Talking about family
The family and possessive 's
60-90 min
Standard
Beginner
Overview
In this beginner-level (A1) lesson, students will learn how to describe their families and explain relationships between people. They will focus on identifying family members (e.g., grandfather, daughter, grandson) and using the possessive 's to indicate belonging. Students will also practice providing basic details about relatives, such as their ages and professions.
The lesson is based on a lighthearted video where two friends discuss family photos. After watching, students will engage in activities that clarify the difference between the possessive 's and the contraction of is. They will then apply these skills by creating their own family profiles and interviewing a partner about their relatives.
Our standard lessons follow a consistent six-stage flow: warm-up, a presentation based on real content (video, text or images), a contextual language focus stage, controlled practice, a free practice session, and a final homework task.
Each lesson includes a printable student worksheet and teacher’s guide with answer keys. For digital classrooms, we provide an editable Google Slides e-lesson, that is also compatible with PowerPoint.
Warm-up
The purpose of this stage is to activate your students' existing knowledge and prepare them for the lesson's theme.
Activity 1: Students look at images showing different people and discuss possible family relationships using a provided vocabulary list.
Presentation
During this part of the lesson, we will introduce the main content, presenting new language and concepts through video, text or images.
Activity 2: Students read and discuss key lines from a dialogue about family photos to prepare for the vocabulary and grammar in the video.
Activity 3: Students watch the video and circle the correct information to practice listening for specific details.
Activity 4: Students discuss specific questions about the video to check their comprehension of the story and express basic opinions.
Language focus
This stage of of the lesson includes a contextual, interactive activity designed for presenting the target language.
Activity 5: Students examine examples from the video to understand the function of the possessive 's and compare it to the contraction of is.
Practice
To reinforce their understanding of the new language or concepts introduced in the lesson, the students will work on a couple of controlled practice activities.
Activity 6: Students match questions about family members and their professions to the correct responses.
Activity 7: Students rewrite sentences to correctly apply contractions and the possessive 's.
Activity 8: Students write several sentences about their own family members and their jobs.
Let's talk
We move into free practice for this stage, where the students apply the language in more open-ended, communicative activities.
Activity 9: Students use photos of various people and their details to practice asking and answering questions about family relationships and professions.
Activity 10: Students create their own family profiles and engage in a pair-work discussion to share information about their relatives and professions.
Homework
Finally, we'll encourage students to extend their learning outside of the classroom to reinforce the language and concepts covered during the lesson.
Homework task: Students find a photo of a famous family (or their own) and write several sentences to describe the relationships and professions.
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