1

Under the same Roof

The training focus of this unit is theunderstanding of different concepts of the family in modern society and the appreciation of relationships between family members. In teaching this unit, teachers should ask the students to listen care fully for the names of the people and their respective views and perceptions on love, marriage and other aspects of family life.

Note-taking forms a big part of the exercise in this unit. Therefore, it is very important for the teacher to help the students avoid getting into the habit if trying to write down every word that they hear. The students should be encouraged to distinguish between items of high and low information value. And on the basis of this, they will forces their attention on the key words that carry the most essential meanings of the speakers’ utterances.

Tapescripts:

1. Woman: This is my family. I’m married. My husband’s name is Bill. We have two children-a boy and a girl. Our little girl is six years old, and our little boy is four. Jennie goes to kindergarten, and Aaron goes to nursery school. My fatherloves with us. Grandpa’s treat with the kids. Hw loves playing with them and taking them to the park or the zoo.

2. Man: This is a picture of me and my three sons. We’re at a soccer game. Orlando is twelve, Louis is ten, and Carlos is nine. All three of them really like sports. Orlando and Louis play baseball. Carlos is into skating.

3. Man: This is my wife June, and these are my three children. Terri on the right is the oldest. She’s in high school. She’s very involved in music. She’s in the orchestra. Rachel– she’s the one in the middle – is twelve now. And this is my so Peter. He’s one year older than Rachel. Rachel and Peter are both in junior high school. Time really flies. June and I have been married for twenty years now.

4. Woman: This is a picture of me with my three kids. The girls, Jill and Anne, are both in high school. This is Jill on the right. She’ll graduate next year. Anne is two years younger. My son Dan is college. It seems like the kids are never home. I see them for dinner and sometimes on Saturday mornings,. But that’s about it. They’re really busy and have a lot of friends.

Tapescript:

John: It’s super, Mary . it’s just what I wanted .

Mary: Well, I know you said your old calculator was no good any more.

John: Well, it wasn’t that it was no good. It just wouldn’t do all the things I need to do at work. And it certainly wouldn’t remember telephone numbers for me like this one.

Mary: I suppose you’re going to start putting in numbers straightaway.

John: I’ve put in one while we’ve been chatting. I’ve put in our solicitor’s number. You know how often I need to call him on company contracts.

Mary: So what others are you going to put in?

John: Well, number one. Accountant, I think

Mary: The company’s accountant?

John: Yes. Now just let me put in the number. That’s it.

Mary: And number two, the bank.

John: OK. Bank. Now, that’s 345678 Oh…. And number 3, the doctor.

Mary: Yes. His number’s, er, let me think. 76763. And then the dentist, of course.

John: What’s that? Number 4, isn’t it? Dentist,

Mary: Yes, the number’s 239023. I remember, because I rang yesterday about Robbie’s appointment.

John: That’s fine. And now – the garage. 7574132

Mary: And then how about the station number? You’re always hunting around for that in a panic.

John: Yes, you’re tight. What is the number anyway?

Mary: Oh, I can’t remember, I’ll just look it up in the telephone directory.

John: All tight, Now, NUMBER 7, THE FLOWER SHOP, I THINK. YES, FLORIST. And that’s 989024. Oh, I mustn’t forget the new London office number., so that’s number 8, new London office.

Mary: John, here’s the station number. 546534

John: 546534. Thanks. Now that was number 6 on my list.

Mary: How far have you got now?

John: Well, I’ve added a couple more. The next one will be 9.

Mary: What about Bill and Sue?

John: No, I can always remember their number. But I always have to look up John and Jane’s number. What is it?

Mary: John and Jan…. John and Jane…. I know, 21463.

John: OK. 21463. John and Jane. And one more perhaps?

Mary: The hairdresser?

John: Why do I need the hairdresser’s number? No, I thought this was my pocket calculator. Oh, I tell you one number we do need quite often – the sports club!

Mary: The sports club!

John: Great minds think alike! OK, number 10. Sports Club. And that’s –

Mary: 675645.

John: 675645, Well that’s enough for the moment, Ithink. Now, as it’s my birthday, what about taking me our for a meal?

Mary: I don’t think I can remember the telephone number of our favorite restaurant!

Tapescript:

Josephine: We did feel far more stability in our lives, because you see….in these days I think the re’s always a concern that families will separate or something, but in those days nobody expected the families to separate.

Gertrude: Of course there may have been smoking, drinking and drug-taking years ago, but it was all kept very quiet, nobody know anything about it. But these days there really isn’t the family life that we used to have. The children seem to do more as they like whether they know it’s right or wrong. Oh, things are very different I think.

Question: what was your parents’ role in family life?

Josephine: Well, my mother actually didn’t do a tremendous amount in the house, but she did do a great del of work outside and she was very interested, for example, in the Nursing Association collecting money for it. We had somebody who looked after us and then we money for it. We had somebody who looked after us and then we also had someone who did the cleaning.

Gertrude: Well, we lived in a flat, we only had three rooms and a bathroom. Father worked on the railway at Victoria Station and my mother didn’t work, obviously. My fathers wage I think was about two pounds a week and I suppose our rent was about twelve shillings a week, you know as rent was –I’m going back a good many years. We didn’t have an easy life, you know and I think that’s why my mother went out so much with her friends. It was a relief for her, you know really.

Question: Did you have a close relationship with your parents?

Josephine: In a sense I would say not very close but we, at that time, didn’t fell that way, we didn’t think about t very much I don’t think. I think today people are much closer to their parents and talk about everything, which we didn’t . then, of course, we used to play a lot of games, because we didn’t have a television or even a radio and we would play games in the evenings rather than have conversation.

Question: Was there more discipline in families in those days?

Josephine: Oh yes, I do think so, yes. We were much more disciplined and we went about as a family and it wasn’t until I was probably about 18 before I would actually go out with any friends of my own.

Statements:

1. Seventy years ago young people often smoked and drank in front of others.

2. Apart from a great deal of work outside, Josephine’s mother also looked after her children and did the cleaning in the house.

3. Gertrude’s father earned two pounds a week.

4. Gertrude’s family had to pay ten shillings a week for their flat.

5. Young people seventy years ago deeply felt that they did not have a very close relationship with their parents.

6. Nowadays people are much closer to their parents and talk about everything to them.

2

Smacking or Reasoning?

The training focus of this unit is the understanding of people’s views and opinions on family education.

Ask the students to think about the topic first so that they may listen actively and respond to the materials with a certain amount of anticipation. Appropriate pre-listening activities can also help the students recognize and select the information needed to accomplish the tasks in the exercises.

In odder to help the students develop hate not-taking skill, the teacher could encourage the students to compare notes and make comments on each other’s work. In this way, they can more consciously reflect upon their own level of judgment and learn from others. Of course, group activities as such should basically by success-oriented so as to maintain the students’ interest in listening and to improve their motivation.

Tpescript:

When parents make a lot of rules about their children’s behavior, they make trouble for themselves. I used to spend half my time making sure my rules were obeyed, and the other half answering questions like “Jack can get up whenever he likes, so why can’t I?” or “why can’t I play with Angela? Jack’s mum doesn’t mind who he plays with” or : Jack can drink anything he likes. Why can’t I drink wine too?”

Jack’s mum, I decided, was a wise woman. I started saying things like “of course, dear. You can drink as much wine as you like” and “no, I don’t mind how late you get up” and “yes, dear, you can play with Angela as often as you like.”

The results have been marvelous. They don’t want to get up late any more, they’ve decided they don’t like wine, and most important, they’ve stopped [‘laying with Angela. I’ve now realized (as Jack’s mum realized a long time ago) that they only wanted to do all these nasty things because they weren’t allowed to.

Tapescript:

Radio presenter: Good afternoon. And welcome to our midweek phone-in. in today’s program we’re going to concentrate on perso9nal problems. And here with me in the studio I’ve got Tessa Callback, who writes the agony column in Flash magazine, and Doctor Maurice Rex, Student Medical Adviser at the University of Norfolk.

The number to ring with your problem is oh one, if you’re outside London, two two two, two one two two. And we have our first caller on the line, and it’s Rosemary, I think, recalling from Manchester. Hello Rosemary.

Rosemary: Hello.

Radio presenter: How can we help you, Rosemary?

Rosemary: Well, it’s my dad. He won’t let me stay out after ten o’clock at night and all my friends can stay out much longer than that. I always have to go home first. It’s really embarrassing…..

Tessa: Hello, Rosemary, love. Rosemary, how old are you dear?

Rosemary: I’m fifteen in two months’ time.

Tessa: And where do you go at night – when you go out?

Rosemary: Just to my friend’s house, usually. But everyone else can stay there much later than me. I have to leave t about quarter to ten.

Tessa: And does this friend of yours… does she live near you?

Rosemary: it takes about ten minutes to walk from her house to ours.

Tessa: I see. Our live in Brighton, wasn’t it? Well, Brighton’s…

Rosemary: No. Manchester…I live in Manchester.

Tessa: Oh. I’m sorry, love. I’m getting mixed up. Yes, well Manchester’s quite a rough city, isn’t it? don’t live in the cityCenter or anything like that. And Christine’s house is in a very quit part.

Rosemary: No. not really. not where we live it isn’t . I don’t live in the cityCenter or anything like that. And Christine’s house is in a very quiet part.

Tessa: Christine. That’s your friend, is it?

Rosemary: Yeah, that’s right. I mean, I know my dad gets worried bout It’s perfectly safe.

Maurice: Rosemary. Have you talked about this with your dad?

Rosemary: No. he must shouts and then he says he won’t let me go out at all if I can’t come home on time.

Maurice: Why don’t you just try to sit down quietly with your dad- sometime when he’s relaxed – and must have a quiet chat about it? He’ll probably explain why he worries about you. It isn’t always safe for young girls to go out at night.

Tessa: Yes. And maybe you could persuade him to come and pick you up from Christine’s house once or twice.

Rosemary: Yes. I don’t think he’ll agree to that, but I’ll talk to him about it. Thanks.

Tapescripts:

1. Discipline needs to be there in a certain amount but too much of it can be a bad thing I think and Icertainly do get too much of it occasionally.

2. I think talking to them, trying to explain why you’re upset, what it is they have done wrong is better than hitting them, because if you hit them they learn to hit other things, other people, you, and I don’t think that is a solution to anything.

3. My experience as, as, as a mother now is you can, you can talk with a child very much and , and the child is going to understand much more than you believe, even if it is a one-year-old or two-year-old child. And I think it’s um it’s a very bad thing punishing children, because it remains being er and awfully r dark experience, and so it was it for me too, because when I’m thinking about my parents Ican’t help thinking about these days where they punished me.

4. I wouldn’t be as strict as my dad was, definitely not, coosIdon’t think that works, that only makes you rebel.

5. Well, there’s smacking and smacking. I don’t at all agree with beating a child, but I do think sometimes a quick, short smack on the hand or arm is better than a long drawn-out moan. T’s quick and the child understands it.

6. I can’t really defend it when I, when I hit my child, I don’t do it often but something about it makes me think thatIt’s not …. A terrible thing to do. I mean, what are the alternatives? You can shout at your child, you can try to sit down and reason with your child, which is incredibly difficult if you’re trying to talk to a two-year-old. Or what else can you do? You can send them out of the room, you can send them up to their room, you can send them out of the room, you can send them up to their room, you can not let them… have any pudding for the dinner, or something, but mean to me a little spank, to me it’s quick, it’s honest, it’s physical, but having said all that still try not to do it.

Tapescript:

Louisa: She doesn’t let me watch that much TV after school, which is really annoying because most of my friends watch home and Away and Neighbors but I only get to watch one of them. I sometimes don’t –I mean I think that’s really unfair so sometimes I just watch both anyway.

Mother: First and foremost, Louisa watches a fair amount of television whether she thinks she’s deprived or not, she must watch at lest 45 minutes per day. And when I’m not around you knowI know the child sneaks in a fair amount more than that. So she gets in a fair amount of television, very very very few programs will teach them anything. And I think when a child is under your care for 18 years it’s the parents’ responsibility to make sure that the input is of value, and I don’t think television, much television is of any value at all, I think reading a book and doing her piano lessons are far more valuable than watching crummy American soap operas.

Tapescript:

My parents gave me a lot of free time. After dinner, during the week when I was say even 15 years old they would let me go out until ten o’clockand they would nearer ask where I went. I would smoke cigarettes and drink beer, at 15 years old I would hang out in the …. In the coal pubs and these were type of things that Idon’t think were too good for me at that time. I think my parents should have, you know, maybe at least showed an interest as to where I was going. They never even asked where I was going and they, they gave me a lot of free time, and I think that they, they felt that this ws a thing that was being a good parent. But I think that teenagers are very naïve, and I was as teenager very naïve, and I think I could have used a little more direction from them. These days a lot of parents think they should be lenient with their children, they should let them grow and experience on their own. And I think that’s what my parents were doing, I think there’s a Biblical saying “Spare the rod, spoil the child” and I think that really applies. And I think you need to direct especially young people. They can be thrown into such a harsh world, especially if you live in a city. I lived in a cry small village and it was still a rough crowd that I found in that village. And my parents never asked questions, and if they only know they would be shocked.

Statements:

1. When the boy was 15 years old, he could stay out until ten o’clock.

2. At the age of 15, the boy was not allowed to smoke cigarettes or drink beer.

3. The boy thought his parents were very good because they gave him a lot of free time.

4. The boy lived in a very crowded city.

3

A Sweet, Sweet Home

The training focus of this unit is the understanding of spatial relationships and the understanding of some descriptions of houses and furniture.