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38.Try to write a short poem about the homeless and unemployed. Choose the best one.

Ex.:

There was a man, who had a good job, Who had several cars and a house superb. He went to Bahamas

And spent there summers And lived like a cultural snob. But once he fell ill

And lost all his will.

And now he is unemployed.

39.What can be done to solve youth problems? Brainstorm ideas!

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40. Read the following interview with an 18 year old boy whose wish is to help homeless youngsters. Describe his idea to your partner.

Youth mayor to help homeless

Terry Jones wants to set up a dedicated hotline offering advice to homeless youngsters in the area.

The 18-year-old said improvements to the current service are vital to help young people.

"There are a lot of young people who have nowhere to go," he said. Terry was elected by members of Bridgend youth council, which is

made up of 14 to 25-year-olds from different backgrounds.

"During my time as youth mayor I want to focus on this problem mainly because I have had problems with it myself."

"I'm living in supported housing now but before that I was a 'sofa surfer' - sleeping in friends' houses."

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"There is a big problem in the area."

"Lots of young people are sleeping in friends' houses and the problem is worse for boys."

He said that boys were not seen as a priority for housing and that many were often forced to sleep rough because they had no where to go.

"It is quite annoying because there are a lot of properties which are boarded up and yet there are people sleeping rough," said Terry, who moved to Bridgend from his home city Birmingham.

He said that he plans to meet with housing officials later in the summer to discuss the problem and find ways of helping tackle the issue.

Terry, currently unemployed and a keen rapper in his spare time, took up the voluntary post of youth mayor for Bridgend after spending time as a member of the youth council.

Bridgend Council said that it was working closely with Terry and the rest of the youth council on the issue of homelessness in the area.

It said that it recognised the need for a 24-hour helpline and for more housing to be made available.

"The council is already working with the youth mayor to identify the requirements for the 24/7 helpline," said a spokesman.

"There has been a follow-up meeting with the youth mayor and other members of the youth council to move forward on this helpline.

"Further discussions offer the opportunity to listen to the needs of young people," he added.

41. Do you know some examples when schoolgirls become moms? Does it often happen in Russia? In other countries? Read the text about Cyfle school and match the words with their definitions:

42. Read the text once again and complete the sentences:

1.Cyfle is a …

2.When they hear about a pregnant pupil they …

3.Their aim is …

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4.At Cyfle they teach …

5.On Mondays …

6.A pupil can leave the class if …

School for pregnant pupils

There's a school is Wrexham allowing pregnant schoolgirls to continue their education. Here, Teresa Foster Evans, the teacher in charge, explains more: “Cyfle is a small school, known as a 'pupil referral unit' or PRU. We can teach up to approximately a dozen young moms each year and we also have an on site crèche so the girls can bring their babies with them. We will also offer other forms of support to the girl's family and sometimes the baby's father if he wants us to.

Girls are referred to Cyfle, usually by their schools or sometimes through the midwifery service. Occasionally parents have even been known to contact us directly.

When we first hear about a pregnant pupil we arrange to meet the family to discuss what will happen to her education. In Wrexham, schoolgirl moms are fortunate in that there is a special provision for them where they can get a high quality of education. Our aim is to support the pupil in as many ways as we can. This includes talking to her school to ensure that she can continue going to school safely until she is at least 28 weeks pregnant. If the baby's father is also at school and wants to attend antenatal or baby clinics we will also negotiate with the school to allow him to participate as fully as possible in his baby's care.

Once we have talked to both the parents and the school the girl continues in school until she is between 28 and about 34 weeks pregnant. At this point she transfers to Cyfle for teaching.

The girls are brought in by taxi each morning for 9:30 am and attend normal lessons for 4 hours, four days a week (Tuesdays to Fridays). We teach a core curriculum of GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) English, Maths, Science, Child Development and Business and Communication Systems (ICT). We also cover GCSE Short Course RE (Real Estate) and PSHE (Personal, Social and Health Education). If a pupil comes to us and she has already started other GCSEs which she wishes to continue then we will do our best to teach these subjects too. We try our best to match in our lessons to cover the same work as the pupils were doing at school.

We have excellent contacts with the maternity service. One of their midwives is a regular visitor to the unit and we call her in if we encounter

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any problems during the day. We expect all pregnant pupils to attend the Mums2B Clinic on Monday afternoons for their antenatal care and parenting classes. This is why there are no lessons at the unit on Mondays.

Once a pupil has had her baby she is given two weeks' maternity leave. Occasionally, a pupil has medical problems following the birth and so the leave can be extended provided a doctor or midwife certifies that she is unfit to attend.

When she returns to the unit the new mom brings her baby with her. We have an on site, free crèche. There is no expectation that the girl will immediately dump her baby in the crèche and be prevented from seeing it again till lunch time. In fact, it is quite usual for the pupil to bring the baby into the classroom for a few hours or even days until she is completely happy to leave it in the care of our highly qualified crèche staff. If she breast feeds she can leave the class to do so at any point in the day, as she can if she has any worries or just is plain missing the baby. Our aim is to encourage bonding and for the girls to learn to take as much responsibility for their babies as possible whilst giving them the freedom of a few hours a day to learn in the same way as any other teenager in Britain.”

43.Work in pairs. Ask and answer the questions and try to make a common decision concerning this problem.

1.Is early pregnancy really a problem?

2.Why do you think so?

3.Are there any schools for school-girl mothers in Russia?

4.Are they necessary in your opinion?

5.What is done in your country to solve this problem?

6.What could you do if you had authority?

44.Scan the text “Facing the Problems of Youth” for about 10 minutes and try to answer the questions:

1.What is the story about?

2.Who is the author?

3.When was it published?

4.What is the main idea of each paragraph? Underline it.

5.Do you agree with the author?

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45. Read Eleanor Roosevelt’s thoughts and write down the key phrases from the text in the appropriate order:

1) interchange of ideas; 2) tremendous energy;3) willing to talk; 4) allow them to be honest; 5) no desire to talk; 6) smile;

7) idealize things; 8) build up the relationship;9) face realities;

10) want to experience; 11) sympathetic help; 12) the world is different

Do you want to add or leave out anything from the list?

Facing the Problems of Youth by Eleanor Roosevelt

Originally published in

National Parent-Teacher Magazine

29 (February 1935): 30.

1.Education today is not purely a question of the education of youth; it is a question of the education of parents, because so many parents, I find, have lost their hold on their children. One reason for this is that they insist on laying down the law without allowing a free intellectual interchange of ideas between themselves and the younger generation. I believe that as we grow older we gain some wisdom, but I do not believe that we can take it for granted that our wisdom will be accepted by the younger generation. We have to be prepared to put our thinking across to them. We cannot simply expect them to say, "Our older people have had experience and they have proved to themselves certain things, therefore they are right." That is- n't the way the best kind of young people think. They want to experience for themselves. I find they are perfectly willing to talk to older people, but they don't want to talk to older people who are shocked by their ideas, nor do they want to talk to older people who are not realistic.

2.We might just as well accept things which are facts as facts and not try to imagine that the world is different, more like what we idealized in the past. I have a letter just the other day from a mother who told me that she had brought up several daughters, and that they never did certain things which are very common today among young people. She was sure that if we never countenanced or spoke of certain things in our homes our children would never do those things. Well, it just so happens that I have a number of boys and they happen to know the mother's girls. I have, therefore, seen a good deal of them, and they did every single thing that their mother told me they never did. I think it would have been far better if she had established a type of genuine relationship with her children which

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would have allowed them to be honest with her. Then she would have had an opportunity to put across her own ideas with some kind of hope that they would at least be considered.

3.But if the relationship is such that youth has no desire to talk to older people, then, I think, it is entirely impossible to help the youth of today – and they need help badly. I think they are very glad to have it, too, when it is given in a spirit of helpfulness, not self-righteousness. We don't need to idealize things that are past; they look glamorous, but perhaps they were not so glamorous when we really lived through them.

4.My own feeling would be that the most important education is the education which will enable us, both in our homes and in our schools, to understand the real problems that our children have to meet today. It is easy enough to impart book knowledge, but it is not so easy to build up the relationship between youth and older people which is essential to the working out of their problems – very difficult problems on which young people need our leadership and our understanding.

5.We cannot pass over the fact that the world is a hard world for youth and that so far we have not really given their problems as much attention as we should. We smile –I smiled myself the other day when one young boy said that he hoped to go in and clean up politics. Politics need to be cleaned up, of course. Everything that is human needs that particular kind of enthusiasm. But we older people know that we don't always succeed as easily as these young ones think they can. Yet I doubt if we should smile. I think that we should welcome their help, and find places where this tremendous energy that is in youth – If it cannot be used immediately in making a living – may at least be used where it is so greatly needed today.

6.I should like to leave with you this one idea which I have been thinking about a great deal of late: the necessity for us as parents, as teachers, as older people, to put our minds on the problems of youth, to face realities, to face the world as it is and the lives that they have to live – not as we wish they were, but as they are – and, having done that, to give our sympathetic help in every way that we can.

46.Try to combine two corresponding sentence parts without looking into the text.

1) Education today is not purely a question of the education of youth; it is a question of the education of …

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2)One reason for this is that they insist on laying down the law without allowing a …

3)I believe that as we grow older we gain some wisdom, but …

4)We cannot simply expect them to say, "Our older people have had experience …

5)I think it would have been far better if she had established a type of genuine relationship with …

6)But if the relationship is such that youth has no desire to talk to older people …

7)We don’t need to idealize things that are past; they look glamorous …

8)It is easy enough to impart book knowledge, but it is not so easy to build up the relationship between youth and older people which is …

9)Everything that is human needs that …

10)I think that we should welcome their help, and find places where this tremendous energy that is in youth – If …

11)My own feeling would be that the most important education is the education which will enable us …

a)then, I think, it is entirely impossible to help the youth of today – and they need help badly.

b)it cannot be used immediately in making a living – may at least be used where it is so greatly needed today.

c)essential to the working out of their problems – very difficult problems on which young people need our leadership and our understanding.and they have proved to themselves certain things, therefore they are right."

e)both in our homes and in our schools, to understand the real problems that our children have to meet today.

f)free intellectual interchange of ideas between themselves and the younger generation.

g)I do not believe that we can take it for granted that our wisdom will be accepted by the younger generation.

h)parents, because so many parents, I find, have lost their hold on their children.

i)particular kind of enthusiasm.

j)but perhaps they were not so glamorous when we really lived through them.

k)her children which would have allowed them to be honest with her.

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Correct combination

1 -__ 2 -__ 3 -__ 4 -__ 5 -__ 6 -__ 7 -__ 8 -__ 9 -__ 10 -__ 11 -__

47. There are some other opinions of solving youth problems. Some young people prefer reading books, listening to music, going in for sports to smoking, drinking and taking drugs. Read Irina’s story and compress it using the prompt below.

McDonald’s, the city centre,

a disco club,Viktor…

Irina

Ivan

Free Time Activities

Most teenagers in Russia like to go out with their friends or simply talk. There are a lot of topics to discuss. Friends can help you find new records, computer programmes or just new opportunities to enjoy your free time. I feel I could share all my feelings with my friends and they would understand me very well. We usually go to McDonald’s, the city centre, or a disco club. We talk. For instance, my friend Viktor is nuts about Tolkien’s novels. He often tells us about the adventures of the characters from The Lord of the Rings. It’s great when teens form positive subcultures (e.g. Tolkienists) or listen to some positive music.

I know some teens who are fans of a music group or a singer. They collect posters and records, visit concerts regularly, and exchange pictures and news. They like to sing songs of their pop or rock idols and find information about them in the internet. On different websites, admirers can find pictures, and lyrics. Some even download the music.

Other teens are sport fans or go in for sports themselves. British boys and girls play their traditional sport games, such as cricket, soccer, rugby,

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golf, and tennis. American boys and girls usually play American football, baseball, and basketball. Cheerleaders are also very popular in the USA.

My friend and I like to play basketball and volleyball. In summer we play beach volleyball, badminton, and table tennis. But I would not like to join a sports team. I want to play just for fun, not to become a champion.

Some teens spend a lot of time with their pets. One of my friends Ivan trains a puppy in his free time.

I know that in Britain and the USA many teenagers earn money after school or during vacations. They work for their pocket money or to support their families. They can work in a local pub, a shop, a supermarket, or a golf club. The majority of kids prefer to deliver mail. Some work in stables, if they like horses; some work as baby-sitters, if they like babies. If I could, I would work too, though in Russia teens have fewer job opportunities. I could babysit, deliver letters. It’s great to acquire some working experience while you are still at school. I believe I could even work abroad.

The best way to relax for me is travelling. If your parents are made of money, you are a lucky dog. You may have the most breathtaking holidays at the resorts of Spain, Turkey, or the Bahamas. As a matter of fact, some travelling and working experience is rather important, because universities and potential employers are very much in favour of students who have it.

48.Decide whether these statements are true or false according to the text.

1.Friends can help you enjoy your free time.

2.British boys and girls play baseball, and basketball.

3.American boys and girls usually play cricket, soccer, rugby.

4.In Britain and the USA many teenagers earn money after school or during vacations.

5.In Russia teens have a lot of job opportunities.

6.The best way to relax for Irina is travelling.

49.What do you do in your free time? Your friends? Can your friend help you when you are in trouble? And you? Can friendship be the cure for drinking or drugs taking? Continue the dialogue discussing these problems.

– Who is your best friend?

– Phil. I can always rely on him.

– Do you have similar interests?

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–Yes, we are never bored with each other. I can learn a lot of interesting things from them. Besides he is a person who stands by you to the end. And who can you turn for help to?

–To Jane. She never ignores my problems. I always share my troubles with her. She is supportive. Once…

50. In pairs copy the table and fill it in for your partner by asking him/her questions. Then find out what he/she did or is going to do to get out of them? Give your advice.

51. Project task. Read the article below. What is the main idea? Visit a website on the subject of extreme sports. Make notes for a short presentation. Don’t forget to bring some pictures illustrating your information.

Sports Against Drugs

Once a cool holiday called “Sports against drugs” took place in Sokolniki Park in Moscow. Audience’s attention was attracted with a great number of sports competitions, which both sportsmen and onlookers took part in with pleasure. There is no secret that new generation is striving for dynamic life. But where can they spend their life activity except sports? Now extreme sports are very popular among the youth. Roller-skating is one of the most popular among them. Where else can you feel sensation of high speed, no matter whether a roller skates good? Who would ever expect that there would be so much volunteers who would be eager to take part in Open Roller Skates Tournament?

There were competitors at the age of 5 to 45. Just fancy how it looked! The atmosphere of the competitions was astonishing: modern music, extreme sport and fine weather, what else does advanced youth want? I decided to have a chat with one of these advanced chap nickname Bruise to know what he differs from others:

–What is your life motto?

–Onward to success, stop at nothing.

–What do you think about while you skate?

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