Period 1 warming up
Teaching objectives:
To have a general impression on the British Isles and UK
To help students learn something about the British Isles and UK
To arouse students’ interests in learning this unit
Teaching aids:
Multimedia
Teaching difficult points:
To help the students organize the images that they have of the major rejoins within the British Isles
Teaching method:
Discussion
Teaching procedure
Step I Lead in (7 minutes)
T: class begins, good afternoon, everybody!
Ss: Good afternoon, teacher!
T: nowadays, more and more Chinese people go abroad for traveling or for education, some of them even choose to live in other countries. I know that there are some students in our class, they are preparing for going abroad, and can you tell me who they are?
Ss: Huidan and Xixi
T: yes, Huidan, may I ask you some questions?
Huidan: yes
T: are you preparing to go abroad?
Huidan: yes
T: which country will you go?
Huidan:匈牙利
T: oh, I see, you will go to Hungary, right?
Huidan: yes
T: thank you very much! What about you? Xixi? Which country do you like to go?
Xixi : 意大利
T: you will go to Italy, right? Thank you very much! Ok, just now, Huidan and Xixi told us the countries they would go, what about you, girls? If you have the chance to go abroad, which country do you like to go?
Ss: USA, France, England…
T: OK, just now, one of you said ENGLAND; 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. Are you clear?
Step II Presentation (30 minutes)
T: This unit, we will learn something about the United Kingdom, but before we learn this country, we’d better know something about the British Isles first. What does ISLE mean?
Ss: island
T: very good, isle means island, so we can say the British isles in Chinese is “不列颠群岛”, right? Ok, now, let’s start our journey to the British Isles. First, let’s have a look at a map.
T: this is a map of the British Isles. What can we see?
Ss: a lot of islands
T: yes, good, we can see that the British Isles are a group of islands, right? Among these islands, there are two main islands here. What are their names, do you know? We call this small one “Ireland”, and the large one “great Britain”, can you understand?
Ss: yes
T: now, let me introduce these two main islands to you one by one. These are the two main islands, right?
Ss: yes
T: one is Ireland, the other is Great Britain. Now, please look at the white part, do you know what name it is? We call it the republic of Ireland. It is an independent country. While the rest parts with different colors make up another independent country, which country is it?
Ss: ….
T: these parts make up the United Kingdom. So we can conclude the British Isles consists of 2 independent countries. Are you clear?
Ss: yes
T: good! Now, can you tell me the official name of the United Kingdom?
Ss…..
T: never mind, let me tell you. The official name of the United Kingdom is the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Now, this large island is Great Britain, can you tell me where is Northern Ireland.
Ss: the small part in Ireland.
T: very good. Northern Ireland is in the Ireland, but it is a part of UK, are you clear now?
Ss: yes
T: good! Now, let’s have a look at the large island----- Great Britain. How many parts we can see in his island from the map?
Ss: 3
T: Yes, do you know what their names are?
Ss: ….
T: they are Scotland, England and Wales. Are you clear about that?
Ss: yes
T: good, please pay attention their location. Now, let’s make a conclusion. The British Isles consists of 2 independent countries, what are they?
Ss: the republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom
T: very good. While the United Kingdom consists of 2 parts, what are they?
Ss: great Britain and Northern Ireland.
T: good. Now, please tell me the 3 parts in Great Britain!
Ss: Scotland, England, and Wales.
T: very good. Northern Ireland, together with the republic of Ireland is the island of Ireland, right? Are you clear with the British Isles now? Ok, now, please pay attention to these four parts, Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland. Although they are held together in the British Isles, they have their own typical features. What are their features, do you know?
Ss: no
T: now, please open your book and turn to page 33. There are 4 pictures, all pictures show typical places and sights from these 4 regions. Now, you can discuss with your partner or just make a guess. Where are the pictures taken? I will give you 2 minutes, and then I will ask some of you to tell me your opinions. Are you clear?
Ss: yes
(2 minutes later)
T: ok, girls, time is up! Who’d like to tell me your opinion, just guess, Hands up please!
S1: I think picture 1 is taken from Wales, picture 2 is taken from England, picture 3 is taken from Ireland, and picture 4 is taken from Scotland.
T: ok, thank you. S1thinks that picture 1 is taken from Wales, picture 2 is taken from England, picture 3 is taken from Ireland and picture 4 is taken from Scotland. Do you have other opinions?
S2: I think picture 1 is taken from England, picture 2 is taken from Wales, and other 2 pictures are the same to s1.
T: good, s2 thinks that picture 1 is taken from England, picture 2 is taken from Wales, and other 2 pictures are the same to s1. They have different opinions, now, let’s see these four pictures together. First, look at picture 1, what can you see in the picture?
Ss: Stone, cross.
T: very good. It is ancient stone cross taken from Ireland. So s1 and s2 made wrong guess, right?
This kind of stone cross can also be called high cross. It can only be found in Ireland. It is one of the symbols of Ireland. What you guess what are they used for?
Ss: god, religious……
T: good! In Ireland, there are many stone crosses. Some of them are probably used as the meeting points of religious ceremonies. Can you understand? And some are used as marked boundaries. Are you clear now?
Ss: yes
T: good! Except old stone cross, there is a traditional festival in Ireland. It is called St.Patrick’s day. Can you guess what st.Patrick is?
Ss: it is a name of a person.
T: yes, good. St.Patrick is a person plays an important role in Ireland. St.Patrick’s day is celebrated on March 17th.it is the day that Patrick dies. It is said that St.Patrick drives snake out of Ireland. While in western countries, snake is the religious symbol of evil. So Patrick takes evil out of Ireland, in order to remember him, people celebrate the day that he dies. Are you clear?
Ss: yes
T: good. Ireland has stone cross and St.Patrick’s day, what about other parts in the British Isles?
Now, let’s see the picture 2. What can you see in the picture 2?
Ss: castle
T: what else? What is it on the top of the castle?
Ss: flag
T: good. You are right! This picture shows a castle with a flag taken from Wales. Now, let’s see what the features of Wales are. There are a lot of old castles in Wales. So wales have another name ----fairy land, because a lot of fairytales happens in castle, right? Wales is famous for its old castles. The flag of Wales is also a typical feature of Wales. Can you tell me what you see on the flag?
Ss…
T: a red dragon with wings, and in the flag half white, half green, right?
Ss: yes
T: good. Are you familiar with Wales? Wales has some of the oldest and richest literary, musical and poetic traditions in Europe. This poetic tradition has been celebrated for centuries in Eisteddfod. A lot of famous musicians and poets attend Eisteddfod and it is a great honor to be a member of Eisteddfod. So , we can conclude Wales is full of poetic. Ok, this is about picture 2, Wales. What about picture 3, can you tell me what can you see?
Ss: two men.
T: yes, there are two men wearing skirts, standing on the mountains and playing an instrument. I’m familiar with this sight, because I always see it from TV. This is taken from Scotland. Ok, do you know what we can this kind of instrument? We can it Bagpipe. What about the skirt, there is another name in Scotland? We can it Scottish kilts. It is uncommon to see man wearing skirts in other countries, do you think so? So, this is a typical feature of Scotland. Are you clear? While, what about traditional festival in Scotland? Let’s see what it is together. One of traditional festival is called “Hogmanay”. It is celebrated on 31 December. In Chinese, it is also called “除夕”. The practiced custom is First-footing on the first day of the New Year. It is said that if the first person go across the threshold of the house is a young, dark hair and handsome man. It is considered to be lucky. Is it interesting?
Ss: yes
T: this is the festival has something to do with young handsome man. There is another festival in Scotland that has something to do with girls. It is called “Halloween”, have you heard it before?
Ss: yes
T: good. The practiced custom is magic spells. It is said that in a dark room, an apple is cut into pieces in front of a mirror. A girl holds a piece of apple over her shoulder with a fork, the ghost of her husband will appear. These are the two traditional festivals in Scotland, if you want to know more about them, you can surf the internet. www. Halloween/story.htm ok, next, let’s see the last picture. Where is it taken, tell me please!
Ss: England!
T: what is it on the picture? It is London Bridge. As we know, there is a lot of famous architecture in England, for example, big Ben and so on. Since there are so many interesting festivals in other three parts. What about England, let’s see together. Bonfire Night! There is a poem on the slide, can you read it together. Ok, here we go!
Ss: ……………
T: very good! Bonfire Night is celebrated on 5 November, in order to remember the day that guy Fawkes was caught. If you want to know the detail of this day, you can surf the internet. Are you clear?
Step III Practice and consolidation (7 minutes)
T: Ok, just now, we have known some typical features of the major 4 parts in the British Isles. We have learned some English culture. What else do you know about UK? What is UK famous for? Do you know? Now, please form groups of 4 and have discussion with your classmates. 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?
Ss: yes
(After 3 minutes)
T: now, can you tell me what do you know about UK, volunteers?
Ss: London, Newton, Einstein …
T: very good. You know a lot about this country. Now, let’s see what I know about UK.
Famous cities: London, Birmingham, Liverpool, oxford, Cambridge…
Famous people: David Beckham, William Shakespeare, Charles dickens, the Beatles …
Food and sports: fish & chips, high tea, tennis, football, golf, horse racing … are you familiar with these things and people?
Ss: no
Step IV Assignment(1 minute)
T: I think after this class, you have got a general impression on the British Isles and the United Kingdom, right?
But we forgot an important thing about UK. That is the language-English. We have been learning English for so many years, we know little about the history of the hometown of English, right? Next class, we will deal with more details about UK and the British Isles. Here comes your homework: Preview the reading text! Class is over! See you！
Blackboard work
The United Kingdom consist of:由…..组成
Of Great Britain and Northern Ireland island: 岛， 岛屿
Independent: 独立的
Cities: ……… republic: 共和国
People: ……… state: 国家
Food: ……
Sports: ……..