Review descriptive adjectives for people and introduce synonyms for these adjectives to enhance and expand vocabulary.
Upper Beginner/High School
50 minutes
taboo flashcards, crumbled paper, dry-erase markers
Arrange desks into groups for teams. Also, write synonyms on the board for the cards that are handed out.
Today, we will start by reviewing adjectives. Class do we all remember what an adjective is? It is a word that describes a noun. A noun, which is a person place or thing. Those words that we all just identified are adjectives that we are familiar with. Review adjectives learned in last class. Divide class into two teams. Class stands in two lines facing each other. Teacher draws a word out of a bag and reads it out loud. Whichever student knows the word, grabs the paper first. Then the student has to use the word in a sentence. Each team gets a point for whoever grabs the paper first, knows the word and uses it correctly in a sentence. Each student draws once until everyone has gone.
Each student who won each round holds on to their card. Winning team gets to pick our next movie, with teacher approval.
“Now we are going to learn some new adjectives. We are going to learn some synonyms for those words. We all remember what a synonym is right? Can someone tell me what a synonym is? Great. So, on the board we have all the synonyms of the words that we just reviewed. Now in the pairs that you just competed against, I want you to discuss which word you think is the correct synonym for the word on your card. Take 5 minutes. One person from each team tapes the word next to the synonym. Then the teacher asks students if they know which word is correct, and as a class we correct. Then I present a rule.
RULE: adjectives that end in –ed are used to describe how people feel.
Adjectives that end in –ing are used to describe the characteristic of a person or thing.
Looking at this list of adjectives on the board. Who wants to come and circle the words ending in -ing.
Who wants to come circle the words ending in -ed? Great! So I then hand out a sheet with all of the – ing vs. –ed endings that are different and tell them to store it in their binder.
In the two teams that you are currently divided into, we will now play taboo. I write the word taboo on the board. Does anyone know what this word means? Let’s

say it together class. Ta-boo. Taboo means something that is forbidden, something that is unacceptable. Something that is not allowed by society. Example: In the U.S. it’s considered taboo to discuss politics with strangers. In Thailand it is taboo to speak ill against the king or queen. The game is played like this. There are two teams, which compete. Team A, and Team B. Three people from each team will volunteer to go first. The first volunteer will pick a card like this. Show class the card. There is one word on the top which is underlined and three words below that word. The volunteer describes and models the underlined word for the class, but they cannot use any of the words on the card, including the underlined word. One volunteer from the opposite team, the competing team will watch them to make sure they don’t use any of the words on the card. If they do, they yell STOP! And that team loses. The volunteer goes through as many cards as they can! When someone guesses the word, the volunteer can pick another card, and that team gets a point. The last volunteer from the opposite team will be the timekeeper. The goal is for your team to guess as many words as possible in 30 seconds! And lastly, the team must use each word they guessed correctly in a sentence after the 30 seconds is up otherwise they don’t get the point!