Blended: Blended Families

Family that includes children from a previous marriage of the wife, husband, or both parents

Talk to a partner:

1. Do you live in a blended family? Do you know any blended families?

2. What are the difficulties a blended family may face?

3. What are the advantages of living in a blended family? And disadvantages?

4. Are blended families commonplace where you live?

5. Do you think blended families are good or bad for society? Explain it.

Watch the movie segment and observe what kinds of blended families you managed to see in the snippet.

What do you think about this kind of gathering of blended families in a resort? What is the main goal doing it? Would you join one?

MOVIE SEGMENT - BLENDED FAMILY

What Happened to Monday: Birth Control, Explosion of population

Imagine that we are facing severe overpopulation problems, with scarce food for the population. People are  dying of starvation at a rate that it made the whole world act together. Only one third of the population must be alive and the other two thirds will have to starve to death because of food shortage. This situation won't change.

I. Talk to a partner:

1. Develop a plan to reduce the population. Decide how your plan is designed, all the steps the world must take, the consequence of such a plan, and what to do after the reduction of the population.

PRESENT YOUR PLAN TO A COMMITTEE THAT WILL CHOOSE THE BEST PLAN OF THE CLASS.

2. Read some of the birth control measures taken in different countries and decide if they were  effective/fair  plans, and express your opinions about it.

• A marriage at a tender age leads to a long span for giving birth. Some governments have suggested that there would be a significant decline in world population if the legal age for marriage is made 20 years.

•  End all policies that reward parents financially based on the number of children they have.

• In 1979, China started the "one child per family policy" . This policy stated that citizens must obtain a birth certificate before the birth of their children. The citizens would be offered special benefits if they agreed to have only one child. Citizens who did have more than one child would either be taxed an amount up to fifty percent of their income, or punished by loss of employment or other benefits. Moreover, unplanned pregnancies or pregnancies without the proper authorization would need to be terminated.

•  In the early '80's, sterilization target goals were set and made mandatory for people who had two children. At its peak in 1983, tubal ligations, vasectomies, and abortions amounted to thirty-five percent of the total birth control methods 
• Inspired by http://maps.unomaha.edu/peterson/funda/sidebar/chinapop.html

 3. Watch the movie segment.

1. What is the situation our planet is facing in the segment?
2. What happened to the plan of developing genetically modified food?
3. What did the doctor propose to do with the children who will not comply with the one-only child policy?
4. What's your opinion about that plan?
5. Use your imagination. How will the children's grandfather cope with the seven children and hide them from the one-child policy controllers?

MOVIE SEGMENT DOWNLOAD - WHAT HAPPENED TO MONDAY