Unit 5 Racial Equality Matters
I.Unit Overview
Largely as a modern phenomenon, the issue of race is both controversial and pervasive. It is the topic of public discussions, from television talk shows to talk radio. Though most of us get to know racial issues from Western society, for example the United States, race matters to us for it is an esntial part of our identity, defining who we are and how we are different from and similar to others.
Written by Harper Lee, one of the most influential American writers, To Kill a Mockingbird is both a young girl’s coming-of-age story and a darker drama about the roots and conquences of racism and prejudice, probing how good and evil can coexist within a single community or individual.
Gloria Naylor, contextualizi ng the word “nigger” in the black community, demonstrates a totally different interpretation from the white society. Using her personal experience, Naylor proves to us how the word “nigger” is socially-constructed.
II.Teaching Plan
按照《指南》规定，综合英语总学时是64课时，每周4课时，每单元上8课时。有的学校每周6课时，每
单元12课时。下表按8课时安排，12课时就按比例调整。
III.Exploring the Topic
◆Teaching Tips
1.The icebreaker is designed to help students realize the ubiquity of prejudice—it is not far
from our life, and its possible negative effects on society and people’s civil rights.
2.Both individual work and group work are involved in the task. The students are expected
to do some pre-class rearch on the two famous people—Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela—first, and then pair up with their classmate and participate in the classroom discussion. The instructor during this time can walk around the classroom and help to facilitate the conversation if necessary. The instructor can randomly invite group reprentatives to share their insights with the rest of the class. The instructor is recommended to conclude the activity by shedding light on the differences between stereotype and prejudice. Whereas stereotypes tell us what a group is like, prej
udice tells us how we are likely to feel about that group.
3.Make a comparison between race and ethnicity.Race is defined as “a category of
humankind that shares certain distinctive physical traits.” It is usually associated with biology and linked with physical characteristics such as skin color or hair texture. Ethnicity is more broadly defined as “large groups of people clasd according to common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin or background.” It is linked with cultural expression and identification. However, both are social constructs ud to categorize and characterize emingly distinct populations.
◆Key to Exercis
2
Open-ended.
◆Optional Activities
1.Form groups of four and conduct a survey on personal experiences with people from
different racial groups. Then discuss what has impresd them most during tho cross-racial interactions. Choo one reprentative from each group to report the findings to the class.
IV.Text A
◆Background Information
1.Harper Lee
Harper Lee (1926-2016) was the youngest of four children of Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Cun
ningham Finch Lee. She grew up in Monroeville, a small town in southwest Alabama. Her father was a lawyer who also rved in the state legislature from 1926-1938.
As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader. She moved to New York in 1949 and worked as a rervations clerk for Eastern Air Lines and British Overas Airways.
While in New York, she wrote veral essays and short stories, but none were published.
Her agent encouraged her to develop one short story into a novel. In order to complete it, Lee quit working and was supported by friends who believed in her work. In 1957, she submitted the manuscript to J. B. Lippincott Company. Although editors found the work too episodic, they saw promi in the book and encouraged Lee to rewrite it. In 1960, with the help of Lippincott editor Tay Hohoff, To Kill a Mockingbird was published.
2.To Kill a Mockingbird
Despite dealing with the rious issues of rape and racial inequality, To Kill a Mockingbird is renowned for its warmth and humor. It became an instant popular success. A year after the novel was published, 500,000 copies had been sold and it had been translated into 10 languages. To Kill a
Mockingbird was honored with many awards including the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1961 and was made into a film in 1962 starring Gregory Peck. The film was nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture.
◆Teaching Tips
As to the structure of Text A, the teacher may ask the students to first locate turning points bad on the plots of the story and to find how the conclusion in Paras. 24 to 28 is arrived at. In this way can the students be led to understand the author’s logic in organizing the text. Refer to Exerci 1 in “Analytical Reading.”
In order to help the students to understand some important details in the text, the teacher may ask the students to answer the questions in Exerci 3 and to paraphra the ntences in Exerci 2 in “Analytical Reading.”
The two translation exercis can provide the students an opportunity to summarize and to extend the main idea of Text A, with theme expressions ud. The teacher has two focus for the exercis: theme expressions and ntence structures. The students are required to u the words, expressions and ntence structures correctly and properly in the context.
As for “Critical Thinking”, the teacher should help the students to really understand what “intellectual courage” is and find more examples to illustrate it.
When it comes to other “Language Focus” exercis, the students are required to d o them independently before class with reference to dictionaries, corpus and other online resources. Then they can share and discuss their answers with their group members or partners in class, asking the teacher for help whenever they can’t solve their di sagreement. The teacher will emphasize the common difficulties and solutions at the end of the exerci ssion.
◆Structure
I. Atticus delivered his argument in a professional way. He spoke easily and with the
kind of detachment he ud when he dictated a letter. (Paras. 1-9)
II. Atticus became more and more passionate as he delivered his closing statement, pointing out the defendant was not guilty and unraveling the most critical part of this ca: the evil assumption in the society that all Negroes are basically immoral beings.
(Paras. 10-22)
III. Atticus quoted Thomas Jefferson’s famous words: All men are created equal, aiming to arou the n of justice among the jury members. (Paras. 23-26)
IV. Atticus tried to get the jury on his side again. (Paras. 27-28)
◆Detailed Study of the Text
1. “…abnce of any corroborative evidence, this man was indicted on a capital charge and is now on trial for his life…” (Para. 4)
Though there was no supportive evidence to prove the guilt of Tom Robinson, he was charged with a rious crime and the outcome of the trial could be a ntence of death.
2. He never looned a scrap of his clothing until he undresd at bedtime, and to Jem and me, this was the equivalent of him standing before us stark naked. (Para. 11)
a scrap of: a small piece of
< She wrote the message on a scrap of paper and handed it to Bill.
Note:Pay special attention to Atticus’ action as he unbuttoned his vest and began to unbutton his shirt in front of the jury. Though initially astounding his children, Atticus proceeded to approach the jury in a casual, informal manner before making his final remarks. Atticus’ action
to unbutton his vest and collar, loon his tie, and take off his coat allowed him to speak to the jury as their equal. Atticus was also exposing his true lf by removing the articles. Atticus bared his soul to the jury as he encouraged them to get rid of their prejudice.
3. His voice had lost its aridity, its detachment, and he was talking to the jury as if they were folks on the post office corner. (Para. 13)
Atticus’ voice lost its usual indifference, and he was talking to the jury in a way as he talked to folks on the street.
Note: Atticus’ change of his tone from a professional lawyer to a common man reemphasizes his determination to step down from his professionalism to appeal to the jury as an ordinary human being.
4. The state has not produced one iota of medical evidence to the effect that the crime Tom Robinso
n is charged with ever took place. It has relied instead upon the testimony of two witness who evidence has not only been called into rious question on cross-examination, but has been flatly contradicted by the defendant. (Para. 15)
not one iota: not even a small amount
< Your eyesight has not changed one iota.
flatly: in a way that is very definite and will not be changed
< He flatly denied being near to the scene of the crime.
5. I say guilt, gentlemen, becau it was guilt that motivated her. She has committed no crime, she has merely broken a rigid and time-honored code of our society, a code so vere that whoever breaks it is hounded from our midst as unfit to live with. (Para. 17)
rigid and time-honored code: the taboo against interracial romantic relationships
Mayella’s guilt for having a relationshi p with a black man was what motivated her to act as she did, resulting in this trial. She committed no criminal act but becau she has done something unacceptable in terms of the racial norms in her society, she felt so out of place.
6. She is the victim of cruel poverty and ignorance, but I cannot pity her: She is white. (Para. 17)
Note:Using words in the first half of this ntence like “victim,” “cruel,” “poverty,” and “ignorance,” Atticus attempted to make the whole court audience feel empathy for May ella and help them understand why she would want to do what she did. In doing so, Atticus showed that he was not conducting an outright criticism of the accur. But, Atticus emphasized that he didn’t feel sorry for her becau she was white.
7. But in this ca she was no child hiding stolen contraband: She struck out at her victim—of necessity she must put him away from her—he must be removed from her prence, from this world. (Para. 17)
contraband: goods that are brought into a country illegally, especially to avoid tax
< Customs officers went through each bag looking for contraband.
strike out at: to attack or criticize someone suddenly or violently
