Family traditions
Lesson plan overview
This intermediate ESL lesson plan is about family traditions. Students will learn useful phrases, will discuss their family traditions, and will look at the difference between used to and would to talk about past habits. It can be combined with the worksheet “Idioms: family”. You may also find the video-based lessons “Paternity leave“, “Extracurricular activities“, and “Are playgrounds too safe” interesting.
Speaking: The lesson starts with 7 lead-in questions about family traditions.
Vocabulary: Students read a short text about family traditions and then complete the collocations and phrases given (family reunion, family gathering, a sense of belonging, core values, lasting memories). To practise these phrases, students complete 7 questions with the correct word and use the questions as conversation starters.
Listening: Students watch a video “Family traditions: 9 easy ideas and why they are important”, which is divided into 3 parts. For parts 2 and 3 of the video, students first brainstorm their ideas, and then watch the video to check their ideas.
Speaking: Students work in pairs and think of a new tradition they would like to start in their families.
Grammar: First, students look at the differences between “used to” and “would” to talk about past habits. Then they complete 2 practice activities, which combine writing and speaking to talk about their past habits and past family traditions.
The conversation cards provide further speaking opportunities.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
Pre-class activities
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In-class activities
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Additional resources
Each video-based lesson plan includes links to additional resources (videos and articles), which are FREE can be found online (in the pre-class activities page. These links aim to extend the learning experience, enabling students to connect classroom knowledge with real-world applications.
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Teacher’s lesson plan
Student’s worksheet
Student’s interactive PDF
Conversation cards PDF
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