Lesson 33

Youth culture

Aims and objectives:

• introducing the topic

• introducing the vocabulary

• developing basic skills

Equipment: writing paper, handouts

Sequence

I. Warming-up

The teacher may either use the warming-up activities desrcibed earlier or invent the ones of his / her own.

II. Main part

1. Speaking

The teacher prepares a set of pictures describing young people in various situations (neat and dirty, happy and unhappy, rockers, punks, etc. depending on their availability) and asks the students to describe what they see and find the common in them (target answer: youth; young people, etc.) eliciting the topic for learning ("Life of Youth”).

The teacher writes a question "Is it easy to be young?” on the board and asks students to share their ideas, giving reasons for them.

2. Reading

Fill in the gaps with given words and read the text.

Politics, part-time, problems, spots, boring, money, chore, appearance, guy, drugs, grades

I am a teenager so my life isn’t easy. I have many (1) __ . My parents want me to get good (2) __ at school. But I have so many subjects at school and some of them are extremely (3) __ . I have to do much Homework and to read many foolish books, while some teachers don’t understand that their subjects are not the most important things in my life. Some of my friends worry a lot about their (4) __ and their teenage (5) __ which spoil our lives! I must confess that (6) __ , alcohol and AIDS don’t really bother me or my friends. The same I should say about (7) __ . What we really care about is how to impress a cute (8) __ or an attractive girl. Of course I, like many other teenagers, have problems with (9) __ . Some of my friends found a (10) __ job in order to have an opportunity to earn some money. But despite all these problems, the life of a teenager today isn’t a (11 ) __ , it is still fun.

Key: 1 — problems; 2 — grades; 3 — boring; 4 — appearance; 5 —

spots; 6 — drugs; 7 — politics; 8 — guy; 9 — money; 10 — part-time;

11 — chore.

Do you have the same problems as the author? Do you agree or disagree with the passage?

Match the heading and the paragraph. One heading is unnecessary.

1) Teenagers’ Interests

2) Do Teenagers Have Problems?

3) Typical American Teenagers.

4) Are Teenagers a Problem?

5) What is a Teenager?

A. Officially, a teenager is anyone aged from 13 to 19 inclusively, but most people would probably think first of the younger age group and exclude 18 and 19-year-olds. After all, once you reach 18 you can vote, get married without your parents’ permission, and join the army. On the other hand, children are growing up and developing more quickly, and these days 11 and 12-year-olds would like to include themselves in the ‘teenager’ group.

B. According to ‘the older generation’, teenagers are lazy, they wear ridiculous clothes, and are appallingly rude to their betters and elders; they find it impossible to be polite, helpful, constructive, caring or hard-working. What’s more, they spend all their time listening to awful music and watching unsuitable films.

C. Teenagers are human so, of course, they have problems. It is a difficult time for them because it is a period of transformation. It isn’t quite as bad as a chrysalis changing into a butterfly, but it may seem like that. It isn’t easy to grow up, and the dramatic physical and emotional changes are often confusing and worrying.

D. Typical American teenagers do not in fact differ from Ukrainians or Britons. They think their teachers make them work too hard; they love their parents, but are sure they don’t understand anything; and their friendships are the most important things in their lives. Some of them do have a lot of money to spend, but usually they have earned it themselves.

Key: 1–; 2 C; 3 D; 4 B; 5 A.

The students do the task (it may be done in pairs or groups) and share the results.

2. Reading, translation and writing

The students are to translate the given sentences into Ukrainian

and then make their own ones using them as an example.

1) My parents forbid me to smoke.

2) Mother doesn’t allow Pavel to have a pet.

3) The law permits selling alcohol only to those who are 16 or older.

4) His parents don’t want him to serve in the army.

5) Do your parents allow you to work part-time after school?

6) In the USA, the law allows teenagers to get a driver’s license if

they are 16.

7) Teachers at school make schoolchildren do many tasks and exercises.

Students share their sentences in the groups.

3. Speaking

In groups, students create a list of teenagers’ problems putting them in the order of importance, the first one being the most important and share the results in the class.

III. Summary

IV. Homework

The students use their lists to complete the chart.

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