Here is the list of other values. Tick which of them are important to you .

beauty	friendship	respect
being loved	happiness	security
being responsible	harmony	self-assertion
being self	health	self-confidence
commitment	helping others	self-control
cooperation	honesty	self-preservation
creativity	integrity	self-realization
curiosity	interdependence	solitude
education	justice	status
empathy	making others happy	success
fairness	ownership	wealth
family	personal growth	wholeness
food/warmth/shelter	power/authority	wisdom/intelligence
freedom	prestige	work

What is in your top values? Rank the list of values

		Very important	Somewhat Important	Not important

Speaking and writing

You are a journalist. Use questions to interview your partner about family values. Write a short post in the blog.

 

Unit III

Generation Gap

I. Look at the pictures and tell what a generation gap means:

Does generation gap really exist?

What things do you differ in with your parents/grandparents (worldview, clothes, tastes, etc). Do you argue about these things?

 

II. Before reading the text answer some questions:

Ø Do you follow your parents/grandparents advice?

Ø Do you find young people sometimes too self-assured? What about you? In what spheres you think you are more competent than your parents/grandparents?

 

Generation Gap

One of the important problems of all times is a generation gap. Adult’s mentality is different from teenager's. We are the children of two epochs with different views on various subjects. Because of this parents and children sometimes argue with each other.

Some people believe that teenagers today are generally rude, lazy and ill-behaved. Other people, however, think that teenagers are not so bad. Sometimes people don’t understand teenagers. They don’t understand some problems and things which are very important in teenagers’ life, for example the lifestyles, piercing, tattoos, relationship with friends and teachers.

Some people don’t want to understand modern views, ideals and our system of values. They say that teenagers are cruel, brutal, heartless and rude. Yes, today new generation «plays» with smoking, drugs and alcohol, but this doesn’t mean that all teens are really bad!
On the other hand, today many elderly people look at the world with new eyes. Moreover, they try to understand teenagers’ problems and solve them.

Most of the quarrels between parents and children happen because of children’s marks at school and generation gap. We try to learn better, but if we have a bad mark our parents can shout at us.

In most cases «new generation» doesn’t understand their parents and becomes depressed because of this. To protest against it, teens can shock people around them. That’s why it is considered that teens today are lazy and ill-behaved. Elderly people usually compare their childhood and youth with present, they are always talking about «the good old days». People are said to become wiser with age. Sometimes it is true and sometimes it is not. I think that you can meet a wise man among the old as often as among the young. It is wrong that when wisdom always comes in old age. Sometimes when we talk to adults, they listen only to their own point of view. That’s why some teens don’t like to talk to adults. To sum it up, nowadays everyone has a different view on teen’s life. But, in fact, we should simply learn to understand each other.

Vocabulary:

1. adult – взрослый, зрелый человек

2. argue - спорить

3. brutal – бесчеловечный, жестокий

4. quarrel - ссора

5. to consider – рассматривать, обсуждать

6. wisdom – мудрость, благоразумие

1. Answer the questions according to the text:

1. Why is adult’s mentality different from teenager’s?

2. Why don’t people understand teenagers?

3. Why do most of the quarrels between the parents and their children happen?

4. Why does a young generation become depressed in some cases?

5. Is it really so that people become wiser with age? What do you think?

6. Why don’t teens like to talk to adults?

7. Do people have different views on life?

8. Do we have to understand each other?

2. Find the English equivalents of the following word combinations in the text:

1. ум, развитие взрослого человека
2. разные взгляды на вещи / на жизнь
3. спорить друг с другом
4. система ценностей
5. смотреть на мир по-новому
6. пытаться решить проблемы
7. ссоры между родителями и детьми
8. школьные оценки
9. кричать на кого-то
10. во многих случаях
11. шокировать людей вокруг
12. сравнивать что-то с чем-то
13. становиться мудрее с возрастом
14. своя собственная точка зрения
15. учиться понимать друг друга

 

3. Translate the sentences using the phrases listed above:

1. У нас разные взгляды на жизнь и разная система ценностей.
2. Мы часто спорим друг с другом.
3. Он стал мудрее и смотрит на мир по-новому.
4. Она часто ссорится с мамой из-за школьных оценок.
5. Он всегда кричит на своего сына.
6. У ребёнка есть собственная точка зрения.
7. Он очень любит шокировать людей вокруг.
8. Они иногда спорят, но учатся понимать друг друга.
9. Я не могу сравнивать два разных поколения.
10. Во многих случаях мы должны пытаться решить проблемы.

 

4. Math the words with their definitions:

 

1. adult a) the condition of being immature, inexperienced
2. child b) a point in time beginning a new period
3. age c) poorly behaved or lacking good manners
4. generation d) a mature person
5. old e) a person acting as a father or mother
6. parent f) the period of time that a person has lived or expected to live
7. ill-behaved g) a human offspring (a son or a daughter)
8. teenager h) having lived for relatively long time
9. epoch i) all the people of approximately the same age
10. youth j) a person between the ages of 13 and 19 inclusive

 

5. Complete the sentences in your own way:

1. Many young people………………………………………..
2. In my opinion the elder generation…………………………
3. Most parents………………………………………………..
4. Sometimes the teenagers……………………………………
5. Nowadays the children……………………………………...

 

III. Read the text and do some tasks after it: