German
Personal and social life: My family
This Revision Bite will give you practice in listening to and understanding German about families.
Question: My family
Here is a typical listening exam question. Print this page, or sketch the family tree on a piece of paper. Then listen to the audio and fill in the gaps in the family tree. When you've finished, move on to the next page to check your answers.
- Question
Complete the family tree with the names from this box:
- Christian
- Ernie
- George
- Gwen
- Marilyn
- Roy
- Tom
Answer with examiner's comments
- Answer
Examiner's comments on the family tree
Name Listen out for: Examiner's comments Christian and George George is on the far right, because he is the youngest of the three children
Tom and Roy Your father's brothers will be on the same horizontal line as he is, in the family tree
Marilyn You don't need the ages of the parents to get the correct answer here
Ernie and Gwen You can ignore the information about the grandparents being 'sweet'
Transcript and translation
Ich heiße Lizzy und es gibt sieben Personen in meiner Familie. Ich habe zwei Brüder, die Christian und George heißen. George ist elf Jahre alt und Christian ist zwölf. Meine Mutter heißt Marilyn und sie ist zweiundvierzig Jahre alt und mein Vati heißt Freddy und er ist zwei Jahre jünger. Wir wohnen mit meiner Oma und Opa, die Gwen und Ernie heißen. Meine Großeltern sind sehr süß. Mein Vater hat auch zwei Brüder - Tom und Roy. Ich habe auch viele Kusinen.
I'm called Lizzy and there are seven people in my family. I have two brothers who are called Christian and George. George is eleven years old and Christian is twelve. My mother is called Marilyn and she's forty-two and my father's called Freddy and he's two years younger. We live with my Grandma and Grandpa who are called Gwen and Ernie. My grandparents are very sweet. My father also has two brothers - Tom and Roy. I also have lots of cousins.
Exam tips
In these texts you get lots of extra information about people's ages and appearances. This information is included to make the listening task more demanding. You don't need to understand it to get the right answer - just listen out for the names of which family member they are.
Sometimes in the listening (and reading) exams you have to show you know the answer by completing a diagram. For example, you could have to mark a place on a map. In this task you have to complete a simple family tree - you have almost certainly learnt about family trees at school, but remember that people in the same generation are on the same horizontal line. For example, your brothers, sisters and cousins would be on the same line as you. Then your parents, aunts and uncles would be one line up, and your grandparents two lines above you.
In many questions you have to write the name of a town, country or person to show that you have understood. It usually doesn't matter if you make a slight spelling mistake in proper names and in this task you are given the names in a box so you can copy them.
Now try a Test Bite