Teaching Plan for Unit 6, Book One Teaching Objectives: After learning this unit, students will be able to: grasp the main idea (a sad, lonely woman who experiences the pain of loss as she remembers how her wedding day sent its spell over the rest of her marriage) and the structure of the text (narration in time sequence); appreciate the narrative skills with time signals; master some key language points and grammatical structures in the text; memorize the following affixes --- under-, dis-, re-. Time Allotment 1st period 2nd period 3rd period 4th period 5th period 6th period  oral presentation; pre-reading; while-reading (text structure; cultural notes; language points) while-reading (language points; difficult sentences) oral presentation; while-reading (language points; grammatical structure; detailed information) while-reading (detailed information; coherence); post-reading (the main idea; reviewing passage; exercise) oral presentation; pre-reading; while-reading (reading skills; background information; language points) while-reading (language points; comprehension questions; check on home reading Section C; dictation)   Teaching Procedures/Activities Section A I. Oral Presentation (10 minutes) --- two Ss perform a short conversation about some topics. II. Pre-reading Tasks (15 minutes) T raises several questions based on Preview and invites several Ss to answer individually or in chores. --- What can communicate messages or implied information? (words, actions, feelings, etc) --- What can we learn from Section A? (a sad, lonely woman’s story) --- How about section B & C? (two worker’s stories; one’s history of moving) T explains several key words: spell, successful. T draws the conclusion: what one says can, to a great extent, tell what one thinks. Usually what one says can encourage or discourage the hearers either temporarily or permanently. In this Unit, we will mainly discover people’s feelings according to the words or actions. T and Ss read the short paragraph together. III. While-reading tasks Master the structure of the text: (15 minutes) Ss skim and pick out the time signals, including words, phrases and clauses, in Section A as quickly as possible. (They include: now, used to, then, soon, with the passage of time, arriving from work, occasionally, usually around their anniversary, now, for so long, one evening, the next morning, a long time, it’s time to) After they finish finding all the time signal words, T invites several Ss to read aloud what they have found. T helps Ss understand the structure of the text by asking such questions related to the time signal words as: --- which time signal words can tell the woman’s present situations? --- from which paragraph, does the text begin to recall the wedding service? --- which time signal words describe the couple’s daily life after the marriage? In this way Ss can understand that the text can be divided into 4 parts, and they can summarize the main ideas. Ss briefly discuss the structure and main ideas, then several Ss report their results. Background information: (5 minutes) --- Elizabeth Jolley: a famous Australian fiction writer. Her body of work includes 26 books: short stories, radio plays, collections and novels. Cabin Fever is one of her books. T explains the key language points and difficult sentences, then gives Ss practice. (70 minutes) Part I (Para. 1 - 2): Long or difficult sentences: Alone now, the widow reads considerably. (Para. 1) Meaning: The widow now lives alone and, therefore, reads much because she has much time for herself. I experience again the deep felt wish to be part of a married couple, to sit by the fire in winter with the man who is my husband. (Para. 1) Meaning: Again I deeply feel the strong desire to be part of a married couple, to sit by the fire in winter with the man who is my husband. Please notice that the infinitive phrases --- “to be part of a married couple, to sit by the fire in winter with the man who is my husband” --- modify the word “wish”. So intense is this wish that if I write the word husband on a piece of paper, my eyes fill with tears. (Para, 1) Notice that this is an inverted sentence. Language points: considerably underline share sth with sb intense fill with Part II (Para. 3 - 7): Long or difficult sentences: In the first picture, the bride and groom are facing, with uncertain smiles, a church filled with relatives and friends. (Para. 3) Meaning: In the first picture, the bride and groom with uncertain smiles are facing a full church crowded with relatives and friends. Also notice that the phrase “with uncertain smiles” shows that the couple were not confident or sure. Their strained smiles show they were not certain about this marriage. As you read on, you’ll learn that the couple’s mothers and some relatives were not happy with the marriage. From colleagues and old schoolmates came cheerful good wishes clothed in friendly jokes. (Para. 4) Meaning: Colleagues and old schoolmates greeted the couple happily with good wishes that were expressed in friendly jokes. Please notice that the sentence is inverted. Then quickly, for such a short, portly, elderly person, she disappeared. (Para. 7) Meaning: Although she was short, over-weight and old, the woman disappeared all of a sudden. Example: For all his faults, we like him still. Please notice that “for” in this sense if usually followed by the word “all”. Language points: file past colleague surround sympathizer define … as … congratulate (sb on sth) disappear Part III (Para. 8 - 15): Long or difficult sentences: Sitting before a great oak fire, they recalled the events of the day, especially the strange message conveyed by Aunt Esther Gubbins. (Para. 8) Meaning: Sitting in front of a great oak fire, they reviewed what had happened on the day of their wedding, especially wondering about the meaning of Aunt Esther Gubbins’s words. With the passage of time and the birth of grandchildren, their mothers accepted their marriage. (Para. 12) Meaning: As time went on and because the couple had children, their mothers accepted their marriage. Peculiarly, neither ever asked “Whose job is this?” or asserted “That is not my responsibility!” (Para. 13) Meaning: Strangely, neither the husband nor the wife asked “Whose job is this?” or declared forcefully “That is not my responsibility!” Notice that this sentence describes the couple as caring and helpful to each other as they did not give their responsibilities to the other. And she, restraining the desire to complain about housework, would respond, “Husband, I am glad!” Meaning: And the wife would respond with “Husband, I am glad!” although she was tired from housework and had a desire to complain about it. Please notice that these two sentences also describe the couple as caring and thinking of each other. Language points: recall convey respond mistake for peculiarly responsibility fill one need restrain (from) complain (about sth/to sb) bring up accidentally Part IV (Para. 16 - 19): Long or difficult sentences: Widowed now, the wife wonders what she would save from their old home if it were to catch fire. (Para. 16) Meaning: As now her husband has died, she wonders what she would save from their old house if it were on fire. Please notice the subjunctive mood in the sentence. What matters is this: whoever she was, Aunt Esther Gubbins was right. (Para. 19) Meaning: What is important is that no matter who she was, Aunt Esther Gubbins was right. Language points: save from fade matter Grammatical structure: (15 minutes) T asks Ss to work in pairs and ask each other questions based on Para. 15 using the structure “do, does or did + V”. T can offer such a model: --- Does Bill really has some problems with his math class? --- Yes, he does have some problems with his math class. Then Ss begin to do Structure Exercise VI in the textbook. Meantime, T asks Ss to use the Structure based on Para. 19 “whoever sb is, …” to finish Structure Exercise V in the textbook. Afterwards, T invites several pairs to report what they have done. T draws Ss attention to the detailed information in the text, and help them further understand the text. T can discuss and ask the following questions: (25 minutes) --- How was the wedding service celebrated? --- Which sentence shows the couple is not happy with their marriage? --- How is Aunt Esther described in the passage? --- What happened to the couple after their honeymoon? --- After becoming a widow, what does the woman do? T can guide Ss to read the sentence “Anyway, it is time to stop wondering whether she came from heaven or a nearby town.” in Para. 19 again. Then T may ask Ss to recall the opposite sentences (two) they have read in the former paragraphs. (Para. 8, “Sitting before a great oak fire, they recalled the events of the day, especially the strange message conveyed by Aunt Esther Gubbins.” and Para. 15 “Occasionally, usually around their anniversary, they would bring up the old curiosity regarding Aunt Esther Gubbins”). According to this, Ss can understand the importance of coherence in writing. (10 minutes) IV. Post-reading tasks Post-reading passage (compound dictation) based on Section A: (15 minutes) --- T reads the passage twice, and Ss try to finish filling the blanks with the words or sentences. A woman alone writes some painful lines in a notebook. To understand why the lines are painful, we go back in time to a strange event that happened on her wedding day. A strange woman gave the couple a message about their marriage. Every year, the husband and wife discussed their unique wedding guest. The wife thought she had come from heaven; the husband thought she had the wrong shape for someone from heaven. One night, he wrote his wife a note. He wrote that it did not matter where their guest had come from. What mattered was that the word gift she had given them was true. Now that her husband has died, the woman finds the painful lines in the book remind her of him. T check if Ss have done the other exercises, and discuss some common mistakes. Then T can guide Ss to prepare Section B and C. (10 minutes) Section B I. Oral Presentation (10 minutes) --- two Ss perform a short conversation about some topics. II. Pre-reading Tasks (5 minutes) T asks Ss the following questions; --- How do you think of the job as a trashman? --- In your opinion, how should we treat the trashman? After Ss briefly discuss them, T can invite several Ss to report their answers. III. While-reading tasks Reading Skills – understanding idiomatic expressions (10 minutes) T guides Ss to finish doing the before-text exercises about Reading Skills, and offers some useful methods (context clues --- examples, explanations, opposites or similar phrases) Background information (5 minutes) I. Q. --- it stands for intelligence quotient. The IQ or intelligence quotient is the score that results when a person takes an established test of short tasks designed to measure mental ability. An average IQ score is 100. IQ scores may range from a low of 40 to a high of 160 resulting in the terms of low or high intelligence. T explains the key language points and gives Ss practice. (see the text) (30 minutes) Ss work in pairs to discuss the stories from Para. 7 to Para. 14. (an assignment for Ss beforehand). Then several pairs are invited to role-play the stories in class. (15 minutes) Finish doing the exercise about comprehension of the text in the textbook. (5 minutes) Dictate six sentences from Section A & B to check the results of their study. (15 minutes) Check on the Ss home reading Section C, or some other activities. (5 minutes)