Unit4 Earthquakes

The First Period Leading in, Warming up

& Pre-reading

By Liu Xiaohua from Hongling Middle School

一、 教學目標（Teaching aims）

Student’s Book

1. 能力目標（ability aim）

a . Let the students know something about the earthquakes.

b . Enable the students to talk about what they should do in a disaster for themselves

2. 語言目標(language aim)

a. Words and expressions

imagine, shake, right away

b. Important sentence

What do you think may happen before an earthquake?

二、 教學重難點(Teaching important points)

Let the students know what a correct attitude towards a disaster is and what they should do in a disaster for themselves and for the other people.

三、 教學方法 (Teaching method)

a. Discussing

b. Talking

c. Activities.

四、 教具準備 (Teaching Aids)

Multi-media computer

五、　教學步驟 (Teaching procedure)

StepⅠ. Lead-in:

T: What’s the biggest sound you have heard in your life?

( the sound of the wind that blew in a winter night; the nose when planes take off; the sound of trains; the sound of thunder…..)

But did you once hear the sound that the heaven falls and the earth crack. In Chinese it is 天崩地裂？

If there is a sound like this what is it? What will happen?

Today we’ll learn something about earthquakes. Can you imagine how terrible it is?

First let the students answer the following question.

Which of the following may cause people the greatest damage?

Earthquake, Typhoon, Flood, Drought

Various answers are possible. Students should give reasons to support their answers. All of them are natural disasters, they have something in common, at the same time, they have many differences.

Let the students know something about the earthquake. (slides)

T: How does the earthquake occur?

Then show the film to the students. ( film about the earthquake )

T: When some plates of the earth move suddenly, an earthquake happens. Many earthquakes begin under the sea. In fact, earthquakes may happen near high mountains.

During an earthquake, the shaking make rocks rise suddenly and even cracks open. Houses fall, people are killed or hurt, and sometimes the whole villages or cities are destroyed. Some villages even disappear completely.

Step Ⅱ. Talking

T: Earthquakes are disasters to everybody. Now look at the two pictures of Tang Shan and San Francisco. Can you describe what you see in the pictures?

(Show two pictures to the students and tell the students they are today’s Tangshan and San Francisco. But many years ago some big earthquakes hit these two beautiful cities.)

1. Show the pictures of San Francisco to the students and let them describe today’s San Francisco and then let them know what happened in San Francisco in 1906

(From the picture of San Francisco, we can see it is a very big city. There are many tall buildings thickly standing on the earth. And the population of the city is very large.)

2. Show the pictures of Tangshan to the students and let them describe today’ Tangshan and then let them know what happened in Tangshan in 1976.

( Today’ Tangshan is a beautiful city. It has beautiful gardens, broad roads and some tall buildings.)

T: But, what will happen if there has been a big earthquake in these two cities? Work in groups and discuss it. Then I’ll ask some of you to say out your opinion.

( After the terrible quake, everything is destroyed, what we can see is fallen buildings and dead bodies. The policemen, the soldiers and some other volunteers are rescuing the people trapped in the ruins….)

T: Right, now let’s see a film.

(Let the students see a film about Tangshan Earthquake.) (film)

T: After the earthquake the city of Tangshan became…..

Let the students discuss what they saw. And then talk about the pictures in their own words.

The house….

The fire….

The bridge….

The road…

The police and the volunteers….

The people…..

( Tangshan Earthquake happened on July 28, 1976.It was the greatest earthquake of the 20th century in China. Before the earthquake, many strange things happened, but people thought little of them. Such a great number of people died during the earthquake, because the quake happened while they were sleeping. The number of people who were killed or injured reached more than 400,000. And all the traffic was almost destroyed after the quake. Thousands of thousands of people became homeless in a short time. Many soldiers were sent to Tangshan to rescue the survivors after the earthquake.

Let the students talk about the damage caused by earthquakes

Using the following words and phrases:

shake, break, fall down onto, hurt, destroy, homeless, die…..

Step Ⅲ. Pre-reading

T: But we can avoid or at least reduce the loss caused by earthquakes. And we can foretell it.

Do you know what would happen before an earthquake?

Can we do something to keep ourselves safe from earthquakes?

( 1. There is often a great sound.

2. Animals may be too nervous to eat.

3. Maybe there are bright lights in the sky.

4. a smelly gas may come out of the well.

5. In the city the water pipes in some buildings crack and burst.

6. Scientists have studied earthquakes and make maps that show the “ earthquake belts”. In areas in these belts, it is possible for earthquakes to happen. In these areas we can build strong houses to fight against earthquakes.)

Discussion & Activities

1. Show some pictures to the students and

let them discuss.

Let the students look at them and decide

what situation may happen before an

earthquake.

2. Then fill in the missing words

according to the pictures.

a. The water in the wells ____ and____. And some deep ______could be seen in the well walls. A ______gas came out the cracks.

b. Mice ran out the Fields ___________places to hide. Fish _________out of bows and ponds.

c. The chickens and even pigs were ______ nervous _____eat. The dog was ________ loudly again and again.

d. People could see _______lights in the sky.

3. Let the students discuss if they have ever experienced an earthquake.

Step Ⅳ Discussion & Activities

T: What do you think may happen before an earthquake?

(Before an earthquake, animals will become nervous. Cow, pigs,, horses and dogs will be upset. And people can see mice running about. If the earthquake happens during winter, people can even see snakes.)

T: Have you ever experienced an earthquake?

Let the students discuss and then talk about it.

Step Ⅴ Homework

Preview Reading material and then do exercise on page 27. 1-3 ( in comprehending )