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Happiness is... Family?!
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- Parent Category: Lower-Intermediate News Lessons
- Category: Relationships Lessons
- Written by Chris Cotter
What makes teens and twenty-somethings happy? According to a survey, spending time with family made people in this age group the most happy. Time with friends came in second place, and time with a boyfriend or girlfriend came in third place. Almost no one said money brought happiness.
Seventy-three percent said that a good relationship with their parents made them feel good. In addition, when they looked for a role model, almost half of the people who took the questionnaire mentioned one of their parents. Moms ranked higher than dads, though.
Some of the discoveries were less positive. White people generally felt happier than black people or Hispanics in all economic categories. And as for stress, kids had a 10% higher rate than adults. Younger respondents said school stressed them out the most. Older people were worried about jobs and finances.
The survey also wanted to know whether today's youth will remain happy in the future. Sixty-two percent of teens believed the future will bring more happiness. However, they also expect to have a more difficult life than their parents.
Preview some of the lesson material:
Brainstorm: Brainstorm with a partner(s) words and ideas associated with "happiness" for 2 minutes. Spend another 5 minutes or less discussing the words and ideas together.
True or False? : Guess (before the article) or answer (after the article) whether the sentence is true or false. If false, correct the sentence.
- According to the article, what makes young people the happiest?
- Who is the main role model for today's youth?
- According to the article, which ethnic group was the happiest?
- Who had more stress, adults or kids?
- What do young people think of the future?
post-Comprehension: Talk about the following questions in pairs/groups. Remember to support your answers!
- What makes a family successful? Why do you think so?
- Were you happy as a child? Why/not? How about now?
- Many people think the future will be more difficult. What do you think?
- Who was your role model as a child? Why?
- If you won $1,000,000, would you be happy? Why/not?
Google Search: Type "happiness" into Google. Look at the websites, and/or read additional articles on this topic. Discuss or write an essay about your findings.
