DiscoverPractical Proficiency PodcastUNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction
UNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction

UNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction

Update: 2025-03-24
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The ability to describe people - both physically and by personality - isn't just another vocabulary list in your world language curriculum. It's a pivotal developmental milestone on your students' language journey, marking their transition from me-centered language to a broader world of expression.

Devon Gunning breaks down why description skills serve as the defining characteristic separating novice low, mid, and high levels according to the latest ACTFL Performance Descriptors. 

 This episode provides age-appropriate strategies for making description relevant and engaging, with practical activities you can implement immediately: celebrity "Guess Who" games, dating app profiles for fictional characters, picture talks, and multimodal matching activities that provide abundant comprehensible input.

For Romance language teachers, Devon offers a refreshing perspective on teaching grammatical gender - skip the extensive rules and instead provide pattern-rich input that allows students to discover the patterns themselves. 

Resources Mentioned: 

French 1 Physical Descriptions Task Cards

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/French-1-Physical-Description-Vocabulary-Adjective-Agreement-Games-10690811

Practical Proficiency Curriculum with Units: https://lalibrelanguagelearning.mykajabi.com/practical-proficiency-curriculum-world-language-info




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UNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction

UNIT IDEAS: Description - Physical and Personality Traits Units for Proficiency-Oriented Instruction

Devon Gunning | La Libre Language Learning