Form 11

1. Let`s talk about your family. Why is family important for you?

2. Are there any things that you do with your parents together? Why (not)?

3. What will you ask a British teenager about his\her family?

4. What can you advise people who want to get on well with their parents?

5. They say that parents and children have difficulties understanding each other because of the generation gap. What do you think about this problem?

There is a wise saying "Blood is thicker than water". From my point of view it means that your parents and other relatives will stick by you in times of need more than your friends will.

That old saying has always been true for me. There are some reasons to uphold my opinion. Our friends can be unstable while our parents and relatives are the ones who really care for us. Parents who have been living with me since the day I was born are the ones who understand me most. They have already been through all my experience, so they can give me some valuable advice. I myself do not want to confer with my best friend about my very secrets for fear of her/him revealing it to everyone the day we are not friends any more.

People may also be whining about their problems to their close friends but in all probability what they receive is often mild comments with several phrases like "Oh, I'm very sorry to hear that" or "Try harder next time" or they would even pretend to have deaf ears and ignore our whining completely. Few people really care for others apart from themselves, but that is not the case with our par­ents. They stand by us most of the time and give us good hints to help us resolve our problems.

I remember talking to my mother about some bad scores at school I got, and she said that it was not the end of the world and she had also had many appalling results at school. She fostered me to go on and never give up or feel ashamed about those bad scores because I surely learned a lot from them. I think it was a very wise comment of hers

By and large, I think friends do not understand us as much as our parents and relatives, so we must count on them and never let them down.

I enjoy honest and open relationship in our family. I'm happy to say that my home is the place where everybody understands, respects and loves me. To my mind, this is the way things should be in any family.

In happy, friendly, united families parents are frankly honest with their chil­dren without moralizing and bossing them around, and children in their turn leam how to get on with other people. Members of such families treat one another with understanding and compassion. They always share domestic chores. Children liv­ing in such families feel safe at home. They trust their parents, share their secrets and problems, ask parents for useful advice and rely on them. They don't run away from home as they feel happy living there.

It's common knowledge that family is a crucial instrument for the develop­ment of a child's personality. It's the primary group in which a person forms. That's why it's vitally important for every child to live in a friendly and happy family.

The family is very important as a unit in our society. Nothing else but family can be an emotional centre of people's lives and a transmitter of culture. Every mother feels great affection for her children and tries to bring them up in a proper way. Understanding between all members of the family and consideration for oth­ers are very important in family relationships. Tenderness, warm-heartedness and respect must always be present in the family to make it friendly. A lot of activities help family members to be on friendly terms: discussing plans together, going on trips together, visiting museums, theatres, exhibitions and exchanging opinions about them, sharing the same joys and sorrows.

In my opinion, when a child is brought up in a friendly family, he or she will become a loyal and responsible person with a strong character and mind.

In conclusion I would like to add that the bonds of family are always strong­er than those between unrelated people. And I am happy to say that my home is a place where even the tea kettle sings from happiness. I can say that my parents trust me, give me freedom, rely on me and respect me. These things, in my opin­ion, make family relations warm and pleasant. So, I'm very proud of my family and love them with all my heart.