Warming up, Pre-reading, Reading and Comprehending
浙江省湖州二中 邵宁宁
教材分析
The part Warming up presents some Chinese and English poems to students. The purpose is to get students get interested in the topic “poems”. The teacher can first ask students to remember and recite some poems they have read in junior and high schools, either in Chinese or in English, next let students in small groups discuss what is their favorite poem either in Chinese or in English and find out the reason why it is their favorite poem. Meanwhile, make sure students learn some useful new words and expressions in this unit.
Pre-reading provides two questions. The first ask students to make a list of reasons why people write poems. The second lets students predict what the reading passage is about according to the title and paragraph one. The teacher can go around the classroom and discuss questions with some students.
The reading passage “A few simple forms of English poems” tells us five simple forms of poems. This is a key part of this unit. The teacher can first get students to skim for five forms of simple poems in the reading passage, and then scan for further understanding. In order to let students fully understand some poems while reading, the teacher should analyze the characteristics of some poems. After reading these poems, students are encouraged to write some simple forms of poems.
To consolidate the contents of the reading passage, the teacher will present more kinds of poems to students for appreciation.
三维目标
知识目标
1. Get students to learn the useful words and expressions in this unit.
(poetry, poet, poem, pattern, rhyme, rhythm, rhythmic, nursery rhyme, list poem, cinquain, haiku, tang poem, recite, convey, tease, emotion, ending, translation, repetition, take it easy, run out of, stay up, make up of, be popular with, transform…into…, day by day)
2. Let students learn about the characteristics of poems.
能力目标
1. Let students read the passage “A few simple forms of English poems” to develop their reading ability.
2. Encourage students to develop the ability of writing some simple forms of poems.
情感目标
1. Stimulate students’ sense of appreciation by reading the poems in the passage.
2. Develop students’ sense of cooperative learning.
教学重点
1. Let students learn about five forms of poems in the passage.
2. Get students to fully appreciate poems in the passage.
教学难点
1. Develop students’ reading ability.
2. Enable students to learn to write some simple forms of poems.
教学方法
1. Task-based teaching and learning
2. Cooperative leaning
教学过程
Step 1 Warming up
1. Warming up by appreciating
Present some Chinese and English poems to the students, such as “Ode to the West” by Shelley, “In the Quiet Night” by Li Bai, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”, “A Rhyme” and “What is Love”. Ask students to read them and appreciate them. Meanwhile, let students learn some useful words and expressions after reading these poems such as poem, poet, poetry, rhyme, rhythm, pattern, line etc.
Poems for reference:
(1) If winter comes, can spring be far behind? By Shelley--- Ode to the west wind
(2) In the Quiet Night By Li Bai
A bed, I see a silver light,
I wonder if it's frost aground.
Looking up, I find the moon bright;
Bowing, in homesickness I'm drowned.
(3) Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
Twinkle, twinkle, little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky
(4) A Rhyme
Good, better, best!
Never have it rest!
Till good is better,
And better, best!
(5) What is Love
Love is giving ,
Love is living ,
Love is taking someone’s load(负担) ,
Love helps them along the road.
Love is caring,
Love is sharing,
Love will seek the best for others,
Love treats everyone as brothers.
Notes: make sure students know the pattern of rhyme in poem(2)abab, poem(3)aabb, poem(4)aaba and poem(5)aabbccdd.
2. Warming up by discussing
Ask students to discuss the following questions in small groups and try to share their opinions with each other.
Do you have a favorite poem either in Chinese or in English?
Why is it your favorite poem?
Step 2 Pre-reading
1. Ask students to discuss in pairs the reasons why people write poems. The list has been started for them:
People write poems:
to tell a story;
to express feelings;
to make others laugh.
……
2. Ask students to predict what the reading passage is about according to the title and paragraph one. The aim is to let the students read the reading passage with a purpose.
Step 3 Reading
1. Skimming
Give students 2 minutes; ask them to read the passage fast for the following questions:
(1) How many kinds of poem does the reading passage talk about?
(2) What are they?
Remind them they may find the answers at the beginning of each paragraph. Two minutes later, check them with the whole class.
Suggested answers:
There are five forms of poems, that is, nursery rhymes, list poems, cinquain, Haiku, Tang poems.
2. Scanning for detailed information
Ask students to read the passage carefully to locate the detailed information.
(1) Listen to poem A and choose the best answer
○1What’s the baby’s father going to buy if the mirror gets broken?
A. a mocking bird B. a diamond ring
C. looking glass D. a billy-goat
○2. What is Papa going to buy for the baby if that billy-goat runs away?
A. a looking glass B. today
C. another billy-goat D. nothing
Keys: D: C;
(2) Read poem B and C and answer the following questions:
○1.What are the words that rhyme in poem B?
○2.How many things are listed in poem B? What are they?
○3.What sports do you think the speaker is writing about?
○4Did his or her team win the game?
○5How many excuses did they make to explain why they didn’t win?
○6Does the speaker really believe his or her own excuse? How do you know?
Suggested answers:
○1.These words that rhyme are fire, squire, high, sky, lead, dead, race, lace, cat, hat, too, true.
○2.There are twelve things listed in poem B. They are a fish pond, a house, a squire, person twelve-feet high, a cottage, a balloon, a coffin, two sparrows, two horses, a girl, a kitten, and a man.
○3.Football.
○4No, they didn’t win the game.
○5Nine.
○6No, because at the end of the poem the speaker admits that they just did not play well enough to win.
(3) Read poem D and E and discuss the following question in pairs.
○1.What subject is the speaker writing about?
○2.Does the speaker like the subject?
Suggested answers:
○1.Poem D is about brother and poem E is about summer.
○2.Poem D: Yes. Although the speaker describes some negative parts of his/ her brother, the reader can feel that the speaker likes his/ her brother.
Poem E: No. The reader gets the feeling that the speaker cannot wait. The words drooping, dreading, week in, week out and endless convey this feeling.
(4) Ask students to discuss the characteristics of the poem “cinquain” and write a cinquain in small groups. The teacher can go around the classroom and offer some help to students.
Suggested answers: it is made up of five lines. It can convey a strong picture in just a few words.
Brother ------- a subject or a name of the poem
Beautiful ,athletic ------- two adjectives to describe the subject
Teasing, shouting ,laughing ------- three verbs ending with –ing form to describe action
Friend and enemy too ------- four words to show opinions and feelings
Mine ------- restate the subject in another single word
Some students’ poems for reference:
Childhood Friends Mother
Happy, cheerful Kind, helpful Beautiful, kind
Laughing, playing, crying Playing, fighting, arguing washing, cooking, cleaning
Shall never go back Friend and enemy too teacher and friend too
Forever Mine always
(5) Ask students to read poems F and G and discuss the following questions in small groups:
What do these two poems describe? Can you imagine and draw pictures on the blackboard?
(6)Tell students to read poem H and answer the following questions:
○1What is the title of title?
A.蝶恋花 B.竹枝词 C.望夫石 D.一剪梅
○2. What is this poem about? Encourage students to say something in English using your own words.
Suggested answers:
○1 C
○2.A woman’s husband has gone away. The woman waits for him by the river where she last saw him. She waits and waits, never moving from that place and never speaking, while the river continues to flow and the wind and rain come and go.
Step 4 Discussion
Ask students to read poem H again and discuss the following question in small groups:
What are the adjectives to convey the woman’s feelings? Why?
A. loneliness B. joy C. love D. trust E. anger F. hate G. sorrow
Suggested answers:
A: Because she was alone watching her husband on the mountain top.
C: Because she waited year after year despite wind and rain.
D: Because she believed her husband would come back one day.
G: Because year after year, she waited and waited without seeing any hope of her husband coming back, she was very sad.
Step 5 Appreciation
First ask students to read poem from A to G in the reading passage and then present more kinds of poems to the students.
Poems for reference:
A Spring Morning
I awake light-hearted this morning of spring,
Everywhere round me the singing of birds,
But now I remember the night, the storm,
And I wonder how many blossoms were broken.
(by Meng Haoran)
One- hearted
When those red berries come in springtime,
Flushing on your southland branches,
Take home an armful, for my sake,
As a symbol of our love.
(by Wang Wei)
Women -----limerick (打油诗)
If you kiss her, you are not a gentleman
If you don't, you are not a man
If you praise her, she thinks you are lying
If you don't, you are good for nothing
If you agree to all her likes, she is abusing
If you don't, you are not understanding
If you make romance, you are an 'experienced man'
If you don't, you are half a man
If you visit her too often, she thinks it is boring
If you don't, she accuses you of double crossing
If you are well dressed, she says you are a playboy
If you don't, you are a dull boy
…..
"O LORD, tell me what to do. AMEN"
Always Have a Dream
Forget about the days when it’s been cloudy,
But don’t forget your hours in the sun.
Forget about the times you’ve been defeated,
But don’t forget the victories you’ve won.
Forget about the misfortunes you’ve encountered,
But don’t forget the times your luck has turned.
Forget about the days when you’ve been lonely,
But don’t forget the friendly smiles you’ve seen.
Forget about the plans that didn’t seem to work out right.
But don’t forget to always have a dream.
Step 6 Assignment
1. Learn the useful new words and expressions in this part by heart.
2. Recite poem D, E and H in the reading passage.
3. Polish your poem “cinquain” and hand it in tomorrow.
参考文献：
教育部. 2001. 全日制义务教育普通高级中学英语课程标准(实验稿) [M]. 北京:北京师范大学出版社.
人教社.2007.普通高中课程标准实验教科书(必修)(英语6)(第二版)[M].浙江:人民教育出版社.