Unit 2 Iconic Attractions Reading and Thinking：A Travel Blog教学设计

Unit 2 Iconic Attractions
Reading and Thinking：A Travel Blog
　　文本简析
　　本单元阅读文本是一则旅游博客，记载了作者前往澳大利亚旅游之前的准备、旅游期间的些许见闻以及行将离开之际的反思。作者攻读社会科学的学术背景使他更多地关注了生活在那片土地上的人民以及他们的文化、食物以及生活方式。文本中对澳洲复杂的民族与文化融合及澳大利亚人民的坦率、无拘无束的生活态度的叙述给读者们留下了深刻的印象，让人产生一种有朝一日也去澳洲一探究竟的向往。
　　全文按时间顺序分为4则条目。条目一记录了作者为旅游所做的一些准备工作；在条目二中作者记叙了其对澳州的各种来自全球不同地区美食的体验；条目三记叙了作者和朋友为了解澳洲土著居民的生活与风俗而探访北领地凯瑟琳镇的经过。其中，作者以详细的笔墨记载了所观察到的一种土著居民独特的乐器—迪吉里杜管的演奏技巧；在条目四中，作者反思了几天中的所见所闻：不同文化的复杂融合以及这种独特文化所熏陶、孕育的热情、友好的澳洲人民。他们给作者留下了深刻的印象。文本以澳大利亚推出的旅游宣传广告语“There’s is nothing like Australia.”结束，感叹不虚此次澳大利亚之行。
　　在进行文本教学设计时，可以引导学生理清本文的写作主线：作者计划以亲身体验的方式去了解、感受澳大利亚的人民与文化这两方面的情况，在经历中观察、感悟、思考与学习。这种目的明确，准备充分，最后也收获满满的旅游方式也能够对学生提供一定的启发与帮助。在对澳大利亚文化多元性有了更多了解的同时，可以帮助学生关注、积累撰写旅游日志类文本中常见的语言材料。
　　教学设计（共2课时）
　　第1课时
　　一、教学内容
　　初步理解全文，了解作者在旅游之前所做的各种准备工作，对于澳洲各种美食的初步印象，对澳大利亚土著居民生活状态的了解以及对澳洲多元文化和多民族融合的美好印象。
　　二、课时目标
　　1. 通过对有关“澳大利亚”这个话题的讨论，激活背景知识，酝酿阅读兴趣。通过扫读确定小标题，了解文本整体的大意与框架，寻找文章写作主线：Experience & Learn，以及博客的主要的内容：People & Culture，厘清文章主要脉络。
　　2. 学习note-taking技巧并通过应用这种技巧来更好地梳理、理解并记忆文本内容。
　　3. 在讨论中澄清文本中理解的难点，增强通过上下文理解词汇意义的能力。
　　三、教学过程
　　Activity 1: Discussion
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标1。
　　Discuss with the students the following questions.
　　Q1: What is the first thing you think of when you think about Australia
　　Q2: What is your impression of Australia based on your experiences or what you have seen in the media
　　(the Sydney Opera House, the Great Ocean Road, bush fires, cute koalas and kangaroos...)
　　The Sydney Opera house is so impressive that it seems to be a symbol of Australia. We can say it’s an iconic site of Australia. Can you name some other iconic sites around the world
　　Koalas and kangaroos are very cute animals. They are iconic animals in Australia.
　　T: Here is a travel blog with four entries and two pictures written by a blogger who has travelled to Australia. Can you predict what he mainly wrote about in the blog
　　【设计意图】此活动意在引导学生反思旅游的价值，回顾旅游中常见的活动，为进一步学习文本做好铺垫。通过对澳大利亚的讨论，激活相关背景知识，通过对悉尼歌剧院与考拉等澳洲著名亮点的讨论，学习并应用iconic，koala等词汇。引入文本并做简单介绍，预测文本内容。
　　Activity 2: Scanning and matching the subheadings
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标2。
　　1. The students read the first entry and check their prediction.
　　He wrote about his experiences and what he learnt about Australian people & their culture, food and way of life.
　　2. Find a proper subheading for Entry 1 and go on to find subheadings for the other 3 entries. Get the students to tell how they manage to match them quickly.
　　Deal with two new words in the subheadings: foundation and political, using lexical knowledge.
　　Divide the 4 entries in 3 stages:
　　Before traveling: Entry 1; While traveling: Entries 2 & 3; Post-traveling: Entry 4
　　【设计意图】扫读第一则日志，找到作者在旅游中的关注点：People & Culture，确定其小标题，并扫读其余三则日志，寻找合适的小标题。通过小标题的解读，理清文章的主要脉络。利用构词法的知识学习foundation与political两个单词。
　　Activity 3: Detailed reading for Entry 1: Preparing to travel
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标3。
　　Read Part 1 and answer the following questions:
　　Qs: When was the writer traveling to Australia
　　What preparation work did the writer do before travelling
　　What did he learn about Australia
　　What would he be interested in doing during the trip
　　Collect the answering sentences for further use.
　　Special difficulty:
　　Located to the south of the equator, it’s often informally referred to as “down under”.
　　Use pictures to explain the word “equator” and explain the meaning of past participle structure “Located to the south ...”: As it is located to the south ...
　　【设计意图】通过详细阅读第一则日志，提取文本中主要事实信息。解决其中语言理解上的难点，同时为下一个教学活动打好基础。对于出现的单元语法项目过去分词结构只作理解性障碍的清除，不做过多的解释。对文章中其他过去分词结构都同样的处理，意在增加学生的感知量，在单元语法部分再做启发与拓展。
　　Activity 4: Note-taking skills
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标3。
　　Suggest some skills of note-taking, which helps us better remember and understand what we have learnt.
　　1.Use the title to predict the main idea.
　　2.Write down the important facts, using key words.
　　While taking notes, write down the important facts using only the key words, which are informative and serve the title, ignoring the small words, such as articles, pronouns, and prepositions.
　　e.g. The next week he was traveling to Australia.
　　He planned to keep the blog to record his experiences and what he learnt.
　　3. Keep the notes short.
　　To save time and space, use abbreviation and symbols. The important thing is to be creative and to make sure that you are able to recognize them when you refer to them later on.
　　For example：
　　“Nt Wk” for “next week”; “Aus” for “Australia”;
　　“∴” for “so”; “&” for “and”; “∧” for “but”
　　“interestd2” for “more interested”
　　4. Organize the notes well.
　　Good notes should have a clear organizational pattern. The ideas should relate to one another and be arranged into an appropriate form e.g. a list, a table, classification charts, mind maps, etc.
　　
　　Activity 5: Note-taking practice
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标3。
　　Divide the students into 3 groups. Each group is to take notes of one entry and present the main facts to the class afterwards. Remind them to find important facts based on the theme of the blog.
　　1). Who did the writer meet and what did the writer experience
　　2). What did he learn about the people and the culture, food and way of life
　　【设计意图】在学习了note-taking技巧以后，布置学生利用其余的日志应用、操练这项技巧，基于文章主线提炼主要事实的过程中梳理信息，加深对文本的理解。同时训练学生通过上下文、构词法等技巧猜测词义的能力以及逻辑思维能力。
　　Activity 6: Presentation and further discussions.
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标3。
　　Get the groups to present the main facts of each entry according to the notes they have taken. After their presentation, raise further questions to clarify difficulties that have been missed out. If the students have a good command of English, give them the chance to raise questions. If not, the teacher may have to act the part.
　　Entry 2: First impressions
　　Qs: 1). What were the first impressions about Australia How did it come about
　　(about food. first open-air barbecue, different but yummy meals)
　　2). Why did the blogger use “!” when sharing the first impressions
　　(unexpected, amused,…)
　　3). What did the blogger learn about Australian food How does it come about
　　Of different origins:
　　a lot of typical Australian food: British
　　premier food experiences: from around the world
　　bean curd and Asian herbs, dim sim: Asian
　　Australia is an immigrant country and its food has been brought to the country by settlers at different times, first the Westerners, especially the British and later immigrants around the world, especially the neighboring Asian countries.
　　Grasp chances to discuss the meaning of bakeries, fast-food joints, butcher shops, premier food experiences, herbs and Chinese-inspired dim sim, using lexical knowledge, pictures, context clues or clear English explanation.
　　Entry 3: Aborigines and didgeridoos
　　Qs: 1. Why do you think the area is called the Northern Territory
　　Located in the north of the country, the area is formally referred to as Northern Territory.
　　2. Why are the native people called the Aborigines
　　(the Latin word ab: from; origins: the beginning. the word means being there from the beginning or the earliest ever known.)
　　3. How do you understand the sentence “The Aboriginal population may be small, its influence is still visible”
　　(the Aborigines actually only have a small influence in the society.)
　　Supplement knowledge: Before the arrival of the westerners, the Aborigines were the owner of the land. But after their arrival, the Aborigines began to lose their land. Many of them were killed in the conflicts and many died of the diseases brought by westerners. They were forced to leave the rich lands and lived in remote and poor areas. To our relief, the Aborigines are now protected by the law and treated as equal citizens.
　　4. What is the main theme reflected in Aboriginal music and why
　　The celebration (which means “praise”) of the natural world and the spiritual world around them.
　　They lived a hard life, which is shown in words like survive, had to, just sticks found on the ground, and had to be in close contact with nature, which means they were largely at the mercy of nature.
　　5.Why does he describe the process of playing the didgeridoo so carefully
　　On the one hand, he may be very interested in the musical instrument. On the other hand, by describing the difficulty of playing the instrument, he shows respect to the wisdom of the Aborigines.
　　Clarify the meaning of the special difficulties: hollow, vibrate, horn, pitch.
　　Entry 4: Reflections on multiculturalism
　　1. What did the writer think of his trip to Australia
　　(Wonderful, enjoyable)
　　2.What is his biggest impression of Australia
　　(the complicated mix of peoples and cultures that make up the nation, that is multiculturalism.)
　　3.What happened in 1788
　　In 1788, Australia was formally established by the British as a colony.
　　4.What does the writer think of the Australia people
　　He likes them a lot for their straightforward and free-and-easy attitude towards life and their friendliness and warmth.
　　If time permits, raise more detailed questions. If not, guarantee enough time for the
　　students to go through their notes.
　　In the presentations and discussions, the teacher serves as an assistant and facilitator, offering help with the difficulties and guidance for discussions and bridging the process of the discussion.
　　5.How do you understand the tourism slogan
　　Unique culture and unique people.
　　【设计意图】为学生提供一个舞台来展示他们对文本的理解，帮助他们在应用语言材料的过程中习得语言，同时培养语言表达能力。在把话语权还给学生的同时，教师还可在聆听、交流的过程中帮助学生理清逻辑，对他们所摘录的笔记及时反馈，提高他们的Note-taking技能。此外，教师应对每个语段中学生可能存在的理解上的难点了然于胸，通过穿插式、主动引导等方式帮助学生解决理解上的困难，掌握、巩固文本中的语言知识。对于语言知识的关注的点与量以不打断学生持续的表达以及师生之间、生生之间有意义的交流为原则。根据学生英语基础，教师可灵活调整讨论的广度、深度及密度。
　　Activity 7: Assignment
　　本活动旨在落实课时目标2、3。
　　1.Improve the notes they have taken of the entry and go on to take the notes of the other two entries.
　　2.Think about the identity of the blogger: Who kept the blog？Find facts to support your assumption.
　　【设计意图】通过进一步完善已摘录的笔记，并为其他两则日志摘录笔记，进一步训练笔记摘录能力，同时对全文的内容有更好的理解，在应用中学习、掌握语言。同时，学生为了尽可能多地推断作者的身份，他们会对博客全文进行更细致的阅读，训练学生阅读时的推断能力。
　　第2课时
　　一、教学内容
　　在已经理解文本表层意义的基础上，通过更深入的讨论，补充相关背景知识，帮助学生对澳大利亚多元文化的形成有更深的理解。观察全文写作特点，梳理相关语言，仿写旅游日志。
　　二、课时目标
　　1. 学生分享他们对作者的身份的推测，在交流中印证自己阅读中的推断并训练语言表达能力。讨论“旅游”这个话题，回顾作者旅游的组织方式，批判性地评价作者的旅游方式；
　　2. 学生复习作者在旅途中的经历与学习所得，在讨论中更深入地思考、澄清文章理解中的重点、难点。获得相关的背景知识，对于澳大利亚多元文化的形成有更深入的了解，思考文化多元的价值，培养学生的文化意识。
　　3. 学生在对文本内容的讨论中联系实际生活，同时积累有关旅游这个话题的语言素材，尝试进行仿写活动，巩固所学内容，提升语言能力。
　　三、教学过程
　　Activity 1: Discussing, comparing and critical thinking
　　本活动为实现课时教学目标1。
　　Start a discussion about the identity of the blogger and ways of travel.
　　Qs: 1. Who wrote the travel blog Let's share our assumptions about the blogger’s identity and give supporting facts.
　　The writer may well be a Chinese university student.
　　He went on the trip during the school holiday;
　　He majors in social studies.
　　The National Day holiday of China usually lasts from Oct. 1 to Oct 7.
　　Of the great number of food experiences in Australia, the writer particularly mentions the Chinese-inspired dim sim;
　　...
　　The writer might also be an exchange student in a Chinese university:
　　The blog was written in English. If the writer were Chinese, why bother to write it in English
　　...
　　Other assumptions are welcome.
　　2. Do you like traveling Why What do you often do during the travel
　　3. Now that we have read the blog, what do you think of the writer’s travel Why
　　(In the discussion, the teacher may demonstrate the skill of note-taking and organize their ideas in a certain pattern artistically.)
　　The writer’s travel is quite fruitful thanks to the following elements.
　　(for convenience, we use “He” in the discussion.)
　　Target -- He had clear travel targets: meeting the people and experiencing the culture.
　　Research -- Before setting out, he did some research on his destination.
　　Abandonment -- With so much to admire but only a limited time, he even abandoned the opportunity to visit some iconic attractions or cute animals so as to focus on his targets.
　　Venturing -- During the travel, he would venture to try new and unusual things.
　　Experiencing -- Instead of sweeping past hot tourist spots, he chose to experience new customs and cultures on his own.
　　Learning--- He set out to learn and finally he did learn much from the trip.
　　This way of traveling may not be the best, but is certainly useful for reference. It may inspire us to make our future travel experiences more fruitful.
　　【设计意图】通过对作者身份的讨论，训练学生阅读中的推断能力，建立文本阅读中的作者意识。谈论学生们自己的旅游经历---或是走马观花式的，或是个性化、文化偏好式的，比较本文博主的旅游方式并形成评价，培养学生的批判性思维能力。在讨论的过程中教师有意识地对信息进行提取、编码、组织，让学生再次感知note-taking的技能，同时使用提炼的6个单词的首字母构成TRAVEL这个单词，创造教学过程中的艺术美感，加深学生对有效旅游的印象。帮助学生通过讨论与对主题的提升，反思自己的旅游方式，以便做出更优化的安排，在今后的旅程中有更多的收益。
　　Activity 2: Further discussion of the 6 elements above and supplement of more background knowledge
　　本活动为实现课时教学目标2。
　　1.Target
　　Q: The writer’s clear target of traveling, meeting the people and experiencing the culture, is closely related to his major in social studies. Then what is social studies
　　Social studies is a part of a school or college curriculum concerned with the study of social relationships and the functioning of society and usually made up of courses in history, government, economics, civics, sociology, geography, and anthropology. （Dictionary by Merriam-Webster）
　　Reflection: When you go out to travel, what targets do you usually have in mind
　　2.Research
　　Q: Suppose you are traveling to Hangzhou during the school holidays, how will you do research on the city
　　(surf the internet, read books or travel brochures, consult friends, ...)
　　What information will you be interested to know
　　(location, iconic sites, local cuisines, interesting customs, shopping malls ...)
　　3.Abandonment
　　To make the most of time, we have to learn to abandon so that we can accomplish our plan. What will you be interested in doing if you go to Hangzhou if you have a week’s time What if you only have 2 days
　　4~5. Venturing & Experiencing
　　Q: What did he venture to do during the trip What new experiences did he have
　　In Sydney: attend his first open-air barbecue, enjoy many different but yummy meals
　　In Catherine: observe the life and customs of the aborigines
　　appreciate their music & try the musical instruments: the didgeridoo
　　6. Learning: (about the people and the culture)
　　Q: What did he learn about the people and the culture

　　Q: What is multiculturalism
　　Multiculturalism is a situation in which all the different cultural or racial groups in a society have equal rights and opportunities, and none is ignored or regarded as unimportant.
　　---Collins English Dictionary
　　Supplemental knowledge on Australia’s multiculturalism
　　Now Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world. However, it didn’t become a multicultural country overnight. When the westerners began to arrive in the land in the late 1700s, they dealt with the Aborigines cruelly, treating them like dirt. For the next centuries, White Australia Policy was the main policy in the nation. It was not until World war II when Australia was attacked by Japan that Australia felt the pressure of expanding its population to defend the vast land. Its increasing integration with its Asian neighbors finally led to the abolition of the policy in the 1970s. Australia began to open its door to immigrants from around the world and with the joint efforts of different cultural groups, multiculturalism began to be adopted as a national policy. For example, in 2011, the government issued an important document concerning multiculturalism, the People of Austria---Australia’s Multicultural Policy. Such measures enable Australia to rank among the most multicultural countries in the world.
　　【设计意图】 本活动以6个所提炼的核心单词为线索展开对文本的内容与语言进行深入的理解与巩固。同时，在1-3部分讨论是引入去杭州旅游的设想，将文本内容与学生的实际生活联系起来，为最终的仿写做好铺垫。在4-6部分讨论时重在进一步巩固有关作者在澳洲的经历以及他在People与Culture两方面的学习。通过联系上下文，并补充相关的历史知识，帮助学生对于澳大利亚多元文化的形成有更全面的了解，也认识到多元文化的价值。学习平等地尊重文化之间的差异，求同存异，提高学生世界公民的意识。
　　Activity 3: Topical language accumulation
　　本活动为实现课时教学目标3。
　　T: Suppose you are to write a travel blog to record your visit to Hangzhou. Let’s go through the blog again and pick up useful expressions to be used in your writing. Classify them into 3 categories: Before traveling, While-traveling and Post-traveling(Reflections). Encourage students to find them by themselves and use questions to guide them if necessary.
　　Before traveling:
　　do some research on...
　　Located to the south of ..., it is often referred to as ...
　　More examples:
　　i.e. Located to the east of Shaoxing City, the lake is often referred to as the East Lake.
　　Located to the south of Dongting Lake, the province is formally referred to as the Hunan.
　　iconic sites； cute animals；
　　I can’t wait to see all of them.
　　As I..., I’m more interested in ....
　　...
　　While-traveling:
　　Topical language to introduce the food:
　　typical; originally; premier food experiences;
　　The influence of...led to the introduction of..., along with ... versions of ...-inspired ...
　　Topical language to introduce a people & the music:
　　be native to; be in close contact with nature
　　The ... population might be small, but its influence is still visible;
　　This shows in their music, too, which celebrates the natural world and the spiritual world around them.;
　　..., among which there is an amazing instrument called...;
　　I tried to learn how to..., but after trying for hours, I was convinced that...
　　...
　　Post-traveling (Reflections):
　　It’s almost time for me to say goodbye to ...I’ve enjoyed my time here very much.
　　After being here for a while, my biggest impressions is...
　　Personally speaking, what I like most about ... is ...
　　Their warmth and friendliness make me feel at home wherever I went.
　　After experiencing ..., I have to say I agree the tourism slogan: “Hangzhou, living poetry”.
　　...
　　【设计意图】这一部分聚焦语言的模仿与欣赏。以仿写任务的真实需求为驱动，学生会根据自己不同的基础从写作的视角找寻个性化可学习、模仿的语言，并通过学以致用有效地巩固语言。
　　Activity 4. Assignment
　　After class, do some research on Hangzhou (or any place they like) about its location, history, iconic attractions and so on, and then write a travel blog of a 3-day trip. Remember to apply the newly-learnt expressions. Besides, they are expected to include an introduction of its iconic attraction(s) in their blog.
　　【设计意图】 在已经就旅游博客的结构与语言有了较深入的讨论与铺垫的基础上，通过进一步布置同话题的写作，促使所学知识的内化与吸收。同时结合单元主题，要求学生在写作中介绍一个标志性的景点，学生在思考及查阅相关资料的过程中所学习的知识也将为单元其他教学内容的学习做好知识和信息上的热身。