Housekeeping, family duties and traditions

Person's life and education

My Family Circle (Я и моя семья)

Family mutual relations (Взаимоотношения в семье)

Housekeeping, family duties and traditions (Семейные обязанности и традиции)

About myself

Before I start talking about my family let me introduce myself. I am …. (My name is … and … is my surname). I am a true Siberian [saɪ-] because I was born in Novosibirsk. Even my parents were born in this city. I have been living in this town since my childhood.

I was born into a family of a builder on the 21 of May in 1994, so I am 17. I have finished school this year. But now I’m not a school leaver, I’m a first-year student. I am an ordinary boy of my age and extremely fond of music, books and computers. I devote a good deal of my spare time to reading and listening to my favourite groups. My mum always tried to develop interest in reading in me and my sister, that is why one of my hobbies is reading and only the next is computers. When at school I fell into the habit of reading a lot. At first I read everything I caught hold of but the older I grew the more definite my tastes in books became. I took to reading historic books. I’m grateful to my parents for their encouraging my reading. I did well at school and was especially good at math and geometry, but also coped with the rest of the subjects. And I’d like to master English.

I’m very active person and from my earliest days I prefer outdoor games. When at school I went into swimming and want to go on with it at the university. As for my appearance, everybody says I look like my mum. I have the same blue eyes, a snub nose and chestnut curly hair. I am not tall and I am not thin.

I have some duties about the house. As I like our home to be clean and tidy, I clean the rooms. It's not difficult for me. Returning home after classes I usually drop in at the bakery and at the dairy.

1. Tell about yourself answering the following questions:

Who are you? (What’s first your name? What’s your surname?)

What are you? What year student are you? Use: a school leaver, a first-year student, a fresher, an undergraduate, a post-graduate

Where do you come from? What place do you come from? Use: I come from the Russian Federation, I come from the city of Novosibirsk,

When and where were you born?

How old are you? Use: be young, old, of middle age, in my twenties, a boy (girl) of seventeen.

My family

I think that a family is the most important thing for every person and home is the nicest place. As the proverb says, "East or West, home is best". There is no place more delightful than home and there are no people more dear than relatives. Family are the people that always love you, support you and help you.

And now I am going to tell you a few words about my family. I don’t think we are a large family though we are a family of seven. (There are seven of us in the family). Our family is an extended family consisting of my parents, my elder sister and my younger brother, my mum’s parents and me. We are happy to be living together and never fighting among ourselves. We get on well with each other.

My dad is indeed a man of great intelligence. He is an engineer and works for a building company and is the head of our family because he clothes, feeds and supports us. Everybody pays sincere respect to him because he is considered to be an experienced engineer. Last month he was promoted and appointed manager in his company. We are very proud of him. What I don’t like about my dad is that he is always busy. He is a hardworking man and very often he works over time.

My mummy’s name is …. She is a woman of forty, two years younger than my dad. They have been married for 20 years. My mum and dad met each other when they were students at the Polytechnic University in Saint Petersburg. They have much in common, but they have different views on music, books, and films.

My mum is not tall and she is slim, with a lovely face and large blue eyes. Her smile is very pleasant and kind. She has dark hair always carefully arranged. She makes up very little, if at all. She’s a very smart and elegant woman, always well-dressed. Everybody likes her at once because she is a quiet woman, silent and shy, she is a good listener but she is not much of a talker herself. My mum has a part-time job as an interior designer in a large company and gets good money. So my dad isn’t the only bread-maker in our family. She has a lot of work to do both at her designing company and about the house as she has to cook the food for all of us at home. She is a good housekeeper and cooks perfectly.

My parents are pleased with me my sister and my brother, they try hard to be wise parents. They give much thought and care to our health and education. All they want of me is that I make good progress at the University.

I love my family dearly and everyone in my family is my best friend. In short, for me it is impossible to live without my family.

1. Give a detailed description of your family by answering the following questions:

How many are you in the family?

Who are your parents?

What are (were) they? Where do your parents work? What do they do? Use: to work for a company, to work at hospital, at school/ to run a company, to have one’s own business

How long have your parents been married? Use: to have been married for …

Do they have much in common?

Do your parents work very hard? Use: to go on business trips, to work over time, have a part-time job as a designer, have a full-time job, to work at two jobs, to have a second job in addition to one's regular employment (to moonlight as …)

What does your father do for a living? Use: to work for a company,

What is your father like? Use: be tall, be strong, be short, have a lovely face, have an ordinary (plain) face, be silent, shy, quiet, not much of a talker, reserved, talkative, a good listener, a man of intelligence, friendly, sociable, have an outstanding reputation in the field of … a true Siberian.

Is he a devoted father? Use: develop interest in …, encourage his children to …, give much thought to children’s education, be proud of.

What is your father’s hobby?

Who keeps the house in your family?

What are your parent’s views on the on the children’s upbringing? Use: be clear-cut, old-fashioned, in favour of hard work, bring up one’s children in a strict manner, give much thought and care to education (sport, good manners, health).

Have you got any brothers or sisters?

Do you have a brother or a sister?

Does your sister take care of her looks?

Who are (were) your grandparents?

How old are your grandparents? Use: a woman of sixty, in her sixties, rather old.

Have you got any other relatives?

Do you all live together? Use: extended family, single-parent family, family circle

Housekeeping, family duties and traditions

My mum keeps our house well. Our rooms are always neat and tidy. Shopping and cooking is nearly half a day’s work for her. We try to help her about the house as much as we can and put our house in order so she does not have too much work. My sister and I buy food very often to help our mum. My younger brother and I have our duties about the house. Maxim helps mother and sister to set the table and wash the dishes. He usually sweeps the floor and dusts the furniture. On Saturdays Dad joins us in our work about the house. We do a lot of things together; share our duties to help each other.

It is the custom of our family to have our birthday celebrations together. We always have parties on grandparents’ birthdays. They prefer to celebrate it at home. We usually invite our close relatives and have an abundant dinner. We clean the house the day before birthday and it looks nice and cosy. Usually they hold their birthday parties in the evening. We get up early in the morning and Dad goes shopping to the district marketplace and supermarkets and buys everything we need. Mum cooks tasty food and bakes a cake or a pie. By the evening food is cooked, and we lay the table together. Then we put on evening suits and dresses and wait for the guests.

And my birthday is also a very remarkable day for all of us. You know, we have a small summer house in the country and, as a rule, we celebrate my birthday there. It’s another tradition of our family to go to the countryside and take a picnic lunch. We make a fire, eat barbeque with potatoes and fresh vegetables, play different outdoor games and we all have a great fun. Mum brings the birthday cake and I blow the candles out. We dance and sing songs, make jokes and play games, tell stories or just listen to music in my room. I enjoy my birthday party.

I’ve mentioned that we have a small cottage in the country with a kitchen-garden. In summer we often drive to this place. The nature is very beautiful there. Countryside is always the nicest place for everybody as its fresh air cheers you up and peace and quiet helps relax and have a real rest. It is the nicest place for me. We got used to spend our summer vocations at this place.

My grandparents like gardening. They spend a lot of their time in the garden. We are always looking forward to going there. There is much work in the kitchen-garden and on week-end s we go there and work and have rest all together. We grow vegetables and fruits and enjoyhaving fresh vegetables and green on our dinner table.

That is my story about my family which is house and home for me. It’s really nice to know that your family are your best friends.

1. Give a detailed description of your family by answering the following questions:

Is your mother a good housekeeper? Use: run the house well, cook perfectly, keep house well.

Does your mummy do all the cooking herself?

What are your household duties?

Will you show us the photo of your family, please?

In what way do you help your parents?

Do you always inform your parents of your plans?

What sort of things do you do together?

Do you spend a lot of time with your family?

Do you go out with your parents?

2. Tell about yourself and your family answering the following questions:

Are you fond of books and music?

Are you clever (bright, intelligent, dull)?

How did you do at school?

Do your parents give much thought to your education?

Are your parents sure about your behaviour and academic progress?

What do your parents think of you? Use: be very pleased with, be proud of, be fond of, think the world of, approve of, expect a lot of.

What do your parents expect of you? Use: want me to do well at my study, be obedient, read a lot, be fond of sport.

Did you attend sport sections and subject circles?

What sport do you go in for?

Are you shy (reserved, sociable)? Do you prefer to be in the company of other people?

Are you quiet or talkative?

Do you have quarrels with your relatives?

Do your parents understand you?

How do you get along with your family?

Do you listen to other people patiently?

Do you frequently disagree with what other members of your family say?

What are going to be?

Do you know about the difficulties of your future profession?

Subject List for “ My Family Circle Family mutual relations, Housekeeping, family duties and traditions ” (Тематическая карточка)

Nouns	Verbs	Adjectives, adverbs and other parts of speech	Colloquial, common, figurative and fixed expressions
subject	to clothe	good-looking	Where do you come from?
chemistry / biology / math / physics / sciences /	to feed	broad-shouldered	Who are you? What’s your name?
a school leaver	to support	well-dressed	What are you?
education	to consider	old-fashioned	What does your father do for a living?
accountant /doctor, born doctor / a surgeon / engineer /shop assistant/ vendor / teacher / manager / lawyer / interior designer / an engineer in computers/ a computer programmer /	to check	kind-hearted	What is he/she like?
housekeeper	to repair	even-tempered	What does he/she look like?
a part-time job	to drive	clear-cut
drawing	need	handsome	How did you do at school?
pension	to design	fresh
bread-maker	to cook	friendly	and what not
true Siberian	to spend	quiet	a good deal of
childhood	to expect	regular	as a rule
youth	to believe	generous	to go on business trips
person	to retire	sound	to be a first –year student
uncle / aunt / cousin / close relatives / elders	to clean	pleasant	to be a little above medium height
features	to sweep	kind	to be pleased with
manner	to dust	cosy	to be appointed
sense	to join	several	to be promoted
health	to suppose	smart	to be especially good at …
hair	to talk	experienced	to be always busy
temple	to grow	sociable	to be proud of
sincerity	to buy	neat	to be on good terms
views on smth	to devote	tidy	to be of great interest to
opinion	to manage	silent	to be fond of
approach	to wash	shy	to be down to earth
affair	to mention	chestnut	to be in a good mood
advice	to enjoy	messy	to have dinner
food/ meals	to bake	brainy	to have a fun
dairy/ bakery	to fix	inquisitive	to have a rest
supermarket	to wait for	common	to have much in common
marketplace	to look forward to	strict	to get used to
cake/ pie/ sweets/ juice	to take after	modern	to get good grades/marks
floor	to drop in	slim	to get on well
furniture	to bring up	delightful	to get sunburn
washing machine / fridge / vacuum-cleaner	to fall out with	hardworking	to give thought and care to
dishes	to wash up	understanding	to take care of smb
duties	to make up	slightly grey	to hold a birthday party
order	to put on	incurably optimistic	to make jokes
spare time	to take to	rather thin	to lay the table
week-end	to live to be	decidedly pretty	to keep house
village/countryside/ nature	to look like	dark brown	to work for a company
peace and quiet	to encourage smb	carefully arranged	to work over time
a deep forest	to do well at …	tasty	to enter the University
sand beach	to play the guitar	remarkable	to finish school
kitchen-garden	to catch hold of овладеть чем-л.	real	to make good progress
vegetables / fruits / green			to cope with the subjects
a bunch of roses			to think the world of
district			for no particular reason
			peace and quiet

2. Self-study tasks

Situations

You are talking to a new acquaintance (to your fellow students). Tell him/her about your family and ask him to tell you about his.

Your brother is to meet a relative he has never seen before. Give him a detailed description of the relative’s appearance so that he could identify him.

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Дата добавления: 2015-11-16