Family T

Please Note: The activities on the Pathways Project OER Repository were created by upper-division students at Boise State University and serve as a foundation that our community of practice can build upon and refine. While they are polished, we welcome and encourage collaboration from language instructors to help modify grammar, syntax, and content where needed. Kindly contact amberhoye@boisestate.edu with any suggestions and we will update the content in a timely manner.  — The Pathways Project

About the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) Language Activity Repository

The activities provided by the Boise State World Languages Resource Center (WLRC) serve as foundational activities which can be adapted by any language and scaled up or down on the proficiency scale. In other words, the activities are “language-agnostic” to provide language instructors from around the country the platform to remix these instructional materials, infusing them with their target language and culture!

This activity was created by upper-division language students working in the World Languages Resource Center at Boise State University. Our activities seek to help students solidify their interpersonal speaking and interpretive listening skills through task-based situations or communicative activities. We recommend using these activities to help reinforce the content students are learning, allowing the students time to feel comfortable using the unit’s vocabulary and grammar structures through application. Further, these activities should be facilitated in approximately 90% (or more) in the target language, per the recommendation of the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

Using the WLRC Repository’s Activities:

When you are ready to begin remixing the activity, in order to adapt it for your target language and audience, simply click the “Remix This Resource” button at the top of your screen. The text provided in purple is a suggestion of what you might say to your students and should be changed to the target language. 

Most activities contain a connected chapter, two to three “NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do” statements, a warm-up, main activity, and a wrap-up. In addition to the instructions, some activities may include a “cheat sheet” containing the target vocabulary and grammar structures emphasized in the activity. Though most of the lab materials are provided, a computer, projector, printer, and laminator may also be needed to fully utilize materials. 

Many of the activities include printable cards and other instructional materials. If you would like to adapt these materials for your language, please email WLRCLAR@gmail.com and we will provide you with an editable copy. For YouTube videos and other websites, hyperlinks are provided. 

Enjoy!

- Boise State World Languages Resource Center

Family Trees (Novice-Low)

In this activity, students will work together to interview one another to construct family trees. Students will pair off and ask one another a series of interview questions and draw their partner's family tree. Students will then introduce their partner's family to other classmates.

Keywords:

China, real-world practice, introductions, meeting new people, families, family trees, relationships, interviews, Chinese 

Relevant NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can answer questions about who is in my family
  
• I can name my family members, their ages, and their relationships to me
  
• I can appropriately address members of a family who represent different generations and genders.
  

Relevant ACTFL World-Readiness Standards

National Standards for Chinese Language Learning:

• Standard 1.1 - Students engage in conversations, provide and obtain information, express feelings and emotions, and exchange opinions in Chinese
• Standard 1.3 - Students present information, concepts, and ideas to an audience of listeners or readers on a variety of topics
• Standard 2.1 - Students demonstrate an understanding of the relationship between the practices and perspectives of the cultures of the Chinese-speaking world
• Standard 4.2 - Students demonstrate understanding of the concept of culture through comparisons of Chinese culture with their own
• Standard 5.1 - Students use the Chinese language both within and beyond the school setting

Idaho State World Language Standards:

• COMM 1.1 - Interact and negotiate meaning (spoken, signed, written conversation) to share information, reactions, feelings, and opinions
• CLTR 1.1 - Analyze the cultural practices/patterns of behavior accepted as the societal norm in the target culture.
• COMP 1.1 - Observe formal and informal forms of language.
• COMP 2.2 - Compare and contrast appropriate gestures and oral expressions in the target culture with the learner’s culture.
• COMT 2.2 - Explore opportunities to use the target language for personal enrichment/professional advancement/communication skills

Materials Needed:

iPad or Computer (projector)

Whiteboards and markers

Family Tree Handouts

Warm-up

Main Activity

1. Students will pair off into small groups (2 or 3) and interview each other to find out how many members are in their families and the names of their family members. Each student group will be provided a copy of the family tree sheet. 
   
   
2. The student interviewing their partner (or if in a group of 3 the student not interviewing/being interviewed) will draw the other students family tree as it is being described to them.
   
   
3. After everyone has had the chance to draw their partners tree, the group will come back together and introduce their partner's family tree to the group
   

Example questions for students:

• كم عدد أفراد عائلتك؟ How many people are in your family?
• ما اسم والدك؟ م ااسم والدتك؟ What is your mother's name? what is your father's name?
• هل عندك خال / خالة؟ هل عندك عم/ عمة؟ Do you have an uncle or an aunt from your mom's side or your da's side?
• هل عندك أخوة أو أخوات أكبر منك، أو أصغرمنك؟ Do you have any older brothers or sisters, or younger brothers or sisters?
  
• هل لوالدتك أخ أكبر؟ هل لوالدك أخت صغرى؟ Does your mother have an older brother? Does your father have a younger sister?
  
• كم عمر أخوك الأكبر منك؟ كم عمر أختك الصغرى؟ How old is your older brother? How old is your younger sister?
  

Wrap-up:

1. Review terms for different family members and how to ask someone how many people are in their family

End of lab:

• Read Can-Do statements once more and have students evaluate their confidence. 
(Use thumbs up/thumbs down or download our student cards.) 
• Encourage students to be honest in their self-evaluation.
• Pay attention, and try to use feedback for future labs!

Relevant NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements:

• I can answer questions about who is in my family
  
• I can name my family members, their ages, and their relationships to me
  
• I can appropriately address members of a family who represent different generations and genders.
  

Where are we? Rate yourself on the weekly Can-Do Statements using this scale: I get it!, I got it!, I kind of get it..., I don't get it...