I’mgoingtotalkaboutalessonin7A.It’sthethirdunitofModuleThree.Thetitleoftheunitis“Seawaterandrainwater”.Thislessonisthefirstperiodofthisunit.Itrytocreatetheconditionsinwhichlearningcantakeplace.
Isetupthefollowingthreeteachingaimsforthislesson.Thefirstistolearnthenewwordsandunderstandthetext.Thesecondistoexperiencethewonderfulworldunderthewater,growtheloveforthenatureandrealizethatpeoplemustprotectthewater.Thelastistousetheexpressionsinthetexttotalkaboutthewaterandshowthefeelingsaboutthewonderfulworldunderthewater.
Ithinkthefocalpointofthislessonistounderstandthetextandexperiencethebeautifulworldunderthewater.Toachievethisgoal,Imustclearawayobstaclesofnewwordsfirst.Thereareonlysixnewwor
dsinthevocabularyofthetextbook.ButIthinkit’snotenoughformystudents.Perhapstheyhaveeverusedsomewordsbutdon’tknowthemclearly.SoIlistelevenwordsandphrasesforthem.Ipresentallthenewwordsbypictures.Ichoosethetypicalpicturesfromthenetforeachnewword.Asthestudentslearnthenewwords,theywillbeimpressedbythenicepictures.Thentounderstandthetext,twocompetitionsarehelpful.Onecompetitionisusedaswarming-up.Thequestion“Howmuchdoyouknowabouttheearth?”leadstothiscompetition.Theotheroneisafterlearningthetext.It’stheexerciseonP49andjustanexerciselike“Askandanswer”.ButIthinkit’snecessarytodosomethingaboutthetextafterlearningit.Infact,thereisanotherreal“Askandanswer”butthequestionsaredifferentfromtheonesinthesecondcompetitionatall.Theybothhelpmetoknowhowmuchmystudentshaveknownaboutthetext.
Toexperi
encethewonderfulworldunderthewater,Ipreparetwoperiodsofafilm.Theyareallfromthefilm“FindingNemo”.It’sacartoonfilm.Iuseitbecauseithassuchcolourfulframes,itgivesthestudentsastrongvisualappeal,andchildrenlikecartoons.Besidesthis,thepicturesforthenewwordsarehelpful.Andallthebackgroundoftheslidesismadeofthepicturesoftheseaanimals.Althoughtherearenotanyrealobjectsshowedtomystudents,theywillbeinterestedintheworldunderthewater.Thedifficultyofthislessonistotalkabouttheworldunderthewater.Isetupashortplaybecausemystudentshaveevertoldmethattheylikethisactivity.Imakethestudentsbetheseaanimals,sotheymustshowaworldfromseaanimals’pointofview.Andthecontentsofthetextarenotenoughforthemtodescribeaworld.Sotheyshouldaddtheirownfeelingintotheconversation.It’sagoo
dwaytoopenuptheirminds.IthinkIcangivesomeideastothemwhentheyarepreparing,andImustplaytothescore.Insuchanopenperiod,theteachermustthinkwiththestudentsandshareourideas.TheteachingaidsIuseinthisclassarethemulti-mediacomputerandthetaperecorder.
(Now,I’llsaysomethingabouttheteachingprocedures.)
First,Ishowthemapicturefromspaceandaskthemthequestion“Whatarethebluepartsontheearth?”TheylearnedtheearthinGradeSix,sotheywillcertainlyanswer“Theyarewater.”Next,thequestion“Whereiswater?”willbeasked.Thestudentshavelearnedthistoo.SoIthinktheywillgiveouttheanswersuchas“inthestreams”,“intheriver”andsoon.ButImustn’tstopuntiltheygivemetheanswer“intheoceans”becausethetitleofthetextis“Waterintheoceans
”.Andiftheyreallyforgetthisone,Iwillshowthemthepicturetoremindthem.Thenthetitle“Waterintheoceans”appears.Secondly,wehaveacompetition.It’sjustthefirstcompetitionI’vementionedbefore.It’sdoneaswarming-up.Ithinksomeofmystudentsarewillingtoshowthemselvesandthisonegivesthemachance.Nomatterwhethertheyanswercorrectlyornot,theycanlearnsomethingsabouttheearthandtheoceans.Sinceitisacompetition,Iwillgivethemaprizeiftheyanswercorrectly.Theotheroneisdoneinthesameway.
Thirdly,thestudentslearnnewwordsbypictures.Aftereachword,Iaskalineofstudentstoimitate.Afterlearningall,thenewwordsareshowedinoneslideandthestudentsreadtogether.
Fourthly,thestudentslistenandreadthetextafterthetape.Next,theyreadloudbythemselves.Atthesametime,Igoaround,listenandhelpthemwiththeirpronuciation.Then
thewholeclassreadloudtogether.Afterthat,Iaskthemsomequestionsaboutthetext.Therearebothwhquestionsandyesornoquestions.Fifthly,wehavetheothercompetition.ThestudentsjustwritetheanswersonP49.Thisisthepartofwritingofthislesson.Foranyone,assoonasheanswersallthequestions,hecanputuphishandtotelltheclasstheanswer.
Sixthly,thestudentsusetheexpressionstheyhavejustlearnedtomakeashortplay.AswhatI’vesaid,intheshortplay,theymustlookthemselvesasseaanimalsandtalkabouttheworldunderthewater.SoIgivenametheshortplay“Ourhomeisbeautiful”.Thetitlemakesthemclearthattheymustfocusonabeautifulworldandusethefirstpersontotalk.Isetupfourframes.Ineachframe,therearetworoles,andthefiguresoftherolesareallthecharactersinthefilm“FindingNemo”.Therelationshipbetweeneachtworolesisdifferent.Theyare
HusbandandWife,Fatherandsonandtwodifferentpairsoffriends.Thelovelyfiguresarousethestudents’interestandmakethemtoseethewonderfulworldthroughseaanimals’eyesmoreeasily.It’sapairwork.Thestudentsprepareforaboutthreeminutes.Thentwoorthreepairscomethefronttoshowtotheclass.Aftertheshortplay,afterthestudentshavefulllovefortheworldunderthewater,thesentence“Waterisveryimportanttoallanimalsonearth”appears.(Theoceansareveryimportanttoallanimalsonearth.)Ithinkthestudentscanunderstandmoreaboutthesentencenow.Butatonce,Ishowsomeotherpicturesabout
thewaterpollution.Thecontrastmaymakethestudentspayattentiontothewaterenvironmentandrealizethatwemustprotectthewater.ThenIgiveoutthequestion“Whatmustwedo?”andaskthemtomakeapromise.WelearnedhowtomakeapromiseinGradeSixandit’sanimportantlanguagepoint.Thelastsentenceofthetextis“Wemustkeepseawatercleanandstoppollutingit.It’sarightwaytojointhem.Finally,Ileaveaquestionashomeworkforthemtothinkabout.Thatis“Whatwillhappenifthereisnowater?”It’salsothepreparationforthesecondperiod.Andthereissomeotherroutinehomework,“Copythenewwords”and“Recitethefirsttwopassagesofthetext”
Ithinkthethemeofthislessonisclear.Allactivitiesgoaround“water”andtheyaretotallydesignedaccordingtomystudents.Frombeinginterested,tolearning,toexpressing,thestudentsuseEnglishmoreandmore.Inthemeantime,theybecomeconsciousofthewaterenvironment.Ithinkalanguagemustbeusedinourdailylife.Welearnthelanguageandwealsolearnfromthelanguage.
Beforetheclass,Iaskthestudentstogetsomeinformationabouttheearthandthewaterfrombooksorthenet.It’snotonlyusefultothecompetition,butalsomakeupforthelimitedknowledgeinclass.