the second period
teaching objectives
1.develop the students’ comprehension of explorative passages, especially their ability of analyzing the structure of such kind of articles.
offer the students chances of self-culture by working in groups and seeking information about the film out-
side the class.
3.infuse the students with basic knowledge about the friend and friendship
4. learn some words and useful expressions from the text.
teaching approach
1.communicative approach should be used throughout the class. stress should be laid on:
2.learner-centeredness; learning-centeredness 3.task-based learning
4.activity-based teaching (class work; individual work; group work)
teaching type: reading comprehension
teaching procedure
step 1. report in class a student is asked to report something interesting he or she picks up from newspaper or magazines.
step 2.review and check ss have a word dictation and check their homework in workbook
exercise 2 suggested sample sentences
1) my friend alan is brave. he once saved the life of a little girl who had fallen into a lake.
2) my friend bob is loyal. he wouldn’t talk to charles whom i don’t like at all.
3) my friend david is wise. he always gives me the best advice.
4) my friend george is a handsome boy, but he doesn’t like to study and always dreams of becoming a model.
5) my friend harry is a smart student. he always asks good questions in class.
step 3 pre-reading ss are asked to listen to the tape and find the things they are using or talking about.
practising on p87 vocabulary
1 “the books are too heavy! i think it’s going to break.”
2 “oh no! i forgot where i put it! i have written down all the important phone numbers.”
3 “yum! you have bought it at last. we can have fried fish for dinner. mmm … i can’t wait to put this fish in it. ”
4 “hands up! don’t move or i’ll shoot. give me all your money!”
5 “ooooh! i look very nice in this new dress!!!”
6 a: i think we’re lost. what should we do now? b: don’t worry. i have it here and i know how to use it.
7 “ouch! i hit myself with it.”
8 a: hurry up! it’s so dark here. i can’t see anything.
9 “it is shaking badly. am i going to die? help! … oh, thank god!”
10 “i feel sad when it comes to the part in which the two friends become enemies.”
answers 1 rope 2 notebook 3 pan 4 gun 5 mirror 6 compass 7 hammer 8 match 9 airplane 10 movie
get the students to think about what it would be like to be alone on a deserted island. the activity is not direct linked to a reading strategy or a structure in the reading, but is intended to be used as a preliminary activity related to the previous parts of the unit. the pre-reading exercise also gives the students an opportunity to practise giving opinions and making decisions.
explain the situation to the students and give them time to think about what they would bring. the activity should generate different choices and opinions, thus making it a good opportunity for discussion. tell the students to work in groups. ask them to describe the usefulness of each item in the box and then decide on the three most useful ones. make sure that each group member gets an opportunity to speak. encourage the students to use the structures i think… because…/ i could use it to…/ it could be used to …/ …would be more important than … because … ask one student from each group to write their answers on the blackboard. compare answers from different groups and have a short discussion. e.g. 1.i think a knife would be the most useful item, because i could use it to kill animals and cut the meat. it could also be used to cut wood. 2.i also think a box of matches would be useful because i could use the matches to make fire. if i had a fire, i could cook food, stay warm and keep wild animals away. more importantly, if someone saw the fire, they would come and save me. 3.i think a book would be more useful than a radio, because you don’t need batteries to read. and when i read, i would learn about life and the world and forget my loneliness.
extension 1: ask the students to think about how the things could help them in other situations, for example, if they were lost in a desert or a forest. extension 2: let the students talk about how they would feel in an extreme situation. how would they feel if they were alone on a deserted island? (angry, desperate, lonely, hungry, worried, hopeful, happy, afraid etc.) what would they do to try to overcome these feelings? extension 3: ask the students if they have read books or seen movies about island life, for example, robinson crusoe, cast away, six days and seven nights, etc. how did the main characters survive? how were they rescued? extension 4 after the discussion, you can ask the students to consider the similarities and differences between spiritual and materialistic needs, i.e. the thingswe need and the social interaction we need.
step 4 reading listen to tape and finish the following items
chuck’s ffriend
background information on the reading :the film cast away, starring tom hanks, depicts a man’s struggle with solitude and his journey towards self-knowledge. the film shows us how chuck, a busy manager who never has “enough time,” ends up on an island with nothing but time. he manages to survive on the island and he realizes the importance of friends and friendship. the text, summarized below, describes his experience and the lessons he learns from his unusual friend, a volleyball he calls wilson.
guess the meaning of a word or phrase in the text, tell them to mark the word or phrase. ask the students to list words or phrases that they don’t know. explain important ones if necessary, but try offering more context of certain words until the students can guess the meaning. don’t spend too much time going through the new words.
suggestion for teaching some of the vocabulary of the reading text:
strategy
what it means
what is the text about?
clues
the picture shows a man who lives like a wild man, alone. he has to take care of himself. the title says that the text is about chuck’s friend.
what is the text about?
world knowledge
if i look at the picture and read the story, i may recall other stories about a man living alone on an island, e.g. robinson crusoe. in those stories, the man has to learn to find water and food and take care of himself.
what kind of words will be used?
genre
the reading passage is a sort of film review, so i can guess the text will use words about stories, characters, acting and perhaps unusual things that do not exist in the real world.
cast away
clues form) + skip + clues (context) +look up
the words are in italics, so i know that it must be the name of a film or a book. i can probably skip the word and look it up in the dictionary later. if i read the text i will learn that the film is about a man who has to live alone on an island, away from his friends, because of an accident, so i can guess that “cast away” refers to the man in the story and his situation. the dictionary says to be left alone on an island after your ship has sunk.
play
genre +
context
tom hanks is a famous actor. he “plays” a man named chuck noland in the film cast away. i can guess that plays means acts.
survive
context +worldknowledge
when airplanes crash (fall down), most people die. if, like chuck, they don’t die, they go on living, so i can guess that to survive means to go on living.
deserted
context
the text tells me that chuck lands on a deserted island. the text also tells me that there are no people on the island, so i can guess that a deserted place means a place where there are no people.
challenge
context
the text tells me that there are different challenges in chuck’s life — he has to collect water, hunt for food, and learn to survive without friends. i can guess that a challenge is something difficult that you have to do.
share
context +
lookup
i know that i like to talk to my friends when i am happy or sad. if i am sad, talking to a friend makes me feel better. i can guess that “to share” happiness or sorrow means something like “tell others about how i feel” or “make others understand how i feel”. the dictionary says that share means to have the same interest or feeling as someone else.
unusual
form
i know that usual means “something that happens all the time” or “normal.” if i know that the prefix “un-“ means not, i can guess that unusual means not normal or strange.
such as
context
a lucky pen and a diary are examples of favourite objects, so i can guess that such as means for example or “like.”
summary ask them to look at the picture and ask one student to point to the picture and retell the main idea of the text.
1chuck noland, a successful businessman, lands on a deserted island after a plane crash.
2chuck has to learn basic survival skills on the island. in order to cope with his loneliness, chuck develops a friendship with a volleyball he calls wilson.
3five years’ life on the island teaches chuck the importance of having friends and being a good friend. wilson may just be a volleyball, but their friendship is real and in some ways better than chuck’s friendships in the past.
4human friends and unusual friends are important in our life. friends and friendship help us understand who we are and how we should behave.
step 5 post-reading exx on page 4 ask the students to answer questions about the story. e.g. how can a volleyball become chuck’s friend? what does chuck learn about himself when he is alone on the island?
suggested answers to the questions
1 he has to learn how to collect water, hunt for food, and make fire. more importantly, he has to learn to live without friends.
2 he has learnt a lot about himself when he is alone on the island. for example, he has come to realize that friendship is important in his life, that he hasn’t been a good friend, and that he should care more about his friends. (the students may also use present tense, e.g. he learns a lot about himself. he realizes that…)
3 open for discussion. the students can list basic survival skills.
let the students discuss the question in groups. the question can be discussed in the form of a role-play where each student represents one of the four people and has to persuade the others that he or she should be given the parachute.
5.have a short discussion about one or more ideas in the text:
1 ) what can we do to be good friends even if we are very busy?
2 ) does a successful man or woman need friends?
3 ) the text talks about “giving” and “taking.” how do friends give and take?
4 ) what do friends teach us?
5 ) is it better to have a human friend or an unusual friend such as a volleyball, a pen or a dog?
step 6 language study key to “word study”:
1 honest, 2 classical 3 sorrow/unhappiness 4 argue/quarrel/disagree 5 loyal/good/true
6 hunt for 7 fond of/interested in 8 brave/fearless 9 in order to/ so as to 10 smart
student-centered vocabulary learning:
it is very important for students to make their own choices and decisions about what they learn. you can help your students by letting them practise making such choices and decisions.
give the students a few minutes to make a list of words and expressions from the text that they want to learn. the list should not be too long.
ask the students to show their list to a partner and explain why they chose these words or expressions.
there are many ways to help the students deal with new words. begin by letting the students try on their own. if the students can discover the meaning of new words themselves—either by using clues, pair work, or group discussion they are more likely to develop a better understanding of the word. more importantly, the process will help them develop strategies and skills that they can use when they encounter new words. the teacher is responsible for providing guidance and assistance. give the students time, help as little as possible and in a gradual way. try to model and encourage positive behaviour—the best way to help is to provide clues and examples. if you “explain” the word or simply translate it, you are not giving the students an opportunity to learn.
1 encourage the students to try different ways to fix the words in their minds.
2 some words may have different meanings. you can help the students decide which meaning fits the context.
unit 1 背景材料：cast away 荒岛余生
汤姆·汉克斯曾以《费城故事》和《阿甘正传》连续两度获奥斯卡最佳男演员奖殊荣，为自己和别人树立了两座高不可攀的丰碑。经历了一段时间的低潮后，他又再度与赞米基斯（《阿甘正传》的导演）合作，凭借《荒岛余生》一片获得第七十三届奥斯卡最佳男演员奖提名。可惜的是，此奖颁给了罗素·克罗（《角斗士》）。据说，奥斯卡评委们是不会让同一个人在十年之内三度称帝的。但汤姆·汉克斯的演技可以说无可挑剔。为演好此角，他甚至将体重减少了几十斤。如果你有兴趣，可以找来此片一睹被遗弃荒岛前后判若两人的汤姆·汉克斯的模样。
chuck noland, who lives in memphis, is an operation manager at fedex, an express mailing company. he is hardworking and particularly time-conscious.1 he believes that time is everything: cosmos,2 fortune and misfortune; time is also capable of doing everything, creating and destroying human beings. he has a girlfriend named kelly frears, who works at a chemical lab. they love each other very much, though chuck travels a lot and rarely stays at home. it is christmas season now. chuck gets back home and kelly is very happy to see him. however chuck is so tired after his business trip to russia, he is fast asleep when kelly turns off tv and is about to go to bed.
on christmas eve, chuck, kelly and his family are having dinner when chuck's pager3 rings. another assignment comes. kelly does not like to see chuck leave as it is christmas time now. but chuck has to go and promises to be back on new year's eve. seeing chuck off at the airport, kelly gives him an old watch, inherited from her grandfather, with her photo in it. chuck is moved and tells kelly that he will hold on to it for the rest of his life. then he gives kelly a small pretty box, saying that this is something special for her and she shall open it on new year's eve.
on the way to his destination, the plane chuck is flying on crashes in the sea due to a heavy storm and a mechanical failure. fortunately chuck survives and climbs onto a lifeboat4 after the crash. he still manages to get hold of the watch kelly gives him.
it rains heavily. chuck's boat is pushed ashore by waves and lands on a small island the next day. now the two things he has, kelly's watch and the pager, are his only possessions. he does not know where he is. there is nobody, not even animals. chuck writes help on the beach with tree trunks. that night chuck hears strange sound coming from the nearby trees. in the following days, hungry and thirsty, he collects fedex parcels pushed ashore by waves. suddenly he hears the strange sound again. he is terrified but then surprised to find the sound is from fallen coconuts.5 the struggle of opening them starts. after trying different ways for a long time, he finally is able to taste his first fruit of success.
one day, climbing onto the top of the mountain on the island, chuck finds that it is a small and uninhabited island. all of a sudden he spots a man's body near the beach. it is one of the crew.6 chuck pulls it ashore. with a mixed feeling of fear and sympathy, he hesitantly takes off the man's shoes and flashlight before burying him.
one night in the darkness, he finds a light from afar. it must be a ship. chuck is very excited and he uses his flashlight for sos signal. but it is of no use. the light is too weak to be noticed by people on the ship. the following day, chuck tries to row the lifeboat to the ship. however, big waves turn his lifeboat upside down， and to make things worse, he is injured on the leg. that night there is a heavy thunderstorm. chuck has to hide himself in a cave. he forgets to turn off the flashlight and the battery runs off.
as the hope of being saved is getting less and less, he faces challenges of survival. an idea strikes his mind, and he opens every and each parcel. videotapes are thrown away and so are important commercial contracts and documents. a pair of skating shoes, a nightgown,7 and a volleyball are kept. the blades8 are used as knives for cutting, and the nightgown as fishing net. as for the volleyball, chuck uses his blood to draw a man's face on it and names it "wilson" who gives him spiritual comfort. he begins to talk to the "man" he has created and wilson has become his company.
next he has to start a fire. without fire, he has not had any food or hot water for days except eating live fish and drinking rainwater and coconut juice. he gets some wood and works on it for a long time. he almost loses his hope until he discovers that air is important to start a fire. he drills the wood in the middle with a stick while blowing some air in between the two pieces. when a fire is finally made, chuck sings and dances like a tribesman,9 happy for the first time after landing on the island. he has his first meal, a cooked crab.
four years later, chuck becomes an experienced primitive man. he still keeps his girlfriend's photo in his cave. beside the photo, there stands another companion of his for those lonely years—wilson. chuck is so used to talking to wilson, the volleyball, that he regards as his best friend. once he throws away wilson in anger and despair but only finds himself more lonely and desperate. so he searches for it and is very excited to get it back. then he paints wilson's face with his blood again so that wilson has a new face.
one day, he finds a part of the plane on the shore, which gives him an idea. he cuts down the biggest tree on the island and makes it into a man's sculpture. he pulls it up to the highest point of the island and erects it there. then he plans to build a raft and starts working on it.
chuck at last completes his grandiose10 project and begins to row towards sea with his dear friend wilson. at the moment of leaving his island on which he has lived for four years, a sense of sadness overwhelms11 him. he has somehow a special attachment to the island, feeling like leaving his sweet home.
on the journey to get back to the human world, he experiences dangers of sharks, thunderstorms, and despair of losing his best and only friend wilson who accompanies him for the past terrible years. how many days have passed, he has no idea. one day, a large ship passes by and chuck is finally saved.
however, his return is not a happy one. kelly is married and has a daughter. she is so confused and lost about his return that it is hard for her to accept a man who has been “dead” for four years. besides, her husband tries to convince her that not to see chuck is in everyone's interest.
one rainy evening, chuck cannot resist any longer the desire to see kelly again. he goes to kelly's in a taxi and knocks on her door. when kelly shows him their car they used to drive, which she kept for all those years along with all their sweet memories, they are getting so emotional that they kiss each other. but chuck cools down and asks kelly to go back home.
now chuck comes back to his old self and starts working again. having delivered the last parcel he has kept from the island, he suddenly senses a new beginning in his life.
1. time-conscious: 时间观念很强。 2. cosmos: 宇宙。3. pager: 传呼机。4. lifeboat: 救生船。5. coconut: 椰子。
6. crew: 全体机组人员。7. nightgown: （妇女的）睡衣。8. blades: （冰鞋的）冰刀。9. tribesman: 部落人。
10. grandiose: 宏大的。11. overwhelm: 使受不了，使不知所措。
excerpts
chuck talks to a friend about his experience and feeling on the island
"we both had done the math, and kelly added it all up. she knew she had to let me go. i added it up, knew that i'd lost her. 'cause i was never gonna get off that island. i was gonna die there, totally alone. i mean, i was gonna get sick or get injures. the only choice i had, the only thing i could control was when and how and where that was gonna happen. so i made a rope. and i went up to the summit to hang myself. but i had to test it, you know? of course. you know me. and the weight of the log snapped* the limb of the tree. so i-i-i couldn't even kill myself the way i wanted to. i had power over nothing. and that's when this feeling came over me like a warm blanket. i knew somehow that i had to stay alive. somehow i had to keep breathing, even though there was no reason to hope. and all my logic said that i would never see this place again. so that's what i did. i stayed alive. i kept breathing. and then one day that logic was proven all wrong because the tide came in, gave me a sail. and now, here i am. i'm back in memphis, talking to you. i have ice in my glass. and i've lost her all over again. i'm so sad that i don't have kelly. but i'm so grateful that she was with me on that island. and i know what i have to do now. i gotta keep breathing. because tomorrow, the sun will rise. who knows what the tide could bring?"
step 7 language points now read the text and explain the following language points if necessary.
practise
e.g. we practiced pronouncing the sound again and again.
e.g. don’t forget to practise after class.
e.g. i practise playing the piano every day.
what’s… like?
e.g.--- what is the play like?---wonderful.
e.g. he seems like an honest man.
make sb /th sb/adj./prep…
e.g. a good friend is someone who makes me happy.
e.g. annie made her diary her best friend.
e.g. they made me repeat the story.
e.g. what made you think so?
e.g. he raised his voice to make himself heard.
nor//so倒装 +do/does/should/has…+主语
nor 表示否定意义,用肯定形式.
e.g. i don’t know, nor do i care.
e.g. his brother doesn’t like soccer, nor does he.
so 表肯定意义,用肯定形式
e.g. rock music is ok, and so is skiing.
e.g. they had a good time last night, so did i.
so it is/was with +主语
e.g. marx was born in germany and german was his native language. so it was with engles.
e.g. john likes chinese but he is not good at it. so it is with mary.
bore, bored ,boring
e.g. he bored us all by talking for hours about his new car.
e.g. she bored with her present job.
e.g. jimmy could never understand why so many people found golf boring.
interest ,interested, interesting
e.g. she has much interest in music and dance.
e.g. i don’t know what interests him indeed.
e.g. i found him greatly interested in poems.
e.g. i don’t think the joke interesting enough.
alone, lonely
e.g. i was alone in the room.
e.g. he feels quite lonely sometimes. because he has no friends.
e.g. they brought him into a lonely house.
e.g. crusoe felt lonely when he was alone on the lonely island.
regard …as
e.g. we regarded their pets as members of their families.
e.g. we can’t regard the matter as settled.
step 8. homework
workbook p88 reading many-flavored friends.
revise the key points of this unit.
evaluation of teaching: