Vocabulary: Mum, dad, sister, brother, grandma, grandpa
Language: This is my ...
Preparation:
- Make two sets of flashcards with the pictures of the vocabulary items. (Example flashcards)
- Make a worksheet for each student with a 2x3 table. In each cell, put one of the words at the bottom and leave the rest of the cell empty.
- Make lots of little drawings of the family members, one for each child in the class, and keep each family member all together. So, for example, if there are 14 students in your class, you should have 20 small pictures of “mum” that are small enough to be be glued into the “mum” cell of the worksheet.)
1) Get into the theme of family with a fun sung: Sing the song "The wheels on the bus” and do the actions in a circle all together. Make sure you sing the verses “The babies on the bus go wa wa waaaaaaa” and “The mummies on the bus go Don't do that! Don't do that! Don't do that!”
2) Introduce one family member flashcard at a time: Teacher says the word and shows the picture. Students repeat the word. Teacher puts the card somewhere where all the students can see it (on the wall or on the floor if the students are sitting in a circle.)
3) Teacher plays the “stop” game. The teacher says one of the words over and over and runs a finger over all the flashcards. When the teacher is pointing at the flashcard of the item being named, the students must cry out “STOP”. (The teacher can vary the speed or even try to trick students for some added fun. I like to move over the card too quickly and tell them in an exasperated tone “THIS IS THE FLOOR/WALL!” When the students get the correct card, the teacher turns the card face down so that the students can only see the back of the card.
4) Lay out the other cards face down and the students have to play memory.
5) Students get the worksheet and some glue and put them back at their desks. Then you show them the first picture (Make sure the first picture corresponds to the first word on the table) and they have to say the word. When they say the word, you give them the first picture, they run back to their desk and glue it into the first cell of the table on their worksheet. Now drill “This is my [mum]” and point at the picture. They come back and say “This is my mum”, you put a tick and start with the next word.
6) Students draw a picture of their family. Go back to a circle and students point and say who the people in their picture are.
7) Watch a story about a family called “The lucky Envelope”
Then ask the children: Is there a mum? / dad? / sister? / brother? / grandma? / grandpa? (There was no grandpa in the story)
- Suzanne
Extra practice:Pronunciation work (there are a lot more family words than the six here, but it might be nice to do at home with parents)
You can also help your students "publish" information about their family.