Youth and Its World
YOUTH AND ITS WORLD
1. How would you characterise a typical teenager?
2. Are teenagers around the world different?
3. What problems do young people have to face nowadays?
People from the age of thirteen to the age of nineteen are called “teenagers” because their age ends in “teen” in English. They are not children, but not yet adults. They live in their own world and their lifestyle depends on their parents, background[1], but mostly on their friends.
During puberty, most children go through dramatic physical and psychical changes. Their emotional life is more intensive than before. Love and friendship become the most important values[2]. Teenagers prefer relationships with their peers to their parents.
Young people use many means to look different than other generations; they care a lot what they look like. Some of them follow [3]the fashion trends and always want to be “in”, the others often wear strange clothes, for example old dirty and torn trousers, cheap shoes, an old T-shirt or other shirt. Teenagers also have strange hairstyles. Some prefer easy hairstyles, but some prefer “extreme” hairstyles. Nowadays it is normal even for boys to dye their hair. Tattoos and piercing are very popular with[4] young people. It is very modern. They can have several parts of their body pierced, for example tongue, eyebrow, ear, nose and mouth.
It is known that teenagers spend a lot of their free time with their peers [5]with whom they have similar interests, such as music, dance, sport, film or fashion. Sometimes they simply hang around [6]together.
In the developed world, young people are usually well-educated, experienced [7]and self-confident[8]. They have access to all the modern inventions that make our lives easier, such as computer or mobile phone. They have a lot of opportunities to study or work abroad and often see those opportunities as chances to earn money and gain [9]experience.
Many young people today start their own families later in life than their parents did. Many work on their career first and get married in their thirties. However, there are still many teenage pregnancies [10]that often end girls’ education.
Young people often face [11]many problems. They are in the age when they need someone who will listen to their problems, who will give them advice. It is good if this person is one of their parents but this doesn’t happen often. Parents want their children to be the best and the smartest. They often don’t understand them, criticise their hairstyle, clothes and friends, they think that their children don’t help enough at home, that they don’t study enough and that the music they listen to is terrible. On the other hand, young people think that their parents care too much and are overprotective[12]. Children often have different ideas about their future, different life expectations [13]and opinions than their parents do. All this creates tension [14]between parents and children. Most teenagers would like to start their own independent lives but don’t have enough money. In this are, young people are under a lot of pressure[15]. When they are not able to solve [16]their problems they usually face mental problems. Some girls even suffer from [17]eating disorders. On the other hand some teenagers think they can solve their problems by drinking alcohol or taking drugs.
Puberty, the age of revolt, often leads [18]to conflicts between the generations, called a generation gap. It is natural that each generation of young people is different. The older people say that youngsters are irresponsible today. They often criticize the way the young people dress and behave. On the other hand many young people think that the older can’t understand them and they want to be absolutely different than their parents. Both groups should learn how to be more tolerant. The older should remember what they were like when they were young. The young should remember that the older have more experience and that one day they will be in the same situation.
Answer these questions:
1. What do you know about your parents’ childhood? How was it different from yours?
2. Give the pros and cons of being young today. Would you prefer to be a teenager 10, 20 or even 50 years ago?
3. What advantages do you see in being an adult? Explain, give reasons and examples.
4. How do you protest your parents‘ decision if you disagree with them? Do you always protest? Why? Why not?
5. is there anything your parents don’t allow you to do? How do you feel about that?
6. What would you never allow your children o do?
7. Why do many young girls want to be thin and are on a diet?
8. What opportunities do young people have at present? (Education, jobs etc.)
9. How would you solve these problems?
a) your friend drinks too much alcohol
b) your 16-year old brother wants to run away from home
c) you are 15 and you find out that you are pregnant
d) someone from another class is bullying [19] you
e) you worry about your exams so much that you can’t sleep
10. Make a list of values – what things are important for you personally. (5 are enough)
10. Describe these pictures
Použitá literatúra: Bérešová, J. a kol.: Nová maturita z angličtiny, Aktuell, 2005
Billíková, A., Preložníková, S. Angličtina – nová maturita – vyššia úroveň. Enigma, 2008.
[1] Backround – zazemie
[2] Value - hodnota
[3] Follow – nasledovat, sledovat
[4] To be popular with – byt popularny medzi niekym, niecim
[5] Peer - rovesnik
[6] Hang around – potlkat sa, travit cas
[7] Experienced - skuseny
[8] Self-confident - sebavedomy
[9] Gain – ziskat
[10] Pregnancy - tehotenstvo
[11] To face sth – celit niecomu
[12] Overprotective – prilis starostlivy
[13] Expectations - ocakavania
[14] Tension - napatie
[15] O be under pressure – byt pod tlakom
[16] To solve - vyriesit
[17] Suffer from – trpiet niecim
[18] To lead - viest
[19] To bully - sikanovat