Материал к урокам английского языка по теме Семья (семья в Англии, Америке, России — тексты, вопросы, диалоги)

FAMILY LIFE IN ENGLAND
Anna: Is family life in England very different from family life in your country,
Maria?
Maria: No, I don’t think so. But I have noticed a few differences.
Anna: Oh, such as what?
Maria: Well, for you the family is simply Mum, Dad and the children.
Anna: You have a more extended family circle, do you?
Maria: Yes, it’s quite common in Spain to have a grandmother and an unmarried aunt or uncle living in as part of the family. And we would not dream of sending an elderly relatives to an old person’s home, for instance.
Anna: You take care of the elderly relatives yourselves, I gather.
Maria: Oh, yes. It’s the family’s duty to look after an elderly parent.
***
Maria: I suppose that in England family life has changed a lot in the last fifty years, hasn’t it?
Anna: Oh yes, very much so. I think families used to be much larger. My grandmother was one of fourteen children! Very few people nowadays care to have such large families.
Maria: I suppose that’s why in those days very few women took up careers outside the home. They were too busy bringing up their children.
Anna: Yes, women weren’t as free as they are today. They often had to marry men they didn’t like and they were financially dependent on their parents or on their husbands.
Maria: I think family life is much pleasanter today because it’s freer and more informal. At least today we’re free to marry whoever we like and to take up a job, if we wish.
Anna: That’s true.
***
There are many reasons why family life in Britain has changed so much in the last fifty years. The emancipation of women in the early part of the twentieth century and the social and economic effects of the 1914-1918 War had a great impact on traditional family life. Women became essential to industry and professions. During the Second World War they had worked in factories and proved their worth; with the loss of millions of men, their services were indispensable to the nation. More recently, great advances in scientific knowledge, and particularly in medicine, have had enormous social consequences. Children are better cared for and are far healthier. Infant mortality is low. Above all, parents can now plan the size of their family if they wish.
Is it particularly interesting to note that the concept of “the family” as a social unit, and of marriage as a national, even sacred institution have survived despite many challenges.
(“To Start you Talking”)
Questions on dialogue:
Who is the dialogue between?
What problems are Maria and Anna discussing?
Are they both English?
Is it quite common in England to have a grandmother living in as part of the family?
Do you think that English people have a less extended family circle than we do?
Who takes care of the elderly relations in England? And in your country?
How has family life changed in England in the last fifty years?
Have people large families nowadays?
Why couldn’t women take up careers outside home in those days?
Who were woman dependent on?
What changes have occurred in women’s life today?
Are women in your country free to marry whoever they like?
Questions on the text:
What historic events had a great impact on traditional family life in Britain?
Have women become essential to industry and the professions?
How did women prove indispensable to the nation during the Second World War?
What recent advances have had enormous social consequences for family life?
Why are children now far healthier than they were, say, fifty years ago?
Why is infant mortality low?
What does the author say about the concept of “the family” as a social unit?
1. Speak about family life in Russia and in Great Britain.
2.Speak about family life in Russia and in Spain.
3.Speak about changes which have taken place in the family life in Russia during the last 50 years.
AMERICAN FAMILY
Belonging to a family is one bond almost everyone in the world shares, but family patterns vary from country to country. The United States has many different types of families. While most American families are traditional, comprising a father, a mother and one or more children, 22.5 percent of all American families in 1983 were headed by one parent, usually a woman. In a few families in the United States, there are no children. These childless couples may believe that they would not make good parents; they may want freedom from the responsibilities of child-rearing; or, perhaps, they are not physically able to have children. Other families in the United States have one adult who is a stepparent. A stepmother or stepfather is a person who joins a family by marrying a father or a mother.
Americans tolerate and accept these different types of families. In the United States, people have the right to privacy and Americans do not believe in telling other Americans what type of family group they must belong to. They respect each other’s choices regarding family groups.
Families are very important to Americans. One sign that this is true is that Americans show great concern about the family as an institution. Many Americans believe there are too many divorces. They worry that teenagers are not obeying their parents. They are concerned about whether working women can properly care for their children.
Families give Americans a sense of belonging and a sense of tradition. Families give Americans strength and purpose.
Families serve many functions. They provide a setting in which children can be born and reared. Families help educate their members. Parents teach their children values – what they think is important. They teach their children daily skills, such as how to ride a bicycle. They also teach them common practices and customs, such as respect for elders and celebrating holidays. The most important job for a family is to give emotional support and security.
Questions on the text:
What types of families exist there in the USA?
What is the attitude of Americans to the types of family groups?
Why is a family important to Americans?
Why do some couples prefer to be childless?
What sense do families give to Americans?
What functions do families serve?
What is the most important job for a family?
Speak on the family problems peculiar for your country.
RUSSIAN FAMILY: WHAT IS IT LIKE?
So what is it like, the family tradition?
Whose descendants are we?
What are the stories your granny used to tell?
What can family albums, letters and diaries reveal?
What is your grandfather’s name?
What is your great-grandfather’s name?
Many of Russians cannot answer these simple questions. The family tradition is lost for them. And it is one of the reasons why most people have no sense of family honor and pride.
A group of people who have the same name and sit together in front of a TV set is not yet a family. Here are some family statistics in Russia. Over 80 percent of women and about 70 percent of men marry by the age of 25. At present more than 40 out of every 100 marriages end in divorce. About 50 percent of divorcees do not want to remarry. Men remarry more often than women. Over 50 percent of divorced men remarry within the period of ten years, while only 25 percent of divorced women do so.
Many young families have material difficulties. The housing shortage is a problem of many young families. Most young people don’t want to live together with their parents after they get married, but about half of them have to do this. As a result these young people have no necessary experience in family life. They don’t know: 1) how to run a household; 2) how to manage the family budget; 3) how to bring up children.
The revival of the family starts with the restoration of its tradition. Shall we have this tradition in future or lose it, as we lost many other traditions?
Answer the following questions:
1.What family traditions are there in your family?
2.Do you spend much time together?
3.Do you spend your holidays together? Do you go to the theatre/cinema/concerts together?
4.Who does the housework? How it is divided between the members of the family?
5.Do you discuss your family budget?
6.What problems do you discuss and solve together?
7.What do you know about your grandparents and great-grandparents?
8.Do you have a family album? Are any letters and diaries kept in your family archive?
9.What do you think the future of the family is?
10.What problems have young families in our country?
11.Do you justify divorces? Why? Why not?
12.What is family for you?
Round-table discussion “The Ideal Family: What Is It Like?”
The questions for discussion are:
How many people does an ideal family consist of? How many children should there be in a family?
What are a relations between husband and wife? between parents and children?
How important are family traditions? What is important for the happiness of a family?
Divorces. One – parent homes.