My family

Objective & content

This sheet teaches eighteen family words, from mother and brother to grandparents, cousin and twins, through Leo's family tree with a portrait of each person. Pupils name the people for Leo, complete sentences from another person's point of view ("Kate is Sam's wife"), sort the words into boy or man, girl or woman, or both, and match the pairs. They then read Leo's short text and answer true or false. To finish, they draw a family tree, write five sentences and present it to a partner.

Pedagogical guide

The tree comes first, so every word has a face before it has a definition. Activity 4 makes pupils change the point of view: Leo is Ella's brother, Kate is Ben's sister. Grammar stays at beginner level: be, have and has (never have got), my, his, her and the possessive 's. Grandparents and twins are A2 words, taught here because they name the topic. Families differ: pupils may draw a family they invent, or a famous family, instead of their own.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Look at Leo's family tree together; pupils say the names and point to Leo.
2. (10 min) Activities 2 and 3: pupils write the word under each portrait and picture.
3. (10 min) Activities 4 to 6: sentences from the tree, the boy, girl or both sort, then the pairs.
4. (10 min) Activities 7 and 8: read Leo's text aloud, then tick true or false.
5. (5 min) Check pages 1 to 3 with the answer key on page 5.
6. (15 min) Activities 9 and 10: pupils draw a tree, write five sentences, then present it to a partner and say who the people are.

Adaptations

[S] Do activity 4 with the family tree on the table, and stop activity 10 at three sentences.

[A] Pupils add five sentences with has ("Ben has three children") and present their tree without notes.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy per pupil, four pupil pages; page 4 is the drawing frame. Page 5 is the answer key: keep it. Activities 9 and 10 have no fixed answer. Pupils should already know I'm, my and numbers to twelve.