Unit 2
Unit 2. Family
Part A. Listening (20 marks)
Take 1 minute to read the following questions. Listen to the conversations. Mark down useful
notes and answer the following questions in complete sentences on the space provided.
1. Please list out the facts about Claudia‟s brother:
Name:
Appearance:
2. What kinds of birthday gifts do Claudia‟s brother usually give her?
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3. How do Claudia and her brother contact with each other?
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4. How does Keith feel about the relationship between Claudia and her brother?
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5. What is Claudia‟s message to her brother?
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Unit 2
Part B. Grammar (30 marks)
In this chapter, we are going to review different types of tenses and tense sequence.
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An overview of basic tenses:
Past
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Present
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Simple Past Tense
Past Continuous
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Tense
Past Perfect Tense
Past Perfect
Continuous Tense
Future
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Simple Present Tense
Present Continuous
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Simple Future Tense
Future Continuous Tense
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Tense
Present Perfect Tense
Present Perfect
Continuous Tense
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Future Perfect Tense
Future Perfect
Continuous Tense
Simple Past Tense
We use Simple Past Tense for things that happened in the past.
Be
Verbs
Was / Were
Regular Verbs end in “-ed”
Irregular verbs
E.g. Mozart wrote more than 600 pieces of music.
I was sick two days ago.
Once upon a time, there was a boy with magical power called Harry.
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Past Continuous Tense
We use Past Continuous Tense when we were in the middle of doing something at a certain
time. The action or situation had already started before this time, but had not finished.
Be
Verbs
Was / Were + being
Was / Were + v-ing
E.g. I was taking a bath when my mother came home yesterday.
Kate was watching television when we arrived.
While Maggie was singing, Peter was playing the guitar.
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Unit 2
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Past Perfect Tense
If there were two past actions in a sentence, we use Past Perfect Tense for the earlier one
while using Simple Past Tense for the latter one.
Be
Verbs
Had + been
Had + vpp (past participle)
E.g. The firemen came within five minutes after a big fire had broken out.
Before he bought the engagement ring, he had reserved a table for two.
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Past Perfect Continuous Tense
We use Past Perfect Continuous Tense for something that had been happening for a period
of time before something else happened.
Be
Verbs
N/A
Had been + v-ing
E.g. We had been playing tennis for about half an hour when it started to rain
heavily.
George went to the doctor last Friday. He hadn’t been feeling well for some
time.
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Simple Present Tense
We use Simple Present Tense to talk about things in general. We also use it to say that
something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that something is true in general:
Be
Verbs
Am / Is / Are
Verbs end in “-s”, “-es”, “-ies”
E.g. The earth goes round the sun.
I wake up at 7:30 every morning.
Sally usually goes away two or three times a year.
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Present Continuous Tense
For actions that we have started doing and haven‟t finished yet, we use Present Continuous
Tense.
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Unit 2
Be
Verbs
Am / Is / Are + being
Am / Is / Are + v-ing
E.g. Watch out! The bus is coming.
The population of the world is increasing very fast.
The company I work for isn’t doing so well this year.
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Present Perfect Tense
When we say that „something has happened‟, this is usually new information.
OR
When we use the Present Perfect Tense, there is a connection with now. The action in the
past has a result now.
Be
Verbs
Has / Have + been
Has / Have + vpp
E.g. The road is closed. There has been an accident.
„Where‟s your key?‟ „I don‟t know. I’ve lost it.‟ (= I don‟t have it now.)
„Are you hungry?‟
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„No, I’ve just had lunch.‟
Present Perfect Continuous Tense
We use the Present Perfect Continuous Tense for an activity that has recently stopped or
just stopped, and there is a connection with now.
Be
Verbs
Has / Have + been
Has / Have been + v-ing
E.g. Tim is still watching television. He has been watching television all day.
Where have you been? I have been looking for you for the last half hour.
Chris hasn’t been feeling well recently.
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Simple Future Tense
We use Simple Future Tense when we talk about actions in the future which have not
happened yet.
Be
Verbs
Will be
Will + v-basic (basic form)
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Unit 2
E.g. It will rain tomorrow.
She will go to the United States for summer vacation the coming August.
Granny will celebrate her 90th birthday next month.
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Future Continuous Tense
We use Future Continuous Tense to show an action that will happen at a certain moment
and continue for some time.
Be
Verbs
N/A
Will be + v-ing
E.g. This time next year this part of the garden will be looking beautiful.
She will be taking up her place at university in October.
Dr. Jones will be giving the same talk in room 103 at 10:00 next Thursday.
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Future Perfect Tense
We use Future Perfect Tense for actions that will be completed / finished at a certain
moment in the future.
Be
Verbs
Will have been
Will have + vpp
E.g. By the time you get home, I will have cleaned the house from top to bottom.
I‟m sure his awful behaviour will soon have been forgotten. (passive voice)
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Future Perfect Continuous Tense
We use Future Perfect Continuous Tense to stress the duration and continuity of actions
that will be happening at a certain moment in the future.
Be
Verbs
N/A
Will have been + v-ing
E.g. On Saturday, we will have been living in this house for a year.
Next year I will have been working in the company for 30 years.
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Unit 2
Exercise
Complete the following sentences
1. It was so hot today that I ________________ (wear) shorts and a T-shirt at work.
2. Michael ________________ (smoke) all his cigarettes and had to borrow some form Kate.
3. It‟s very difficult for us to get jobs here, so we ________________ (consider) emigrating to
Canada.
4. We ________________ (get) our exam results on the 20th August.
5. He denied that he ________________ (take) the money from the office.
6. I ________________ (have) three lectures today and I still have two more later this afternoon.
7. In recent years, Brazilian companies ________________ (put) the Calverton Mine up for sale.
8. I bumped into Mary last week. She ________________ (look) a lot better than when I last
________________ (see) her.
9. Flowers ________________ (attract) bees with their brightly coloured petals.
10. I‟m sorry that the train is delayed, ladies and gentlemen, but we ________________ (leave)
the station as soon as the driver arrives.
11. An important file ________________ (disappear) from my office.
12. ________________ (you find) it difficult to concentrate on your work with this music on?
13. The company‟s headquarter closes in June, when most of the staff ________________ (move)
to its new building in Madrid.
14. At the conference, scientists ________________ (report) that they ________________ (find) a
cure for malaria.
15. When I ________________ (live) in Paris, I ________________ (spend) three hours a day
travelling to and from work.
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Unit 2
Part C. Reading (20 marks)
Read the article and answer the questions in complete sentences on the space provided.
The tiger children fight back against Amy Chua
(Source: Joanna Moorhead, The Guardian, 9 December 2011.
< http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/09/tiger-children-fight-back>)
Two Chinese schoolgirls have published a guide to surviving pushy parents, and given us
a valuable lesson about childrearing
Like mother, like daughter. So those of us who were shocked by the hardline, "Chinese
way" of raising children revealed by Amy Chua in her book Battle Hymn of the Tiger
5 Mother aren't surprised by its follow-up – the news that a pair of schoolgirls in Beijing,
driven to despair by their mothers' desperate drive to force them on to success, have
fought back with the online publication of a guide to how savvy but wrung-out kids can
retaliate when they're being driven to the edge of the cliff of over-ambition.
Drawings by Chen Leshui and Deng Xinyi. Photographs: The Times
The Complete Book of Combat With Mum, written by Chen Leshui and Deng Xinyi,
10 describes how to cope when you're being over-parented: they describe tricks ranging from
bursting into tears and burying your head on your mum's shoulder, to counteracting her
anger about the fact that you've not done well enough at school with a few insults of your
own. It's the latest in a fascinating saga about two of the oldest debates the world has ever
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Unit 2
known. Number one, what happens when eastern values meet western ones; number two,
15 how does a wise parent raise his or her child?
These questions are why we were so compelled by American-born Chua's descriptions of
how she "drilled" maths into her daughters, how she banned sleepovers and how she
threatened to burn her eldest child's soft toys if she didn't do her piano practice. But as the
new twist reminds us, parental pride isn't the province solely of the pushy tiger mom: one
20 amusing facet of the Beijing schoolgirls' tale and their newfound online fame is that it
was the father of one of them who posted their advice on the internet. Yes, it implied
criticism of the way the girls had been parented: but what blew Leshui away was how
clever, how cunning, and how advanced his daughter's guide was. A desire to share that
with the world must have overridden any desire to keep his wife's parenting skills within
25 the family, because he decided to upload it on to China's equivalent of Twitter.
My father was about the most unpushy parent on the planet: never once in all my years at
school did he speak to any of my teachers about my work, and on the day I graduated
from university he asked me what I'd enjoyed about studying history. Which would have
been fine, except that my degree was in politics. But here's the funny thing, even though
30 he'd been lassez-faire almost to the point of academic neglect, my dad was still proud of
me that day and, though his parenting methods couldn't have been more different from
Chua's or from the Beijing girls' parents, that's a sentiment they'd all share. However
wildly different parents seem to be in the way they do their bit to raise the next
generation, the one thing they all care about is how it all turns out.
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Unit 2
35 Which is why, the longer in the tooth I get as a parent, the less comfortable I feel about
criticising anyone else's way of doing things. One thing I absolutely believe is this: the
vast, overwhelming majority of parents want what's best for their kids. How they go
about getting that best differs enormously, and how some parents choose to do it may
seem harsh or uncaring. But who's to say that, for those children at that moment, that
40 wasn't the right way forward?
But there's another truth about parenting, and the Beijing story nails it for all it's worth.
Because first we heard Amy Chua's story, and now two teenagers are getting to tell their
side of a similar tale. And that's the bottom line on parenting: our kids get the final word.
Every single time.
Glossary:
1.
surviving (line 1)
(v) to remain alive after the death of someone, the cessation of
something, or the occurrence of some event; continue to live
2.
despair (line 6)
(n) loss of hope; hopelessness
3.
savvy (line 7)
(v) to know; understand
4.
retaliate (line 8)
(v) to return like for like, especially evil for evil
5.
over-ambition (line 8)
(n) eagerly desirous of achieving or obtaining success, power,
wealth, a specific goal
6.
counteracting (line 11) (v) to act in opposition to; frustrate by contrary action
7.
insults (line 12)
(n) to treat or speak to insolently or with contemptuous rudeness;
affront
8.
compelled (line 16)
(v) to force or drive, especially to a course of action
9.
twist (line 19)
(n) a deviation in direction; curve; bend; turn
10. criticism (line 22)
(n) the act of passing judgment as to the merits of anything
11.
(n) equal in value, measure, force, effect, significance
equivalent (line 25)
12. lassez-faire (line 30)
(adj) the practice or doctrine of noninterference in the affairs of
others, especially with reference to individual conduct or freedom
of action
13. sentiment (line 32)
(n) an attitude toward something; regard; opinion
14. overwhelming
(line 37)
(adj) overpowering
15. enormously (line 38)
(adv) greatly exceeding the common size, extent
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Unit 2
1.
What is the book „The Complete Book of Combat With Mum‟ about?
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2.
What are the „two of the oldest debates the world‟ in paragraph 2 refer to?
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3.
Do you think the author‟s father cares about his child? Why? Support your answer with
evidence.
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4.
According to the author, what is the common thing shared by parents?
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5.
What kind of parenting have you experienced? How do you feel about it?
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Unit 2
Part D. Writing (20 marks) (Refer to Appendix A for the Marking Rubrics)
Narrative Writing
My family
Write a short composition of no less than 250 words for the above topic. You may hand in the
writing to your ELLRC instructor for corrections. The following points may help you to
brainstorm your writing:
1) Describe your family (number of family members, parents, parents‟ professions,
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How many members are there in your family?
Where do you live? Do you live in an apartment?
What are your parents‟ professions?
Are you the only child or do you have any siblings? How many do you have?
Do you keep any pets at home?
2) Describe your relationship with your family members
 How is your relationship with your parents?
 Do you have generation gap?
 Are they strict/ lenient/ supportive/ tolerate parents? Give examples.
 How do you get along with your siblings?
 Do you get along well/ quarrel/ fight? Give examples.
3) Your feeling about your family
 Do you love your family? Why?
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Unit 2
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Unit 2
Part E. Speaking (10 marks) (Refer to Appendix B for the Marking Rubrics)
Find a partner or make an appointment with your ELLRC instructor to practise the following oral
scenario:
A:
Hello, … , let‟s talk about family today. So, what are your parents?
B:
My father is a… and he works at… My mother is a… and she is responsible for…
A:
So do you have any brothers or sisters?
B:
Yes/No. I have … brother(s)/sister(s).
A:
Oh, I see. Do you want to have siblings? / Do you get along well with each other/ one
another?
B:
Yes/No, it‟s because…
A:
Are your parents strict?
B:
Yes/No. They are / aren‟t strict, for example, …
A:
So, do you think parents should support everything their children do?
B:
Yes/No. I think…
A:
Have your parents ever punished you before?
B:
Yes/No. They have/haven‟t beaten/ lectured/ punished me before. I‟d remember once, …
A:
How do you feel about your family?
B:
I love/ dislike my family. I think they are all important / unimportant people in my life.
A:
What do you think about „Tiger Mother‟ Amy Chua in the reading article?
B:
I think she is…
A:
Do you agree with Amy‟s way of parenting?
B:
Yes, I agree. / No, I disagree. I think…
A:
I see. Thanks for your time. Goodbye!
B:
Many thanks to you too. Goodbye!
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