Lesson plan of 7B Unit 4 “Using a,an and the” and “Prepositions of place”
I. Teaching aims and learning objectives:
By the end of the lesson, students will be able to
1. use “a, an and the” properly when talking about a person or thing;
2. choose proper prepositions of place to talk about where things or people are;
3. find out beauty of spring around themselves.
II. Teaching contents:
1. The function and the usage of “a, an and the”;
2. The function and the usage of prepositions of place.
III. Focus of the lesson and predicted areas of difficulty:
1. The differences between “a and an” and “the”;
2. Point out where things or people are according to prepositions of place;
3. Choose proper prepositions of place to talk about where things or people are.
IV. Teaching procedures:
Step One : Warm up the students (1-2 mins)
Purpose of design: lead in the topic of this lesson by looking for beauty of spring in the video.
(enjoy a video of views in spring)
Question: What is spring like
T: What is spring like
S: Beautiful.
T: Is it a girl or a boy if it is a person
S: A girl.
T: Where is the beautiful girl Is she in your school
S: Yes.
T: Let’s take a look in your school.
Step Two : Deal with “a, an and the” (about 15 mins)
1. Lead in the targeted sentences with “a, an and the”
Purpose of design: lead the students to say the targeted sentences by talking about the topic they are familiar with —— spring in the school.
(present a picture of a flower in their school)
T: What can you see in your school
S: A flower.
T: There is a flower on the tree. What colour is it
S: Pink.
T: The flower is pink.
(present a picture of another flower)
T: Is it still a pink flower
S: No. It’s an orange flower.
T: What do you think of it
S: Beautiful.
T: Yeah, the flower is beautiful.
2. Work out Rule 1
Purpose of design: encourage the students to analyze the sentences and work out the usage of “a”, “an” and “the” by themselves with the help of their group members.
(present the four sentences led in and read them together)
There is a flower on the tree.
The flower is pink.
It’s an orange flower.
The flower is beautiful.
Question: What are the red words (Articles.)
Activity 1: Group work
When do we use “a”, “an” and “the”
We use “a”, “an” or “the”before ____________________.
(A. a noun B. a verb C. an adjective )
2. We use “a”, or “an” when we talk about a person or thing __________________.
(A. for the first time B. again)
3. We use “the”before a noun when the person or thing is talked about __________.
(A. for the first time B. again)
3. Exercise 1
Purpose of design: help the students practice the usage of articles in a certain context (students are expected to use “a” or “an” when the word appears for the first time and use “the” when the word appears again ).
T: Spring has come to your school. Many flowers come out to welcome her.
Are they beautiful
S: Yes.
T: I bet they will look better with these green leaves.
Task: Put the leaves among the flowers.
(Complete the article by filling in the blanks with proper articles)
(Ask a student to read the article to check the answers.)
4. Lead in the targeted sentences with “the”
T: Just like the little blue flower, every flower is an important part of spring. Have you noticed these three flowers in your school Which one is Guangyulan (广玉兰)
S: The white flower.
T: Which one is a peach blossom
S: The pink flower.
T: What do you think of it
S: It’s beautiful.
T: But the yellow flower is my favourite because it makes me think of the sun.
5. Work out Rule 2
(present the three sentences led in and read them together)
The white flower is Guangyulan.
The pink flower is a peach blossom.
The yellow flower is my favourite.
Think:
We use “the” to talk about a ____________ person or thing. (A. specific B. general)
6. Exercise 2
Purpose of design: help the students practice the usage of “the” (students are expected to use “the” when they talk about specific things).
T: Spring is the best time for flowers to come out. There are thousands of flowers in spring and each kind of flower has its own meaning.
(Two flowers are given.)
Which one represents wealth and rank (The pink peony.)
(Three flowers are given.)
Which flower is for mothers (The red carnation.)
(Four flowers are given.)
Which flower represents love (The red rose.)
7. Integrated exercises
Purpose of design: help the students practice Rule 1 and Rule 2 together.
T: Spring is not only the best time for flowers and trees, but also for animals. Miss Liu and I went to the zoo last weekend. Would you like to take a look there
Task: (Textbook: P47)
Complete the dialogue between Miss Liu and me by filling in the blanks with articles.
8. Tips
Purpose of design: lead the students to use “the” in front of the ordinal numbers, the one and only thing in the world and the superlative degree.
T: Later that day, I received an email from Miss Liu. What else did she find in the zoo
Task: Finish the email by choosing proper phrases.
(Ask a student to read the email to check the answers.)
Think: What tips do we have when using “the” (Find the tips in the email.)
Answer:
We use “the” in front of the ordinal numbers; (the first duck)
We use “the” in front of the one and only thing in the world; (the sun)
We use “the” in front of the superlative degree. (the most important thing)
T: Actually, they are all specific things. When we meet them, we use the article “the”.
T: Miss Liu found some earthworms under the ground. What’s an earthworm
(Present a picture to help the students know about an earthworm, which will be used to lead in the prepositions of place.)
Step Three : Deal with prepositions of place (20 mins)
1. Lead in the prepositions of place and introduce their usage
Purpose of design: help the students understand the usage of prepositions of place by demonstrating them with an earthworm and a mushroom.
T: Pay attention to the words in red. What are the red words
S: They are prepositions of place.
(present the four sentences with red words and read them together)
I see some ducks standing in front of a lake.
I see a few bees and a butterfly above it.
I find some earthworms under the ground.
They are trying to move outside the soil.
T: It is raining these days. An earthworm comes out to have some fresh air. At this time, it finds a big mushroom. The earthworm is interested in the mushroom. It moves around the mushroom. Can you match the pictures with prepositions of place
Further thinking: What other prepositions of place do you know
(behind; below; under; outside; in front of; above; over; inside)
2. Practice the usage of the prepositions of place
Purpose of design: help the students master the usage of prepositions of place through effective activities.
Activity 2: Pair work
One student demonstrates (演示) with some pens and a pencil case, the other student describes (描述) the position (位置).
Activity 3: Listen and choose the right pictures;
T: Spring wakes up the earthworms. It also teaches the birds to sing. So if we find the bird, we find spring. Listen to the zookeeper. Can you find the bird
Description 1: The bird is flying behind the tree.
Description 2: The bird flies below the nest to check if there is a hole.
Description 3: The bird flies above the nest and then has a rest inside the nest.
Description 4: The bird walks beside the nest and then it flies in front of the tree. At
last, it looks for food under the tree.
Activity 4: Discussion
How are the birds getting ready for the forest party
The birds are __________________________________________.
(Example: The birds are practicing singing in the tree.)
Task: Fill in the blanks and complete the article;
T: If you want to see more birds, the park is a good place to go. Is spring there Here is an introduction to the park. Fill in the blanks with prepositions of place according to the picture.
Step Four : Comprehensive exercises (8 mins)
Purpose of design: help the students review and practice what they’ve learnt today in a certain context. The articles and prepositions of place are both included.
Complete the poem with articles and prepositions of place;
T: Spring is so beautiful in your school, the zoo and the park. Many poets write down poems to record the beauty. This is one of them: Spring Song. Can you complete the poem with what we learn today
(Check the answers together)
T: Read the poem together with background music and enjoy the beauty of spring.
Spring in your eyes;
T: Remember my question at the beginning of the lesson: Where is spring Now, I have my answer: Spring is in the wind. I can smell the fresh air when a wind goes by. Modify the example and make sentences to describe what spring is like in your eyes.
Summary: Spring is in our school, in the zoo, in the park, also in poems. In fact, if you have a pair of bright eyes to find beauty, spring is everywhere around us.
Blackboard layout:
Unit 4 Finding your way — Grammar
a behind in front of
for the first time
an articles + n. prepositions of place below above
again
the over under
specific
inside outside
Reflection:
本节课以“寻找春之美”为主线引领,按照“呈现-总结-操练”的思路,通过基于语篇的学生活动,引导学生通过自己的探索和小组合作,自主掌握冠词和方位介词的构成、功能和使用。在教学设计上,本节课有四大亮点:
主线选取巧妙:本节课以“寻找春之美”为主线,带领学生分别在校园、动物园、公园和诗歌中去寻找春天的美。这条主线的选取优点有三:第一、场景的选取是学生熟悉的题材,不会给学生的学习过程增添额外的认知负担,也不会给学生的表达带来障碍;第二、场景的选择巧妙地和教材结合在了一起,没有脱离课本;第三、在语言知识学习的同时,潜移默化地影响学生的价值观,学会发现身边的美。
自主挖掘规则:本节课中出现的语法规则是学生通过互助合作自主归纳出来的,而非来自于教师的告知。本节课按照“呈现-总结-操练”的思路,先在情境中呈现语法现象,让学生充分进行感性的认知,再通过同伴互助和小组合作的方式讨论总结出这些现象中所隐含的语法规则,最后,在情境中复现,反复通过听说读写的形式不断巩固语法规则,并对总结出的语法规则进行修正和补充;
卡通图示辅助:为了更好地帮助学生理解方位介词的用法,在呈现和总结环节,使用了蚯蚓和蘑菇的位置图示,在操练环节使用了鸟儿和鸟窝、大树的位置图示,这些卡通图示形象地解释了方位介词的用法,而且充分激发了学生的学习兴趣;
操练形式多样:操练的形式丰富多样,包含了选冠词补全短文,填冠词补全对话,选合适的短语补全短文,实物描述操练方位介词,听独白选择恰当的方位介词,以“森林派对”为主题造句操练方位介词,选择方位介词补全短文,利用本节课所学补全诗歌,以及使用方位介词和冠词表达自己对春天的情感。
此外,本节课中环节与环节之间衔接紧密,过渡自然,整节课一气呵成,带领学生徜徉于春天之景,寻觅春日之美的同时,把本节课的知识精华也收入囊中。