2. Class Activities

a. Render your Problem Situation project to the audience in class without resorting to the written copy.

b. Listen to the other speakers carefully, note down any side-thoughts and comments, as well as questions you might address to the speakers on the problem highlighted and exchange your views on it. Evaluate all the presentations in accordance with the forecoming criteria.

c. Comment on the given presentations and speaker performances. Choose the most successful speaker and discuss with your colleagues the key success points of her/his presentation. Rate them in order of relevance.

V. Written Discourse Skills Development

Write a detailed analytical review of the TV talk show Life Styles: “What Makes a Good Parent?” Make use of the questions and prompts in Video Comprehension and Discussion Guide, p.67.

Unit 3. Problems of a Young Family

Study and learn the topical focus vocabulary list. Provide Russian equivalents to the vocabulary items.

Focus Vocabulary List

1. a national preoccupation (with smth); to be in the forefront

2. (to tackle) an overriding (syn. wrenching) problem, syn. colloquial a crunch*

3. to be riddled with smth (~ potholes)*

4. to be faced/confronted with smth (~ a triple quandary); to be caught in a vise*

5. to research smth exhaustively; exhaustive research (syn. in-depth studies of smth)*

6. to fret about smth

7. to take a personal toll (about a problem, issue, etc.)*

8. a childcare option/arrangement/setup

9. full-time care; extensive day care, an acceptable day-care arrangement; a family-care arrangement; a huge demand for infant care; (to provide, purchase) after-school/after-hours supervision (syn. out-of-school care)

10. a care-giver/child-minder/(baby) sitter; an au pair; an in-home caregiver/at-home sitter; a neglectful sitter

11. to apply for a spot (~ at a day-care facility); to put/switch children into day care; communal approaches to child rearing

12. to be under smb’s supervision (syn. to be in the care of smb); to entrust smb to smb (~ children to siblings)

13. to be in self care (syn. to be left on one’s own; to spend time all by oneself); a wastrel, latch-key kids (syn. waifs and strays)

14. to get in with the wrong crowd, ant. to get (also – smb) on the right path

15. expectant mothers; to time smth for smth (~ one's pregnancy for an anticipated opening)

16. to be in the labour force; to pour into/enter/go in the workforce; ant. to give up on work*

17. to seek fulfillment in smth ( ~ a career)

18. unaffordable; to afford (hefty) fees; to cost upwards of (high-quality supervision costing upwards of $100 a week)

19. poverty-level income/low-income parents; dual income; a lower socioeconomic class

20. to settle for smth (~ for things not being perfect)*

21. to maneuver to maintain smth*

22. to work alternating shifts; to work by remote control

23. the right to a leave of absence; sick leave; maternity leaves with job security; a year of unpaid “hardship” leave for childcare

24. on-site or near-site day-care centers

25. to engender (company) loyalty and low turnover; to reduce absenteeism; to pay off handsomely

26. (direct) day-care subsidies; to invoke a provision; the fringe benefits; backers

(~ of after-school programs)

27. disappointingly few (the choices are ~); of distressingly poor quality; a vanishing breed*

28. to accelerate (about a trend, process, etc.)*

29. to outnumber smb by 10 to 1*

30. to plummet (syn. to decrease, shrink, drop, fall steeply)*

31. to fill the void (syn. to fill/close/stop/bridge the gap)*

32. to be rooted in smth (~ the quaint assumption that ...); the root cause*

B