IV. Closing down

Closing down by making a dialogue

To end the period you are going to make a dialogue in pairs to tell the whole class your plan on this Sunday.

Closing down by writing

Suppose you are planning a holiday trip. Write a short passage about your plan. You must pay great attention to the tense. The following questions can help you.

Where are you going for your holiday?   Who are you going with?

How are you getting there?            What are you doing there?

Where are you staying?               What are taking with you?

When are you returning?

Period 3: A sample lesson plan for Using Language

(A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS)

Aims

To read the passage A NIGHT IN THE MOUNTAINS

To use the language by reading, listening, speaking and writing

Procedures

I. Warming up by talking about Tibet

Have you ever been to Tibet? Do you want to travel in Tibet? Can you tell me something about Tibet?

Tibet lies on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau of the southwest border of China. The average height of the whole region is more than 4,000 meters above sea level, for which Tibet is known as “Roof of the World”. The highest peak of Tibet, also the highest in Himalayas and in the whole world, is Everest Peak, which is as high as 8,846.27 meters above sea level.

Although a part of China, Tibet has a unique culture of all its own. It is mainly inhabited by Tibetans, a minority nationality of old and mysterious people. Tourist attractions include the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Jokhang Temple, and a number of Buddhist sacred places.

Tibet (Xi Zang in Chinese) is to the south of Xin Jiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Qing Hai Province, to the west of Sichuan, to the northwest of Yunnan and to the north of India and Nepal. Its population of 2.3 million people come from a variety of ethnic groups including Tibetan, Han, Monba and Lhota. Its capital city is Lhasa.

Northwest Tibet, mainly Qing Hai plateau, is home to a variety of unusual and unique animals. Across the northern expanse of Tibet, you can see vast grasslands where horses, yak and sheep roam freely. The world's lowest valley, the Grand Yarlun-tzanpo River Valley lies in east Tibet.

It is freezing cold in most time of the year. Most tourists come to visit Tibet only in the warmest seasons, June, July, August and early September.

II. Reading

1. Reading and underlining

Now let’s go on with Journey Down The Mekong with Wang Wei and Wang Kun. They are in Tibet now. Please turn to Page 22. Read the passage quickly and underline all the useful expressions and collocations in it. Copy them to your notebook after class as homework.

Collocations from JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG (II)

although, ride bicycles, in front of, as usual, need to do sth., to climb the mountain road was hard , be great fun, reach a valley, much warmer, change… into,  T-shirts,  shorts, in the early evening, stop to do sth., make camp, put up, after supper, go to sleep, stay awake, at midnight, become clear, so …that, the sound of the fire, travel so far, join sb., hardly wait to see, change one’s attitude.

2. Reading and translating

Next you are going to read the text JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG and translate it into Chinese.

3. Speaking

Read the passage again and find the answers to the questions:

1) How does Wang Kun feel about the trip? (He is starting to like the trip.)

2) What do you think has changed his attitude? (seeing the beautiful land)

3) Is it natural for Wang Kun not to feel lonely? (Yes. Because the scene Wang Kun saw is beautiful. The sky was clear and the stars were bright. Also their cousins are waiting for him.)

4) Would you feel the same way in this situation? Why or why not? (You may have different opinions about this. Just speak it out and let us share your idea, will you?)

Imagine that the dialogue happens the next morning before Wang Kun and Wang Wei leave their camp. Write a short dialogue between them with your partner.

Wei: You look so tired          Kun: Yes, I stayed up late last night.

Wei: Really? What did you do?   Kun: I watched the clear sky and the bright stars.

Wei: That’s nice. They must be pretty.   Kun: Yes, they were.

III. Listening

Let’s go on with Journey Down The Mekong River (part 3) with Wang Wei. Turn to page 23 and do the listening text. Before listening to the tape, please read the words fast, then tick the words you hear on the tape. After that I’ll play the tape for the second time and then finish the chart. You should look through the chart and find out the listening points. The following questions can help you understand the listening text.

Where is the girl from?

What do people in Laos use the river for?

Why do people in Laos call the river “the sea of Laos”?

What is the river called in Tibet and Vietnam?

What other beautiful sights along the Mekong River in Laos?

IV. Guided writing

1. Reading and underlining

In this unit, we have read the first two parts of a travel journal and have listened to the third part of the travel journal. What is the difference between a journal and a diary? Let’ read the passage on page 23 and find out the difference between the two. Underline all the useful expressions and collocations in it. Copy them in your notebook after class as homework.

Collocations from Reading and Writing

put one’s thoughts into a diary, travel journey, the difference between, for on thing… for another, record one’s experiences, soon after, be familiar to, make a list of, compare…with, agree to.

Read the passage quickly and then fill in the information on the chart.

A diary A travel journal

1). Personal;

2). To try to record how the writers feel very soon after things happen 1). Isn’t as personal as a diary

2). To record the writers experiences, ideas and afterthought about what they have seen

3). Is written for a lot of readers

4). It’s topics includes people, things, and events less familiar to readers.

2 Writing a letter

Now let’s do a writing practice. Imagine that you are a friend of Wang Wei. Write a short letter to her and ask her to describe: how she feels, what she is doing, and some place you want to know about. Then wish her well on her journey by using at least two of these expressions:

Have a nice/good time.            Have a nice/good trip.      Take care.

Good luck on your journey.        Say “Hello” to ….         Write to me.

Give my best/love wishes to ….     Have fun.

You can refer to the following steps.

 In pairs choose the details from the journey that are most interesting. Think of what else you would like to know about the journey. Write these ideas down as questions.

 Now choose two or three of the best questions for your letter. Each question should have another sentence explaining why you want to know this information.

 Put them in an order that makes sense.

 Begin your letter as shown in the textbook and add your questions for Wang               Wei. Your writing should not be more than one paragraph.

 Finish your letter as shown in the textbook.

A sample writing:

Hi, brave little Wei,

How I worry about you and Wang Kun! Do you have a good time now? I hope so. What are you doing now? Are you still in Laos? Can you tell me something about people’s life there? When are you leaving for Cambodia? When you get there, tell me about the Buddhist temples there. Please send some photos with your next letter! Well, Have a good trip and don’t forget to write to me! Give my best wishes to Wang Kun. Good luck on your journey.

Take care!

Yours,

Wang Lin

V. Further applying

1. Finding information

Go to the library to read or get online to search in order to find some places of interest in China and in the world. Take notes of your findings and tell the class which place you want to visit most next period.

2. Writing a letter

Suppose you want to travel to Yunnan Province, write a letter to one of your friends in Yunnan and ask him/her what preparations you should make and which places are worth visiting.

VI. Closing Down

Summing up

We have learned the whole unit. Let’s look at the chart on Page 24.Try to fill in it.

Part Two: Teaching Resources (第二部分：教学资源)

Section 1: A text structure analysis of JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKONG

I. Type of writing and summary of the idea

Type of writing This is a travel journal

Main idea of the passage Wang Kun and Wang Wei’s dream of taking a great bike trip, their different attitudes, Wang Wei’s determination, Wang Wei and Wang Kun’s preparations for the trip.

Topic sentence of 1st paragraph It was my sister who first had the idea to cycle along the Mekong River.

Topic sentence of 2nd paragraph Although she didn’t know the best way of getting to places, she insisted that we find the source of the river and begin our journey there.

Topic sentence of 3rd paragraph We found a large atlas with good maps that showed the details of the world geography.

II. A diagram of JOURNEY DOWN THE MEKON