必修一 Unit 3 Travel Journal
Reading
Introduction
In this period, after the warming up, students will first be guided to imagine and share their views about the role of river in life. They will then be helped to read a narration entitled JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG. It’s about two students taking a trip down a river.
Examples of “Warming Up” designs are presented in this book for teachers’ reference. Computer and overhead projector may be used to aid the teaching and learning.
Objectives
To help students read a travel journal
To help students better understand “traveling down a river”
To help students understand and use some important words and expressions
To help students identify examples of the present progressive tense: expressing futurity in the text
Focus
Words
transport, prefer, flow, persuade, graduate, schedule, organize
Expressions
ever since, be fond of, change one’s mind, make up one’s mind, give in, as usual, at midnight
Patterns
When are we leaving and when are we coming back?
Then she persuaded me to buy one.后来她说服我买了一个。
Wang Wei soon got them interested in cycling too.
She insisted that she organize the trip properly.
Finally, I had to give in.
Aids
Multimedia facilities, tape-recorder, photos, diagrams
Procedure
1. Warming up
⑴Warming up by discussing
Good morning, class. Do you like traveling? Why do you like traveling? And why don’t you like traveling? Where have you ever been before? How did you get there? If you are given a chance to travel around the world, what kind of transportations will you use and why? Now look at the following pictures and discuss it in pairs.
Name of the transportations
Means of transportation
Reasons
by car (in a car)
by bike
by plane (by air)
by train ( on a train)
by bus ( on a bus)
by ship (by water or by boat)
in a hot balloon
by motorbike (on a motorbike)
by jeep
by truck
⑵Warming up by looking and speaking
Now boys and girls, what do you need to take with you if you are preparing for a bike trip along the Changjiang River? Look at the pictures and tell the whole class which object you think is the most useful and which one is the least useful. Give a reason why you think so.
⑶Warming up by asking and answering
Now suppose you live in Qinghai. You plan to take a holiday with a friend somewhere in Southeast Asia. You have been given a chance to choose three places to visit. Please find out the one-way fare to get there for different kinds of transportation. Perhaps you may not know the exact fare, but you can guess how much the fare is. Please have a short discussion with your partners and then decide where to go.
Ok, now I’d like you to ask your partner the following questions.
1. Where are you going on holiday? 2. When are you leaving? 3. How are you going to…?
4. When are you arriving in/at…? 5. Where are you staying? 6. How long are you staying there? 7. When are you coming back?
2. Pre-reading by talking and sharing
As we all know, there are a lot of rivers in the world and also there are many great rivers. Now look at the chart. In the left column are names of some great rivers. In the right column are locations where the rivers lie. Please match them.
match
answer
Names of River
Location
Names of River
Location
Mekong
India
Mekong
China，SE Asia
Rhine
France
Rhine
Germany
Ganges
Russia
Ganges
India
Seine
England
Seine
France
Nile
Central Africa
Nile
Egypt
Thames
Germany
Thames
England
Congo
Brazil
Congo
Central Africa
Niger
China, SE Asia
Niger
West Africa
Volga
US
Volga
Russia
Danube
Egypt
Danube
Central Europe
Amazon
West Africa
Amazon
Brazil
Mississippi
Central Europe
Mississippi
US
3. Reading aloud to the recording
Today we’re going to read a passage about JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG. Please listen and read aloud about the recording of the text JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG on page 18. Pay attention to the pronunciation of each word and the pauses within each sentence. I will play the tape twice and you shall read aloud twice, too.
4. Reading and underlining
Now please read and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in the passage. Copy them to your notebook after class as homework.
Collocations from JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG
dream about, take a great bike trip, graduate from, got the chance to do sth., cycle along the river, go for long bike rides, persuade sb. to do sth., get sb. interested in sth., be stubborn, know the best way of getting to places, the source of the river, change one’s mind, at an altitude of, the air be hard to breathe, an interesting experience, make up one’s mind, give in, a large atlas with good maps, pass through, be surprised to do sth, half of
5. Reading aloud once again and understanding
Next we are going to read aloud the text once again and then answer some questions.
Who are Wang Kun and Wang Wei? (They are brother and sister, and both are college students.)
What was their dream? (Their dream was to take a great bike trip.)
Who are Dao Wei and Yu Hang? (They are Wang Kun’s cousins who are at a college in Kunming.)
Where is the source of the Mekong River and which sea does it enter? (The source of the river is in Qinghai Province and it enters the South China Sea.)
What can you see when you travel along the Mekong? (You can see glacier, rapids, hill, valleys, waterfalls and plains.)
Is it a difficult journey to cycle along the Mekong? Why? (Yes. The journey begins at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters, where it is hard to breathe and very cold.)
6. Reading and summing up
We shall go over the text once more to complete the chart below.
Type of writing and summary of the idea
Type of writing
This is a travel journal.
Main idea of the passage
Wang Kun and Wang Wei’s dream of taking a great bike trip
Topic sentence of 1st paragraph
Wang Wei first having the idea to cycle along the Mekong River
Topic sentence of 2nd paragraph
Wang Wei insisting finding the source of the river and begin our journey there
Topic sentence of 3rd paragraph
We finding a large atlas with good maps that showed the details of the world geography
7. Making a diagram of the text
Next try to turn out a diagram of the text to see its organization.
Wang Kun and his sister to take a bike trip
8. Retelling the text with the help of the diagram in about 200 words
Retelling can be fun and useful. Next we are to retell the story in the third person. And we shall make use of the diagram above.
One possible version：See II in Part 3 Teaching Assessment
9. Discussing in groups
We have got the general meaning of the passage, and we know Wang Wei and Wang Kun have some similar and different attitudes about the trip. You may have a short discussion with your partners and then fill in the chart.
Similar attitudes about the trip
Different attitudes about the trip
Both Wang Wei and Wang Kun thinks:
1) taking this trip is a dream that comes true.
2) that they will enjoy this trip a lot.
3) they should see a lot of the Mekong.
4) that most of the Mekong will be found in Southeast Asia.
Wang Wei believes:
1) they must start in Qinghai where the river begins/see all of the Mekong.
2) that they don’t need to prepare much.
Wang Kun believes:
1) it is too cold and high to start in Qinghai.
2) that using an atlas is very important.
10. Closing down by taking a quiz
Fill in the blanks to complete the summary of the text.
I have long dreamed about taking a great 1_____ trip along the Mekong River. After graduation from college in 2002 I finally 2 _____ the chance to cycle along the river. In order to 3 _____ for long bike rides, I bought a very 4 _____ mountain bike. I persuaded my 5 _____ to cycle with me. We grew up in the city, and 6 _____ had long hoped to go outside the city. So I 7 _____ her interested in cycling along the river. 8 _____ she is stubborn. She thought she knew 9 _____ best way of getting to places. But actually she had 10 _____ idea of the source of the river. And she 11 _____ little about the details of planning. I then 12 _____ her a determined look and changed my 13 _____. We got onto an altitude of 5,000 meters. 14 _____ seemed to be excited about the 15 _____ air there. But then we found it was hard to breathe. 16 _____ back I think it was really an 17 _____ experience. I have made up my mind to 18 _____ up my job next week. I would buy a large atlas 19 _____ good maps. I would keep 20 _____ all my life, exploring the earth.
(Keys: 1 bike 2 got 3 go 4 strong 5 sister 6 we 7 got 8 But 9 the 10 no 11 cared 12 gave 13 mind 14 She 15 fresh 16 Looking 17 interesting 18 give 19 with 20 cycling )
Work out the structure and vocabulary questions.
1. It was my father _____ first had the idea to walk around the world.
2. I am determined to cycle along the Yellow River form _____it begins to where I ends.
3. We are _____and grew up in the north China mountains near the Zhang River.
He insisted that we _____for a long bike trip along the river.
The teacher gave me a determined look—the kind _____said she wouldn’t cycle any further with me.
_____she has fallen asleep, nothing can awake her.
We found a book with beautiful poems that showed _____of her love towards the nature.
The road became narrow _____it passes through deep valleys, traveling across northern Shanxi Province.
(Keys: 1. who, 2. where, where, 3. Han, 4. go, 5. that, 6. Once, 7. details, 8. as )
必修一 Unit 3 Travel Journal
Reading
Teaching ideology
According to the National English Curriculum (NEC), the ultimate goal of English teaching is to achieve learners’ comprehensive language competence. All the teaching activities should be designed on the basis of the principle of learner-centeredness. The current theory views reading as an interactive process, which involves the printed text and the learners’ general knowledge of the language and of the world as well.
Based upon this understanding, in this class, the Interactive Reading Model is adopted to help learners to develop their reading strategies.
Analysis of teaching material
The reading material is from NSEFC module 1 unit 3, of which the topic is travel journal. This passage mainly introduces Wang Kun and Wang Wei’s dreams and plans for the journey down the Mekong. The passage consists of three paragraphs. The first paragraph is about their dreams to take a bike trip. The second paragraph talks about Wang Kun’s and Wang Wei’s attitude towards the trip. The last part tells about the basic information of Mekong, which may not be natural to teach according to this order. The topic travel is familiar to students, but they have no idea of an English travel journal.
Analysis of learners
The learners of this class are from grade one in Jin Hua No.2 high school. As high school students, they have achieved English level, generally at level 7 and they can use some strategies to help them understand the passage. They are easily motivated and want to air their opinions on the topic. They are familiar with the topic of travel. But they can get easily unfocused if the activity is not students-oriented. Besides, their vocabulary is limited, which increased their difficulties in understanding some sentences.
Learning objectives
By the end of the class, ss will be able to
Knowledge and skills
①Predict the content of the passage based on the title.
②Grasp some reading skills such as scanning and skimming through different tasks.
③Master the key words and phrases such as determine, change one’s mind, give in, ever since, persuade, schedule, etc. to discuss how to make travel plan.
④Have an awareness of expressing future tense using present continuous tense through the reading of the passage.
⑤Grasp the using of method of “Comparison and Contrast”.
Process and methods
①Cultivate their ability of individual learning and cooperative learning by doing some activities independently and some in groups.
②Communicate with each other in English while carrying out tasks.
Affection, attitude and values
①Know more about the Mekong River.
②Cultivate their awareness of loving nature and our nation.
③Learn the importance of corporation and mutual aid in solving the problems, such as making a good travel plan.
Learning focuses and anticipated difficulties
Learning focuses
①Ss understand the content of the reading part.
②Ss cultivate students’ reading skills, such as predicting, skimming, scanning and summarizing.
③Ss master the new words and phrases.
④Ss learn to talk about travel plan in English.
Anticipated difficulties
①Ss may have difficulties in understanding and memorizing the geography terms.
②Ss may feel difficult to need between lines to tell the different personalities of Wang Kun and Wang Wei.
③Ss may get confused with the expressing future tense using present progressive, which is new to most of them.
Possible solutions
①To put more emphasis on the second paragraph, the third paragraph should just be mentioned with the aid of vivid pictures and a video clip, in order to present the geography directly.
②The teacher makes a dialogue between Wang Kun and Wang Wei according to Paragraph 2, with whose help Ss can feel it directly through the conversation. Then, the teacher should lead Ss to find out the difference by asking them about their understanding of the “stubbornness” of Wang Wei.
③The grammar part is left in a particular section, with much examples from life, Ss can have a general concept in Grade 1.
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods
Contents
Lecturing
T lectures about the background of the Mekong River make Ss have a general perception.
Demonstrating
T demonstrates PPT documents to stimulate Ss’ affect for learning the topic.
Performing
T organizes various performances for Ss to experience the learning process. ?
Learning methods
Contents
Autonomous learning
Ss can explore questions in real-life by thinking independently.
Discussing
Ss can exchange ideas in groups after discussing.?
Cooperative learning
Ss can complete exploratory tasks in real-life by working cooperatively.
Teaching aids
①Multi-media devices: to arise Ss’ interests and present the knowledge vividly.
②PPT documents: to bring virtual life situation into the classroom and to improve learning efficiency.
③Blackboard design: to highlight clues and focuses.
Teaching procedures
Step 1: lead-in (7min)
Activity 1: Self-introduction (7 min)
T gives a self-introduction, using some important new words in the passage.
T: Good morning, guys! I’m honored to give you a lesson today; first of all, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Diane, and by the time of next year, I will graduate from ZNU. Ever since my childhood, I have dreamed to be a lawyer. But after my college-entrance examination, my parents persuaded me to be a teacher (they tried to make me get interested in teaching and finally they succeeded). They tried so hard that I had to give in. So here I am.
-->blackboard: graduate, ever since, persuade, give in
T: Now I’m a senior student in college, and I have one important wish before graduation. That is, a graduation trip. I’m always fond of travelling, and during the last 3 years, I have visited some places like Suzhou, Zhangjiajie and so on. But I have never gone a bike trip. Do you know what a bike trip is?
S: Travelling by bike.
Purpose: By natural context, the students can get familiar with some important new words in this unit.
Transition: Yes! Now there are two people who did this for me. Where did they travel? Please turn your book to Page 18. Read the title together.
S: Journey down the Mekong. -->T writes down the title
Step 2: Background knowledge of the Mekong River. (7min)
Activity 1: Watching video (3 min)
T: Have you ever heard the name of Mekong River? How much do you know about this famous river? Actually, this river is not so called in China. Do you know what we call it? Can you find some clue in the passage?
S: The Lancang River.
T: Good. Since we know little about this river, let’s enjoy a promo of Lancang River. (1’48’’)
T: Did you enjoy it? Is it beautiful? Do you want to travel along the Mekong?
S: Yes. (No)
T: If yea, what landscape can you see down the Mekong River?
S: ....
T: At the beginning, we can see many mountains – that’s where the Lancang River takes its source, right? It implies that the river begins at a high altitude…（板书）
It originates in high mountains which are covered with ice, right? (picture)
S: Yes.
T: So we can call these mountains glacier（板书）. Then we can see the river becomes wider and passes through some valleys（板书）, right? A valley is a low part of land between hills, which has a river flowing through it.
And finally, it flows into the sea. Now read the 3rd paragraph in the textbook, and we can get more information about this river. (2 min)
Activity 2: Filling blanks (4 min)
T lets students fill in the blanks according to the text.
Purpose: Departing Para 3 from the rest of the text to fun_ction as background knowledge for the text, the students first have some basic information about the place. Besides, this part can solve many new words of less importance.
Transition:
T: The two people – Wang Kun and Wang Wei, have a dream of a great bike trip to travel down the Mekong River.
Step 3: analysis of Para 1 (6 min)
Activity 1: When and what (6 min)
T: The two people – Wang Kun and Wang Wei, have a dream of a great bike trip. How does this dream come true? Please read aloud the 1st paragraph and find out these time points in paragraph 1.
S: Ever since middle school/Two years ago/Last year/After graduating from college…
T: Then what happened at each point?
S: Ever since their middle school, the two had this dream and when they graduated from college, they got the chance to do it. First, Wang Wei bought an expensive mountain bike and she persuaded Wang Kun to buy one, too. Then she got their cousins interested in cycling.
Purpose: Circling the time points brushes the background of the text for a better understanding. Also, it trains the students reading strategy of scanning.
Transition:
T: Finally, Wang Kun and Wang Wei had the chance to take a trip without delay.
Step 4: the appreciation of description in Para 2 (17 min)
Activity 1: Role-playing (4 min)
T: Finally, Wang Kun and Wang Wei had the chance to take a trip without delay. Before a trip, what preparation would people always do?
S: Looking for travel guide, prepare travelling necessities, saving up money for travelling…
T: But what did these two people do before their trip? Let’s see a dialogue from the two. We’ll have a role-play, who’d like to be Wang Kun? And who’d like to be Wang Wei?
S:...
Purpose: To provide a chance of performing, where students can experience WK&WW’s characters directly.
Activity 2: Feel the character (9 min)
T: What kind of person do you think Wang Wei is through this dialogue?
S: Stubborn.
T: In Wang Kun’s eyes, right? Can you find some supporting details? (key words)
S: Although she didn’t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly.
Now, I know that the proper way is always her way. ( Explanation on this italic word.)
... my sister doesn't care about details.
She gave me a determined look—the kind that said she would not change her mind.
Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it.
T explains the underlined words as words with strong feelings.
T: Wang Wei is stubborn, which was in her brother’s eyes. Do you also think she is so stubborn?
S: (Yes)...
T: Now imagine, if two persons are together, who both can’t make decisions, can they achieve their dreams?
S: No.
T: So Wang Wei is...
S: Determined.
T: Good! Any other adjectives that can describe WW? What kind of person is WW?
S:...optimistic, careless...brave....
T: It seems you can understand WW well. Then, how about WK? What kind of person is he?
Opposite to Wang Wei’s determination, Wang Kun is?
S: 胆小
T; OK, he is timid, right? What else?
S: Careful.
T; Right, and considerate.考虑周到的
T presents a table of characteristics on PPT.
Purpose: To arouse Ss’ critical thinking and to change Ss’ ability of reading between lines.
Activity 3: Imagination (4 min)
T: Now, imagine you have a chance to be a member of the travelling group, which one would you like to join when going along the journey? Please think for a while and reason it. (2 min)
T asks some students to share.
Purpose: Cultivate Ss’ tolerance towards difference in character and highlight their critical thinking.
Purpose: teaching in an order of performance-reading-analysis-discussion，interactive reading model can be really helpful to students’ thinking pattern. The analysis of words with feelings can lead students to feel the emotion of the author between lines and beyond lines.
Transition:
T leads the topic from travel journey to study in senior high school.
Step 5:Closing (2min)
T: Dear boys and girls, now Wang Kun and Wang Wei are on their way to their dreams, how about you? Do you get prepared for the next 3 years’ journey?
There will be challenges, annoyance, even failures.
Similar to their journey, you need considerate plans, and you are supposed to fuel yourself with your ambition and never say never.
At the end of this class, I’d like to share a proverb with all of you: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Good luck, and see you!
Step 6: Homework (1min)
英汉互译；I.单词拼写；II.词组应用
必修一 Unit 3 Travel Journal
Reading
Knowledge goals
1. Important words and phrases
dream about, finally, persuade, stubborn, insist, properly, determined, attitude, change one’s mind, give in.
2. Important sentence paterns
Ever since middle school, my sister Wang Wei and I have dreamed about taking a great bike trip.
Two years ago she bought an expensive mountain bike and then she persuaded me to buy one.
It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the entire Mekong River from where it begins to where it ends.
Although she didn’t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that she organize the trip properly.
She gave me a determined look – the kind that said that she would not change her mind.
Once she has made up her mind, nothing can change it.
We were both surprised to learn that half of the river is in China.
Ability goals
Enable the students to conclude Wang Wei’s and Wang Kun’s attitude to the trip and then add their own opinion with the target language Enable the students to learn how to conclude Wang Wei’s and Wang Kun’s attitudes about trip.
Emotional goals
Enable the Ss to find the importance of travel journal.
Teaching difficult and important points1. To comprehend the text is very important. Get Ss to express their plans and wishes. Help them learn that traveling is a good way to widen one view and add to one knowledge.
2. How to grasp the main idea of the text and how to tell the writer’s attitude.
Teaching methods
Talking, discussing, reading
Class-exercise
Exercise1 Questions:
What was Wang Kun and Wang Wei’s idea of a good trip?
Who planned the trip to the Mekong?
Where is the source of the Mekong River and which sea does it enter?
What can you see when you travel along the Mekong River?
What difficulties did Wang Kun and Wang Wei find about their journey?
What do you think about Wang Kun and Wang Wei?
T: You know Wang Kun and Wang Wei are brother and sister. What was their idea of a good trip?
S1: They have dreamed about taking a great bike trip.
T: Who planned the trip to the Mekong?
S2: Wang Wei.
T: What about Question 3?
S3 The source of the Mekong River is in Qinghai Province and it enters the South China Sea.
T: How about Question 4?
S4: We can see a glacier, deep valleys, waterfalls, hills and plains.
T: What difficulties did Wang Kun and Wang Wei find about their journey?
S5: We know that the travelers had to climb over a Tibetan mountain and pass through deep valleys.
T: You are right. Have you ever thought of traveling by bike?
Ss: Yes/no.
T: What do you think about Wang Kun and Wang Wei?
S6: I think they are energetic and determined.
T: Quite right. Now I’d like you to tell Wang Wei’s and Wang Kun’s similar and different attitudes about the trip. You can have a discussion with your partners. And then fill in the chart. By the way, do you know the word “attitude”? An attitude is what a person thinks about something. Let’s start.
Two minutes is enough. Teacher checks the answers and writes them down on the blackboard while the students are telling their answers.
必修一 Unit 3 Travel Journal
Reading
Teaching goals
1. To have a better understanding of the main idea of the passage.
2. To conclude Wang Wei’s and Wang Kun’s attitudes toward the trip
3. To talk about how to prepare for the travel journal both on physical and material aspects.
Language focus (here are some language items and structures)
New words: persuade; stubborn; properly; determined；change her mind; give in.
Teaching aids
Computer, recorder and projector
Teaching procedures
Step 1. I. Pre-reading
1. The world has many great rivers. Ask the students if they could travel down only one of them, which one would they choose? Why?
通过多媒体向学生提供一些风景名胜的图片引导其进行热烈地讨论。
T: Ask the students to guess the names of the rivers.
S: Try to name the rivers.
(A map of China and some pictures of the rivers are shown on the screen..)
(通过地图以及河流的图片来增长学生的地理知识，从而引发学生的兴趣，从而引出课题。)
引出the Lancang River and ask: What about the Mekong River? ---- Part of it is in China, too!
2. We are going to take a trip to the Mekong River and take off.
Ask: Do you know what counties the Mekong River flows through? (Look at the map of Mekong River and point out the countries it flows through.)
(Key: China, Burma, Laos, Thailand. Cambodia & Vietnam) Show pictures of the countries
Ask: Can you tell the differences between the Mekong River and the Lancang River ? (Look at the map carefully.)
Answer: The Chinese part of the river is called the Lancang River and after flowing in other countries the river is called the Mekong River.
Step 2. Reading
Listening
Say: After reaching the Mekong, an old man told us a story about the journey in the Mekong of a boy and a girl .
?T: Ask the students to listen to the tape about the story.
(Before listening, show some new words and expressions: persuade stubborn properly determined change her mind give in)
Listen to the text with 4 questions:
Who are Wang Kun and Wang Wei?
Who are Dao Wei and Yu Hang?
Where it the source of the Mekong River and which sea does it enter?
What can you see when you travel along the Mekong?
1)．让学生听录音带，边听边找出问题的答案，从而锻炼他们的听力以及他们提取信息的能力。
2)．丰富学生的地理知识，对邻国有更好的理解。
3)．充分发挥学生学习的主动性，让学生学会从地图中提取和综合信息的能力。
Detail reading
Read the text aloud.
Their dream
Taking a great bike trip
Their journey
Finding the source. Along the Mekong River from the source .
Their preparation
1.They bought expensive mountain bikes.
2.Wang Wei got their cousins interested in cycling.
3.They turned to the atlas in the library.
The Mekong River
1.begin/glacier on a Tibetan mountain/ small/clean/cold.
2.move quickly/pass through deep valleys
3.half/in China/Lancang River.
4.wide brown and warm/enter
1). Complete the form
2). Fill in the blank
Similar attitudes about the trip
Difference attitudes about the trip
Both Wang Wei and Wang Kun think…
1. taking this trip is a dream that comes true.
2. that they will enjoy this trip a lot.
3. that most of the Mekong will be found in Southeast Asia.
Wang Wei believes…
1. that they must start in Qinghai where the river begins/see all of the Mekong.
2. that they don’t need to prepare much.
Wang Kun believes..
1. it is too cold and high to start in Qinghai.
2. that using an atlas is very important.
Students work in pairs to discuss the following open question:
Is it a difficult journey to cycle along the Mekong? Why?
Step 3. Talking
1. Fun time
Imagine that you are helping the cyclists to prepare for their trip down the Mekong. You need to choose what you will take with you.
The following I will give you something to choose and write down their names as many as possible. (Show pictures)
2.Talking
Ask the students to write down as many words as possible.
This activity requires students to think critically and learn to be resourceful.
Step 4. Summary
In the last minutes, the students are asked to translate some difficult sentences in the passage.
Homework
1. Read the text again and find out the useful words and expressions.
2. Ex 1, 2, 3 on P20.
