1. FAMILY AND FRIENDS
1. FAMILY AND FRIENDS
1) Wedding: What does the wedding look like?
First, the man and woman get engaged. This is an old tradition in some families, the man visits the woman’s father and asks for „her hand“. In most Czech families there is no engagement anymore but Moravian families often keep the tradition.
Some people make a big wedding preparation, they invite a lot of guests and they book a restaurant or hire a dancing hall for the whole night after the wedding. Some couples prefer the wedding in a church, some pople prefer the wedding in a registry office.
The bride mostly wears a white dress (mostly they hire it somewhere) and the bridegroom wears a suit.
During the ceremony there is a wedding feast. This is a big occasion for the whole family and for friends, it they are invited, because you can always eat and drink a lot. The newlyweds have a wonderful big wedding cake. Then the guests dance, drink and entertain themselves till the morning comes.
Some people consider getting married too old-fashioned. They live together without being married.
Before wedding, men have their „stag night“ and women have their „hen party“ – they celebrate with friends.
2) Flats and housing for young families
These days, it may be too difficult for young couples to find a cheap and good accommodation. Some of them are lucky and inherit or get a flat or a house; for example they get their flat from their parents. They can rent a flat but this is quite expensive and you can’t be sure that you will not move away.
Young people who have their job can take a mortgage. That means, the bank lends them a big sum of money. But you have to pay instalments for twenty years or more because flats and houses are very expensive. It’s hard to get a house under 2 million crowns.
3) Divorce
When husband and wife do not get on well together anymore, sometimes divorce is the best solution. The court decides who will look after the children and how often the other parent can visit them. For children, divorce is often hard but it may be better than listening to their parents quarrelling.
4) Nuclear family, extended family
Nuclear family means parents plus their children.
Extended family means other relatives – in addition to a nuclear family: aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents, in-laws (mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law etc.)
5) Other than traditional kinds of families
Gay/lesbian couples: a gay is a man and a lesbian is a woman who prefers a partner of the same sex. In our country, these couples may register and live in a registered partnership. But they cannot adopt children here.
Polygamy: one man lives with more women and he is married to all of them. This is typical for Arabic countries (Islamic), mostly the more money the man has the more wives he has. In our country, polygamy is illegal. (Only monogamy is legal.)
6) Generation gap
Big differences between younger and older generations is called „generation gap“. These differences can be seen in communication, entertainment, fashion, values, attitudes.
7) Friends
Friends belong to our life because they can make life easier (or harder, if we choose bad friends). We can share our problems with them, have fun with them. We should always trust our friends, and they can rely on us and vice versa.
YOUR TASK:
a) DESCRIBE YOUR NUCLEAR FAMILY! (appeareance, character, hobbies, jobs)
b) DESCRIBE YOUR BEST FRIEND! (appearance, character, hobbies)
c) HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE GAP BETWEEN YOU AND OLDER GENERATIONS?
PICTURE-BASED DISCUSSION