Family and Relatives

Lesson Stages

  1. Ice-breaker/Lead-in, 6 min
  2. Highlighting vocabulary, 5 min
  3. Controlled practice, 20 min
  4. Freer practice, 11 min
  5. Feedback, 3 min

Preparation

Prior Knowledge and Skills

The student is able to

  • name the most common family-related words (mother, father, etc.)
  • name the most common free-time activities (listening to music, skiing, etc.)
  • describe a picture using relevant vocabulary and tenses

Lesson Outcomes

The student is able to

  • use family-related words in speech and writing
  • listen for detailed information to match speakers to their profiles
  • introduce their family in English
  • describe one of their relatives in English

Lesson Materials

Keywords and Techniques

  • family and relatives
  • hobbies
  • picture description
  • multiple-choice questions
  • jumbled words
  • substitution and transformation drills
  • multiple matching
  • general and special questions

Cross-Curricular Topics

  • Values and morals
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1. Ice-Breaker/Lead-In

6

  • Getting to know a new group
  • Memory game
  • Alternative lead-in

If you are teaching a new group

The teacher greets the class and introduces himself/herself. Then, s/he sets an ice-breaker activity and distributes printed ice-breaker name tags. The students are given time to complete their sentences.

​One by one, they say their names and read their sentences aloud, e.g. Hello! My name is Mark, and I enjoy playing computer games in my free time. If necessary, the teacher asks extra questions and encourages students to self-correct.

If you already know your students

The teacher greets the class and conducts a back-to-school activity. The students play a memory game in the following way: 

  • The first student says what they did last summer. 
  • The next student repeats what the former has said and adds what they did. 
  • The third student repeats the two previous statements and mentions their own activity. 

If necessary, the students can help each other and remind their classmates of what they have said. 

Example:
Tim: This summer, I played basketball.
Liisa: This summer, Tim played basketball, and I travelled to Greece.​​
Alex: This summer, Tim... ​

The topic of the memory game can be changed to the teacher’s liking.

Alternative Ice-Breaker Activities

Depending on the planned lesson stages, the following activities can be conducted:

  • Two truths, one lie
  • Find someone who
  • This or that? (asking alternative questions)

Alternative lead-in

If the teacher decides to spend a separate lesson on getting to know the class and/or conducting various back-to-school activities, this lesson can be started with a lead-in from Opiq. The students describe family pictures to each other until they guess each other’s photos. After that, the teacher can elicit a couple of examples of picture descriptions.

The photos can be displayed altogether using the projector.

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2. Highlighting Vocabulary

5

  • Identifying unfamiliar words
  • Drilling
  • SB p. 7 (word list)
  • Opiq Vocabulary

The teacher sets the topic, asks the class what words come to mind when they hear the word family, and elicits a few responses. After that, the students open the word list on their devices or in their textbooks (p. 7). While listening to the audio recording, the students tick the words they already know or, alternatively, write the unfamiliar words down.

The teacher elicits what words were new to the students and, if necessary, conducts choral and individual drills.

Extension

To make sure that the students are familiar with the words at hand, the teacher can modify Ex. 1a and 1b (p. 7) and interrogate the students about trickier words like stepfather, half-sister, nephew, and the like. When necessary, the teacher encourages students to self-correct or asks for peer correction.

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3. Controlled Practice

20

The students complete Ex. 1–3 (p. 6) or the corresponding activities on (Check Yourself! + Spelling). If the students complete the exercises in their workbooks, the teacher can check Ex. 1 by nominating the students himself/herself or letting them nominate each other. When checking Ex. 2–3, the students can exchange their workbooks and carry out peer assessment. The answers can also be displayed using the projector.

WB p. 6 Ex. 1 key
WB p. 6 Ex. 2 key
WB p. 6 Ex. 3 key

Extension

If the students finish the activities earlier than planned, they can complete the guessing activity (Ex. 4 (p. 7)) and inform the teacher which words they explained/guessed.

Jackson’s Family

The teacher draws the students’ attention to Jackson’s family tree (p. 6 or Jackson’s Family), and the students figure out who is who, and what the characters’ hobbies are (Ex. 1–2). Alternatively, if the teacher wants to elicit the vocabulary without the students’ seeing the potential answers on Opiq, s/he can ask questions: Who is Geoff to Jackson? What is his hobby?, etc.

After that, the students complete a listening comprehension activity (Ex. 3). If necessary, they listen to the recording twice.

Tapescript (Exercise 3)
  1. I love skiing! I started skiing when I was a little girl. Now, I am already fourteen years old! I’m almost fifteen, actually. I will have my fifteenth birthday next month.
  2. Hi there! I love music. I listen to music almost all the time. I also like to play music myself. I’m five years older than Jackson’s sister.
  3. My favourite hobby is taking pictures. I love to take pictures of nature as well as pictures of my family and especially my lovely grandchildren.
  4. I spend a lot of my free time behind my drum kit. I just love drumming. I’m now forty years old, and I believe I will continue to play the drums for the rest of my life.
  5. Hello! My hobby is horse riding. I do horse riding at least twice a week. I am seven years older than Jack.
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4. Freer Practice

11

  • General and special questions
  • Substitution drills
  • Transformation drills
  • Talking about one’s family
  • SB p. 7

The students continue working with the family tree and complete Ex. 2a and 2b (p. 7) orally. The teacher can demonstrate the activity with one of the students:

– Who is Jill?
– She is Jackson’s mother.
– What does she like to do?
– She likes to work out.​​​
– How old is she?
– She is 39.​​

While the students are asking each other questions, the teacher monitors the activity and takes notes for the feedback stage.

The class proceeds with Ex. 3 (p. 7). While setting the task, the teacher asks one of the following instruction checking questions (ICQs): 

  • What will you do with the underlined words? (Replace them.)
  • Do you have to change the underlined words? (Yes.)
  • Can you answer in one word? (No.)

While the students are on task, the teacher monitors them and takes notes for the feedback stage. When the students are ready, the teacher elicits their answers to some of the questions.

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5. Feedback

3

  • Feedback
  • Self-correction
  • Peer correction
  • Self-evaluation

The teacher gives the class general feedback on the previous activities and, after writing a word/phrase/sentence on the board, encourages the students to self-correct. If necessary, the teacher resorts to peer correction or gives the correct answer himself/herself.

The students complete a self-evaluation table or, if there is not enough time, do so at home (p. 7 “How Am I Doing?”).

The teacher sets homework and rounds off the lesson.

Error Correction Techniques

Here are some of the techniques that can be used:

  • Finger-coding (e.g. to indicate a word-order error or a missing word)
  • Stating the problem area (e.g. Pronunciation! Tense? Article?)
  • Asking concept checking questions (CCQs) (e.g. Are you talking about one person or many people?)
  • Repeating up to an error (e.g. Do you...?)
  • Drawing a timeline
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Lesson Description and Homework

Lesson Description

Family and relatives. Jackson’s family. Speaking about one’s own family.

Student’s Book pp. 6–7 and Opiq §1.1, Workbook ​p. 6

Homework

Workbook p. 7

Opiq §1.1 (EK activities of the teacher’s choice from the exercise kit (ülesannete kogu))

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