Family Words in English: Mother, Father, Sister, Brother and More

Practice on screen

Look at the picture or number and choose the right English word. Ten questions each round.

How to teach it

1. 1. Draw and label a family tree

   Ask the child to draw people in their family on a sheet of paper and label them: mother, father, grandma, brother. Do not worry about a perfect tree, and let children draw their own kind of family. Then the child introduces each person: "This is my brother."

2. 2. Bring a photo

   Ask each child to bring a photo of family or friends, or draw one. They show it and say two sentences: "This is my sister. Her name is Lina." The others ask a simple question: "How old is she?" The topic is personal, so children are keen to speak.

3. 3. Puppet family

   Use finger puppets or paper dolls as a family. Give each one a role and a short dialogue: "Hello, I am the father." Let the child move the puppets and speak for them. Role play practices the words and the verb to be.

4. 4. Family word matching

   Make pairs of cards: mother and father, brother and sister, son and daughter, grandma and grandpa, aunt and uncle. Lay them face down and play a memory game. When a pair is found, the child says both words.

5. 5. Who is it?

   Give clues: "She is my mother's mother." The child answers: "Grandmother!" Start with easy clues and let older children make clues for the others. This builds understanding of how the words connect.

6. 6. Count and compare

   Ask: "How many brothers do you have?" The child answers with a full sentence: "I have two brothers." or "I have no brothers." Compare answers in a small group and practice the plural forms of the family words.

Common mistakes

• Mixing up he and she

  Use he for a boy or man (father, brother, son, uncle) and she for a girl or woman (mother, sister, daughter, aunt). Learners sometimes mix them up. Practice with pictures: "This is my uncle. He is tall."

• Saying "childs" and "mans"

  Some people words are irregular: one child, two children; one man, two men; one woman, two women. Do not add -s. Other family words are regular: one brother, two brothers; one baby, two babies.

• Using parents for one person

  Parents means mother and father together. For one person, say mother or father. "My parents are kind" refers to two people. "My parent" is rare in everyday speech.

• Mixing up aunt and uncle with cousin

  Your aunt and uncle are the brother or sister of your mother or father. Your cousin is the child of your aunt or uncle. Draw a quick tree and show the three words on it.

• Writing mum or mom

  American English writes mom and British English writes mum. Both mean the same. Grandma and grandpa are casual words; grandmother and grandfather are the full forms. Keep to one spelling in your lessons.