ABOUT MYSELF AND MY FAMILY

Read and translate words and put them in 2 boxes.

Uncle, cousin, grandmother, mother, grandfather, sister, mother-in-law, niece, nephew, parent, husband, grandparent, daughter, children, kid, toddler, father, daughter,  son, stepmother, grandfather, bachelor, widow, relative, widower, bridegroom, girlfriend, fiancé, wife, fiancée, brother.

Read and translate the text 1.

About myself and my family

        Let me introduce myself. I’m Natasha Petrova. Natasha is my first name. Petrova is my surname. I’m sixteen years old. I was born on the 10th of December in 1994 in St. Peterburg.

        I’m rather tall and slim. My hair is fair. I’ve got blue eyes. I like to joke and to laugh. I think I’ve got a sense of humour. I go in for sports. I do gymnastics. I take part in different gymnastic competitions.

        Last year I finished school number 9. We had many well-educated teachers at our school. I was a good student and did well in all subjects. My favourite subjects were Maths, English and Physics. Now I’m a first year student of the college of Information Technologies and Services.

        I want to tell you a few words about my family. My family is large. There are five of us: my mother, my father, my brother, my sister and me. First of all some words about my parents. My parents have been married for twenty five years. My father is forty-nine  years old. He is an engineer. His name is Denis. He works in the office of an aircraft company. He is very experienced. My father is always busy. He likes his job very much. My father is a tall man with dark hair and brown eyes. He can make different things with his own hands. We’ve got a car and my father always repairs our car himself. My father is fond of swimming pool together.

        My mother’s name is Elena. She is forty-eight but she looks much younger. She is slim. My mother has big hazel eyes and brown hair. She is a doctor. She works in a hospital and likes her profession very much. My mother keeps house and takes care of us. She is very good at cooking. She often cooks something tasty for us. We try to help her about the house.

        I’m lucky to have an elder brother. My brother Fyodor is about twenty-three. He is married and has a family of his own. My brother is a businessman and his wife Ann is a teacher of  English. They have a small daughter who is two years old. Fyodor is my best friend. I can always turn to him with my troubles.

        My younger sister Olya is only five years old. Olya goes to the kindergarten. She is very funny. I like to spend my free time teaching her something. Sometimes I take Olya to the Zoo.

        My grandparents are retired. They don’t live with us but I think them to be members of our family. They often come to see us. My grandparents like gardening. They spend a lot of time in the country. They grow vegetables and fruit.

        I love my family very much. We always help each other. Everyone in my family is my best friend.

Topical   vocabulary

introduce – представлять, знакомить

surname - фамилия

to be born – быть рожденным

computer programmer - программист

to be good at – быть способным к

rather – добровольно, пожалуй

slim - стройный

dark hair – темные волосы

to joke - шутить

to laugh - смеяться

sense of humour – чувство юмора

to go in for smth. – заниматься чем-либо

to take part – принимать участие

to marry - жениться

experience - опыт

busy - занятой

to repair – чинить, исправлять

to be fond of smth. – увлекаться чем-либо

free - свободный

to take care of smb. – заботиться о ком-либо

tasty - вкусный

to turn to – обратиться к кому-либо

trouble – беспокойство, проблема, волнения

kindergarten – детский сад

to be retired – быть на пенсии

gardening – возделывать, возводить (сад)

Transcribe and pronounce correctly.

introduce, rather, experience, gardening, trouble, marry, sister, parent, brother, uncle, aunt, house, hobby, tidy, retire, garden, turn, tasty, work, engineer, country, favourite, large, word.

Answer the questions. Then write the topic «About myself and my family».

1. What’s your name? What’s your surname? How old are you?
2. When and where were you born?
3. What hair have you got?
4. What colour are your eyes?
5. Is your family large? How many are you in the family?
6. Have you got any sisters or brothers?
7. What are your parents? Where do they work? Do they like their jobs?
8. Can you tell us some words about your father? Is he tall? What is his hair like? What eyes has he got? Has he got a hobby? What is it?
9. What is your mother’s name? How old is she? Can you describe your mother?
10. Who helps your mother about the house?
11. What are your grandparents?
12. Do they live with your family?

Read and translate the text 2

My family

We are an average Russian family. There are four of us: my mother, my father, my brother and me.

I am Kostya Ivanov. Kostya is my first name and Ivanov is my surname. I am sixteen. I’ve got a grandmother  and grandfather.  They do not live with us, but I feel them members of our family. They often come to see us. My grandmother was a teacher of music. Now she is retired. My grandfather was an engineer and he knows all about radio set and likes to repair old ones. He can fix almost everything: a vacuum cleaner, a washing machine, a fridge and what not. He’s got a few shelves where he keeps everything he needs. On the table there is always a radio in pieces.

My father is forty-four years old. He is an engineer. He works in the office of an engineering company. He is always busy. He has very little free time. He likes his job and there are chances of promotions. He is very experienced. He is not very old. His hair is fair. He has got grey eyes and very kind round face. His forehead is high, his manners are very quiet and pleasant.

My mother is a teacher of Russian literature. She works at a college. She likes her profession. She is a good-looking woman with brown hair. She is fourty-four but she looks much younger. She is slim.

My parents are hard-working people. My mother keeps house and takes care of us. She is very good at cooking and she is clever with her hands. She sews perfectly. She can do everything out nothing. She is very practical. My father and I try to help her with the housework. I wash the dishes, go shopping and tidy up.

My brother Alex is eleven. He is a schoolboy. He wants to become a doctor but he is not sure yet. Three years ago he dreamt of being a cosmonaut.

I want to become a student. I’d like to be a computer programmer. I think I take after my father. I’m tall, fair-haired and even-tempered. I always try to be in a good mood.

At weekends we usually go the countryside to ski in winter and to walk in the forest in summer. But most of all I like family feasts. We’ve got a lot of relatives. My aunts, uncles and cousins live in different parts of Khabarovsk. On holidays they come often come to our place. We have a very good time together. We are deeply attached to each other and we get on very well.

Topical vocabulary

Read and learn by heart the dialogue.

Ann:        Peter, tell me about your family.

Peter:        OK.

Ann:                What’s your father? What’s his job?

Peter:                He is an architect.

Ann:        And your mother? Is she a housewife?

Peter:        No, she isn’t. She is a journalist.

Ann:        Do they live in Moscow?

Peter:        No, they live in St. Peterburg now.

Ann:        Oh! And you say you have a brother. What’s his name?

Peter:        He is Peter.

Ann:        Is he a student?

Peter:        Yes, he is from St. Petersburg University.

Ann:                Really? A good student?

Peter:                Yes, he’s a good student.

Ann:        What’s his speciality?

Peter:        Law. He’s a future lawyer.

Ann:        Married?

Peter:        No, he isn’t married. But he has a girl friend.

Ann:        Who is she?

Peter:        I don’t know. It’s secret.

Give English equivalents

быть в хорошем настроении, уйти на пенсию, чувство юмора,  принимать участие, заботиться, уравновешенный, приводить в порядок, свободное время, семейные праздники, ездить за город, увлекаться чем-либо, быть занятым, родственники.

Translate into English

1. Мой брат очень способный к иностранным языкам.
2. У моего отца хорошее чувство юмора.
3. Моя дочь хорошо успевает в школе.
4. Мой брат преподаватель.
5. Она такая же красивая, как и ее мать.
6. Это очень легкая задача.

Read and translate the text 3

British family life

        The English are a nation of stay-at-home. “There is no place like home,” they say. And when the man is not working he is at home in the company of his wife and children and busies himself with the affairs of the home. “The Englishman’s home is his castle,” is a saying known all over the world. And it is true.

        A “typical” British family used to consist of mother, father and two children, but in recent years there have been many changes in family life. Some of these have been caused by new laws and others are the result of changes in society. For example, since the law made it easier to get a divorce, the number of divorces has increased. In fact one marriage in every three now ends in divorce. This means that there are a lot of one-parent families. Society is now more tolerant than it used to be of unmarried people, unmarried couples and single parents.

        Another change has been caused by the fact that people are living longer nowadays, and many old people live alone following the death of their partners. As a result of these changes in the pattern of people’s lives, there are many households which consist of only one person or one person and children.

        You might think that marriage and the family are not so popular as they once were. However, the majority of divorced people marry again, and they sometimes take responsibility for a second family.

        Members of a family – grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins – keep in touch, but they see less of each other than they used to. This is because people often move away from their town to work, and so the family becomes scattered. Christmas is the traditional season for reunions. Although the family group is smaller nowadays than it used to be, relatives often travel many miles in order to spend the holiday together.

        In general, each generation is keep to become independent of parents in establishing its own family unit, and this fact can lead to social as well as geographical differences within the larger family group.

        Relationships within the family are different now. Parents treat their children more as equals than they used to, and children have more freedom to make their own decisions. The father is more involved with bringing up children, often because the mother goes out to work. Increased leisure facilities and more money mean that there are greater opportunities outside the home. Although the family holiday is still an important part of family life (usually taken in August, and often abroad) many children have holidays away from their parents, often with a school party or other organized group.

        Who looks after the older generation? There are about 10 million old-age pensioners in Britain, of whom about 750,000 cannot live entirely independently. The government gives financial help in the form of a pension but in the future it will be more and more difficult for the nation economy to support the increasing number of elderly. At the present time, more than half of all old people are looked after at home. Many others live in Old Peoples’ Homes, which may be private or state owned.

Make compound nouns and translate them. 

Example: French, a man – Frenchman – француз

a school, a girl; a chair, a man; a house, a wife; a sea, a man; a class, mate; a post, man; an air, a craft;  a tape, a recorder; news, paper; a birth, a day; a bed, a room; a rail away.

Make up questions from the following words.

1. large, a, have, a, or, family, small, you.
2. are, in, family, the, how, you, many.
3. name, what, mother’s, your, is.
4. mother, how, is, your, old.
5. brother, than, you, are, your, younger.
6. do, in, you, who, take, character, after.
7. you, who, like, do, look.
8. appearance, is, what, father’s, your.
9. your, what, brother’s, is, character.
10. you, do, where, live.

Give the opposite of the adjectives below

Example: careful - careless