1. Unit 1 Festivals around the world
2. Teaching aims of this unit
Talk about festivals and celebrations
Talk about the ways to express request and thanks
Learn to use Modal verbs
Write a similar story with a different ending
3. Sentence patterns:
Request:
Could/ Would you please…?
Could I have…?
Could we look at…?
I look forward to…
May I see…?
Thanks:
It’s very kind of you…
Thank you very much/ Thanks a lot.
I’d love to.
It was a pleasure…
Don’t mention it.
You are most welcome.
4. Modal verbs:
May might, can could will would shall should must can
The first period Speaking
1. Teaching aims:
Vocabulary: take place, lunar, festival, Army Day, Christmas, dress up
Phrases: Would you like … Could I have…?
Might I offer help…? May I see…?
You should try…Could we like at…?
Can you suggest…? We might take…
Teaching Procedures
Step I Leading in
T: Hello, everybody! Welcome back to school! Did you have a good time in your winter holidays?
Ss. Yes. Of course!
T: When did you feel most happy and excited?
Ss: At the Spring Festival.
T: Who can tell us why? Any volunteers?
S1: Because it is the most important festival in our country.
S2: Because I got a lot of lucky money from my parents.
S3: Because I needn’t study at festivals and there was a lot of delicious food to eat. How great.
S4: Because I met my cousins and friends who I hadn’t seen for a long time.
T. Very food! I am glad to hear that. Today we will talk about festivals, which are meant to celebrate important events. Please think about some other festivals. Can you name just a few?
Ss: New year, Yuan xiao festival…
:T: Quite right. That’s called the Lantern’s Festival. How about some other festivals?
Ss: The Army Day, International Labour’s Day, National Day, Tomb Sweeping Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-autumn Day…
T: You have done a good job, boys and girls! .
Step ⅡWarming –up
Festivals are meant to celebrate important events. Different countries have different festivals. Work in groups and lost five Chinese festivals that you know. Discuss when they take place, what they celebrate and one thing that people do at that time. The first one is given to you as an example.
Festivals Time of year/date What does it celebrate What do people do
Mid-Autumn Festival Autumn/Fall The beauty of the full moon, harvest, time with family and friends Give/Eat mooncakes and watch the full moon with family and friends
Step Ⅲ Pre- reading
Discuss in groups of four
1. What’s your favourite holiday of the year? Why?
2. What festivals or celebrations do you enjoy in your city or town? Do you like spending festivals with your family or with friends? What part of a festival do you like best---the music, the things to see, the visits or the food?
Step ⅣAssignment
1. Consolidation
2. Listening to the material again after class to be familiar with it.
3. Homework: Collect as much information about festivals as possible.
The second period Reading
Teaching Aims
1.Vocabulary: starve, starvation, plenty, satisfy ancestor lamps lead feast bone origin in memory of dress up trick poet arrival national gain independence gather agricultural European custom awards watermelon handsome rooster admire look forward to religious as though have fun with daily
2.To enable the students to know the earliest festivals with reasons for them and four
different kinds of festivals that occur in most parts of the world
3.To enable the students to master some English expressions and phrases about festivals.
4. Teach the basic reading skills: skimming and scanning.
5. Try to compare and make conclusion s of different festivals.
Step ⅠRevision
1. Greetings.
2. Review the new words of this part.
3. Check the students’ homework---festivals
Step ⅡReading
1.Scanning
T: Open your books and turn to page one. I’d like you to do the scanning. Read the text quickly and accurately to get the main idea and answer the 6 questions on Page3.
( Ask the student to look through the questions and then read the text silently.)
( Four minutes later, check the answers with the whole class. Show the suggested answers on the screen.)
2.Intensive reading
( Allow the students to read aloud and carefully this time to understand the main ideas of each paragraph and the important details)
T: Read the text loudly for a second time and them try to tell if these sentences are True or False.
1. The ancient people needn’t worry about their food. ( F )
2.Halloween used to be a festival intended to honor the dead. ( T )
3.Qu Yuan was a great poet who people honor a lot in China. ( T )
4.Mid-autumn Festival is held to celebrate the end ot autumn( F )
5.Easter celebrates the birth of Jesus. ( F )
3.Reading and discussion
T: Read the text a third time and then work impairs to do Exercise 2 on Page 3.
( Let the students have enough time to read the passage carefully and discuss the chart with their partners. Encourage them to expand their answers according to their own experiences.)
4.Explanation
(In this part try to help the students analyse the difficult, long and complex sentences and guess the meaning of the new words; ask them to deal with the language points in the context.)
T: Now I will discuss some important sentences and phrases in the passage.
a. Some festivals are held to honor the dead, or satisfy and please the ancestors, who could return either to help or to do harm.
b. In memory of
c. In India there is a national festival on October 2 to honor Mahatma Gandhi, the leader who helped gain India’s independence from Britain.
d. People are grateful because their food is gathered for the winter, and because a season of agricultural work is over.
e. The most energetic and important festivals are the ones that look forward to the end of winter and to the coming of spring.
f. The country is covered with cherry flowers so that it looks as though it might be covered with pink snow.
The suggested explanation:
a. An attributive clause.
The sentence means people hold some festivals either to show respect to the dead or to make their ancestors happy in case they might come back to do harm.
b. in memory of … serving to recall sb, to keep him fresh in people’ minds.
He wrote a poem in memory of his dearest wife, who died in an accident.
in honor of ( showing great respect or high public regard)
in hopes/the hope of (hoping)
in defence of (defending)
c. a noun phrase followed by an attributive clause as the appositive
d. two clauses for reason
e. energy→energetic adj. ( full of or done with energy)
look forward to ( to is a preposition here.)
devote to, be/get used to, get down to , stick to
e.g. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Step Ⅲ Listening
T: Now I will play the tape for you. You can just listen with your books closed or look at your books or read in a low voice together with the tape. It’s up to you. After listening, please write down three things that most festivals seem to have in common.( Comprehending Ex.3 on Page 3).
The third period Learning about language
Teaching aims:
1. Let the students know the usage of modal verbs.
2. Enable the students to recognize the words and expressions in the reading passage according to what mean the same as them.
Step Ⅰ Greeting and Revision
( Ask some students to retell the text we learned .)
StepⅡ. Practicing the useful words and expressions
T: As we know, there are two important kinds of verbs---transitive verbs and intransitive verbs. But many intransitive verbs have the structure “verb+preposition+objects ” Can you give me some examples?
Ss: Sure. Such as look at the picture, hear from my friends, listen to the radio and so on.
T: Ok. Now turn to page 4, Ex. 4. You are to make some sentences of your own, using the words given.
S1. I’m looking forward to hearing form my friend
S2: We are talking about verbs.
S3: Would you like to talk with me?
S4: Who can think of an effective solution to the problem?
S5: Please think about my proposal.
Step Ⅲ Useful Structures
T: Let’s come to the next part. This part is about modal verbs. You are to read the sentences in Ex. 1 and then to find out and write down different sentences with modal verbs form the reading passage and try to explain their meanings. If you have any difficulty in understanding them you can refer to Grammar in Pages 92---94
Step Ⅳ Summing up and home work
T: Boys and girls, today we have practiced useful words and phrases of this unit and the usage of modal verbs. I think it is not easy for you to master them, after class you should review them.
Homework
1. Practice of WBP42EX.1,2,3.
2. Please find out10 sentences with modal verbs, and try to get their meanings.
The fourth period Listening
Teaching aims:
1. Vocabulary: go with, the big bands, musicians, over and over again, for sale, get used to, the winners of this year’s awards for the best costumes
2. Enable the students to know how to get the key words to understand the conversation about the carnival parade, to talk about sth happened and express request and thanks.
Step Ⅰ Revision
After checking the WB Ex. 1,2,3 the teacher ask the students to give examples about modal verbs and try to explain them.
Step Ⅱ Warming up
T: By the way, what’s the topic of this unit?
Ss: Festivals around the world.
T: Would you like to know something more about festivals around the world?
Ss: Of course.
T: Now I will show you several pictures. What’s the festival called?
Ss: Carnival.
T: Yes. This class we will listen to a dialogue about carnivals. First look through the four questions in listening part to find out the listening points.
Step Ⅲ Listening
T: I will play the tape for you twice. Please listen carefully and pay much attention to the important points. For the first time you are to make notes beside the questions. For the second time, you should write down the answers and then check them with your partners.
( It’s important to encourage the students to adapt their present knowledge any
skill to a variety of situations wherever they can. Make sure to allow various
expressions of the answers. Do not demand the same words form all students.)
Step Ⅳ Speaking
This part is intended to give the students the opportunity to practice a telephone conversation using the functional items for requests and thanks. The polite form of English are important and should be practiced in a variety of situations.
Step Ⅴ Listening task
T: There are about 10 minutes left. Let’s come to listening task. Turn to page 43
and look at the pictures. They have something in common. Can you find it out?
Ss: They are all about festivals bout the dead.
T: That’s right. I will play the tape for you. For the first time you should try to
write down the name of the country where the festival are held. For the next two times you should do Ex2. You can make a brief note first and then complete the chart, according to which you can make a report.
The fifth period Extensive reading
Teaching aims:
1. Vocabulary: heart-broken, turn up, keep one’s word, hold one’s breath, drown one’s sadness in coffee, set off for, remind somebody of something,
2. Learn to compare the festivals in China and in western countries.
Step ⅠRevision
Check homework
Step ⅡReading (1)
T: As we know, there are all kinds of festivals around the world. We have talked about two Chinese festivals for the dead. Today we are going ti read a sad story, which is to introduce a cross cultural view of lovers’ festival-Qi Qiao and Valentine’s Day. Now please read it quickly and find out the sentence below are true or false.
The girl Li Fang loved and waited but she didn’t turn up. But he didn’t lose heart.(F….)
Because her most lovely daughter got married to a human secretly, the Goddess got very angry. .(…T.)
Zhinv was made to return to Heaven without her husband. They were allowed to meet once a year on the seventh day of the tenth lunar month, .(F….)
Hu Jin had been waiting for Li Fang for a long time with a gift for him. .(…T.)
T: I think you have got the general idea of the passage. Now please read the passage once more and answer the questions on Page 8.
Some language points:
1. turn up: appear
2.keep her word: keep her promise
3.hold his breath: wait without much hope
4.drown one’s sadness/sorrow in coffee: drink coffee in order to forget the sadness/ sorrow
5.remind sb of sth: make sb think of sth
Step Ⅲ Discussion and writing
T: That’s for the reading part of the passage. Please think about the ending of the story. Are you satisfied with the ending? Different people have different opinions to a matter. Now any one of you have an opportunity to make up an ending to the story. Please engage imaginatively in the story and use your own ideas. Try to use the vocabulary and structures you have learned of you like.
Step Ⅳ Reading(2)
T: Let’s come to another passage about carnival in Quebec. Please turn to Page 44, read it quickly and answer the questions in Page 45. Five minutes for you.
Added material:
Thanksgiving Day
Fourth Thursday in November is celebrated as ‘Thanksgiving Day’ People thank God for his blessings. People can ‘Thank’ friends, foes and anyone for the experiences, happiness and sunshine they bring into their lives. Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving Day in America during the second winter in the new world. The first winter had been bad as nearly half of the people had perished due to lack of food and bad weather. But the following year, with the help of Indians who showed them how to plant Indian corn, the pilgrims had successful harvest. Governor William Bradford decided that December 13, 1621 be set aside for feasting and prayer. The Indians were invited to share the festival. Since than, Thanksgiving Day is been celebrated in America. However, it was only in 1941, the Congress in a joint resolution named the fourth Sunday in November as the official Thanksgiving Day.
Dating back, it is known that the Council thought to appoint and set apart the 29th day of June, as a day of Solemn Thanksgiving and praise to God for his Goodness and Favour. The First Thanksgiving Proclamation was however on June 20, 1676. The governing council of Charlestown, Massachusetts, held a meeting to determine how best to express thanks for the good fortune that had seen their community securely established. By unanimous vote they instructed Edward Rawson, the clerk, to proclaim June 29 as a day of thanksgiving, It is also known that the Pilgrims set ground at Plymouth Rock on December 11, 1620. Their first winter was devastating. At the beginning of the following fall, they had lost 46 of the original 102 who sailed on the Mayflower. But the harvest of 1621 was a bountiful one. And the remaining colonists decided to celebrate with a feast -- including 91 Indians who had helped the Pilgrims survive their first year. It is believed that the Pilgrims would not have made it through the year without the help of the natives The feast was more of a traditional English harvest festival than a true "thanksgiving" observance. It lasted three days.
Thanksgiving, as we know it today, has come a long way from the Pilgrim's harvest festival in 1621. It is an event that seems, as each year goes by, to reinvent itself and to expand its meaning to larger vistas. Maybe this is the real significance of the occasion; for as we continue to change and grow as a people, there are an increasing number of things for which we can be thankful.
Halloween
The ancient Druids 督伊德教(古代高盧人與不列顛人的一種宗教)的教徒 who inhabited what we now call Great Britain placed great importance on the passing of one season to the next, holding "Fire Festivals" which were celebrated for three days (two days on either side of the day itself). One of these festivals was called Samhain (pronounced Sha-Von) and it took place on October 31 through to November 1. During this period, it was believed that the boundaries between our world and the world of the dead were weakened, allowing spirits of the recently dead to cross over and possess the living. In order to make themselves and their homes less inviting to these wayward spirits, the ancient Celts（凱爾特人）would douse （插入水中, 把弄熄, 弄濕）all their fires. There was also a secondary purpose to this, after extinguishing all their fires, they would re-light them from a common source, the Druidic fire that was kept burning at Usinach, in the Middle of Ireland.
Samhain was considered to be a gateway not only from the land of the dead to the land of the living, but also between Summer and Fall/Winter. For the Druids, this was the last gasp （喘息, 氣喘）of summer (it was also the Celtic New Year), so therefore they made sure it went out with a bang before they had to button down （把...弄清楚）for the winter ahead.
They would dress up in bizarre costumes and parade through their villages causing destruction in order to scare off any recently departed souls who might be prowling （巡游）for bodies to inhabit, in addition to burning animals and other offerings to the Druidic deities（神, 神性）. It is also a popular belief that they would burn people who they believed to be possessed, but this has largely been debunked （揭穿, 拆穿假面具, 暴露）as myth.
This tradition was later brought to the North American continent by Irish immigrants who were escaping the Potato Famine in their homeland. In addition to the festival itself, the immigrants brought several customs with them, including one of the symbols most commonly associated with Halloween -- the Jack 'O Lantern.
According to Irish folklore, there once lived a man named Jack who was known for being a drunk and a prankster（頑皮的人, 愛開玩笑的人）. One night Jack tricked the devil into climbing a tree, and quickly carved an image of a cross on the trunk, trapping the devil. Jack then made him promise that, in exchange for letting him out of the tree, the Devil would never tempt him to sin again. He reluctantly agreed, but was able to exact his revenge upon Jack's death. Because of his mischievous ways in life, Jack was barred from entering heaven and because of his earlier trick, he was also barred from hell. So he was doomed to wander the earth until the end of time, with only a single ember（灰燼, 余燼） (carried in a hollowed out turnip.[植]蕪箐, 蕪箐甘藍(lán)) to warm him and light his way. In Ireland, they originally also used turnips for their "Jack Lanterns", but upon arriving in the new world, they discovered that pumpkins were abundant and easier to carve out.
Easter
On Good Friday, Jesus Christ was executed by crucifixion. His body was taken down from the cross, and buried in a cave. The tomb was guarded and an enormous stone was put over the entrance, so that no-one could steal the body. On the following Sunday, some women visited the grave and found that the stone had been moved, and that the tomb was empty. Jesus himself was seen that day, and for days afterwards by many people. His followers realised that God had raised Jesus from the dead.
Hot Cross Buns
Hot Cross buns are still made all over England around Easter time. At one time, buns with a cross on them were made all through Lent. They were banned by Oliver Cromwell and brought back again at the time of the Restoration. For a time they were only available on Good Friday but now they can be bought during the month leading up to Easter. Whole meal hot cross buns are becoming more popular each year.
The Easter Egg
As with the Easter Bunny and the holiday itself, the Easter Egg predates the Christian holiday of Easter. The exchange of eggs in the springtime is a custom that was centuries old when Easter was first celebrated by Christians.
From the earliest times, the egg was a symbol of rebirth in most cultures. Eggs were often wrapped in gold leaf or, if you were a peasant, colored brightly by boiling them with the leaves or petals of certain flowers.
Today, children hunt colored eggs and place them in Easter baskets along with the modern version of real Easter eggs -- those made of plastic or chocolate candy.
O-bon Festival
Bon Dance
During o-bon, bon odori (folk dances) are held all over Japan. The kind of dance varies from area to area. People wearing yukata (summer kimono) go to the neighborhood shrine, temple, or park and dance around a yagura (stage) set up there. Anyone can participate in the dance. Join the circle and imitate what others are doing. Awa odori of Tokushima and bon odori at Yasukuni Shrine, Tokyo are very famous.
Also, Toro Nagashi (floating paper lanterns) are held in some areas. On the evening of the 15th, people send off ancestor's spirits with a paper lantern, lit by a candle inside and floated down a river to the ocean. Fireworks displays (Hanabi-taikai) are often held during o-bon. It is a typical Japanese summer scene to see hanabi.
Since o-bon is an important family gathering time, many people return to their hometowns during o-bon. Most businesses are closed during this time. Although it is crowded everywhere, it is common for many people take trips during o-bon, too. The beginning and end of o-bon are marked with terrible traffic jams. Airports, train stations, and highways are jammed with travelers. I recommend you do not travel around o-bon!