Text 1. About myself and my family

ACTIVE VOCABULARY TO REMEMBER

childhood to attend to enter in the field of to be married pensioner close and distant relatives

детство посещать поступать (в учебное заведение) в сфере, области (к.-л. деятельности) быть женатым (замужем) пенсионер близкие и дальние родственники

 

My name is Oleg Ivanov. I was born in Shebekino. It’s a nice old town, I like it very much as it’s the place of my childhood. At the age of 7 I began to attend school. I studied very well and usually received only top marks. I finished school at the age of 17. The same year I went to Belgorod and entered Belgorod University of Cooperation, Economics and Law. I want to become a good specialist in the field of electronics.

I was born in the family of professional workers. My father is an engineer, he works at a big plant. Now he is 50. My mother is 45, she’s a doctor and works at a hospital. I’m proud of my parents.

I have a brother and a sister. They live in Belgorod too. My brother is 22. He has a family of his own, they are three in all - my brother, his wife and their little son. My sister is not married, she is 17 and she is a student of Pedagogical College. She is going to be a teacher of English. She works hard and she is a good student.

We have a granny, she is a pensioner. She is well past 60, but looks young for her age. She is very kind to all of us. We also have many close and distant relatives and we are always glad to see each other.

Practice:

 

1. Read the text ‘About Myself and My Family’ and answer the questions.

1. Where was Oleg Ivanov born?

2. When and where were you born? What is the place of your parents’ birth?

3. How did Oleg study at school? What subjects were you good at school? What subjects did you dislike? Give your arguments.

4. What are Oleg’s parents? What are your parents?

5. Where does his father (mother) work? Where do your parents work?

6. How old is Oleg’s mother? How old is your mother (father)? How old are you?

7. Does Oleg have a brother or a sister? Do you have a brother or a sister? Are you an only child?

8. Oleg’s brother is very young, isn’t he? Are you very young?

9. Is Oleg’s sister married? Are you married? What age are you going to marry? What age do your parents want you to be married?

10. What college does Oleg’s sister study at? What University do you study at?

11. Why did Oleg enter the University? Why did you enter the University? What is the basic reason of your choice?

12. How old is Oleg’s granny? How old are your grandparents?

13. What are the basics of good relationship in family life?

14. Do you consider your family to be friendly? Why?

 

2. a) Read the dialogues in pairs.

***

A. Is your family large?

B. No, it isn’t. We are only 3 in the family. (There are 3 of us in the family).

A. How old are your parents?

B. My mother is 40. My father is 43.

A. Do they still work?

B. Yes, they do.

***

A. Are you married?

B. Yes, I am.

A. Would you tell me about your family? How many children do you have?

B. I have two children, a son and a daughter.

A. How lucky you are!

***

A. Are you married?

B. No, I’m not. I’m single.

A. Do you live with your parents?

B. No, I don’t. They live in Rostov.

 

***

A. Hi! My name is Tom Smith. I’m from Atlanta, Georgia. What’s your name?

B. I’m Pedro.

A. And where are you from, Pedro?

B. I’m from Madrid, Spain.

A. Oh, really? Nice to meet you.

B. Nice to meet you too.

 

b) Reproduce the short dialogues in similar situations.

Make up short situations based on the model.

Model: It’s Robert Brown. He’s 26. He’s a journalist. He’s American. He comes from New York.

 

 

Name	Age	Job	Nationality	Residence
Mary Smith Tom Stuart Jerry Brown Robert Grey Clair Jones Andrew Smith		architect secretary doctor mechanic actress lawyer	English Irish Canadian Australian American Scottish	London Dublin Ottawa Sydney New York Edinburgh

 

Work in pairs.

One student makes a sketch of his (her) family tree trying to remember all his (her) relatives, the other asks questions and draws the family tree. Then they compare the sketches.

 

Speak about your own family. The following questions will help you.

1. How large is your family?

2. Are your family early risers? Why? What about you?

3. Are you the eldest of the family?

4. Do you have any special duties?

5. Who do you most take after, your mother or your father?

6. Who are you like in character?

7. Who do you look like?

8. Who is the head of your family?

9. Do you think that older and younger generations should live together?

Text 2. Family problems

ACTIVE VOCABULARY TO REMEMBER

to honour dead misunderstanding adulthood adolescence values generation gap generation gap drug juvenile delinquent to be convinced rescue to dial way out

– почитать, уважать, чтить – однообразный, безжизненный, неживой, мертвый – неправильное понимание, размолвка, ссора, разногласие – зрелость, взрослость; состояние зрелости организма – подростковый возраст, юность – достоинства, ценности – поколение – разрыв, глубокое расхождение (во взглядах и т. п.); недостаток – конфликт поколений, проблема отцов и детей – наркотик – малолетний преступник – быть убежденным, уверенным – спасение – набирать номер, звонить – выход из положения

"Honour your mother and father and you will live long and be well, if not, you will die" – says the Bible. Some families are happy, some are dead. It seems to me the reason is misunderstanding of each other in the family.

One more thing, teenagers can take on most of the rights and responsibilities of adulthood. Before this occurs, however, they go through the period of adolescence and most of them experience conflicts at that time. They change rapidly both physically and emotionally and they search self-identity as they grow up and become more independent.

Sometimes teenagers develop interests and values different from those of their parents. That sets a conflict between two generations, which leads to a gap in mutual understanding. Traditional disagreements are: the time to come home at night, doing work about the house and the friends to spend time with.

I'd like to point out, that teens face a number of problems: drinking al­cohol or using drugs. Moreover, some children run away from their homes. Most of them return after a few days or weeks, but some turn to crime and become juvenile delinquents.

I'm convinced that sometimes parents do not care about their children. It is exactly at that age when young people need a piece of advice or help. Different TV programmes and magazines for the young come to their rescue. In case of need you can also dial a special telephone number, the so-called 'telephone of trust'.

But it's not the way out. Parents should help their children and find the right approach to them so as to make everything clear. Being able to view the problems more rationally, they should try to do their best to resolve them. We need to learn to talk our problems over in our family. If we are able to do it, everything will be all right.

Practice:

 

1. Answer the following questions:

1. What does the Bible say about parents? 2. What is the reason of unhappy family? 3. When do teenagers experience conflicts? 4. What sets a conflict between two generations? 5. What problems do teens face? 6. What do teenagers especially need at that age? 7. How should parents help their children? 8. What other means come to their rescue? 9. What do we need not to have problems in the family?