family tree asl assignment

ESL Activities

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in Icebreakers + Warm-Ups · Speaking

ESL Family Activities, Games, Lesson Plans & Resources| ESL Family Tree

The “Family” unit is a classic is almost every single ESL/EFL textbook, especially for beginners. It can be a little bit boring for the teacher, as well as the students if you do the same old thing all the time. Check out some of my favourite family ESL activities to try out with your classes today. They range from beginner to advanced, and kids to adults.

ESL Family Activities and Games

ESL family games and activities

Let’s get into the best ESL family tree activities and ESL family games. Keep on reading for our top options for family tree ESL ideas.

#1 ESL Family Games: Mixed up Sentences

If you’re teaching beginners the basics of how to describe their family, then you might want to consider using this grammar review activity.

You can use sentences like:

“I have a brother and two sisters.”

“My Mom is 48 years old and my dad is 45.”

“My brother likes to play soccer.”

You mix them up in random order and the students have to unscramble them to make correct sentences. Learn more here: Mixed Up Sentences Review Activity .

#2 ESL Family Activity: Picture Prompt

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This ESL Family Activity works for just about any topic actually. The way it works is that you put a picture or photo up on the screen. In this case, you’d probably want to show a family doing some activity. Then, depending on the level, students have to say vocabulary words they see in the picture (beginner), or describe what’s happening (more advanced).

It’s a nice way to begin a class as it helps to set the context. Check out more details here: Picture Prompt ESL Warm-Up .

#3: Information Gap Activities

This style of ESL activity is a classic! It’s where there is a single set of information, but each student only has some of it. They have to work together to put the whole story together.

Information gaps lend themselves well to stories of another family (not their own). Instead of just reading it, do this kind of activity to make it more memorable.

Find out more here: ESL Information Gap Activities .

#4: Just a Minute

If you teach more advanced-level students, then you’ll want to consider using this Toastmaster style activity. Students have to speak for an entire minute about their families without stopping. It’s a nice warm-up, or you could consider using it at the end of class as well.

To turn it into more of a conversational activity, put students into groups of 4. Then, each of the 3 students who were listening has to ask 1-2 follow-up questions based on what they heard.

Check it out here: Just a Minute ESL Speaking Activity.

#5: Just One Question

This is a fun warm-up activity that gets students out of their seats and moving around the class. If you have sleepy students, it may be your ideal solution!

Put students into pairs and then ask them to think of some interesting questions related to family (around 5). Then, they choose just 1 that they want to survey their classmates about.

Give students time to ask 8-12 of their classmates and take notes about the answers (1 member of the pair is the “talker” and the other is the “writer”). Then, students take a look at their answers, find some patterns and then report their results to the class.

You can learn more about it here: Just One Question ESL Warm-Up .

#6: Typhoon

The ideal way to review just about anything, including family vocabulary is with this game. Check it out:

#7: Journalling about Family

If you teach writing, or even a 4-skills class, consider using journaling with your students. You can give them a few minutes at the beginning or end of a class to do this, or assign it for homework.

I generally assign my students a topic or question to help them get started. Some questions about family that you could use include the following:

• Describe your family.
• What qualities do you admire in your Mom and/or Dad?
• How does your family spend time together?
• What’s your favourite memory of your family?

Find out more here: Journalling for English Learners .

• Amazon Kindle Edition
• Smith, Jennifer Booker (Author)
• English (Publication Language)
• 144 Pages - 03/31/2016 (Publication Date)

#8 ESL Family Activities: Dictogloss

This ESL activity can focus on either speaking or writing, and either way, it’s heavy on the listening. Choose a reading passage related to family. Then, read it out at a mostly normal pace so that the students can grasp around 50% of the information.

Put the students into pairs and they have to work together to recreate the main idea of what they heard. Then, read it again and students can add more information.

At the end, put the reading passage on the screen and students can check and see how they did. Find out more here:

Dictogloss ESL Activity .

#9: Family and Relative Clauses

Relative clauses and the topic of family are often put together in ESL textbooks. It just lends itself well to this in my ways. Think about these example sentences:

• My father is someone WHO is very trustworthy.
• I have a brother THAT can play the guitar.

Find out more about how to teach this grammar point here: How to Teach Relative Clauses.

Family ESL Games and Activities

#10 Family ESL Activity: Speaking Fluency Activity

120-90-60 is a way to encourage students to speak more fluently. Have students prepare a short talk about their family, around 2 minutes long. They can write a few short notes, but not full sentences. Then, they give their speech to a partner or small group.

The next round requires them to include all the same information in 90 seconds. Round 3 is 60 seconds. It’s a fun challenge that students have fun with! Of course, the topic you’d set would be something related to family in this case, although it lends itself well to almost anything.

English Speaking Activity (Fluency) .

#11: Family ESL Surveys

I’m ALL about using surveys in my TEFL classes. Just ask my students and they’ll tell you that they have to do them around once a month, if not more. There are a few reasons that I love them:

• Students have to get out of their seats
• They cover all 4-skills
• You can use them for almost any topic (including family)
• It’s simple to make your own in just a few minutes
• They help students with follow-up questions

Check out some examples of surveys I use in my classes here: Surveys for ESL Students.

#12: ESL Family Trees

Making an ESL family tree is a classic activity for this unit. Depending on the level of student, you could make it as simple, or as detailed as you want. It’s an ideal way to review ESL family vocabulary, and it also makes a nice homework assignment, or class presentation.

Family Tree ESL

How you do your ESL family tree activity is up to you, but I strongly recommend checking the textbook that you’re using. They’ll often have a page with a family tree already there.

The next best option is to print off a simple, blank family tree from the Internet and have students fill it in. A way to extend this activity is to have your ESL students share their tree with a partner or small group (bigger classes) or to the whole class (smaller classes). Be sure to give them some example sentences that they can use to describe their ESL family trees.

#13: ESL Family Vocabulary

If you have a textbook that you’re teaching from, the basic family vocabulary words will almost always be included. More advanced books will include things like niece, nephew, step-brother, etc. However, if you’re not using a book but want to teach your students this vocab, there are plenty of worksheets out here.

Here’s one of my favourites:

ESL Family Vocabulary .

Or, here are some of the most common words related to family that you’ll want to teach your students:

• Grandparents
• Great-grandparents
• Stepmom/dad
• 86 Pages - 12/24/2015 (Publication Date)

#14 ESL Family: Yes and No Question/Answer Activities

One of the first grammar lessons that most beginners learn in English is the “Be” verb. And one of the most common topics to combine this with is “family.” It’s very easy to explain to even total beginners the concepts of: mother, father, brother, sister, etc.

Taking these two things together, there are a ton of simple concept check questions you could ask:

• Do you have a brother?
• Are there four people who live at your house?
• Is there a mom and dad in the picture?
• Do you see three children?

For more ideas, you’ll want to check out the following: ESL Yes or No Activities .

#15 ESL Family Activities: Using the Whiteboard

I don’t know what it is, but my students are ALL about drawing on the whiteboard. There are a ton of fun activities you can do with the whiteboard and the topic of family. If you want to see some of them, then you’ll need to take a look at this awesome resource:

ESL Whiteboard Games and Activities .

ESL family tree

#16 ESL Family Vocabulary Game: A to Z 

If your students have seen family vocabulary before, then you may want to consider using this quick warmer activity to help them activate their prior knowledge before jumping into the heart of your lesson.

The way it works is that each group (2-3 students) writes down the alphabet. Then, they try to think of one family related vocabulary word for each letter. For example:

G=Grandmother

And so on. The winner is the team with the most points at the end of the allotted time. More details about this quick ESL vocabulary warm-up right here: A-Z ESL Warmer.

#17: ESL Family Songs and Chants

If you teach kids, then songs and chants are some ESL teaching gold! However, if you don’t have a musical bone in your body (like me), not to worry. There are lots of good ones on YouTube to consider for any age and level of student.

#18: Speaking Fluency Activity

To use this activity with the family unit, have students talk about a family member that they know really well.

#19: Using Eliciting for ESL Family Vocabulary

Unless your students are true beginners, it’s likely that they already know at least the basic family vocabulary like mom, dad, brother, sister, grandma, etc. If that’s the case, consider starting off your classes by eliciting some of these words. There are two reasons to consider doing this.

The first is that you’re able to find out what the students already know so it’s possible to target the lesson more specifically to what they don’t. The second reason is that it’s useful for activating the students’ prior knowledge so that the new words they learn can be easier to remember. Check out some of the best ideas for doing this:

ESL Eliciting Activities.

 #20: Concentration Vocabulary Memory Game

One of the best games to help students review new vocabulary is concentration. Make up some cards with either words/definitions, words/hints, or words/pictures of the various family vocabulary. What you choose to do really depends on the level of the students.

Then, students play a matching memory game with each other. Find out more about it here: ESL Concentration Game .

#21: Fun TEFL Games for Teaching about Family

#22: word association esl families.

A nice warmer activity for the unit on family if your students are not beginners is word association . Elicit some words that students think of when they hear the word “family.” Then, organize them into various

#23: Me Too!

This is a simple speaking and listening activity. Students have to make a true statement about their families. For example:

• I have a twin.
• My grandparents live with me.
• I have a younger brother.

If other students can agree, they stand up and say, “Me too!”

#24: Running Dictation 

#25: family interviews.

Encourage students to interview their family members about their interests, hobbies, and daily routines. In class, students can share what they learned, using sentences and vocabulary related to family and personal information. This activity helps build communication skills and vocabulary.

#26: Family Photo Gallery

Ask students to bring in family photos and create a classroom photo gallery. Each student can share their photos and talk about their family members, using adjectives to describe them and sentences to explain the significance of each photo.

#27: Family Cookbook

Have students collect family recipes and create a class cookbook. They can write or dictate the recipes in English, including ingredients, instructions, and personal stories or memories associated with each recipe. This activity promotes reading, writing, and speaking skills.

#28: Family Storytelling

Encourage students to share stories about their family traditions, memorable events, or experiences. Students can prepare a short narrative and present it to the class, incorporating descriptive language and sequencing words.

ESL Family Worksheets

Do you want some ready-made family worksheets for your English learners? Then you’ll need to check out some of our favourite resources right here. And of course, be sure to check out the textbook you’re using, along with the homework book or teacher’s resource book which often has some excellent resources to use in your classes.

Family ESL Worksheets:

ISL Collective

Be sure to check out these resources as well if you’re looking for some ESL family tree worksheets. There are lots of them there, ranging from very simple to a bit more complicated.

ESL families activities and games

What about a Family ESL Lesson?

If you’re looking for a ready-made ESL family lesson plan or two, then these activities and games probably didn’t work for you. Not to worry. Here are some of our top picks for complete lesson plans for the family:

ESL Kids Stuff

BBC Teaching English

Or, you might consider planning your own conversation lesson. Find out how here:

Did you like these ESL Family Activities? 

• Bolen, Jackie (Author)
• 148 Pages - 03/09/2016 (Publication Date)

Yes? Though so. Then you’re going to love this book available on Amazon: 101 ESL Activities for Adults . It’s the book you need if you want to have more interesting, engaging English lessons.

The best part is that it’s divided up into easy to find sections. You can look for speaking, listening, reading, writing, review, grammar or 4-skills games and activities in seconds and find what you’re looking for in just a minute or two. Now, if that’s not some English teaching awesome, then I don’t know what is.

You can get the book in a couple of different formats. Take the e-version with you on your phone or tablet to your favourite coffee shop for lesson planning on the go. Or, get the physical version and keep it on the bookshelf in your office to use as a handy reference guide. It really is that easy to have better English lessons.

Check out the book for yourself today, but only if you want to get yourself a serious dose of ESL teaching awesome in your life:

There are a number of common questions that people have about teaching this unit. Here are the answers to some of the most popular ones.

Why is teaching the family unit important in ESL/EFL?

Teaching the family unit is important because it is a fundamental aspect of everyday life and provides language learners with vocabulary and language structures relevant to personal relationships and descriptions.

How can teachers introduce the family unit to ESL/EFL learners?

Teachers can introduce the family unit by using visuals, real-life photos, or flashcards to teach family members’ names and relationships. They can also incorporate related vocabulary, such as adjectives to describe family members or possessive pronouns to show ownership.

What activities can teachers use to teach the family unit?

Teachers can use activities like family tree projects, role-plays, drawing or describing family members, and creating dialogue or narrative exercises centered around family relationships to teach the family unit.

How can teachers promote cultural awareness while teaching the family unit?

Teachers can promote cultural awareness by discussing and comparing family structures and traditions across different cultures, sharing personal experiences, or incorporating multicultural materials that depict diverse family units.

What language skills can be practiced when teaching the family unit?

Teaching the family unit provides opportunities to practice various language skills such as listening (listening to descriptions of family members), speaking (describing family members or answering questions), reading (reading texts or descriptions about families), and writing (writing about one’s own family or creating fictional stories).

How can teachers personalize the family unit lessons for ESL/EFL learners?

Teachers can encourage students to share information about their own families, ask them to create profiles or presentations about their family members, or provide opportunities for students to discuss cultural aspects of their family backgrounds.

Are there any cultural considerations to keep in mind when teaching the family unit?

Yes, teachers should be sensitive to cultural differences and avoid making assumptions about family structures. It is important to create a safe and inclusive environment where students feel comfortable discussing their families and cultural backgrounds.

What resources can be used to teach the family unit?

Resources such as textbooks, picture books, videos, online interactive exercises, and authentic materials like family photos or interviews can be used to teach the family unit.

How can teachers assess students’ understanding of the family unit?

Teachers can assess students’ understanding of the family unit through activities like quizzes, oral presentations, writing assignments, or by observing their ability to describe family members or engage in conversations about family relationships.

How can teachers extend the family unit topic to further language learning?

Teachers can extend the family unit topic by incorporating related language skills and topics such as describing physical appearance, discussing family traditions, talking about hobbies or interests, or exploring other topics related to personal relationships and communities.

Have your say about these ESL Family Activities

What are your thoughts about these family ESL games and activities? Did you try them out in your classes? Do you have a recommendation for an ESL family tree worksheet for kids or adults? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts. We’d love to hear from you.

Also be sure to give this article a share on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. It’ll help other busy teachers, like yourself find this useful teaching resource.

Last update on 2022-07-17 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

About Jackie

Jackie Bolen has been teaching English for more than 20 years to students in South Korea and Canada. She's taught all ages, levels and kinds of TEFL classes. She holds an MA degree, along with the Celta and Delta English teaching certifications.

Jackie is the author of more than 100 books for English teachers and English learners, including Business English Vocabulary Builder , 67 ESL Conversation Topics ,and 39 No-Prep/Low-Prep ESL Speaking Activities for Teenagers and Adults . She loves to share her ESL games, activities, teaching tips, and more with other teachers throughout the world.

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• Family Tree
• Fingerspelling
• Grandfather
• Grandmother

Family Tree, ASL, Novice Mid

In this activity, students will practice talking about their families and each other's families. Students will begin by describing famous families and how each member is related to each other. Then they will practice fingerspelling names. Their main activity will be to describe their family tree with a partner and then describe their partner's family tree. 

Description

Description:  In this activity, students will practice talking about their families and each other's families. Students will begin by describing famous families and how each member is related to each other. Then they will practice fingerspelling names. Their main activity will be to describe their family tree with a partner, and then describe their partner's family tree. 

Can-Do Statements:

• I can describe my family tree
• I can ask someone questions about their family
• I can be specific when describing members of my family

Idaho State Content Standards

• COMM 1.1: Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions,
• feelings, and opinions
• COMM 2.1: Understand, interpret, and analyze what is heard, read, or viewed on a variety of topics.
• COMM 3.1: Present information, concepts, and ideas to inform, explain, persuade, and narrate on a variety of topics using appropriate media in the target language.

World-Readiness Standards:  

• Standard 1.1 Students engage in conversations and correspondence in American Sign Language to provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions
• Standard 1.2 Students comprehend and interpret live and recorded American Sign Language on a variety of topics.
• Standard 1.3 Students present information, concepts, and ideas in American Sign Language to an audience of viewers on a variety of topics

Materials: Google Slideshow  

Warm Up and Main Activity

Lead-In or Warm-Up (2-3 minutes):

You will hold up famous families, and have the students explain who is related to whom.

There are three different family pictures, so have students name who the members are, and how they're related to each other.

Finally, have students practice fingerspelling with a fingerspelling quiz. The words are listed in the speaker notes of the Google Slideshow.

Main activity: Family Trees Pair students up with each other and provide the example family tree for them to reference. Break out into breakout rooms One student will ask questions about the other student's family tree. For example, they will ask questions like: “What is your mom's name?”, “What is your grandma's name on mom's side?”, “What are your brother/sister's names?” If students are comfortable with this, they can describe their family members physical appearances Remind students to include their aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, etc if they have them and are going through the activity quickly The first student will write down the second student's family tree After they finish, they will show the family tree to their partner and switch roles If time allows we will present each other's family trees

Wrap-Up Questions: What did we learn about each other's families? Who has the most siblings?

Version History

Signs for FAMILY TREE, GENEALOGY

How to sign "family tree", also "genealogy", "pedigree chart" in American Sign Language:

Meaning: A genealogical chart showing the ancestry, descent, and relationship of all family members in several generations in a conventional tree structure; a genealogical tree.

Vocabulary for the immediate family unit in a family tree: MOTHER , FATHER , CHILDREN , DAUGHTER , SON .

More vocabulary for the extended members of a family: GRANDMOTHER , GRANDFATHER , GRANDCHILD .

See RELATIVES for more signs.

More vocabulary for STEPFAMILY .

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How to sign: successive generations of kin

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Similiar / Same: genealogy

Categories: clan , kin , kindred , kinship group , kin group , tribe

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In the Classroom: Family Tree Assignments

Genealogists have long defined familial relations along bloodlines or marriage. But as the composition of families changes, so too has the notion of who gets a branch on the family tree. Some families now organize their family tree into two separate histories: genetic and emotional. Some schools, where charting family history has traditionally been a classroom project, are now skipping the exercise altogether.

Yes!  The above is from “ Who’s on the Family Tree?  Now It’s Complicated ” in today’s New York Times.  And may I say that the ditching of family history assignments in schools is long overdue.  I’ve always railed against them because they assume an awful lot and marginalize students who may not have traditional family backgrounds, may not know their family history, etc etc etc.  I believe that the family tree assignment came about for a good reason — to bring personal history into the classroom rather than it always being about great men and such. However, it also came about with assumptions about the children in the classroom.  I remember arguing with colleagues who would tell me how children and families were so honored and happy after such an assignment.  All very well, I’d reply, but what about those children who were unable to do it for one reason or another?  They’d be given something else, I was told.  Making them, I’d say, all the more marginalized.

I’ve long been wondering if the changing notions of family are also causing more care with this assignment and was gratified to get the sense from this article that it is being reconsidered.  Good, good, good.

Bottom line: we teachers need to always be very, very, very sensitive to how we invite our students to bring their personal lives into the classroom.  Our reality may be very far from theirs.

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10 Comments

Filed under In the Classroom

10 responses to “ In the Classroom: Family Tree Assignments ”

100% agree on sensitivity when inviting students’ lives into the classroom. I think a lot of times we can find ways to serve this purpose by inviting more options in rather than by leaving projects out. Just as a small example — the “family tree” assignment can be widened into a choice of visual representations of family history — or a family timeline with a lesson on selecting scale to show five years, or fifty years, or five hundred, as desired.

We can honor children’s different experiences by letting them choose what and how to share, without any sense of stigma or shame or exclusion — we don’t necessarily have to eliminate sharing altogether.

Great to see you here and thanks for weighing in on this. But I’ve got to wonder — I think any sort of family history activity can be difficult for some families. Not all are comfortable bringing their past to school be it five years or fifty. Mine wouldn’t have been, I know that (which is why I’m so sensitive to this issue, no doubt).

I prefer something broader where family history is simply one of many options. Our immigrant oral history project is for the kids to interview any one, sometimes it is a family member and sometimes not.

3 loud cheers for your “bottom line,” Monica.

TOTALLY agree. Families with adopted kids who are still figuring out relationships with birth parents, kids with same-sex parents (every kid-version of a family tree chart I’ve ever seen has had a space for “mother’s side” and “father’s side”), kids being raised by grandparents…for all of them, family history can be FRAUGHT. And if even one kid feels marginalized, why do the assignment when there are so many other options? (I like the interview idea!)

Oh yes, yes, yes. I grew up with a single mother, and while I could fill in a lot of family tree stuff, I remember that once I was given an assignment to interview everyone in my family about their dental habits. I came back with two interviews–myself and my mother–and proceeded to get yelled at by all the kids on my team because I hadn’t provided enough data points for our assignment. “Why didn’t you just ask your dad ?” I can still hear one girl saying, 25 years later.

Like Liked by 1 person

I agree! As an ESL teacher, I learned the hard way that my immigrant students rarely even knew their grandparents’ names! These kids had been apart from their extended family for most of their lives and had little connection to them or to their family history. It’s really sad to witness, but unfortunately, that’s how life is for them. I had better luck looking at familial relationships in stories we read! Thanks for this post.

Family tree assignments (esp those that go any deeper than grandparents) priviliges those families that have that information — so you’re good if you have a family member into this, or if you come from a family where there was both literacy (written records) and preservation of records (which implies ability to keep and preserve same, as well as being the member of that generation who got to keep those records.)

And yes, I’ve seen the “I can trace my family back x generations and you can’t,” played out, so it’s not just hypothetical that it impacts what is happening in the classroom/group.

So, yeah — not a fan.

I am torn , my daughter has been givenn a family tree assignment. For us to complete it it leaves us deeply emotional in regard to our loss on both sides of the family. We are more than prepared to talk about the lived ones we have lost, but it also so raw and something I don’t feel should be shared in the classroom at the age of 10 x

Michelle, I’m so sorry. Any chance you could send this link to her teacher?

These trees haunt me years on. At the time, I knew I had grandparents. Other students “proudly” traced lineages to the 1500s and 1200s, and teachers insinuated I hadn’t “tried.” It was awful & if they’ve finally done away with it it’s none too soon.

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• Grades 6-12
• School Leaders

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Why It’s Time to Rethink Family Tree Assignments

They may be more harmful than you realize.

Most of us remember plodding through family tree assignments at some point during our school years. Perhaps you created a handprint tree in preschool or filled out your madre and padre on a worksheet for Spanish class. It’s a common activity for a topic that’s important in schools—family. But in 2020, our students are coming from increasingly diverse families, and these types of activities can feel unsettling and exclusionary.

It’s time we moved past the family trees and looked for more inclusive options. Here are several reasons why it’s time to rethink the family tree assignment:

All families are different.

We all know that families consist of something more than diverse than a mom, dad, and 2.5 children. So why do our family trees still reflect that structure? Schools should not require students to complete an activity that fails to represent LGBTQ-headed, multigenerational, step, adoptive, and foster families.

Families are important to children. When they don’t see their own family reflected in the curriculum, they feel left out. And a student who doesn’t feel welcome at school might fail to learn. 

Not everyone has access to family information.

Family tree assignments often require students to research their family history, and that’s just not possible for everyone. Children in adoptive and foster families may not have baby pictures or be able to draw a coat of arms with a flag of where their ancestors came from. And it’s not just about the inability to complete the assignment, which is stressful enough. The greater harm is the complicated emotions that can come up for students when we remind them of what they don’t know.

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Family tree assignments are not trauma-informed.

We must consider that not all students come from loving home environments. Many of our students have experienced abuse and neglect. Family tree activities can trigger anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in students with adverse childhood experiences. Revelation of their private lives can also make them vulnerable to bullying and isolation. Our students’ physical and mental well-being should always come first.

Let’s move to more inclusive projects.

All this is not to say that we shouldn’t be talking about families in school. We can and should. We just have to be more mindful of what kinds of activities we plan. Try “Circles of Caring Community” , a lesson from Welcoming Schools that focuses on all the caring adults in students’ lives. “Autobio” and “Where I’m From” poems are also nice ways for students to share about themselves and the important people in their lives outside the confines of a traditional family tree assignment.

What alternate ideas do you have to family trees? Come and share in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, why we should make all school events inclusive.

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