Period 2 Reading

The General Idea of This Period:

This period is about the reading of the passage School Life in the UK. It will help you to learn more about school life in the UK and the differences between that in the UK and in China. Meanwhile you can learn some reading strategies such as skimming and scanning.

Teaching Aims:

Train the students’ reading ability.

Learn some useful words and expressions.

Learn more about school life in the UK and the differences between school life in the UK and in China

Teaching Important Points:

Help the students to understand the passage better.

Learn and master some important words and phrases in this period.

Teaching Difficult Point:

How to help the students improve their reading ability and understand the passage better.

How to master the important language points in this passage.

Teaching Methods:

Fast reading to get the general idea of the text.

Careful reading to understand the passage better.

Discussion to help the students understand what they’ve learned better.

Explanation to help the students master some language points.

Teaching Aids:

A tape recorder.

A multimedia.

Teaching Procedures:

Step 1 Greetings

1. Greet the whole class as usual.

2. Check their home work if any

Step 2 Reading

T: Last time we learned about some differences between Chinese and British school life. Today we are going to read a passage by Wei Hua, who once studied in the UK. She will give us some detailed information about the school life in the UK.

T: This is the first time to read a passage, so first let’s share some reading strategies:

Reading strategies: skimming and scanning

We skim a text when we want to get a general idea of what it is about. We look at the titles and headlines, the first and last sentences of paragraphs and the first and last paragraphs as well as pictures and charts to guess what the text is about.

When we want to find certain information in a text quickly, we scan the text for key words and phrases dates, numbers, etc. We do not need to read the whole text word by word.

T: Now let’s skim the text quickly and answer these questions. Hand up when you get the answers.

(T show the questions on the screen.)

1. How long did Wei Hua stay in Britain?

2. What was the name of Wei Hua’s class teacher?

3.What did Wei Hua make in her woodwork class?

Suggested answers:

1. For one year.

2. Mr Heywood.

3. A small table.

T: Now let’s read the passage again carefully to check the answers. Underline new words in the text. Meanwhile, some more questions are waiting for you.

(First go through the questions so that they know what to find out. Give them a chance to discuss with their partners if they want)

1. What time do British Schools usually begin?

2. What time do they usually end?

3. On average, how many students are there in a class in the UK?

4. Why did Wei Hua find her homework difficult at the beginning of her study in the UK?

5. On Tuesdays, what did Wei Hua do in evening?

6. What do British students usually eat after their main meal?

7. Which British city did Wei Hua go to?

(Write down the new words the students have just listed.)

(T may begin with the T/F questions orally and this is also a good time to test their listening abilities as well as their comprehension of the text.)

T: First some true or false questions. If it is false, please try to correct it.

1. Wei Hua likes the school hours in the UK.

2. Chinese schools encourage students to work hard.

3. Wei Hua ‘s favorite teacher was Miss Burke.

4. British students have fixed classroom and classmates.

5. British students can only study two languages: English and French.

6. British students eat a lot of fruit.

7. Wei Hua enjoyed playing football.

Suggested answers:

1. 9 a.m

2. 3:39 p.m

3. About 29

4. Because all the homework was in English.

5. She had an extra French class on Tuesday evening. 6. Desserts.

7. Manchester. ( You may refer to football ot the football team there. )

( You may have some links on the screen when you want to explain those useful expressions , or just explain those on the Bb listed by the students . )

Language points :

1. experience

n. [ U] He is an old teacher with much experience.

c.f. He is an experienced teacher.

n. [C] My grandfather likes to tell us about his wonderful experiences in the war time.

v. During the war time , my grandfather experienced a hard time .

2. as : since : because

I could get up an hour later than usual as schools in China begin before 8 a. m .

I felt lucky as all my teachers were very helpful .

My English improved a lot as I used English every day .

Cooking was really fun as I learned how to buy , prepare and cook food .

3 sound link-v.

The music sounds so pleasant .

That sounds a good idea .

I hope I don’t sound as if I’m criticizing you .

It sounded like a train going under my house .

4. average

n. The average of 4, 5 and 9 is 6.

These marks are well above / below average .

On (the ) average.

We fail one student per year on average .

Adj. The average age of the students is 16 in our class .

Rainfall is about average for the time of year .

v. This car averages 40 miles to the gallon .

Meals average out at $ 10 per head .

5. attend : go to

6. earn : get something because you have done something good.

7. challenging : difficult in an interesting way that tests your ability

8. extra : more than usual

9. prepare : make something ready

10. drop : give up

11. desserts : sweet food eaten at the end of a meal .

12. Present attributive clauses and illustrate them to the students:

I sat next to a girl whose name was Diane .

Step 3 Listening and Consolidation

T:Now Let’s listen to the tape. You may follow it while listening,and please pay attention to your pronunciation.

(The teacher plays the tape for the students to listen. After that the teacher gives the students a few minutes to read aloud the passage.Meanwhile,the teacher asks the students to try to remember some details.)

T:Please turn to Page 5.Let’s do Exercise E. Complete the letter to Wei Hua using the words below.

Suggested answers:

1. experiences

2. literature

3. desserts

4. headmaster

5. different

6. life

7. preparing

Step 4 Discussion

T:Now you’ve known much about Wei Hua’s school life in the UK.From the text we know that they have a variety of subjects to choose from.You may be quite puzzled whether it is necessary for senior students to learn some of them,such as so many languages and woodwork. Here let’s have a discussion:Should students learn more languages? Why or why not?

What subjects would you like to take if you could choose? Why?

T:Use the conwersation below as an example:

A:What subjects do you like best and least?

B:I really enjoy Woodwork and Art classes,because I like making things,but I ‘m not very good at History.

A:I like English and Chinese best.Do you think we should learn more foreign languages?

Perhaps we should learn….

Step5 Summary and Homework

T:Today we’ve learned a text about Wei Hua’s experience in the UK.First we learned some reading strategies:skimming and scanning. Master these and put them into use in future while reading. Through reading we know there are many differences both in the timetable and in the curriculum.Read the passage after class and get familiar with these language points.Have a further discussion with your partners about the topic in Part F.