外貌 wài mào (Appearance)
6. My Portrait
Prior Knowledge: How to play Chinese whispers
Framework Objectives
O3.3 To perform simple
communicative
tasks using single
words, phrases
and short
sentences.
L3.1 To recognise some
familiar words in
written form.
LLS Write new words.
LLS Discuss language
learning and share
ideas and
experiences.
Support
Place the children
playing Chinese
whispers in different
areas of the room
rather than a line –
help correct any
changes in
pronunciation.
Extension
Add further
conversation to own
description between
two children using
previous vocabulary
around name and
age- creating as long
a conversation as
possible.
Main
Oracy

Practise the pronunciation grid – checking carefully how much children
have progressed with this unit.

Revise body parts and colours

Play 悄悄话 qiāo-qiāo huà (Chinese Whispers) to build a portrait.
Organise children into lines, in teams of about six. Give the last child in
each team the first sentence of a written description of a facial feature,
face down, e.g. 他有棕色的头发 tā yǒu zōng sè de tóu fa (He has brown
hair). On a given signal, the children turn over their phrase and whisper it
to the next child in line. The phrase is passed along the team to the child
at the front, who then selects the correct picture and sticks it on an outline
of a face or just on a board. The game continues until the portrait is
complete.

Model writing your description as you say it aloud, e.g. Model: 你好，我
叫…我有棕色的头发 nǐ hǎo wǒ jiào…, wǒ yǒu zōng sè de tóu fa。 (Hello,
I am called ... I have brown hair).

Ask the children to suggest a new hair colour. Turn to a black-and-white
copy of your digital portrait and, using the interactive whiteboard or felt tip
pens, colour the hair and write the appropriate sentence in pinyin. The
children continue to suggest alternative colours for eyes and mouth.

Children use the model to create colourful self-portraits using black-andwhite A4 copies of their digital portraits. Using a phrase bank, children are
be given simple descriptions of themselves in both pinyin and character
forms. Some children may benefit from a personal vocabulary bank to cut
up and stick onto their portrait.
ICT opportunities
(levels of difficulty 1= easier,
3= more complex)
Pictures created using
software for Chinese Whispers
game (2)
Print out and place the best
portraits on the wall for the
‘Throughout the week
Exercise’ (1) or create an ebook that can be used on the
interactive whiteboard (3)
Research a selection of
ancient (Imperial Emperor) and
modern Chinese portraits (2)
外貌 wài mào (Appearance)
6. My Portrait
Throughout the week:
Look at the portraits on the wall and describe them with
the help of the children or read the e-book of portraits to
revise the vocabulary.
Main Follow up Activities
ICT Follow up Activities
Build a class display of the portraits and use to play the
‘Guess Who?’ game.
Use portraits and sound files /podcasts to record
conversations against the portraits. On each page of
the presentation have portraits and sound adding an
additional exchange between the 2 children (3).
Look at different forms of portraits – their own, those of
Imperial emperors, modern Chinese portraits.
Learning Outcomes
Children:
 recall and pronounce accurately up to six colours and body parts.
 explore appearance through portraits.
 describe themselves in terms of appearance.
National Curriculum Links
Primary framework for literacy
Strand 1 Speaking; Y2 - speak with clarity and use appropriate intonation.
Strand 2 Listening and responding; Y2 – listen to others in class, ask relevant
questions and follow instructions.
Strand 3 Group discussion and interaction; Y3 – actively include and respond to
al members of the group.
Art and design
5a Explore a range of starting points – for example themselves.
Teaching Tips

Ensure mixed-ability teams for Chinese Whispers. Place less confident
children at the end of the team with a partner, to select the appropriate
pictures.

Ensure the children gain a sense of historical portraits (of Emperors) and
modern portraits and self-portraits as well as different media for portraits
(paintings versus photos) .
Resources
Colour and body part flashcards.
ICT Resources
Podcasting equipment including editing software and microphone.
Software/application for creating self-portraits using clip art or drawings.
外貌 wài mào (Appearance)
6. My Portrait
老师的词汇
Teacher Language
学生的词汇
Children’s Language
悄悄话 qiāoqiāo huà
写 xiě
Chinese Whispers
Write
鼻子 bí zi
Nose
手臂 shǒu bì
Arm
手肘 shǒu zhǒu
Elbow
头 tóu
Head
头发 tóu fa
Hair
嘴巴 zuǐ ba
Mouth
腿 tuǐ
Leg
肩膀 jiān bǎng
膝盖 xīg ài
脚 jiǎo
手指 shǒu zhǐ
脚趾 jiǎo zhǐ
眼睛 yǎn jing
耳朵 ěr duo
红色 hóng sè
粉红色 fěn hóng sè
橙色 chéng sè
黄色 huáng sè
Shoulders
Knees
Feet
Fingers
Toes
Eye(s)
Ears
Red
Pink
Orange
Yellow
Blue
蓝色 lán sè
Green
绿色 lǜ sè
Black
黑色 hēi sè
White
白色 bái sè
Purple
紫罗兰色/紫色 zǐ luó lán sè/ zǐ sè
棕色/咖啡色 zōng sè / kā fēi sè
蓝色的嘴巴 lán sè de zuǐ ba
他/她有… tā /tā yǒu
你好 nǐ hǎo
我叫 wǒ jiào
Brown
A blue mouth
He/She has
Hello
I’m called…
外貌 wài mào (Appearance)
6. My Portrait
End of Unit activities
Learning Objectives

To apply the knowledge,
skills and understanding
in this unit.
Teaching Activities

Children present their
portraits and descriptions
either to their partner
school, secondary school
where Chinese is taught or
a visitor from the local
community who is native
Chinese.

Build a display of children’s
colourful portraits. The
display can then be used for
a ‘Guess Who?’ game.

Discuss their language
learning and share ideas and
experiences on the classroom
language learning log.
Learning Outcomes

Use their portraits for a variety of
purposes namely a game,
communication with others
about their identity as a source
of revision around conversations
Points to note

Children can use ICT to record, display
and, if appropriate, send information.

Link with literacy work: This work links to
making choices about which ICT
programmes to select when presenting
texts.