Family and Friends

In this chapter you can repeat how to write an email and talk about your hobbies and your family and friends. You will also be able to ask for the way and give directions.

1. Mail-Writing

Paul writes an e-mail to his English pen friend Pete.

1. Reading Comprehension

a) Who is Pete?
b) What can you see on the photo?
c) How old is Laura?
d) What is David interested in?
e) Where does Paul live?

2. Look at Paul’s email. Write an answer from Pete to Paul.

3. Try to write a mail on your own. What do you want to write about to your new pen friend? How do you want to introduce yourself?

2. Exercise on reading comprehension and grammar

Try to understand the text and fill in the missing pronouns. The first two pronouns are already filled in.
Sue writes a letter to her friend Sara.

Here are the pronouns you should fill in: I, me, my, our, they, we, you.

2. Now write a mail to Sue and decide if Sara comes to London or not.

3. Hobbies

In Great Britain, there are a lot of youth clubs. Young people can go there after school.
There are a lot of activities. You can make new friends there. But you can also play a sport like football, table-tennis or darts or you can go to a hobby group where you can learn to play an instrument or work for the environment. Most youth clubs organize visits to interesting places in the surrounding area or they offer journeys during the school holidays.

Now write a text on your own. What activities do you do in your free time?What are you interested in?

4. Families

4.1 Family Homes

Firstly, read about Steve’s home.

My hometown is part of Paignton in Devon in the South of England, near the sea. It’s a very quiet place. I live here with my parents, my younger brother Dave, 12, and my elder sister Lucy, 16. In this part of Paignton, a lot of houses are holiday homes where people stay only at the weekends or during their holidays. There’s a small shop with a post office in it, an old church in the middle of the village and two pubs - that’s it. I have to go to school in Paignton, about 10 miles from my home. Every morning I go to school by bus. My father works in an office 20 miles from here. My mother works in a kindergarten. Paignton is a beautiful place and it’s always fun to go to the sea. But it’s sometimes too quiet here because there’s nothing to do for young people, especially in winter when there are no tourists here.

Now read the text about Julie’s home.

I’m from Birmingham, a very interesting city full of nice department stores and shops in the centre. But where I live, it isn’t so nice. Together with my parents and my little sister Jenny, 7, we live in a flat. Our block of flats is about 30 years old. There are often break-ins and it isn’t safe to be alone on the streets at night. My father is looking for a job, my mother works in a supermarket. I go to school by bus. It isn’t far away from my home. My family isn’t happy here and we try to find a new flat in another part of Birmingham when my father finds a job. There are new flats near the river and that’s where we want to live. Unfortunately these flats are very expensive.

1. Questions on the texts “Families”:

a) Describe your town or village.
b) Where do you want to live, in Devon or in Birmingham? Give reasons for your answer!
c) Here are useful words. Fill in these words in the groups family – music – sports.

2. Make a list of all family members you know. You may use the dictionary.

4.2 Fairy Tale

Once upon a time there was a little girl who lived with her mum and dad in the woods. They were all very happy. Every day the little girl put on her pretty little red hood and went out to play. The animals in the wood therefore called her “Little Red Riding Hood”. One day the little girl’s mother came out of the house with a basket. “Grandmother is not very well today,” she told her daughter, “walk through the woods and take this basket to her.” The little girl took the basket, said goodbye to her mother and went off.

Suddenly she saw a big wolf. It was very hungry. “Hello, my dear,” said the big bad wolf. “Where are you going?” it asked. “I’m going to see my grandmother,” Little Red Riding Hood answered. “She doesn’t feel very well.” “Oh, what a pity,” the wolf said. “But let’s see who gets there first. I will take one path and you take another!” And the big wolf ran as fast as it could. At first the little girl ran, too, but then she saw some pretty flowers beside the path so she stopped to pick them for her grandmother.

In the meantime the big wolf arrived at the grandmother’s front door. He knocked at the door. “Who’s there?” grandmother called. “It’s Little Red Riding Hood”, answered the wolf in a high voice. “Just open the door and come in”, grandmother said. But then she saw who came in. She jumped out of the bed but the wolf ate her.

The big bad wolf put on one of grandmother’s long white nightgowns, her nightcap and her extra pair of spectacles. Then it jumped into her bed. After knocking at the door, the little girl opened the door and went in. “Hello grandma”, she said. “What big eyes you have!” “The better to see you, my dear”, the big bad wolf answered. “Oh, but grandma, what big teeth you have!” cried Little Red Riding Hood. “The better to eat you my dear!” the wolf said and jumped out of the bed. But before the little girl could run away, the door opened and a woodsman came in with his axe. In a minute the big bad wolf was dead and grandmother was saved. Then they were all very happy.

Questions on the text:

1) Where did the little girl live with her parents?
2) What was the girl’s nickname?
3) Why did they call her so?
4) What did the little girl’s mother tell her?
5) What did the little girl see in the woods?
6) What did the little girl do while the wolf was running to her grandmother?
7) What did the wolf do after he ate the grandmother?
8) Who came in and killed the wolf?

Look at the verbs in the text. Repeat the simple past!

5. Places5.1 Useful Vocabulary

5.2 Location plans

Find the way to the post office.

Excuse me, where is the post office, please?
__________________ at the next corner.
Then ___________________ until you come to the traffic lights.
____________________ there.
The post office is ________________________ the cinema.

Try to make your own dialogue. You want to go to the cinema.

Start like this:

Sorry, can you tell me what the best way to the cinema is?

6. Exercises

1. Translation. Always pay attention to the correct tenses.

a) Was machst du sonntags? Ich fahre oft zu meinen Großeltern.
b) Mein Bruder spielt gerade Fußball und ich spiele gerade Klavier.
c) Wir wohnen jetzt in einem kleinen Dorf an der See. Es ist schön hier, aber mir fehlt London.
d) Unsere Eltern sind im Urlaub in Frankreich.

2. Question words:

Repeat the question words you have learned.

Ask he right questions to get these answers. Write down all possibilities!

• Q.:________________________
  A.: Pete is doing his homework.
• Q.:________________________
  A.: Sara likes Pete.
• Q.: ________________________
  A.: Jenny fed the little dog.
• Q.: ________________________
  A.: The choir learned a new song.
• Q.: ________________________
  A.: I have breakfast in the kitchen.

Musterlösung „Family and Friends“

1. Mail-Writing

a) Who is Pete? - Pete is Paul’s English pen friend.
b) What can you see on the photo? - On the photo you can see Pete’s family and his hometown.
c) How old is Laura? - Laura is 12 years old.
d) What is David interested in? - Daivid is interested in football.
e) Where does Paul live? – Paul lives in a small town near Cologne.

2. Look at Paul’s email. Write an answer from Pete to Paul. Here you can make up what Pete would write!

3. Try to write an e-mail on your own. Talk about your brothers and sisters and your hobbies. What is special about your hometown? Do you have any pets? Do you do sports?

2. Exercise on reading comprehension and grammar

2. Now write a mail to Sue and decide if Sara comes to London or not. Here are two examples:

• Dear Sue,
• Dear Sue,

Thank you for your invitation. I would love to come to London! This is my first time, too. My parents say I am allowed to come. What do your parents say? Let me know soon.

Yours,

Sara

Thank you for your email! It’s my grandmother’s birthday. She will be 75! My parents want me to be there. But maybe I can visit you in the next school holidays? You can visit me, too. We can ride my horse or walk our dog. What do you think?

Yours,

Sara

4.1 Family Homes

a) Describe your town or village. Here you have to find your own words. You can start like this: I live in a small/big town (near) .. .
b) Where do you want to live, in Devon or in Birmingham? Give reasons for your answer! Here you have to build sentences on your own. You have to describe why you prefer living in Devon or Brimingham. Look at the text for your arguments.
c) Here are useful words. Fill in these words in the groups family – music – sports.

family: aunt – brother - cousin - father - grandmother - mother - sister - uncle
music: band - guitar - instrument - piano - song
sport: chess - cricket - darts - football - hiking – snooker - skiing - table-tennis - tennis

2. Make a list of all family members you know. You may use the dictionary.

Great grandfather – great grandmother
Mother – father
Brothers and sisters, son and daughter
Step-father – step-mother, step-brother, step-sister
Uncle – aunt
Nephew – niece – cousins
Mother/father/brother/sister-in-law

4.2 Fairy Tale

1) Where did the little girl live with her parents? – She lived in the woods.
2) What was the girl’s nickname? - The animals call her Little Red Riding Hood.
3) Why did they call her so? - Every day the little girl put on her pretty little red hood.
4) What did the little girl’s mother tell her? - “Grandmother is not very well today, walk through the woods and take this basket to her.”
5) What did the little girl see in the woods? - The little girl saw a wolf in the woods.
6) What did the little girl do while the wolf was running to her grandmother? – The little girl picked some flowers for her grandmother.
7) What did the wolf do after he ate the grandmother? - The wolf put on grandmother’s clothes and lay in grandmother’s bed.
8) Who came in and killed the wolf? - A woodsman with an axe came in and killed the wolf.

5.2 Location plans

Excuse me, where is the post office, please?

Well, turn right at the next corner.
Then go straight on until you come to the traffic lights.
Turn left there.
The post office is opposite the cinema.

Sorry, can you tell me what the best way to the cinema is?

Well the best way to the cinema? Go straight on and turn left in the second street. Go straight on and turn right in direction to the castle. Turn left into the first street. The cinema is opposite the castle.

6. Exercises

1. Translation. Always pay attention to the correct tenses.

a) What do you do on Sundays? I often go to my grandparents.
b) My brother is playing football now and I’m playing the piano now.
c) We are living in a small village at the Sea now. It is pretty here but I miss London.
d) Our parents are on holidays in France.

2. Question words:

• Q.:Who is doing his homework? What is Pete doing?
  A.: Pete is doing his homework.
• Q.: Who likes Pete?
  A.: Sara likes Pete.
• Q.: Who fed the little dog? What did Jenny do? What did Jenny feed?
  A.: Jenny fed the little dog.
• Q.: What did the choir do? Who learned a new song?
  A.: The choir learned a new song.
• Q.: Who has breakfast in the kitchen? Where do I have breakfast? What do I have in the kitchen?
  A.: I have breakfast in the kitchen.

Comprehension:
True or False?