Unit 4 Astronomy: the science of the stars

　　Period 5　Using language: Extensive reading

　　整體設計

　　教材分析

　　This is the fifth teaching period of this unit. As usual, the teacher should check students’ homework and offer chances for them to go over what they learned in the last period at the beginning of the class. Then lead in the new lesson.

　　In this period, the teaching emphasis will be put on developing students’ reading ability by reading extensively. We will deal with two parts: A VISIT TO THE MOON in Using language on Pages 30-31 and CAUGHT BY A BLACK HOLE in Reading Task on Page 66. While reading, get students learning to use some reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, and so on. As to new words and phrases, the teacher can first find those students feel most difficult and help them to understand. That’s enough here. The reading passage A VISIT TO THE MOON is a science fiction story which imagines what it might be like if an astronaut visited the moon. The purpose of science fiction writing is to combine facts with a story to make students interested and excited about travel in space. It is also to stimulate awe and wonder into the vastness of space. As this reading uses the information students have gained from the listening, the teacher can first ask some students to retell the listening text to lead in the topic and then ask students to read the passage and do some comprehending exercises. While checking their answers with the whole class, deal with language problems students can’t work out by themselves. This is an extensive reading lesson, so the teaching steps should be simple. As to the passage CAUGHT BY A BLACK HOLE, it is to continue the above story. The astronomers in the story visit a place in space, which seems impossible for people to reach, the “black hole”. It is to help students imagine what it is like near a “black hole”. Ask students to read through the passage and try to know more about astronomy and gravity.

　　At the end of the class, ask students to retell the two passages.

　　In order to arouse students’ interest, the teacher can hold a competition among them.

　　教學重點

　　1. Develop students’ reading skills by extensive reading.

　　2. Let students read and understand the two passages.

　　教學難點

　　1. Enable students to learn to use reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, and so on.

　　2. Get students to understand the science fiction stories in this unit.

　　三維目標

　　知識目標

　　1. Get students to learn some useful new words and expressions in this part: spaceship, pull, float, mass, cheer up, now that, break out

　　2. Get students to read the science fiction stories.

　　能力目標

　　1. Develop students’ reading skills by extensive reading and enable them to learn how to use different reading skills to read different reading materials.

　　2. Have students learn to use the useful new words and expressions correctly.

　　3. Enable students to understand the passages and know more about astronomy and gravity.

　　情感目標

　　1. Stimulate students’ interest in astronomy and space travel.

　　2. Develop students’ sense of group cooperation and teamwork.

　　教學過程

　　→Step 1 Revision

　　1. Check the homework exercises.

　　2. Ask some pairs of students to come to the front and act out their dialogue to review the expressions of giving instructions.

　　3. Have some students talk about Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking as well as their ideas on gravity.

　　→Step 2 Warming up

　　Let students to brainstorm the following questions:

　　What country first sent people into space?

　　How many countries have succeeded in sending people into space so far?

　　Who first landed on the moon?

　　Who is the first Chinese astronaut to go into space?

　　Do you want to visit the moon?

　　→Step 3 Reading

　　1. Ask students to read the passage and then describe the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping and how his weight changed.

　　1) Write down the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping.

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth

　　In space

　　On the moon

　　Suggested answers:

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth The gravity became very strong.

　　In space The gravity disappeared.

　　On the moon The gravity became very light.

　　2) His weight changed three times, too. Now write them down.

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth

　　In space

　　On the moon

　　Suggested answers:

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth He became very heavy.

　　In space He had no weight and could float around like a feather.

　　On the moon He was about one-sixth of his weight on the earth.

　　2. Ask students to read the passage aloud to the tape and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in the passage. Let students read them aloud and copy them down in their exercise book after class as homework. Try to keep them in mind.

　　Collocations: be lucky enough to do, have a chance, make a trip into space, explain sth. to sb. , the force of gravity, be off, the pull of the earth’s gravity, fall back to the earth, fall to the ground, too far from the earth, as if, at all, get close to, cheer up, come on, less than, down the steps, step forward, twice as far as, fall over, a bit of, now that, after a while, get the hang of, break out, on the outside of, be pushed into

　　→Step 4 Important language points

　　1. Before we left, Li Yanping explained to me that the force of gravity would change three times on our journey and that the first change would be the most powerful.

　　在啟程以前, 李彥平向我解釋說, 在我們的航行中會有三次引力的改變, 而第一次的改變將是最強的。

　　句子中that the force of gravity would change three times on our journey and that the first change would be the most powerful是兩個并列的that引導的賓語從句, 作動詞explain的賓語。一個動詞若帶兩個賓語從句, 第二個引導詞that一般不省略。例如:

　　The girls told him (that) they were on a train trip across Canada and that they had only one day in Montreal.

　　姑娘們告訴他, 她們乘火車來旅游, 要橫穿加拿大, 在蒙特利爾待一天。

　　I understand not only (that) you have studied Chinese but also that you have written Chinese poetry.

　　我知道, 你不僅學了中文, 而且還寫中文詩。

　　2. I cheered up immediately and floated weightlessly around in our spaceship cabin watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger.

　　我立刻感到很高興, 由于失重我在太空艙里飄來飄去, 我望著（身后的）地球越來越小, 而（前方的）月球越來越大。

　　watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger是現在分詞短語, 在句中作狀語。

　　cheer (sb. ) up: (cause sb. to) become happier or more cheerful歡呼; 喝彩; 感到高興; 使高興

　　Try and cheer up a bit; life isn’t that bad!

　　想辦法高興點, 生活并不是那么糟！

　　The crowd cheered up when they saw the team arrive.

　　當看到球隊的到來, 人群歡呼起來。

　　He took her to the concert to cheer her up.

　　他帶她去聽音樂會來使她高興。

　　watch. . . do/doing觀看, 注視

　　We watched the sun setting behind the trees.

　　我們看著太陽正在樹后面落下。

　　Every day as they watched the plant grow, their hearts filled with hope.

　　每一天當他們看到植物生長, 他們的心里都充滿了希望。

　　3. “Oh dear, ” I cried, “walking does need a bit of practice now that gravity has changed. ”

　　“天哪, ”我大聲說, “重力改變了, 看來走路也的確需要練一練了。”

　　now (that). . . : because of the fact (that). . . 既然……; 由于……

　　Now (that) everybody is here, we can begin the meeting.

　　既然每個人都到了, 我們就可以開始會議。

　　Now (that) you are a big boy you must behave better.

　　由于你是一個大男孩, 你就必須行為表現得更好。

　　4. We watched, amazed as fire broke out on the outside of the spaceship as the earth’s gravity increased.

　　我們驚奇地看著, 隨著地球引力的增加, 宇宙飛船的外層燃燒起火。

　　句子中的as fire broke out on the outside of the spaceship和as the earth’s gravity increased均為as引導的狀語從句。

　　amazed 是過去分詞, 在此處作狀語。

　　He came in unnoticed.

　　他神不知鬼不覺地走了進來。

　　Many heroes lie buried in the churchyard.

　　許多英雄埋葬在教堂的墓地里。

　　break out: (of violent events) start suddenly（指激烈事件, 如戰爭、火災、疫情等）突然發生; 爆發

　　Fire broke out during the night.

　　夜間突然發生了火災。

　　War broke out in 1939.

　　戰爭爆發于1939年。

　　A quarrel broke out suddenly at midnight.

　　在深夜, 突然有人吵架。

　　→Step 5 Reading task

　　Turn to Page 66.

　　1. Ask students to read the passage and answer the two questions.

　　1) Can a black hole be seen? How do you know it’ s a black hole?

　　2) What happened to the spaceship from the beginning to the end?

　　Suggested answers:

　　1) No, it can’t be seen. You can see things disappear into what appears to be empty space.

　　2) At first the lights on the spaceship went out and the computer stopped working. Then the spaceship jumped and began to move around the edge of the outside of the hole.

　　As the spaceship moved around the hole, it began to go faster and faster.

　　But then the spaceship jumped again, and it moved sideways from the black hole. It began to increase its speed until it seemed to be going as fast as light.

　　At last the spaceship slowed down and the computer started working again.

　　2. Let students read the passage again and do the following:

　　Suppose you are a scientist reading this passage. Use this checklist to discover the new ideas about “black holes”. Then write them for the other scientists to read about.

　　Old ideas about “black holes” Was this what we found? New ideas about “black holes”

　　1. Black holes cannot be seen.

　　2. Gravity pulls objects towards them.

　　3. Objects go round outside the edge of the “black hole”.

　　4. All objects must go into the “black hole” when they are caught by its gravity.

　　3. Several minutes later, show the answers on the screen and check them with the whole class. At the same time, deal with any difficult language points that students can’t understand.

　　Suggested answers:

　　Old ideas about “black holes” Was this what we found? New ideas about “black holes”

　　1. Black holes cannot be seen. Yes

　　2. Gravity pulls objects towards them. Yes

　　3. Objects go round outside the edge of the “black hole”. Yes

　　4. All objects must go into the “black hole” when they are caught by its gravity. Yes They can be thrown far from the “black hole” by the energy in the “black hole”.

　　→Step 6 Consolidation

　　Ask students to go back to the two passages. Give them several minutes to be prepared to retell the whole story in their own words. Then ask as many students as possible to come to the front to tell the story.

　　→Step 7 Homework

　　1. Finish off the Workbook exercises.

　　2. Learn the useful new words and expressions in this part by heart.

　　3. Tell the story to your friends or family.

　　板書設計

　　Unit 4　Astronomy: the science of the stars

　　Extensive Reading

　　A VISIT TO THE MOON

　　1) Write down the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping.

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth The gravity became very strong.

　　In space The gravity disappeared.

　　On the moon The gravity became very light.

　　2) His weight changed three times, too. Now write them down.

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth He became very heavy.

　　In space He had no weight and could float around like a feather.

　　On the moon He was about one-sixth of his weight on the earth.

　　活動與探究

　　Go to the library and surf the Internet to find as much information as you can about space and the moon. And you are expected to present it to your teacher and classmates in the next class.

　　Unit 4 Astronomy: the science of the stars

　　Period 5　Using language: Extensive reading

　　整體設計

　　教材分析

　　This is the fifth teaching period of this unit. As usual, the teacher should check students’ homework and offer chances for them to go over what they learned in the last period at the beginning of the class. Then lead in the new lesson.

　　In this period, the teaching emphasis will be put on developing students’ reading ability by reading extensively. We will deal with two parts: A VISIT TO THE MOON in Using language on Pages 30-31 and CAUGHT BY A BLACK HOLE in Reading Task on Page 66. While reading, get students learning to use some reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, and so on. As to new words and phrases, the teacher can first find those students feel most difficult and help them to understand. That’s enough here. The reading passage A VISIT TO THE MOON is a science fiction story which imagines what it might be like if an astronaut visited the moon. The purpose of science fiction writing is to combine facts with a story to make students interested and excited about travel in space. It is also to stimulate awe and wonder into the vastness of space. As this reading uses the information students have gained from the listening, the teacher can first ask some students to retell the listening text to lead in the topic and then ask students to read the passage and do some comprehending exercises. While checking their answers with the whole class, deal with language problems students can’t work out by themselves. This is an extensive reading lesson, so the teaching steps should be simple. As to the passage CAUGHT BY A BLACK HOLE, it is to continue the above story. The astronomers in the story visit a place in space, which seems impossible for people to reach, the “black hole”. It is to help students imagine what it is like near a “black hole”. Ask students to read through the passage and try to know more about astronomy and gravity.

　　At the end of the class, ask students to retell the two passages.

　　In order to arouse students’ interest, the teacher can hold a competition among them.

　　教學重點

　　1. Develop students’ reading skills by extensive reading.

　　2. Let students read and understand the two passages.

　　教學難點

　　1. Enable students to learn to use reading strategies such as skimming, scanning, and so on.

　　2. Get students to understand the science fiction stories in this unit.

　　三維目標

　　知識目標

　　1. Get students to learn some useful new words and expressions in this part: spaceship, pull, float, mass, cheer up, now that, break out

　　2. Get students to read the science fiction stories.

　　能力目標

　　1. Develop students’ reading skills by extensive reading and enable them to learn how to use different reading skills to read different reading materials.

　　2. Have students learn to use the useful new words and expressions correctly.

　　3. Enable students to understand the passages and know more about astronomy and gravity.

　　情感目標

　　1. Stimulate students’ interest in astronomy and space travel.

　　2. Develop students’ sense of group cooperation and teamwork.

　　教學過程

　　→Step 1 Revision

　　1. Check the homework exercises.

　　2. Ask some pairs of students to come to the front and act out their dialogue to review the expressions of giving instructions.

　　3. Have some students talk about Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking as well as their ideas on gravity.

　　→Step 2 Warming up

　　Let students to brainstorm the following questions:

　　What country first sent people into space?

　　How many countries have succeeded in sending people into space so far?

　　Who first landed on the moon?

　　Who is the first Chinese astronaut to go into space?

　　Do you want to visit the moon?

　　→Step 3 Reading

　　1. Ask students to read the passage and then describe the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping and how his weight changed.

　　1) Write down the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping.

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth

　　In space

　　On the moon

　　Suggested answers:

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth The gravity became very strong.

　　In space The gravity disappeared.

　　On the moon The gravity became very light.

　　2) His weight changed three times, too. Now write them down.

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth

　　In space

　　On the moon

　　Suggested answers:

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth He became very heavy.

　　In space He had no weight and could float around like a feather.

　　On the moon He was about one-sixth of his weight on the earth.

　　2. Ask students to read the passage aloud to the tape and underline all the useful expressions or collocations in the passage. Let students read them aloud and copy them down in their exercise book after class as homework. Try to keep them in mind.

　　Collocations: be lucky enough to do, have a chance, make a trip into space, explain sth. to sb. , the force of gravity, be off, the pull of the earth’s gravity, fall back to the earth, fall to the ground, too far from the earth, as if, at all, get close to, cheer up, come on, less than, down the steps, step forward, twice as far as, fall over, a bit of, now that, after a while, get the hang of, break out, on the outside of, be pushed into

　　→Step 4 Important language points

　　1. Before we left, Li Yanping explained to me that the force of gravity would change three times on our journey and that the first change would be the most powerful.

　　在啟程以前, 李彥平向我解釋說, 在我們的航行中會有三次引力的改變, 而第一次的改變將是最強的。

　　句子中that the force of gravity would change three times on our journey and that the first change would be the most powerful是兩個并列的that引導的賓語從句, 作動詞explain的賓語。一個動詞若帶兩個賓語從句, 第二個引導詞that一般不省略。例如:

　　The girls told him (that) they were on a train trip across Canada and that they had only one day in Montreal.

　　姑娘們告訴他, 她們乘火車來旅游, 要橫穿加拿大, 在蒙特利爾待一天。

　　I understand not only (that) you have studied Chinese but also that you have written Chinese poetry.

　　我知道, 你不僅學了中文, 而且還寫中文詩。

　　2. I cheered up immediately and floated weightlessly around in our spaceship cabin watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger.

　　我立刻感到很高興, 由于失重我在太空艙里飄來飄去, 我望著（身后的）地球越來越小, 而（前方的）月球越來越大。

　　watching the earth become smaller and the moon larger是現在分詞短語, 在句中作狀語。

　　cheer (sb. ) up: (cause sb. to) become happier or more cheerful歡呼; 喝彩; 感到高興; 使高興

　　Try and cheer up a bit; life isn’t that bad!

　　想辦法高興點, 生活并不是那么糟！

　　The crowd cheered up when they saw the team arrive.

　　當看到球隊的到來, 人群歡呼起來。

　　He took her to the concert to cheer her up.

　　他帶她去聽音樂會來使她高興。

　　watch. . . do/doing觀看, 注視

　　We watched the sun setting behind the trees.

　　我們看著太陽正在樹后面落下。

　　Every day as they watched the plant grow, their hearts filled with hope.

　　每一天當他們看到植物生長, 他們的心里都充滿了希望。

　　3. “Oh dear, ” I cried, “walking does need a bit of practice now that gravity has changed. ”

　　“天哪, ”我大聲說, “重力改變了, 看來走路也的確需要練一練了。”

　　now (that). . . : because of the fact (that). . . 既然……; 由于……

　　Now (that) everybody is here, we can begin the meeting.

　　既然每個人都到了, 我們就可以開始會議。

　　Now (that) you are a big boy you must behave better.

　　由于你是一個大男孩, 你就必須行為表現得更好。

　　4. We watched, amazed as fire broke out on the outside of the spaceship as the earth’s gravity increased.

　　我們驚奇地看著, 隨著地球引力的增加, 宇宙飛船的外層燃燒起火。

　　句子中的as fire broke out on the outside of the spaceship和as the earth’s gravity increased均為as引導的狀語從句。

　　amazed 是過去分詞, 在此處作狀語。

　　He came in unnoticed.

　　他神不知鬼不覺地走了進來。

　　Many heroes lie buried in the churchyard.

　　許多英雄埋葬在教堂的墓地里。

　　break out: (of violent events) start suddenly（指激烈事件, 如戰爭、火災、疫情等）突然發生; 爆發

　　Fire broke out during the night.

　　夜間突然發生了火災。

　　War broke out in 1939.

　　戰爭爆發于1939年。

　　A quarrel broke out suddenly at midnight.

　　在深夜, 突然有人吵架。

　　→Step 5 Reading task

　　Turn to Page 66.

　　1. Ask students to read the passage and answer the two questions.

　　1) Can a black hole be seen? How do you know it’ s a black hole?

　　2) What happened to the spaceship from the beginning to the end?

　　Suggested answers:

　　1) No, it can’t be seen. You can see things disappear into what appears to be empty space.

　　2) At first the lights on the spaceship went out and the computer stopped working. Then the spaceship jumped and began to move around the edge of the outside of the hole.

　　As the spaceship moved around the hole, it began to go faster and faster.

　　But then the spaceship jumped again, and it moved sideways from the black hole. It began to increase its speed until it seemed to be going as fast as light.

　　At last the spaceship slowed down and the computer started working again.

　　2. Let students read the passage again and do the following:

　　Suppose you are a scientist reading this passage. Use this checklist to discover the new ideas about “black holes”. Then write them for the other scientists to read about.

　　Old ideas about “black holes” Was this what we found? New ideas about “black holes”

　　1. Black holes cannot be seen.

　　2. Gravity pulls objects towards them.

　　3. Objects go round outside the edge of the “black hole”.

　　4. All objects must go into the “black hole” when they are caught by its gravity.

　　3. Several minutes later, show the answers on the screen and check them with the whole class. At the same time, deal with any difficult language points that students can’t understand.

　　Suggested answers:

　　Old ideas about “black holes” Was this what we found? New ideas about “black holes”

　　1. Black holes cannot be seen. Yes

　　2. Gravity pulls objects towards them. Yes

　　3. Objects go round outside the edge of the “black hole”. Yes

　　4. All objects must go into the “black hole” when they are caught by its gravity. Yes They can be thrown far from the “black hole” by the energy in the “black hole”.

　　→Step 6 Consolidation

　　Ask students to go back to the two passages. Give them several minutes to be prepared to retell the whole story in their own words. Then ask as many students as possible to come to the front to tell the story.

　　→Step 7 Homework

　　1. Finish off the Workbook exercises.

　　2. Learn the useful new words and expressions in this part by heart.

　　3. Tell the story to your friends or family.

　　板書設計

　　Unit 4　Astronomy: the science of the stars

　　Extensive Reading

　　A VISIT TO THE MOON

　　1) Write down the three ways in which gravity changed for Li Yanping.

　　The way gravity changed

　　Left the earth The gravity became very strong.

　　In space The gravity disappeared.

　　On the moon The gravity became very light.

　　2) His weight changed three times, too. Now write them down.

　　How his weight changed

　　Left the earth He became very heavy.

　　In space He had no weight and could float around like a feather.

　　On the moon He was about one-sixth of his weight on the earth.

　　活動與探究

　　Go to the library and surf the Internet to find as much information as you can about space and the moon. And you are expected to present it to your teacher and classmates in the next class.