Unit 4 Global warming
Reading
Teaching goals
Target language
words and phrases:
energy, light(v.), heat(v.), renewable, non-renewable, run out, compare, phenomenon, graph, fuel, trap, data, climate, catastrophe, consequence, range, per, glance, compare to, come about, fierce debate, result in, build up, keep on
Ability goals
Enable the students to talk about different sources of energy.
Enable the students to read the text, understand what it is about and talk about the causes and effects of global warming.
Teaching important & difficult points
Enable the students to get a better understanding of articles of this kind.
Teaching aids
A projector and a blackboard
Teaching procedures
Step 1 Warming up
T:Now let's look at a picture on the slide and answer the question below.
What is the greenhouse made and used for?
A greenhouse is made of glass and is used for growing plants, especially during cold weather.
What's greenhouse effect?
Step 2 Scanning
Read the text quickly and find the answer to the questions:
1. Who wrote the magazine article? What is the name of the magazine?
Sophie Armstrong, Earth Care.
2. What are the names of the three scientists mentioned in the article?
Dr Janice Foster, Charles Keeling, George Hambley.
3. What do they think about global warming? Do they agree with one another?
They don't agree with each other.
Dr. Janice Foster thinks the effects of global warming could be very serious.
George Hambley thinks global warming will be mild with few bad environmental
consequences.
Charles Keeling believes it is the burning of more and more fossil fuels that is resulting in a big
increase in carbon dioxide.
The first graph shows the temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit between 1860to 2000.
The second graph shows the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere from 1957 to 1977.
4. What are the two graphs about?
The first graph shows the temperature increase of one degree Fahrenheit between
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1860to 2000. The second graph shows the carbon dioxide content in the atmosphere from 1957 to 1977.
5. What is the main topic of the article?
Global warming/ the warming of the earth.
Step 3 Skimming
Read the passage carefully and judge whether the statements are true or false.
1. The temperature last century didn't increase much.
2. Everyone believes that global warming is caused by the activities of humans.
3. Janice Foster believes that global warming is caused b the burning fossil fuels.
4. Natural gas is a greenhouse gas.
5. Carbon dioxide is a byproduct of burning fossil fuels.
6. People accept Charles Keeling's data because he took accurate measurements.
7. Flooding could be one of the effects of future global warming.
8. George Hambley believes scientists are just guessing about the effects of global
warming.
9. George Hambley is worried about the effects of carbon dioxide on plant growth.
10. It is clear what the effects of global warming will be.
Keys: True: 3, 5, 6, 7, and 8 False: 1, 2, 4, 9, 10
Step 4 Detailed reading
Read the text carefully and try to find out how many parts we can divide the text into and find out the main idea of each part.
Part (Para_ to Para_ )
Main idea
Part 1 (Para _1_)
introduce a debate over the issue of global warming
Part 2 (Para _2__ to _4__)
illustrate how global warming comes about
Part 3 (Para _5__ to 10___)
list two different attitudes among scientists towards global warming
Part 4 (Para _11__ to ___)
It's up to readers to think and decide whether people should do something about global warming or not.
Step 5 Debate
Get into groups of six. Decide which three in your group are going to agree with the statement and which three are going to disagree with the statement.
Group A: We shall do something about global warming.
Group B: We shall do nothing about global warming.
Group A discuss why they agree with the statement; Group B discuss why they disagree.
Group A and B get together. Tell each other the reasons why agree or disagree with the statement.
Step 6 Homework
1. Read the passage again and review the new words and expressions.
2. Prepare the debate in groups.
3. Surf the Internet for more information about global warming
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