1. 在本书中的地位与作用:
本单元的中心话题是“介绍”名人，主要是围绕介绍比尔盖茨展开的。围绕这一话题，课文中设计了对话，问答，阅读等各种活动。本单元的重点话题和功能项目是“肯定和不肯定”（Certainty
and uncertainty）使用了I’m sure that … and I’m not sure if…的句型。冠词是本单元的重点语法内容。
2. 教学的重点与难点： (1) Grammar Articles (冠词)： The Indefinite Article
（不定冠词）用于可数名词单数前，指一类人或物。 He is an engineer. Is it a story book?
指某人或某物，但不具体说明何人或何物。 The students go to school five days a week.
表示“一”这个数量，但数的概念不如one 强烈。 I have a cat and a dog. 用于固定搭配某些词组。 a lot of , a
little, have a good rest The Definite Article （定冠词）特指人或事。 The boy on the
bike is my brother. 指双方都知道的人或事。 Where’s the teacher? She’s in the
classroom. 指上文提到的人或事。 Can you see a picture? In the picture there’s a
house. 用于指世界上独一无二的事物前。 Look at the bright moon. 用于序数词何形容词最高级前。 I’m the
first to come. China has the largest population in the world. 用于专有名词前。 the
great wall 用于一些习惯用语中。 in the morning, all the same, the day before
yesterday 不用冠词的情况：抽象名词和物质名词前一般不加冠词。 e.g. Gold is heavier than silver.
语言前不加the e.g.They speak English. 季节或节日前不加冠词。 e.g.Winter is the coldest
season in China. 名词前已经有作定语用的this, that, my, your, whose, some, any, no,
each, every 等代词时，前面不加冠词。 e.g. his brother, some ink 复数名词表示某一类人或事物时不加冠词。
e.g. Books are my best friends. 餐名前一般不加the e.g. Come to dinner with me.
在称呼语或表示头衔的名词前。 e.g. Mr.Wu teaches us English. (2) Useful expressions 1) be
interested in 对…感兴趣 e.g. Most students are interested in playing computer
games. interest n. 兴趣 Bill gates showed great interest in software when he
was young. Interesting adj. 有趣的，表示人或事物本身有趣。 Computer games are very
interesting. 2) in the future e.g. What will you want to be in the future?
3) in the end 意为“最后，终于”，相当于at last, 而at the end of 意为“在….的尽头或末尾” He
finished the work in the end. He will come back at the end of this month.
4) work out e.g. We must work out this math problem before the teacher
comes. 5) play a joke on e.g. Mark Twain liked to play jokes on his
friends. 6) I’m sure / I’m not sure(that)/if … I am sure my classmates
will be interested in Businesss@ the Speed of Thought. 7) spend…on/doing
something 与It takes sb. some time to do sth. Spend money/time on sth.
还可以说成spend money/time (in) doing sth., 另外，spend some time on sth./doing
sth. 还可以说成It takes sb. some time to do sth. Bill Gates spent several years
on the software program. Bill Gates spent several years (in) working out
the software program. It took Bill Gates several years to work out the
software program. 8) develop software e.g. When did they begin developing
software for personal computers? 9) personal computer (pc) e.g. Personal
computers are very popular in china nowadays. Expressions of daily
communication: It must be very interesting. I don’t think you’ll like it.
It seems to be an interesting book. I’m sure (that)… I’m not sure what to…
设计原则：努力倡导学生的积极参与，让学生在学习过程中能构建知识，提高语言能力，而且通过感知，体验，实践，参与和合作等活动方式完成任务和实现目标。在学习过程中调空情感态度和学习策略，形成积极的学习态度，促进语言实际运用能力的提高。
Teaching notes: Lesson 89 Step 1 Revision Let one student make a report
about the sports meeting. After listening, the other students can ask and
answer some questions about the report. Step 2 Presentation Say last night
I watched the sports news about the NBA star Yao Ming. I think he is a
famous person. Teacher can make more examples of famous person and get the
students go guess the meaning of the expression famous person. Then ask
the students work in pairs to discuss why they think is famous and why.
Say the famous persons can be relevant to various fields, like
actors/actresses, musicians, writers, politicians, athletes, etc. Get
students give different suggestions. Step 3 Listening Ask the students if
they know Bill Gates. Get the students to introduce him if they have known
him a little already. During the introduction, teacher can explain IT is
short for information Technology because the students have already known
IT before. Get the students to listen to the tape and answer the following
questions: 1. What’s the name of the book Jim and his father are talking
about? 2. What does Mr Green think of the book? 3. What is the book about?
4. Is the book popular? How do you know? 5. Why does Jim want to take the
book to school? 6. Why does Jim like Bill Gates? 7. Are you interested in
Bill Gates? Why or why not? 8. What else do you know about Gates? If the
students have any difficulties in answering the questions, they can
discuss them before answering them. Then teacher checks the answers with
the students. Step 4 Read and act Let students open the books and read
after the tape to correct their pronunciation. In pairs have the students
practise the dialogue. See if the students understand thought, best-seller
from the context. Step 5 Presentation and making a survey Ask the
students, what do you want to be? Say I always wanted to be a teacher.
Then let the students work in group of 4 to make a survey. Name Which
subject is he/she most interested in? Why is he/she interested in it? What
does she/he want to be? After finishing, let some of them make a report
about the survey made by them. Ask Can a person do more than one thing?
Ask the students to give you some examples such as a teacher who also
write books,etc. Step 5 Read and practise SB Page 41, Part 2. Have the
students read the dialogue in pairs. Then have students make up their own
dialogues based on the dialogue given. Ask several pairs to say their new
dialogues for the class. Make sure that teacher had better ask different
pairs of students each time so that every student have a chance to share
with the class. Step 6 Homework Finish off the workbook exercises. Wb
Lesson 89 Exx 3. Lesson 90 Step 1 Revision 1. Ask several students to
share their sentences from Wb Lesson 89, Ex.3. 2. Let some students
introduce their classmates’ interests and what they want to be in the
future. Step 2 Pre-read Ask the students if they know what a personal
computer is ( pc ). Then ask if they know the names of different computer
software companies. Guide them to answer Microsoft. Say Bill Gates helped
Microsoft make things easier for people to use their programmes, such as
Microsoft Word. Help the students to guess the meaning of programme. Step
3 Listening and reading SB Page 42, Part 2. Get the students to listen to
the tape and fill in the following form: Name: Bill Gates Date of
birth:______________________________________ Favourite subject at
school:___________________________
Hobbies:_________________________________________ What Gates did at
17:_________________________________ In
1973:_____________________________________________ In
1975:_____________________________________________ In
1994:_____________________________________________ In
1999:_____________________________________________ Additional
information:_________________________________ Since the passage is quite
long and has some new words and expressions in it, the students will meet
with a lot of difficulties. If it is too hard for them to work out, they
are allowed to open the books to skim the text for the information. For
skimming, a person should read only the first and last sentence of each
paragraph. Point out how the text is laid out to give the students clues
about the main idea. For example, in the first sentence of the 5
paragraphs, there are dates. This is quite common when reading about
someone. Numbers tend to stand out while reading a text, so that a person
can quickly skim a piece of writing and get a general idea of what it is
about and of important dates just by looking at the numbers. In this way,
just teach the students how to skim a text quickly, which is necessary for
preparing them for the exam and for their homework. Discuss their answers
in groups then check them out. After finishing the form, ask the students
to scan the test for the answer to the following question: What did Bill
Gates develop?( BASIC language for the first microcomputer). Teacher can
introduce some information about BASIC language. If the students know,
give the chance to them. Students read after the tape and work in group of
4 to find some language points in the text. Teacher moves around in the
classroom and is ready when needed. Step 4 Exercises Fill in the blanks
with words or phrases in the passage on page 42 1. This maths problem is
too difficult for him. He ______ an hour ______ it ______. 2. He was born
in a small village near Suzhou but _____ ______ in Shanghai. 3. Brian is
very interested in biology. He ________ several hours reading books about
It every day. 4. Linda ________ swimming very much. She swims every day
after school. I’m sure she will be a famous swimmer _____ _____ _____. 5.
Edison liked to do ________ things even when he was a small boy. 6. The
tall building was ______ ______ his father. 7. The teacher often tells us
how to __________ our speaking skills. 8. We are trying hard to _________
our English. 9. This maths problem is very difficult, so the little boy
cannot ________it. 10. I was born two years after my patents got
__________. Step 5 Retelling Retell the story about Bill Gates. If time
permits, get them to say something about themselves. The students may
begin retelling like this: Bill Gates is a computer scientist… Step 6
Discussion In small groups have the students discuss the questions: 1.
What do you know about Bill Gates? 2. What can you learn from Bill Gates?
3. Do you want to be a person like Bill Gates? Why or why not? Step 7
Homework Make a list of the words about computer. Say, software, computer
programmes. Lesson 91 Step 1 Revision Revise the new vocabulary by
retelling the story about Bill Gates. And get the students to ask and
answer questions about Gill Gates. Get some students to say something
about themselves. Check the list of the words about computer. See which
student can get the most one. Step 2 Presentation Say spring is coming
around. The days are getting longer and longer and the weather is getting
warmer. Ask what holidays are in spring? (Women’s Day, Tree Planting Day).
Say The holidays in the West aren’t the same as in China. Ask What Western
holidays do the students know? Make a list of Holidays in the West.(
Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Thanks giving, Christmas Day etc.) If the
students didn’t know Father’s Day, then tell them there is a holiday
called Father’s Day. Background note: Father’s Day is celebrated in
America. It is always the third Sunday in June. On that day, fathers are
recognized by their families throughout America. Usually the family will
do something special for them, like cook a meal with their favourite
foods, or go to their favourite restaurant. Also, each family member will
give the father a small gift and a card. Children will usually give a tie
or some sporting equipment that is used in the father’s favourite sport
e.g. golf balls, bowling glove, running shoes, etc. The mother will give a
more expensive gift such as a pair of pants and nice shirt, or a new suit,
a new tool, whatever the father has been wanting, not necessarily needing.
Step 3 Read and practise SB Page 43, Part 1, books closed. Play the tape
and have the students listen and find the answer to the question, What are
Jim and Kate talking about? Play the tape again and the students repeat.
Pay attention the sentences I’m sure that… and I’m not sure … Then in
pairs, get the students to practise the dialogue. Ask two pairs to act it
out for the class. Wb Lesson 91, Exx,2 and 3 should be done orally in
pairs. Ask several pairs to role-play. Step 4 Read and complete Let the
students fill in the blanks individually. Ask a student to volunteer to
read the passage for the class, checking the answers as the student reads.
Help the students if they have some trouble in using the indefinite and
definite articles. Using the grammar notes on pages 153-154 of the SB. The
answer are : a, a, The, a, the, a, a, the Step 5 Listening Read through
the passage from Wb Lesson 91,Ex. 1 with the students, then play the tape
for them to listen and fill in the blanks. Check the answers with the
students: friends, when, grew, different, young, smarter, 9, 10, talked,
sometimes, understand, better, science, interested, at, famous, bright
Step 6 Homework Finish off the workbook exercises. Lesson 92 Step 1
Revision Revise giving suggestions and expressing certainty and
uncertainty by asking several more pairs to role-play Ex.3 from Wb Lesson
91. Revise the vocabulary. The teacher says a word first. And the next
student should begin the word with the last letter said by the teacher.
The student will be rewarded who can use the new words in this unit. Step
2 Puzzle dialogue Let students read through the sentences in pairs. Have
them guess the meanings of size and almost. In pairs have the students
practise the dialogue and act it out. Ask several pairs to volunteer to
act out the dialogue for the class. Step 3 Presentation Ask a student to
tell a joke who must be asked to prepare for it. Get more students to tell
jokes if they can. They can use Chinese for this. Let students tell the
persons who like to joke. Then teacher says There was a famous American
writer who like to play jokes on his friends. His name was Mark Twain. If
the students have known a little about him, let them introduce him first.
Then teacher can say more about him. Note: Mark Twain is a pseudonym, in
others words, a made-up name. His real name was Samuel Clemens. For a
while, he was a riverboat captain on the Mississippi River. He make up the
name Mark Twain from what the captains of riverboats said to mark the
depth of the river. When they started to measure for depth the person
would say “mark” and then count off the measurement “twain” which is a
measurement used for the depth of water. From this he made up the name
Mark Twain. Step 4 Listening Listen to the tape and answer right or wrong.
1. Mark Twain was a great Canadian writer and a famous speaker. 2. He
liked to play jokes and tell funny stories. 3. Twain’s friend lost his
wallet on a train trip. 4. Twain bought a ticket for this friend. 5. his
friends hid under the seat because he thought he did not have a ticket. 6.
Twain gave the conductor two tickets. 7. Twain’s friend was strange. He
liked to lie under the seat when he was on a train. 8. Everyone on the
train laughed at Twain. Check the answers in pairs first then in class.
Step 5 Reading Play the tape and get the students to read after the tape
to correct their pronunciation. Let the students work out the problems in
the text. If they can’t, teacher explains more then. Step 6 Writing Get
the students to work in pairs to complete the SB Page 45, Part 3. The
answers are: writer, speaker, play, jokes, on, joke, his, nothing, laugh,
bring, lecture, sure, sat, funny, but, but, either, was/felt, later,
about, knew. Step 7 Skit Ask the students if they have any jokes in daily
life. If so, ask them to work in group to act out their skit. Step 8 Test
Fill in the correct definite or indefinite article. Mark Twain wrote many
short stories. One of his most famous is “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of
Calaveras County”. In this story _______ man had _______ frog. He thought
his frog could jump farther than any other frog. He told everyone in
Calaveras County his frog was_______ best frog of all. Two other men also
had jumping frogs. They said they wanted to have _______ race between the
three frogs. They wanted to see which frog could jump ______ farthest.
_______ night before ______ race, the two other men made _____ first man’s
frog eat many things. ______ next morning ______ man woke up to see how
fat his frog was, but he knew his frog was _______ best jumper so he
didn’t worry. _______ three frogs were put on the starting line. _______
referee shouted “start” and ______ race began… If you want to know which
frog won, you’ll have to read the story! J The key: a, a, the, a, the,
The, the, the, The, the, the, The, The, the. Step 9 Enrichment If
possible, make students get a copy of one of Mark Twain’s short stories
and read it to the class. It will be too difficult for them to do so, but
they can have a try with the help of both teacher and dictionary. The
other students can ask questions about what they have heard. And the
teacher can explain more about what Mark Twain has written. In this way
the students are exposed to classic literature and will learn a bit about
American culture as well.