Highlights of the Unit
Topic The development of science and the natural world
Functions 1 Describing popular science and modern technology
Cloning is producing an exact copy of a plant or an animal using its cells .
If you clone an embryo, you can produce valuable tissues and organs that could be used to save human lives.
2 Describing agreeing and disagreeing
If I had the chance, I would have a cloned baby tomorrow.
I believe that human cloning is totally immoral. If we interfere with nature, we will have to deal with the consequences.
I am in complete agreement with human cloning.
Vocabulary Announcement clone tissue organ mankind cell normal praise breakthrough desperate adopt ahead deliver succeed goat benefit totally race sale surely comment advance concept negative correct conduct strict field profession figure behave beast agency involve cost definitely manage laboratory queen majority conclude urge seek practice nutrition revolution biscuit perform resistant pest limit agriculture planet favor argue disaster decade rate developed dam productive acceptable
On the other hand , point out, in general, push ahead with, end up, for sale, put…in place, figure out, on one’s part, in favor of , point of view, turn out
Grammar 1. verb-ed form
If I had the chance, I would have a cloned baby.
I think the scientific advances mentioned in your article are interesting.
My grandfather was delighted to hear I passed my exams.
After the robbery, they found the front windows broken.
2. verb-ed phrases
The scientist has copied a human cell, assisted by recent advances in medical science .
Shocked by the article , the woman wrote a letter to the newspaper.
Treated with electricity, the cell tissue will split into several parts.
Skills and strategies By the end of this unit, student will be able to :
1. read a newspaper article about cloning and an article about people and the natural world.
2. listen to a discussion about growth hormones
3. discuss your ideas about cloning and conduct an interview about GM food.
4. write a formal letter about GM food and take part in a debate.
5. expand vocabulary related to organs of the body.
Culture 1. advantages and disadvantages of cloning
2. the relationship between human beings and nature
Teaching plan for period one :reading
step1: Revision
In order to organize the teaching smoothly, have students revise the new words .
1> Ask students to read the words in the box. and pay more attention to the pronunciation . Point out the mistakes if necessary.
2> Have them fill in the blanks and call back the answers individually.
step2: Lead-in
1> If possible , show some pictures of the first cloned mammal, Dolly , to students. Tell them:
Dolly was the fist cloned mammal created by a Scottish scientist and his group I 1996. Dolly was world famous because she was exactly the same as her mother, in appearance and in genes. However, Dolly’s existence was controversial and she caused widespread discussion about whether humans should use cloning to create large animals, like sheep or human beings. Some people believe that cloning can help cure many diseases and save lots of people’s lives. However, others insist cloning is dangerous both technologically and ethically. They think cloning , especially human cloning , violates the laws the nature.
This is to encourage students’ interest in the unit topic as it may be unfamiliar to most of them. You can ask students to surf the Internet first to refer to other sources for further information
2> Have students read the instructions and study the six pictures one by one. Ask them to pay attention to the main feature of cloning, which is that the cloned animals or plants are exactly the same as original ones. And during this course, encourage students to say more about these cloned animals and present more cloned ones as well.
3> Ask one student to read the three questions below the pictures to make sure that everyone understands them. Allow students to form groups of four or six to discuss the three questions and make sure that each student has a chance to speak.
Ask several groups to report their answers to the class. Allow different opinions and encourage further discussion.
Step3: Listen and answer:
Ask students to listen to the tape carefully and answer the following easy questions to gain the main idea of the article.
1> Does the article give an anti-or pro-cloning point of view, or both?
2> What was the name of the first cloned mammal?
3> Is Pauline Carter pro- or anti- cloning?
step4: Fast reading and decide true or false questions.
Ask students to read the article fast and decide true or false questions.
If the question is wrong, encourage students to correct them.
Step5: Detail reading
Ask students to read the article again and carefully and find the reasons why people are pro- or anti- cloning in the article and letters and write them down in the form.
This part serves as a strengthening activity to let students find out why people are pro- or anti- cloning. Make sure that students understand the scientific article and identify the relevant supporting information within the given time. After students finish the exercise, check the answers as a class.
step6: Fill in the blanks
This part aims to get more familiar with the article and some useful words.
step7: Language points :
1> For this part, teachers need to take time to let students take part in the activity as much as possible so as to let them understand the article clearly.
2> Also, if students take part in this activity as much as they can , their ability to translate sentences can be improved in some way.
3> After teachers give the right answer, they can let students to repeat the answer to make sure of it.
step 8: Homework:
Write a composition about cloning .
Teaching Plan for Period Two: word power
step1: Brainstorming
Before beginning this section, you can first review what students know about the formation of words. Write down the following words on the blackboard.
able agree appear lead novel regular respect
Then tell students that they are going to hear several questions: To answer the questions , you need to us4e the words on the screen to help you , but you need to add some letters to the words first
!> You can’t find your new pen. What happened to your pen?(It disappeared)
2> You want to get the book on the top shelf, but you are not tall enough. Do you think you will be able to reach the book?( I am unable to do so)
3> The two groups don’t agree with each other . They argued fiercely. So what is the problem between them called? (Disagreement)
4> Many people respect Mr. li and think he is a good man. He helps people out and is a good citizen and friend . so can you find a word to describe Mr.Li ?(Respectable)
5> Miss Wang has published several books. She loves her job writing novels. So what is Miss Wang’s occupation?(She is a novelist )
6> You can’t find the order of the numbers in a groups of members. So can you find a word to describe the order of the numbers? (It is irregular)
7> Some ads say that if you take their pills, you will be healthy, look younger, become smarter and sleep better. what can you say about these kinds of ads. (They are misleading.)
Ask students to think about what these prefixes and suffixes mean. Encourage them to think of more words that can be added with these prefixes and suffixes.
step2: Ask students to look at page 46 . On page 46, there are two tables about prefixes and suffixes and their meanings. Ask several students to read the instructions for the class. Then ask students to work in pairs and read the examples to each other. Tell them that they need to explain the meanings of the sample words in their own words to their partners. Select several pairs to present their explanations to the class. Check for mistakes and mispronunciation.
Ask students to work in pairs and find more examples to add to the tables. You may hold a class competition and set the time limit at five minutes . The pair with the most correct examples wins. Encourage students to use a dictionary or a thesaurus.
step3: Ask students to focus on the exercise on page46, which serves as a strengthening exercise to check students’ understanding and application of the words they learnt on page46. In order to fill in the blanks , students have to understanding the passage and the exact meanings of the prefixes and suffixes. Ask students to complete the exercise individually first and then check the answers as a class.
step4: Discussion
Work in groups and try to find more words which can be added prefixes and suffixes.
Help students make a brief conclusion about the prefixes and suffixes they have learnt in this section. Ask students to make a list of prefixes and suffixes and meanwhile give more examples. You can divide students into several groups and complete the activity together. Make sure that every student take part in the activity.
step5: organs of the body
Ask students to try and revise what they have learnt about the different expressions about organs. You can ask one student to act as a teacher. The student can point to any part of his or her body and invite his or her classmates to do the activity, The purpose of this is to help students become more familiar with these expressions.
Then present the picture on the screen and name the parts of the body as many as they can.
step6: Expand their vocabulary for body parts.
Also present a picture of the body and encourage ss to name the parts as many as they can. At the same time make sure they pronounce the words correctly.
step7: Review
As this part is very important for every student, and these words can be used often in our daily life. So let students read all these words after you. Pay more attention to their pronunciation.
You may ask several students to read these words individually as a check.
step8: Fill in the blanks.
Ask students to focus on part B. Tell them to read the passage individually first . Make sure they understand the passage. Afterwards, ask students to complete the passage individually, then check the answers as a class.
step9: Homework:
Revise what we learned in this class and prepare for the checking.
Teaching Plan for Period Three: Grammar and Usage
verb-ed form:
Here students will learn that a verb-ed form can be used like an adjective or an adverb in a sentence serving as attribute, predicative and object complement. When the verb-ed form is used as an attribute , it can be changed into an attributive clause. Students will also lean that a verb-ed form can be used after some verbs like stand sit and lie to show the tow actions are happening at the same time. They should be able to identify different functions of the verb-ed form in different sentences.
step1: Have students identify the part of speech of the verb-ed form in the following sentences:
1> If I had the chance , I would have a cloned baby.
2> a dark-haired man went into the room.
Tell them in the above sentences the verb-e forms are used as adjectives.
Then encourage them to give more sentences like these.
step2: Tell students that a verb-ed can appear after a noun to modify the noun like an attributive clause does. You can provide students with more sentences as on the big screen and have them change the verb-ed form into the attributive clause.
step3: Decide the part of speech for verb-ed forms in the following sentences.
1> The cake was left untouched on the table.
2> The girl lay trapped under the wreckage.
Tell them in these sentences the verb-ed forms are used as verbs.
step4: Point out that the verb-ed form can express different meanings : the passive meaning and the past meaning. You can provide students with examples as on the screen and have them decide whether the verb-ed forms are used as passive or past meanings. and then ask them to change the sentences into attributive clauses
step5: Tell students that a verb-ed can be part of a compound with and adverb or a noun before it. You may present more examples and have students translate these Chinese phrases into English.
step6: Have students read point 2. Tell students that a verb-ed can be used as the predicative of a sentence. You may present more examples for them to understand better.
Then let students give more examples.
step7: Have students read point3. Tell them that verb-ed form can be used as the object complement of a sentence. You can provide students with more examples.
step8: Have students read part2. Tell them that a verb-ed form can be used after verbs like stand, sit and lie to show that the tow actions are happening at the same time.
step9: work in pairs and give a summary for the usage of the verb-ed form.
step10: Fill in the blanks
Have students read the article in part A on page49 and complete it with the correct verb-ed forms from the box. Then check the answers as a class.
step11: consolidation
Have students rewrite the following sentences with verb-ed form.
These sentences all contain an attributive clause so students need to change the attributive clause into verb-ed forms as a change.
verb-ed phrases :
In this section , students will learn that a verb-ed phrase is actually a verb-ed followed by an object and/or adverbial. They are expected to know that verb-ed phrases can be used to express the time, the reason and the condition. They will also compare the verb-ing forms with the verb-ed forms used as adjectives.
step12: Ask one of the students to read the instructions on pate50. Give them more examples of verb-ed forms used on its own or followed by an object and/ or adverbial. Then let them decide whether the verb-ed phrases are used to express time, reason. or condition . And have students change the verb-ed phrased into clauses.
step13: Rewrite sentences:
Have students change the clauses (time , reason, condition ) into verb-ed phrases as a change.
verb-ed and verb-ing used as adjectives.
step14: Have students read the instructions of verb-ing and verb-ed forms used as adjectives . Make sure that students know the difference between the two forms and ask students to choose the correct words from the brackets.
step15: Have students read the conversation in Part B on pae51 and complete it with the correct forms of the verbs in the brackets . Then check the answers as a class. or ask students to act it out in pairs.
step16: Revision:
Revise what we learned in this class and prepare for the checking.
Teaching Plan for Period Four : Task
step1: Game
To get ss interested. organize students into groups of ten and play a game called “Chinese whisper”
You prepare a sentence with about ten words for the game. At the beginning of the game, you whisper the sentence to the first students of each group. Ask him/her to pass it to the next orally. Make sure the third students will not hear the sentence. Then the second students pass the sentence to the third ones. The game continues until the sentence is passed to the last student in the groups. You may limit the time to two minutes. Have the last student in each group report the information to the class. The groups coming up with the correct answer win. At the same time, you can write or attach the correct answer on the screen and ask students to find what mistakes each group has made. Ask more able students to analyze what kind of mistakes they are.
Remind ss that when information is passed between several people, some details will often be mistakenly reported then ask them to discuss what they can do to avoid reporting the incorrect information and share their answers as a class.
step2: Ask students to read the guidelines in skill building one and make sure what they should do to change the wrong information.
step3: Listen and correct
If necessary play the tape one more time.
step4: confirming information
This section is designed to help ss develop their listening skills. They will read notes about GM food and confirm the information on the notes while listening to a conversation. Students need to correct and make changes if necessary.
step5: Conducting a discussion
Encourage students to think of different ways to ask for opinions and introduce new ideas. Write down their answers and collect them on the screen.
step6: Organize ss into groups of four and encourage them to study the interview form together. Ask them to discuss what questions they may ask about each heading and add a sixth heading. Make sure that each member of each group take part in the discussion and practices the useful expressions they have learnt.
step7: Make up a dialogue and ask students to act it out in pairs in front of the class.
step8: Homework:
Let ss learn notes about formal letters and write a formal letter about GM food.