As much as we don’t want to admit it, clothing plays a huge role in first impressions. How many times have you stood in front of a closet thinking, “I have nothing to wear” when actually, you have plenty of things to wear, just not the right combination for this particular event with these particular people? With English language learners, first impressions are made even before they begin to speak.  This activity will allow students to talk about clothing and the impressions, intentional or unintentional, certain clothing may give.

Materials: A set of 12 person cards for each group + one extra set for the instructor; scrap paper

Audience: Secondary and adult learners of an intermediate to low-advanced proficiency

Objective: Students will be able to converse about perceptions of people based solely on the clothing they are wearing.

Duration: 30 minutes or until the conversation ends.

It’s best to do this activity after a small class warm-up. I wouldn’t start class with this activity because students need time to be observant.

Lesson Prep

1. Decide how many groups you will have for this activity.  Groups should be no bigger than four students. Create enough sets of people cards. Download some sample cards here. (A note about using images from the Internet: These royalty free and model-released images were downloaded for free from kozzi.com. If you download your own images from the Internet, please reproduce images responsibly and adhere to any copyright restrictions.)

2. Wear an “interesting” outfit to class; it can be nondescript or just more casual than normal.  Make sure to wear as many pieces as possible, but nothing too unusual.

3. Prepare an overhead projector (OHP) or PowerPoint (PPT) slide to read the following:

Dear Students,
In your group, describe what I am wearing today. Remember to include all items… shoes, socks, etc.  Include accessories and color (e.g., pink sunglasses). I’ll return in 2 minutes.  Be quick about it!
Cheers-
Teacher

Beginning the Activity

• Divide students into groups, no bigger than four.  
• Give each group a piece of scrap paper.  
• Let students know you are going to leave the room.   
• Turn on your OHP or PPT before you walk out.
• Return in 2 minutes.

When you return to the room, allow students correct their work.  How did they do? Did they remember earrings? Watch? Tie…correct colors?

Have the groups trade papers.  The new group should describe the type of person who would wear this outfit. They can’t take the easy way out and say, “Teacher.” As the teacher, consider this when choosing your outfit for the day: Wear something thought provoking or something interesting (such as holey jeans and a rock n’ roll t-shirt).

Part 1
Hand out the sets of people cards to each group.  Give students a few minutes to examine the photos.  What are these people like? On the back of each card, groups should write three characteristics of the person/people on the front.  The groups must come to a consensus.

Go around the room asking each group to give the characteristics of one card to the class. If other groups disagree, have them challenge the characteristic(s) listed. If the list goes unchallenged, go to the next group.

Part 2
Have each group arrange the cards in the order of “Most Trustworthy” to “Least Trustworthy.” The group must come to a consensus and prepare reasons for why they’ve ordered their cards as they did.

Closure, Journal Entry, or Class Discussion
Use the following questions to stimulate a short conversation in your class (you may ask anything you want…these are just suggestions):

• How important are the clothes you put on this morning?
• Does clothing affect the way that other people treat you? Explain.
• When choosing clothes in the morning, do you ever think about safety? Some students are bullied in schools due to their manner of dress. Some people are accused unjustly simply based on what they wear, or don’t wear. 

Be it a woman who is uncovered in an open-air bazaar or a young man wearing hoodie on his walk home… All students make choices when getting dressed in the morning. Consider taking some time to bring up current events in your country in which the outcome may have been influenced by a choice of clothing. 

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Sarah Sahr works at TESOL and has her Masters in ESL administration. She has managed a school in Vietnam, trained teachers in South Korea, implemented school reform in Qatar, run a circus train classroom for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, and taught 8th grade writing in Maryland. Prior to all that, Sarah was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia. She is also a certified ashtanga yoga instructor and has managed an eco-lodge in Chugchilan, Ecuador.