Personality Party

Setup

You will need some suitable background music to play during the party. If you have the Internet available, why not let the students choose it in class.

The students will also need a set of personalities/alter-egos to take on (see below). With small classes you could prepare these yourself, but it is often easier for the students to do it at the start of the activity.

However, if you have a specific set of vocabulary (e.g. personality adjectives) to practise, prepare these on cards beforehand to ensure each student has a different trait.

Activity

1. If you don’t already have them, the students prepare their alter-egos. Encourage them to be creative and imaginative! They should include some or all of the following (focus may be shifted according to your target language): Name, Age, Nationality / Residence, Family, Education, Job, Hobbies and Interests, Personality etc.
2. Give out any prepared cards (e.g. for personality traits) to the students at random. The students will need the notebook/paper with their alter-ego, and a pen/pencil. They must not show any of their information to anyone else at any point.
3. Students take on their alter-egos and role-play a party situation. Play the background music and dim the lights a little if possible. You could even bring in drinks and snacks if you wish!
4. The students have to mingle, introduce themselves and talk to each other. They note down the information that they find out about other people after each interaction. They also note down the personality traits they think each person is acting.
5. After the students have had chance to speak to most other people, the party ends and they sit down. As a class, or in small groups, they discuss what they found out, using the target language. If personality traits were included, it is revealed if other students guessed the correct adjective.

Target Language

As the name suggests, the Personality Party ESL activity is commonly used to practise describing people with personality adjectives. You could also ask students to focus on talking about their jobs, or their hobbies. As such it’s a great way to practise making introductions and giving personal information in general.

With slightly higher level intermediate students, there is also the option of practising some basic reported speech. When discussing what they learned about each person, students should report what that person said. For example, Michelle said that she liked basketball, or Michelle said that she had studied medicine.