Read the interview about a Canadian family. Use the questions to write your own passage about a typical Russian family

Q: Hello.

Hello.

Q: Could you say a few words about yourself?

My name is Caitlin Murphy. I'm from Toronto, Canada. I'm twenty five years old. I live in Toronto.

Q: Caitlin, could you describe a typical Canadian family?

The typical Canadian family consists of two parents and usually two child­ren. The children are typically about 5 years apart in age, and parents are usually about thirty years old when they have their children.

Q: What age do people usually get married at?

These days people try to get education first, that's why they usually get married several years after they graduate from university. So if people finish university at the age of twenty two, usually they get married at about the age of twenty eight.

Q: Do the young take into account their parents' opinion, when they are going to get married?

Usually people choose their own spouse. Arranged marriage is very un­common.

Q: Is it uncommon, when married children live with their parents?

It happens often after people first get married, but they live with their parents for some time, perhaps, they are waiting for their house to be built or something like this, and then they will live with their parents, but it's not common for people to live with their parents for a very long time.

Q: Is divorce a common thing nowadays?

Approximately, fifty percent of marriages end up in divorce.

Q: What age do young people usually move out of their parents' house?

Usually people move out of their parents' house in Canada, when they're in their late teenage years, or the early adult years. Usually a lot of people move away to go to school. It is not typical that somebody would be in their twenties and still living with their parents, because it is possible to find affordable ac­commodation, so people generally don't wish to live at their parents' at an older age.

Q: Do grandparents normally live together with their children and grandchil­dren?

It is not typical for grandparents to live with their children and grandchildren, except in case of recent immigrants, who come to Canada and they all live to­gether as it's typical in their culture.

Read the following micro-dialogues. Reproduce them. Make up your own ones.

1. - Well, Sam, I'll tell you how it is. You see, I married a widow and this wi­
dow had a daughter. Then my father, being a widower, married our daughter, so
you see, my father is my son-in-law.

- Yes, I see.

- Then, again, my step-daughter is my step-mother, isn't she? Well, then her mother is my grandmother, isn't she? I'm married to her, ain't I? So that makes me my own grandfather, doesn't it?

2. - Hi, Alan! How are you?

- Not bad, Jane, thanks. And you? How's your family?

- Oh, we are surviving! My husband's away on a business trip, which leaves me running the house and looking after the kids on my own.

- That's tough. It takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?

- You're not kidding. I tell you, at 9.00 in the evening I just collapse into an armchair in front of the telly. Still, Dave's back soon, thank goodness.

3. - How are your daughters, Mrs. Adams?

- Thank you, everything's OK. Julie has just been made a managing director of their company. She's certainly the carrier girl of the family.

- And how's Jane and her kids?

- She's a happy housewife. You see, four children fill up almost all her time.

4. - We're having a house-warming party on the 12th. Can you come?

- Yes, you bet. We'd love to! But I didn't know you'd moved.

- Yes, two weeks ago. This flat is much bigger than the old one. A huge kitchen and 3 big rooms.

- It sounds wonderful.

- Yes,but there's much more housework to do!
-That's a drag!

5. - Do you have a flat of your own?

- No, I rent a flat.

- But flats are so expensive to rent.

- Yes, but I prefer to lead an independent life. My parents' flat is rather spa­
cious, but I found a flat as soon as I started my job.