My Family. 1. WARMING UP. Work in pairs

Family Relations

FAMILY RELATIONS

UNIT 2

1. WARMING UP. Work in pairs. Ask and a nswer the questions about your families.

1. How many are you in the family?

2. What are their names?

3. How old are they?

4. What are their jobs?

5. What are their hobbies?

2. WORD STUDY.

2.1 Complete the following table using the words from the list below.

male	female
boy (guy)
	sister
brother-in-law
cousin
Father (Dad, Daddy, Pa)
	mother - in - law
	grandmother
grandson
husband
nephew
	daughter
son-in-law
uncle
widower
	spouse

girl (gal); aunt; niece; sister-in-law; son; widow; cousin; Mother (Mom, Mummy, Ma); father-in-law; spouse; grandfather; wife; daughter-in-law; brother; granddaughter;

2.2 Match the definitions to the words.

1 smb’s husband or wife	a) brother-in-law
2 the mother of smb’s spouse	b) son-in-law
3 the brother of your mother or father	c) cousin
4 the sister of your mother or father	d) niece
5 children born at the same time and to the same mother	e) spouse
6 the child of your aunt or uncle	f) mother-in-law
7 the husband of smb’s daughter	g) uncle
8 the wife of smb’s son	h) twins
9 the brother of smb’s spouse	i) nephew
10 the daughter of smb’s sister or brother	j) daughter-in-law
11 the wife of smb’s brother	k) sister-in-law
12 the son of smb’s brother or sister	l) aunt

3. FIRST READING. Read the text to find out what it is about in general.

When Americans speak about families, many of them mean a “traditional family”. A traditional American family is one in which both parents are living together with their children. The father goes out and works and the mother stays home and brings up the children. There are two children in a traditional American family.

However, most American families today do not fit this image. The biggest change is that in many families both parents work outside the home. Besides, families in the USA are getting smaller. In the mid-1970s there were six people in an average household. Today an average household contains only 2 or 3 people. Most American families include members of just two generations: parents and their children. So does my family.

I’m an only child in the family. I have neither brothers nor sisters. But I have two cousins: Katherine and Emily. They are Aunt Mary’s daughters. Aunt Mary and her husband are divorced. Kate is the youngest in the family and Emily is two years older than me. Emily is my favorite cousin. She is a medical student in her third year. We are good companions and see a lot of each other.

My Dad George Bailey is a very educated person and he practices law. He knows two foreign languages – French and German – and he speaks and reads and writes these languages very well. He speaks quietly and pleasantly, but there is strength under his quietness, and all his clients know this. He is 45 and he is always very well-dressed, but quietly, in good taste. Still, I think he is a little bit old-fashioned, unaware of the latest fads and fashions which preoccupy me. He, certainly, does his best to support the family and to give me a better education, a better background, a better chance than he had himself.

Mum is a beautiful woman. She is as old as Dad but she looks young for her age. She is kind and gentle, but she manages her house (and, in her quiet way, her husband and her son) very well. Dad is, of course, a clever man, but a little bit unpractical and he needs Mum to look after him. Let alone me. She, on the other hand, is very practical and full of common sense.

Unlike their parents, many single adult Americans today are waiting longer to get married. Some men and women marry and start their family life later because they want to graduate from a university or college; others want to become more established in their chosen profession. Couples are also waiting longer before they have children. Some couples today decide not to have any children at all.

Despite all this families are an important part of life in the United States. Americans work hard to make their families successful. Although families are changing, they are not going to disappear.

3.1 C hoose a), b), or c) to complete the sentences.

1. An American family today is one in which …

a) both parents are unemployed

b) both parents have jobs

c) one of the parents works and the other stays home

2. There are … children in a traditional American family.

a) 6

b) 3

c) 2

3. Tom has …

a) two sisters

b) two cousins

c) a sister and a brother

4. Tom’s father …

a) is a lawyer

b) teaches French and German

c) designs fashionable clothes

5. Tom’s mother is …

a) very sentimental

b) violent and unbalanced

c) pragmatic

6. Many adult Americans today prefer …

a) career to marriage

b) to get married very early

c) to start family life later

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