Talking About Family
Learners watch Beth and Neil compare their families, then use older, bigger and the youngest to compare people in their own family.
60 minutes · 1-to-1 or small group · teens and adults
Video: Real Easy English: Talking about family (BBC Learning English, about 6 minutes)
- Understand the main points of a natural conversation about family
- Compare people with older than, bigger than and the youngest
- Talk about your own family for about one minute
only child, siblings, cousin, close, grown-up · get on well with, get together, catch up · comparatives: older than, bigger than, smaller than · superlatives: the oldest, the youngest
The lesson
Warm-up
Talk with your teacher.
Before you watch
Match the words to their meanings.
- 1only child
- 2siblings
- 3cousin
- 4close
- 5get on well with
- 6get together
- 7catch up
- 8grown-up
- ahave a good relationship with someone
- ba person with no brothers or sisters
- ctalk about what happened since you last met
- dthe child of your aunt or uncle
- ean adult
- fyour brothers and sisters
- ghaving a strong, friendly relationship
- hmeet as a group
Watch
Real Easy English: Talking about family
BBC Learning English · Beth and Neil · about 6 minutes
First watch: who is it?
- 1has one sister
- 2is an only child
- 3has two children
- 4has a family that can be quite loud
- 5doesn't live near their sibling
- 6was the youngest in the family for a long time
Second watch: true or false? Circle T or F.
- 1Neil thinks his family is a normal size.
- 2Beth's family is bigger than Neil's.
- 3Beth's family is quiet and serious.
- 4Neil sees his sister every week.
- 5Neil's sister has three sons.
- 6The oldest boy has just done his driving test.
- 7Beth's cousin's children are five and two.
- 8Beth is still the youngest in her family.
Correct the false sentences.
Comparing people
Beth and Neil compare their families. Listen again and answer.
- Beth says her family is ______ than Neil's.
- Who is the ______ of all the children? Neil's nephew.
- Beth's cousin's children are the ______ in the family.
| Type | Adjective | Comparing two | Comparing a group |
|---|---|---|---|
| short words | old | older than | the oldest |
| short words | young | younger than | the youngest |
| one vowel + one consonant | big | bigger than | the biggest |
| ends in -y | tiny | tinier than | the tiniest |
| long words | interesting | more interesting than | the most interesting |
| irregular | good | better than | the best |
Use the comparative to compare two people or things. Use the superlative to compare one with all the others in a group.
- My brother is more old than me.My brother is older than me.
- She is taller that me.She is taller than me.
- He is the most youngest.He is the youngest.
Rosa's family
Rosa
78
Maria
41 · two children
Tom
38 · no children
Ana
35 · one child
Leo
14 · Maria's son
Mia
9 · Maria's daughter
Sam
3 · Ana's son
Look at Rosa's family. Complete the sentences with the word in brackets.
- Tom is ______ Ana. (old)
- Rosa is ______ person in the family. (old)
- Mia is ______ Leo. (young)
- Sam is ______ grandchild. (young)
- Maria's family is ______ Ana's family. (big)
- Ana is ______ of Rosa's three children. (young)
Now write three sentences about people in your family.
Say it naturally
- 1Listen to your teacher.
- 2Say it together, slowly.
- 3Whisper it at normal speed.
- 4Say it at full voice.
- 5Try it without looking.
Highlighted = stressed words · ‿ = words that join together
- My family's smaller than yours.
- I'm an‿only child.
- I get‿on‿well with my sister.
- He's the oldest in the family.
- We don't see each‿other very often.
In fast speech, than is short and quiet. It sounds like "thn". The -er and -est endings are never stressed.
Shadow the video: play the part where Beth describes her family. Pause after each sentence and say it with her. Then do the same with Neil talking about his sister's children.
Your turn to talk
Ask and answer. Give one extra detail with each answer.
Give a short talk: My family · about 1 minute
Write keywords only, not full sentences. Look at your listener when you speak.
Opening
Today I'd like to talk about…
Who is in my family
There are … people in my family.
Comparing
My … is older than… / The youngest is…
Getting on
I get on well with… / We get together…
Closing
So, to sum up…
- Today I'd like to talk about…
- I'm going to tell you about…
- Also…
- Another thing is…
- So, to sum up…
- Thank you for listening.
- Any questions?
- Say the five pronunciation lines once a day.
- Record your talk on your phone and listen back.
- Write five sentences comparing people you know.
How to run it
Timings
- 0–5
- Small talk and Part 1. Note errors quietly for later.
- 5–12
- Part 2. Matching, then ask which words describe their family.
- 12–25
- Part 3. Watch once for Neil or Beth and check. Watch again for true or false. Download the video in advance in case of Wi-Fi trouble.
- 25–37
- Part 4. Noticing first, then the table, then the family tree. Learners finish with three sentences about their own family.
- 37–43
- Part 5. Model each line yourself. Note the times of Beth's and Neil's family descriptions when you preview the video, so you can find them fast.
- 43–55
- Part 6. Interview questions. Then give your example talk, they plan with keywords, Talk 1 (record), two tips at most, Talk 2 (record), play both.
- 55–60
- Feedback: two positives, three corrections, one pronunciation point. Set homework.
Notes
- Family can be a sensitive topic. Let learners talk about anyone close to them, or about a family from a TV show, if they prefer.
- Learners often say "more old" or "more big". Point back to the table and drill the short form.
- If it comes up: elder and eldest are used for family members only (my elder sister), and never with than.
- BBC publishes a free transcript of the episode. Learners can read along after the second watch.
Answer key
Part 2
1b · 2f · 3d · 4g · 5a · 6h · 7c · 8e
Part 3: first watch
1 N · 2 B · 3 N · 4 B · 5 N · 6 B
Part 3: second watch
- T
- F (it's smaller, she says it's tiny)
- F (they're silly and quite loud)
- F (not very often, they live in different places)
- T
- T
- T
- F (her cousin's children are younger)
Part 4
Noticing: 1 smaller · 2 oldest · 3 youngest
- older than
- the oldest
- younger than
- the youngest
- bigger than
- the youngest
Example talk for Part 6
Read it aloud before learners plan. ‖ marks a pause: you are modeling the pauses you want them to use. Better still, swap in details about your own family.
Hi everyone. ‖ Today I'd like to talk about my family. ‖
My family is quite small. I have one brother, Dan. He's two years older than me, so I'm the youngest. ‖
We're very different. He's taller than me, and much quieter! But we get on well. ‖
We don't live in the same city, so we don't see each other very often. When we get together, we cook a big dinner and catch up. ‖
So, to sum up: it's a small family, but a close one. Thank you for listening.
Then ask:
- What phrases did I use to start and finish?
- How many comparisons did you hear?
Adapting the lesson
- Group class
- Turn the interview into a mingle. Each learner asks three classmates, then reports back: "Kenji's family is the biggest."
- Lower level
- Turn on English subtitles for the first watch, and do the second watch in two halves.
- Higher level
- Add more comparisons from the video's topics: closer, louder, sillier. Ask learners to compare their family now and ten years ago.
Next lesson idea: Real Easy English: Talking about siblings
The video is by BBC Learning English and plays from YouTube. Ribbit Pond isn't connected to the BBC. The lesson tasks and worksheet are our own.
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