Lucía Hernández Pajuelo

FINAL PROJECT

DIDACTIC UNIT: THE FAMILY

INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION

2. OBJECTIVES

3. THEORETICAL ASPECTS

➔ Vocabulary (Family members)

➔ Grammar (Genitive ‘s)

➔ Adjectives and Superlatives

4. METHODOLOGY

➔ Target Audience

➔ Tools

5. DIDACTIC UNIT

➔ Session 1

➔ Session 2

➔ Session 3

6. REFERENCES
 1. Introduction

This project will consist of a didactic unit about the topic ‘‘The family’’. It is directed towards
students from 10-12 years old who will learn about vocabulary and grammar related to the
topic through a series of interactive and dynamic exercises created with the ExeLearning tool
that we worked with in this course.

2. Objectives

The aim of this project is to showcase the variety of tools that are available to teachers and
students in order to make learning English (or any language) easier and more practical. As
technologies and the world evolve with the passing of time, the way we teach should too.
More and more children’s way of learning changes and we teachers should be able to adapt
our ways of teaching to them, including more usage of electronic devices, the internet,
different apps and tools that we fortunately have easily available with just a click.

3. Theoretical Aspects

1. Family Words (Vocabulary):

● Learning Family Names: We'll learn the names of different family members like mom,
dad, sister, and brother.
● Fun Activities: We'll play games and do activities to remember these words.

2. Grammar (Genitive 's):

● Possessive Relationships: Explore the genitive 's construction to indicate possession

within the family context. Teach how to express relationships by adding 's to family
members' names (e.g., "Tom's sister" or "Lucy's grandparents").
● Interactive Exercises: Design interactive exercises and games that involve
constructing sentences using genitive 's.

3. Adjectives about People:

● Descriptive Language: Introduce adjectives that describe people's characteristics,

personalities, and appearances. Explore positive adjectives that can be used to
express feelings of love, admiration, or affection within the family.
● Creative Writing: Incorporate creative writing activities where students can use
adjectives to describe their family members or create fictional characters. Encourage
the use of vivid and expressive language to bring their descriptions to life.
● Comparative and Superlative Forms: Extend the exploration of adjectives by
introducing comparative and superlative forms. Discuss how these forms can be used
to compare family members or describe their unique qualities.

Family is a universal and frequent topic in everyday conversations. By understanding

family-related vocabulary and expressions, students can actively engage in conversations
both inside and outside the classroom. Learning to talk about family members, relationships,
and experiences allows students to express themselves, share their stories, and connect with
others on a personal level.

Exploring family-related topics allows students to apply grammatical structures, such as

possessives ('s), in a practical and meaningful way. This helps solidify grammar rules through
real-life examples.

4. Methodology

Target audience:

8-10 year old children learning English in school as a second language.

Time: This didactic unit will be taught in 3 different sessions (usually a week), with each of
them focusing on a particular issue related with the main topic (vocabulary, grammar…) and
practicing different language skills (listening, reading, use of english …)

Tools used:

ExeLearning
WordCloud (WordClouds.com)
Youtube (YouTube )
Youtube Downloader (YouTube to MP4 converter | Wave.video )
Subtitles (VEED.IO )

5. DIDACTIC UNIT: THE FAMILY

SESSION 1: Vocabulary (Family members)

1. Presentation

The teacher will introduce the topic and together with the students they will brainstorm
vocabulary that they know while adding new words with the instructor’s aid. Alongside this,
with a projector or a touchscreen so that the students are able to see what is being done and
they feel more engaged with the topic, the teacher will be preparing a wordcloud of the
vocabulary that they think of.
 2. Practice

When the vocabulary has been understood, the students will be provided with some
exercises on the same, so that they practice the usage of such vocabulary.

● Exercise 1: Family tree. Students have to fill in the blanks according to the family tree,
looking at the wordcloud that they have previously created.

● Exercise 2: With this exercise we will introduce a few more words, although the
students would probably know these words at this point in their learning, so they will
have no problem with the activity (baby, girl, boy…). It consists of a QuExt activity, in
which they will have to choose who they think the people in the pictures are. It is a
very quick and easy activity, ideal for the end of the class when students are starting
to get tired and you need to grasp their attention for a few more minutes, so you can
achieve that by the use of pictures and a more didactic type of exercise. It could also
be done in groups if preferred so they have to work with each other and are more
focused on the activity.

SESSION 2: Grammar (Genitive ‘s/Possessive ‘s)

 1. Presentation

In this lesson, the students will learn about the genitive or possessive case that is formed
with ‘s. An explanation will be given about how it’s formed and the structure that they need to
follow. This will be explained by using the vocabulary of the family that was previously
practiced in the last session.

Eg. Lily is Paul’s sister.

Logan is Emerald’s father.

2. Practice

● Exercise 1: With this activity students will become more familiar with the possessive
case in English. They will complete the sentences by dropping them down to where
they should be, looking at the family tree of the well known animated TV show The
Simpsons. We will also provide a couple additional words to the student’s vocabulary
related to family members (husband, wife, grandparents).

● Exercise 2: This activity will follow the Simpsons on a True or False exercise about
their family dynamics. It’s a very simple and comprehensible exercise on the
possessive case.

SESSION 3: Adjectives and superlatives

 1. Presentation

In this last session the students will be introduced to vocabulary on how they can describe
their family members both physically and their personalities. This should not take up too
much time to comprehend since it’s normally words that they already know or are familiar at
this point in their teaching, and if they’re not understood, we will provide them with a couple
of exercises to reinforce these ideas.

2. Practice

● Exercise 1: Students will learn about physical adjectives that they can use to describe
their family members with a word search activity.

● Exercise 2: You will teach your students about necessary adjectives that describe
people’s personality traits in order for them to be able to describe their family
members.

★ Here, a brief and not deep explanation on superlatives must be given in order to
complete the next exercise. Although this consists of a 5 minute explanation because
just the regular structure to form superlative adjectives is needed for now at their
level. Eg: Young -> Youngest.

● Exercise 3: With this interactive video, students will practice everything that has been
talked about in the last 3 sessions of class, family members, the possessive case,
adjectives and superlatives. It consists of a video in which there are two people
talking about their families, and every once in a while a question pops up when you’re
watching it that tests your listening comprehension as well as all the content that
you’ve been learning for the week. The types of questions are very varied, fill in the
blanks, match the pairs, choice questions…
The video is already subtitled in English but Spanish subtitles were created using the
tool VEED.IO .

6. References

The Simpsons [Family Members]

Family members and Possessive-s worksheet
Possessive Adjectives
A big family - English Listening Practice Level Basic