Adult Speaking Class. Theme: Love and Marriage, Part 3

13th January 2020

Children

Personality adjectives for children:

adorable / angelic / boisterous / demanding / messy / noisy / talkative 

Phrases:

good as gold / butter wouldn’t melt in his\her mouth / a little rascal / a handful

well-behaved / a little madam / a young gentleman / full of him\herself

What are the pros and cons (The benefits and drawbacks ) of having children ? 

Pros: makes us responsible / patient / sometimes they can be funny

they can enrich our lives

Cons: sometimes they misbehave ( are naughty) / no free time / they need a lot of energy / need a lot of money for toys, sweets, uniform, books, equipment.

Is there pressure from family to have children in your culture ?

Niece (girl) and nephew (boy) = children of my brother/sister

How would you describe these children ?

She has an angelic smile.

Remember – for sentence building, use adjectives and discourse markers (linking words or phrases). Never start with a pronoun (she, it, he, they) but say what the subject is – in this example, the subject is a girl. Now we can keep building up more information:

The girl has an angelic smile.

The young girl has blonde hair and an angelic smile.

The young girl, who has long straight blonde hair, has lovely big green-grey eyes, and is smiling angelically. She wears a multi-coloured T-shirt as well as some flowers around the neckline.

Now – your turn:

Here, you can also add some verbs and background information. Where do you think he is ? How is he feeling ? Who taught him this behaviour ? Do you think his mother is with him ?

These young gentleman attend a very expensive, possibly elitist, private school. Such schools are named ‘public schools’ in the UK. they include Eton, Harrow and Gordonstoun.

Listening Practice

Phrasal verbs and family situations: http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/grammar-vocabulary/phrasal-verb-videos/family

He cannot look clearly – he cannot see clearly

Phrasal verbs are verbs + preposition. They are pronounced, where possible, as one sound unit hence ‘turn off the light’ sounds ‘turnoff the light’.

He lived with me – he stayed with me

when we become old – when we get old

look after / think about / wear out / give up / grow up / takes after 

tell off / look up to / hang up / go for / passed away

Which phrasal verbs fits here ?

She really …………. her father, they are so alike.

I can’t go out, I have to ……….. my nephew.

Vietnamese is too hard, I just …………. (past tense verb)

Many Vietnamese ………………. Uncle Ho

I’m not sure which bank is best. Let me ………. it and get back to you.

I had to ………….. my son because he ate all the cakes.

My manager is very immature. He needs to ………… and quickly !

Speaking practice:

Pam Your daughter is gorgeous. Like an angel. She looks like you.

Uma Yes, but she takes after her father. She is very grumpy when she’s tired or hungry.

Pam My son is usually very good, he sleeps like a log, but now he’s teething.

Uma Ahhh, poor little thing but it will pass. Does he still keep you up at night ?

Pam Well, a little but not too much. I had to give up reading or watching films. Too tired.

Uma I get it ! We have a reading group, it doesn’t take up too much time. Sounds good ?

Pam Hmmm … let me think about it and get back to you. OK, I must run … bye.

Speaking practice:

Kit Hey, how was your weekend ? What did you get up to ?

Will Oh, nothing special. I had to look after my niece. She’s a real handful. 

Kit Sounds like my nephew. He’s very boisterous, I had no time for myself.

Will Exactly. My niece looks so angelic but what a little rascal ! I gave her some milk …

Kit I can guess … she spilt it ! My nephew is so damn messy, food everywhere.

Will She takes after her father; he’s always spilling his beer. By 5 o’clock, I gave up.

Kit There are some nice things about children … they can be cute and adorable.

Will The best thing about nephews is that we can give them back ! Too much trouble.