1、Unit Five Our Weather and ClimateClass Work Design: Three Sessions Six Contact HoursSession No. Unit Sessions Involved Focal PointsSession 1(90-100 minutes)Section I Talking Face to Face1. Understanding the forecast of global or local weather condition2. Talking about weather changes (temperature, w

2、ind, rain, snow etc.)3. Talking about the weather to start a conversation4. Making comments on weather conditions and showing likes or dislikes5. Writing a weather report 6. Basic sentence structure7. Key words and expressions:weather forecast, gentle, a couple of, stuffy, drop, comment on, agreeabl

3、e, awfulSection II Being All YearsSection III Trying Your Hand1. Practicing Applied Writing2. Writing Sentences and Reviewing GrammarSession 2(90-100 minutes)Section IV Maintaining A Sharp EyePassage 1 We Can Make a Difference 1. Some measures to reduce greenhouse gases2. Key words and expressions:m

4、ake a difference, through with, take action, care aboutSession 3(90-100 minutes)Section IV Maintaining A Sharp EyePassage IIThe British Like Talking About the Weather1. British peoples habits: talking about the weather to start a conversation2. Key words and expressions:similarly, custom, frequently

5、Suggested Teaching Procedures and Class ActivitiesSECTION I Talking Face to Face1 Lead-in activities:Imitating Mini-Talks1. Warm-up questions: 1) Do you often listen to a weather forecast? Why or why not?2) Whats the use and importance of a weather forecast? 2. Class Activities:1. The students read

6、the Mini-Talks after the teacher, and then try to recite them within five minutes in pairs.2. Ask the students to recite and perform the mini talks in class. 3. The students discuss in groups, summarizing the words, phrases and sentences frequently used according to the following topics with the hel

7、p of the teacher. The students speak out the sentences under the guidance of the teacher, paying attention to the pronunciation and the intonation. 1) Sentences for a weatherman to present weather forecasts: (1) Good morning. This is the local weather report.(2) Here is the national forecast.(3) Now

8、 lets look at the weather across the country.(4) Rains will be expected tomorrow from the south to the north.(5) Snow is going to continue through tomorrow in this area.(6) The weatherman says that frost is on its way.2) Sentences for talking about weather changes: A. About wind: (1) Itll be mild, a

9、nd later turn to partly cloudy, with the southeast wind.(2) Light to no winds with little changes of the temperature.(3) A little northeast wind is expected for the next two days. B. About rain:(1) Today will be cool and partly cloudy, with a chance of rain this afternoon.(2) Tomorrow there will be

10、light/heavy rain with a high of 30 degrees.(3) Tomorrow will be overcast with drizzle.C. About snow:(1) Itll get colder in the afternoon with a heavy snow.(2) In the evening theres good chance that well get some snow.(3) Itll be dull tomorrow with a light snow.D. About the temperature:(1) Today is a

11、 cloudy and cool day with a low of 12 degrees.(2) The weather will change overnight with a high temperature of zero degrees.(3) Its going to warm up. 3) Sentences about weather for starting a conversation:(1) Whats the weather like today?(2)Whats the weather going to be like tomorrow?(3) Whats the w

12、eather report?(4) Whats the temperature?(5) Whats it like outside?(6) Will it be a nice day?(7) Its nice to see the sun again.(8) Lovely day, isnt it?(9) What do you think of the weather here? 4) Sentences for talking about weather conditions and showing peoples likes or dislikes:(1) What a lovely/b

13、eautiful/awful/terrible/nice/sunny/terribleday! (2) The heat is killing me. (4) Its all right, but it rains a lot. (5) A perfect day to play outside. (6) Its cold for November.(7) We are going to enjoy a lot of sunshine. Studying Weather Forecasts 1. Warm-up questions:1) What can we know from a weat

14、her forecast? 2) Do you know the differences between Celsius and Fahrenheit?2. The students read and translate the two sample dialogues under the guidance of the teacher. 2 Act-out activities:Sample dialogues 1. The students read the sample dialogues after the teacher, trying to imitate the teachers

15、 pronunciation and intonation.2. Ask the students to read the sample dialogues in pairs.3. Groups work: Ask the students to categorize the useful sentences in the sample dialogues into two groups.1) Sentences asking questions about the weather:(1) Whats the weather like today？ (2) Will it be a nice

16、day?(3) How is the weather like there?(4) Whats the temperature?(5) Is that about 10 ?2) Sentences for describing the weather conditions: (1) Today will be cold and partly cloudy with a chance of rain this afternoon.(2) Not exactly. Its 62 and theres a chance of rain. (3) It is warm and sunny.(4) It

17、 is 50 . (5) That is cold for November.4. Group work: Each group member is supposed to talk/describe the weather conditions in their hometowns to the other members of the group. 5. Pair work: Make a dialogue talking about the weather today. Perform it in class.6. Do Exercises 5 and 6 in pairs.3 Afte

18、r-class activities: 1. Pair work: Each pair makes a dialogue according to the tips in one of the five tasks in Speak and Perform. There will be a class presentation in the next class period.2. Group work: Have a discussion about which seasonal weather you like best and give out the reasons. There wi

19、ll be a group presentation in the next class period.3. Pay a visit to the website to watch the video about weather conditions.SECTION II Being All Ears1 Learning Communicative Sentences1. Give the students a few minutes to read through the printed materials for each listening item.2. Listen to the t

20、ape for the first time by looking at the corresponding Chinese version. While listening to the English sentences, the students try to remember the meaning of each of the sentences they have heard. The focus here is on cross-reference of the English sentences and their Chinese meanings.3. Play the ta

21、pe for a second time, and ask the students to do the exercises in this section. 4. Play the tape for the third time with a pause after each sentence, and ask the students to repeat the sentence during the pause.2 Handling a Dialogue1. Give the students a few minutes to read through the printed mater

22、ials for each listening item.2. Listen to the tape for the first time without looking at the book.3. Play the tape for a second time, and ask the students to answer the following questions orally: 1) What was held last night? 2) Why didnt Pat go to the party last night? 3) What did Li Hong suggest t

23、hey should do that afternoon? 4) What is the temperature outside now? 5) What was the weather like last winter?4. Play the tape for the third time, and the students read the dialogues following the tape simultaneously and trying to catch up the speed and simulate the speakers tones.5. Do the exercis

24、es in this section.3 Understanding a Short Speech/Talk1. Give the students a few minutes to read through the printed materials for each listening item.2. Listen to the tape for the first time without looking at the book.3. Play the tape for a second time, and ask the students to do the exercises in

25、this section. 4. Play the tape for the third time with a pause after each sentence, and ask the students to take notes of the key words. SECTION III Trying Your HandPracticing Applied Writing1 Sample analysis: The teacher summarizes briefly the format and language used in weather forecasts. The teac

26、her may show the following passage with PPT (If there is no PPT prepared, ask the students to take a dictation of the passage.). Afterwards, ask the students to read it and translate it into Chinese orally.A weather report or forecast is a very useful aid in our daily life. Knowing the usual format

27、for giving a weather forecast helps us a lot in understanding a weather forecast in English. Figures, measurement units, graphics, weather terms, and broken short passages are often used to forecast weather conditions. In general, the language used to forecast weather should be concise, clear, famil

28、iar and vivid. 2 Simulated writing: 1. The students read and translate these two sample weather forecasts into Chinese.2. Do Exercises 2 and 3 in groups. Writing Sentences and Reviewing Grammar1 The teacher gives a brief summary of the basic rules of simple past tense and present perfect tense. The

29、simple past tense is used to refer to a past action that did not continue, while the present perfect tense is used to show actions which started in the past and are still continuing, or actions which happened in the past, but have an effect till the present. 2 Do Exercises 4, 5 and 6 in groups.3 Ass

30、ignment for this section:Group work: Search online about the weather forecast of the city where you are studying for the coming week and make a report with PPT. There will be a Weather Report Show in the next class period.SECTION IV Maintaining a Sharp Eye Passage 1 We Can Make a Difference1 Warm-up

31、 questions:1. How much do you know about the environmental problems of the world?2. What actions can we take to prevent the earth from becoming even warmer?2 Guided reading aloud of the passage:The students read the passage after the teacher for the first time, trying to imitate the teachers pronunc

32、iation and intonation, and then read it in class individually. The teacher should pay attention to correcting the students pronunciation and intonation.3 Explanation of difficult words and expressions:The students are required to have a discussion in groups to pick out the difficult words and expres

33、sions in the whole passage which they dont understand and report them to the class. The teacher will demonstrate the usage of those chosen points, and then ask the students to make up at least two sentences with them in groups. In this passage, apart from what have been chosen in Language Points in

34、Teachers Book, the following points are encouraged to be chosen and practiced on. 1. make a difference: to have an effecte.g. As teachers, you must believe that you can make a difference to the lives of your students.2. through with: having finished or arrived at completion e.g. You would be surpris

35、ed to know the number of books he managed to get through with. 3. take action: to do something e.g. Travelers want the airlines to take action to make flying safer and more comfortable.4. care about: to be concernede.g. You are experienced in shopping online, and can you tell me what I should care a

36、bout?4 Teaching suggestions for understanding the passage in detail:1. Paragraph 1:1) Ask the students to read this paragraph for two times individually.2) Group work: The students have a discussion to translate the paragraph into Chinese. Then there will be a group presentation in class.2. Paragrap

37、h 2: 1) The students read this paragraph after the teacher. 2) The teacher makes the following statements, and the students are required to judge whether they are True or False. (1) In order to save energy, we should not use electricity. (False)(2) Carpooling is a way to save energy. (True)(3) Peopl

38、e like to ride in one car together instead of driving their own car. (False)3. Paragraphs 3 and 4:1) The students read this part loudly together.2) Meanwhile, the teacher writes down the following sentences on the blackboard or shows them with PPT.The students are asked to fill in the missing words

39、in the sentences without looking at the book.When electricity is used, _are put into the air. We can help save electricity by turning off the _, the television and the _, etc. When we leave our computer, we should put it on _, because it will take _ than shutting it down for _ it later.(Key: greenho

40、use gases, lights, computer, stand-by, less energy, restarting)4. Paragraphs 5, 6, 7 and 8: 1) The students read these four paragraphs loudly by themselves.2) Meanwhile, the teacher writes down the following table on the blackboard or shows it with PPT. The students are asked to complete the table.

41、Measures or actions FunctionsRiding a bike, in a bus or walkingSaving energyPlanting trees 1 Recycling 2 3 Using less energy to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases (Key: 1) Reducing greenhouse gases 2) Saving natural resources 3) Buying cool stuff)5. Paragraphs 9, 10 and 11: 1) Pair work: One stud

42、ent reads these three paragraphs loudly, and another helps correct his or her pronunciation. And then they change their roles to do the same work again. 2) Dictation practice: The teacher reads each sentence of these three paragraphs for two times and the students write them down. Afterwards, the st

43、udents check them up with their partners.5 Summary of the passage:1. Group work: Have a discussion to complete the following sentences with the information in the passage. The teacher may show the following sentences with PPT or ask the students to take a dictation of them.1) Nowadays one of the big

44、 problems in the world is _. (climate change)2) Greenhouse gases can make the Earth _ . (even warmer)3) One of the effects of using electricity is to send _ .(greenhouse gases into the air) 4) People should take measures to save energy, such as driving less and walking more, planting _, recycling, a

45、nd buying _, etc. (trees, cold stuff)5) Learn more knowledge about _ , and join an environmental group to fight the _.(global warming, climate crisis)2. Groups work: Each group tries to pick out at least 5 expressions or sentences from the passage which they think are worth remembering. Afterwards,

46、ask some groups to write them down on the blackboard and then the whole class read them aloud in chorus.6 Suggestions for doing exercises: 1. Group work for Exercises 2 and 3: Underline the useful expressions in each sentence. 2. Pair work for Exercises 4 and 5: Each student writes out the sentence

47、patterns they are going to use and then write out their translation. Afterwards they check up each others work, correcting the mistakes. At last, the whole class repeat the English translation of the sentences together.7 Assignments for this section:1. Recite the last two paragraphs of the passage.2

48、. Group work: Search the Internet to find more ways to protect the environment in daily life. Share your ideas with other groups in the next class period. 3. Preview Passage II.PASSAGE II The British Like Talking About the Weather1 Warm-up questions: 1. Do you know something about weather conditions

49、 in Britain? 2. How do English people usually start their conversations? Why?2 Guided reading aloud of the passage:The students read the passage after the teacher for the first time, trying to imitate the teachers pronunciation and intonation, and then read it in class individually. The teacher shou

50、ld pay attention to correcting the students pronunciation.3 Explanation of difficult words and expressions:The students are required to have a discussion in groups to pick out the difficult words and expressions in the passage which they dont understand and then report them to the class. The teacher

51、 will demonstrate the usage of those chosen points, and ask the students to make up at least two sentences with them in groups. In this passage, apart from what may have been chosen in Language Points in Teachers Book, the following points are encouraged to be chosen and practiced on. 1. similarly a

52、d. in a like or similar manner e.g. The Olympic athletes were similarly impressed. They spoke very highly of the challenging courses 2. custom n. accepted or habitual practicee.g. She is very attached to old customs and habits.3. frequently ad. many times at short intervalse.g. We all know that he f

53、requently takes an early morning swim.4 Teaching suggestions for understanding the passage in detail:1. Paragraph 1: 1) The students read this paragraph together. 2) Group work: The students have a discussion to translate the paragraph into Chinese. Then there will be a group presentation in class.2

54、. Paragraph 2: 1) Ask two or three students to read this paragraph. 2) Dictation practice. The teacher reads each sentence of the paragraph twice, and the students write them down. Afterwards, the students check them up with their partners.3. Paragraphs 3 and 4: 1) The students read these two paragr

55、aphs loudly by themselves.2) Group work: Have a discussion to find the answers to the following questions:(1) What is the first reason for British people to spend much time discussing the weather? (It is because the climate in Britain is interesting and variable /the weather changes frequently.)(2)

56、What is the usual way for strangers to start a conversation in Britain? (Talking about the weather.)(3) What is another reason for British people to talk about weather when they meet? (It is because they are reluctant to converse about personal matters with people who are not friends.)5 Summary of the passage: 1. Group work: Have a discussion to find out the topic sentence and the main idea for each paragraph. There will be a group presentation in class.(Hint: Para. 1: The topic