劉丹

The General Idea of This Period

In this period， were going to read a passage My First Ride on a Train. This reading passage is a travel diary， mainly about Alice Thompsons experience of travelling to the central part of Australia. In her travel， she describes food， the scenery， the people as well as the train she took. This section aims at improving students reading ability， developing their reading strategies， learning about the writing characteristics of a travel diary， and mastering some important words and phrases and “-ed” form used as attribute through the context.

To achieve these goals， Ill take PWP teaching model and design eleven steps and nine activities to finish this part.

Three-Dimensional Goals

At the end of the class， students will be able to...

Knowledge and Skills

1. Uunderstand the following core words and phrases： abandoned camel cassette desert diamond expert midnight product scenery shoot soil journey train passenger recently be short for not ... any more

2. Understand the expressions with the “-ed” form used as attribute in the reading passage.

3. Learn to get the main idea， find the topic sentences， and catch the effective information of the passage by predicting， skimming and scanning.

4. Know about the writing characteristics of a travel diary and try to write one to describe their own travel experiences with learnt words ， phrases and expressions.

Process and Methods

During the class， the teacher helps the students to：

1. Understand the core words， phrases and “-ed” form used as attribute through the context of the passage.

2. Improve their reading ability by predicting， skimming and scanning.

Emotion and values

At the end of the class， students will be able to...

1. Know more background knowledge of Australia.

2. Raise their awareness of cooperation and exploration in their study by pair work or group work.

3. Be inspired to be familiar with the general configuration of the earths surface and respect local conditions （human and environmental） around the world.

Teaching Important Points

1. Students can improve their reading ability of grasping the main idea and catching the effective information of the passage by predicting， skimming and scanning.

2. Students can learn about the writing characteristics of a travel diary.

Teaching Difficult Point

Students can understand the deep meaning behind the reading passage.

Teaching Methods & Strategies

Learner-centered， task-based teaching method， cooperative learning method.

Teaching Aids

1. a computer

2. a projector

3. the blackboard

Teaching Procedures

Step Ⅰ Greeting

Pre-reading

Step Ⅱ Lead-in

Activity 1： Background knowledge of Australia.

（1）Organize a brainstorming activity to bring in words about Australia.

（2） Make a presentation about Australia.

Activity 2： Check words.

The teacher show the students the word box on the screen， asking them to check the meaning and do the match game. Most of the words are familiar to the students， but they have a new meaning or part of speech. Some are totally new words. But anyhow the students will get a rough idea of these words and they may wonder how these words will affect their reading.

（1）Read the words in the box and check the meaning.

Read through the words as the students follow， and make sure the students understand the words. Meanwhile， pay attention to the correct pronunciation of them.

（2）Do the match game.

First ask them to do the activity individually then check the answers. A few minutes later， call back the answers from the class.

Choose a word in the box to match the underlined part in a passage.

Not a long ago， I had a wonderful trip to Hainan. Its not an area of dry land， because its surrounded by sea. There you can always enjoy the beautiful sunshine， green trees and blue water. On the beaches， you cant find any valuable stones， but you can always touch the soft sand instead. On my way back， I made friends with some of the people travelling on the train.

Suggested answers： recently； desert； scenery； diamonds； passengers.

While-reading

Step Ⅲ Predicting for possible information

Activity 3： Read the title and make prediction on the literary form.

（1）The students read the title “My First Ride on a Train” and discuss what kind of literary form they think the passage can be. And the students may find it a narration. The teacher then goes to encourage the students what they may expect to read in a narration.

Possible answers： Who/When/Where/What/How...

（2）The students read the first paragraph of the passage and find out the “who， when， where， what and how...” quickly.

Step Ⅳ Skimming for the main idea of each paragraph

Activity 4： Read the text quickly and match the main idea with each paragraph.

The students read the text quickly and silently to get the main idea of each paragraph. And then， the group members discuss with each other to finish this exercise.

Para 1： A. The food on the train and the scenery during the journey.

Para 2： B. What the writer did on the train during the days and nights.

Para 3： C. How the Afghans dealt with the camels.

Para 4： D. The writers first ride on a long distance train recently.

Para 5： E. The use of camels in the past.

Para 6： F. The reason why the train is called the Ghan.

Answers： Para 1 D； Para 2 A； Para 3 B； Para 4 F； Para 5 E； Para 6 C

【過渡語】T： Today， lets get on the train and travel to Australia with Alice.

Step Ⅴ Scanning for details

Activity 5： Read the text， focusing on some detailed information.

The students read the text again， based on what they have known of the whole passage， to obtain required specific information. The teacher gives some guidance on how to focus on what is necessary information， and ignore what is unnecessary information. The following questions have to be presented before the task is given to make sure every student knows what to do and how to do it.

Get the students to read by themselves carefully then give some questions to answer.

Questions：

Q1： What was the scenery like during the trip？

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Q2： What does Alice do on the train？

Q3： Why is the train called the Ghan？

Q4： What were camels used to do？ Why not horses？

Q5： When did people stop to use camels？ Why？

Q6： Put the following statements in the right time order.

A. Railways were built and camels are no longer used.

B. Australians needed a way to travel to the middle of the country.

C. Australians trained camels to do the transportation.

D. They tried using horses to carry food and other supplies.

Answer to Exercise 6： B—D—C—A

Step ⅥAnalyzing the structure of the whole passage

Activity 6： Divide the whole passage into several parts and get the main idea of each part.

Suggested answers：

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Post-reading

Step Ⅶ Summarizing the “-ed” form

Activity 7： Find the sentences in the passage and answer the questions.

1. The teacher presents some sentences with the “-ed” form on the screen. The students read and pick out the “-ed” forms in the sentences. Think about the following questions：

Sentences：

（1） Trained animals carried food and other supplies.

（2） We saw abandoned farms which were more than a hundred years ago.

（3） We ate great meals cooked by experts！

Complete the following sentences with the “-ed” form used as attribute.

（1）污染的空氣和水對人的健康有害。

___________________ are harmful to peoples health.

（2）這是我們老師寫的一本書。

This is a book _________________________.

（3）懷特老師給學生們看了一些從圖書館里借來的舊地圖。

Mrs. White showed her students some old maps __________________.

Answers：

（1） Polluted air and water are harmful to peoples health.

（2） This is a book written by our teacher.

（3） Mrs. White showed her students some old maps borrowed from the library.

Step Ⅷ Review the passage

Activity 8： Fill in the blanks and review the passage.

Integrated exercises： Complete the following paragraph according to the text.

Im Alice. Im 18 years old. Recently I had my first ______ on the famous Ghan train. I got on in ______ and got ______ in Alice Springs. A friend and I spent two days on the train and we ate great meals ______ by experts. The ______ was colorful， but suddenly we saw ______ farms ______ more than a hundred years ago. Sometimes， I read books， listened to my Chinese ______， and talked to other ______. At about midnight， I watched the night sky.

Ghan is ______ Afghanistan. There is a story about it. A long time ago， Australians used ______for traveling to the middle of the country， but they didnt like the hot weather and sand. So Australians used ______ camels to carry food and other ______. In the 1920s， the government built a new ______ line， so they didnt need the camels ______. In 1925， a law was passed to allow people to ______ the animals if they became a problem.

Answers： ride； Sydney； off； cooked； scenery； abandoned； built； cassettes； passengers； short for； horses； trained； supplies； railway； any more； shoot

【過渡語】T：Now， we end the travel with Alice. Lets talk about your own travelling experiences.

Step Ⅹ Speaking

Activity 9： Talk about travelling experiences.

The teacher gets the students to work in groups and try to talk about one of their traveling experiences according to the first paragraph in Activity 8. Encourage all of them to be involved in this activity and finally choose some group members to give their report to the whole class.

Step Ⅺ Homework and Summary

1. Write a passage introducing one of your travelling experiences with more details.

2. Try to retell the passage.

Step Ⅻ The Design of Writing on the Blackboard

（作者單位：黑龍江省大慶市東風中學）