Unit 4 The Virtual World
Ⅰ. Suggested Teaching Plan
Objectives
Student酱肉怎么做s will be able to
1. understand the main idea (despite the many negative effects of virtual life, the author prefers it to real life) and structure of the text (contrast between virtual life and real life);
2. learn some rules of interpreting new vocabulary and usage related to computers and the Internet in English;
3. grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;
4. conduct a ries of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit.
Time Allotment
1st period | 2nd period | 3rd period | 4th period | 5th period |
Pre-reading | While-reading 倒立的好处(text organization; language points) | While-reading 纸花制作(language points; “find” structure; conquences of virtual life) | Post-reading; Check on students’ home reading (Text B) | Theme-Related Language Learn- 发蜡和发胶的区别ing Tasks |
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Pre-reading activities
1. T asks Ss the following questions on the poem Surfing the Internet: (5 minutes)
— What was the hero doing when his boss came in? (surfing the Internet)
— How did he act in front of his boss? (He pretended to be surprid at the computer which had crashed “unexpectedly”.)
2. Ss look at the theme of this unit (The Virtual World) and the title of Text A (A Virtual Life), then try to: (10 minutes)
— 木麻黄树find antonyms of “virtual world” and “virtual life”; (real world, real life)
— suggest synonyms for “virtual world”; (cyberspace, cyberia, etherworld, virtual reality, Internet world, net world, etc.)
— say what people can do on the Internet, (communicating with people, shopping, reading, entertainment, education, working, hacking, publishing, etc.)
只有香如故上一句3. Imaginative writing (28 minutes)
最大的嘴打一成语是什么成语1) T dictates to Ss the following paragraph:
For the past two weeks, other participants of the Net Survival Contest (网络生存竞赛) and
I have been shut up in bare hotel rooms. Our only link to the real world has been a computer that is hooked up to the Internet (联网电脑). We have relied on it, not only for food, bed sheets and other daily necessities, but also to t up an e-business （电子商务）of our own.
2) Now Ss will complete the next paragraph beginning with: “Now it is time for me to walk out into the light of ” They will give their imagination full play. They will write no more than 100 words.
3) Ss form groups of four to five, and read aloud to each other their own writings.
4) T asks some groups to recommend the best piece in their group to the class.
4. T may lead in to Text A by saying: Some of us like to live a life in contact with real things and real people, but others favor a virtual existence. Which life is better? I’m sure you have different opinions. Now let’s read Text A to find out what Maia Szalavitz has to say about the two life styles. (2 minutes)
While-reading activities
1. Text organization (15 minutes)
1) T draws Ss’ attention to Text Organization Exerci 1, and lets them read its instructions as well as what has already been done for them in this exerci.
2) Ss try to complete the exerci by simply reading the first ntence of each paragraph in Text A.
3) Ss compare answers with each other; if necessary, T may help.
2. T explains the key language points and gives Ss practice (e Language Study). (45 minutes)
3. T guides Ss through Structure Exerci 2. (10 minutes)
4. Ss re-read Paras 4-10, work in pairs to find out conquences of “my” virtual life. Can they u the “find onelf + adj./ past participle/prent participle” structure when summin
g up the conquences? (10 minutes)
5. Some pairs report to the class their findings, using the “find” structure. (5 minutes)
Post-reading activities
1. Computer-related vocabulary items (20 minutes)
1) Ss scan Text A to find out vocabulary items related to computer and the Internet. (They are: virtual life, the net, telecommuter, email, Internet mailing lists, computer-assisted, data, link, cyber-interaction, on line, system crash, click on the modem, connection, password)
2) T tells Ss that new terms related to computer and the Internet are constantly added to the English vocabulary, so much so that many of them are not included in any English dictionary. However, if we apply certain rules, their meanings are easy to deduce.
3) T gives Ss more examples of computer-related vocabulary items (e Text Analysis).
2. T guides Ss through some after-text exercis. (25 minutes)
神舟十一号飞船3. T checks on Ss’ home reading (Text B). (3 minutes)
4. Ss do Part IV: Theme-Related Language Learning Tasks. (1 period)
