Children - Parents

Naming the Baby

There are a lot of different traditions about naming children. In Christian societies, for example, the child is ‘christened” in church, the child is given a name and accepted into the religion. In the past it was considered unlucky for anyone outside the family to hear “the name of the baby before it was christened.

A lot of other societies have similar traditions. The Andaman islanders name the baby before it is born. And, until it is born, both the parents must be called by the baby’s name.

In ancient China children were often given names like “ugly” or “nasty”. The idea was that the bad spirits would believe what the name said and leave the child alone. Some Australian Aborigines keep their name a secret and always use a nickname. They think if someone finds out their name they will have control over them.

Most societies have rules about what names you can or cannot give. Babies in the South Sea Islands are named after events that happened about the time they were born. So there are children called Christmas, or Easter, or even Football Match.

The Ashanti tribe in Ghana name their children after the day on which they were born. Of course, Ashanti children get more than one name – others it would be very confusing. Here is a list of all the Ashanti names (there are different names for boys and girls). What’s your Ashanti name?

Day Boy Girl

Monday Kedjo Adojoa

Tuesday Kobla Abla

Wednesday Kwaku Aku

Thursday Kwao Awo

Friday Kofi Afua

Saturday Kwame Ama

Sunday Kwashie Awashe

from “Modern English International”

Do you know what’s in your name?

What’s your earliest memory of your childhood? Why do you think you can remember it?

LISTENING COMPREHENSION

1) You are going to hear a story about a young boy and his cart. Choose the correct answers – a, b, or c. Give the reasons.

1 Mrs Branthwaite (a) killed cats with poison, (b) often phoned the police, (c) hated gardening.

2 At the time of the story, Mrs. Branthwaite’s poppies (a) were all dead, (b) hadn’t yet flowered, (c) were flowering.

3 The author’s cart was (a) very fast, (b) slow, (c) new.

4 At first, the super0cart was (a) a great success, (b) uninteresting (c) too big to move.

5 On the second run, they (a) took some carts away, b) kept the super-cart the same, (c) added to the super-cart.

6 This time the cart was (a) too fast, (b) too slow, (c) just the right speed.

7 After the second run, (a) all the poppies were ruined, (b) half the poppies were ruined, (c) most of the poppies were ruined.

8 Mrs. Branthwaite was (a) in shock, (b) arrested, (c) laughing

2) Imagine Mrs Branthwaite decides to write to the author’s parents to complain about their son’s behaviour. Write her letter saying what you want the boy to do now.

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29