Talking about the Family

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Unit 3, Lesson 3A, Exercises 3 and 7, Brianna. My mum’s life isn’t easy at all. She has to cope with a lot. She works long hours in the hospital. She’s a nurse.

And she also does most of the cooking and housework. But she manages it all somehow, without complaining. My brother and I argue all the time about who’s turned it is to do the washing up or empty the bins. My mum always says she’d rather do it herself than listen to us arguing. I feel bad about it, really, because I think she’s amazing.

Ryan. I’m quite an easygoing person, I think. I mean, I don’t get annoyed very easily. But I’m always disagreeing with my dad about, well, about nearly everything. We have a completely different way of looking at the world.

Even though on the surface we like the same things, like football and films. If we weren’t in the same family, we’d probably never speak to each other. But because we live in the same house, we have to. I always complain to my mum about him. And she always listens.

She’s a good listener. Unlike my dad. Sophia. My granddad lives with us. He’s lived with us for about ten years, so I know him really well.

And I’ve learned a lot from him. He’s had an amazing life, and I love listening to his stories about his early life. In many ways, I’d say he’s my best friend, at least within my family. Even though we aren’t that alike. You see, I don’t always find it easy to talk to my parents.

My dad’s always too busy. And my mum’s always telling me to do my schoolwork. She says it ten times every evening. It drives me mad. That’s why I’d rather be with granddad.

He’s cool. Isaac. My cousin Noah is the top of his class in just about every subject. I really wish I was like that. I mean, I work hard on everything, but I still don’t do that well.

I’m average, I suppose. But Noah’s a genius, and he doesn’t mind admitting it. He’s always telling me about his incredible exam results, that he got 95% in this exam, or 98% in that exam. I just smile and try to look pleased for him. But really, I wish he didn’t go on about it so much.

And in some ways, I wish I was more like him. Ella. I’ve got a twin brother called Sam. Because we’re twins, people assume that we’re going to be similar. You know, have the same hobbies and interests, that kind of thing.

But we haven’t. In fact, we couldn’t be more different. He’s into football. I hate it. I like books.

He never reads. His favourite subjects at school are all the sciences, physics, chemistry. But I like history, music, English, languages. It’s odd, isn’t it? The only thing we share is a birthday.

Apart from that, everything about us is different. Even our hair. I’m the only one in the family with black hair. Dad’s always teasing me about it. He says maybe the hospital gave them the wrong baby to take home.

But that can’t be true, because I really look like Mum. David. My dad is really close to his sister Kate. We visit her quite often, which is fine, because she’s really nice. Her husband, my uncle, is nice too.

But he makes me a bit nervous, because he’s always playing tricks on me. Like once, when I was washing up in the kitchen, he put a plastic eyeball in the sink. It really gave me a shock when I picked it up. I know he’s just trying to be funny, but I don’t really like that kind of joke. Anyway, I don’t complain about it.

My aunt says it’s good that I’m so patient, but still, I wish he’d stop doing it. I can’t relax when he’s around.