Family-tree words: grandparents, great-grandfather, uncle, aunt, cousin, nephew, niece, sibling (brother or sister), ancestors and descendants. An essay has three parts: an introduction (who the person is and why he or she is famous), a body (life and achievements, one idea per paragraph) and a conclusion (summary and your opinion). Each paragraph begins with a topic sentence. Link your sentences with first, then, later, as a result, in conclusion. Use Past Simple for historical events and Past Perfect for things that happened even earlier (Before he moved to Herat, he had studied in Samarkand). Internationally famous means well known all over the world.
Worked examples
My father’s brother is my uncle, and his daughter is my cousin. My grandmother’s grandfather is my great-great-grandfather, one of my ancestors.
Topic sentence: Ibn Sina is known all over the world as a physician. Linking: First he studied medicine; later he wrote a great medical book; as a result, doctors used it for hundreds of years.
Class activity
“Family tree race”: groups quickly draw a three-generation family tree on the board and label each relative in English.
Practice
1
What do we call your mother’s sister’s son?
cousin
2
Complete the topic sentence: Babur was a ruler and a ___ (writer / writing).
writer
3
Put in order: conclusion, introduction, body.
introduction, body, conclusion
4
Why should every paragraph have only one main idea?
So the reader can follow the essay easily and each paragraph has a clear purpose.