UNIT TWO Unwillingly on Holliday I. General understanding of the text Technique of narration, the form of discourse generally used in novels, short stories and plays. Students are supposed to recognize that narration includes more than a mere reporting of events, but details finely rendered in plain but effective language. II. Duration of Time: Six periods III. Objectives On completion of the unit, students are expected to understand the technique of narration in the text, learn to analyze the devices that contribute to the effective development of the main idea. V. Difficult Points Understanding how the devices are employed by the writer to arouse the reader’s interest and the detailed description of the boy’s feeling of anger. VI. Teaching Procedures A. Bring out the topic of students’ own holiday spent during their summer vacation. The teacher invites pairs of students to the podium and ask them to talk freely about their holiday. Then at the proper time, the teacher takes over the topic, naturally shit the topic and draw students’ attention to the text. B. Ask students to guess the main idea of the text, then tell them to go over the text rapidly once without worrying about the new words and phrases. The suggested time limit is 5 minutes. C. Draw students’ attention to writer’s good description of the boy’s feeling of anger, echo used in the story and the contradictions on the mind of the mother. The following are some respective examples: a. well-chosen diction for the boy’s feeling of anger: weep tears of anger; raged; bitterly; waved good-bye angrily; in hostile silence; he was being rude b. An echo is created. The story begins with Tom “looking his good-bye” at the garden and ends with his aversion to living in a flat with no garden. c. contradictions on the mind of the mother— She hated to send the boy away, yet she had to do so out of her love for him, so she was apologetic to him, so she was apologetic to him. She didn’t want to see her son unhappy, yet she knew he would be unhappy at his uncle’s, so she tried every means to coax him. Then do comprehension exercise on pages 16 and 17 in Workbook. D. Do the vocabulary exercise on pages 2 and 3. Key: Section A: c. a. g. d. h. b. f. e Section B: 1. yield; 2. look intently and steadily; 3. unpleasantly, crossly; 4. make something unsatisfactory; 5. with obedience; 6. unfriendly; 7. keep in a small space; 8. (of a place) unpleasantly small E. Details of the text. (1) be seen as: be regarded as; be looked at as (2)dread: feel great fear or anxiety about (3) routine: regular or habitual way of doing things (4) account: description (5) look good-by at sth: look at sth., saying good-by (6) rage: be very angry (7) as a rule: usually (8) exception: i.e. You must answer all questions without exception It’s been very cold this month, but today’s whether is an exception. an exception to the rule This problem affects all European countries and Britain is no exception. We don’t usually take cheques, but we’ll make an exception in your case. (9) a vegetable plot: a small piece of land (10) flower-bed: a piece of prepared ground in which flowers are grown (11) rough patch: a uneven piece of land (12) bore: past participle of bear, yield (13) croaking: rough-sounding, hoarse as one has a sore throat (14) cling to sth. past form: clung a. hold tightly, stick firmly i.e. His wet shirt clung to his body The refugees clung to each other for warmth. She is wearing a silk skirt which clung to her figure.她穿一件紧身丝绸裙子 b. figurative meaning i.e. She still clings to the belief that her son is still alivive. (15) be rushed away: be sent away in a hurry. (16) hush: (interjection) silence (17) bend over him: lower one’s body (18) weeks ahead: the coming weeks (19) dismissive push: a push meaning to send to send a person away (20) grateful: thankful. gratitude, ingratitude (21) at short notice: in a hurry i.e. I am sorry I can’t get you a car in such short notice. (22) help sb. out: give help to a person at a time of need (23) wound: past form of wind, turn (24) spoil: ruin (25) careless of: not considering something, regardless of something (26) cost: sacrifice i.e. He saved the children from the fire at the cost of his own life. We must avoid war at all costs / whatever the cost. (27) gesture: a. use of movement of the body, especially of the hands to express certain meaning. i.e. a gesture of impatience, helplessness, despair b. an action which is done to show one’s feelings or intentions i.e. We invited our new neighbors to dinner as a gesture of friendship. (28) hostile: showing extreme dislike or disapproval, unfriendly in hostile silence: trying not to say anything to show a person’s dislike or hate (29) he was being rude: he intended to be impolite temporarily (30) quarantine: separation from a disease i.e. He used to be put under /in quarantine for SARS for a month. (31) be cooped up: be kept in a small place (32) poky: unpleasantly small F. Teaching Procedures for Text II Unwillingly on Holiday (1) Ask students to read the text and do the comprehension exercises in Workbook. (2) Ask students questions to further check their comprehension of the text (a) what is a “rough patch”? (b) What is the implied meaning of the sentence “Tom gazed, and then turned back into the house”? (c) Why did Tom call up at the foot of the stairs instead of going upstairs to say good-bye to Peter? (d) What is meant by “He put his hand out for it”? (e) Why did Tom’s mother mean by “it’s not nice for you to be rushed away like this to avoid the measles”? (f) Why did Tom’s mother whisper something to Tom? (g) What did Mrs. Long mean by “There is so little room in the house when there is illness”? (i) Why did Mrs. Long raise her hands in a gesture of despair? (j) What is meant by “Mother and Father would say I did right”? (3) Let students ask the teacher questions. This is to check if students can take initiatives to study and their attitudes towards their work. VI. Oral Work Role-play: an unforgettable experience You must have had an enjoyable time in the summer vacation. Write down tow of the most unforgettable experiences you had during the vacation, e.g. fishing, reading five of Dickens’s novels, etc. Now exchange experiences with your partner, asking him/her about what hw/she did and telling him/her what you did. After the pair work, decide between your partner and yourself which was the more interesting experience. Then either of you will tell it to the class. VIII. Exercises in Workbook.