Unit 13 The mystery of the Moonstone

The First Period

Teaching Aims:

1.Learn and master the new words and phrases: comfort, reception, considerate, astonish, tension, elegant, bachelor, turn down

2.Do some listening.

3. Do some speaking by talking, describing and discussion.

Teaching Important Points:

1.Train the students’ listening ability by listening practice.

2.Make the Ss express their ideas correctly.

Teaching Difficult Points:

1.How to improve the students’ listening ability.

2.How to help students finish the task of speaking.

Teaching Methods:

1.Listening-and-answering activity to help the students go through the listening material.

2. Individual, pair or group work to make every student work in class.

Teaching Aids:

1. a tape recorder

2. the blackboard

Teaching Procedures:

Step I Warming up

T: Can you imagine that your works are being read?

S: I always dreamt of being a famous writer like Wilkie Collins. But it’s only a dream.

T: Only a dream? Now, your dream may come true. Look at the pictures. Try to describe the people and events in each picture. Because the first thing you must have as a writer is rich imagination and the ability to describe sth. Talk about the pictures and put them in right order.(3-2-4-1-6-5) Then tell the story.

Step II Listening

T: Listen to some conversations happening at a birthday party. Look at the pictures and answer the questions:

What type of conversation do people have at a birthday party?

What topics might they discuss?

S: I think their conversation is friendly and enthusiastic. Sometimes they have a discussion, but not fierce.

S: I think at a birthday party, women may discuss sth about the hostess’ dress, jewels and the gifts while men always focus on cigars and some important events. Listen and check the answers.

Step III Speaking

T: Now it’s your turn to experience being an actor or actress. Read the two situations and choose one to make up a conversation. Firstly, write out the outlines and then act it out.

Situation 1:

Godfrey’s feeling for Rachel;

Reasons why he thought they would be happy as husband and wife;

The reasons Rachel might have given for refusing him;

How Godfrey felt when she turned him down;

Situation 2:

How Rachel felt about losing her diamond;

What the other characters said to comfort her;

What suggestions and advice they might have given her;

Who might be the thief

Step IV Homework

Preview the reading material.

Step V The Design of the Writing on the Bb

Unit 13 The mystery of the Moonstone

The First Period

What type of conversation do people have at a birthday party?

What topics might they discuss?

The Second Period

Teaching Aims:

1.Learn and master the useful words and phrases.

2.Train the students’ reading ability.

Teaching Important Points:

1.Master the following phrases and sentence pattern:

theft, entertainer, religious, enquiry, assistance, vital, smear, guilty, stain, considerate towards, in fact of revenge

2.Enable the students to understand the text better.

3.Improve the students’ reading ability.

Teaching Difficult Points:

How to make the students understand the reading text better.

Teaching Methods:

Pre-reading to predict what the text tells about.

Fast reading to get a general idea and careful-reading to further understanding the text.

Post reading to check the Ss’ understanding of the text.

Explanation for Ss to master some language points.

Teaching Aids:

1.a computer

2.a tape recorder

3.the blackboard

Teaching Procedures:

Step I Lead-in and Pre-reading

T: What we have learned in warming-up and listening is related to what we’ll learn today. So what is the story about?

S: It is a detective story. The story begins with the loss of the precious stone, The Moonstone. Sb stole the Moonstone. One day the Moonstone was given to a beautiful girl as a gift. The Moonstone was stolen again.

T: What happens next in the text?

S: It’s time for the detective to solve the puzzle.

Step II Reading

T: Now read the passage once as carefully as possible. Then answer some detailed questions on the screen. You may discuss them in pairs if necessary.

Who gave the Moonstone to Rachel and why he gave it to her?

Why wasn’t Rachel’s birthday a success?

Why did Sergeant Cuff believe that the garment with the paint stain belonged to the thief? Learn some new words and expressions.

Considerate towards sb: careful not to hurt or bring inconvenience to others.

might/may have done: show the possibility of sth having happened in the past.

in an act of revenge: in order to return an injury.

(from/out of)force of habit: to do some things in a certain way from always having done so in the past. Read the text to make a list of the people and the reason why Sergeant Cuff suspected that they might have stolen the Moonstone.

Suspect Reason for Suspicion

The Indians They followed the Moonstone around the world waiting for an opportunity to take it back to India.

Godfrey He might have stolen the Moonstone as revenge for loss of face, because Rachel turned down his proposal of marriage.

Dr Candy As with Godfrey, he lost face because of the quarrelling with Franklin.

Rosanna She might have taken the diamond either from force of habit, for she was a thief before Rachel’s mother gave her a job or cause a disagreement between Rachel and Franklin.

Rachel Perhaps she had debts that needed to be paid.

Franklin He gave the detective as much assistance as he can. His enthusiasm was the reason why he was suspected, because it was not his business.

Have a discussion about different people in the story. Decide who stole the Moonstone.

Step III Homework

Finish the exx. Preview “Language practice”.

Step IV The Design of the Writing on the Bb

Unit 13 The mystery of the Moonstone

The Second Period

Useful words and expressions:

theft, entertainer, religious, enquiry, assistance, vital, smear, guilty, stain, considerate towards, in fact of revenge, force of habit, might have done

The Third Period

Teaching Aims:

1.Learn and master the phrases.

2.Review the content of the reading in the last period.

Teaching Important Points:

Learn and master the usages of the words in the reading.

Teaching Difficult Points:

How to use the words to fill in the blanks.

Teaching Methods:

1. Review method to considerate the words learnt.

2.Inductive and Deductive methods to help the Ss master what they have learned.

3. Individual work or pair work to make every student work in class.

Teaching Aids:

the blackboard

Teaching Procedures:

Step I Revision

T: 1. Can you tell us who gave the Moonstone to Rachel and why he gave it to her?

2. Why Sergeant Cuff believed that the garment with the paint stain belonged to the thief?

Step II Language Practice

T: Now Go through the reading again and try to find words that match the following definitions. Then make two sentences with each of the words.

bachelor

tension

prescription

considerate

guilty

vital

stubborn

theft

T: Fill in the blanks, using the correct form of the given words.

happening

Suspecting

excited

stain

splendid

garment

vital

loss

tension

assistance

Step III Listening

Listen to a short play. Learn some new words.

Footprints, shoeprints, fingerprints

Print means a mark made on a surface showing the shape pattern of a thing.

T: In daily life, we often read about mysteries, for instance, in a criminal case. How can the police solve a mystery?

S: They must use some clues.

T: What clues do the police often find?

Footprints, shoeprints, fingerprints, cigarette, banana peels, marks…→mystery

Listen and check the answers.

Step IV Summary and homework

T: We’ve learned the new words and expressions. Do other exx to master them better.

Finish all the exx in Grammar. Preview the content in Integrating skills.

Step VI The Design of the Writing on the Bb

Unit 13 The mystery of the Moonstone

The Third Period

1. Can you tell us who gave the Moonstone to Rachel and why he gave it to her?

2. Why Sergeant Cuff believed that the garment with the paint stain belonged to the thief?

New words: Footprints, shoeprints, fingerprints

The Fourth Period

Teaching Aims:

1.Revise the useful expressions in this unit by practicing.

2.Improve the Ss’ reading ability by reading the material.

3.Do some writing practice to improve the students’ integrating skills.

Teaching Important Points:

1. Improve the Ss’ reading ability by reading the material.

2.Train the Ss’ writing.

Teaching Difficult Points:

Improve the students’ integrating skills.

Teaching Methods:

1.Fast reading to go through the reading material.

2.Inductive method to help Ss write a letter successfully.

Teaching Aids:

1.a computer

2.a tape recorder

3.the blackboard

Teaching Procedures:

Step I Lead-in

T: Do you remember your guess about who was the real thief to the Moonstone?

S: Yes. We have different opinions.

T: As a matter of fact, all of your answers are not right. Next we’ll enjoy the second part of the story. I think we can make it clear who was the real thief.

S: In other words, the mystery will be solved. Yes?

T: Of course.

Step II Reading

T: Scan the passage quickly and answer the questions.

Who actually stole the Moonstone?

S: Godfrey.

T: Now you are given some more time to read the text for some detailed information. Then answer some questions.

Whom did the detective suspect of having taken the Moonstone?

S: Many people were suspected, including Godfrey, Dr Candy, Franklin, Rosanna, the Indians and Rachel.

T: In fact, most of them were innocent. The story tells us Rachel was also innocent. But why didn’t she answer Sergeant Cuff’s questions?

S: The reason why she did it was that she saw Franklin take the diamond and wanted to protect him from Sergeant Cuff by not answering his questions.

T: According to the text, Rachel actually saw Franklin take the Moonstone. Howerer, Franklin didn’t remember anything. Do you know why?

S: Because Dr Candy had put some opium into Franklin’s drink to prove to him that it would be helpful for sleeping.

T: According to the text, we know Godfrey stole the diamond. But to our surprise, Godfrey was murdered, and the Moonstone was still missing. Who do you think was guilty for Godfrey’s death? What clues can you find to support your guess?

S: Some Indians who appeared at Rachel’s birthday behaved strangely. Some Indians attacked Godfrey. The Moonstone returned to its true home in India, where it once again decorates the forehead of the statue of the moon god. So we can infer that some Indians were guilty for Godfrey’s death.

Step III Writing

T: The writing task is also linked to the story.

The text says that Rosanna sent Franklin a letter. What do you think she would have written? With your partner write the letter from Rosanna to Franklin.

How does Sergeant Cuff feel about accusing Rachel of taking the Moonstone? Write a letter from Sergeant Cuff to Rachel apologizing for his mistake.

You can choose either to finish. But you should pay attention to the difference about the style of the two letters.

Dear Franklin,

It took me a long time to decide to write this letter to you.

I know what you did on the night the Moonstone disappeared. Because I found the paint stains belonging to the thief on your clothes when I cleaned your room. I want to keep you out of trouble, so I hid the evidence. Maybe you don’t know why I did it. That’s because of love. I have been in love with you since I met you for the first time.

I’m very sorry for Miss Rachel. But I don’t know what to do to help her without telling the truth to the detective.

Wish you good luck.

Sincerely yours,

Rosanna

Dear Rachel,

I’m writing to tell you in the hope of getting your apology. I suspected you of having taken the Moonstone yourselves. It proved to be wrong.

I hope you will accept my apology.

Yours,

Sergeant Cuff

Step IV Homework

Go over all the important points learnt in this unit and finish your writing.

Step V The Design of the Writing on the Bb

Unit 13 The mystery of the Moonstone

The Fourth Period

Who actually stole the Moonstone?