having fun with teaching vocabulary

1. Vocabulary through painting:
a class experiment

2. LESSON PLAN
NAME: BIANCA BOSOIU
CLASS: 12th (advanced)
NO. OF STUDENTS: 19
SCHOOL: LICEUL “SIMION MEHEDINȚI” VIDRA
TIME OF LESSON : 50’
LESSON: Vocabulary through painting
LESSON AIMS:
 to learn new adjectives related to feelings and emotions
 to find synonyms and antonyms in order to better understand the meaning of the words
 to describe people’s emotions and feelings by expressing opinion on several famous
portraits
 to form compound adjectives referring to personality by matching appropriate suffixes
 to learn and use colour idioms referring to personality
 to write a short dialogue between two characters from a painting
MATERIALS:
 worksheets
 laptop
 video projector
 paintings

3. ACTIVITY 1
 to learn new adjectives related to feelings and emotion and to revise already known
ones
 to find positive and negative meaning and to collaborate with colleagues in order to
find the meaning of the unknown words
 to describe people s emotions and feelings by analyzing portraits
PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING
Ss are given worksheets containing adjectives referring to
feelings and emotions and are asked to identify three
adjectives from the list for each column (positive, negative
and unknown). The teacher asks Ss to help their colleagues
find the meaning of the unknown adjectives by providing
synonym from the list.
The teacher shows to the Ss some famous portraits and they
are asked to use adjectives from the list to describe the
feelings each character expresses.
T-Ss
IW
20’

4. ADJECTIVES DESCRIBING FEELINGS AND
EMOTIONS
positive negative
unknown
???
aggreived amazed ambitious amused angry
annoyed anxious apathetic arrogant ashamed
assertive awed bewildered bored cautious
cheerful confident confused content cruel
defiant depressed determined disappointed
disgusted disturbed dull elated embarrassed
enthusiastic envious excited frantic friendly
generous gentle gleeful greedy grumpy happy
hesitant jealous jittery joyous lively
melancholic motivated mysterious nervous
obedient obstinate optimistic outraged
petulant pleased proud relieved reluctant
remorseful repulsive sad sarcastic scared
sensitive shy stubborn surprised terrible
thankful thrilled tired uptight witty worried
zealous
1.
2.
3.
1.
2
3.
1.
2.
3.

6. ACTIVITY 2
 to teach Ss colour idioms connected with personality
 to use the idioms in the correct places
PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING
The teacher presents the Ss a Ppt material in which they
see three famous paintings that use colour as the means of
conveying emotions.
Ss receive worksheets containing colour idioms and have
to fill in the blank spaces with the given colours so as to
make appropriate phrases. Ss read out the sentences.
T-Ss
GW
PW
15’

7. $75.1 million
No 1 (Royal Red and Blue)
by Mark Rothko, 2012
$80,000,000
False Start
by Jasper Jones
$140,000,000
No.5
by Jackson Pollock

8. Complete the sentences with one of the colours from the box. Each colour can be used to complete or make an idiom
or other expression (in bold). Some of the colours have to be used more than once.
black blue green grey pink red white yellow
1. Elsa congratulated me on getting the job, but I could tell that secretly she was _____ with envy.
2. Generally I'm a very calm, relaxed person. But when people are rude to me, I start to see _____.
3. Everyone in my family is a teacher, but I decided from a young age that I wanted to be an actor. I guess I've
always been the _____ sheep.
4. You can ask me to lend you money until you're _____ in the face, but my answer is still 'No'.
5. Your report is full of errors and spelling mistakes. I don't think you were using your _____ matter when you
wrote it.
6. I had a real _____-letter day yesterday: my boss gave me a pay rise, I won £60 on the lottery, and my boyfriend
took me to my favourite restaurant for dinner.
7. He would never argue with or contradict his boss. He's far too _____.
8. I feel terrible this morning because I was out painting the town _____ last night, and didn’t get much sleep.
9. What's the matter with you? You've been in a _____ mood all evening.
10. What’s that the matter with you today? You seem really _______. Is there something you’d like to talk about?
11. Anna was tickled __________ that her fiancé had made such an effort for her birthday.
12. Harold are you alright? You’re as _____________ as a sheet, what’s the matter?

9. ACTIVITY 3
 to use the new words in writing activities
 to enhance Ss’ imagination and creativity
PROCEDURE INTERACTION TIMING
The teacher has Ss work in four groups and each of the
groups receive a painting which contains two characters. Ss
have to write a short dialogue for each of the four paintings
using adjectives from previous activities.
GW 15’

10. American Gothic
Grant Wood
The Morning Walk
Thomas Gainsborough
The Card Players
Paul Cezanne
The Creation of Adam
Michelangelo