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:

1. a computer

2. a tape recorder

3. a projector

Teaching Procedures:

Step I Greetings and Revision

Greet the whole class as usual.

T: In last period, two students described a frightening situation. Do you remember?

Ss: Yes.

T: What is it about?

Ss: It's about a cobra. It is frightening.

T: Who will give us another example?

SA and SB We will try.

(A: Student a; B: Student b)

A: Are you afraid of lightening?

B: Not very. What about you?

A: When lightening appears, I'm not frightened if I'm at home or at school. But if I am in the open air, it is a different matter.

B: Please tell us your experience, will you?

A: Yes. That was when I was seven. We lived in the countryside then, you know. One afternoon, when I was in the field with my mother, there was an increase in the winds. We hurried home but that was too late. On our way home, the clouds gathered and the winds increased to a storm. It became darker and darker. Suddenly there was thunder and lightening.

B: What was it like?

A: First came the terrible lightening. It was very bright. Everything around me and I myself appeared to be white. Then came the thunder. Crack! It seemed that something exploded. That's the terrible sound I've ever heard. I was frightened to death and threw myself into my mother's arms. She got into a total panic. Carrying me on her back, she ran as fast as she could. Later, we heard that the lightening struck a tall tree and some of the branches burnt.

B: That's terrible. I'm frightened to hear that.

Step II Pre-reading

T: Please open your books at Page 75, Pre-reading. Read the information in Part 1 and have a discussion with your partner. Then we'll ask some students to talk about it.

(After a few minutes' discussion.)

T: Who can tell us something about the pictures?

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

SD: 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.

SE: In the third picture, 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.

T: Do you know which country has the most volcanoes?

SF: Perhaps Japan.

T: Do you know what makes volcano?

Who can tell us something about it?

SG: I'll try. As we know, the inside of the earth is very, very hot. There, the rock

has become liquid, and it is always boiling. The hot melted rock always tries to get out, like the boiling water and the steam. In some places the hard shell of the earth is weak and thin. It will burst through. Some volcanoes can be quiet for some years, even hundreds of years.

Step III Reading

T: Quite right. Some of the students know quite a lot. We should learn from them. Now read the text fast and find the answers to the questions on the screen. Write your answers on a piece of paper and I'll collect the first five pieces.

(Teacher shows the following on the screen.)

Scan the text and answer the following questions.

1. What is described in the following passage?

What happened?

2. When and where did it happen?

3. Who is the writer of the letter

T: (A few minutes later.) Have you finished? Those who have finished, hand in your answer pieces, please. (Teacher collects the first five pieces.) Who will answer the questions? Volunteers?

Sa: I'11 answer Question 1. In the passage, the writer describes how his uncle died. When the volcano was erupting.

Sb: Question 2. It happened near the Mount Veruvins on the 24th of August in 79 AD.

Sc: Question 3. The writer of the letter is Pliny's nephew.

T: (Show the screen.) Very good. Please read the text again and discuss the questions on the screen with your partner. A few minutes later, I'll ask some students to give us their answers.

Answer the following questions:

1. For what reason did the writer write the letter?

2. Why did the writer's uncle go to see the sight?

3. What did he do in order to help the other calm down?

4. What did they do in order to be against the shower of rock?

5. Why did they carry torches?

Suggested answers:

1. Because Tacitus was writing a history book and he needed something about his uncle's death. So he asked the writer to tell him something about his uncle.

2. Because he wanted to see it from closer at hand. Later, he received a letter from

his friend's wife, asking him to rescue her, so he wanted to rescue her.

3. In order to make his friend calm down, he asked to be taken to the baths.

4. They tied pillows on top of their heads as protection against the shower of

rock.

5. Because it was daylight else where in the world, there the darkness was darker and thicker than any right, so they arrived torches to give light when they

went out.

T: Now look at the screen, please. (Show tile screen.) There are some useful words and expressions in the text. Read them and pay attention to their usages.

Useful words and expressions:

1. draw one's attention: He is very quiet and doesn't draw much attention to himself.

2. at hand: I haven't my book at hand, but I'll show it to you later. He lives close at hand.

3. call for: Success in school calls for much hard work.

4. urge: He urged me to join their company.

5. upon arrival: He telephoned his mother on/upon his arrival.

6. calm down: He told Tom to calm down.

7. in (a) panic: The crowd in a panic fled in all directions.

8. more…than…He is more mad than stupid.

Step IV Listening and Reading Aloud

T: Let's listen to the tape. When I play it for the first time, just listen to it.

When I play it for the second time, you can follow it in a low voice. Then read

the text aloud by yourselves. Is that clear?

Ss: Yes.

(Teacher plays it {or tile students to listen. Then the students read the text. While they are reading, the teacher goes among the students to correct their mistakes in pronunciation and intonation if there are any. )

Step V Post-reading

T: let's go oil to do Post-reading 1,2 and 4. Read the requirements carefully and

have a discussion with your partner. Some minutes later, we'll check the answers.

T: (After a few minutes.) Are you ready? Now explain what the words in bold refer to.

S1:“it”in the second paragraph refers to “a cloud of unusual size and shape rising from a mountain”.

S2: “the one” in the fifth paragraph refers to “the wind”.

S3: In the fifth paragraph, “the other” refers to my uncle's friend Pompy.

S4: In the fifth paragraph “their” refers to “broad sheets of flame” and in the

next line, “they” refers to “scared people”.

T: Now the fourth. Who can give us three examples that show he had no fear? One student, one example.

S5: I'll try. The first is that during his trip to his friend's home, which was at the foot of Vesuvius, he wrote a report about all he observed on the way.

S6:The second is that after rescuing Rectina, he still wanted to rescue his friend Pompy. When he saw his friend Pompy, he asked to be taken to the baths in order to help his friend clam down.

S7: I'll give the third example. After baths and dinner, he said he wanted to

sleep. When broad sheets of flame were lighting up many parts of Vesuvius, people scared, but he told them that the flames came from the homes of farmers who had left in a panic with the kitchen fires still on.

T: Are they right?

Ss: Yes.

Step VI Summary and Homework

T: In this class, we've learned the text “Under the Volcano”. You have done

the good work. After class, read the text again, and try to use the useful

words and expressions in your communication. Do you still remember them? Let's recall them together. The first one is: draw one's attention…

(Teacher writes them on the black board.)

Then do Part 2 and 3 in Post-reading That's all for today. Class is over.

Step VII The Design of the Writing on the Blackboard

Unit 10 Frightening nature

The Second Period

Useful words and expressions:

draw one's attention, at hand, call for, urge, upon/on arrival, calm down, in a panic, more… than…

Step VIII Record after Teaching