Objectives:

- To introduce vocabulary used in British English and American English

- To distinguish between British and American usage

- To sort out vocabulary

Vocabulary

British English American English

1. American football

2. autumn

3. break

4. corridor

5. dustbin

6. lift

7. film

8. football

9. ground floor

10. Maths

11. rubber

12. secondary school 1. football

2. fall

3. recess

4. hall

5. garbage can

6. elevator

7. movie

8. soccer

9. first floor

10. Math

11. eraser

12. high school

Pre-task activities 1. Have my students read the words after the teacher. Pay attention to the pronunciation and the spelling of words.

During-task activities 2. Check the answers in pairs, then in class.

British English American English

13. American football

14. autumn

15. break

16. corridor

17. dustbin

18. lift

19. film

20. football

21. ground floor

22. Maths

23. rubber

24. secondary school 13. football

14. fall

15. recess

16. hall

17. garbage can

18. elevator

19. movie

20. soccer

21. first floor

22. Math

23. eraser

24. high school

3. Practice.

1) Say the words after the teacher.

2) Practice in pairs.

3) Make sure my students are able to use the words.

4. Have my students do Part B, on Page 19.

Check the answers in class.

Practice reading the words.

Post-task activities

Unit 2 School lives (Pp. 20 – 22) Reading

Objectives:

- To guess general meanings from pictures and keywords.

- To understand feelings and opinions.

- To identify specific information about school life.

Language focus:

1. life in a British school (l. 1)

life in an American school (l. 16)

2. in Year 8 (l. 3)

in 9th grade (l. 18)

3. a mixed school (l. 4)

4. have lessons together (l. 4-5)

5. my favourite subject (l. 5)

6. how to do things for myself (l. 6-7)

how to cook healthy and tasty meals

7. have a reading week (l. 9)

8. bring in books and magazines from home (l. 11)

9. the end of each class (l. 12 - 13)

10. talk to our friends about our books (l. 13)

11. our friends’ books (l. 15)

12. as well (l. 15)

13. in Denver (l. 19)

14. have driving lessons (l. 20)

have a driving lesson

15. every day 16. twice a week (l. 23)

17. play softball (l. 23)

18. spend a lot of time practicing (l. 24)

19. go to a ‘buddy club’ (l. 24-25)

20. at the buddy club (l. 25)

21. older students (l. 25)

22. enjoy this a lot (l. 26)

23. a senior in 12th grade (l. 27)

24. help me learn (l. 27)

25. help me with my homework (l. 28-29)

26. listen to my problems (l. 28)

27. my hero (l. 28)

my heroes

28. during lunchtime (l. 29)

29. meet my friends (l. 29)

30. have a great time (l. 29)

31. talk to each other (l. 29-30)

32. go to shopping malls (l. 30)

33. after class (l. 30)

Pre-task activities Brainstorming and Free discussion:

What do you like in our school?

What makes you unhappy?

Which is your favourite subject?

What subjects do you study at school?

What subjects do you want to study at school?

Do you want to study in Britain?

Do you want to study in America?

Why?

During-task activities 1. Fast reading

Read the articles on Page 20 as quickly as possible. Fill in the blanks below.

Name John Nancy

School Woodland School Rocky Mountain High School

Grade 8 9

In class

(Subject) Home Economics Driving lessons

After class

(activities) A reading week Play softball; go to a ‘buddy club’

2. Detailed study of the articles and word guessing

Life in a British School

1) About a mixed school

What kind of school is Woodland School? (A mixed school.)

Who studies in a mixed school? (Boys and girls. They have lessons together.)

There are some schools for girls only. Is our school a mixed school or not? (Yes, it is.)

2) About Home Economics

Home Economics is John’s favourite subject. It is one of the subjects in Woodland School.

What can students learn in this subject? (How to cook healthy and tasty meals. ‘Tasty meals’ means meals with a pleasant taste.)

Exercise 1

Hi everybody

My name is John. I am in Year 8 at Woodland School near London. It is a mixed school. Boys and girls have lessons together. My favourite subject is Home Economics. I like learning how to cook and sew. I did not know how to do things for myself before I came to this school. Now, I know how to cook healthy and tasty meals.

3) About the reading week

Suppose you are John. Answer my questions:

- How often do the students in Woodland School have the reading week? (Every year. = once a year.)

- Can the students read all the books from the school library? (Yes, they can.)

- What can you bring in (the library) from home? (Books and magazines.)

- What must you do if you want to read books and magazines from home? (Tell our English teacher what we are reading. ‘have to’ = ‘must’)

- Who can you talk to about your books near the end of each class? (Our friends.)

- Do you like the reading week? Do you think it is too long? Why not? (We want to read all our friends’ books as well. ‘a(chǎn)s well’ = ‘too’)

Exercise 2

Our school has a reading week every year. My classmates and I （我和我的同學(xué)們） love it. We can read any books from the school library. We can even bring in （把……帶來） books and magazines from home but we have to （必須） tell our English teacher what we are reading. Near the end of （在……的結(jié)尾） each class we can talk to our friends about （對……談?wù)撽P(guān)于……） our books. The reading week is always too short because we want to read all our friends’ books as well （也）.

Life in an American School

1) About driving age in the USA

- Students at 17 years old are in 12th grade in the USA.

- Students in 11th grade can have driving lessons.

Exercise 3

Hi guys,

I’m Nancy and I’m 14 years old. I’m in 9th grade （在九年級） at Rocky Mountain High School in Denver. My brother’s name is Jim. He is 17 years old. He had driving lessons （駕駛課） in school last year. Now, he drives me to school （開車送我上學(xué)） every day. This is great because it’s faster than （比……快） taking the bus.

2) About softball

- When do you play softball?

- How often do you play softball?

3) About the ‘buddy club’

3.

1) Home Economics

2) Tasty

3) As well

4) Softball

5) Buddy

4. Detailed study of the text

5.

Post-task activities

Unit 2 Making comparisons (Pp. 26 – 27) Grammar

Objectives:

- To compare two things using ‘like’ and ‘a(chǎn)like’

- To make comparisons using ‘the same as’ and ‘different from’

Language focus:

Structures:

- Amy’s sweater is like Millie’s sweater.

- (Amy’s shoes are like Millie’s shoes.)

- Amy’s sweater and Millie’s sweater are alike.

- My uniform is the same as Simon’s uniform.

- My uniform is different from Simon’s uniform.

Vocabulary:

Words about Stationery: ruler, paper, pencil, rubber, notebook

timetable

Pre-task activities 1. What are they wearing?

Look at the picture on page 26.

- How many students are there in the picture? (Four.)

- What are they wearing?

(Daniel is wearing a yellow jacket and a scarf.)

(Simon is wearing sports clothes.)

(Amy is wearing a red sweater.)

(Millie is wearing a red sweater, too.)

- Amy’s sweater is like Millie’s sweater.

- Amy’s sweater and Millie’s sweater are alike.

Have my students read the sample sentences and remember them.

During-task activities 2. Things that are similar

1) Have my students do Part C1.

2) Check the answers in pairs.

3) Ask my students to read the sentences aloud and check the answers in class.

3. What stationery do you have?

Have my students list the stationeries they have now. Teach the words ‘notebook’ and ‘paper clips’.

Post-task activities 4. Things in your school bags.

- My pen is like yours.

- Our notebooks are alike.

Pre-task activities 5. What are they wearing?

Look at the pictures on page 27. What are the boys wearing? (They’re wearing school uniforms.)

- Daniel’s uniform is the same as Simon’s (uniform).

- Daniel’s uniform is different from John’s (uniform).

It’s better to use what my students are wearing as the presentation.

During-task activities 6. Same or different?

1) Have my students do Part D1.

2) Check the answers in pairs.

3) Ask my students to read the sentences aloud and check the answers in class.

4) Then, go through Part D2 the same way.

Post-task activities Exercises on the Workbook:

How are their daily lives? (Pp. 26 – 27)

Unit 6 An accident report (Pp. 100– 101) Integrated skills

Language focus:

Vocabulary:

1) New words:

2) Numbers in English

Structure: more … than; fewer … than; less … than

1) There are more students in Rocky Mountain High School than in Woodland School.

2) There are fewer students in Rocky Mountain High School than in Beijing Sunshine Secondary School.

3) Rocky Mountain High School has more students than Woodland School.

4) Rocky Mountain High School has fewer students than Woodland School.

5) Chinese students have more weeks off in the summertime than British Students.

6) British students spend less time doing their homework than Chinese students.

Pre-task activities 1. John’s school, Nancy’s school and your school

1) Which school is John in? (Woodland School, Britain.)

2) Which school is Nancy in? (Rocky Mountain High School, the USA.)

3) Which school are you in? (Nanjing No. 13 Middle School.)

4) Which class are you in?

5) How many students are there in your class?

6) How many boys are there? How many girls are there?

(There are more / fewer boys than girls in my class.)

7) How many students are there in your grade?

8) How many students are there in your school? How many teachers?

9) How many students / teachers are there in Woodland School / Rocky Mountain High School?

During-task activities 2. Numbers of students, teachers and classrooms; length of summer holiday

A. Read the chart on Page 28.

1) How many students are there in Woodland School? (550.)

2) How many classrooms are there in Beijing Sunshine Secondary School? (45.)

3) How many classrooms are there in Rocky Mountain High School? (35.)

4) How long do the Beijing Sunshine Secondary School students have their summer holiday? (7 weeks.)

‘long’ & ‘length’

B. Listen to the conversation between Sandy and Daniel. Complete the table of Part A1, on Page 28.

- There are 550 students in Woodland School.

- The students in Beijing Sunshine Secondary School have 7 weeks off in the summertime.

D. Structures

1) There are more students in Rocky Mountain High School than in Woodland School.

2) There are fewer students in Rocky Mountain High School than in Beijing Sunshine Secondary School.

3) Rocky Mountain High School has more students than Woodland School.

4) Rocky Mountain High School has fewer students than Woodland School.

5) Chinese students have more weeks off in the summertime than British Students.

6) British students spend less time doing their homework than Chinese students.

E. Comparing Schools, Part A2, Page 28.

F. Comparing Schools, Part A3, Page 29.

Unit 2 Talking about different schools (P. 29) Speak up

Objectives:

- To develop fluency in asking and answering questions about school.

- To develop interactive skills by responding appropriately.

- To transfer a model conversation to a personal situation.

Language focus:

Vocabulary: kilometre

Structures:

1) How far do you live from your school?

How far is it from your home to school?

2) Do you walk to school?

Do you go to school on foot?

3) I usually take the school bus.

I usually go to school by bus.

4) What if it rains or snows?

What are you going to do / do you do if it rains or snows?

5) It doesn’t snow / rain, etc.

6) I don’t mind the rain.

Pre-task activities Mini-task I: How do you go to school?

- How do you go to school every day?

- How long does it take?

1) T – S

2) S – S

During-task activities Mini-task II: How do they go to school?

1. Listening task

- Daniel goes to school by bus.

- John walks to school

2. Reading aloud

Read after the tape twice.

3. Language studies

7) How far do you live from your school?

How far is it from your home to school?

8) Do you walk to school?

Do you go to school on foot?

9) I usually take the school bus.

I usually go to school by bus.

10) What if it rains or snows?

What are you going to do / do you do if it rains or snows?

11) It doesn’t snow / rain, etc.

12) I don’t mind the rain.

4. Role-play

Post-task activities Additional exercises on language points:

I. Fill in the blanks

Nancy: How far do you live from your school?

John: About two kilometres.

Nancy: Do you go to school on foot?

John: Yes, I walk to school every day. I like walking. And you?

Nancy: I usually ride my bicycle to school. (I usually go to school by bike.)

It’s fun (funny).

John: What if your bicycle doesn’t work?

Nancy: I don’t mind. I can take a bus then.

(I can go to school by bus then.)

II. Translation

1) The air pollution in Sunshine Town is less than that (the air pollution) in other areas of Beijing.

There is less air pollution in Sunshine Town than in other areas of Beijing.

2) British students spend less time (in) doing their homework than Chinese students (do).

3) How far is your home from your school? About 10 kilometres.

How far do you live from your school?

About 10 kilometres.

4) I don’t mind if it will rain tomorrow.

Unit 2 My ideal school (Pp. 31 – 32) Main task

Objectives:

- To complete a questionnaire with personal information.

- To select specific information for an ideal school week including the choice of favourite activities.

- To generate and organize ideas about an ideal school and write an article about it for website audience.

Language focus:

Vocabulary: finish, tick, baseball, table tennis, tennis, chess, drama, support, ideal, pop, tennis court

Phrases:

1. get up late

2. my ideal school

3. start at 9 a.m.

4. finish at 3 p.m.

5. have lots of time for after-school activities

6. have an hour for lunch

7. a big dining hall

8. eat lunch and chat

9. listen to pop music

10. in the hall

11. eat fruite and vegetables

12. every day

13. have Maths

14. love computers

15. have Computer Studies

16. before lunch 17. wear school uniforms

18. wear ties

19. be quite small

20. in each class

21. have a park

22. on one side

23. the other

24. have a big library with lots of useful books

25. have a tennis court and a swimming pool

26. lots of clubs

27. after-school activities

28. have half an hour of homework

29. at weekends

30. go on a school trip to a museum or a theatre

Pre-task activities Mini-task I: Your ideal school

1) When does your school start / finish? When do you get up?

2) How much time do you have for lunch? What do you do after lunch?

3) What subjects do you have every day? How many students are there in your class? Do you have to wear uniforms and ties?

4) Where is your school? What is around your school? What is your favourite place in your school?

5) What do you do after class? Every month? Every year?

During-task activities Mini-task II: Daniel’s ideal school

1) Introduction: starting and finishing time of school

2) Lunchtime: length, location, food

3) Subjects, school uniform and size of classes

4) Environment and facilities

5) Clubs and activities

Post-task activities Where do you want to go on with your studies after your leave No. 13 Middle School in 2006?

Unit 2 Showing surprise (P. 30) Pronunciation

Objectives

To recognize and use intonation patterns

To recognize and use falling voice to indicate the end of a statement

To recognize and use rising voice to show surprise

Language focus

Vocabulary

1. monkey n.

- Joe wants to get a pet monkey.

2. news n.

- Did you hear the news?

Tense

1. Laura hurt her leg on Monday.

2. She won’t be able to play basketball for three months.

3. Look out the window. It’s snowing!

4. Mr. Wu is going to be on TV tonight.

5. Joe wants to get a pet monkey.

6. You just ate four hamburgers.

7. We’ll have cakes for dinner tonight.

8. Did you hear the news? Liu Mei is going to move to Canada.

I don’t believe it.

During-task activities Mini-task I: Poor Laura

A. Amy and Sandy are talking about their classmate Laura. Try to fill in the blanks below.

Amy: Laura hurt her leg on Monday.

Sandy: Oh, really!

Amy: She has to stay in hospital for a month.

Sandy: A month!

Amy: Yes. She won’t be (be) able to play basketball for three months.

Sandy: Three months!

B. Amy and Sandy are talking about their classmate Laura. Listen to their conversation and fill in the blanks.

C. Listen to the conversation. Pay attention to the intonation patterns. Read after the tape.

D. Role-play

Mini-task II: Intonation

A. Read the sentences and fill in the blanks.

1) Look out the window. It is snowing (snow)!

2) Mr. Wu is going to be (be) on TV tonight.

3) Joe wants (want) to get (get) a pet monkey.

4) I’m hungry.

Hungry? You just ate (eat) four hamburgers.

5) We will have (have) cakes for dinner tonight.

6) Did you hear (hear) the news? Liu Mei is going to move (move) to Canada.

B. Read the sentences and put an arrow at the end of each sentence.

C. Listen to the tape and check the answers.

D. Read after the tape.