HOW FRIENDSHIPS CHANGE IN ADULTHOOD

“We need to catch up soon”

By: Julie Beck

Published: The Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/how-friendships-change-over-time-in-adulthood/411466/

Level of difficulty: ***

LISTEN TO THE SONGS

·         The Friendship Song - "Friends are Quiet Angels"

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7X7d7Ul6PmI

·         Gift Of A Friend - Demi Lovato ( Lyrics )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsiCoIZPY3Y

BEFORE YOU READ

·         Access the text and scroll down. Watch the short film (6:38 min) about lifelong friendships forged while playing hokey.

QUESTIONS

1.       What makes friendship truly different from all similar relationships is the fact that…………

2.       Regardless of age everyone wants a friend to be ………………………………………………………….

3.       Individuals have to make more of an effort to make time for their friends in adulthood because:

·         They have more responsibilities

·         They live far away

·         They have different priorities

·         All of the above

·         None of the above

·         Other: please specify

4.       What makes friendship such a special relationship is the involvement of free speech/ choice / time / location

5.       What does “that” refer to in the phrase “Their friendships help them do that”?

6.       What makes friendships formed in early adulthood more lasting is the fact that ………………….

7.       What does “this” refer to in the phrase “College is an environment that facilitates this”?

8.       The simple reason why young adults can devote more time to the friends is the relative lack of…………………………………………………………………..

9.       There is a negative / positive correlation between the age of the young person and …………….of their friendships

10.   Read the example Rawlins provides. What conclusion can we draw from this example?

11.   The three factors that take precedence in the life of adults to the detriment of friendship are ………………………,,  ……………………..and……………………

12.   The above is ironic because in adulthood,………………………………

13.   Although people wish friends to be there for them and vice versa, they can’t in modern life due to practical considerations such as…………………….and personal problems such as ………………………

14.   Which of the types of people described in the text with relation to forming friendships has the best of both worlds?

15.   Why did the people in Lang’s study “struggle”?

16.   What change in world view later in life brings friends together?

17.   Lifelong friendships are possible provided people

·         Make the effort

·         Go the extra mile

·         Invest in them

·         All of the above

·         None of the above

18.   What does “this sort of shared language refer to?

19.   Name three of the four main levels of maintaining a relationship?

20.    In which of the three levels you listed above is social media helpful?

21.   Why is social media not helpful with the third level?

22.   Someone you went to school with 30 years ago and were very close to for years until your family moved abroad when you were 18 is a …………………………..friend.

23.   Imagine you met your best friend from secondary school twenty years later and start seeing each other. In what way would your friendship with this person be different? It would be……………………………………………………

24.   Read the conclusion to the text carefully. In this section, the writer…………………….to form the conclusion

WRITING TASK

Use all the information you have gleaned to write an essay about how friendship changes throughout the years. Write an introduction, followed by a three paragraph development to cover childhood and adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood and old age. Write a brief restatement as a conclusion.

HOW FRIENDSHIPS CHANGE IN ADULTHOOD KEY AND TEACHERS NOTES

This is a wonderful text which should appeal to everyone and lead to a good writing task.  Due to the way the text has been written, focus has been on paraphrasing, drawing conclusions, summarizing, identifying references and scanning in the questions.

1.        They lack a formal structure

2.       Somebody to talk to, someone to depend on and someone to enjoy

3.       The first and the third

4.       Choice

5.       Discover their identity and learn what it means to be intimate

6.       People are usually a little more secure in themselves

7.       Socializing

8.       Responsibilities

9.       Negative, density

10.   The very mobile and high level transportation and communication technology society that we have is damaging the social fabric of our lives

11.   Jobs, family and marriage

12.   You don’t have time for the very people who helped you make all these life decisions

13.   Circumstances and bad follow through

14.   Acquisitive people

15.   Because the making friends skill can atrophy

16.   The fact that people begin prioritizing experiences that will make them happiest in the moment

17.   All of the above

18.   Inside jokes and references

19.   Keeping a relationship alive, keeping a relationship at stable level of closeness, making it a satisfying relationship,

20.   The first and the second.

21.   Because with social media it is possible to maintain more relationships but shallowly (and the third level is all about making the friendship a satisfying one)

22.   Commemorative friend

23.   A relationship based on story telling

24.   Summarizes the facts