2.1 Warm-up activity: discuss the following questions in pairs:

1) How big is your family?

2) What is a typical family like today?

3) Do you take after your mum or your dad?

4) Do you have to look after a younger brother or sister?

5) Do you get on well with your family? 

6) Have you got any family traditions? What are they?

 

Exercise 2.1.1 Compare different types of families on the pictures. Discuss advantages and disadvantages of each type. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer

Example:  an advantage of having a bicultural family is that you always know two languages and cultures perfectly

Exercise 2.1.2 Complete the sentences:

1) An advantage of having a nuclear family is … ;

2) The worst thing about being a parent is … ;

3) The best thing about having an extended family is … ;

4) An advantage and a disadvantage of being an only child is … ;

5) The worst thing about living with your parents is … .

6) The worst thing about having a supportive family is … .

 

Exercise 2.1.3 Vocabulary. Read and translate these words:

Family

parents; father; mother;

daughter; son; child; children; offspring;

sister; brother; sibling; siblings;

twins; twin brother; twin sister;

kid brother; younger brother; elder sister; older sister;  

to raise children; to bring up children;

grandmother; grandfather; granny; grandparents;

granddaughter; grandson; grandchild; grandchildren;

great-grandmother; great-grandfather; great-grandchild;

Adoption and related words

adopted daughter; adopted son; adopted child;

half-brother; half-sister;

stepmother; stepfather; stepsister; stepbrother; stepchild;

foster family; foster mother; foster father; foster home; foster parents;

foster daughter; foster son; foster brother; foster sister; foster child;

to foster a child; to adopt a child; orphan, orphans;

Relatives

aunt; uncle; niece; nephew;

cousin; first cousin; second cousin;

close relatives; distant relatives;

nearest relatives; closest relatives; next of kin; immediate family;

members of the family; family members; head of the household;

my family; my relatives; my kin; my folks; my kinfolk (kinsfolk);

Relatives by marriage

in-laws; mother-in-law; father-in-law;

daughter-in-law; son-in-law; sister-in-law; brother-in-law;

Marital status and related words

single; married; engaged; separated; divorced; widowed;

to marry; to get married; marriage;

wife; husband; spouse; ex-wife; ex-husband; divorce;

husband and wife; married couple;

married man; unmarried man; bachelor;

married woman; unmarried woman; single mother;

widow; widower; grass widow; grass widower;

fiance; engagement; engagement ring;

bride; bridegroom (groom); bridesmaid; best man;

wedding; wedding ring; wedding cake; newlyweds; honeymoon.

Exercise 2.1.4 Fill in the gaps by an appropriate word:

1) Your ______ is a girl or a woman who has the same parents as you;

2) Your __________ is the brother of your mother or father, or the husband of your aunt;

3) Your ______________ is the mother of your husband or wife;

4) Your ___________ is the daughter of your sister or brother;

5) Your ____________   is the son of your sister or brother;

6) Both parents should take ____   ____ their children;

7) When she was on holiday, she _____    a lot of new friends;

8) _________ is a child whose parents are dead;

9) A __________ is a man whose wife has died and who hasn’t married again;

10) Jack and Jill quarreled a lot and finally decided to ______;

11) She is their ______ daughter but they treat her as their own.

 

Exercise 2.1.5 Make up the sentences out the given words:

1) family/ my/ like/ I/ words/ about/ a few/ would/ to say; 

2) film/ an hour/ I/ an/ or two/ watching/ spend/ interesting;

3) mood/ depend/ tastes/ on/ my/ musical/ my;

4) do/ best/ my/ am/ to/ specialist/ going/ to/ I/ a good/ become;

5) season/ apple/ its/ I/ every/ think/ is/ in/ good;

6) have/ fair/ a/ I/ complexion; 

7)  live/ have/ actually/ relatives/ we/ who/ some/ far away/ other.

 

Exercise 2.1.6 Find the opposites to the following adjectives and put them in the correct column:

friendly     ambitious    imaginative    honest    reliable    selfish    sociable mature     kind     patient   organized   responsible   sensitive    tidy

 

Negative prefixes
un-/dis-	im-/ ir-/ in-
untidy	…

 

 2.2 Read and translate the text

 Family life in Britain

The condition of the British family is a frequent topic throughout Britain today. A typical British family used to consist of mother, father and two children. But in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of them have been caused by new laws, others are the result of social changes. For instance, as the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three ends in divorce, which gives rise to a lot of one-parent fami­lies. Society is now more tolerant of unmarried people, unmarried cou­ples and single parents than it used to be some years ago. The majority of divorced people marry again and sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

Close relatives and members of a family groups – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their home town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. The traditional season for the family reunion is Christmas when relatives travel many miles in order to spend it together.

In general, each generation is eager to become independent of par­ents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can bring about so­cial as well as geographical differences within the larger family group. There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 8% cannot live entirely independently. The government gives fi­nancial help in the form of a pension but it is becoming more and more difficult for the normal economy to support the increasing number of elderly people. Nowadays more than half of all old people are looked af­ter at home. Many others live in Old People’s Homes, which may be pri­vate or state owned.

Relationships within the family undergo certain changes. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved in the process of bringing up children, mainly because the mother goes out to work. Due to increased leisure facilities and more money modern life provides wider opportunities for the individual to take part in activ­ities outside the home. Although the family holiday, which is usually taken in August, and often abroad, is still an important part of family life. Many children have holidays away from home, often with school or college friends or other organized groups.

 

Reference [4]

Exercise 2.2.1 Are these sentences True or False?

1) A typical British family used to consist of mother, father and three children. T/F

2) As the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. T/F

3) The government doesn’t give any fi­nancial support to elderly people. T/F

4) The father in British family is less involved in the process of bringing up children. T/F

5) Approximately 8% of old-age pensioners in Britain cannot live entirely independently. T/F

6) The majority of divorced people in Britain doesn’t marry again. T/F

 

Write a short essay on any of the following questions

What is better: to have a small family or a big family with a lot of children and other relatives?

1. What are your family’s favourite pastimes?
2. In what way is your family important for you?
3. What is an ideal family as you see it?
4. What are the main differences in family traditions in Britain and in our country?