C. A career for robert

Ex. 1. Practise the following dialogue.

Harry: Well, Robert, have you made up your mind yet what you want to do when you leave college?

Nora: Oh Harry, surely he’s a bit young to decide on his career. He hasn’t even got to college yet.

H.: Not at all, Nora. It’s wisest to decide in good time. Look at me, for example. I really wanted to be a sailor, but now I spend my days sitting at a desk in an office. Yes, it’s silly to train for the wrong job. And after all, Robert will be going to college soon.

N. (musing): Now if I were a man I’d be a farmer. To see the crops growing - that’s my idea of a good life.

H.: Yes, and to see the money rolling in is more important still.

Robert: Well, that’s not the way I look at it, Dad. It’s the job I care about not the money.

H.: Maybe not; but you’ll learn to care about the money too, when you’ve got a family to keep.

N.: And of course Peter – well, he’s keen to be a racing motorist, or else an explorer.

R. (scornfully): Oh, Peter’s not old enough to make up his mind about such things.

H.: Well, you haven’t answered my question yet, Robert. What would you like to do?

N. (wistfully): Are you sure you don’t want to be a farmer, Robert? Or a market gardener?

R.: No, I’m sorry, Mum, but I don’t want to at all. I’d rather be a civil engineer. I want to build roadside bridges.

H.: Not ships? Isn’t it better to be a shipbuilding engineer?

R. (crossly): Look here, is it my career we’re planning, or yours?

H. (huffed): All right, all right, there’s no need to lose your temper. But you’d better win that scholarship first.

Ex. 2. Imagine your younger brother is finishing school. He is in doubt what profession to choose. Help him by describing some professions. Use the previous dialogue.

Talking points

Ex. 1. Speak on the following situations.

1. Nuclear and extended families.

2. What family would you like to have in future?

3. Advantages and disadvantages of being the only child in a family.

4. Draw your Family tree; tell about your relations and ancestors.

5. Compare Russian and American families.

6. The role of families in the society.

7. Civil marriages, advantages and disadvantages.

8. Happy families. Do they exist?

9. Big families, consisting of many children become unpopular nowadays.

10. Childless families appear in the society.

Ex. 2. Make up dialogues on the given situations.

1. Two people are in a train. They are speaking about themselves and their families.

2. Two grandmothers are talking about their grandsons. One of them is a pupil, the other is a student.

3. Showing your family album to your friend.

4. Prove your friend that it is better to have many sisters and brothers than to be an only child in the family.

Ex. 3. Comment on the proverbs and sayings. Make up a situation centered round one of them.

1. Good name is better than riches.

2. As like as two peas in a pod.

3. Blood is thicker than water.

4. He that has no children knows not what is love.

5. Love in a cottage.

6. Love me, love my dog.

7. Marriages are made in heaven.

8. Marriage goes by contrasts.

9. Out of sight, out of mind.

10. They are hand and glove.