Unit 2 - Generation Gap

UNIT 2

Objectives:

	Discuss and express opinions about differences between parents and children.
	Describe daily routines.
	Revise the use of the simple present and simple past.
	Write and gather information about other people.

Procedures:

	Read and talk about generational gaps.
	Use vocabulary related to the family and young people
	Ask questions about school days now and in the past

"BRIDGING THE GENERATION GAP"

(This page has been adapted from http://www.miami.edu/com/workshop/2000/page9.htm)

17-year-old Kiran Ali asks her Pakistan-born parents if she can go out with her friend, who happens to be a boy. Their response is "No." Once again, Kiran is frustrated with the disparity between her parents' ideas and her ideas, her parent's culture and America's.

First-generation Americans are struggling with the need to adapt to American life while trying to please their parents. "I try to take advantage of living in America, being an American teenager," said Kiran, But at the same time, I know I am Pakistani and I feel an obligation to keep up with the traditions of my family."

Cuban traditions

Maria Gonzalez, who moved from Cuba to Miami in 1962, said she wants her daughter Madelyn to take advantage of all this country has to offer. "In Cuba, we were under Castro's law," she said. "But here my daughter has more freedom to do what she desires."

Madelyn sayd: "My parents are unaware of the typical American culture. They do not understand why people do certain things or what the point is,"My parents never let me sleep out ...I would not exactly say they are strict, but compared to my American friends they are a little bit more conservative."

FAMILY TIES: Cuban-American Madelyn Gonzalez grew up in Miami while her mom, Maria, moved here in 1962.

Pre-writing:

Discussion:

The generation gap is the name given to the diferences existing between parents and children. They are different generations and they think differently. Read the text carefully using the dictionary and think about the topic.

The text talks about the generation gap in the case of immigrant children. Discuss the topic with your partner. Think about these statements:

Parents never understand children

Parents are too authoritarian and conservative

Young people have now different ways to enjoy themselves like going to the discos or drinking together ("botellón")

Young people have more freedom because life is easier now.

Vocabulary revision: "family"

Read the text and pay attention to the use of possesive adjectives and saxon genitives.

Jack is married to Alice. She is his wife and he is her husband. They have a daughter and son. The son's name is Henry and the daughter's name is Lisa. The live next to Alice's parents, Harry and Marjorie. Harry is Alice's father and Marjorie is her mother. Harry is Jack's father-in-law and Marjorie is his mother-in-law. Henry is Harry's grandson and Lisa is Marjorie's granddaughter. Alice has a sister and brother. Her sister's name is Mary and her brother's name is Frank. Frank has two children, David and Sherrie. Sherrie is Alice's nice and David is Alice's nephew. Alice is their aunt and Jack is their uncle.

Now check your memory in the next exercise

Activity 1: Describing routines

Young people today have different routines and habits. How is your day?

Activity 2: Let's review the use of the simple past: Ex 1 Ex 2

Activity 3: Match parts of sentences in "Family Troubles"

Writing:

Surfing the web to improve our writing

In this activity we are going to visit a web pages especially created to help us improve our writing. You will see that writing can be exciting!

"Wacky Web Tales": Choose a tale from the list and then fill in the spaces with the word forms which are on the right, for example "plural noun" > roses )

Activity 4: "Now and Then"

School in the 1960s

In 1960 classes were very different from now. I remember we sat in silence in class. We stood up when the teacher entered or left the room and we stood when we spoke to the teacher. We were very polite when we spoke to the teacher. However, the teacher was not always nice to us. Sometimes she even hit the girls with a ruler. We didn't use our first names in schools. The teacher used our surnames to call us and we always called her "Madam". We didn't have schoolbooks. we copied everything from the blackboard and the teacher told us to memorize everything. There weren't any computers, televisions, or tape recorders in school in the 1960s.

Grammar review: Irregular verbs

Ask your parents about their school experiences using these questions and write a short paragraph in worksheet "generation1"

Did the students use a lot of books?

Did the teacher hit the students?

Was there a blackboard in the class?

Did the students stand up when they answered questions?

Did the students make a lot of noise?

Did the teacher call the students by their surnames?

Was there a tape recorder in the class?

Rewriting:

Remember to revise and rewrite your text

Extra Bonus: Take this quiz on subject-verb agreement