Comprehension, based on kate's story answers the question

a) Based on Kate’s side of the story,

1) Why did Kate insist for the professional help for her father?

2) Kate had a roomy house, why didn’t she agree to have him in?

3) What could James do that he actually did not?

b) Read the following words that describe emotions and personality traits; look the words you are not familiar with up in your dictionary. Then, decide which words describe James and which describe Kate. Explain why.

Answer :

A) -

1) Kate insist for the professional help for her father because If anything happened in the house, then she wouldn't be able to cope as she’s not a doctor .

2) She didn’t agree to have him in a roomy house because it means changing all the house  ,to have a bathroom on the ground floor and turning the dinig room into a bedroom since he wouldn't be able to get upstairs .

3) James could look after his father taking him to the toilet and bathing him as he’s a man unlike his sister who seemed so wrong for her to do that furthermore  he could easily have had a care worker to help him look after his  Dad during the day ,as he has lots of money, and then he could have taken over when he got back from work.

B) A Word that’s describe James is  selfish as he excused himself from taking care of his father by saying  was he was working while he could easily have had a care worker to help him look after his  Dad during the day and then he could have taken over when he got back from work but he was just trying to push all the responsibility of taking care of his father on his sister by forcing her to change all her life while his life will remaine stable just as before .

C) Meanwhile the words that’s describe Kate emotions are resentful, Pressurised . She was so pressurised by her brother to take care of their father who needed professional help while she’s not a doctor or someone who could really do something usefull if anything happend to him .Her brother kept saying since she has space then their dad should come into her house but for her that means she needed to change all the house to become suitable for their dad besides that she need to look after him by taking him to the toilet and bathing him and that seemed so unconfortable for both of them and much more easier to her brother as he’s a man So she felt so resentful for her brother and all the situation as she though that he was trying to get her to do all the work and change her life while his life will remain the same as before and that’s not fair at all for her

Shadowing: Recall Kate’s tale. Take her role and tell us what happened to your dad and defend yourself against James’ accusations. Feel free to use your notes.

1. Recall Kate’s tale :  audio file lien (n°1 :  ) , (n°2 : )

7 years ago, my father was diagnosed with skin cancer, fortunately he discovered it fast, so his situation wasn't dangerous, however he needed to remove the cancer through surgery, but my father was a real hypochondriac which means a person who is abnormally anxious about their health., so he got depressed and couldn't take the news positively, his mental health was deteriorating, and he was acting like he’s going to die we all tried to cheer him up and explain his disease to him and trying to convince him that he will only need a local anesthesia, and he will be fully conscious during the surgery, so there’s nothing to be worry about, despite that, his situation was getting worse to the point he refused to do the surgery and as he was completely convinced that it was a deadly disease and the surgery will only make him suffer even more. So during one of our daily conversation about the topic I tried to be harsh on him, I even yelled at him saying that he don't need a deadly disease to die, he can just fell from his chair and crash his head on the floor, and he will be dead as we’re all going to die in the end and even if he refused to go, I will take him to do it any way. He got mad of me and refused to talk to me after that and my sisters blamed me for being so harsh on our dad as they said  he was just afraid, and we should be more considerate, but I will never regret doing that because I knew he needed someone to push him to do it, just like when he forced me to go to school despite my loud crying when I was young he also needed me to force him to make the right decision, so eventually he agreed to do the surgery and get rid of that cancer forever.

Audio file lien (n°1 :  http://destyy.com/efZCHu)

Production :

Having heard the two sides of the story, who do you side with? Why? What would you do if you were in Kate’s/James’ stead?

Answer :

1) By listening to the two parties, I would sided with Kate  because i think what she said was more logical he was the father for both of them so why she should take care of him all by herself , her brother was the one who runs away from his responsibility as a son but he tried to put the blame on her for that.He could at least offers her financial help but he didn't and that was so selfish of him.

2) If I were Kate, I would have decided to talk to James seriously about the whole situation in order to find a solution that satisfy all of us as he was the father of both of us and we should share all the hardships of taking care of him and i would propose that if we decided that our father will stay at my house then james will help me financially to change what was needed to change and provide for me a care worker to help me look after our  Dad during the week and then he could have taken over on the weekends.

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