UNIT 2

Family and Friends

Daily Routines and Housework

Stages of Life

Love and Romance, Marriage

FAMILY AND FRIENDS

PRE-READING ACTIVITIES

I. Make friends with your new groupmates. Discuss the following questions.

1. What’s your name?

2. How old are you?

3. Where are you from?

4. What nationality are you?

5. What’s your surname?

6. How do you spell it?

7. What are your hobbies?

8. Have you got many friends?

9. Are you married or single?

10. Do you live with your parents?

11. Is your family large?

12. Have you got a sister or a brother?

13. What other relatives have you got? (a cousin, an uncle, an aunt, a niece, a nephew, grandparents)

14. Do you share a room/a flat with your friend/your sister/your brother ?

II. Read the e-mails. Which person would you like to make friends with? Why? b)Write an e-mail about yourself.

1)

Hi! My name is Mike. I’m from Norfolk, a town in the United States. I’m twenty years old. I’m a student at Yale University, School of Art. I study graphic design. I like taking pictures; I also like going to the movies, bowling and computers. I love writing and receiving e-mails, and I hope to make friends with people all over the world. Please write!

2)

Hello! I’m Johanna. I come from Malmö, a town in Sweden. I’m 19 years old and I study culture at Malmö University. I like listening to music; I also play the piano, the guitar and I write songs too. I would like to talk to people all over the world to learn more about their culture and way of life. Please write in English and, of course, Swedish.

3)

Hi! It’s nice to meet you. My name’s Nicholas. I’m from Singapore. I’m 16. I love to play tennis and softball. I like having fun with my friends. I can write in English and Mandarin Chinese. I want to make friends all over the world.

TEXT

III. Read the text and fill in the headings. Memorize the words in bold.

1. In-laws

2. My Closest Relatives

3. Second Families

4. Grandparents / Grandchildren

5. My Own Family (a Nuclear Family)

My Family Tree

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

I am married and have a family of my own. My husband is a nice man. We have two children. Our female child is our daughter, and our male child is our son. They are lovely kids.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

My closest relatives are my parents: my mother and father, and my siblings (a brother and a sister). My mother is not the only child. So is my father. That’s why I also have two aunts and an uncle. One of the aunts is the sister of my mother; the uncle is my mother’s brother. The other aunt is my father’s sister.

My father’s sister has two children: a boy and a girl. They are my cousins. (In English, the word cousin is used, whether the cousin is female or male.) My female cousin is my father’s niece, and my male cousin is my father’s nephew.

My mother’s sister and brother are young adults, and they are single.

…………………………………………………………………………………………….

My husband’s family are my in-laws. His mother is my mother-in-law and his father is my father-in-law. His sister is my sister-in-law. The term in-law is also used to describe my relationship with the spouses of my siblings. The husband of my sister is my brother-in-law, and my brother’s wife is my sister-in-law. So I have two sisters-in-law.

The term “in-law” is used for all generations. If you are a woman, you become the daughter-in-law of your husband’s parents, and if you are a man, you become the son-in-law of your wife’s parents.

……………………………………………………………………………………………..

The parents of my parents are my grandparents – my grandmothers and grandfathers. They are all alive. My siblings and I are their grandchildren – granddaughters and a grandson. One of my grandmothers has a sister, who is my great-aunt. I’m her great-niece. If your grandparent has a brother, he is your great-uncle. And you are either his great-niece or great-nephew.

My grandmother’s and grandfather’s parents are my great-grandparents (great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers).

If you go back another generation, the grandmother of your grandmother / grandfather is your great-great-grandmother. The grandfather of your grandparent becomes your great-great-grandfather.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

My siblings and I are happy: we have two parents and a close-knit family. But there can be one-parent families and stepfamilies.

If your mother or father remarries, you can acquire a new family and a new set of relatives. For example, if your father marries a second wife, she becomes your step-mother. Any children she already has become your step-sisters or step-brothers.

If your mother or father remarries and has children, they become your half-brothers or half-sisters.

You might also hear people talking about their biological brother / sister etc., to mean a brother who is related by blood, rather than by marriage.