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Topic 2 of 60

Discussion picture Discussion questions Key words

Picture warm-up

1. What do you see in this picture?
2. Who are these people, and what are they doing?
3. Does this look like your life here, or in your home country? How is it the same or different?

Discussion questions

1. How many people are in your family, and where do they live now?
2. Who are you closest to in your family? Why?
3. How is a typical family in your country different from a typical American family?
4. Do grown children in your culture live with their parents? What do you think about that?
5. Who takes care of elderly parents in your country?
6. What family traditions do you keep in the United States?
7. How do you stay in touch with family members who live far away?
8. What is the best advice a family member ever gave you?
9. Are you more like your mother or your father? In what ways?
10. What do families in your culture do together on weekends?
11. How have families changed in your country in the last 30 years?
12. What are the challenges of raising a family in a new country?
13. Who makes the important decisions in your family?
14. Do you have a favorite family story or memory?
15. What is the ideal number of children for a family? Why?

Key words

Say the word, then read the example sentence out loud.

• relatives
  All my relatives came to my wedding.
• sibling
  I have three siblings: two brothers and one sister.
• in-laws
  We visit my in-laws every Sunday.
• extended family
  My extended family includes many cousins.
• raise
  My grandmother helped raise me.
• generation
  Three generations live in our house.
• get along with
  I get along well with my younger brother.
• take after
  She takes after her father; they are both funny.
• elderly
  Many elderly people live alone in the U.S.
• household
  Our household has five people.
• support
  My parents support my decision to study English.
• close-knit
  We are a close-knit family and talk every day.
• tradition
  Eating together on Friday nights is a family tradition.
• stepmother
  My stepmother married my dad when I was ten.
• keep in touch
  I keep in touch with my aunt through video calls.

Next topic: 3. Hometown & Home Country

Topic chosen by comparing popular ESL conversation resources (see How these topics were chosen). Questions and example sentences are original to this collection. Translations are a guide and should be reviewed by a fluent speaker.