The Language Teacher
August 2000

Describing the Dream Family

Christopher Glick

University of Tokushima



QUICK GUIDE

Key Words: Describing People, Family Trees
Learner English Level: Low Intermediate and up
Learner Maturity Level: Junior High to Adult
Preparation Time: Only that for copying the handout and creating one's own "dream family"
Activity Time: Approximately 30 minutes

All of my first-year English lessons at the University of Tokushima are thematically arranged in an attempt to maintain a consistent context for each lesson. The second lesson revolves around families: It has a listening activity about my family, pronunciation practice with male and female names in a family tree, and practice describing (and guessing) the members of one's "dream family." The latter is an enjoyable pair activity in which students take turns describing and finally guessing each other's new and famous family members.

Using a handout (Fig. 1), you should have students follow as you read the directions. Then briefly sketch out an example dream family on the blackboard. Put your name in the center of the family tree and add new relatives with accompanying explanations, for example: Musashimaru (a sumo wrestler) as a brother who can protect you, Jodi Foster (an actress) as a sister who can lend you money easily, Matsuda Seiko (a singer) as a talented career woman and single mother, and Gorugo Saachiin (a secret agent in a Japanese comic) as a father with an exciting career. These examples give a range of possibilities for new family members -- living, dead, real, fictional, Japanese, foreign. Since pets are often treated like family members, you might wish to draw in a pet as well, perhaps Pokemon. The students should be reminded that they can have any five additional family members they wish, be it three grandparents and two sisters, or five mothers, or whatever.

The students should then be told to make their own families, individually, and not to show their families to their partners. Usually it takes six to eight minutes for students to complete this step, although deciding who to add to the family can be remarkably taxing for some students. Pay attention to slow starters and prompt them with examples, perhaps Beethoven, Oda Nobunaga, Sanma (a TV tarento), or Norika (an actress/model).

Once the students' families are complete, write the key questions from the center of the handout on the blackboard and explain what information each question elicits. Explain that the students will take turns asking about, then guessing each other's family members and drawing their partners' family trees in Box #2 on the handout. The activity should be modeled with one of the keener students in the class. In my case, I erase one of my family members, draw in a blank and walk a student through the questions written on the board. For example:

Student: "Mr. Glick, how many sisters do you have?"
Instructor: "Just one, a younger sister."
S: "What does she do?"
I: "She is a junior high school or high school student, but sometimes she fights monsters and people who cause trouble."
S: "What does she look like?"
I: "She has very long blonde hair and big blue eyes. She usually wears a sailor suit uniform with a skirt that is probably too short. Her legs are very long."
S: "What does she like to do?"
I: "She likes enjoying her school life and friends, but she also likes fighting, because she's quite strong."
S: "Can you tell me anything else?"
I: "Sure. My sister sometimes carries a big weapon, like a samurai sword or something, and she is a cartoon character."
S: "Is your sister Sailor Moon?"
I: "That's right!"

You should explain the task -- ask about and guess your partner's family members -- once more, then have the students begin. While they are working through the activity, move around the classroom to help those who are having problems and remind the students that the person being asked should only give answers, not explain everything at one time: i.e., the students must ask numerous questions to guess the family members. Once the students no longer need assistance, you might wish to ask about any unfamiliar names in their family trees to learn about what kinds of people your students are interested in.

Allow the students 10-15 minutes for questions, then stop the activity. After asking them to show their families to each other, you might wish to run a brief survey of common family members. From personal experience, Doraemon (a cartoon robot cat) is quite popular as a pet, Ichiro (a baseball player) and Einstein as male relatives.

By having students create their own families with people they know well and like, the task becomes more relevant and interesting than if they were asking about, for example, the Japanese Imperial family or their instructor's own family. The students must use some vocabulary for occupations (typically actor, actress, singer, or baseball/soccer player) and family relations. They must also think about how to describe people in limited detail (you can be very helpful here by suggesting descriptions of greater depth than "She's beautiful" while observing various groups).

Figure 1. Guess who I'm related to!

Have you ever had a fight with a brother or sister? Have you ever wished someone in your family were rich or famous? Well, today is your chance to change everything, because you're going to build your dream family!

In box #1, write your name on the blank in the center. Then draw a family tree with the names of five new famous family members: living or not, real or fictional. You decide what your new family looks like; for example, maybe you have 5 sisters or maybe two brothers, a grandmother, a father, and a husband. If you want, you can include a pet.

#1

 

You:____________________

 

Questions you should ask about your partner's family members:

#2
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