
  • Learn adjectives for describing people
  • Practice talking about yourself and others

Pre-Listening Task

Match the words with their definitions:
Outgoing
Shy
Friendly
Opinionated
Easy-going
Sociable
Relaxed
Get along

Listening Task

A. Fill in the gaps with the words you hear.

Ag = Agata An = Annika C = Catherine E = Ed Je = Jerry Ju = Junko R = Renae S = Seosamh

Tell us about your appearance and personality.

Ju: My hair is dark and , and my eyes are .

R: I have green eyes and my hair is , and I'm , I like to and to people.

S: My eyes are blue, my hair is brown, and it's a bit , it's getting a bit , and I am six foot three . I am a bit , at times.

An: I am tall, blonde hair, blue eyes. My personality is rather but when I'm more friends with people, I like to talk a lot and I like to .

Je: My eyes are . My hair is , it's bald. I'm . I think I'm, talk to a lot of people, fairly easy. I'm also.

E: I have short black hair. I have brown eyes. I , well, reading glasses anyway, and my personality is, I'm a very , normally quite and I with everyone and I'd say I'm a very, I'm a very friendly person as well.

Ag: I am , I am nice and I am .

C: I am friendly, I am , I am outgoing and I am .

B. Who says what? Write the correct name.
Statement Who?
Has dark long hair and dark eyes
Is six foot three tall and sometimes nervous
Is shy with new people but likes to make jokes with friends
Is bald, friendly, and opinionated
Wears glasses and gets along with everyone
Is an introvert but friendly and nice

Post-Listening Task

Answer the questions about the people in the video.
What does Renae like to do because she is outgoing?
What happens to Annika when she becomes friends with people?
What three words does Catherine use to describe her personality?

Grammar Focus: Describing Appearance and Personality

Notice how the speakers use different structures to describe themselves:

For appearance:

  • "My hair is dark and long"
  • "I have green eyes"
  • "I wear glasses"

For personality:

  • "I am outgoing"
  • "I am a bit nervous"
  • "I am very easy-going"

Remember: Use adjectives to describe personality traits. Many personality adjectives end with -y: friendly, shy, easy-going.

Try It Yourself

Think for a second and write three sentences about your appearance and three sentences about your personality.

Example: I have brown hair. My eyes are green. I am friendly and I like to meet new people.

Translation

Translate into English: