Overview and Key Vocabulary

Now in this first real lesson we’re gonna start with description description means being able to explain what something actually looks like.

Or to give details about something so that other people can really understand.

We’re going to talk about description first because it’s so important whether you’re telling somebody what to do how to do something what something looks like.

For example if you’re on the phone and you’re talking to somebody you need to be able to explain sometimes where to go or what you’re looking at because you’re on the phone, they can’t see what you’re seeing.

So if you’re able to describe something very very clearly then you’ll be very very powerful.

OK.

So in this first real lesson we’re going to focus on that because it’s the foundation of a lot of basic communication.

So we’re going to use a visual example today.

That means we’re going to actually look at something and talk about how to describe it well but I want to be clear that you can use a lot of the things that we’re talking about today in many other situations.

We’re gonna start by talking about a few key words some vocabulary words and then we’re going to work on a few skills really important descriptions skills and then we’ll do an example.

I actually have made something for you to look at and we’re going to actually try to describe it together that we can really get a feel for this.

OK.

So some basic vocabulary first before we do anything we need to know the word physical.

So physical thing is something that you can touch something that you can feel something that you can look at.

Often we say we say an object.

So this word has several different meanings but one meaning of this is is a thing a physical thing is often called an object.

So when we’re describing a physical thing we’ll use colors we’ll use texture texture is the surface of something but if it’s not something that we’re feeling then we might talk about the materials we might talk about the materials and that means what it’s made of right.

So there are a lot of different things that make up something that is physical.

If it’s not physical then we say it is non-physical.

What would be something that’s non-physical.

Well we often called non-physical things things that happen maybe in our minds like a dream.

Let’s say you have a very very strange dream where you would describe that right but that’s something that didn’t really happen you can’t touch it.

And so it’s non-physical or how you feel an emotion.

Right that’s a thing.

But you can’t really touch it.

So it’s non-physical an idea hopes you know this sort of thing describing something that happens here is often non-physical.

OK so hopes dreams ideas are non-physical.

I’m looking down to see and I’m looking down sometimes to see what I’m actually writing.

Just so you know OK atmosphere than atmosphere has lots of different meanings but in this case we’re using atmosphere to talk about the feeling of a place when you go into a restaurant you say oh I really like the the atmosphere here we often also use the word vibe if you really like how a restaurant feels you can say this restaurant has a really really nice vibe I like the vibe here OK.

This is also the atmosphere atmosphere can also be for example for a whole city.

The city of Chicago has a very very cool atmosphere a cool vibe.

Now you can use vibe for people.

I get a very strange vibe from that guy a very strange vibe but we usually don’t use atmosphere for people we wouldn’t say you are giving me a very strange atmosphere.

Probably not.

So we’re we’re going to use atmosphere in this class to talk about the general feeling of of a place of a location.

We also need to talk about two specific words that we’re going to use later on in the class when we actually look at something.

One is cottage and a cottage is a very small simple house and it’s often made of stone.

And it’s often by a lake or something near some water.

Usually we call it a cottage.

A chimney is then something that goes on top of the house on the roof of the House and has smoke going through it.

If there’s a fire in the house in the fireplace in the fireplace then there will be smoke coming through the chimney and usually the chimney is made of stone or brick.

So those two words will make sense more later in the class when we actually practice option so physical non-physical atmosphere the feeling of a place the vibe we need to also know cottage and we need to know chimney we’ll learn other words too later on in the class.

But make sure to especially remember these key words because these are important in this class.