、Skills building 1 listening and drawing conclusions

1. Ask students to read the guidelines and the dialogues in Skills building 1 on page 32. Ask them to draw conclusions from what is said in the dialogues. Make sure that they understand the intended meaning of the dialogues .You can create more dialogues and ask students to draw some conclusions.

If you hear:

I’ve just been to the hospital, and the doctor me to take some medicine.

You can conclude that:

The speaker is ill.

2. Ask students to read the instructions in Part A. Then play the recording once and ask students to draw a conclusion about what kind of natural disaster occurred in each situation. Ask them why they have draw this conclusion Then play the recording once more and check the answers as a class. You may give some explanations if necessary.

Answers

A 1 flood 2 fire 3 earthquake 4 typhoon 5 drought

3. Tell students to listen to news reports and complete Part B. Ask them to decide which of the conclusions are logical and to state their reasons. Then check the answers as a class. You may give some explanations if necessary. Play the recording once more if time permits.

Answers B 1 right 2 right 4 right

Step1: Listening to a lecture

1 Bring some photos of North-west China to class. Tell students that in this area of China, there is very little water. Discuss the problem of desertification with students. This discussion should give students some background knowledge of the problem. The activity may be conducted as following:

What is the the relationship between the word “desert” and “desertification”? Can you explain the word “desertification ” in English?

Where does desertification occur in China?

(In north-west China)

What causes desertification ? Encourage students to fully participate in the discussion and express their opinion freely.

2. Play the recording once. If necessary, play the recording again, stopping after each answer ar sentence so that students have time to write down their answers. Ask students to look at their answers. If they still have some questions they can not answer, play the recording once more. Tell students to pay attention to any information that might be useful for their poster.

3.Ask several students to read one answer each. Check for mistakes and mispronunciation. If time permits, play the recording again.. This will consolidate what students have learnt and give hem a a sense of achievement.

Answers A (1) .It is when useable land become s dry and turns into s desert.

(2).It happens in Africa, the USA, South America and China.

(3).People lose their homes and farms: many families starve and others move to the cities to find work.

(4).People plant too much on the land without giving it a rest; too many animals all depend on the same land to eat; and people cut down trees for fuel and to make space for more farms

(5).Everyone should be concerned

4. Ask students to finish Part B. Ask them to consider what conclusions can be drawn from the statements. Then check the answers as a class.

Answers 1.d 2 a 3.b 4.c

Skills building 2: reading for information

1.Ask students to read the guidelines on page34. Tell them that we often skim and scan a text when looking for specific information. Ask students to think about the following question:

What information do you usually get from a TV guide? (Timetables for TV programmes, brief introductions of different TV programmes, and information about different film.) encourage the students to express their opinions freely.

2.Organize students into groups of six and tell them to discuss the reasons why they might want to read the materials mentioned in Part A . Each group member may choose a different thing. Make sure that the six numbers are covered. Encourage students to think of as many reasons as they can. Then they may exchange their opinions with their group. After that, ask several groups to share their ideas with the class.

Simple answers

A. 1. a .to find out about the day’s news

b. to find out about the weather

2. a. to find out departure/arrival times

b. to find out your seat number

3 a. to find out about the latest fashions

b. to find out more about a particular topic, such as gardening

4 a. to research information

b. to find out the day’s news

5 a. to find out departure/arrival times

b. to find out where the bus stops

6. a. to find out more about the product

b. to find out where you can buy the product

3.Ask students to read the newspaper article in Part B. And answer the four questions listed below it. Students may use the skills they have learnt in Part A to skim and scan for specific information. Check the answers as a class

Answers:

B. 1 At 14:30 and 18:00

2. Cloudy

3. The city’s new Modern Art Museum

4. Over 10,000 people

Step 2: reading a scientific article

1. Help students review what they have learnt about desertification in Step 1 on page 33. Encourage them to list the things they know about desertification.

2. Ask students to read the scientific article about desertification. Make sure that they understand the article and then ask them to underline all of the solutions it mentions.

3. Organize students into groups of four and tell tem to study the scientific article together. Ask them to underline all the solutions mentioned in the article and discuss what other solutions they can think of

4.Ask students to list their solutions on page35. Check the answers as a class. Then choose several groups to tell their solutions to the class.

Skills building 3: presenting your point view

1. Ask students to read the guidelines in this part. Make sure that they understand each point.

2. Ask students to read the instructions for Part A on page 36 and help them give explanations for their choices. Check answers as a class.

Answers A 1 c 2 a 3 d 4 b 5 f 6 e

3. Organize students into groups of four and ask each group to work together to complete Part B. Make sure that each group gives explanations for their decisions. Ask several groups to explain their decisions to the class. Accept any reasonable answers.

Sample answers B 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1

Step 3 : designing a poster

1. Organize students into small groups, and ask them to read the viewpoints from some experts on desertification in part A on page 37. They need to discuss which viewpoint they agree with and which one they will focus on. Make sure that each member of the group contributes to the discussion.

2. Ask different groups to consider the questions in Part B carefully. Ask them to refer to the information gained in the previous steps. Then ask several groups to present their answers to the class.

3. Tell students that a good poster includes good content and a good layout. Ask group members to read the instructions of Part C on page 37. Encourage them to sketch the layout of their poster on a separate piece of paper. Ask several groups to show their design to the class.

4. Ask each group to create their own poster. Remind them to refer back to Step 1 and Step 2

Project Writing a report

1. Design a jigsaw reading activity. Divide students into five groups and tell each group to focus on one paragraph in Part A. Tell each group to read their assigned paragraph and report the main idea of it to the class.

Paragraph 1 The environmental problems of the Yangtza River have raised concern.

Paragraph 2 Many people have recognized the importance of protecting the Yangtze River and many environmental organizations and projects have been set up.

Paragraph 3 Two special government projects are under way to protect the river. One is the water and soil preservation project.

Paragraph 4 The second project is a nature reserve for white-flag dolphins.

Paragraph 5 The environmental situation of the Yangtze River is improving.

2. Encourage students in other groups to raise as many questions as possible.

3. Ask students to read the report carefully. The following questions may help them to understand the article better:

(1)Why have the environmental problems of the Yangtze River raised concern both nationally and internationally? (rapid agricultural and industrial development plus huge population growth has meant that not only is the amount of water taken from the river rising, but the waste being put back into the river has also been increasing . It also watches the river and stops the illegal hunting of animals.)

(2)What does the Green River organization do?

(It educates and advises people on the importance of protecting the Yangtze River.)

(3)What problems do the two government projects focus on?(They focus on problems along the Yangtze River such as water conservation and protecting white-flag dolphins.)

(4)What did farmers have to do under the water an soil preservation project?(They had to replace crops on their farmland with trees or grassland .)

(5)What does the second project concern? (The second project is a nature reserve for white-flag dolphins.)

4. Ask students to form groups and discuss the following questions:

Do you think the environmental situation of the Yangtze River is getting better? Why?

What else can we do to protect the Yangtze River?

5. Ask students to read the article again and analyse the structure of it. The following table may help them understand it better.

Parts Main ideas

Paragraph1 The environmental problems of Yangtze River have raised concern

Paragraph2-4 A lot of work has been done to protect the river

Paragraph5 The environmental situation of the Yangtze River is improving

6. Have students do parts B1 and B2 on page 99 in workbook to practise the usages of some words in the article protecting the Yangtze River.

7. Ask students to do Parts D1 and D2 on page 101 in workbook as their homework. So they can be more familiar with some words, phrases and patterns learnt in this unit.

Writing a report

Planning

Ask students to work in small groups. First let them discuss the questions and then ask them to decide on a topic for their report. Make sure that each group chooses a different topic. Then they should discuss the tasks and decide which group members will be responsible for each task. Set a deadline for the project.

Preparing

Ask students to sort the information they have got from various sources. Then they should meet, discuss and decide what to include in their report. Those responsible for writing an outline should organize the information and write an outline for the report. They may refer to Step1 and 2 for some information . When finished, the outline should be approved by all the group members.

Producing

Group members who are responsible for writing the report should write it based on the outline. All group members should edit the report, paying attention to some aspects listed. Then they should proofread it at least once, correct and mistakes and add more new ideas.

Presenting

Each group should rewrite the report and review it. After checking once more for mistakes, each group presents their report to the class. Finally, each group puts their report on the display wall of the classroom for everyone to see.