How are you feeling?

Exercise 1
Stand up please. You’re going to hear a list of adjectives. Sit down when you hear an
adjective that describes the way you’re feeling.

Exercise 2
The exercise below contains some of the adjectives that you heard in activity 1. Match
the numbers with the letters to complete the sentences like the example, and then
complete the remaining sentence starters with endings of your own:

a. it’s perfectly understandable as most

1) If you’re feeling tired,
people in your situation would be.

2) If you are thoughtful, b. it’s probably time for a change.

3) If you’re really feeling so confident c. then your friends and family are very
about your chances, lucky.
d. take a few deep breaths to help you
4) If you’re impulsive by nature,
relax.
5) If you’re feeling fed up with doing the e. then you’re clearly full of energy
same thing every day, today.

6) If you truly have no regrets, f. then you’re a very lucky person.

g. then you don’t need any help from

7) If you’re feeling nervous,
me.
h. then you probably find it easy to
8) If you’re sociable by nature,
make lots of friends.
i. you should try counting to ten before
9) If you’re feeling active,
you act.
10) If you’re frightened of moving to
j. you should have an early night.
another country,

1. If you’re feeling depressed, ...................................................................................................

......................................................................................................................................................
2. If you’re feeling stressed, .......................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
3. If you’re feeling light-hearted, ..............................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
4. If you’re feeling homesick, .....................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................
5. If you’re feeling on top of the world, ...................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 10209 Page 1 of 4

 How are you feeling?

Exercise 3
The two adjectives INTERESTING AND INTERESTED cause a lot of problems. If this is an
interesting lesson, then you will be interested in it. Complete the rule:
• Adjectives ending in ........................... describe a situation.
• Adjectives ending in ........................... describe someone’s reaction to a situation.
Now complete the following sentences using an –ING and an –ED adjective with the same
root from the following list. Use each word once only. The first one has been done for
you.

amused amusing astonished astonishing

depressed depressing disturbed disturbing
entertained entertaining excited exciting
exhausted exhausting frightened frightening
refreshed refreshing satisfied satisfying

1. It’s depressing how little we really know about the universe and it makes me very
depressed.
2. I’m ................................................. when I get home in the evening as I find the job I
do ................................................. and it leaves me with no energy.
3. I find the fact that you’ve seen a ghost. ................................................ and I’m
absolutely ................................................. by your story.
4. There’s nothing more ................................................. than a nice cup of tea. Once I’m
................................................. I feel ready for anything.
5. I find the majority of horror films deeply ................................................. and I’m also
................................................. by the excessive use of violence.
6. As I’m ................................................. of heights, I find travelling by plane extremely
................................................. and I avoid it whenever I can.
7. I find travelling ................................................. and I’m ................................................. at
the prospect of being able to work overseas.
8. The children were .................................................by the clowns in the circus and some
of the adults found their tricks ................................................. too.
9. There’s nothing more ................................................. than a job well done. If I’m
................................................. with what I’ve managed to do, I can then enjoy my free
time even more.
10. When I watch television, it’s because I want to be .................................................. The
most ................................................. programmes for me are soaps.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 10209 Page 2 of 4

 How are you feeling?

Exercise 4
You’ve already seen some of the adjectives below in exercises 1, 2 and 3. Now choose
one of them. Think about the last time something happened to make you feel this way,
then tell the person sitting next to you about the occasion:

on top of the
valued light-hearted enthusiastic
world

happy interested amused astonished

depressed disturbed entertained excited

exhausted frightened refreshed satisfied

envious impressed disappointed disgusted

embarrassed confused shocked angry

relieved guilty fed up nervous

Exercise 5
Work in pairs. Ask each other the questions below, and then report back with the
information you find out about your partner to the rest of the class:

a. How are you feeling at this particular moment about your life? Explain why. What
could make you feel better about it?
b. How do you feel about spending the rest of your life in this country?
c. How do you feel at the end of a working day – satisfied or frustrated? Explain why.
d. How do you feel about the current political situation in your country? Tell me
about it.
e. How are you feeling about the future – optimistic or pessimistic, and why?

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 10209 Page 3 of 4

 How are you feeling?

Teacher’s notes

Exercise 1
Read out the list of adjectives below. If anyone is still standing when you come to the
end of the list, then ask them to produce an adjective of their own.
• likeable • valued
• unique • wide awake
• creative • loveable
• clever • exciting
• responsible • on top of the world
• optimistic • happy
• useful • intelligent
• active • interesting
• enthusiastic • interested
• thoughtful • sociable
• light-hearted • artistic
• confident • tolerant

Exercise 2

2-c/ 3-g / 4-i / 5-b / 6-f / 7-d / 8-h / 9-e / 10-a

Note that ‘thoughtful’ can either describe someone who considers other people’s needs
and feelings (as in this exercise) or someone who thinks quietly and seriously about
things, i.e. is pensive or reflective. You may also want to remind students of the
construction of the zero conditional and point out that ‘then’ is optional.

Exercise 3
Adjectives ending in -ING describe a situation.
Adjectives ending in -ED describe someone’s reaction to a situation.

1. depressing / depressed
2. exhausted / exhausting
3. astonishing / astonished*
4. refreshing / refreshed
5. disturbing* / disturbed
6. frightened / frightening
7. exciting / excited
8. amused / amusing
9. satisfying / satisfied
10. entertained / entertaining

*You may need to point out to students that the adverbs may help them find the right
adjectives:
3. ‘Absolutely’ can only be used with strong/extreme adjectives, so ‘frightened’ cannot
be used here.
5. Typically, ‘deeply’ collocates with ‘offended’ or ‘disturbed’.

© 2008 www.teachitworld.com 10209 Page 4 of 4