Primary Chinese: Descriptive Writing — Tutor Lesson Plan (five senses, three layers)

2026-10-27

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Primary Chinese

Description is not a heap of adjectives; it is an order of observation. Three frames do most of the work: senses, three layers, near-to-far.

Objectives — the student can describe one scene through the senses, write a person in three layers, and hold one spatial order through a paragraph.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Adjectives	Write five adjectives	Specific
Observation	Name three details in the room	Concrete details
Expanding sentences	Expand “the flower opened” into two sentences	Add colour or smell

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-6 min	Senses	One scene, five senses	Write three
6-16 min	Three layers	Looks, actions, speech	Three sentences about one person
16-26 min	Order	Far to near	Write six sentences
26-36 min	Cut adjectives	Five adjectives down to two details	Rewrite
36-42 min	Peer review	Find the most concrete line	Compare
42-45 min	Exit check	Three questions marked at once	Finish alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: The senses make a scene stand up

The same market: what colours do you see, what do you hear, what do you smell?
Three senses and the reader is standing there.

Student writes one line each for sight, sound and smell.

Scene 2: A person in three layers

One distinctive feature is enough for appearance, such as sleeves always pushed to the elbow.
Then a habitual action, then a phrase they always say.

Student writes three lines about a family member.

Scene 3: A scene needs an order

Far to near, high to low, outside to inside: pick one and keep it to the end.
Without an order the reader gets lost.

Note: one focus per sentence.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Senses	Three senses for a market	Sight, sound, smell	By task
Person	Three layers about one person	Appearance, action, speech	By task
Scene	Six sentences with an order	Far to near	By task
Cut	Fewer adjectives, more detail	Concrete over abstract	By sentence

Sanity check (teach this): Every descriptive sentence should be filmable or recordable; if it cannot be pictured, it is probably an empty adjective.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Sight and sound lines for a park	By task	Concrete
One habitual action for a character	By task	Filmable
A far-to-near paragraph	By task	One consistent order

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Adjective pile-up	“very beautiful, very pretty”	One detail replaces three adjectives.
Only appearance	a paragraph of facial features	Add action and speech.
No order	sky, then ground, then sky	Keep one order.
Description turns into reflection	feelings instead of detail	Show first, feel after.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Primary 5 Chinese paper — Part A, question 4 (effect of the title)

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
What are the five senses?	Sight, sound, smell, taste, touch	All right: move to idioms
Three layers of a person?	Appearance, action, speech	One wrong: re-teach
A scene needs what?	One consistent order	Two wrong: repeat scene 3

09 Tutor FAQ

Memorise good phrases?

A few, yes, but observation matters more.

Description against narrative?

Narrative tells what happened; description shows what it looks like.

Not enough words?

Add one sense and one action.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.