Everyday English Describing a Place: Student...
Transcript of Everyday English Describing a Place: Student...
© 2013, Wadhwani Foundation. All Rights reserved.
Everyday English
Describing a Place: Student guide
Functional English Training for Professionals
© 2013, Wadhwani Foundation. All Rights reserved.
Introduction
“Hello everyone! My name is Malini, and I stay in
Mysore.
Mysore has a small population and a rich historical
background. It is known as the City of Palaces, and is
a famous tourist attraction in India.
Why don’t you tell me about the place you live in? “
Take five minutes to write about it in your
handbook.
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Learning Objectives
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Grammar and Vocabulary
Grammar
• Adjectives
• Adverbs
Vocabulary
• Located, Close, Far
• Population,
Community
• Cold, Hot, Foggy,
Rainy
• Beautiful, Famous
• Big, Small, Tall,
• Very, Too, Many
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Let’s learn some commonly used categories for describing a place:
Location: A place can be described by its location, or its relation to other
locations. For example, you can describe a place by saying “Ooty is about
600 kilometers from Chennai.”
Here are other ways of describing a place by its location:
Ooty is located in the
Nilgiri Hills.
It takes about 4 hours to reach Mysore
from Bangalore.
Describing a Place - Location
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People: A place can also be described by the number of people living
there, or the type of people and what they do. You can describe a place
by saying “It has a population of 8 lakh people.”
Here are other ways of describing a place by its location:
Describing a Place - People
The Todas are a tribal
community that live in
Ooty.
Tipu Sultan was once the ruler of
Mysore. He is known as ‘The Tiger of
Mysore.’
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Climate: Climate describes the weather of a place over a long time
period. You can describe a place by its climate by saying “It has a cold
climate.”
Here are other ways of describing a place by its climate:
Describing a Place - Climate
It rains heavily in Mumbai
between July and September.
The mornings in Ooty
are usually cold and
foggy.
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Tourist Attractions: The tourist attractions of a place are the things that
a place is famous for. You can describe a place by saying “It is known for
its flower gardens.”
Here are other ways of describing a place by its tourist attractions:
Describing a Place – Tourist Attractions
Mysore is known as
the City of Palaces.
Ooty has 4 beautiful
waterfalls.
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Match the following sentences to the type of description.
• It’s 3 kilometers from my house X Tourist Attractions
• It has a population of 30,000 X Climate
• It gets very hot in July X Location
• There is a very beautiful fountain at X People
the center of that building
Interactive Exercise: Match the Following
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Writing Exercise: Describe the Picture
Look at the picture given below. The description for the picture is incomplete. Fill in the blanks in your handbook with the words given here.
The Taj Mahal is a famous _______ in India that
draws millions of visitors every year. It is _____ in
Agra, a city in Uttar Pradesh. It was built as the final
resting place for Mumtaz Mahal, the third wife of
Mughal emperor Shah Jahan. The name _______
means “crown of palaces”. It is made of _____
marble and took ______ years to be built.
The Taj Mahal has a large white dome that is called
an ‘onion dome’ due to its______ . It is surrounded
by four smaller domes. The Taj Mahal complex includes a large_____ , a pool, and mosques.
(garden, located, shape, Taj Mahal, tourist attraction, twenty, white)
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Adjectives and Adverbs are words or groups of words that describe a
noun and a verb respectively. Adverbs can also be used to describe an
adjective, or another adverb.
For example:
• Ajay bought a yellow scooter which is very fast.
• Ajay is quickly learning to drive long distances.
In the above sentences, 'yellow', 'fast' and 'long' are adjectives as they
describe the nouns 'scooter' and 'distance' respectively.
‘Very’ is an adverb as it describes the adjective ‘fast’ and in the first
sentence. ‘Quickly’ is also an adverb as it modifies the verb 'learning'.
Adjectives and Adverbs
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Summary: Describing a Place
Here are different ways of describing a place. Take 5 minutes to read this table.
Location:
A place can be described by its location, or its relation to other locations.
People:
A place can also be described by the number of people living there, or the type of people and what they do.
Climate:
Climate is the weather condition of a place over a long time period.
Tourist Attractions:
The tourist attractions of a place are the things that the place is famous for.
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Pair Work: Describing Hyderabad
• Form pairs.
• Read the sentences carefully and identify the category where
each sentence should belong. You have 7 minutes for this.
• As soon as the time is up, read out your answers to your
partner.
• After all the students have read their answers, the facilitator
will read out the correct answers.
• The students should make corrections in the notebook,
wherever necessary.
• Remember, you need to identify if the description is based on
location, people, climate or tourist attractions.
Location People ClimateTourist
Attractions
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Pair Activity: Describing Hyderabad
Location People ClimateTourist
Attractions
• Hyderabad is a famous Indian city located in South
India.
• Hyderabad is known for the Golkonda Fort, Hussain
Sagar lake and Hyderabadi biryani.
• Hyderabad has a population of about 6.8
million people.
• Hyderabad is known for its hot weather.
• Hyderabad was historically known as a pearl and
diamond trading centre, and it continues to be known
as the City of Pearls.
• In summer, the temperature is Hyderabad can go as
high as 40 °C.
• The people of Hyderabad speak Telugu, Hindi and
Urdu.
• Currently, Hyderabad is the common capital for the
states of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
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Group Activity – Describe a Place
1. Form groups with 5 people in each group.
2. One person from each group will step forward and describe their
hometown or neighbourhood.
3. You need to describe your neighbourhood using all the
categories (location, people, climate and attractions), as well as
adjectives and adverbs.
4. At end of the activity, the team should share the best answers
with the other groups in the room.
Time: 10 minutes
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Check your Learning – Describing a
Place
Match the following sentences to the type of description.
• New Delhi is quite far from Bangalore. X People
• New Delhi is very hot in the summer. X Location
• New Delhi is famous for the Red Fort. X Climate
• New Delhi has a large population
of Punjabis. X Tourist Attractions
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Check your Learning – Adjectives & Adverbs
• Hyderabad is a ____city.
• Bigger
• Biggest
• Big
• Too Big
• The _____ sun was shining all
day
• Bright
• Sunny
• Confused
• Brightly
• The sun was shining _____.
• Very Bright
• Brightly
• At night
• Confused
• I was _____ tired after climbing
the hill.
• How
• Very
• Much
• Two
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Check your Learning – Adjectives & Adverbs
• The Taj Mahal is the ____ popular
tourist attraction in India.
• Very
• More
• Most
• Much
• New Delhi is ___ than Agra.
• Bigger
• Biggest
• Big
• Very Big
• The cricket match was ___ good.
• Three
• Two
• To
• Too
• Utility building is the ____building in
Bangalore.
• Tall
• Taller
• Tallest
• Short
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Action Plan
Think of all that you have learnt in this class, and apply it in everyday situations.
Maintain a diary and show your progress to your teacher.
• In the next 2 days:
• Describe the area you live in to your friend.
• Describe the area you live in, using 3 adjectives and 2 adverbs.
• In the next 14 days:
• Write a postcard to your friend describing your hometown.
• Listen to your teachers and make a note of all the adjectives and adverbs you
hear.
• In the next 1 month:
• Write a short essay on your favorite place in India. Use all the categories of
places, adjectives and adverbs.
Keep practising!