Family life suffers from activities.

1. Family life suffers from activities.

2. After-school club

3. After-school activities What things do you do after school? How much time do you spend on each thing?

4. Family life boring relax stress not doing much tired piano lessons club busy Talk about your family life. Is your family life very busy? Do you often join in after-school clubs? Do you feel tired? Do you suffer from exhaustion and stress? Do you like this kind of life?

5. Reading Family life suffers from activities. • Life for Cathy Hagner and her three children is very busy. Their school days and her job are busy enough, but after that, Cathy still has to take the two boys from football to basketball. Then she has to drop off her daughter at piano lessons. The tired family doesn't get home until 7pm. There is a little time for a quick supper before homework.

6. Family life suffers from activities. • The Hagners are like many American and British parents whose children are always running a race. Parents take their children from activity to activity to prepare them for their future. It seems that raising a genius is more important than raising a happy child. Doctors across the country say many children are suffering from exhaustion and stress. Teachers are teaching exhausted kids in the classrooms.

7. Family life suffers from activities. • Most children attend after-school clubs. Activities include sports, language learning, music, and math classes (sometimes for children as young as four.) It isn't anything new. There have always been pushy parents. But now they push their children a lot more. Mothers see their children's friends doing a lot of things and they feel their own children should do the same.

8. Family life suffers from activities.

9. Family life suffers from activities.

11. Words and expressions Match the words and expressions with their meanings • genius a. you can do it by yourself • exhaustion b. take someone somewhere • pushy c. so tired that you can't do anything • pressure d. do less of one thing and more of another • psychiatrist e. always trying to get more • independent f. someone who is very intelligent • drop off g. stressed because you are too busy • take the middle h. a doctor who studies how road people think

12. Reading comprehension 1. Dee Knox in London knows all about the pressure on kids at a young age. Parents compare how many _________ their children attend. 2. TerriApter says once children leave home, they might find it difficult to be ______________. 3. Cathy Hagner's sons play ________ and __________. She has to take her daughter to_____________. 4. Doctors say children are showing signs of ___________ and________. 5. Children really need time and ________ to _____. • Complete the sentences. parties independent football basketball piano lessons exhaustion stress play freedom

13. Discussion • Is your family a democratic family? • Who does the housework in your home? • Who makes the decisions in your family? • Do you think many children are suffering from exhaustion and stress. • Do you think what kind of family life is better?

14. Different family lives

15. What’s your family life?

16. Making a survey • Do you often argue with your parents? • Do you usually help your mother with housework? • How much pocket money do you get? • What are the rules about watching TV in your home?… …

17. Pairwork • What are the things that give you the most stress? Think of solutions to them.

18. 中央电教馆资源中心制作 2004. 09