Mr Know-It-All

1. Here four people are presented, each of whom has written about a personal problem. Please, write each a letter of advice.

   1. A twenty-five-year-old girl, a university graduate. She has met a man who is impatient to marry her, but she wants to finish a year’s post-graduate study first.

   2. A twenty-year-old girl who has married a man of thirty. He works too hard and comes home very tired and bad-tempered.

   3. A thirty-five-year-old man whose wife is a businesswoman with a very successful carrier. She frequently comes home from work very late because she has meetings.

   4. A woman of sixty is a divorcee herself, comes to know that her son-in-law has committed adultery. Her daughter is still unaware of it.

1. Pair work. Below are situations for dialogues where one of the participants is facing some problems in his/her family. The other partner should give him/her some advice. Act out the dialogues using appropriate clichés of giving advice (See Supplement)

   1. The wife complains that her husband doesn’t pay enough attention to the children.

   2. The husband thinks the seventeen-year-old daughter is too young to go out on dates. The wife disagrees.

   3. The wife has a full-time job and is very angry because the husband doesn’t help her around the house.

   4. The husband complains about his wife’s mother-in-law interfering in.

2. Here are some English proverbs dealing with marriage and family life. Illustrate them with a short story.

   1. Absence makes the heart grow fonder.

   2. Every family has a skeleton in the cupboard.

   3. Men make houses, women make homes.

   4. It’s a sad house where the hen crows louder than the cock.

3. Solve the problems.

   1. Your husband beats you, but with eight children he is your only means of financial support. Your mother comes over to visit you and asks you why you are bruised. What’s your reply?

   2. You and your wife have been married for 5 years. You’ve been very happy but lately you’ve begun to feel very attracted towards another woman. Your wife asks you if anything is wrong. What do you say?

   3. You are going to call off the engagement. What do you say to your boy/girlfriend?

   4. You are a reporter of the Daily Mail Gossip Column. You are going to interview Elizabeth Smith and Richard Brenton, the famous film stars, who got divorced last year but who, according to rumour, are planning to remarry. What questions will you ask?

4. Read the following marriage advertisements from the Lonely Hearts Column and make up your own.

   1. English bachelor, 40, own house, seeks sympathetic woman (18-35) of any nationality for lasting friendship, possibly marriage. Interests: classical music, golf, wine. Photo appreciated.

   2. Very attractive female, seeks long-term mate. He must be older, wiser and richer than me. I’m 24, slim, fair, intelligent, have one child. Tired of doing the rounds of dance halls and want to settle down.

   3. Simon, 25, slim, attractive, own Sussex home, boat, aircraft and cars. Country and animal lover. Seeks warm, affectionate girl, 17-23, no reply without photo.

   4. Who wants a 25-year-old, dark-haired, good-looking, lively woman interested in pop-music, driving, clothes, and “living life to the full”? If you are a man aged 25-30, with a similar interest in having good time, then write with photo (or drawing!)

   5. Mature man seeks mature woman. Must be kind, home-loving and interested in art. Write with photo.

5. Points to ponder.

   1. People should not marry outside their religion, nation, race, class, education.

   2. Interracial marriages should be discouraged.

   3. Adopted children should know who their natural parents are.

   4. There is no such thing as love.

   5. Loneliness can be beneficial.

   6. Divorce is on the increase in Russia.

   7. The heart that once truly loves never forgets.

   8. It is the wife who changes for better or worse, not the husband.

   9. Premarital sex has undermined one of the primary reasons for marriages.

   10. Love cannot be forced.

   11. No herb will cure love.

   12. Happiness takes no account of time.

6. Group work. Split into two groups:

   1. One of the groups has to prepare the role of the interviewers, and write down questions. Each interviewer asks the members of the “ideal family”. The other group represents an “ideal family”, they should allocate the different roles within the group and talk about the personalities, ways of behaviour and ideas of the people in their family and give advice to other families.

   2. The “ideal family” is interviewed by different interviewer in turn in front of the class. At the beginning each member of the family introduces either himself or another family member.

   3. Since a lot of students’ values and ideas regarding families will have become obvious, they should discuss them afterwards.

7. Role- play the following scene with other members of your group. Each person plays a different role in the family. Make a decision as family group:

A mother has just enrolled into evening language classes. She has a lot of studying to do and cannot do all the housework any more. Her husband and two teenaged children want her to be happy, but they are not used to helping with the housework much. However, they do not like TV dinners and dirty clothes. What can they do?