Teen Faints after Skipping Meals
Part 1. General Analysis
Guiding Theories
Background: The concept of the overall teaching design of the whole unit requires teachers to create an English learning environment that stimulates students' interest around the theme of the unit, and design diversified language activities based on the theme.
Guidelines: To meet the requirements of the National Curriculum for senior high school, students’ comprehensive language competence should be developed, especially their core competence including language ability, learning ability, thinking quality and culture consciousness.
Teaching theory: With the intention of helping the students achieve their learning goals and promote a deeper level of learning, Scaffolding Instruction is the support given during the learning process which is tailored to the needs of students.
Analysis of the Teaching Material
The selected teaching material is a news report taken from the Reading section of Module 1, Unit 4. The article introduces a female student who went on a diet to lose weight and fainted on campus. The topic is closely related to the daily life of students, so it is helpful to raise their learning interests and it will provide a chance for students to get a better understanding of what true beauty is, which is the main idea of the whole unit.
Analysis of the Target Students
In terms of the students, they’re in Senior One. With the help of teacher and basic reading skills, they will be able to understand the passage. Besides, they are eager to know more detailed information about the news.
Learning Objectives
Based on the analysis of the teaching material and target students, I have chosen the following as the learning objectives of my lesson:
In Language Ability aspect:
① Students will be able to master some important words, phrases, and appreciate some sentences.
② Students can grasp the characteristics of news report in terms of text structure.
In Learning Ability aspect:
① Students are able to understand the meaning of pictures, images, sounds and other non-text resources in topics such as "health", "weight loss", and "beauty";
② Students can use different reading strategies to obtain information, pay attention to and observe the language characteristics of news report;
In Thinking Quality aspect:
Students will be able to distinguish and identify the social phenomenon reflected in the news report, understand the author's writing intention and make correct value judgments;
In Culture Consciousness aspect:
Students will raise their awareness of taking a rational look at outer appearance, increasing self-confidence, and creating a healthy lifestyle.
Teaching Important Points
① Guide students to grasp the characteristics of news report in terms of text structure and expression.
② Lead students to have a positive and healthy understanding of the true meaning of beauty, and establish a correct aesthetic concept.
Teaching Difficult Points
① How to help students understand the author's writing intention and make correct value judgments;
② How to assist students in expressing their ideas fluently.
Teaching Aids
Multimedia, blackboard and textbooks.
Part 2 The Teaching Methodologies &Learning Strategies
Teaching Methodologies :
Activity-based Teaching Method
Instructional Scaffolding Teaching Method
Audio-visual Teaching Method
Communicative Teaching Method Learning Strategies :
Activity-based English Learning
Autonomous Learning
Cooperative Learning
Part 3 Teaching Procedures.
I’ll finish this lesson in 6 steps.
Step 1: Lead-in.(2 min)
Reading begins before a book is opened. At the beginning of the lesson, I will show a picture of a famous Chinese poem. Students are supposed to guess which sentence it is related to. Some other pictures will be shown so that students can get to know that people in different periods of history all want to make them look good. Then, a video about the change of the hairstyles in the last 100 years will be shown to the students. After watching the video, students will know that in different periods of history, there are different historical background and therefore different standards of beauty. Some people say that“we are living in a society where being thin is often seen as being beautiful.”Many young adults have tried various ways to help them lose weight, among whom is Jennifer, the main character of the passage.
(Purposes of my design): The pictures and the video will activate students’ existing background knowledge and stimulate students’ interest in the topic, which will help them get prepared for the lesson.
Step 2: Read for Gist. (3 min)
Firstly, I will ask the students to skim the passage quickly to find out what kind of writing the passage belongs to. Some options will be provided. Students will find it is a news report due to the pictures, title and date. Then, a piece of newspaper will be presented, and students are asked what attract their attention most. Then I will ask the students to observe the features of the headline of a news report. At last, students will be guided to focus on the headline of the passage and to find the key information it contains.
To help the students better understand a news report, I will lead the students to read the Tip on Page 46. Then the inverted pyramid structure will be introduced to the students to enhance their understanding.
Lastly, students will be asked to read through the passage quickly and find out the three parts in the passage.
(Purposes of my design): This step is designed to help students get an understanding of the features of the headline and the structure of a news report.
Step 3. Read for Details and Comprehension. (20 min)
Since the students have got a brief idea of this passage, it’s time for them to get some detailed information. So in this step, some activities will be provided, focusing on the language characteristics of news report.
Activity 1--Read and Compare. Students are supposed to read the Lead part (Para.1) and find out the key information it contains. Then, students are asked to compare the Lead and the Headline, and find out the similarities and differences between them.
(Purposes of my design): With this activity, students can use the reading strategy -
comparison to get to know the main elements and features of the Lead part of a news report.
Activity 2--Read and Find. In this activity, I will ask the students to read the Body
part (Paras.2-4), and fill in the blanks with correct words.Then put them into correct order according to the time line. Some important words and phrases will be explained.
Then, I will ask the students to find out the person who are interviewed in the Body part and think about why they are interviewed.
(Purposes of my design): With this activity, students are supposed to use the
reading skills - skimming and scanning to help them find the key words and time line so they can get a fully understanding of the whole event and their integral thinking ability will be developed. At the same time, students will also get to find out the language characteristics of the Body part of a news report.
Activity 3--Read and Think. I’ll ask the students to read the Tail part (Paras.5-7), and answer the following questions. Some important words will be explained at the same time.
Q1. According to a survey, what extreme methods are often taken by teenagers to lose weight quickly Jennifer’s case is a of the danger of the unhealthy weight-loss habits.
Q2. According to the expert, what should you do if you are overweight Q3. What good methods does the expert suggest
Then, in this part, the writer lists some figures in the survey and interviews an expert. Students are supposed to think why the writer does so
(Purposes of my design): By reading this part and thinking the questions, students
will be able to figure out what is the right attitude that we should have towards weight problems. What’s more, the language characteristics of the Body part of a news report will be clear as well. And the answers will provide a scaffold for my next steps. Activity 4--Summarize and Explore. I’ll ask the students to read through the whole passage again, try to summarize the main idea of each part, and then figure out the
writer’s purpose of writing this news report.
(Purposes of my design): Through this activity, students will have a better
understanding of the general idea of each part, so as to grasp the main idea of the news report as a whole and therefore clarify the author’s writing intention.
Step 4. Role Play. (12 min)
In this step, I will ask the students to discuss: if you are the news reporter, and your group members are Jennifer and her families or friends, what questions will you ask them, and how will they respond Then try to act out their interview. Lastly some groups will be invited to present their role plays.
(Purposes of my design): The step aims to motivate students to take on different
roles and to actively express their opinions by combining what they have learned and thought in this period. Students’ creative thinking will be developed. Guided by the Scaffolding Instruction, students will find it easier to express their ideas.
Step 5. Conclusion.(2 min)
Just as a famous actress Audrey Hepburn once said, “ Beauty is being the best version of yourself on the inside and out.” The standard of outer beauty is always changing through history due to different historical background and values, but the core of inner beauty may not change easily. Lastly, one of the students will be invited to share his understanding of beauty.
(Purposes of my design): Students will raise their awareness of taking a
rational look at outer appearance, increasing self-confidence, and creating a healthy lifestyle, therefore establish a correct aesthetic concept.
Step 6. Homework.(1 min)
I will ask the students to finish the following homework: Finish the exercise on Page 82, Exercise book.
(Purposes of my design): From the homework, students can consolidate what they have learned and deepen what they have thought in this lesson.
Blackboard Design
Part 4 Reflection.
Each step has been designed using Scaffolding Instruction to achieve the purpose of developing the students’ core competence.
Besides, students can use different reading strategies like skimming, scanning and comparison to finish the activities.
Last but not least, students will raise their awareness of taking a rational look at outer appearance, increasing self-confidence, and creating a healthy lifestyle.