Mary Kempen

9/10/14
EDUP 506: UDL Activity Plan
Family Tree
Grade Level: Introduction to Spanish / First year Spanish (High School students will most likely be in
grades 9 or 10, some may be in grades 11 or 12)
Activity Assignment: Students will use vocabulary to identify family members and relationships and
produce a representation of a partners family tree.
For most students, the activity develops as follows:
1. The instructor will present a diagram in tree shape with names of his/her family members on
horizontal lines/branches. The instructor will then add (either in Powerpoint animations or
manually on a SmartBoard) Spanish terms to identify the relationships among the family
members. For example, the instructor will say aloud Mary es hija de Gary as she writes hija
de Gary below Mary. Hija will be written in a different color than the names Mary and
Gary.
2. Students as a whole class will identify aloud the term that best describes relationships between
individuals on the instructors family tree as the instructor reads aloud the beginnings of
sentence prompts beneath the diagram of the family tree. (The diagram repeats on each slide;
the prompt changes.) For example, the instructor reads from a Powerpoint slide (in Spanish)
What is the relation between Mary and David? Mary is the . . . Students will respond sister of
David.
3. Students will receive blank outlines for a family tree and will write the names of their own family
members on appropriate branches. Students will then write descriptions in Spanish of their
family trees. Students will not show these diagrams and sentences to their partners.
4. Students will read their descriptions to a partner. The partner will draw the students family
tree while listening to the oral description. The partner will then show the diagram to the
student to verify comprehension. If the diagrams do not match, the students will negotiate a
correction. OR students will receive a set of cards and write the names of their partners family
members on the cards. They will then arrange the cards in a diagram that corresponds to their
partners family relationships.
Outcomes: The students express their family relationships with vocabulary in Spanish.
Learning Preferences:
Auditory Visual Tactile/Kinesthetic Affective
Students will
listen as the
Students will
view a family-
Students will
draw their own
Students will
present
instructor
describes the
relationships
among family
members in the
instructors
family.
Students will
vocally identify
the
relationships
among
members of the
instructors
family.
Students will
listen to a
partner explain
his/her family
tree.
Students will
tell a partner
the number of
members in
their families
and the
relationships
among these
members.
tree diagram of
the instructors
family. The tree
diagram will be
labelled with
written
vocabulary for
son, father,
sister, aunt,
etc.
Students will
view a blank
tree diagram
which they will
complete with
information
about their own
families.
Students will
draw or put into
place a diagram
of a partners
family tree as
they listen to
the partner
describe his/her
family
relationships.
family trees.
Students will
draw their
partners family
tree.
Students will
move cards that
represent their
family members
into positions to
represent the
relationships
among them on
a family tree
model.
(Students will
do the same for
a partners
family tree.)
information on
their own
personal family
experiences.
Students will
work with one
partner to
develop a
connection with
a classmate.
Students will
learn some
information
about the
instructors
background and
relate to the
instructor as a
person.
Students will
get feedback
from other
students
instead of from
the instructor --
this feedback
will feel less
severe if there
are errors.

UDL Principles:
Multiple Means of
Representation
Multiple Means of Engagement Multiple Means of Expression
Written text on
Powerpoint /
SmartBoard slides
Visual graphic of family
tree for instructors
family and for students
to complete for their
own families
Oral reading of written
text on slides. This
description can be
enriched with details,
such as what is a
Connecting to student
interest areas the
instructors life (My
sister says nothing
captures student
attention more quickly
than stories about the
instructors family.)
Students discuss their
own lives
Students work
independently on their
own family trees
Written text sentences
about their families
Oral description of their
family relationships
Visual depiction of their
family relationships and
their partners family
relationships cards or
drawing
Moving the cards to
present the family
relationships allows for
easy correction of errors
mother, what is a father,
etc.
Global presentation a
diagram of a completed
family tree with labels
Sequential presentation
series of slides in which
family members and
vocabulary are added to
the tree one by one
Demonstration of
drawing the family tree
diagram
Students work with a
partner
Students monitor each
others work and provide
feedback
Students may elaborate
their diagrams if they are
artistically inclined
with no lasting evidence
that the errors took
place, just in case the
student is anxious about
such things


Components may be omitted or substituted as student needs dictate. If a student is visually impaired,
the student can produce an oral recording of his/her partners family tree in which he/she rephrases the
relationships. For example, if the narrating student says his fathers name is Paul and his brothers name
is Steven, the listening student can rephrase the relationship by saying the sons of Paul are Steven and
Mark. If a student has trouble hearing, he or she can read the text his/her partner writes and draw the
family tree based upon the textual description. If a student needs challenge, he or she may present
his/her partners family tree in terms different from the original he/she may identify all the children of
a couple when his/her partner expressed the relationship in terms of parents and brothers and sisters.
If a student needs less challenge, he/she may complete a family tree diagram with Spanish terms
already printed on it and simply listen to see if his/her partner says those terms and write the names
associated with them.