The Third Period Reading (Ⅰ)

Teaching goals教學目標

1. Target language目標語言

a. 重點詞匯和短語

patent, distinguish, product, power, perfume, cube, abrupt, abruptly, convenient, expectation, monitor, passive, criterion, valid, application, file, rod, call up, now and then, set about, in case

b. 重點句子

1. The first thing I did was to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes.     

2. Between the outside and the inside walls of the bowl there is some jelly, which freezes when cooled.  

3. The criteria are so strict that it is difficult to get new ideas accepted unless they are truly novel.   

4. Nor will you receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your product really is different from everybody else’s.  

2. Ability goals能力目標

Enable the students to describe the problem of the snakes and what has been done by the writer to solve the problem. Make them realize it takes steps to catch the snakes and it’s not easy to get a patent.

3. Learning ability goals 學能目標

Help the students to learn how to retell the story and how to meet the requirements of getting a patent.

Teaching important points 教學重點 

How to describe the problem of the snakes and what has been done by the writer to solve the problem.

Teaching difficult points 教學難點

Learn how to meet the requirements of getting a patent.

Teaching methods 教學方法

Task-based activities.

Teaching aids 教具準備

A recorder, a projector and some slides.  

Teaching procedures & ways教學過程與方式

Step Ⅰ Revision

1. Greetings

2. Check the answers to the multiple choices in USING WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS.

3. Ask some students to show the answers to the preview questions.

T: Last period, you were asked to preview the text and answer the two questions. Did you get ready?

Sample answers:

1. The problem talked about in the text is how to catch snakes in the courtyard.

2. The writer solved the problem in different steps. For example placing the frozen bowl and the ice-cubes on top of the bowl to keep it cool, freezing the bowl and ice-cubes again in the evening as the temperature was starting to cool and using a net used for catching fish.

Step Ⅱ Pre-reading

T: Problems can arise anywhere at any time. Now here is a problem of snakes. Look at the title of the reading passage. What can you guess about the content of the passage from the title? To answer the question you should try to predict the content of the reading material by reading the title and looking at the pictures in the text. The title of the text is THE PROBLEM OF THE SNAKES. Next, I’d like you to discuss this question with your partner. Then I’ll ask some students to report your work. Are you clear?

After a few minutes

T: Now who’d like to answer the question? Volunteer!

S1: Let me try. Someone was once frightened at the sight of snakes, the brave and clever writer helped solve the problem of the snakes, as we can see from the picture that she finally caught them with a net.

S2: Judging from the title, I think the passage is mainly about the serious problem of the snakes around the house and how the girl made efforts to catch the snakes in the end.

S3: The title tells us that the content of the text will be about different ways of catching snakes tried by the girl and her success in doing it.

T: Very good! Now, let’s go on with Exercise 1 in the pre-reading. Inventing is a scientific activity. Every inventor must go through certain stages before they can have their inventions approved. Look at the list of the stages and work out a suitable order.

S: The suitable order of the steps every inventor must go through before they can have their inventions approved:

1. Finding a problem 2. Doing research      

3. Thinking of a creative solution

4. Testing the solution

5. Applying for a patent  

6. Deciding on the invention

T: Well done! You’ve worked the order out. Now read the text and check the order you wrote above to see whether it follows the correct stages in producing an invention. First, you should skim the passage by reading the introduction, the topic of each paragraph and the conclusion.

After a few minutes.

T: How about your arrangement of the stages? Are they all right?

S: I find the above steps are correctly arranged according to the text. At first the writer found the problem of the snakes, and then she made a study of the methods of catching them and thought of a creative and practical way to solve the problem. She then tested and improved the method before applying for a patent and whether there will be a decision on her invention remains to be seen.    

T: Quite right. Since you have got the general idea of the text, let’s go through the text again.

Step Ⅲ While-reading

Get the students to comprehend the passage carefully and accurately, and then divide the text into several parts and work out the main idea for each paragraph.  

T: Now, please read the passage carefully, divide the whole passage into several parts and find out the main idea of each part.

Part I (Para.1): the discovery of the problem of the snakes

Part II (Paras.2-3): the research on the approaches to solve the problem

Part III (Paras.4-6): the attempts to catch the snakes

Part IV (Paras.7-8): the requirements of getting a patent

T: Now, please go through the whole text again and I’d like you to analyze the text in details. Discuss these questions on the slides.

Show the following.

1. What are the writing techniques of this text?

2. What’s the main idea of the text?

3. What should we learn from this text?

4. What’s the writing purpose of the writer?

Sample answers:

1. In this text the writer puts forward the problem of the snakes, makes research and analyzes the problem, lists the steps of solving the problem according to the arrangement of ideas, and finally illustrates what is needed for getting a patent. By listing the creative steps she takes to catch the snakes without hurting them, the writer has efficiently recorded and narrated to the readers the beginning, the development and the final result of the incident clearly.

2. The text narrates the problem of the snakes and presents the procedures of catching them and applying for a patent, from which we have got a better understanding of how to do scientific researches and how to apply for a patent. After learning, we know that it usually costs some time and continuous efforts in order to solve some practical problems in a scientific way.

3. We can learn from the text the way of doing scientific researches and how to apply for a patent. We can also learn that it takes an inventor great determination and persistence to achieve his or her ambition in life.

4. The writer wants to inform us of the scientific methods to solve present problems so that we students can not only broaden the horizons but become more skilled in discovering and considering carefully the problems in daily life. We are also encouraged by the writer to be creative and hardworking as well as thinking independently.

Help the students deal with the difficult language points in the text.

T: Now, everyone, I wonder if you have any difficulties in understanding the text.

S1: I have one question. I can’t understand the structure of the sentence in Para. 2 on page 20: The first thing I did was to see if there were any products that might help me, but there only seemed to be powders designed to kill snakes. Would you please explain it and put it into Chinese for us?

T: Sure. This sentence tells us the first step of the writer’s research on the problem of the snakes. The words the first thing is modified by an attributive clauses I tried to do and the words powders is modified by an attributive past participle phrase designed to kill snakes. The clause if there were products that might help me serves as an objective clause. 全句漢語意思：我設法做的第一件事是看看是否有能幫我忙的產品，但是好像只有一些用來捕殺蛇的粉末。

S2: I don’t know much about the last but one sentence of the third paragraph on page 20: Between the outside and the inside walls of the bowl there is some jelly, which freezes hard when cooled.  What’s the sentence structure like? Why is “when cooled” used? What does it mean? Please explain it in details.

T: As a whole, this sentence is an inverted sentence with the prepositional phrase Between the outside and inside walls of the bowl put in the front, which tells us what the writer used in order to cool the snakes. which freezes hard when cooled is a non-restrictive attributive clause modifying the sentence in front of it. When cooled is an elliptic form of when it is cooled.全句意思是：在碗內外側有一些果子凍，冷卻時它們會凍得很結實。

S3: I find it difficult to understand the first sentence of the last paragraph: Nor will you receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your product really is different from everybody else’s. Can you explain it? Thank you.

T: Well, this sentence tells us another requirement of getting a patent. This is an inverted sentence of adverbial clause, with the negative word Nor at the beginning of the sentence. that your product really is different from everybody else’s is an objective clause. In the normal order, this sentence can be paraphrased like this: You will not receive a patent until a search has been made to find out that your product really is different from everybody else’s. 全句意為：直到做了一次調查后發現你的產品確實與眾不同，這時你才會獲得專利。 

Step Ⅳ Comprehending

T: Now, please look at Exercise 1 on page 21. Listen to the recording of the passage to get the answers to the questions. While listening, pay more attention to the correct pronunciation and tone. Then read the text by yourselves to get the answers to the next questions (slide). You can work in groups.

Step Ⅴ Homework

Ask the students to do the following.

1. Go over the whole passage.

2. Recite the key sentences in the text.

3. Prepare for Learning about Language and USING STRUCTURES in the workbook.