《英语》（八年级下册）
Unit 4 A good read
Reading (I)
I. Teaching aims and learning objectives
By the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:
1. understand the extract from Gulliver’s Travels with the teacher’s help；
2. understand the possible theme of the story;
3. learn how to read a novel and develop a love for reading.
II. Teaching contents
1. New words and phrases: against, tie, over, stomach, until, finger, tiny, continue, either, manage, lift, army, must, unable, shoulder, by the time, be tired out, be tied to, look down, the same size as, fall over, continue doing sth, manage to do sth, a huge army of
2. New structures: After our ship crashed against the rocks, I swam as fast as I could.
I woke up as the sun was rising.
It moved up over my stomach and neck until it was standing near my face.
However, they soon got up again and continued moving across my body.
I tried to pull one hand free and finally managed to break the ropes.
III. Focus of the lesson and predicted area of difficulty
1. Get a full understanding of the whole story.
2. Analysis the possible theme of the story.
IV. Teaching procedures
Step 1 Lead-in
1. An introduction to Gulliver’s Travels
(1) The teacher asks the students some questions about reading:
Do you like reading in your free time?/What kind of books would you like to read best?/...
(2) The teacher introduces the novel Gulliver’s Travels and its author to the students with the help of pictures.
2. Look and answer
The teacher shows students a picture and asks: What catches your eyes most in the picture?
The possible answer can be: What impresses me most is the characters’ sizes: the huge Gulliver and the small men.
【设计意图：介绍作品与作者，根据小说篇名预测书中主角，并通过图片使学生认识到故事人物视觉形象上的强烈冲突。】
Step 2 Understanding the whole story
1. Para 1
The teacher asks the following questions to help the students understand this paragraph:
(1) What do you think of Gulliver in this paragraph, lucky or unlucky? Why?
(2) What did Gulliver do to save himself?
(3) Can you ask some interesting questions about “our ship”?
(4) Do you think this beginning of the novel is a good one? Why?
【设计意图：问题1—2指向小说设置的情景分析。问题3—4的设计用于欣赏故事开头——一个好的开篇是一部优秀小说的必备要素。】
Para 2
(1) What do you think of Gulliver’s sleep in this paragraph, good or bad? Why?
(2) Some people think “the sun was rising” tells readers more than “time” itself. Do you agree? Why?
(3) How did Gulliver feel when he found himself tied to the ground?
(4) What might Gulliver wonder?
【设计意图：对问题1—2的分析旨在培养学生多角度理解文本的能力；借助对标点符号“！”的分析，帮助学生更好地了解了主人公的心理，而最后一个问题的设问则有助于培养学生基于文本的想象力。】
Para 3
(1) How did Gulliver feel about his leg?
(2) What is “it”?
(3) Why did the writer use “something” and “It” instead of “someone” and “He”?
(4) How small the man is?
(5) Why not cut out the sentence below? Why?
He was the same size as my little finger!
(6) How did Gulliver feel by asking the following questions?
(7) Can you ask more questions like these?
【设计意图：问题1—3理解文本恰当的用词，问题4—7赏析小说语言。充满画面感的句子把“大”与“小”的关系表现得淋漓尽致。无论是之后的仿写，还是仿问，都致力于培养学生的想象力。】
Para 4
(1) Who do you think is more powerful, Gulliver or small men?
(2) Why did Gulliver shout at the small men, for fun or for safety?
(3) Can you imagine how loud the noise was?
【设计意图：文本深层分析。Gulliver力大无比，却形单影只；Small men个头微小，但团结好战。通过对loud noise的想象，培养了学生抽象与形象转化的思维方式。】
Para 5
(1) Did Gulliver talk to the small men successfully?
(2) What do you think made them fail to communicate?
(3) How did they fight against each other?
(4) How did Gulliver feel at that time?
(5) How do you understand the word “army”?
(6) How do you feel after you read the last sentence of the extract from the novel?
【设计意图：问题1—4对交流失败原因的探究与剖析，有利于培养学生多层次地分析问题的能力。问题5对小说用词的分析，有利于学生更好地理解文学作品的内涵。好的故事（节选）结尾如同好的开头一样重要，问题6引导学生去读、要读、乐读。】
Step 3 Discussion about the theme of the story
T: Gulliver’s Travels is a great book full of amazing adventure stories. “Conflict” is one of its possible themes. Now let’s discuss how the writer described the conflicts in the following aspects: characters, plots and settings.
【设计意图：对小说主题的探讨与分析既能加深学生对作品本身的理解，更能激发学生对文学作品的热爱之情。以下三个步骤分别围绕人物、情景和情节逐个分析，起到回顾整篇课文并加以巩固之效。】
Characters
Students discuss the conflict about characters from these two aspects: size and number.
【设计意图：小说人物设计冲突分析。】
Settings
Paragraph 1: The students are expected to understand that Gulliver was a survivor in an unknown place. However, the local small men were living in a familiar place—their hometown.
Paragraph 2: The students are expected to understand that Gulliver was trapped and the small men were free.
【设计意图：小说情景设计冲突分析。】
Plots
Gulliver and the small men met three times in the story. The teacher encourages the students to point out their different behaviours in each round with the help of pictures.
When the students are doing the task, they are also advised to think about Gulliver’s different feelings and thoughts in different periods of the story.
【设计意图：小说情节设计冲突分析。】
V. Homework
As the saying goes, “There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes.” After class, write your own understanding about some words from the extract, and share it with your good friends.
课件25张PPT。Unit 4 A good read Reading (I)Gulliver’s TravelsJonathan Swift(1667—1745) Who’s the main character? (Gulliver.)What catches your eyes most in the picture? Huge Gulliver VS Small men What do you think of Gulliver in this paragraph?
What did Gulliver do to save himself?
Para 1 Lucky VS Unluckly The ship crashed against the rocks. Gulliver was still alive. Swam & Slept swam as far as he could
fell down ... and went to sleep /fast fastslow Fast VS Slow Can you ask some interesting questions about “our ship”?
Do you think this beginning of the novel is a good one? Why?
Where were other people in the ship after the crash?
What were they going to do in the ship?
...
A good beginning (especially a good first sentence) always tells something more than itself. It allows its readers to read, ask and know more. What do you think of Gulliver’s sleep according to this paragraph? Para 2 Good VS Bad He slept until the sun was rising. ( )
He wasn’t tired out but he still couldn’t move. ( )
His arms, legs and hair were tied to the ground! ( )
GBG & B A deep and sound sleep may get Gulliver into trouble.Some people think “the sun was rising” tells readers more than “time” itself. Do you agree or not? Why?
the sun ... rising
woke upenergetic/active
new lifebe tied to ...
could not move helpless/troubled
new challenge but My arms, legs and hair were tied to
the ground How did Gulliver feel?Surprised! What might Gulliver wonder?Who tied me to the ground?
Why was I tied to the ground?
... How did Gulliver feel on his leg?
He felt something on his leg.
It moved up over his stomach and neck until it was standing near his face.
What is “it”?
A very small man.
Why did the writer use “something” and “It” instead of “someone” and “He”?Para 3 Something VS Someone Gulliver
felt. Gulliver
saw. Felt VS Saw He looked down and sawGulliver felt something and then saw someone.How small the man is?
Why not cut out the sentence above?
He was the same size as my little finger !I am the same size as the huge man’s little finger.And the huge man’s eye/nose/mouth/tooth/
hand/foot is the same size as __________.
... Huge VS Small Pictures speak louder than words. A good read
often helps to create pictures in its readers’ mind.How did Gulliver feel by asking the following questions?
Where was I?
Who was this tiny person?
Can you ask more questions like these?
Why was the small man standing near my face?
Was I tied to the ground by this small man?
Was he the only tiny man living here?
...
WonderingWho do you think is more powerful, Gulliver or small men?
Para 4 1 VS 40 Gulliver:
shouted at them
the big noise made
them all fall overSmall men:
climbed all over ...
got up again
continued moving ...
power of a huge man power of a teamphysical powermental power Why did Gulliver shout at the small men?
For fun VS For safety —the loud noise made them all fall over. How did Gulliver feel at that time? Amused. Small men—Look, how powerful I am! Can you imagine how loud the noise was?
( Tip: Good answers make readers “see”
or “feel” the loud noise.)Did Gulliver talk to the small men successfully? Para 5 Chat VS Fight began talking to me could not understanddidn’t know what to say What do you think made them fail to communicate? language barrier (障碍) nothing in common Can you imagine what the small man talked to him? How did they fight against each other?Gulliver:
tried to pull one hand free
managed to break the ropes
lifted left hand into the airSmall men:
began to shout
a huge army of tiny people were coming straight towards Gulliver How did Gulliver feel at that time? but I did not know how to get away.Afraid "I must run away from them,"HopelessHow do you understand the word “army”?I looked down and saw a huge army of tiny people.army :
1. a large number of people 大批，大群
2. an organization of military forces of a nation 军队，大军The word "army" shows readers the tiny people are not only large in number but also with the same purpose of fighting for their country.When the opposites "huge" and "tiny" are used in "a huge army of tiny people" together, they draw a very special dramatic picture for readers. 一词两用两词一用How do you feel after you read the last sentence of the extract (节选) from the novel? “I must run away from them,” I thought, but I did not know how to get away. Curious VS Worried Could Gulliver manage
to run away from
the tiny men at last?
... I want to continue reading this story!
What a good read!What a poor man! Would
his travels always be
full of kinds of trouble?
...Gulliver's Travels is a great book full of
amazing adventure stories. “Conflict” (冲突) is
one of its possible themes (主题).
Theme of the storyGulliverTiny men
Characters1. size:
2. number: alone a very small man more small men a huge army of tiny people the same size as my little fingerhuge small/tiny3. ... SettingGulliverTiny men
1. the ship crashed against the rock
swam as far as ...
felt the land under the feet
fell down on the beach
went to sleep
in an unkown place
the local pepole in their homeland a survivor 2. the sun was rising
but could not move
... were tied to the groundtrapped freePlot1st Round (1 VS 1)(climb) onmove up overstand nearWhere was I?
Who was this tiny person?Wondering:
Would we be friends?2nd Round (Around 40 VS 1)
Plotclimb all over ...
shout at themall fall over
get up again
continue moving across ...Amused:
Are they doing this seriously?
3rd Round (A huge army VS 1)Plot Chat ? Fight !talk to ...
can not understand
do not know what ... try to pull ... free
manage to break ...
lift ... into the airbegin to shout
come straight ... I must run away from them,
but I do not know how to get away.Afraid & Hopeless:
If only I could escape from these guys!
There are a thousand
Hamlets in a thousand
people’s eyes.
—Shakespeare
After class, write your
own understanding about
some words from the
extract and share it with
your good friends.HomeworkThank you
