My family, friends and me

In this unit you will:

Listen, read and talk about…

- yourself and your family

- your friend’s character and appearance

- youth life and interests

- relationships with peers and relatives

Learn how to …

• describe people’s appearance and character

• find necessary information quickly

• avoid misunderstanding with peers and relatives

• describe the events in your life

My family

1. Read and memorise the following words and word-combinations. Pay attention to the pronunciation of them:

name (first name)	ім’я
patronymic (middle name)	по батькові
surname (second name)	прізвище
namesake	тезка
be born	народитися
birthday	день народження
birthplace	місце народження
husband	чоловік
wife	дружина
mother-in-law	свекруха, теща
father-in-law	свекор, тесть
sister-in-law	невістка (дружина брата)
brother-in-law	зять (чоловік сестри)
daughter-in-law	дружина сина, невістка
son-in-law	зять (чоловік дочки)
stepmother	мачуха
stepfather	вітчим
a widow	вдова
a widower	вдівець
a bachelor	холостяк
single	неодружений чоловік; незаміжня жінка
married	одружений; заміжня
aunt	тітка
uncle	дядько
cousin	двоюрідний брат, кузен; двоюрідна сестра, кузина
nephew	племінник
niece	племінниця
twins	близнюки
to take after	піти в кого-небудь
to divorce	розлучатися
ex-wife / husband	колишня дружина / чоловік
to be proud of smb.	пишатися ким-небудь
to dedicate	присвячувати
diligent	старанний
to introduce	представляти
to be fond of	захоплюватися
to take part in	брати участь у
competition	змагання
to be good friends with	бути хорошими друзями
to be good at smth.	вміти що-небудь добре робити
fiancée	наречена
fiancé	жених
remote kinsman	«десята вода на киселі»
to be engaged	бути зарученими

2. Read the text and pay attention to the active vocabulary given above:

Before I start speaking about my family let me introduce myself. I am Alex Petrov. Alex is my first name and Petrov is my surname. I am seventeen. I have left school this year and I'm going to be a student. I was born in Lviv, so Lviv is my native town.

I am not tall, dark-haired and blue-eyed young person. I like wearing jeans and T-shirts. I like pop, rock and classical music. My hobbies are sport and reading.

My family is not large but very friendly. I have got a father, a mother and a sister. I also have grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.

First I am going to talk about my father. I am very proud of him because he is a sportsman. When he was young he was fond of sports, especially cycling and he decided to be a coach. Now he spends a lot of time with children, teaching them how to get good results and success riding a bicycle. He is a broad-shouldered, tall man with dark hair and grey eyes. His name is Alexander Ivanovich, he is forty-seven. He is very experienced and there are many pupils in his sport school. There are even some sportsmen in his team who took part in Olympic Games. But we can hardly find him at home because he often has different competitions in other towns. When he is not busy we spend our time all together. We go to the Zoo, cinema, theatre or cafe.

Now a few words about my mother. Her name is Alla Victorovna. She is three years younger than my father. She is a teacher of music at school. My mother is a slim and pretty woman. She has fair hair and blue eyes. She is always elegant. She has a lot of work at school, but she tries to dedicate as much time as possible to me and my younger sister. My mother is very good at cooking and we help her with the housework.

My sister Helen is nine. She is a schoolgirl. My mother spends much time with her, but she is not a naughty child. She always does everything by herself. She is accurate and diligent. But I think she is rather funny. She has golden curly hair and blue eyes and she looks like my mother. We are good friends with my sister. We share our thoughts and have our own secrets.

My parents have been married for twenty-six years. They have much in common but they have different views in music, books and films. As for our education and upbringing they have the same opinion. Sometimes it is difficult for me to get their point of view, I try to prove my idea, but a little later it comes out that they were right. I can't say that my parents are too strict, but nevertheless they always take control of me and my sister. Sometimes it's just unbear­able. But I love my family very much. I think that family is important in a person's life, because there is nobody in the world closer than the family. Come what be, they always help and understand us.