Page 10 - Journeys B2 (Student Book)

1 Identity and Personality

Being a teen is tough. Not only do you face the pressure of making life-changing decisions about your future
before you’ve even reached adulthood, it’s also a time when many people discover more about themselves and
their values. This is the time you really begin to identify as an individual, especially if you are a twin. We spoke to
three twins about that stage in their life.
Margarita, 17 Sam, 19 Ali, 19
“My sister and I were really similar “When I was a child, my parents “Going to high school was a
when we were younger, but that always used to dress me and my big change for my twin brother
definitely changed when we twin brother in the same clothes, and me. Our parents were in the
got to high school. We started but maybe with a different army so we’d moved around
hanging out with different groups colour T-shirt to tell us apart. a lot as children and had a really
of friends and developed much I always hated it and begged to multicultural upbringing. It was
more individual tastes in things be allowed to choose my own great going to school with children
like music and films. We started to clothes. As we grew up, we had from other countries. Then when
prioritise different things, too. She more freedom to decide what we were twelve, our parents left
became much more interested in to wear, and I felt then that the army, and decided to move
the competitive sports which we’d I developed more self-esteem. to a tiny African village to work for
both played as kids, like football That gave me the confidence a humanitarian group. Mum and
and baseball. She used to train to tell my family and friends that Dad talked about sending us off to
every day after school, whereas I wanted to be a dancer, rather boarding school, but we wanted
I was happy just to go home and than a doctor! My parents paid to stay together as a family. It was
read a book. And we both found for me to have dance lessons, really difficult at first because,
it difficult to interact with each and now I’m working as a backup even though everyone was really
other’s friendship group; I wasn’t dancer on music videos for some friendly, we felt a little alienated,
really interested in chatting to her very famous stars.” as we couldn’t speak the local
sporty friends, and she thought a language. It definitely made me
lot of my friends were nerds, so we and my brother closer.”
tended to just do our own thing.
We still got on really well though.”

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