Asking about/Describing a person

University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671

Yoruba

Asking about/Describing a person

Describing People

Objective: The objective of this Yoruba language learning activity is to enable learners to ask and describe information about a person in Yoruba, such as name, age, nationality, appearance, and occupation.

Instruction:

1. Review relevant Yoruba vocabulary related to describing people, such as ga(tall), sanra(fat), tinrin(thin), etc.

2. Show pictures of people displaying different physical features and attributes. Ask learners to identify the characteristics in Yoruba. Repeat this process with multiple flashcards to reinforce vocabulary and sentence construction.

3. Role-Play Activity

Titi met someone who said she knows Toyin, but Toyin does not remember this person and is trying to get as much as information from Titi as possible about her. Start a conversation under this scenario.

Titi: Mo pade enikan lana ti ó sọ pé òun mọ̀ ẹ́.

Toyin: Looto? Ki ni oruko rẹ̀?

Titi: Ó so pe òun jẹ́ Dami.

Toyin: Hmm! Mi ò ranti ẹnikẹ́ni t’ó ń jẹ́ Dami.

Titi: Ó sọ pé, bí mo bá ti sọ Dami, o máa ránti òun.

Toyin: Ọmọ ìlú ibo ni?

Titi: Mo ro pe ọmọ ilu Saina ni, ṣugbon ó n gbé ni Amerika nisisiyi.

Toyin: Láti igba wo l’ó ti n gbé ni Amerika?

Titi: Ó sọ pé ọdun meji sẹhìn.

Toyin: Ki l’ó n ṣe nisisiyi ni ilú Amerika?

Titi: Akekoo ni ní Yunifasiti ti Wisconsin-Madison. Lítírẹṣọ̀ ati àṣà ilẹ̀ Afitika ni ó n kọ.

Toyin: Síbẹ̀síbẹ̀, mi ò ránti ọmọ ilu Saina ti orukọ rẹ̀ n jẹ́ Dami. Ṣé o lè sapejuwe rẹ̀ fún mi?

Titi: Ó ga die. Kò sanra rárá. Kò sí tininrin. Ó pupa. Ó ni irun dudu. Ẹyin ojú rẹ̀ dudu, Ó lọ́yaya gan an ni.

Toyin: Ọmọ ọdún melọ̀ọ́ ni o rò pé o máa jẹ́?

Titi: N kò mọ. Ó dabi ẹni pé ọmọ bí i odún merindinlogbọ̀n ni.

Toyin: Kò dagbà púpọ̀. Sé o mọ̀ boya ó ni ẹbí nibi?

Titi: Rara o. N kọ̀ mọ̀.

Toyin: Ó dàbí ẹni pé mo ti rántí ẹni tí o n soro nípa. Mo pàdé rẹ̀ ni yunifásítì ní oṣu ti o kojá. O yà mi lẹ́nu pé ó si rántí mi.

4. The mentor provides feedback and corrections as needed to reinforce learning. The learner records the dialogue for future review.

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Resources for Self-Instructional Learners of Less Commonly Taught Languages Copyright © by University of Wisconsin-Madison Students in African 671 is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.