УМК ин.яз.(английский) БТФ

3.Give your opinion of marriages of the previous centuries.

4.Do you think it is possible for a modern girl of eighteen to start a family?

5.People should not get married unless they are deeply in love, should they?

6.What can be done by both spouses to prevent a divorce?

7.What are the family roles distributed within a family? What is a "woman's place" and what is a "man's place" in the family?

8.Can the birth of children strengthen the family?

9.There is a good phrase in the English language about marriages — "to go on the rocks". It means to break down, to crumble. Think of the similar ones in Russian.

10.Do you agree with the statement that unhappy couples with children

FAMILY: PERSPECTIVES

Household and/ or Family?

A household is any single person or group of people who make up the people at a common residence and who share facilities or have a meal a day in that place. They may or may not be a family. They allow a label for when there is no family resident.

It is important to realize that some people live in destitution, without a home, living on the streets and in poverty, moving from shelter to shelter. They often seek an address in order to improve chances of getting work. They may need help from social services and other agencies.

There are four main types of families:

Nuclear family.

This is limited to two generations of a mother, father and child or children. It is what people often imagine a family to be, but it is often not the reality.

Extended family.

This is where generations are added on to the nuclear family. It can be extended horizontally to brothers and sisters or cousins. It can be extended vertically to include a grandparent or more, with three or even four generations.

Lone parent family.

Here there is one parent only and his or her children.

Reconstituted family.

Here we have social parents (raising the children) who may not be the biological parents for all or some of the children. There are a high number of reconstituted families due to separations, divorces and adoptions of children.

What do families do?

Families carry out important roles of providing physical (actual), emotional and economic support.

According to functionalists, the family plays a very important positive role in raising the next generation.

•Families reproduce and raise the next generation. Not only do they carry out this rather obvious point, but they show how to do it. They pass on and display a model of rearing children, through (often) a monogamous sexual relationship and techniques of child rearing. This model is passed on to the next generation and is seen as the way to do child rearing by others in society.

•Families nurture children into the values and norms of society. They transmit the culture of society and how to conform. It is said that family is the essential bedrock of society: if families are in harmony then society will be in harmony. This is called primary socialization because it is a crucial, early and continuing part of socialization for the child.

•Families give emotional and psychological support. They are safe places (when they work properly). One expects comfort, sympathy and support from other family members regarding the stresses of going to school, college and work, and through all the difficulties of ill health and life crises.

•Families offer structures of economic support. This can be physical support, such as shelter and food, but also allows for economic development, such as families offering each other work or money for businesses, as well as support for when times are hard.

Exercise 1

Find in the text English equivalents of the following words and word combinations:

семейство (домочадцы); жить в нищете; приемная семья; развод; усыновление; производить на свет; показывать пример воспитания детей; приобщать к ценностям и нормам поведения в обществе; основа (фундамент) общества.

Exercise 2

Complete the sentences:

1.A household is any single person or group of people who …

2.Families carry out important roles of providing …

3.A nuclear family is limited to …

4.An extended family is …

5.Families pass on and display a model of …

Exercise 3

Answer the questions:

1.Is there any difference between a household and a family?

2.What main types of families can you name?

3.What are the main functions of the family?

4.What kind of support do families give?

(Borrowed from Spoken English. Part I. Ю.В.Корженевич )

FAMILY LIFE

Marriage is a thing which only a rare person in his or her life avoids. True bachelors and spinsters make up only a small percent of the population; most single people are alone but not lonely.

Millions of others get married because of the fun of family life. And it is fun, if one takes it with a sense of humour.

There’s a lot of fun in falling in love with someone and chasing the prospective fiancee, which means dating and going out with the candidate. All the relatives (parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, brothers and sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles, nieces and nephews, stepmothers and stepfathers and all in-laws) meanwhile have the fun of criticizing your choice and giving advice. The trick here is not to listen to them but propose to your bride-to-be and somehow get her to accept your proposal. Then you may arrange the engagement and fix the day of the wedding.

What fun it is to get all those things, whose names start with the word wedding — dress, rings, cars, flowers, cakes, etc.! It’s great fun to pay for them.

It’s fun for the bride and the groom to escape from the guests and go on a honeymoon trip, especially if it is a wedding present from the parents. The guests remain with the fun of gossiping whether you married for love or for money.

Its fun to return back home with the idea that the person you are married to is somewhat different from the one you knew. But there is no time to think about it because you are newly-weds and you expect a baby.

There is no better fun for a husband than taking his wife to a maternity home alone and bringing her back with the twins or triplets.

And this is where the greatest fun starts: washing the new-born’s nappies and passing away sleepless nights, earning money to keep the family, taking children to kindergarten and later to school. By all means it’s fun to attend parent’s meetings and to learn that your children take after you and don’t do well at school.

The bigger your children grow, the more they resemble you outwardly and the less they display likeness with you inwardly. And you start grumbling at them and discussing with your old friends the problem of the generation gap; what fun!

And when at last you and your grey-haired spouse start thinking that your family life has calmed down, you haven’t divorced but preserved your union, the climax of your fun bursts out!

One of your dearest offsprings brings a long-legged blonde to your house and says that he wants to marry. And you think: Why do people ever get married?

Exercise 1

Find in the text English equivalents of the following words and word combinations:

замужество; настоящий холостяк; незамужняя женщина; выйти замуж; влюбиться; искать будущую невесту; сделать предложение; назначить дату свадьбы; поехать в свадебное путешествие; выйти замуж по расчету; молодожены; ждать ребенка; отвезти жену в роддом; стирать пеленки

новорожденных; проводить бессонные ночи; напоминать кого-либо внешне; проблема отцов и детей.

Exercise 2

Complete the following sentences:

1.… is a thing which only a rare person in his or her life avoids.

2.There’s a lot of fun in …with someone and chasing the prospective…

3.All the relatives … have the fun of criticizing your choice and giving

advice.

4.The trick here is not to listen to them but propose to your … and somehow get her to accept your …

5.It’s fun for the … and the … to escape from the guests and go on a honeymoon trip.

6.There is no better fun for a … than taking his wife to a … alone and bringing her back with the … or … .

7.The bigger your children grow, the more they resemble you … and the less they display likeness with you …

8.One of your dearest … brings a long-legged blonde to your house and says that he wants to …

Exercise 3

Answer the questions:

1.Can people avoid marriage?

2.Why do people get married?

3.Who usually helps young people to make their choice?

4.How does the family life change with the appearance of children?

5.Do you agree that family life is real fun?

(Borrowed from Spoken English. Part I. Ю.В.Корженевич )

GENERATION GAP

Do you know what a generation gap is? Even if you don't know the particular definition, you are aware of this problem, basing on your own experience. Generation gap is a popular term used to describe serious differences between people of two generations.

To realize how to deal with it, you should keep in mind that generation gap includes several aspects: children must know as much as possible about their parents and parents — about the world outlook of their children, about relations between brothers and sisters, and also about the attitude to them of close relatives on both sides — father's and mother's.

Children demand a great deal of attention, time and patience, so, if you are not ready to devote all that to your baby, it is better not to hurry. There are many families where both parents keep working after giving birth to their baby. It is similar to the situation with a single-parent family, when a father or a mother hardly have enough time and neglect their children's upbringing. In such cases

most of the time the child has to spend on his own or with his friends. Due to the fact that he has not got any guidance from his parents he may be involved in some bad companies which commit violence or even crime and become alcohol or drug addicted. When the parents discover that, it's usually too late to change anything.

On the other hand, there is a different situation when the parents treat their children too strict and don't give them any freedom at all. In this case the children may become pariahs among their peers. Constant bans may increase the risk that the child will grow up insolent and defiant. This causes another big problem — lying. The child is forced to lie to the parents because of the fear to be punished. It can be anything from putting on make-up in the girls' room at school to stealing.

Some children rebel against discipline and family values. They listen to a loud music, wear inappropriate, to their parents' mind, clothes, dye their hair in inconceivable colours, have all their bodies pierced and tattooed trying to show their independence and establish their identity. They want to be treated as adults, but they are not ready to take all the necessary responsibilities. It doesn't mean that your child is bad and he will become a criminal. Of course, not! It only means that your child is in his transitional age and he is in need of your understanding and support.

But how to handle such behaviour? Parents should become his close friends. First of all they should learn to respect his interests. Try to speak with him as often as possible, offer some parent-child activities like shopping or going in for sports. It is worth involving the child in discussing some family questions, just to show that he is a full member of the family. Moreover, children in their teens are very vulnerable when they are criticized in public, so try to avoid it. Parents should always be honest and sincere with their child; otherwise it would be unfair to require the same from him.

Too authoritarian parents can't do any good to their children as well as parents who overindulge all the child's caprices. Overindulgence may lead to the same results as negligence. There are parents who are afraid of hurting the child by banning something when it is necessary. Such parents risk becoming powerless in the family and losing control over their children who may become spoiled and capricious.

It demands to make a great effort from both parents and children to reach mutual understanding. There are many different opinions on the question of treating children if they disobey their parents, but every parent should decide for himself what will be best for his child and set him on the right path.

(Borrowed from http://www.alleng.ru/engl-top/643.htm)

Exercise 1

Fill in the missing prepositions:

To be aware … the problem

To deal … the problems

To keep … mind

To be involved … bad companies

To lose control … the children

To have different opinions … the questions

To set someone … the right path

Exercise 2

Answer the questions:

1.Give your explanation of the notion "generation gap".

2.How do you think, which is the tensest period in the relationships between parents and their children?

3.What type of behaviour is usual for adolescents?

4.Have you noticed any changes in your own behaviour during the last

years?

5.How would you characterize your relations with your parents?

6.Do you like to spend time with your family?

7.What is, in your opinion, the basis of healthy and peaceful relationship between parents and children?

8.Are you a spoiled child?

9.Do you approve of the way your parents brought you up?

10.What would you like to change in the way your parents brought you up?

DISCUSSION

Do you agree or not? Comment on the following statements.

1.Everything has its beginning in the family.

2.Small children create small problems while the big ones bring big problems.

3.Every generation is different from the previous one.

4.Like father like son.

5.A good husband makes a good wife.

6.A tree is known by its fruit.

WRITING

Write an essay on one of the following topics:

1.Teenage marriage

2.Leadership in the family.

3.Marriage contracts and romantic love.

4.Divorce and one-parent families.

5.A white wedding or no wedding?

ENGLISH AS A WORLD LANGUAGE

Topical Vocabulary

1. Why has the English language become a world language?

8. What skills in English do you think you may need for your future profession?

9. What are your personal goals of learning English?

Sum up the information of the Quiz and tell the group why it is advisable to learn English and what skills you may need for your future profession.

Most people have the chance to learn English during their school years.

However, they didn’t realize then what benefits (преимущества) the knowledge of English can give to professionals?

Read the text and decide if it is worth learning English. What are your personal reasons for learning English?

Reasons to learn English

Now English is one of the most common languages in the world, which is spoken by perhaps 400 million people1. It represents only about 8 percent of the earth’s population, but it is a very geographically widespread language, thanks to the former British Empire2. English is almost the universal language of science, business, and international politics.

Whenever people with different languages come together, they usually use English to communicate:

•Up to half of all business deals throughout the world are conducted in

English.

•Half of the world newspapers are in English, and about 75% of the world mail correspondence is in English (the USA alone accounts for 50%).

•At least 35% of Internet users are English speakers, and about 70-80% of the content on the Internet is in English (although reliable figures on this are hard to establish).

•Popular music worldwide is dominated by English (estimates of up to 95% have been suggested).

•English is also the language of the Film Industry and American television is watched almost everywhere.

English also opens doors to the academic world. Many Western universities are becoming highly international, the common working language of visiting

scholars, students and professors from all around the world is English. Of course, if the best program in your field is in England or the USA, the English language will give you the opportunity to study with the top scholars.

English is generally considered the lingua franca of the scientific community. For example, roughly 80% of all the journals are published in English. Two-thirds of all scientific papers are published in English, and the Science Citation Index3 reports that as many as 95% of its articles were written in English, even though only half of them came from authors in English-speaking countries. Publishing in foreign journals and attending international conferences are some of the key steps to success in academia.

Journalists and writers around the world think that a good command of English is an increasingly useful skill. Even if you are writing your articles and doing interviews in your own language, with good English you can get background material from international wire services, papers, and magazines from around the world. You can interview foreign diplomats, businessmen, and maybe even get sent to cover overseas stories.

The knowledge of the English language is vital in many professions. The ability to speak English increases an individual’s employability – which is a big plus in today’s competitive times. Multinational corporations employ Englishspeakers in offices around the world. English is also the first language of organizations such as the European Union, the United Nations, the Commonwealth of Nations, and the NATO.

All these facts and figures prove the importance of knowing English for future research and professional career. Besides, learning languages broadens the mind and enriches all of us culturally.

Thus, if you do not want to get left behind when it comes to English, use this opportunity to learn English! Whether you are aiming to be a sociologist or a journalist, a philosopher or a businessperson, knowing English can give you a vital edge over others.

Notes:

Estimates that include second language speakers vary (варьируются) greatly from 470 million to over a billion depending on how literacy (грамотность) or mastery (владение, мастерство) is defined and measured.

Most people on earth – about 500 million – speak Mandarin Chinese. They make up 11 percent of the earth’s population but almost all of those millions are concentrated in China.

3. Science Citation Index (Индекс цитирования научных статей) covers more than 6,500 notable and significant journals across 150 disciplines, from 1900 to the present.

Vocabulary task

Match the Russian equivalents common understanding