Family ESL Lesson Plan (Upper-Intermediate)

ESL/EFL Level: Upper-intermediate (B2/C1)
Lesson Topic: Changes in family structures and marriage as an institution
Skill Focus: Speaking, Reading, Vocabulary
Approximate Class Time: 1.5 hours
Lesson Plan Download: family-lesson-plan-upper-intermediate-022023.docx
Lesson Overview:

  • The reading passage discusses changes in the traditional (nuclear) family structure, summarizes some social trends related to marriage and childbirth in the U.S. and globally, and mentions some reproductive technology.
  • The lesson also includes a focus on the names of different relatives, a list of family-related scenarios for discussion, two role-plays, a debate on arranged marriage,  and a 'family meeting' speaking activity.
  • All lessons come with warm-up questions, comprehension questions, a vocabulary section, and discussion questions.

A chlid-like painting of a happy family

UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2/C1) Family ESL Lesson Plan

Warm-up (Pair Work)

  1. What is the best environment to raise a family in (e.g. apartment, village, etc)?
  2. What was the worst thing you did as a child? Did you get caught?
  3. Is there anything funny or different about your family?
  4. Does someone in your family maintain a family tree? How far back can you trace your family history?

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-- EFL Lesson plan on the family written by Matthew Barton of EnglishCurrent.com (copyright). Site members may photocopy and edit the file for their classes. Permission is not given to rebrand the lesson, redistribute it on another platform, or sell it as part of commercial course curriculum. For questions, contact the author.

Follow-up question answers

  • A nuclear family is a family with a father, mother, and children.
  • The conflict is between data that suggests marriage for love reduces the likelihood of divorce and data from India showing that non-love marriages have very low divorce rates.
  • A boomerang child is one who returns home to live with his parents in adulthood.
  • The low fertility rate is related.

Vocabulary answers: 1-j, 2-b, 3-I, 4-d, 5-a, 6-e, 7-f, 8-h, 9-k, 10-g, 11-c

Page 2 answers: niece, nephew, great-grandmother, siblings, brother-in-law, stepbrother

End notes:

11 comments on “Family ESL Lesson Plan (Upper-Intermediate)

  1. Danny (Posted on 11-17-2014 at 12:39) Reply

    Great ideas! Thank you!

  2. Tanya (Posted on 2-5-2015 at 14:59) Reply

    Lots of ideas. Just great

  3. Tanya (Posted on 2-5-2015 at 14:59) Reply

    Lots of ideas. Just great

  4. Felipe (Posted on 2-23-2016 at 22:42) Reply

    So complete, Great Ideas and exercices. thanks

  5. vesna (Posted on 2-25-2016 at 01:29) Reply

    Fantastic! Complete and thorough, simply perfectly done!

  6. Marcela (Posted on 4-21-2016 at 09:36) Reply

    Amazing ideas! Thanks!

  7. Matheus (Posted on 7-11-2016 at 10:24) Reply

    Thanks a bunch for this amazing lesson!

  8. Eva (Posted on 10-2-2018 at 11:05) Reply

    Great to learn vocabulary, I found it an in-depth lesson. Fantastic discussions which forced me to use a wide variety of vocabulary.

  9. Anonymous (Posted on 9-26-2020 at 08:36) Reply

    No hay respuestas

  10. Pingback: Families and Personality | English for Advanced level at E.O.I.

  11. Diora (Posted on 5-5-2022 at 23:37) Reply

    i really liked questions for discussion.very interesting and make people think deeply about all of them

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