The American Family

Most American families consist of a mother, a father, and three or four children living at home. This familiar structure is known as the “nuclear family”. It is unusual for members of the family other than the husband, wife, and children to live together. Occasionally an aging grandparent may live with the family, but it is considered undesirable. Visiting between parents and their married children and between married sisters and brothers is frequent when they live close to each other. If they live in different communities, they keep in touch by writing letters and by telephone.

In American family the husband and the wife usually make important decisions together. When the children are old enough, they participate as well. Children are often allowed to do what they wish without strict parent control. The father seldom expects his children to obey him without question, and children are encouraged to be independent at an early age. Young people break away from their parental families in their late teens or early twenties.

This pattern of independence often results in serious problems for the aging parents of a nuclear family. The job-retirement age is 65. The children have left home, married, and set up their own households. Elderly couples feel useless and lonely with neither an occupation nor a close family group. Many communities and church groups sponsor centers for “senior citizens”. At these centers older men and women can make friends and participate in a variety of planned activities, including games, trips, lectures, and discussion groups. These programs may help some old people, but they do not provide the complete solution to the problem of old age.

Ex.1 Answer the questions:

1. What is the best way to punish a child?

2. Do you think it’s easier to be a father or a mother?

3. Do you think you could put an aging parent into an old-age house?

4. Do you think grown-up children and parents should live together?

5. What problems face single-parent families?

6. What are the main reasons for the conflicts between different generations?

7. Did you or any of your family have to be away from each other for any length of time? Did you miss each other?

Text 6

My aunt Emily

Of all my relatives, I like my Aunt Emily the best. She’s my mother’s youngest sister. She has never married, and she lives alone in a small village near Bath. She’s in her late fifties, but she’s still quite young in spirit. She has a kind face, and when you meet her, the first thing you noticed is her lovely, warm smile. Her face is a little wrinkled now, but I think she is still rather attractive. She is a sort of person you can always go to if you have a problem.

She likes reading and gardening, and she goes for long walks with her dog, Buster. She’s a very active person. Either she’s making something, or mending something, or doing something to help others. She does the shopping for some of the old people in the village. She’s extremely generous, but not very tolerant with people who don’t agree with her. I hope that I am a happy and contented as she is when I’m her age.

Ex. 1 Write a similar description of a member of your family in about 200 words.

Include the following:

your opinion of the person

physical description

his/her character, habits, likes and dislikes.

P.S. She’s ‘not very tolerant’. This is a nice way of saying she is ‘intolerant’. Sometimes we try to be polite by not using a negative adjective. We can say not very+ the opposite adjective.

Ex. 2 Use a tactful way to describe someone who is:

a. rude c. mean e. cruel

b. boring d. ugly f. stupid

Ex. 3 One sentence in a pair has a mistake. Choose the correct sentence.

1. a. Where do they live?

b. Where they live?

2. a. She goes to home by taxi.

b. She goes home by taxi.

3. a. Mr. and Mrs. Smith go walking in summer.

b. Mr. and Mrs. Smith goes walking in summer.

4. a. I don’t understand the question.

b. I no understand the question.

5. a. She goes at weekends swimming.

b. She goes swimming at weekends.

6. a. What you do on Sunday mornings?

b. What do you do on Sunday mornings?

7. a. Do you play tennis sometimes?

b. You play tennis sometimes?

8. a. I like very much football.

b. I like football very much.

9. a. He doesn’t know the answer.

b. He don’t know the answer.

10.a. I”m like staying in bed longer on weekends.

b. I like staying in bed longer on weekends.

Text 7

Pre-reading task:

Work in groups of three. You are going to read about three generations of the Bennett family (the grandfather, the son, and the grandson). In the table there are the phrases which they said on four topics. Try to guess who said each phrase: a grandfather, a son, or a grandson. Write GF (grandfather), S (son), GS (grandson) next to a quote under each topic.

Fathers	Family life	Education	Relationships
“We couldn’t disturb him.”	“I didn’t have to come home at a certain time.”	“My parents didn’t have to support me financially.”	“We should get married one day.”
“I don’t have to hide anything from him.”	“We had to make our own entertainment.”	“I think colleges and universities should be free.”	“We couldn’t bring girlfriends home.”
“We had to obey him without question.”	“I could only watch TV at the weekend.”	“I had to walk to school.”	We had to get married.”

Reading task:

Student A read about the grandfather. Student B read about the son. Student C read about the grandson. Check your answers to the previous task and take it in turns to explain the reasons behind each quote.

Model: Student A – 1c) The grandfather had to obey his father without question because he was a very strict man.