Bridge 04, december 2011, volume 15

Teachers
File

methodology
Tips

Dear teachers,
The vocabulary list and the activities in this Methodology Tips sheet are all related
to Maturita Card (MC) 29, Family. The word list is designed to provide students with
vocabulary and phrases they will find useful or necessary when, for example, speaking
about their family or about the topic in the oral part of the Maturita exam.
Teachers File Methodology Tips are also available at www.bridge-online.cz
(section:Uitel Metodick listy; password:ACTIVITY).

Thevocabulary list below is open-ended it can therefore

be reduced or expanded depending on thepurpose of
communication and thelevel of difficulty. It is also important
to keep in mind that astudent will primarily know and
use vocabulary related to his / her needs and experience
(e.g.Astudent helping his / her parents in thefront / back
garden of their house will have awider range of vocabulary
connected to gardening than astudent living in aflat.).

Thelist covers only thepart of thegeneral Maturita exam topic Family

which has not yet been dealt with on aMaturita Card. If possible,
useful vocabulary (e.g. connected to housework) related to thetopic is
also included. For vocabulary and useful phrases on theMaturita topic
Personal Identification and Characteristics, see MC 17.
Thelist contains vocabulary for lower level and higher level (initalics).

VOCABULARY LIST family

(Marital) Status

in legal terms single/ married; other

widowed/ widow/ widower, divorced,
separated, unmarried partners

Immediate family

parents, single-parent family, step-parents,

mother/ mum/ mummy (BrE), mom/
mommy (AmE), step-mother, single mother,
adoptive mother, father/ dad/ daddy,
step-father; husband, wife, spouse; baby,
child/ children, step-child, daughter
(girl), son (boy), orphan; an only child,
siblings, brother, step-brother, half-brother,
sister (sis), step-sister, half-sister; twins
(identical and fraternal), triplets; (great-)
grandparents, grandmother (grandma/
granny), grandfather (grandpa/ grandad/
granddad), grandchild, granddaughter/
grandson; marriage, divorce; head of
thefamily/ household; adult, dependent,
underage; young/ younger, old/ older,
thesame age
childhood, motherhood, fatherhood
tobe pregnant, pregnancy; togive
birth toachild, toadopt; tobe raised
by, tobe brought up by; tolive with,
togrow up; totake after, tobe alike;
tobe similar to/ thesame as

Roles

therole of thefather/ mother;

foster(family), guardian(s); child care,
tobe themain breadwinner, totake
responsibility for/ tobe responsible for;
tobring up, tolook after, totake care
of, toraise achild; toteach/ educate,
todevelop, tocommunicate, totalk to,
toask/ give answers/ respond to,
toassist, tosupply; totreat, tospoil,
topamper

Maturita Card 29

social acceptance, changing social

conditions/ attitudes, orientation(s),
samesex relationships/ couples,
heterosexual/ homosexual relationships

Extended family
(close and distant relatives)

kin; aunt (auntie), uncle, cousin, niece,

nephew; in-laws, daughter-in-law,
soninlaw, mother-in-law, father-in-law,
sister-in-law, brother-in-law, godparents,
godfather/ godmother

Family relationship

relation(s), relationship, relative(s),

tobe related (to), couple; totake after;
sibling rivalry, (tobe) theblack sheep of
thefamily; tolove/ like/ hate/ admire,
toget on well with, tohave agood/ bad
relationship with, tobe on good/ bad
terms with, toshare, toquarrel with/
tohave aquarrel with; tohelp each
other, tosupport, tocount on, torely on,
toinfluence; tolive with, tovisit, toinvite,
toget together (with), tospend time with,
tojoin, tocome and see, toleave

Family gatherings and events

occasion(s), family tradition(s), celebration,

birthday, birth, christening/ baptism...,
name-day (not generally celebrated in
Englishspeaking countries); wedding,
wedding ceremony/ reception, bride,
bridegroom, just married; graduation,
anniversary, Christmas, Easter etc., funeral;
tocelebrate; honeymoon

Common activities

interest(s), hobby/ hobbies; tospend

(free) time together, togo on holiday
(BrE)/ vacation (AmE); togo skiing/
camping...; during theweek/ holidays, at
theweekend/ on theweekend (AmE)
1

Housework/ Household chores

appliances dishwasher, iron, vacuum

cleaner/ hoover (BrE), washing machine...;
cleaning rag, broom, duster, mop; blanket,
bed sheet, clothes, dishes, carpet, curtains,
floor, windows, furniture, laundry, surface...;
clothes line; wastepaper basket, dustbin/
litter bin; dust, dirt/ dirty, stain, rubbish
(BrE), trash, garbage; cooking, dry
cleaning, ironing; tochange (blankets, light
bulb...),tocook, toclean, todothelaundry,
todotheshopping, todry, todust,
tohang, tohelp, tohoover/ tovacuum
(clean), toiron, tomake (tea, thebeds),
tomow, toprepare (breakfast), toshovel,
tosweep, totidy up, towash, towash up
(BrE)/ todothewashing up/ towash
dishes, towater (flowers/ plants/
garden/ lawn)

What is he / she like? ...

What does he / she look like?
How does he / she look like?
(incorrect)

activity tip
FAMILY TREE
Draw your family tree and say / write
10 / 15 / 20... sentences about your
family and the relations between
thefamily members.

ACTIVITIES
I. DESCRIBING PICTURES
1 Look at pictures 1, 2, 4, 6, 7 and 8. Can you
describe them using thefollowing points?

PLACE

2 There are eight pictures. Choose one picture and say one sentence about it.
Now choose another picture and say two sentences about it. You should say
three sentences for thethird picture, four for thefourth picture... eight for
thelast picture.

TIME / OCCASION

ACTIVITY

3 Choose one person from any of thepictures and describe theperson using
thefollowing points:

PEOPLE

AGE

ATMOSPHERE

APPEARANCE

CLOTHING

MOOD

4 Deduce what therelationships might be between thepeople in thepictures

(except for picture 5) and say why.

II. COMPARING PICTURES

1 Compare two pictures (e.g. pictures 2 and 6) using thefollowing points:

PLACE

PEOPLE

ACTIVITIES

ATMOSPHERE

TIME (OF DAY / YEAR)

OTHER

2 Find connections between pairs of pictures. Choose any two pictures and try to find what they might have in common.

III. HOUSEHOLD CLEANING (Household chores / Housework)

1 Can you match thefollowing
household cleaning activities
with thewords that go with
these activities? Thewords
may be used more than once.

stairs

silverware

floor

carpets

stovetop

clothes

rug

furniture surface

curtains

frontyard

TV screen

windows

books

cobwebs / spiderwebs

closet

furniture

bed sheets

garden or lawn

lightbulb

trash

room

window sills

dishes

toilet (paper) roll

flowers or plants

vacuuming ..........................................................................

hanging ...............................................................................

dusting ................................................................................

tidying .................................................................................

taking out ...........................................................................

polishing .............................................................................

wiping .................................................................................

sweeping ............................................................................

changing .............................................................................

ironing .................................................................................

watering .............................................................................

cleaning ..............................................................................

washing ..............................................................................
2 Write
R for activities YOU doregularly,
O for activities
YOU dooccasionally,
N for activities YOU dont doat all.

3 Mark theactivities YOU are

planning to dothis week.

4 Mark theactivities YOU like

/ hate doing.

IV. TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS

1 Look at pictures 18. How are thepeople in thepictures
feeling? Are they feeling positive, neutral, negative?

2 What doyou think is thereason for how thepeople in pictures

18 are feeling? Can you justify your opinion / give arguments?

3 How are YOU feeling at themoment? Why?

HAPPY

SAD

BORED

EXCITED

confused

MISERABLE

ANGRY

amused

EXHAUSTED

4 How are these people feeling? Draw your own

emoticon to show how you feel (are feeling now).

COLD

TIRED
HOT

LONELY
OTHER
2