Unit 5 the British Isles
Teaching aims:
1. Learn and master the following words and expressions:
Consist of, lie off, stand for, Europe, bagpipe, instrument
2. Improve student’s learning interests.
3. Get the students to know more about the British Isles
Teaching important points:
Master the expressions for agreement and disagreement
Teaching methods:
1. Free-talk method to get the students to talk about the UK and Ireland
2. Speaking activity to make the students go through the speaking task and improve the students’ speaking ability
Teaching aids: the map of the world, the pictures
Teaching procedures:
Step1 Lead-in
T: With the development of economy and growing living standard, more and more people like to travel around. And some richer one chooses to go abroad, especially to go to Europe. A travel agent tells me that if you have 20000Yuan, you can pay a visit to Europe for about half a month. Now suppose you have enough money and time to go to Europe, which country do you prefer to travel?
S: Greece, Italy, Spain, Holland, France, Norway, Germany and England
T: I hear someone says England, do you mean “英国”
S: Yes
T: I am afraid you are mistaken! England is not the right name of “英国”. Do you think England is an independent country? In fact, it is not an independent country. It is just a part of the United Kingdom. UK is short for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. (Write the meaning of UK on the blackboard).
Step2 Warming up
T: To travel some place I think you should know something about it.
T: Do you know something about UK?
S: yes/no
T: Ok. (Someone say yes and others say no) if you don’t know, don’t care. Today we’ll learn a new unit -the British isles. After we have learnt this unit, we’ll know more about UK and Ireland. At First, we should know the geography of the British Isles. Please look at the map of the world. Do you know where is the Europe?
S: (point out )
T: Yes. This part on the map is the Europe. Where is the British Isles? And where is the UK?
T: I’m sure that you are very confusing. What is the difference between the British Isles and the UK? In fact, the British Isles are a group of islands lies off the west coast of the Europe. Now, please look at this map. This is the map of the British Isles. We can see from the map, there are two islands briefly. The large one is called Great Britain, the small one is Ireland. So we can say The British Isles consist of Great Britain and Ireland. (consists of由…组成 pay attention to the usage of consist of) And Great Britain consists of 3 parts. They are Scotland, England, and Wales; While UK consists of the Great Britain and the Northern Ireland. So, UK stands for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
T: Ok. Are you clear about the difference between the British Isles and the UK.
Northern Ireland
UK
(Write on the Bb) Wales
Britain Scotland Scottish
England
Step3 Practice
T: Good. Well, in order to know more about UK further, please look at the pictures on page 33. Could you tell me what are they taken? guess what the picture is taken from: Scotland, England, Wales or Ireland? You should choose the right answer in 2 minutes.
T: Have you got the answers? Ok I will ask some Ss to tell me their answers. could you tell me your idea?
S: I think the picture one is taken from Scotland, picture two is from Ireland, picture three is from Wales and picture four is from England.
T: Do you all agree with her?
S: No, I think picture one is taken from Scotland, picture two is taken from England, picture three is taken from Ireland and picture four is taken from Wales.
T: Do you have the same idea?
S: No.
T: Well, I think it is a little difficult for you to get the right answers. Never mind, let’s do it together.
T: Look at the picture one. What can you see in the picture one?
S: A stone
T: Yes, a stone. What does this cross look like?
S: Cross
T: Yes a cross. (Show a picture of a cross) This is an ancient stone cross, which can be only found in Ireland. Now could you tell me where is this picture taken from?
S: Ireland.
T: Right. Just now we have learnt that the Ireland consists of two parts, do you still remember?
S: Yes, Ireland consists of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
T: Very good. And what can you see behind this ancient stone cross?
S: Grass
T: Yes, green grass. Ireland has a mild climate, so green grass can be seen everywhere.
T: Before talking about picture two, please answer me one question. Do you like to read fairy tales? What fairy characters do you know?
S: Yes I like fairy tales. I know Snow White, Cinderella, Sleep Beauty and so on.
T: Do you like to be one of them?
S: Yes.
T: If you were one of them, you were a princess. And where do you choose to live with your prince?
S:Castle.
T: Yes, Castle. (Show a picture of castle) Some place with a lot of castles, can be called Land of Castles and also can be named Fairy Land. Do you think there is a real Fairy Land in the world?
S1: No
S2: May be
T: I can tell you there is a true place called Fairy Land. Do you know where it is? That is Wales. So could you tell me where is the picture two taken from?
S: Wales
T: Yes, you are clever.
T: Look at the picture three, there’re two people in the picture, are they men or women?
S: They are women
T: Why?
S: Because they dress in skirt.
T: But, I am sorry to tell you that you are wrong. They are men dressed in traditional kilts and playing a traditional instrument called bagpipe. (Show a picture of kilts and bagpipe). It is a typical scene seen in Scotland. So this picture is taken from Scotland.
T: Besides these two men, what else can you see in the picture three?
S: Mountains
T: Yes. In Scotland, there are a lot of hills and mountains, so Scotland is famous for its beautiful countryside.
T: Now let’s move into the last picture. What can you see in this picture?
S: A bridge.
T: What’s the name of this bridge?
S: London Bridge (show a picture of London Bridge)
T: Where is London?
S: In England.
T: Yes, so the last picture is taken from England.
T: What other famous architecture do you know in England?
S1: Big Ben (show the picture of Big Ben)
T: Big Ben is a clock acting as the symbol of London, even the United Kingdom
S2: London Tower (Show the picture of London Tower)
T: Is London Tower a real tower?
S: Maybe.
T:In fact, London Tower is not a tower, but a prison.
T: And in England there is a mysterious place called Stonehenge which is a place where ancient people did sacrifice (show a picture of Stonehenge)
T: We know England is also famous for its good education. There’re two world-known universities in England. Do you know what they are?
S: Oxford and Cambridge (show the pictures of them)
T: Until now we have talked something about these four parts of British Isles. Here is the information about what we have mentioned. (Show the table of the information of these four parts)
Ireland northern Ireland & republic of Ireland;
Green grass, mild climate
Wales fairy tales Land of castles, fairy land
Scotland kilt, bagpipe; hills and mountains, beautiful countryside
England Oxford university，Cambridge university; Stonehenge（巨石阵）Big Ben , London tower， London Bridge
Step 4 Consolidation
Do you know some famous people in UK, such as pop stars, sportsmen and poets who we have learnt in the last unit? What is UK famous for? Do you know? You can talk about famous cities, famous people, English food and sports, films, and the way of life... Talk about whatever you know! I will give you 3 minutes, are you clear?
(Show some pictures of David Backam, three bands respectively named Backstreet Boy, Westlife and The Beatles, and Shakespeare. When showing the pictures, I will explain them: David Backham is famous for his right foot. The Beatles, the band of 60s, is the most successful and famous band in the history. Shakespeare until now, is the most famous play write and poet)
Ss: yes
(After 3 minutes)
Famous cities: London ----capital city of the UK Edinburgh ---- capital city of Scotland
Belfast ---- capital city of Northern Ireland Cardiff ---- capital city of Wales
Some other cities:Manchester:home of the football club , Birmingham, Cambridge, Liverpool: the home of the Beatles etc.River Thames
Famous people: David Beckham, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, the Beatles, Newton
Food and sports: fish & chips, Beer, high tea, tennis: Wimbledon Championship
, football, golf, horse racing …
Buildings: Buckingham palace, Big Ben, London Tower Bridge Greenwich Observatory 格林威治天文台Westminster Abbey 威斯敏斯特教堂
National anthem: God Save The Queen
Tony Blair Prime Minister
Step 5 Discussion
Many people in the West say that English is one of the easiest languages to learn. Is English easy to learn for Chinese people ? Or is English one of the most difficult languages to learn for people whose mother tongue is Chinese ? Why do you think so?
The British Isles
Northern Ireland
UK Wales
Britain Scotland Scottish
England
Agreement: certainly/surely it must be right Consist of castle（城堡）
Yes, I agree with you. Lie off flag(旗)
Yes, you are right. Stand for cross(十字架)
Disagreement: I don’t agree with you. Bagpipe Buckingham palace I am afraid not. Instrument (白金汉宫)
I don’t think so. Europe