Ex. 2. Answer the questions.

1. What is your name? /Who are you? 2. Where and when were you born? 3. How old are you? 4. Are you Belarusian? 5. Where do you live? /What’s your permanent address? 6. When did you finish school? 7. How well did you do at school? 8. What were your favourite subjects? 9. How many members are there in your family? 10. What relations do you have in your family (parents, sisters, brothers, etc.)? 11. Have you got any grandparents? Where do they live? 12. Have you got any uncles or aunts? 13. Do you have any cousins? 14. Do you have any nieces or nephews? 15. Where does your family live? 16. Where do your parents work? 17. How do they call your father? 18. How do they call your mother? 19. What are your brothers and sisters (if any)? 20. Which of you is the oldest person in the family? 21. Which of you is the youngest? 22. Can any one of you play chess (the guitar, the piano, football)? 23. Who is the head of the family: the father or the mother? 24. Does your family often spend holidays in the country? 25. Who usually does the housework (goes shopping)? 26. Do you have any relatives, who live abroad? How often do you visit them? Do they often come to see you? 27. Why is it important to have a good family?

Ex. 3. Tell your partner what a happy family means to you.

Ex. 4. Every family has fascinating bits of family history. Think about your family and pick out an interesting piece of family history, which you want to tell your friend.

Ex. 5. Tell about your childhood. The following questions may help you.

1. What is your position in the family (the only child, the eldest, the youngest, the second of four, etc.)? 2. Who was your favourite relative when you were a child? Why? 3. Which toy did you like most? 4. Who did you play with? 5. What did you hate eating? 6. What’s your most vivid memory of the house or flat where you grew up? 7. What smells or sounds can you recall from your childhood? 8. What’s your earliest memory of your life? 9. Describe your favourite photo from your childhood. 10. What was your favourite age? Why? 11. Tell about: a) something that disappointed you once you were a child; b) an event from you childhood that makes you smile now when you think about it. 12. Do you agree that childhood is the happiest time in your life? Why? Why not?

Ex. 6. Home life feels the stress of social changes. New aspects of family life in the USA are caused by mobility, women’s new position in society and changes in attitude towards divorce. The following text uses three terms to describe different types of families. Look through the text to find the definition for:

a) extended family;

b) nuclear family;

c) blended family.

Text b The Changing American Family

The American family unit is in the process of change. There used to be mainly two types of families: the extended and the nuclear. The extended family most often included mother, father, children, and some other relatives, such as grandparents, living in the same house or nearby. Then as job patterns changed and the economy progressed from agricultural to industrial, people were forced to move to different parts of the country for job opportunities. These moves split up the extended family. The nuclear family became more prevalent. It consisted of only the parents and the children.

In the American family the husband and wife usually share important decision making. When the children are old enough, they participate as well. Foreign observers are frequently amazed by the permissiveness of American parents. The old rule that "children should be seen and not heard" is rarely followed, and children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parental control. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question, and children are encouraged to be inde­pendent at an early age. Some people believe that American parents carry this freedom too far. Young people are expected to break away from their parental families by the time they have reached their late teens or early twenties.

Now, besides these two types of traditional groupings, the word "family" is being extended to include a variety of other living arrangements. Today's family can be made up of diverse combinations. With the divorce rate nearly one in two, there is an increase in single-parent homes: a father or mother living with one or more children. Blended families occur when previously married men and women marry again and combine the children from former marriages into a new family. On the other hand, some couples are deciding not to have any children at all, so there is an increase in two-person childless families. There are also more people who live alone: single, widowed, divorced. Now, one in five Americans lives alone.

Ex.7. Choose the correct word to complete the following sentences.

1. The typical American family of the past used to include grandparents or other relatives who were living with the parents and children; this was called the (extended/ nuclear/ blended) family.

2. With the industrialisation of American society, the (extended/nuclear/blended) family became more common.

3. Foreigners are often amazed by the (strictness/ permissiveness/ rudeness) of American parents.

4. At present, nearly one out of every (two/three/four) marriages in the USA ends in divorce.

5. A family composed of parents with children from previous marriages is called a (extended/nuclear/blended) family.

6. Nowadays, there is an (increase/decrease) in the number of childless marriages.

Ex.8. Look through the definitions of different types of families and say which type your family belongs to.

Ex. 9. Look through the following text and note down the reasons why:

a) the author thinks it must be awful to be the only child;

b) the author supposes there are some advantages too;

c) the author thinks big families are better.

Text C