Family traditions

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”.

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.