Brief introduction: Whales, dolphins and porpoises belong to the family of marine (海生的) mammals known as cetaceans. Unlike fish, cetaceans are air-breathing, warm-blooded mammals that bear live young and nurse them on milk. Cetaceans play an important role in the life of the ocean, serving as flagships for the health and well-being of the whole marine ecosystem.
Reasons for being endanger: Along with hunting, collisions (碰撞、冲突) with ships, and the degradation of their habitat due to pollution, the greatest threat to whales, dolphins and porpoises is entanglement in fishing gear, also known as by catch. Possible result: If current trends continue unabated, several cetacean species and many populations will be lost in the next few decades.
Protection: With the support of its members and international conservation partners, WWF is working to ensure that whales, dolphins and porpoises will swim in our seas for generations to come. What I might do to save it:
I intend to write a letter to the UN and urge nations not to sell out the whales. I’m going to write to some nations and call for stopping whaling. I’d rather not eat anything made from whale…
I plan to share my new knowledge with others. Tell them about whales and explain why they are endangered. Encourage others to learn more about whales. Let them know that together, we can all make a difference. Step IV Writing
1. Write the letters independently Writing tips
1. Collect your ideas for the letter. Write an outline of your ways to help it. 2. Decide the intention and the purpose of each of your ways. 3. Begin your letter with your address and the solution. Then write the ways as the body of the letter. 4. Finish the letter with your best wishes and your signature. Sample version:
Class 3 Grade 1 Tai Yuan No.1 Middle School Shan Xi, China Nov.22, 2004 Dear WWF: I live in an inland city. Here many people eat shark’s fin. However this part is only a very small part of the whale and the rest part of the whale are thrown into the sea again. The whale will die because of losing too much blood. They are endangered. Here is my plan to save the whales: First, I intend to write a letter to the UN and urge nations not to sell out the whales. I’m going to write to some nations and call for stopping whaling. Second, I’d rather not eat anything made from whale… Third, I plan to share my new knowledge with others. Tell them about whales and explain why they are endangered. Encourage others to learn more about whales. Let them know that together, we can all make a difference. Please help the poor whales and they will survive with your help. Yours sincerely, Megan If time permitting, ask several students to read their letters out. Step V Assignment
T: Boys and girls, you did very well today. We have listened to the tapes about dodo, talked about how to help them and written a letter to offer help. After class you should go on to care for wildlife protection and do your best to help them. OK, here is your homework: sum up what you have learned from this unit, such as, content; words and expressions and sentence structures; collect pictures of various birds.
The Sixth Period Integrating Skills
Teaching goals 教学目标 1. Target language
Key sentences structures:
The birds tables should be made of … because… They feeding tray should be put on … so that… The nesting boxes should be hung … so the birds… The observers can use bushes as hides so that… The water container should be put … because… 2. Ability goal 能力目标
Enable the students to write a short passage on how to design a place for watching birds.
3. Learning ability goal 学能目标
Help the students learn how to write a short passage on how to design a place for watching birds.
Teaching important point 教学重点
Teach the students how to write a short passage on how to design a place for watching birds.
Teaching difficult point 教学难点 Sentences used to express reasons. Teaching methods 教学方法
Listening, discussing, speaking and writing. Teaching aids 教具准备
The Multimedia Computer, a projector and a board. Teaching procedures & ways 教学步骤与方法 Step I Lead-in
Ask the students to show the pictures of various birds they have collected.
T: Everybody, would you please stick the pictures of birds to the wall of our classroom? Get the students to stick these pictures quickly. Then ask them to go back to their sits. T: Well, let’s look at these birds.
T: Would you please tell us what these birds are called?
S: Birds in the first pictures are named Jackass Penguin. S: They are Laysan Albatross in the second picture. S: In the third picture, there is Northern Fulmar. S: Red-tailed Tropicbird is flying in the fourth picture. S: Magnificent Frigatebird.
S: It is Masked Booby in the last picture.
T: Great! How do you think about these birds? Do you think they are important? S: They are beautiful and make our world colorful. They are very important to our world.
S: Birds eat insects. They are a natural way to control pests in gardens, on farms, and other places.
S: They aid in the pollination (授粉)of plants. S: Birds also have a good system for spreading seeds.
S: Bird feces provide good fertilization for the seeds with which they are dropped, giving seeds very good conditions with which to grow.
S: Above all things, what birds gave us was the dream of flying. Perhaps without birds, we never would have imagined the possibility of flight. Because they could do it, we envisioned the ability for ourselves and made the vision a reality. T: Wonderful! Step II Listening
Get the students to do LISTENING TASK on page 66.
T: Birds are so important. However, in recent years, many birds are endangered, especially those whose habitat is usually in the coast. And more and more research centers, organizations, clubs etc. are set up to protect birds. IBRRCC is one of them. Do you want to know how they work? … Hu Xiao is interviewing Alice Jones, a volunteer for the International Bird Rescue Research Center, about her work. This class we’ll learn the birds protection. Before we listen to the tape, I’d like you to look at the pictures on Page 66. Predict what the listening will be about.
Get the students to talk about the two pictures on Page 66. After they finish talking, ask some of them to give their opinions.
T: Well time is up. Who’d like to say something about the two pictures? S: The first picture is about birds in the coast area. S: These birds are polluted.
S: Some people are washing a bird that is polluted.
S: Hu Xiao and Alice Jones may talk about how to rescue the birds. S: And also what pollutes the birds.
T: Well, next, listen to Part A again and then write down what is the most difficult part of the work according to Alice.
Play the tape recorder and get the students to do exercise 2. Later, get the students to do exercises 3&4, and then check the answers together. Step III Speaking
Get the students to do READING TASK on page 66. Sample answers:
What else threatens birds besides oil spills?
1. A recent status report compiled for WWF reviews more than 200 scientific articles. It finds a clear and escalating pattern of climate change impacts on bird species around the world, suggesting a trend towards major bird extinction from global warming. 2. Man-made noise is increasing in the wild. Because birds communicate mainly by sound, a loud environment interferes with their communications and reduces pairing by almost 15 percent.
3. Recreational and commercial boat traffic.
4. Pesticide use indirectly affects bird populations, particularly through their food supplies.
How can we protect the birds?
1. Enforce legislation to charge and fine offenders for polluting the coastal marine environment.
2. Hold the movement of observing birds to increase people’s love for them.
3. Send handbills in the universities, elementary school to make them understand that birds also have their own emotions.
4. Hold picture exhibition about bird in schools. Let all the children receive the loving