The Senses

Think of a taste. Any taste. What taste comes into your mind?

Think of a sound. Any sound. What sound is it?

Think of a sight. Any sight. What is it?

Think of a smell. Any smell. What is it?

Think of a texture or surface you are touching. What is it?

Now discuss with others.

What are your favourite....






Tastes                Smells                Things to touch                 Sights                      Sounds


















Now think about the following things and decide which sense they most strongly bring to mind....













1. flowers

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch













2. coins

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

3. garden

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

4. cheese

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

5. snakes

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

6. fire

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

7. rain

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

8. keys

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

9. cigarette

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

10. Xmas tree

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

11. storm

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

12. sand

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

13. bread

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

14. shower

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

15. dogs

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

16. coffee

Sight

Sound

Smell

Taste

Touch

Do you have a good sense of smell?

What are some of your favourite smells?

Think of three natural smells and three artificial smells.

Outside exercise

Outside exercise

 

 

Go out for a walk outside and find 10 different smells. Write them down.

 

  Smell source       adjectives / description   comparison       mark out of 5

1.

2,

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

Alternatively, divide into groups each concentrating on a different sense.

group1 

smells

group2

sights

group3

sounds

group4

touch

How many words are there for "sweet" in your first  language?

Can you think of any synonyms for "sweet" in English?

What is "umami"?

Dictionary

Definitions from Oxford Languages · Learn more

umami

noun

1. a category of taste in food (besides sweet, sour, salt, and bitter), corresponding to the flavour of glutamates, especially monosodium glutamate.

basic taste/smell vocab

sweet 

sour

fragrant

acidic

fumy

smoky

salty

spicy

musty

earthy

metalic

woody

grassy

off

rancid

soapy

In English we also might describe sweet smells and tastes with these words:

try putting appropriate nouns with these

E.g. Tangy + orange juice

Fruity
Caramel
Nutty
Gingery
Floral
Chocolate-y
syrupy
Buttery
Butterscotch
citrus-y
Banana-ry
Aniseed
Liquorish
Malty
Vanilla
Berry
Rich
Biscuity
Minty
Tangy
Tropical
Zingy
Sugary
Cinnamon-y
Honeyish
Milky

We use these adjectives to describe colours...

cool
warm
hot
bright
pale
florescent
dark
deep
light
fiery
mellow
pure
vivid

How do our adjectives for smell differ from our adjectives for colours in English?


We tend to describe tastes and smells by comparing them to similar tastes and smells, whereas with colour we can focus on their degree of intensity. 

But we also compare colours with other things

ocean

forest

lemon

royal

emerald

sapphire

sky

pitch

dirt

fire-engine

battleship

eggshell

snowy