My Family: A1 English Lesson for Beginners

Learn how to introduce and describe your family in English. This free A1 lesson for adult beginners covers family vocabulary, subject pronouns, possessive adjectives, and simple descriptions. Its 15 interactive slides include a family tree video, vocabulary audio, quizzes, grammar practice, speaking cards, and a short writing activity.

What you will learn

• Name family members and explain simple family relationships.
• Use subject pronouns such as he, she, and they.
• Use possessive adjectives such as my, your, his, and her before nouns.
• Describe family members with adjectives such as tall, short, young, and old.
• Write five short sentences about your family.

English family vocabulary

Listen to each word in the vocabulary slides, repeat it, and connect it to a person in a family tree.

• Mother and father: your parents.
• Brother and sister: your siblings.
• Son and daughter: words parents use for their children.
• Grandmother and grandfather: your grandparents.
• Aunt and uncle: a sister or brother of a parent, or their spouse.
• Cousin: a child of your aunt or uncle.
• Niece and nephew: a daughter or son of your brother or sister.
• Stepmother and stepfather: a parent's spouse who is not your mother or father.
• Brother-in-law and sister-in-law: for example, your sister's husband or your brother's wife.

Understanding a family tree

A family tree shows how people in a family are related. Watch the lesson video and follow the relationships between grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Then watch again and answer the video questions.

Practice with examples: My mother's mother is my grandmother. My aunt's children are my cousins. My brother's daughter is my niece. Use the vocabulary quiz to check which family word fits each relationship.

Subject pronouns and possessive adjectives

A subject pronoun tells us who does something or who a sentence describes: She is kind. A possessive adjective comes before a noun and tells us who something belongs to or who a person is related to: Her brother is tall.

Compare He is my father. with His name is Tom. Use he as the subject and his before the noun name. Watch the two grammar videos, listen to the example sentences, and complete the missing-word activity.

Describing family members in English

The lesson introduces these adjective pairs: tall and short, young and old, kind and unkind, fat and thin, and big and small. Use an adjective after is to make a simple description.

• My father is tall.
• My sister is short.
• My brother is young.
• My grandmother is old.
• My mother is kind.

Use the speaking cards to describe a grandfather, grandmother, mother, father, brother, or sister. Say a complete sentence, then replace the family word or adjective to make another example.

Writing practice: five sentences about your family

Write five sentences using the starters This is my ..., He is ..., and She is my .... Include subject pronouns, possessive adjectives, and adjectives to describe people. Here is a model you can adapt:

1. This is my mother.
2. Her name is Anna.
3. She is kind.
4. My father is tall.
5. They are my parents.

Read your sentences aloud. Check that each possessive adjective comes before a noun and that each sentence begins with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Using the interactive lesson

Begin with the warm-up that reviews the previous lesson. Watch the family tree video, practice vocabulary with the audio, and complete the family quiz. Continue with the grammar videos and missing-word activity, then use the speaking cards before writing your five sentences. Finish by sharing one family word or sentence you learned.

Teachers can use a family tree to model relationships and let learners take turns describing family members. For self-study, pause after each audio example and repeat the sentence aloud.

Review the previous job interview English lesson, or explore more free A1 English teaching materials.