English class – Teacher: Maria Helena

 What is a generation gap?

 Do you think you can be a better parent than your own parents in future?
 When did you first become an adult in your mind?
 What do you think are some of the advantages or disadvantages of another generation?
 Would you ever date someone much older or younger than yourself?

1- Read the following dialogues:

A: You know dear, I'm a little concerned about Jenny's poor grades on her history tests.
B: Well, I am too, it's strange that on all her assignments, she seems to be doing fine, but when it comes to writing
I
the test, she freezes or something.
A: Maybe we need to help her study better or quiz her before each exam. She seems to like the class all right.
B: And maybe we could talk to the teacher to see if she's noticed anything strange about Jenny's grades.

C: My parents are from the dark ages or something! They think they can run my life? Well I've got news for them!
D: Well my folks are like that too - they give me a 9:30 p.m. curfew and forced me to finish all my homework before
II
I can go out with my friends.
C: Oh man, . . . sometimes, I just wish I could move out now and make all my own decisions.
D: Really? Wouldn't your parents freak out if you ever mentioned that?
C: Well I suppose, but it's still a possibility.

E: C'mon mom, I can't come now, this movie is so awesome.

F: Jonah, you said you'd help me hang the laundry right after dinner and what time is it now? … I’d like you to do it
III now please!
E: Oh man, it's like the best part. Can't I help later?
F: I said immediately Jonah! This is your last call or I will have to get your father!

Vocabulary:
Assignment= a piece of work given to someone
To freeze= stop moving, like a statue
To run= to guide, to manage
Curfew= time to come back home
To freak out=
To hang sth right=to organize

2- Complete the chart with the information from the dialogues:

How are they related? What is their age? What problems are they talking
about?
Dialogue I
Dialogue II

Dialogue III

3- Umscramble the sentences:

a) Used – play – marbles – I _______________________________________________________________________

b) Believe – in – we – future – better ________________________________________________________________
c) All – we – 80s – love ____________________________________________________________________________
d) A – is – generation – what – gap - ? ________________________________________________________________
e) Had – my – traditional – grandparents – a – view _____________________________________________________

iSLCollective.com
 4- Read the comic strip and give your opinion about it:

Climate
change? Is there any
app for
that?

5- How do you see yourself in 2050? And our planet?

___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________

6- Complete the chart with the things of your childhood:

Soap-opera TV programs Clothes Hobbies Games

7- Match the expressions with their definitions:

f) Generation gap ( ) Emotional adjustment encountered during stages of development;
g) Curfew ( ) A conflict between older and younger people, which often causes them to argue;
h) Allowance ( ) The desirable state of being away from other people;
i) Growing pains ( ) Money given by parent to child weekly, often earned by doing chores;
j) Latchkey child ( ) Natural hostility and competition between siblings;
k) Sibling rivalry ( ) Young child of working parents who spends part of day at home unsupervised;
l) Autonomy ( ) Independence, ability to control one's own life;
m) Privacy ( ) Time, set by parents, at which child must return home, especially in the evening;
n) To socialize ( ) Period of growing up, from puberty to maturity;
o) Adolescence ( ) To spend time with others in a friendly way.

8- Fill in the gaps with the words given in the list. Think up an answer to the question at the end.
peers, taken up, commute, grades, glued, salaries, alienation, top, let their hair down

Do you think that parents and children spend less and less time with one another? Children's time is
______________ with after-school activities, homework, dating and the rest. Parents are forced to throw
themselves into their work in order to provide a family living, give time to ____________ to and from work, keep
up the house, entertain, and so on. And nearly everyone watches television or is literally ___________ to it. As
parents and children have fewer and fewer common interests, it makes it difficult for the family to reduce the
______________ between each other and give individuals a place where they can _____________ think out loud,
and be themselves.
At the same time, parents are satisfied when they see their children succeed. They are pleased when their
children walk at an early age, talk before their _______________ , are better looking than other children on the

iSLCollective.com
block, earn good _____________ , perform well in athletics, graduate at the _______________ of their class, go
to college and so on. Is this parental love, parental pride or maybe something else? Do you know?

9- Every age is beautiful in its own way. At the same time there are problems typical only for a certain age.
Below are some of them. Match them with a particular age period. Write “A” for adults, “C” for children, “Y” for
youngers and “T” for teenagers:

 choosing a college ( )
 being shy and tongue-tied ( )
 dating someone ( )
 separation and divorce ( )
 growing pains ( )
 empty nest syndrome ( )
 being rejected by peers ( )
 falling down and having bruises ( )

10- Watch the video “Generation Gap – Technolgy” and discuss the questions:

a) What is the best way to communicate?

b) What would they do with a dysfunctional Nitendo Cartridge?
c) Why do people buy a tablet computer?
d) What is a Dewey Decimal System?

11- Watch the video “Kids of Today vs 1980's Technology (HD)” and give your opinion about it. Could you
identify yourself? Explain it.
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________________

iSLCollective.com