Unit 2 I think that mooncakes are delicious!
Reading: The Spirit of Christmas
（Grade 9，Go for it）
I. Analysis of the teaching material and the target students
This unit is about festivals. Students learn about festivals from both China and foreign countries, and talk about festivals and express their opinions on them. In this period, students will read a passage about Christmas, a western festival. Students learn the spirit of Christmas from the story in A Christmas Carol and try to understand the spirit. At the same time, students are expected to improve their comprehensive language competence, especially reading abilities and develop their cultural awareness.
Students in Grade 9 have some abilities in reading and they are familiar with the topic, so it’s easy to arouse students’ interest in this lesson and encourage them to participate in the class actively. However, some students still have problems reading and understanding the passage, so the teacher continues to develop students’ reading abilities.
II. Teaching aims
By the end of the class, students will be able to:
1. know the key words and phrases :Christmas, lie, novel, eve, dead, business, punish, warn, present, warmth, spread, end up, care about, remind of. 2. master some objective clauses and important sentences:
Many would agree that when we think of Christmas，we probably think of gifts, Christmas trees and Santa Claus. He just cares about whether he can make more money. He now treats everyone with kindness and warmth, spreading love and joy everywhere he goes.
3. use reading strategies to understand the structure and details and learn to use the new reading strategy---inferring.
4. use mind map to retell the passage and work together to make a proper conversation.
5. understand the spirit of Christmas and share and give love to people around them in their life.
6. learn about foreign culture and share Chinese culture with others. III. Teaching important and difficult points Important points:
1. Learn the key words and phrases :Christmas, lie, novel, eve, dead, business, punish, warn, present, warmth, spread, end up, care about, remind of. 2. Learn some objective clauses and important sentences:
Many would agree that when we think of Christmas，we probably think of gifts, Christmas trees and Santa Claus. He just cares about whether he can make more money. He now treats everyone with kindness and warmth, spreading love and joy everywhere he goes.
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3. Use reading strategies to understand the structure and details and learn to use the new reading strategy---inferring.
4. Use mind map to retell the passage and work together to make a proper conversation. Difficult points:
1. Use reading strategies to understand the structure and details and learn to use the new reading strategy---inferring.
2. Use mind map to retell the passage and work together to make a proper conversation.
IV. Teaching methods and learning methods
The New English Curriculum advocates TBLT(Task-based Language Teaching) and students are the real masters while the teachers act as directors and bring students’ abilities to full play. In this lesson, I mainly use communicative approach, audio-visual approach and situational approach.
Based on PWP approach (Pre-reading, While-reading, Post-reading) Students will participate in various activities like discussion, prediction, skimming, scanning, retelling and performance. V. Teaching aids
The Teaching Syllabus says it’s necessary for teachers to use modern teaching facilities, so I use CAI (computer-aided instruction) to make the class lively, interesting and effective. And a computer, a projector and a blackboard are needed in this class.
VI. Teaching procedures Step1 Pre-reading 1. Warming up
Enjoy a song “Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays”.
Purpose: make students relaxed and interested in this lesson and be ready for the topic.
2. Discussion
①Discuss what you know about Christmas and create a mind map. ②Learn some new words.
Ask students if they know the date, activities, symbols and stories about Christmas and discuss with their partners. After that, I will show some possible answers. Meanwhile, students learn some new words like carol, novel, partner and some new names like Santa Claus, Scrooge and Jacob Marley.
Purpose: make students brainstorm what they have already known about Christmas and be ready to know more about Christmas. Learning new words can pave the way for the following reading. 3. Prediction
Predict what they will read about according to the title and the pictures. Purpose: make students curious about the passage and get ready for it. Step2 While-reading 1. Skimming
Skim the passage to get the structure and the main idea of each part and each
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paragraph.
Purpose: make students get a overall understanding of the passage. Here I do not offer students the answers directly but give them a tip to teach them how to learn. 2. Scanning
①Read paragraph 2 and paragraph 4 to find out what Scrooge is like before Christmas and what he’s like after Christmas. ②Infer what changes Scrooge.
③Read paragraph 3 and complete the chart.
④Read paragraph 1 and find out the true spirit of Christmas.
Purpose: make students learn the details of the passage to understand it better and learn to use the new strategy---inferring. Make students know the spirit in a natural way.
Step3 Post-reading 1. Retelling
Retell the passage according to the mind map on the blackboard or the mind map on the screen (with some key words). This is to satisfy the needs of the students in different levels
Purpose: help students to get a better understanding of the passage and consolidate what they have learned. 2. Performance
①Watch the video from the movie A Christmas Carol.
②Work in a group of four to make a conversation between the three ghosts and Scrooge.
③Show their performance in front of the class.
Purpose: make students creative and cooperative and develop their comprehensive language competence. Step4 Summary
Summarize what they have learned in the passage, the new strategy and the spirit of Christmas.
Purpose: make students know what they have learned and what they should master and encourage students to share and give love and joy in their daily life. Step5 Homework
①Watch the movie A Christmas Carol in your free time.
②Write a letter to your pen pal and tell him/her about your favorite Chinese festival.
Purpose: watching the movie can help students understand the story better and it’s also a good way to learn English. Learning foreign festivals and sharing Chinese festivals with others can make students aware of different cultures and respect different cultures.
VII. Teaching evaluation
1. The teacher’s evaluation throughout the class. 2. Peer evaluation in performance.
3. Self-evaluation at the end of the class.
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VIII. Blackboard design
Unit 2 I think that mooncakes are delicious!
Reading: The Spirit of Christmas
IX. Teaching reflection
In English learning, students are the center of the class and the teacher is just a guide. In English teaching, teachers should not only teach students knowledge, but also teach students how to learn and develop students’ cultural awareness because language and culture are close to each other.
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