Unit 2     Working the land

  Unit 2 Working the land Teaching aims: 1. Target Language a.Words and phrases sunburn, struggle, super, expand, circulate, equip, export,  rid ... of, be satisfied with, lead a ... life, search for, would rather, thanks to, with the hope of, rather than  b. Important sentences This special strain of rice makes it possible to produce one-third more of the crop in the same fields. P10 He cares little about spending the money on himself or leading a comfortable life. P10 2. Ability goals Enable Ss to learn more about agriculture, countryside and farming. By talking they can exchange their experience with each other. By reading they will realize the role that agriculture plays in human life. In fact this world faces a serious problem—starvation. So after reading the passage about Dr Yuan students will know the importance of his achievement to man. Of course they will learn from Dr Yuan some noble character. 3. Learning ability goals Help Ss learn how to describe Dr Yuan Longping including his personality. Teaching important points a. Help to comprehend the text and grasp the main idea of the text. b. Grasp the usage of some words and expressions. c. How to help students make up their minds to make contributions to motherland in the future like Dr Yuan. Teaching difficult points a. How to help students learn more about agriculture. b. Help students really master the usage of words and expressions. Teaching methods Talking, questioning-and-answering activity and reading. Teaching aids A tape recorder, a projector and a computer. Teaching procedures && ways The first period  Reading Step 1.Greeting and Revision 1.      Greet the students as normal. 2.      Revise the warming up with the following question How do you think to grow our main food--rice? -----1)First, the farmers plow the field. They have to make the soil loose enough to plant crops. 2)Second,grow some young plants 3)Third, they insert the young plants into the loose field. 4)At last ,they will get the harvest Step 2 Pre-reading 1 Ask the following questions 1).What’s the main food in Canada and USA: ----- potatoes and bread 2).What is the main food in South America: ----- corn/maize 3 )What is the main food in Southeast Asian countries:  ----- rice 2 Show the students some pictures and ask the question What is happening to these people in East Asian and Southeast Asian countries? Then show more news like that: International Facts on Hunger and Poverty (2002) 1)Every 8 seconds, a child somewhere in the world dies from starvation. 2)More than 800 million people in the world suffer from malnutrition (营养不良)---799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5. At last ask the students to discuss: If you had the chance to do something to help end hunger in the world, what would you do? Encourage the students to tell their opinions, Then give a conclusion: The only way to solve the food shortage problem is to increase the output of the grain crop per land area through the advancement of science and technology. 3.      lead the students to pay attention to the people---Yuan Longping Ask : What do you know about him? --------Father of Hybrid Rice Then lead to the topic of the reading passage. A Pioneer For All People Step 3 Listening Listen to the tape, try to find out some information of the hero. Name ____________ Age    ____________ Job    _____________ Education _________ Achievement _______ Hobbies __________ Step 4 Fast reading Read the passage quickly and answer the true-or- false questions •         1.Dr Yuan is more a farmer than a scientist. •         2. Dr Yuan’s kind of rice is the most suitable for China’s farmland. •         3.Dr Yuan would rather work than relax. •         4. Dr Yuan has dreams when he is asleep and also when he is awake. •         5. Dr Yuan enjoys a simple life than most rich and famous people. Step 5 Careful reading Read each paragraph and answer the following questions: Para 1: 1.What dose Dr. Yuan look like? Why? 2.What is his achievement? Para 2: Why did Dr. Yuan want to increase the rice output when he was young? 2.How does he help rid the world of hunger? Para 3.4 1. What kind of life is Dr. Yuan leading? 2.What is Dr Yuan’s dream? Step 6 Skimming: find out the main idea of each paragraph. Paragraph Main Idea 1 His  appearance and achievements 2 His birth, education and research 3 His personality 4 His dream Step 7 Homework 1.Learn the poem The Peasants’ Lot         Li Shen (772-846) Farmers weeding at noon, Sweat down the field soon. Who knows food on a tray,  Due to their toiling day? 2. Finish the exercises in Learning about Language. 3. Retell the text in about 150 words.     Notes:     a. Use the first person to retell the story. b. Try to use the proper conjunctions. The second period Learning about Language (The –ing form as the Subject & Object) Aims To help students learn about The –ing form as the Subject & Object. To help students discover and learn to use some useful words and expressions. To help students discover and learn to use some useful structures. Procedures I. Warming up Warming up reading aloud the text A PIONEER FOR ALL PEOPLE Language is learned in context. So let’s first review the text learned yesterday by reading it aloud. Try to force out your English slowly and clearly. II. Discovering useful words and expressions In pairs do the exercises 1, 2 and 3 on pages 11 and 12. You must finish them in 5 minutes. III. Learning about grammar 1.          Read and identify Read the text about Yuan Longping again, paying attention to the sentences which use the –ing form as the subject and object. In the sentence “Wishing for things, however, cost nothing. “the –ing is used as subject. It can be also used as object of the sentence. For example: Yuan Longping likes playing his violin. 2.          Consolidating by do exercises To consolidate your understanding you will be given 10 minutes to go over exercises 1,2,3,4 and 5 on pages 12 and 13. You may just write on your text book. I mean the student’s book you are working by. III. Ready used materials for The –ing form as the Subject & Object) 语法学习——动名词 1. 动名词作主语 1） 名词直接放在句首作主语。例如： Using the right hand to shake hands is a convention in many countries. 用右手握手是许多国家的一种习俗。 2） 动名词在“It is no use/ no good/ fun / a waste of time/ a good pleasure 等名词 + doing”结构中作主语，it为形式主语。 3） 动名词在“It is useless/ nice/ good/ interesting/ worthwhile 等形容词 + doing”结构中作主语。 4） 动名词在“There is(was) no + doing”结构中作主语。  2. 动名词作宾语 1） 有些动词后面要求跟动名词作宾语。常这样用的动词有： admit 承认 ； excuse 原谅 ； postpone 拖延 ；anticipate 期望； fancy 想象practise 练习； appreciate 欣赏； finish 完成； prevent 防止； avoid 避免；forbid 禁止； propose 建议； consider 考虑； forgive 宽恕； recollect 回忆；delay 耽搁； imagine 想象； resent 厌恶； deny 否认； involve 涉及；resist 抵制； detest 厌恶； keep 保留； risk 冒险； dislike 讨厌； mind 在意； save 挽救； dread 害怕； miss 错过； suggest 建议； enjoy 喜欢； pardon 原谅；understand 理解； escape 逃避；permit 允许 2） 有些动词短语后也要求跟动名词作宾语。常这样用的动词短语有： can’t stand 忍不住； can’t help 忍不住； feel like 想，欲； give up 放弃； put off 推迟 3） 动名词常跟在介词或介词短语后做宾语。常这样用的介词短语有：instead of, look forward to, object to, keep on, see about, take to 等。 我们终于克服了所有的困难。 4） 在“have difficulty (trouble, problem, a hard time, fun, a good time) (+in) + 动名词； be busy (in) + 动名词；waste time (in) + 动名词；lost time (in) + 动名词；There is no point (in) + 动名词”等结构中，动名词做介词宾语，in常要省去。 5） 在复合宾语中，用it作形式宾语，将动名词短语放在后面。例如： I consider it a waste of time arguing about it. 我认为辩论这事是很浪费时间的。 6） 在“there be”结构当中，be为动名词时，该结构也是一种带逻辑主语的动名词形式。例如： We can imagine there being a lot of fuss about it. 我们可以想象到人们对此大惊小怪。 Were you disappointed at there not having been more gifts? 你对没有更多的礼物感到失望吗？ 3. 动名词的被动式 1） 动词need, require, want, deserve后，用动名词的主动形式表示被动意义。其用法相当于不定式的被动结构。 2） 在（be）worth后面只能用动名词的主动态来表示被动意义。     The third period Using Language (Organic Farming) Aims To help students read the passage Organic Farming. To help students to use the language by reading, listening, speaking and writing. Procedures I. Warming up Warming up by listening and reading aloud Language is created to be listened to and spoken first. So open your book to page 13 and read it aloud while listening to the recording. Watch your pauses between the thought groups. II. Guided reading 1.          Reading and translating Read the text sentence by sentence, and put it into Chinese. Who will be the first to try. I will only have four of you to do this task. OK, Wang Shan. You got it, the opportunity, I mean.  2.          Reading and underlining Next you are to read and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in the passage. Copy them to your notebook after class as homework. 3.          Doing exercises Now you are going to do exercises No. 1, 2 and 3 on page 14 following the article. 4.          Listening For listening turn to page 14 and then 15 for the listening exercises 1, 2 and 3.  Are you ready? 5. Reading, speaking and writing When trying to argue people into or out of doing something we may use the following expressions: I would rather… I don’t like…because… I’d prefer…because It’s a great pity that… Should I / we…? It’s better to… This is good value because… If I have a choice I’d choose…because What is the advantage of…? You need to… In pairs you are to make up a dialogue to argue each other into or out adopting organic farming. I will argue with your monitor, Liang Bochao. Get started. III. Guided writing 1.          Writing a poster Writing a poster which includes all the information about the uses of computer so that you will encourage more farmers to buy and use. You are asked to base your poster on the overall pattern of the article you learned Organic Farming. Limit your poster to between 200 and 250 words. 2.          Writing a speech Write a speech for Professor Yuan Longping. He is to attend an international conference on modern agriculture. You may also make use of the library and network resources for the task. IV. Further applying  Finding information Read online to find as much information as possible about Professor Yuan Longping and his research group. Share your findings with you partner next time you are here. Writing a report Go back home to interview your parents or your grandparents about China’s agriculture, its past and present situations. Write a report in English in about 500 words as a weekly project. Acting a text play Turn either one of the two articles into a text play. Rehearse it and play it in front of the class. The play shall last at least 10 minutes. IV. Closing down Closing down by filling a form To end the period please fill in the form below. What is organic farming? definition   characteristics   potentials  Closing down by imaging Imagine and write about what the agriculture will be like 50 years from now in the future. Use your imagination to compete for “wild thinking prize”. The fourth period Listening Step 1 Pre-listening 1. Talk about the the differences between organic farming and fertilizer farming. And show the picture 2. Introduce some new words in the listening passage valley  competitor  determinedpour  carrots cucumbers   pumpkins  attack  spread like wildfire  sigh  solid Step 2 Listening Listen to the tape and answer the following questions: 1. What does the passage tell us? 2. What do the words in the first column mean? Crops grown means how their crops grow. Well or bad?       Fertilizer means what kind of fertilizer they use. Organic or chemical?       Other plant nutrition means maybe, besides those two fertilizers, they still had some more powerful ones. Listen to the tape and finish the form Step 3 Get the students to answer: 2 Why do you think the results from the two farmers are so different? 3 Look at the summaries of the story. Decide which is correct and explain why the others are wrong. Step 4 Listening text Hand out the listening material , listen to the tape , then complete the passage with the right answers Step 5 Listening on Page 48 Listen to the tape ,and Put these stages of turning fertile land into a desert in order. Fertile farmland. (  )      Soil is blown away. (  )      Plants die. (  )      Land becomes dry.  (  )      Not enough water.  (  )      Soil turns to sand.  (  ) Step 6 Listening text Give the students the listening material to finish  The fifth period Writing Step 1 Speaking Try to find reasons to persuade people to buy your food. These words and expressions may help you.     I would rather...     I don’t...because...     I’d prefer...because...     Should I/we...? It’s better to... This is good value because... If I have a choice I’d choose... because...   What is the advantage of...? You need to... Step 2 Writing 1 Buy the best fruits here             We only sell green food in this shop! Best choice at best price! Safe, healthy, clean, fresh. Far away from any pollution. 21. No chemical fertilizer, all organic fertilizers 2. Clean air, clean water                             3. No poison, no pesticides                       4. Home in heaven Step 3 Speaking and Writing Task on Page 53. NOTES u     keeping fish in ponds u     taking eggs from the best quality fish u     feeding fish u     keeping fish very close together u     understanding that fish diseases are a problem u     trying to stop fish being affected by diseases u     removing fish that are the right size for eating or selling u     delivering fresh fish to the market  Step 4 Sample writing Show the students the sample writing and ask them to read it. Step 5 Homework Next time we’ll finish this unit. What we’ll do next period is to check your homework on Page 49 and finish the Project and Checking Yourself on Page 47, Summing up on Page 16, and so on.