UNIT 1: RELATIONSHIPS

LESSON 1
LEAD-IN

EXERCISE 1: You are going to read about some advantages of living in an extended family (i.e., not just
parents and children living together). Which of the following advantages do you think are the most
important?

1 Older people are fun to live with.

TIP
2 Older people are patient and experienced.
Don’t worry if you don’t know a word in the
3 You can save money by living together. text. You can often guess the meaning by
reading the other words in the sentence.
4 Grandparents are not as busy as parents. And you may not need to know the
meaning to answer the questions.
5 Children get plenty of love and attention.

Read the text quickly and check which are mentioned. Ignore the underlined words.

BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER

A Blood is thicker than water. This means that family is more important than anyone else. Many young
people, though, spend more time with their friends than with their family. They value their friends’
opinions more and enjoy their company. When it’s time to visit grandma or go to a cousin’s wedding,
teenagers often prefer to be left at home. But are they missing out?
B In Asia, the Middle East, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa over 40% of children live in families
with other adults such as aunts, uncles and grandparents in addition to their parents. In South Africa, it
is almost 70%. On the other hand, in Europe, Australia and North America, less than 25% of children live
in extended families. Is the lack of close contact with relatives putting some children at a disadvantage?
C The people they live with have a great influence on the way children grow up. Those who live with
their extended family have many advantages. They usually get lots of love and attention. Grandparents
often have more time to read to children and play with them. As they are often retired, they are not
always busy and stressed as many parents are. They have learnt to be patient and they have already
handled most of the problems children and young people face.
D It is good for children to grow up to understand the needs of older people: they may become more
caring and less selfish if they spend time helping their grandparents. Children learn about the past from
grandparents’ stories. Sometimes they feel closer to their grandparents than to their parents.
E Young adults often feel that living alone will be exciting, but they forget that it can also be lonely. By
remaining with the family during this stage of their lives, they can avoid this. They can also save money
for their education and future.
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LESSON 1

F Young people whose grandparents live far away can gain some of these advantages by keeping in close
contact by phone, email, letters and visits. It is nice to know there is someone you can go to if you have a
problem. As the Italian proverb says, ‘Se non sta andando bene chiamare la nonna.’ – ‘If things aren’t
going well, call your grandmother.’
G Friends are important to young people, but friends come and go. Your family is always on your side.
Grandparents won’t be there forever. Appreciate them while you can.

VOCABULARY

EXERCISE 2: Match the underlined words from the text with their meanings. Start with words you already
know. Use the context (the sentence it is in and other words around it) to work out the meaning of the
other words.
1 value a worried; not able to relax
2 (have an) influence b dealt with, had experience of
3 stressed c get (something positive)
4 handled d be grateful for
5 selfish e a well-known phrase giving advice
6 gain f caring only about yourself and not other people
7 proverb g (have an) effect (on)
8 appreciate h believe something is important

SHORT-ANSWER QUESTIONS
In this type of task, you have to answer questions using up to three words, or up to two words and/or a
number. The instructions tell you how many words you can use. Short-answer questions test if you can find
the right part of the text quickly and understand the information.

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LESSON 1

IDENTIFYING THE KEY WORDS IN A QUESTION

EXERCISE 3: Identify the key words in these

questions. TIP

1 What percentage of children live in extended Before you look for the answer to a question, it
families in Asia, the Middle East, South America and helps if you find the key words – the most
important words – in the question. This will help
Sub-Saharan Africa?
you find the information you need.
2 Why are grandparents often less busy and stressed Example: What do young people often think
than parents? about older family members?

3 What do young adults often think living alone will be like?

SCANNING A TEXT

EXERCISE 4: Answer the questions in exercise 3. Follow the advice in the box.

TIP

When you are answering a question:

 Decide on the key words in the question and think of words with a similar meaning.
 Move your eyes quickly across and down the text, looking for the key words, or words that mean the
same. Don’t read every word. This is called ‘scanning’.
 If the text has headings, use them to help you decide which part of the text to look at first.
 When you find a key word, read the text around it to make sure you have found the right information.

EXERCISE 5: Read this exam task and the answers to the questions. What is wrong with the answers? Match
the answers 1-4 with the advice a-d below.

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 UNIT 1: RELATIONSHIPS
LESSON 1
Answer these questions. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER from the passage for
each answer.

Question 1 What percentage of children in South Africa live with their extended family?
Answer 1: 20%
Question 2 What helps children in extended families learn about the past?
Answer 2: grandparents storys
Question 3 What negative word can describe how it sometimes feels to live alone?
Answer 3: Living alone can be lonely.
Question 4 According to the Italian proverb, who should you phone when you have a problem?
Answer 4: your gran
a. Don’t write more than the number of words you are given. You mustn’t write full sentences.
b. Make sure that you use the correct information when you answer a question.
c. Don’t change words in the text. Remember, the instructions tell you to choose words from the texts.
d. Be careful with spelling. You can lose marks if your spelling is wrong.

EXERCISE 6: Now correct the answers in exercise 5.

EXAM SKILLS
EXERCISE 7: Read the passage and answer the questions below.

SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE MEANING OF FRIENDSHIP

There have been a lot of scientific studies into what makes a friendship. It seems today that ideas of what
friendship is are also changing. A study in 1993 at the University of Oxford showed that people could only
maintain 150 relationships. However, with the explosion of social media since then, many people now
have over 300 people who they think of as friends. Some people think that these friends are not real
friends, but others believe that social media has helped us to expand and keep our friendships because
we have more time and opportunities.
Another change from the past is that people don’t stay in the place where they were born. They go to
different cities and countries for education and jobs. People are in general more geographically mobile
nowadays. This means that we have more chances to meet and make friends with people from different
cultures and different backgrounds. People still often make friends at college who remain friends for life
but making new friends at work is more difficult. People
4 now have less security at work, and this also
means that they find it harder to build new relationships.
 UNIT 1: RELATIONSHIPS
LESSON 1

As people gets older, they sometimes also have less free time. They become busier with their jobs and
families and have less time to spend with friends. Friendships can be very different when we are at
different ages. Young children often choose their friends because of convenience, for example, they go to
the same school, they live near each other or their parents are friends. As we get older, friendships are
more connected with having similar interests and opinions.
One thing is definitely true though, it doesn’t matter how old we are or how many friends we have on
social media, friendship is good for our health. People who spend time with friends have fewer mental
health problems and are generally happier and in a better physical state of health than people who spend
their free time alone.

Answer these questions. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.

1 What has enabled people to have more friends than in the past, according
to some people?
2 What phrase does the writer use to describe people who don’t stay in the
same place?
3 What work-related problem do people have that makes them less likely to
form friendships?
4 What frequently influences the friendships of young children?
5 What are people with friends less likely to suffer from?