Reading and writing

Finish the essay answering the five guiding questions that follow the beginning of the essay and making use of the new vocabulary:

Teenage Problems

Today it is fashionable to speak about teenage problems. A few years ago alcohol, fights, killings and other kinds of violence were more problems for adults than for young people. But now, as official reports admit, violence, AIDS, drugs and alcohol are more and more associated with the young people. Almost half of teenagers have an experience with drugs, alcohol and sex under age of 16. A lot of teenagers who have drug or alcohol addiction almost never believe that they are dependent. Every fifth teenager who was arrested for criminal actions, was younger than 14 and couldn't be sent to prison.

Some people say that 15-17-year old people are old enough to be responsible for what they do and give them quite a lot of freedom and rights. On the other hand, most adults think that teenagers are too young to be taken seriously. This misunderstanding produced many problems.

What has gone wrong?

Actually, a lot of teenagers say that their parents let them do anything they want and are quite indifferent to their problems. Many teenagers get upset or depressed when they can't solve their problems. Some specialists explain that the changes of our society, the system of our life force young people to choose their own lifestyle.

Things are not easy nowadays even for adults, but for teenagers who have to find their own place in society, they are even more difficult. …

1. What are teens' life ambitions? (They want to..., enjoy life, be independent, express their individuality, do well at school, earn money, rebel against the society, change the world to the best, be taken seriously, have the right to..., have a chance to ... .)

2. What problems do teenagers face today? (family problems, friction between young people and their parents, generation gap, personal problems, school problems, violence, cruelty, drug addiction, drinking problems, poverty, discrimination, loneliness, parents' expectations are too high).

3. How do you feel about teens' problems? (I find them..., urgent, important, serious, awful, shocking, difficult to solve, interesting to discuss, useless to discuss).

4. Who can help? (Teenagers themselves, parents, adults, school, the Government. The young people should feel that they are cared for.)

5. How to help? (Teenagers/adults should think about/ care about/ be free to decide/ forbid... to/ allow... to.../ give more rights to.../ send... to prison/ help to overcome difficulties.)

Be ready to discuss your essays with your group mates in class and stand your point of view.

Part B

Vocabulary file

Vocabulary Quiz

Ex. 1. In column A are some words from the text below that you may not know. Match them with their brief definitions in column B. The first one is an example:

A adolescence c) compassion aspiration gap to abuse to appreciate to bully to entitle to gain to support adult fair (a) pregnant (a) tense (a) tough (a) turbulent (a)

B wild or insubordinate; unruly strong desire to achieve something, such as success the period in human development that occurs between the beginning of puberty and adulthood to maltreat, esp physically or sexually a feeling of distress and pity for the suffering or misfortune of another a divergence or difference; a break in continuity to value highly to give (a person) the right to do or have something; allow having reached maturity; fully developed to hurt, intimidate, or persecute (a weaker or smaller person) free from discrimination, dishonesty, etc.; just to acquire (something desirable); obtain, get under mental or emotional stress to give aid or courage to difficult to do or deal with containing unborn young within the body

Ex. 2. Fill in the table where possible with morphologically related words to the ones presented in bold. The first one is an example:

N	V	Adj
prohibition	prohibit	prohibited prohibitive prohibitory
		illusionary
expectation
interaction promotion
generation
	appreciate
		mature
		tense
youth
adolescence adolescent
		turbulent
pregnancy
	bully
	abuse
	support
raise
challenge
		tough
responsibility
stability
		fair
intimacy
		attractive
	settle
	advance

Ex. 3. What are the abstract nouns for the following concrete ones? (The first one is an example):

child – childhood; adult -- ; adolescent -- .

Ex. 4. What is the Russian for:

adulthood, adolescent, teenager, drugs, jail, prison, pregnancy, gap, bully, adolescent, compassion, aspiration, prohibition; turbulent, tough, tense, to entitle, to appreciate, to abuse.

Ex. 5. Translate into Russian the following word combinations:

in good health; in high spirits; generation gap; young adulthood; illusionary expectations; emotional interactions; socially responsible; psychologically mature; physically fit and attractive; burden of responsibility; daily winning of bread; to settle down; to advance careers; to gain promotions and raises; to get stability in a personal life; to start a family; to entitle rights; to drop out from school; to strive for something.

COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES

Questions:

1. What advantages do different periods of human life – childhood, youth, and adulthood – have?

2. Some people think that school years are the happiest days in people’s lives. Can you say that you have been happy at school? Why?

3. Were you a problem child? Were there any in your grade? What did they do?

4. Would you like to stay young forever? Why?

5. What does adulthood mean for you?

Pair-work:

1. Share memories of your childhood.

2. Share expectations of young childhood /adolescence.

Discussion:

Each stage of a person’s life is characterized by a different psychological crisis that must be resolved before the person can successfully progress to the next stage. The success of each stage depends on how well the previous crisis was resolved. If a person does not resolve a crisis, it will continue to affect the person’s development throughout life.

Have a “round table” discussion one of the eight successive development stages that psychologists point out and the conflict that must be resolved with a focus on the adolescent “identity crisis” which is the most significant crisis of human psychosocial development. Give some examples of teenagers struggling to define their own identity.

Stage	Conflict
1. Infant	Basic trust vs. basic distrust
2. Toddler	Autonomy vs. shame and doubt
3. Preschooler/Early Childhood	Initiative vs. guilt
4. School Age/Play	Industry vs. inferiority
5. Adolescence	Identity vs. role confusion
6. Young Adulthood	Intimacy vs. isolation
7. Adulthood	Generativity vs. stagnation
8. Old Age	Ego integrity vs. despair

Language Function File

Lesson 2 Communication: Joys and Problems of the Modern Youth Grammar Focus: Language Use:

Kazimir Malevich's impressionist Unemployed Girl (1904)

Part A

READING AND SPEAKING

Think ahead

1. What do you know about different stages of human development?

2. Which stage seems to be the most difficult for you? Why?

3. What stage of human development are you in? Are you comfortable enough being there? Is there anything you would like to change? Why?

4. What would you like to know on the problem of youth?

Read the text and say if the statements that follow are true or false. Be ready to answer the questions on the text and speak on the stages of human development:

Joys and Problems of the Modern Youth

It is common knowledge that youth is the best time of your life, that being young means romance, love, new discoveries and so on. But youth is the time when a person is trying to find his or her place in the world. And during this search he or she comes across different specific youth problems which are as important as those of the adults.

In modern societies young adults encounter a number of issues when they finish school and take on responsibilities of adulthood.

Those who plan to hold full-time jobs may become desperate to find work as the rate of youth unemployment is staggering. They may also have an extreme difficulty in adapting to a workplace environment or tolerate a boss’s displeasure, etc.

But even if you have already made your choice and are studying somewhere, you need some money of your own. Your parents will probably provide you with home, food and necessary clothes, but it's obvious that you have your own tastes, and your parents won't pay for them. To pay for extra clothes, tapes, books, things necessary for your hobbies, you have to work, and in our country it is very difficult for a young man to find a job. And then, in college, students have to spend all their time working hard to earn good grades and graduate on time. However, after graduation many college graduates may not achieve a desirable standard of living.

Emotional problems for young people can be far more serious than financial ones. Youth is also a time to meet your first love. It is, of course, wonderful, but, as it is widely known that first love often has an unhappy end, this also increases young people's problems. Even friends can't always stay friends as old friends sometimes just go apart.

Then there is one more problem that has become very urgent nowadays. It's a problem of taking drugs. This is a relatively new problem but it is becoming more and more dangerous. Million young people today are using drugs, and most of them will die. Usually they want just to try it, then again and again… and after year may be two years they will die. But there are many ways of keeping away from this problem. One of them is organized sport, which changes young people's world-outlook and prevents them from the fatal temptation.

So, shortly after young people enter the "real world" they are often experiencing extreme insecurity, or career stagnation, or disillusionment in the world that happens to be much tougher, more competitive and less forgiving than they have imagined. This may lead to the emotional distress and feeling of “a loser”.

Other people, however, are more optimistic and think that all stages of human life are full of conflicts that humans must resolve. Successful people usually do not get burned out by the concept of ‘problems’, their actions are powered by the ‘concept’ of ‘opportunities.’ Worrying, panic, upset or anger reduces our capacity to deal with the problem.

Louis L’Amour, an American writer, in his novels Chancey marked: “There have always been hard times. There have always been wars and troubles – famine, disease and such like – and some folks are born with money, some with none. In the end it is up to the man what he becomes, and none of those other things matters. It is character that counts.”

Comprehension Check

Are these statements true or false?

Questions