ESL Lesson Idea: Families

Your students will be introduced to family vocabulary and have a chance to compare families in different cultures.

• A diagram of your family tree, and pictures of your family.
• Student Handouts: A Family Tree

• Use the handout A Family Tree to get students familiar with the words. Ask students what other words they know about families.
• Have pictures of family members and/or diagrams of your family tree posted around so students can see. Ask students to draw their family trees. Invite students to talk about their family trees.
• Lead a discussion about families. Questions can be:

  Who do you include when you use the word “family”?

  Where were your parents and grandparents born?

  Is the size of your family common in your country? How is it similar to other countries? How is it different?

  Is the way your family lives in the United States similar to the ways other families live in your country? In what ways is it similar or different?

• At the end of the discussion ask students to conclude with statements based on what was shared. Some questions may be:

  What did you learn about your view of families?

  Why are there differences in the way families are structured?