Unit 6 Going West Reading (Period 2)

Hu Cong from No. 51 Middle School

Step 1. Lead in & Review

T: Good morning, boys and girls. Today I’m a little bit nervousActually since I got the news of having this class, it has become a burden to me. You know what burden means? (Bb: burden)

Ss:

T: But in order to perform well, I told myself that I should leave the burden behind. So leave behind means …? (Bb: leave behind)

Ss: ……

T: yes, it means not to take sth along.

There’s another example. Which one is the correct answer? What does “leave behind” mean in this sentence? Does it have the same meaning as the previous sentence?

Ss: No. In the previous sentence, “leave behind” means “not to take along”, while in this multiple choice, “leave behind” means “to get away from sp”.

T: Yes, excellent. In fact we’ve learnt some phrases related to “leave” in senior 1 and 2. I’ll show you the sentences and please try to guess the meaning of each phrase.

(get the Ss to read these sentences aloud )

(Leave behind : not to take along

Leave out : not include, omit

Leave alone : not to disturb sb )

T: since you’ve known the meanings of the phrases, please fill in the blanks by using “leave out/ alone/ behind ”.

T: have you finished ?

Ss: yes.

T: Ok. Let’s check the answers.

Step 2. Review the route (Individual Work)

T: Yesterday we learnt a passage about going west. Are you interested in the west?

Ss: Yes.

T: I’m also interested in the west. So are the author’s family. They can’t wait to leave their home behind after reading a book about California. So let’s start their journey. Look at a map of their traveling to the west. Could you please help them describe the route? You can refer to your book and after a few minutes, I’ll check your answers.

(A few minutes later, ask a group of students to read their answers aloud.)

Here, what does “beyond” mean ( beyond the Rocky Mountains). Which beyond has the same meaning as the example?

Ss: here, “beyond” means 在…那邊。

T: yes, right. And how do you understand another “ beyond”?

Beyond : 1. at a more distant point

2. not within the range of

Look at the screen. Choose the correct answer.

Beyond here means “not within the range of”. For example, the text is very difficult. So it is ….

Ss: beyond my imagination.

T: “Sometimes the wagons had to be lifted and pulled up, where there were no roads.” “pull up ” here means what? (to make sth upwards) Now I’ll show you a vivid picture to let you come to a better understanding of this phrase. What can you see in the picture?

Ss: …

T: the wagon can’t move. It had to be lifted and pulled up.

In which sentence does pull up share the same meaning as the example? And what does “pull up” mean in sentence A?

And which place does “where” refer to?

Ss: …

T: It refers to the place where there were no roads. Where 在這里指的是一個地點，引導一個地點狀語從句. For example, I am standing where there is a computer. And for you , while in class don’t move the seat where you are. Clear?

Ss: Yes.

T: let’s do a multiple choice. Which one is correct?

Ss: …

T: here where also refers to a place.

Step 3. Study of Language

T: We know that their journey was hard and long. They ran into many difficulties. And it was just one of them. Para 4 gave us another examples. Could you please find out some sentences that can describe their difficulties?

Sentences: 1. We had been accustomed to seeing horses and oxen suffering from heat, thirst and starvation. 2. For miles both sides of the road were lined with dead animals and abandoned wagons.

How do you understand “be accustomed to”? (Bb: be accustomed to )Can you find an expression we learnt before to replace it?

Ss: yes, we can use “be used to” to replace it.

T: Good. One of my friends also wants to go west. But he has a request. He is not accustomed to travel by boat. Is this sentence right or wrong?

Ss: wrong.

T: so how to correct?

Ss: he is not accustomed to traveling by boat.

T: there’s another three sentences on the screen. Read them aloud and try to find out what they have in common.

Ss: (read aloud) to has the same function.

T: what function does “to” act as ?

Ss: prep.

T: yes, so we should say …

Ss: be accustomed to doing sth.

T: Good. Now please put this sentence into English. 他們還不習慣住在這個繁華的城市。

Ss: ……

T: and along the road, we can see many dead animals and abandoned wagons.

T: Finally they got to the promised land, and their journey finished. Can you use another phrase in the text to replace “finish”?

Ss: yes. We can use “come to an end” to replace “finish”.

T: come to an end, we can also say “put an end to sth”

First make a sentence by using “come to an end” 他們去東部的旅行結束了。

Now change this sentence by using “put an end to ” or “put … to an end”.

Ok. There’re still 5 minutes left. Can we end our class now?

No, we can’t leave what we have to do behind.

Step 4. My diary (Pair work)

T: The author kept diaries during their journey. I got one piece of it. But some words are missing. Could you please help me to finish the diary? Discuss with your partner, and the words and phrases in the box may be helpful.

(after a few minutes)

T: Now, check the answers.

Step 5. Discussion (Group Work)

T: From the diary and the text we know a lot about their journey and have learnt many useful expressions. If you want to write an account of a journey, what will you write about? You can refer to your text and the language points we have learnt.

Ss: (after a while )

T: could you tell me your opinion?

Ss: …

T: usually an account of a journey is made up of 3 parts, the start , the process and the end.

And what sentences pattern and phrases cam we use to write it?

Go over what we have learnt and the text, try to find them out.

Ss: …….

T: Let’s list these words or phrases.

Step 6. Homework

T: This semester Wenzhou Middle School received 155 students from Xinjiang. Their journey to Wenzhou is also long and hard. They covered a great distance, and passed through many provinces.

Here’s some information about their journey to the east. They spent many hours in the train and arrived in Shanghai and then changed to take a bus to Wenzhou. Please use what we learnt today to write a short passage about their “Going West” and try to use as many as possible.

Because time is limited, I’ll leave it as your homework.