Doors

1. Doors An exercise in developing a character with the pupils of Papadopoulou Language School, Litochoro, Greece, by Lisa Murray.

2. The Lesson In the first lesson, pupils choose an image of a door. They are then asked to consider who might live behind that door. The pupils think about how to describe their character – height, weight, hair colour, eye colour, clothes etc. The pupils then brainstorm some adjectives to describe these features, for example, a hooked nose, full lips, friendly eyes and so on. This is a good opportunity to introduce new vocabulary. Next, the personality of the character is built up. The pupils can build a profile for their character by making decisions about some of the following: the strengths and weaknesses of the character; likes and dislikes; opinions; hobbies and interests; talents; quirks or peculiar behaviour; favourite catchphrases. This can be made as a list or as a mind map, or the pupils can ask answer questions to each other. Keeping these in mind, the pupils are then asked to make a colour drawing of their character. By drawing the character first, they have time to think about the appearance of the character, make changes, adapt the character, and generally have to time to reflect in a relaxed way. They can think about their character visually and make decisions and adaptations throughout the creation of the visual character. The pupils should not be rushed through this stage. The next objective is to write a description of the character. This is completed after the drawing, as the pupils will have a better idea of how their character appears. Continuing on from the character, the pupils next consider what lies behind the door. What type of home is it for the character. Pupils can brainstorm this together. They may consider the colour of the interior; furniture; smell; layout; how it reflects the character’s personality. Once the ideas are gathered, this is also carried out as a written description.

3. Pupil outcome #1 This pupil chose a pink door with lace curtains in the window. The colour pink was a strong stimulus for her descriptive work.

4. Barbie II looks as if she belongs in her pink sweety house. She is about twenty-five years old and she spends all day with her dog Dafni or she looks after her flowers. She loves them. She likes spending time to speak with them. She thinks that they are the best friend for everyone. Everyday she wears pink clothes. Only sometimes they are purple or light blue. She also wears shoes like a ballerina. When she was younger she went to ballet. She was very good at this. She has got long, blond hair with a little pink. She likes to put on them colourful flowers because she thinks that they are lucky only for good people like her. She also wears bright jewellery. She thinks that in this way she could be the centre of the world. Her eyes are light blue and very friendly. If you see them you will understand that she is a good person. Her ears are small but every time they have earrings. Her nose is small and French. She has got full pink lips and she always smiles. Her neck is lovely like a swan. She has got soft, small hands and she has also got muscles because she goes to the gym. Barbie II is thin and tall like a real model. She likes spending a day shopping. She loves the clothes. She usually wears a different outfit every hour. She likes to tidy her house and make all the things clean. That’s the reason why her friends called her as a nickname “vacuum cleaner”. She also likes going out with her friends. Especially, she loves going to the beach and sunbathing. She dislikes rude people who are unfriendly to animals because she had got a personal experience when a neighbour tried to kill her dog. She also doesn’t like the cats when they tease her favourite dog. She is good at playing tennis, volleyball and sometimes table tennis. She is an athletic person, that’s the reason why every morning she takes her friends and they go cycling in the countryside. She is also good at doing her and her friends’ hair. Maybe in a second life she could be a hairdresser. Her weaknesses are few but very serious. She is very shy and a little pessimistic. Every time her friends try to tell her that life is beautiful, useful and very short. Sometimes she also wants to be alone at home. She isn’t a lonely person but she needs her quiet. She enjoys cooking for her friends and makes large meals. But she sometimes burns them because she took her first steps at cooking. She also decorates her house, but in my opinion it isn’t very interesting because all the things are pink. She enjoys going on trips abroad, listens to all kinds of music, watches romantic stories and reading novels. The place isn’t very large but normal and ideal for every person. It has two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, a living room, a sitting room, a balcony and a garden. But she likes the garden the most because there are her flowers. It is a light place because every time she opens the windows she sees a wonderful view. She can see the blue sky, the birds which are singing, the green nature and the blue sea. The furniture is very usual like all homes but it has a special thing. Everything is pink. There are two sofas, and armchair, a lamp and a purple carpet in the living room. There is a bed, a small table, a television with home cinema, a very big cupboard and a pink carpet in he bedroom. There is a cooker, a fridge, a washing machine, a big table and a pink carpet with black circles. Everything in Pink!!! Helen Belogianni

6. Pupil outcome #2this pupil liked this door with the bicycles outside and developed a rather sporty character to live here.

7. Sofia is about eleven years old and spends all day in her house with her friends. She likes to wear sports clothes because she plays basketball, volleyball and goes mountain biking. She likes to wear sporty hats, colourful T-shirts and blue jeans or sporty trousers. Sofia is a tall girl with long brown hair. She also has got small friendly brown eyes, when everyone sees them understands that she is a very friendly and kind girl. She has got small ears and a small nose like a button. She has got thin lips and she also smiles a lot, she also has got a slender neck like a giraffe. Sofia goes every day to school because she is a child and she loves school. Sofia lives in a beautiful house. It isn’t small but it isn’t very large either. She likes to tidy her house so the house smells of detergents. The atmosphere of the house is very pleasant because the walls have light colours like light blue, which is her favourite colour, white and beige. There are pictures of different artists on the walls. The house is light because it has got lots of windows. Sofia is friendly and a kind girl, who always tells the truth. She is also polite and generous who loves to help other people but she is a little modest and shy. She likes to make new friends but she dislikes children who are arrogant, dishonest and who bully the other kids. She likes to do mountain biking, playing basketball and volleyball, she said “ I like playing basketball and doing mountain biking and winning trophies with my team”. Sofia dislikes football and tennis. She also hates chess, she said “I think chess is boring, I like doing things more interesting, like singing or playing the guitar”. Sofia likes reading books very much, watching TV and playing with her best friend, her little dog who loves her. Katerina Velona

8. Pupil outcome #3

9. James is a man about thirty years old. He is tall and thin with short straight blond hair. He likes cycling – mountain biking, he likes to drive his BMW too. But he doesn’t like to lose to his enemies. His enemies are the bad people because he likes to do the best for his country. He is a spy. He is good at his job but he isn’t very good at drawing. He’s fit and strong. He usually says, “My name is Bond, James Bond”. He loves fast cars like BMW or Mercedes and gadgets. He lives in London. His house is at Agion Apostlon 73. It’s a very big house with a garden near it. The house has a bedroom, a sitting room, a bathroom and a room for his work. In the garden it has a swimming pool. Steve Dimopoulos

10. Pupil outcome #4

11. David is a teacher. He is thirty years old. Every day he goes to school and helps the children to learn their homework. He is a very good teacher and all the children are happy because they have David. David likes students who study very hard and dislikes students who are bad. David likes to read lots of books too. Every day he studies very hard for his job. Lot’s of times he doesn’t go out with his friends because he is studying. He enjoys going to the cinema with his friends, study lot’s of book and he loves go to the parties. He lives in a very big and beautiful house. The house has very beautiful furniture and lots of rooms. But the garden is very small ad it isn’t beautiful. Unfortunately the garden is very small and ugly. Penelope Manou