Teaching Aims:
1. Learn and master the new words and expressions of this period.
2. Read a passage about typhoon.
3. Write a passage about how the story will end.
Teaching Important Points:
1. Learn the useful words and expressions:
steady, unbelievable, on board, knock about, all of a sudden, live through, as
though, all at once.
2. Learn to write about terrible weather.
Teaching Difficult Points:
1. Master the expressions and sentences such as dirty weather. She has done for…
2. Improve the students' integrating skills reading skill and writing skill.
Teaching Methods:
1. Fast-reading and reading to get the students to grasp the detailed information.
2. Writing practice to get the students to learn how to describe something terrible.
3. Pair work or group work to get the students to be active in class.
Teaching Aids:
1. a computer
2. a projector
3. a tape recorder
Teaching Procedures:
Step I Greetings and Revision
Greet the whole class as usual.
(Teacher and students learn the new words of this period together.)
T: In last period, you were asked to do Ex. 5 on Page 77. Have you finished it?
(Ss: Yes.)OK. Put your exercise-books on your desks. Let's check the chart first.
(Teacher shows the screen and has the students check their answers.)
Fill in the chart below:
Date: The 24th of August in 79 AD, between two and three in the afternoon. What happened: The writer's uncle died because of the eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.
First: His uncle saw a cloud rising from mountain and decided to go and see it from closer at hand.
Next: His uncle received a letter from his friend's wife asking him for help. He hurried to the place at the foot of Vesuvius to rescue her.
Then: Having rescued Rectina, his uncle decided to rescue his friend Pompy on
the other side of the bay. During his trip, he wrote a report about all he observed, When he saw his friend, he tried to give him courage and let him calm down. In the meantime, he tried to make the scared people calm down.
Finally: His uncle died. Two days later, his body was found. His face suggested that he was not afraid at all.
T: Now who will retell the story? Please retell it briefly.
SA: I'II try. On the 24th of August in 79 AD, between two and three in the afternoon, my mother saw a cloud of unusual size and shape. She called my uncle and me to see it. We knew it was rising from a mountain, but we didn't know exactly where it came from. So my uncle decided to go to a nearer place and see it. He was about to start when he received a letter from his friend's wife, asking him to rescue her because she lived near the volcano Vesuvius and there was no way out except by boat. After rescuing her, my uncle wanted to see the volcano again
because he wanted to know more about it. On his way, he wrote all he observed. It was dangerous, but my uncle was not afraid. He decided to rescue his friend Pompy. When he saw his friend, he tried to calm him and he even took a bath, had dinner and slept. He tried to make the scared people calm down too. Finally, they realized that it was too dangerous to stay there and decided to go outside. But it was too late. My uncle immediately fell down, dead. Two days later, his body was found. His expression suggested that he was not afraid at all even at the last time.
Step II Reading
T: (Teacher shows the screen.) Now we'll learn a new passage about typhoon. Open your books at Page 79. Read the passage fast and answer the questions on the screen. Write your answers on a piece of paper and I'll collect the first five pieces.
Answer the following questions:
1. Where did the ship meet bad weather?
2. What should they do in such terrible weather?
(Students read the text. Then teacher collects the first five pieces of answers,
has a look at them and gives them back to the students. )
T: Who will give us the answers?
SA: I'II answer the first question. When the ship Nanshan was on her way from south to Fuzhou, with Chinese workers returning to their home village, it met bad weather.
SB: The second question: In such terrible weather, they could only move the ship over the high sea and into the very eye of the wind.
T: (Teacher shows the screen.) Very good. Now read the text again and have a discussion with your partner about the questions on the screen. A few minutes later, we'll check the answers.
Find the answers to the following questions:
1. How was the weather in the morning?
2. Why did the captain say that it looked as if a typhoon was coming on?
3. Where were they when the full force of the hurricane struck the ship?
4. What does the sentence “Another one like this, and that's the last of her.”
mean?
5. Why did the captain strike a match?
What did he see?
Suggested answers :
1. In the morning, the weather was fine, for there was no wind.
2. Because he observed the barometer fell steadily and he knew that a terrible
storm would come soon.
3. When the hurricane struck the ship with full force, they were all on the bridge. It was a higher position on the ship.
4. It means that if another white tower of foam(a very big wave)struck the ship,
it would sink.
5. Because the captain wanted to see the barometre, but there was no light. He
saw the barometre stood very low, and the figure on it was the lowest one he
had ever seen in his life. He knew that the worst was to come yet.
Step III Discussion
Sc: Some sentences in the text are hard to understand for me. Can you help me,
Teacher ?
T: I'll be glad to do that. Which sentence?
Sc: The sentence “The heat was close.”
T: Who will explain that to him?
SD: My dictionary says that the word “close” here means “lacking fresh or
freely moving air”.
T: Are there any sentences that you don't understand?
(Teacher collects the sentences and then discusses them with the students.) At
last, teacher writes explanations to some parts of the sentences on the blackboard.)
Bb: Explanations to some parts of the sentences:
1. There's some dirty weather knowing about.
dirty: (of the weather)rough and unpleasant.
2. What's up?
What's up? =What's up with you? = What's the matter with you?
3. She's done for.
done for: finished or worn out or very tired or about to die etc.
4. It was the lowest reading he had ever seen.
reading: a figure shown by a measuring instrument.
T: (Teacher shows the screen.)Look at the screen. There are some useful words and expressions in the text. Read the sentences on the screen, paying attention to them and learn them by heart.
Useful words and expressions:
1. steady: The table isn't steady.
He is making steady progress in his work.
2. unbelievable: Her good luck is unbelievable.
3. on board: The ship had 500 passengers on board.
4. knock about: A storm was knocking about.
5. all of a sudden: ( = suddenly) All of a sudden the ship struck a rock. 6. live through: He has lived through two wars. 7. as though(=as if):
I remember the whole thing as if it happened yesterday.
8. all at once: All at once we heard a shot and the man fell to the ground. You don't do two things all at once.
Step IV Listening and Reading Aloud
T: Now I'll play the tape. When I play it, pay attention to your pronunciation
and intonation, especially in the dialogue. Then read the text aloud. Are you clear about that?
Ss: Yes.
(Teacher plays the tape for students to listen. When students read the text,
teacher goes among the students and corrects their mistakes in pronunciation and intonation. )
Step V Writing
T: As we know, at the end of the reading passage above, Captain Macwhirr has
to sail his ship through a second storm. He expects it to be much worse
than what they have just gone through. Have a discussion in groups and discuss what will happen next.
(Students discuss the end of the story. Teacher goes among the students and
joins in their discussion. Some minutes later, teacher says the following. )
T: You've done very well. After class, write a passage about how the story will end. You can use your imagination and describe how the captain and his men succeed in passing through the hurricane.
Sample writing:
Before the captain could finish his words, a mountain of wave rushed to the ship.
How big it was! It was just like a wall of water. It's hard to see its top! The captain and the engineer were so frightened that they both closed their eyes. It came so violently with a crash. After that, they were all wet. The captain could not find
his cap and the engineer couldn't find his glasses. The Nanshan was full of water
and began to sink. “Pumps! All at pumps!” The captain cried out. All the passengers joined in them. They used all that could be used to get rid of the water.
Some minutes later, there suddenly came the engineer's voice, “The barometre!”
The captain hurried to the bridge. There, they saw clearly that the barometre rose
steadily, “My God !” The captain hugged the engineer, crying with tears dropping
from their eyes!
Step VI Summary and Homework
T: In this period, we’ve learned a passage about typhoon. It's terrible, isn’t it? In the text, we've learned some useful words and expressions. Do you remember them? They are “ steady…”
(Teacher writes them on the blackboard.) After class, besides writing an end for the story, find as many useful words and expressions as possible and make sentences with them. That's all for today. Class is over.
Step VII The Design of the Writing on the Blackboard
Unit 10 Frightening nature
The Fourth Period
There is some dirty weather knowing about.
What's up?
She's done for.
It was the lowest reading he had ever seen.
Useful words and expressions:
Steady, unbelievable, on board, knock about, all of a sudden, live through, as
though , all at once
Step VIII Record after Teaching