Matchmaker

Pre-intermediate (A2) 25 minutes
ESL Matchmaking Activity preview for Pre-intermediate A2 showing student worksheet on vocabulary, personality, and group interview task

ESL Matchmaking Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Form Completion, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work

In this intriguing describing personality speaking activity, students become matchmakers and try to find a match for a friend or relative by asking and answering questions. In two groups...

ESL Matchmaking Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Form Completion, Asking and Answering Questions - Group Work In this intriguing describing personality speaking activity, students become matchmakers and try to find a match for a friend or relative by asking and answering questions. In two groups, students think of a male or female friend or relative who is single and would like to find a partner. Students then complete a profile about the person which includes their appearance, positive and negative personality traits, interests, etc. Next, students speak to the people in the other group and try to find a partner for their friend or relative by interviewing as many people as possible before deciding on the best match. Afterwards, students tell the class about the most suitable match they found and explain the reasons for their choice.
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Who's coming to dinner?

Pre-intermediate (A2) 25 minutes
ESL Character Adjectives Activity preview for Pre-intermediate A2 showing dinner party selection and matching worksheet

ESL Character Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Table Completion, Discussion, Communicative Practice - Pair Work

In this communicative describing character speaking activity, students practice character adjectives through a dinner party scenario. In pairs, students take turns...

ESL Character Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Matching, Table Completion, Discussion, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this communicative describing character speaking activity, students practice character adjectives through a dinner party scenario. In pairs, students take turns reading clues to their partner, who matches the information to a person in a dinner party invite list and a character adjective. Both students then complete the list with the information. When the list is complete, pairs discuss and choose three people to invite to their dinner party based on their character and talents. Students then write the details down and give reasons for their choices. Finally, pairs tell the class who they invited to their dinner party and why.
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You've Got Personality

Pre-intermediate (A2) 25 minutes
ESL Personality and Character Worksheet preview for Pre-intermediate A2 showing vocabulary word search and sentence practice

ESL Personality and Character Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Word Search, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Discussion, Communicative Practice - Pair Work

In this useful personality and character adjectives worksheet, students learn and practice 14 adjectives that describe personality or character...

ESL Personality and Character Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Word Search, Gap-fill - Speaking Activity: Discussion, Communicative Practice - Pair Work In this useful personality and character adjectives worksheet, students learn and practice 14 adjectives that describe personality or character. First, students find personality and character adjectives in a word search. Students then complete definitions with the personality and character adjectives. Next, students complete sentences with the adjectives of personality and character, adding the prefix 'un-' where necessary. Lastly, in pairs, students discuss the best and worst qualities of each type of person shown using the personality and character adjectives.
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Personality Adjectives

Intermediate (B1) 30 minutes
ESL Personality Adjectives Worksheet preview for Intermediate B1 showing matching and categorising tasks

ESL Personality Adjectives Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Categorising, Gap-Fill, Binary Choice, Writing a Description

Here is a free describing personality worksheet to help students learn and practice a variety of personality adjectives. First, students match personality...

ESL Personality Adjectives Worksheet - Vocabulary Exercises: Matching, Categorising, Gap-Fill, Binary Choice, Writing a Description Here is a free describing personality worksheet to help students learn and practice a variety of personality adjectives. First, students match personality adjectives from a box with definitions. Students then match each personality adjective with its opposite. Next, students categorise the personality adjectives, according to whether they have a positive, neutral or negative meaning. After that, students complete sentences with the personality adjectives. Students then move on to complete a description of a teacher by underlining the correct personality adjectives. Finally, students write a description of someone they know using the personality adjectives and then read their descriptions to the class.
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The Happy Days Inn

Intermediate (B1) 20 minutes
ESL Personality Adjectives Activity preview for Intermediate B1 showing hotel guest matching task

ESL Personality Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Describing, Guessing, Matching, Table Completion - Pair Work

In this productive describing personality speaking activity, students match hotel guests to rooms from descriptions of their personalities. In pairs...

ESL Personality Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Describing, Guessing, Matching, Table Completion - Pair Work In this productive describing personality speaking activity, students match hotel guests to rooms from descriptions of their personalities. In pairs, students take turns finding out who is staying in each hotel room by asking their partner to describe the guest staying there, e.g. 'What's the person in room 1 like?' Their partner then looks at the bottom table and describes the personality adjective written below the person's name without using the adjective or person's name in their description, e.g. 'This person likes to talk with other people.' The other student listens and then tries to match the description to a personality adjective and person in the bottom table, e.g. 'Is it Mario?' When the student guesses correctly, they write the hotel guest's name under the room number. The activity continues until both students have found out who is staying in all the hotel rooms. The first pair to finish wins.
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What do they do for a living?

Intermediate (B1) 40 minutes
ESL Characterising Activity preview for Intermediate B1 showing worksheet for describing jobs and personalities

ESL Characterising Activity - Vocabulary: Writing Descriptions, Matching - Group Work

In this insightful characterising activity, students describe and characterise people in certain jobs and then use the descriptions to match pictures of people to the jobs. In groups, students describe and characterise the sort of person who...

ESL Characterising Activity - Vocabulary: Writing Descriptions, Matching - Group Work In this insightful characterising activity, students describe and characterise people in certain jobs and then use the descriptions to match pictures of people to the jobs. In groups, students describe and characterise the sort of person who does each job shown using adjectives of character, personality and appearance. Next, groups look at their descriptions and assess which description should go with which picture and why. Students may also consider the appearance and overall impressions they get from the pictures to help them make their decisions. Finally, groups compare their ideas and the correct answers are revealed.
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Personality Adjectives Crossword

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL Personality Adjectives Activity preview for Upper-intermediate B2 showing crossword puzzle for adjectives and opposites

ESL Personality Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary: Defining, Guessing - Pair Work

Here is an enjoyable personality adjectives crossword to help students practice adjectives of personality and their opposites. In pairs, students take turns asking their partner for a clue to one of their missing personality adjectives...

ESL Personality Adjectives Activity - Vocabulary: Defining, Guessing - Pair Work Here is an enjoyable personality adjectives crossword to help students practice adjectives of personality and their opposites. In pairs, students take turns asking their partner for a clue to one of their missing personality adjectives. Their partner reads out the definition of the personality adjective, and the other student tries to guess what it is. If the student guesses the word successfully, they write it on their crossword. If not, their partner continues to give more clues until the student is able to guess the adjective. Afterwards, students check their spelling by comparing crosswords.
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Personality Traits

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL Personality Traits Activity preview for Upper-intermediate B2 showing worksheet on asking and answering questions about personality

ESL Personality Traits Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Providing Vocabulary, Freer Practice

In this free describing personality speaking activity, students practice asking and answering questions about personality traits. Students begin by going...

ESL Personality Traits Activity - Vocabulary and Speaking: Asking and Answering Questions, Providing Vocabulary, Freer Practice In this free describing personality speaking activity, students practice asking and answering questions about personality traits. Students begin by going through the items on the worksheet and forming the questions they need to ask to do the activity, e.g. 'Do you like to try new or exciting things?' Students then go around the class, asking and answering the questions about personality traits and completing the worksheet with classmates' answers. When a classmate answers 'yes' to a question, the student writes down their name and asks them to give an example of the trait, e.g. 'Last week, I went skydiving.' Afterwards, go through each item and elicit the adjective that describes the personality trait.
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What am I like?

Upper-intermediate (B2) 30 minutes
ESL Personality Adjectives Game preview for Upper-intermediate B2 showing clue writing and group guessing game

ESL Personality Adjectives Game - Speaking and Vocabulary: Writing Clues, Describing, Guessing - Group Work

Here is an engaging describing personality game to help students practice positive and negative personality adjectives. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and describing the personality...

ESL Personality Adjectives Game - Speaking and Vocabulary: Writing Clues, Describing, Guessing - Group Work Here is an engaging describing personality game to help students practice positive and negative personality adjectives. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and describing the personality adjective to the group by making sentences with always, usually and hardly ever, writing each sentence on the card as they go. For example, if the personality adjective was adaptable, the student might say, 'I always adjust to new conditions. I usually respond well to change. I'm hardly ever inflexible.' The student is not allowed to say the adjective or variations of the word in their description. The first student to successfully guess the personality adjective being described wins and keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins. Afterwards, review the students' sentences for each personality adjective and have the class agree on a set of clues for each one.
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What are they like?

Upper-intermediate (B2) 25 minutes
ESL Personality Adjectives Game preview for Upper-intermediate B2 showing group card-based guessing activity

ESL Personality Adjectives Game - Speaking and Vocabulary: Describing, Guessing - Group Work

In this fun personality adjectives game, students define and guess adjectives related to personality. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and describing the personality adjective in...

ESL Personality Adjectives Game - Speaking and Vocabulary: Describing, Guessing - Group Work In this fun personality adjectives game, students define and guess adjectives related to personality. In groups, students take turns picking up a card and describing the personality adjective in bold to the group, without saying the adjective or using the underlined words on the card. The first student to successfully guess the personality adjective being described wins and keeps the card. If no one manages to correctly guess the adjective, the student describing keeps the card. The student with the most cards at the end of the game wins.
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You've Changed!

Upper-intermediate (B2) 20 minutes
ESL Describing Character Activity preview for Upper-intermediate B2 showing sentence completion and matching worksheet

ESL Describing Character Activity - Vocabulary: Sentence Completion, Matching

In this creative describing characteristics activity, students practice the meanings of character adjectives and their opposites. First, students complete sentences on cards demonstrating the characteristic shown without using any form of...

ESL Describing Character Activity - Vocabulary: Sentence Completion, Matching In this creative describing characteristics activity, students practice the meanings of character adjectives and their opposites. First, students complete sentences on cards demonstrating the characteristic shown without using any form of the adjective in their sentences. Students then go around the class reading their sentences to one another to find a partner with the opposite characteristic. If two students think their sentences show opposite characteristics, they sit down together. When everyone has found a partner, go through the students' sentences and check they are paired correctly, eliciting the matching character adjectives as you go.
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Using Character and Personality Vocabulary

Character and personality vocabulary refers to the adjectives and phrases used to describe how someone behaves, thinks, and relates to other people. Students who rely on a small set of basic adjectives like 'nice' or 'bad' produce descriptions that feel flat and imprecise, which makes it harder for them to talk about people convincingly in conversation, writing, or job-related tasks.

This page covers describing character and personality across A2, B1, and B2 levels, with eleven resources ranging from vocabulary worksheets and information gap activities to group guessing games, including two free downloads.

How to Use Character and Personality Vocabulary

Describing People to Others: Use precise adjectives rather than vague ones when introducing or recommending someone. Instead of saying a person is 'nice' or 'good,' choose adjectives that show a specific quality, for example 'She's methodical, patient, and very supportive of the people she works with.'

Contrasting Positive and Negative Traits: Balance descriptions by pairing a strength with a limitation to give a realistic picture. This sounds far more natural than listing only positives or negatives, for example 'He's incredibly driven, but he can be quite impatient when things move slowly.'

Showing Change Over Time: Use contrasting adjectives with past and present tenses to describe how someone has developed, for example 'She used to be quite reserved, but she's become much more assertive since she changed roles.'

3-Step Framework for Teaching Character and Personality Vocabulary

1. Start with a Vocabulary Foundation: Students work through a word search and gap-fill to build a core set of personality and character adjectives, then practice forming sentences with those adjectives and add the prefix 'un-' where it applies. The session ends with a pair discussion where students use the new vocabulary to weigh up the best and worst qualities of different types of people.

2. Build Fluency with an Information Gap Activity: Move into productive practice with a hotel scenario where students take turns asking their partner to describe a guest in a specific room. Questions like 'What's the person in room 1 like?' prompt the partner to describe the personality without saying the adjective or the person's name, using clues such as 'This person likes to talk with other people.'

3. Sharpen Active Production with a Guessing Game: Push students to describe personality adjectives using sentences with always, usually, and hardly ever. A student describing 'adaptable' might say 'I always adjust to new conditions. I usually respond well to change. I'm hardly ever inflexible.' The student cannot say the adjective itself, so the group has to listen carefully and reason their way to the answer.

Common Mistakes with Character and Personality Vocabulary

Overusing 'Very' Instead of Choosing a Stronger Adjective: Students often intensify adjectives by adding 'very' rather than choosing a more precise word, which makes their descriptions sound repetitive and limits the range of vocabulary they produce. Wrong: 'She is very angry and very tired all the time.' Correct: 'She is furious and exhausted all the time.'

Using the Wrong Preposition with Personality Adjectives: Students often attach the wrong preposition to a personality adjective, or leave it out entirely, which produces phrases that sound unnatural even when the adjective itself is correct. Wrong: 'He is very kind with everyone and interested about his work.' Correct: 'He is very kind to everyone and interested in his work.'

Common Questions About Teaching Character and Personality Vocabulary

What is a useful worksheet for teaching personality adjectives?

The free worksheet Personality Adjectives takes students from matching adjectives with definitions to categorizing them as positive, neutral, or negative in meaning. Students then complete a description of a teacher by underlining the correct adjectives, before writing and reading aloud a description of someone they know.

What is a fun game for practicing personality adjectives?

Describing without naming is one of the most productive ways to lock in new vocabulary. The game What are they like? has students pick up a card and describe the personality adjective in bold to the group, without saying the adjective or using the underlined words on the card. The first to guess correctly wins and keeps the card.

What is a good speaking activity for practicing personality traits?

Mingle activities suit personality vocabulary well because every student becomes both a data collector and a source. In the free activity Personality Traits, students go around the class asking and answering questions about personality traits and noting classmates' answers. When a classmate answers 'yes,' the student writes their name down and asks them to give an example of the trait.

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