Read the English proverbs given below, find their Russian equivalents

1. A good wife makes a good husband

2. Blood is thicker than water

3. Do not teach mother to suck eggs

4. Charity begins at home

5. Every dog is a lion at home

6. Like father like son

7. There is a skeleton in every family

8. As the tree so are the fruit

15. Role - play

Work in pairs or in the groups of 2-3. Talk about family traditions in your families.

Writing.

1) Tell about some traditions in your parents’ family or about traditions you have or would like to have in the family of your own. Use some proverbs from ex.16

2) Present your ideas on the topic “What makes a happy and united family”

GENERATION GAP

One of the important problems of all times is a gen­eration gap. It has been known since ancient time. Nowadays we face it too.

Reading

a) In Britain, people sometimes talk of a genera­tion gap. Read the interview of a journalist with teenagers and their parents. Do you agree with any of the main points of the following interview? Discuss them in groups.

Interviewer: What's wrong with today's teenagers?

Parent 1: That's easy— everything.

Interviewer: For example?

Parent 2: They want to be treated like adults, but they won't take adult responsibilities. They just sit around, listening to loud music.

Interviewer: Do you have any problems with your teenage children?

Parent 3: My son's fine, he works hard at school, but I have problems with my daughter Susan. She never lis­tens to us. I think she doesn't even like us. She and her friends just use the house like a convenient hotel and she wears these terrible clothes. I think she does it to upset us.

Parent 4: Young people today don't care about anything or anyone. They don't seem to do anything for themselves. The only thing young people worry about is fashion and the way they look. They vandalize property when they are bored. Do not you agree?

Parent 5: There are a lot of situations when young people don't understand their parents. They become selfish persons. They want all their wishes and dreams to become real. Some parents don't understand their children. They don't know what their children need.

Interviewer: What do you think about your parents, Paul?

Paul (13): Well, they're so boring. I mean, they want us to be like them and accept their way of life.

Susan (14): Yeah, they think we're all delinquents and crim­inals, just'cos they don't like the way we look. They're afraid what the neighbours will think of our hair and clothes.

Paul: I mean, I quite like my Mum and Dad, but they treat us like kids— always ordering us around. I think they're jealous because we have a much better time they did when they were young.

Lily (14): My parents don't understand me at all. I think that a lot of teenagers have the same problem. When I talk with my parents I think that they don't hear me. Maybe it is because of differences between generations. And I want to be friends with my mother; I want to talk about all things with her. But it is so difficult. I want to find something in common with her so much. But it is not easy, it seems to me. We often quarrel.

Alice (14): Personally I get on with my classmates well, because I'm amiable, sociable and don't envy anybody. The things are not so easy with my parents. Sometimes I quarrel with them because I think they don't understand me. I'm not allowed to stay up late because I have to go to school the next day. In the evenings I can't watch what I want on TV. Mum complains that I don't feel like reading books. In fact, I have to read so much while preparing for my lessons that I just don't have spare time to read for pleasure. Dad considers that I'm irresponsible and too easy- going and fun loving, that I'm not really worried about my studies, career or future. He likes to lecture for a long time on the dos and don'ts, and finally calms down. He'd better accept me as a young adult with a mind of my own, my own wishes and ambitions.

Pamela (16): I don't think of the parents as my enemies, but at the same time, they aren't my friends, because I can't tell them some details of my private life, which I can confide in my best friends. But sometimes there are such situations, when we need parents' help and then they become most intimate people. And in my opinion, it's very good that you can rely upon somebody in your life. Thus, in spite of all contradic­tions, most of parents trust their sons and daughters and believe them and are sure their future will be happy.

Tom (13): As for me, I think that problems between teens and parents have always existed. Every adult when he or she was a teenager had such kind of problems and now when they are parents they have the same situation with their own children. I think we can avoid this conflict. But I think it is important for parents to recollect that they were teenagers too and they had problems with their own parents.

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