Teaching "Family" to Young Learner

Everyone has a family and this makes the topic an excellent theme for learner

The family is a topic that can be introduced quite early on to children learning English as a foreign language. The theme is ideal because it provides many talking points.

Place    : Classroom Setting 
Level    : Young Learners 
Student: Whole Class 

Activities 

1. Introducing Family Words with Flashcards

• Starting with a picture of a family is a great way to open the activity. From here, individual family members can be introduced. How extended the family should be depends on the level of English within the group and the amount of lesson time available. For 25 minutes, introducing a mother, father, daughter, son, sister, brother, grandmother and grandfather are usually sufficient.

• Writing the name on the board and place the picture near it. It is important that the teacher highlights shortened forms of the name, for example father – dad daddy. In addition, the difference between American and British spellings can be explained to older groups. When the family words have been introduced, the teacher can ask the children if they have a brother or sister and how many.

• Then, Asking them to draw their family and after that introduce the picture in front classroom. The teacher can also tell about each of the family members, for example “my brother is younger than me but taller than me” or “my sister likes shopping”. This is also a good opportunity for the teacher to highlight that all families are different.

.     2.  Labeling the picture

• Labeling each family member and providing some details about each person. Each child can then have a turn to show his or her picture to the group and tell about each family member. A word of warning: some children may have painful family situations and the teacher should be prepared for dealing with this, if it arises.

     3. enrich vocabulary
  

        Cross word

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• Father               
• Mother            
• Daughter         
  
• Son                   
• Sister               
• Brother           
• Grandmother     
• Grandfather       
• Uncle                 
• Aunt                

Reference:  Teaching family words to young learner