the fourth period
teaching aims and demands
integrating skill
grammar and writing
get the students to write an email
key points: 1. useful expressions;2.writing3.grammar
teaching methods: written practice and grammar.
teaching procedures
step 1. revision
(1) check the work exercises.
(2)a test for unit 1
to get the students to review the grammar and write the passage on page 88
pal restaurant is one of the many restaurants where people come to eat, drink, talk and enjoy music. it is different from other restaurants because its owners are a group of college students. “we run this restaurant to make friends,” says the manager, hu ming.
but the students’ parents say that they are unhappy about this. “we can’t stop them but we want them to put study in the first place.” teachers do not support them, either. hu ming says that a teacher has already told him that he should spend more time on study.
all the managers say that running a business takes a lot of time. “we don’t have the money to hire enough waiters or waitresses, so we do most of the work ourselves,” says liu tao. “sometimes we have to skip classes to keep an eye on the restaurant,” says another boy.
but liu tao says they are doing ok.
3answers may vary. possible titles/headlines include “study first or business first?” “students running bar”
step 2. integrating skill
instruction: the reading describes different kinds of friends. let the students read the first paragraph and answer questions 1-3, then ask them to think of words that can be used to describe the different kinds of friends. you can also tell the students to choose words from the “5-star friend” activity in the student’s book.
extension what does it take to make a friendship work? the students can work in groups and select one kind of friendship described in the reading and think about the advantages and disadvantages of such a friendship. what problems might arise? how could they be solved? (the students can refer to the listening activity).
suggested answers
1c
2a fair-weather friend will only like you when you are happy and popular; a forever friend is a true friend and will help you when you are in trouble.
3list the characteristics of each kind of friend:
a fair-weather friendonly likes you when you are happy and popular, doesn’t help you when you have problems. (students can add more)
a school friendstudies and plays together with you, sees you in school. (students can add more)
a forever friendknows everything about you, always listens to you. (students can add more)
4sarah helped janet overcome her shyness and deal with her classmates. janet helped sarah study math.
5answers may vary.
6you can make friends with people from other countries by reading e-pal/pen pal ads in newspapers or on the internet.
7one of the advantages of having friends in other countries is that you can learn more about the world. you can also learn more about other languages and cultures. there are a few disadvantages, including the fact that it can be difficult to be friends if you live far away from each other.
8answers may vary. one possible interpretation is that all the people around us could be our friends; friendship is a two-way relationship and it takes work and patience to develop a good friendship.
step 3writing
ask the students to read the e-mail and find out what the girl wants to know more about. tell the students to think about what they want to tell the girl. as a pre-writing activity, the students can list the things they want to include in the e-mail. when the students have written the e-mail, you can compare what they have written.
assessing
a learner log is a set of questions that will help the students to reflect on how and what they have learnt. the students are asked to rate their “comfort level” and summarize what they have learnt. you can use this as an activity in class or let the students complete the log at home. throughout the book we offer different assessment tools and we recommend that you try as many of them as possible. learner logs and other similar assessment tools are simple to use and have a positive effect on the students’ learning and learning habits over time. the students may find it difficult to answer the questions at first, but if you use the log consistently it will help the students pay more attention to their learning strategies and set better goals. once the students are used to the format and expectations, you can use the learner log and other assessment activities in combination with discussion and goal-setting activities.
step 4. post -integrating skills
ask the students to read the e-mail ads in unit 1 and choose one to reply to. before the students start writing, they should think about what they want to write.
extensionuse real e-pal ads from the internet and let the students find a real e-pal from another country. if your students do not have easy access to the internet, you can simply copy more e-pal ads and bring them to class.
sample e-mail
hi jane:
my name is xiao fei and i come from hunan. hunan is in the south of china. i am a middle school student and i like speaking english. i read your e-pal ad and i would like to be your e-pal. you wrote that you like rock music. can you tell me what bands you like? have you ever heard any chinese rock bands? you also wrote that you like talking and joking around. i do too! i think you and i can be good friends. please send me an e-mail as soon as possible.
xiao fei
assessment criteria:
an e-mail is less formal than a letter and more formal than speaking. a good response to the e-pal ads should include information about who you are and where you are from. try to encourage the students to use indirect speech to refer to the e-pal ad.
step 5. homework
(1) finish off the exercises in the workbook.
(2)write an email into my email-box.
summary the key points in this unit
evaluation of teaching:
the fifth periodstudents have anintegrating examination
the sixth periodteachers comment the examination and review the unit.