4 ¿Cómo es tu familia?
Your Chapter 4 task is to describe your family through photos or videos and ask others about theirs.
Meet Luis, as he introduces his family and asks you about yours.
I. La familia (Family)
What does family mean to you? Do you have a big or small family? How important is the concept of family in your culture?
Family is very important to Latinos. In Latinx countries, did you know that it is common to have several generations of family members living under the same roof? For example, in Costa Rica, adult children can live with their parents until their 30s or beyond. This is true for several reasons.
First, there is a closeness by living with one’s own family. Second, by remaining in the family household, family members are able save money to buy their own homes. Third, some may choose to live with their family until they get married due to individual preference. Finally, there may be a personal reason such as sickness or individual family traditions that play a role in why several generations of family members live together.
In the following video, David, a virtual conversation partner from TalkAbroad, shares what the concept of family means in his culture. David is from Nicaragua.
Una discusión sobre la familia
Test your listening comprehension skills. What does family mean for David?
To start your own conversation about family with a Spanish-speaker, you could ask:
¿Cómo es tu familia? means what is your family like, or describe your family. This is different from ¿Cómo está tu familia?, which means how is your family doing?
You would answer ¿Cómo es tu familia? by using the verb ser + descriptive adjectives, similar to the ones that you learned in Lesson 2.
Click on Slide 11 to review those adjectives.
To describe your family as a whole, you will use the feminine singular form of the descriptive adjective.
Unlike in English, where family consists of more than one person, the word familia in Spanish is considered one singular unit; therefore, the word is singular, not plural. Additionally, the word familia is feminine, so the descriptive adjective you use needs to agree in number and gender with the word, familia.
Example- Mi familia es trabajadora (hard-working). OR Mi familia es alta (tall).
See how the following students describe their families in photos using different descriptive adjectives.
Actividad A
Paso 1. How would you describe your family? Fill in the space with at least one descriptive adjective from Slide 11. Remember, family is one singular unit, so your adjective should be singular and feminine.
Modelo- Mi familia es ______________.
Paso 2. Ask 2-3 students to describe their families to you.
Modelo- Hola. ¿Cómo es tu familia? Answer: Mi familia es ____.
Example- Mi familia es trabajadora y leal.
After asking what someone’s family is like with ¿Cómo es tu familia?, you may ask or be asked more questions about individual family members. In Spanish, there are several words you could use for family members as a whole.
parientes – family members or relatives
familiares– family members or relatives
miembros de la familia– family members
Example- ¿Cómo son tus familiares?
If you would like to describe specific family members, it is important to know the vocabulary words for immediate (familia nuclear) and extended family (familia extensa). Listen as TikTokers My Daily Spanish and hellotalk_spanish share family vocabulary with you. Be sure to press the sound button on the bottom left of the videos.
@mydailyspanish The family in Spanish. Follow for more Spanish lessons! 😊 #learnontiktok #learnspanish #spanishlesson #spanishteacher #languages #spanishonline
@hellotalk_spanish Family in Spanish 🥰 @kallyeskally #learnspanish #spanishlesson
Actividad B
Test your listening comprehension skills by answering the following questions based on the vocabulary presented in both videos.
How did you do? 🙂
Jessie is going to introduce her family to you in Slide 24. Listen as she describes her family tree. You will also find a list of vocabulary words for family members on the slide.
Play the audio to hear Jessie’s family tree and how the vocabulary words related to family are pronounced. Family members that identify as non-binary will end in e.
Jessie’s family tree
Vocabulary on family
Actividad C
Test your listening comprehension skills by answering the following questions regarding Jessie’s family tree.
¡Excelente! 🙂
Actividad D
Complete the following crossword puzzle by typing in the correct relative in Spanish, based on the definitions provided. Placing accents is not possible in this crossword puzzle due to the platform’s restrictions; however, you should still know where accents are located in the new vocabulary words you learn for your own knowledge.
¡Qué bien! 🙂
Actividad E
Luis took a break from writing his next book to introduce his family to you through photos.
Play the video here.
¡Bravo! 🙂
It’s time to introduce your family to your classmates through photos. Watch as College of DuPage student, Ava, introduces her family to her TalkAbroad virtual conversation partner.
In the video, you also saw Ava’s conversation partner introduce her family members through photos. You will do the same! 🙂
Using the vocabulary from Slide 24, you will present your family members with the expressions on Slide 25 below.
Be sure to play the audio to hear how these phrases are pronounced.
Actividad F
Choose 2-3 photos of your family. The photos can come from your cell phone, computer printout, or actual photos.
Introduce the members of your family to at least three classmates. Follow the model below.
Be sure to include the relationship of the family member, their name, age, where they live and a physical and personality description of them from Slide 11. Pets count! Have fun! 🙂
Modelo- Hola. Voy a presentarte a mi familia. Él es mi mascota. Se llama Buddy. Tiene un año. Vive conmigo en Houston, Texas. Es muy grande, activo y amable.
¡Excelente! You now know how to ask someone to describe their family and present your own through photos.
Intercultural Reflection 1
Latinx families come in many forms. There are two-parent households, single parent, blended families, same-sex couples, adopted parents, grandparent-led families, and several more variations. Each family is unique in their own way.
Traditionally, there has been a stigma attached to Latinx fathers as being machista, or someone who exhibits male chauvinism or a traditional patriarchal dominance in the household.
Have you experienced traditional gender roles in your family structure or seen them in someone else’s family? What type of household were you raised in?
A few years ago, a young Latinx son, Daniel Lemus, who has a passion for makeup, unexpectedly came out to his Mexican father while video recording himself doing a makeup tutorial. What do you think the reaction of the father was upon seeing his son put makeup on?
NowThis Impact shares Daniel’s video and his father’s reaction.
Explore more
1. Were you surprised by the father’s reaction? Share your thoughts.
2. How did this video make you feel? Do you feel there should be more empathy and compassion for family members that are in the closet, especially Latinx ones that come from traditional households?
3. In Spanish, “papa” or “papas” is a term of endearment for a son or grandson. In Daniel’s video, you hear the Mexican father call his son “papa” repeatedly, as he supports Daniel’s decision to embrace makeup and his identity.
Are there terms or nicknames used for certain family members as a sign of endearment in your culture or language? What are they? What do they mean?
4. The use of “ito” or “ita” at the end of words could also show endearment or affection in the Spanish language. You would drop the o or a at the end of a word and place ito or ita, depending if the word is masculine or feminine. It could also mean “little.” This is called a diminutive.
For example- Hijo would be hijito. Hija would be- hijita.
Write and say the term of endearment for each of these family members with ito or ita.
A. Mamá
B. Papá
C. Abuelo
D. Abuela
E. Hermano
F. Hermana
5. If you would like to learn about Daniel’s reaction when coming out to his dad, read the following article by YourTango.
II. Las comparaciones (Comparisons)
Earlier you saw Luis introduce his sons and share details about them. He compared Eugenio and Patricio by stating who was younger or older and who was more introverted and studious.
In conversation, you may also be asked to compare your family members in Spanish, or you may want to ask someone to compare theirs.
A famous content creator by the name of Rain recently shared some statements on their social media about their favorite Latinx artists. Rain recently compared them to others. Do you agree with their statements?
Take a listen to Rain’s comparisons.
Be sure to press the white arrow on the right of the slide to go through each of Rain’s comparisons as she makes them.
Actividad G
Paso 1. Based on Rain’s social media post, select the correct comparison in each example.
Do you agree with Rain’s comparisons? If not, which comparison would you rewrite?
Paso 2. In groups of two, choose one of the Latinx artists from Rain’s descriptions, and make your own comparison using más que or menos que or menor or mayor que.
Modelo- Mariah Carey es mayor que Nick Cannon.
Share your comparison with the class.
See Slide 26 for the list of comparisons Rain mentioned in their social media post with examples of how they are used in context.
To learn more about comparisons (also called comparativos) in Spanish, and how to use them in conversation, watch the following video by Borja Odriozola.
You could press CC for captions in the language you prefer.
Actividad H
Based on Borja’s explanation of comparisons, select the correct answer for each question.
¡Excelente! 🙂
Actividad I
In groups of two, write a comparison between each set of images based on the prompts given.
Modelo- El tío es mayor que la sobrina.
¡Interesante! 🙂
Actividad J
It’s time to compare your family members or friends! 🙂 How fun!
Just as Luis shared photos of his sons and described and compared them, you will do the same.
Choose a photo of two family members or two of your friends. Show a classmate the photo as you compare the family members or friends. You need at least two comparisons. See the model below.
Modelo- ¡Hola! 🙂 Esta foto es de mis padres. Mi madre es menor que mi padre. Mi padre es más cómico que mi madre.
What did you learn about your classmate’s family members or friends?
Intercultural Reflection 2
HipLatina is a platform that promotes inspiration, empowerment and entertainment for forward-thinking Latinas. The content is very unique, modern and provokes thought. To learn more about HipLatina, please visit their following social media platforms.
@hip_latina (Instagram and Twitter)
Explore more
HipLatina posted new gifs that represent their brand and mission on their Instagram account.
Paso 1. In groups, discuss what you think some of these gifs mean to the Latinx community in particular. Why do you think they were selected to represent Latinas?
Paso 2. Create your own gifs using the comparisons más (more), menos (less) y mejor/es (better) as statements based on your beliefs and what is important to you or your community.
Example- ¡Más paz! ¡Menos violencia! ¡Mejores escuelas!
What statements would you like to make with your gifs?
Paso 3. Go a step further and create your own gif that best represents you. Are there words you would like to use, an image or both? Take a few minutes to think of one. Share your gif with other students. Discuss why you chose your particular gif, and what it means to you.
Paso 4. Do you think your gif could help people better understand you? How so? Do you think learning about your classmates’ gifs will help you better understand them? Could a better understanding of someone’s beliefs and what they represent foster more communication and empathy in the world? Share your opinion.
III. Las preguntas (Questions)
In this section of the chapter, you will be asking questions to get to know someone else’s family using interrogative words and possessive adjectives.
Watch as a Spanish language student asks her TalkAbroad partner about his family using interrogative words.
Una conversación sobre la familia
Did you understand most of the conversation? Did you hear the questions the student and her conversation partner asked about each other’s families?
You’ve already learned how to ask questions to get to know someone else and their daily routine with interrogative words from previous chapters.
Listen as StoryLearningSpanish reviews some of these interrogative words with you.
Actividad K
As a review of Chapters 1-3, see the following slides with questions you’ve asked to get to know someone else and their daily routine.
Go around the room and get to know your classmates by asking them 3 questions from each slide.
Student 1- You will ask them 3 questions from the Chapter 1 slide
Student 2- You will ask them 3 questions from the Chapter 2 slide.
Student 3- You will ask them 3 questions from the Chapter 3 slide.
Now that you’ve reviewed the interrogative words (questions) from Chapters 1-3, you are ready to learn new ones to get to know someone else’s family!
Muy bien. 🙂
Karin from Idioma Pro, introduces you to new interrogative words with prepositions that you can use to get to know someone’s family.
Press CC for captions in the language you prefer.
Karin presented two interrogative words that mean what- ¿Qué? and ¿Cuál?. See the following TikTok video by overcome_the_barrier to understand the basic difference between both words.
@overcome_the_barrier “QUÉ” vs “CUAL” in Spanish🤔 Here’s an easy way to remember when to use each one🇪🇸 #spanish #spanishlanguage #spanishclass #spanishlesson #spanishtutor #spanishvocabulary #spanishgrammar #spanishonline #learnspanish #spanishtok #tiktokpartner #fypage
Slide 27 below provides a summary of interrogative words you can use to inquire about someone’s family. They are separated by question words with prepositions and without.
Actividad L
Review interrogative words by selecting the most appropriate question for the following prompts about familia.
¡Excelente!
Actividad M
Paso 1. Meet Begoña. She is a free-spirited student from Honduras and enjoys meeting new people!
Use the interrogative words you’ve just learned to ask Begoña about her family.
Paso 2. Begoña also has questions about your family. Listen to her questions below and answer them in complete sentences in the space provided.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Paso 3. Get to know Begoña’s family even more. Write two more questions that have not been asked yet from the interrogative words in Slide 27 for Begoña about her familia.
Modelo: Begoña, ¿de dónde son tus abuelos?
When Begoña asked you about your family, you most likely did not realize that you were using possessive adjectives to describe your relationship to your family members.
What is a possessive adjective? It’s a word that comes before a noun to show ownership such as my, your, his, and ours.
Watch the following video by Teacher Catalina as she introduces you to possessive adjectives in Spanish and how to use them in conversation.
Slide 28 serves as a visual of the possessive adjectives that Teacher Catalina presented and important facts you should know regarding their use.
Actividad N
Begoña would like to share details about her family to you.
Actividad O
Paso 1. In groups of two, select the correct possessive adjective in each sentence. Pay close attention to adjective agreement.
Paso 2. Ask your classmate the following questions about their family using possessive adjectives. Then switch roles.
- ¿Cómo se llaman tus abuelos? – Mis abuelos se llaman …
- ¿Cuál es el programa favorito de tu familia y tú? -Nuestro programa favorito es ….
- ¿De dónde es tu madre o padre? – Mi padre es de…
- ¿Cuál es el nombre de tu mascota? – Su nombre es …
¡Bien hecho! 🙂
IV. Las exclamaciones (Exclamations)
The task for this chapter is to describe your family through photos or videos. You’ve learned how to describe your family members, compare them, and ask others about theirs with interrogative words and possessive adjectives.
You’ve acquired so many skills to communicate about the topic of family! Muy bien. 🙂
In this section of the chapter, you will use demonstrative adjectives and pronouns to identify and describe family members in your photos or videos. How fun! 🙂 You will also use exclamations to react to the photos your classmates or virtual conversation partner show you.
You may ask, what is a demonstrative adjective and pronoun? What is the difference between both?
Watch as StoryLearningSpanish introduces you to demonstrative adjectives in Spanish.
Watch as BaseLang introduces you to demonstrative pronouns in context.
For a visual of the demonstrative adjectives StoryLearningSpanish just presented and the demonstrative pronouns BaseLang discussed in the video, see the following slide.
Actividad P
One of Luis’s friends, Matías, is sharing a video of his family trip to the beach.
The song in the background is called “Vamos a la playa” by Las Canciones De Tu Vida.
Actividad Q
You are pointing to different family members in your photos and videos. Select the correct demonstrative pronoun for each context.
Actividad R
Paso 1. Lucas from TalkAbroad is showing a photo of his family to his conversation partner. Which demonstrative pronouns does he use to point to himself and his mother in the photo?
1.
2.
Paso 2. Choose a picture of your extended family. With a partner, present each family member in your photo with demonstrative pronouns and say their name. There are several ways to do this.
Modelo: Este es mi tío Javier. Esa es mi abuela. Se llama Gloria. Aquellos son mis primos. Sus nombres son Jake y Lou.
Have you ever seen someone’s photo or video and wanted to comment on it in Spanish? You can do this with exclamations such as the ones below.
How cool! How pretty! How amazing! How scary! How beautiful! How cute!
Exclamations in Spanish are called exclamaciones.
Caro from Ecuador uses exclamations in the following video with her new baby girl.
Scroll to the last slide and click on sound on the bottom of the video
Actividad S
Test your listening comprehension skills.
The following video by María from WhyNotSpanish.com invites you to join her as she uses exclamations during different parts of her day.
To learn more about exclamations, see Slide 30.
Actividad T
Actividad V
Juan David and his mom are going through family photos. Listen as Juan David is reacting to each photo.
Paso 1. In groups of two, select which family member he is commenting on. Pay close attention to the adjectives used in each exclamation as clues.
1. El abuelo de Juan David/ La abuela de Juan David
2. Los perros de su tío /Las gatas de su tío
3. La sobrina de Juan David/El sobrino de Juan David
4. El hermano de Juan David/La hermana de Juan David
5. La familia de Juan David/Los padres de Juan David
Paso 2. Now you practice using exclamations. Your classmate will show you a picture of their family. React to the photo by providing an exclamation that has correct adjective agreement. Then switch roles.
Modelo- Your classmate shows you a picture of their beloved grandparents. You say- ¡Qué hermosos! (How precious!)
Intercultural reflection 3
Earlier you heard Caro from Ecuador comment on her baby with exclamations such as ¡Qué hermosa! Caro partners with the Murph’s Life Foundation to help families across Latin America that need financial support. Murph often posts his philanthropic work on his website and social media platforms. To learn more about Murph and his mission of helping Latinos, visit the following sources.
To really understand how others live around the globe, it is important to immerse yourself in the world of that person. The following video is of Murph living with a humble family in Ecuador. He puts himself in their shoes and daily life to deeply comprehend the lifestyle of a dad trying to support his three kids.
Explore more
Paso 1. After watching the video of this Ecuadorian family, what reactions do you have to the following? Use an exclamation to react to different parts of the video.
Example- Murph- ¡Qué generoso!
- Los hijos en el video
- El papá
- La comida ecuatoriana
- La casa de la familia
- El apoyo (support) de Murph’s Life
Paso 2. Compare your life now to this family’s life in Ecuador. What is similar and what is different? Could you see yourself living with a family in Latin America as Murph did? What would you hope to gain from the experience? What would be the benefits of living with a new family in Latin America? What would you like to share about your own culture with them?
Paso 3. Go to one of MurphLife’s social media platforms listed in the photo of Murph above and select a video that inspires you. Share it with a classmate and explain why you chose that video and what it means to you.
V. Chapter 4 Final Assessment
In this chapter, you’ve learned to describe your family and ask others about theirs, compare and contrast your family members, use interrogative words and possessive adjectives to ask more questions about family, and use demonstrative adjectives and pronouns and exclamations when describing your family through photos or videos. You’ve learned so much! 🙂 ¡Muy bien!
As practice for your Chapter 4 Final Assessment, you will introduce your family to Luis via a photo and ask questions about his family. Be sure to follow the prompts below.
For your Chapter 4 Final Assessment, you will answer Luis’s questions in Blackboard from his video below. Practice on your own.
