Teaching Aims:

1. Learn the useful words and expressions: draw one's attention, at hand, call for,

urge, upon arrival, calm down, light up, in a panic, more than

2. Learn the text “Under the Volcano” and master the detailed information in it

Teaching Important Points:

1. How to improve the students' reading ability.

2. Try to master the usages of the new words and expressions of this period.

Teaching Difficult Point:

The usages of some words and expressions

Teaching Methods:

1. Fast-reading to get the students to grasp the main idea of the text.

2. Reading carefully to get the students to master the detailed information.

3. Pair work or group work to make the students be active in class.

Teaching Aids:

a tape recorder

Teaching Procedures:

Step 1 Lead in

According to the weather forecast, it will get colder and colder these days.

Q1: Do you often care about the weather? Yes. / No, sometimes.

Q2: How do you hear about it? On TV. / Over the radio.

Q3: Have you ever heard of typhoon? Yes, quite often.

Do you remember Khanun? It made land and attacked our town with strong winds and torrential rains on Sep 12,2005,

Q4: What words can you think of to describe the typhoon weather?

heavy wind (blow hard) storm (show a picture of stormy weather.) roaring thunder

Q5: What will you feel in such kind of weather?

frightened, scared, terrible, happy (Ask the students why they feel happy? ---- Because typhoon will often release the drought. What’s more there is enough water, which can be used to make electricity.)

Q6: what other natural disasters do you know? Talk about other disasters you know in groups. List them in different kinds.

KINDS OF NATURAL DISASTERS

Floods Cyclones

Tornadoes and Hurricanes Hailstorm

Thunder and Lightning Droughts

Land-Slides and Mudflows River erosion

Earthquakes volcanic eruptions

Q7: What about the hurricane? Have you ever heard about it?

It is something like typhoon. Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the whole city was left in ruins .

Q8:What about Tsunami?

The deadly tsunami struck the shores of a dozen Indian Ocean countries at the end of 2004.

Q9:Do you know any volcanoes in Asia?

What’s the name of this volcano? Where is it?

Near the ocean. eg. Fujiyama mountain in Japan.

Q10:How does a volcano work？

The rocks under the earth becomes hotter and hotter and erupted from the mountain. The hot melted rock always tries to get out, like the boiling water and the steam. Such as:

Gas: vapour, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, sulphur, etc.

Solid: bits of rock and volcanic ash, etc.

Liquid: lava.

Step 2 Pre-reading

Ask the students to look at some pictures of Pompeii and volcano and describe how things could happen.

1. Show a picture. Ask the students: What can you see in the picture? (The body of the people, exactly, the body of the people in the town of Pompeii in the southern Italy.----show a picture of the relics of the town of Pompeii.)

2. Show another picture. Ask the students to guess what happened in the town of Pompeii? (A volcano erupted suddenly and after 18 hours all were damaged, including the people, animals, plants and the town itself.)

Picture 1: This terrible story happened in Italy in the year 79 AD. The volcano's name is Vesuvius. It was quiet for hundreds of years and then it suddenly erupted.

Picture 2: The second picture is the volcano Vesuvius. In the picture it was erupting.

I think the first picture shows us a terrible scene after the volcano erupted. It is said that the whole city was buried under the metres of hot ash and mud, and 3000 people were killed. But since 1914, there has not been any damage.

Picture 3:We can see the relics of that city. If was excavated a long time ago and now it is a natural cultural relics. People can go to see the relics of the towns. Pompeii and Herculaneum, and even go to the top of the volcano to visit it.

Step 3 Fast reading

Task1. Skimming1.What disaster happened?

2.When and where did the disaster happen?

3.Who were mentioned in the disaster?Who was the main character in the story?

4.What was the end of the story?

when where What disaster who The end

On the 24th of August in 79 AD In southern Italy Moutain Vesuvius erupted Pliny, his mother, his uncle, other people His uncle died in the disaster

Task 2 Decide whether the following sentences are true or false.

1. A volcano erupted on the 24th of August in 79 BC in southern Italy. F

2. My uncle planned to save his friend’s wife Rectina. F

3. My uncle went to rescue Pompy after saving Rectina. T

4. The flames came from the homes of farmers who had left in a panic with the kitchen fires still on. F

5. They decided to try the open air instead of staying in the house. T

6. It was night when the volcano erupted. F

Step 4 Careful reading

Task 1 Scan the text & fill in the following form.

Date On the 24th of August in 79 AD in southern Italy. What happened: The eruption of the volcano called Mount Vesuvius.

First A cloud of unusual size & shape rising from a mountain drew my uncle’s attention and he wanted to see it from closer at hand.

Next After receiving a letter from his friend’s wife Rectina, he changed his mind to save her.

Then In spite of the danger, he turned back to rescue his friend Pompy and help calm down the other people.

Finally My uncle wanted to get out of the danger but failed. He was dead.

Task 2 Arrange the following statements according to the right order.

1. He decided to rescue his friend Pompy.

2. Some people watched an unusual cloud rising from a mountain.

3. Rectina begged him to save her.

4. He ordered a boat made ready.

5. Two slaves helped him stand up and immediately he fell down dead.

6. He bathed and had dinner.

7. A rain of rocks was coming down.

2-4-3-1-6-7-5

Task 3 Listen to the tape and explain what the words in bold refer to.

it: a cloud of unusual size and shape rising from a mountain

the one: the wind

the other: my uncle’s friend Pompy

their: flames

They: scared people

Step 5 Post reading

Task 1 Suppose you are Pliny the Elder, tell us your adventure into erupted area to save his friends, using the information in the chart.

Task 2 Further understanding Answers to questions(1-5): ABDCA

Task 3 Was his uncle afraid of what was happening? How do you know? Give three examples that show he had no fear.

1. He wrote a report about all he observed during his trip.

2. Rescued Pompy, calmed down, bathed and had dinner, sleep, etc.

3. Slept after baths and dinner, told the flames came from the homes of farmers who had left in a panic with the kitchen fires still on.

Task 4 Debate

If you were the Uncle, would you go to save your friends? Is it worth risking his life doing research or rescuing his friend like this?

Task 5 Talking show

What can Ss learn from Pliny? Give facts in the letter.

1) Bravery

In face of volcano eruption Pliny decided to see it from closer at hand.

2) Kindness

He changed his plan to save Rectina, who’s in danger.

…

Do you think it is possible for human beings to be in harmony with the nature?

We can’t go against nature. We should live in harmony with the nature.

What can we do to reduce the damage caused by the natural disaster?

What should we do to protect the environment that we live in?

5R policy.

1. Reduce: Reduce the amount of waste by every possible means.

eg. Show a picture of a tree; explain to the students that we must reduce the amount of trees that we cut down.

2. Reuse: Reuse the useful things before getting rid of them.

eg. Show a picture of a coat; explain to the students that when our coat is not suitable for us to wear, we can give it to our brothers, sisters or give it to the Project Hope.

3. Recycle: Recycle the waste things if possible.

eg. Show a picture of a cola can; explain to the students that after drinking the cola, the cans left can be collected together and melt them to make new cans.

4. Recover: Make use of good parts while getting rid of the bad ones.

eg. Show a picture of a watermelon; explain to the students that if part of the watermelon is rotten, we can cut it out and eat the good parts.

5. Repair: Repair the broken things.

eg. Show a picture of a chair; explain to the students that if one leg of a chair is broken, we can repair it and use it again.

Homework:

1. 洗澡；浴缸n.__bath__________ 2.洗澡v. bathe___________________

3.看著某人/某物正在升起_watch sb/sth rising ________________

4.平靜/鎮定下來__calm down___________

5.在手邊，即將來到的____at hand____ 6.吸引某人的注意力_draw one’s attention___

7.極力主張做某事__urge doing sth________8.一到就_upon arrival_____

9.just the other way____正相反________ 10.in (a) panic__恐慌_______

11.at a distance__在遠處__________ 12.call for__要求，需要_________

13.與其說死了，還不如說更像睡著了_more asleep than dead__