我的家人
wǒ de jiārén — The People in My Family
📐 Standards alignment
ACTFL World-Readiness: Communication (interpersonal, presentational) · Cultures (how Chinese families name birth order) · Connections (family trees in social studies)
Can-Do targets (NCSSFL-ACTFL, Novice Low):
- I can name six people in a family in Chinese.
- I can point to a person in a photo and say who they are.
- I can tell whether a brother or sister is older or younger.
Learning objectives
- Recognise and say six Chinese family words
- Use 哥哥 and 姐姐 for older siblings, 弟弟 and 妹妹 for younger ones
- Introduce one family member out loud from a photo or drawing
Materials
A family photo, or paper and crayons to draw one. Optional: small sticky notes to label the people in the picture.
Prior knowledge
Units 1–4. Your child should already be comfortable with 你好 and the four tones.
Key vocabulary
妈妈 爸爸 哥哥 姐姐 弟弟 妹妹
Who lives in your house?
Before any Chinese, ask your child to name everyone who lives in their home — in English, counting on fingers. Pets count. Then say: “Today we are going to learn how to say all of those people in Chinese.” Starting from their own real family is what makes this vocabulary stick.
Meet six new words
Tap each card to flip it over. Look at the characters, say the word out loud, then check the back for the meaning — and press 🔊 to hear it.
The bouncing second syllable
Notice something? Five of today’s six words say the same syllable twice: 妈妈, 爸爸, 哥哥, 弟弟, 妹妹. The first syllable carries the tone and the second one is light and quick — MAH-mah, not mah-MAH. Try clapping loudly on the first syllable and softly on the second. Chinese children learn these doubled words first for exactly this reason: they are the easiest sounds in the language to copy.
Point and name
Open the family photo. The grown-up points at a person and asks “Who is this?” — your child answers with the Chinese word. Go slowly the first time round, then race the second time. Swap roles so your child gets to do the pointing too. If you have no photo handy, draw stick figures and label them.
Memory game — find the pairs
Every Chinese word has its English meaning hiding somewhere in the grid. Tap two cards to see if they match.
Find the matching pairs!
Listen and choose
Press each play button and pick what you heard.
1. Press play. Who did you hear?
2. Press play. Who did you hear?
3. Press play. Who did you hear?
The family freeze dance
Put on some music and dance. When the grown-up shouts a family word, everyone freezes in that person’s pose: hands on hips for 妈妈, a big stretch for 爸爸, tiny and curled up for 弟弟 or 妹妹, tall and proud for 哥哥 or 姐姐. Wrong pose? No problem — just dance again.
Show what you know
1. How do you say “Dad” in Chinese?
2. Your sister is older than you. What do you call her?
3. Which two words mean a younger brother or sister?
Great work!
Today your child met the whole family in Chinese: 妈妈, 爸爸, 哥哥, 姐姐, 弟弟 and 妹妹. The big idea to hold on to is that Chinese has separate words for older and younger brothers and sisters — English just says “brother”. Next lesson adds grandparents and puts it all into a sentence.
Take it home
Draw your family
Draw everyone who lives in your home in the box below. Then label each person with their Chinese word — or ask a grown-up to write it while you say it out loud. Do not forget to include yourself!
Name: Date:
Photo tour
Find three photos around the house. For each one, point at a person and say their Chinese word out loud to a grown-up. Colour in a star each time you get one right.
Note for teachers & parents
Pacing: six words is a lot for one sitting. Splitting it — 妈妈 / 爸爸 / 哥哥 on day one and 姐姐 / 弟弟 / 妹妹 on day two — works better than pushing through.
Watch for: mixing up 哥哥 and 姐姐 is the most common slip, because both start with the same sound to an English ear. Pair each one with its gesture from step 7 rather than correcting, and it sorts itself out within a week.