Spanish Vocabulary: Spanish Family Vocabulary for Teachers
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Increase your students’ Spanish vocabulary! Spanish family words help your students to learn a whole new category of Spanish vocabulary and to talk about their own families. Use these activities with your students to engage them and help them remember the new vocabulary words. When possible, have students work in pairs or in groups to do these activities.
List of Words
La madre-mother
El padre-mother
El hermano/la hermana-brother/sister
El hijo/la hija-son/daughter
El abuelo/la abuela-grandfather/grandmother
El tío/la tía-uncle/aunt
El primo/la prima-cousin (male/female)
El nieto/la nieta-grandson/granddaughter
El sobrino/la sobrina-nephew/niece
La nuera-daughter-in-law
El yuerno-son-in-law
El cuñado/la cuñada-brother-in-law/sister-in-law
El esposo/la esposa-husband/wife
Activity 1: Have students draw a family tree, labeling each family member in Spanish.
Activity 2: Create a matching worksheet with two columns. One column has the first half of the sentence and the second column the second half. Write sentences that describe family relationships. Write the sentences in Spanish. For example, “El esposo de mi tía. . .es mi tío.”
Activity 3: Create bingo cards with different family members on them written in Spanish. Give clues in Spanish using sentences similar to those you created for Activity 2, leaving off the vocabulary word from the clue, of course.
Activity 4: Have students write a short paragraph describing their family using the vocabulary words from the list. Students can then share their writing with the class. Students listening to each student’s presentation can summarize what they heard about the presenter’s family in Spanish. For example, if a presenter says, “Tengo tres hermanas y dos hermanos,” a student in the audience can recap how many siblings the presenter has, using the Spanish vocabulary words.
Activity 5: Students can practice family vocabulary in online quizzes at home or in a computer lab. One can be found in the resources section.
Activity 6: Put students into two groups. Have one person from each group go to the board. You, as the teacher, read out a definition of a family member in Spanish. The first person to write the correct word on the board gets a point. The person who won stays at the board. Another person from the other team comes up to the board. Then, you read a Spanish family member vocabulary word. This time, students have to write the definition in Spanish on the board. The first one to get the definition correct gets a point. The game continues until a pre-determined number of points have been reached. Do not tell students whether you will tell them the word or the definition each turn. Keep them guessing.
These activities can help your students increase their Spanish vocabulary. Spanish family words are an important part of everyday communication and conversation. These activities are appropriate for both children and adult Spanish language learners. It may be necessary to these activities to your classroom’s preferences and abilities.
Resource:
Spanish Family Vocabulary Quiz
