Unit 3 The Million Pound Bank Note
The First Period Intensive Reading
By Yangxi No.1 High School
Teaching goals 教学目标
1. Target language 目标语言
a. 重点词汇和短语
make a bet, permit, go ahead, by accident, stare, account for, to be honest
b. 交际用语
Expressions on request:
Would you step inside a moment, please?
Would you please come in?
May we ask what you’re doing in this country and what your plans are?
Well, why don’t you explain what this is all about?
c. 重点句型
1) Permit me to lead the way, sir.
2) As a matter of fact, I landed in Britain by accident.
3) His eyes stare at what is left of the brothers’ dinner on the table.
4) I wonder, Mr Adams, if you’d mind us asking a few questions.
5) I earned my passage by working as an unpaid hand, which accounts for my appearance.
2. Ability goals能力目标
a. Enable students to read and hear natural language in a dramatic context and increase their self-confidence in using English, which will increase their overall motivation to learn English.
b. Enable students to sum up the main idea of Act I, Scene 3.
c. Enable students to understand the details about the whole scene.
d. Retell the scene using the key words of the whole scene.
3. Learning ability goals 学能目标
a. Help students to understand natural language in the dramatic context and increase their self-confidence in using English.
b. Help students to sum up the main idea of Act I, Scene 3.
c. Help students to understand the details of the whole scene.
d. Get students to retell the whole scene.
Teaching important points 教学重点
How to interpret language through tone of voice and body language, gaining a greater appreciation of the various verbal and non-verbal ways in which language works.
Teaching difficult points教学难点
1) The summing up of the main idea in Act I, Scene3.
2) The retelling of the whole scene.
Teaching methods 教学方法
Discussion, listening, reading and pair work.
Teaching aids 教具准备
A computer, a projector and a tape recorder.
Teaching procedures and ways教学过程与方式
Step I Warming up
Prepare the students for the Warming Up part.
T: What is the largest bank note in China now?
Ss: 100 yuan RMB.
T: If you had just one bank note of 1 billion yuan and nobody could change it, do you think you could buy or get some things from restaurants or shops and go on with your everyday life?
Get the students to talk about this and collect some ideas from the students.
Students may have different ideas.
T: But what about the American man Henry with the only one million pound bank note in hand as a stranger in England in Mark Twain’s play? What do you think he could do?
Get the students to guess and discuss it in pairs .
Then introduce the new lesson The Million Pound Bank Note to the students T: That is what we are going to learn in the play The Million Pound Bank Note written by Mark Twain.
Ask the students what they know about Mark Twain.
T: What do you know about Mark Twain?
Collect as much information as possible from the students.
Let the students read the short passage about Mark Twain and finish the Notes given in the form on Page17.
T: Do you want to know more about Mark Twain? Now read the short passage about Mark Twain and finish the Notes given in the form on Page17 to know more about him.
2. Students read this passage about Mark Twain and answer the questions given in the form on Page17.
Check the answers by asking some students to tell the answers orally to make sure the students understand the passage and get a better understanding and more knowledge of the famous American writer Mark Twain before they read the play.
Then introduce the Reading to the students.
T: As we know, Mark Twain is known as a humorist during his life. And this is reflected in The Million Pound Bank Note. So, today we’ll learn some parts of this famous play.
Step Ⅱ Pre-reading
Get the students to discuss the question with their partners and then ask them to report their work. Encourage them to express their opinions freely.
T: If a rich person gives you a large amount of money to use as you like, for example, one million pound, what will you do? Why?
Students have a discussion on this question. Whatever choice students make here, they should be ready to offer their classmates a good reason for it.
S1: I’ll buy a big house, a new car of my own and get married with a beautiful girl. In my opinion, the most important thing for a person is to enjoy the life. So, if I have a lot of money, I’ll make full use of it to meet my needs for a rich life.
S2: I’ll give some money of the one million pound to the poor people in the western part of our country to help them live a happy life, especially the children. Because they really need help and they can learn more knowledge in order to develop the western part of our country. This way of spending money is meaningful.
S3: ...
T: I think all of you have a good idea. Now do you want to know what happened to Henry Adams in The Million Pound Bank Note written by Mark Twain? Do you think your guessing of the story is right? Now we’ll learn the story together.
Step Ⅲ Reading
1. First reading: scanning
Get the students to comprehend the whole scene quickly and accurately and meanwhile help the students to form a good habit of reading. Teachers give the students a couple of minutes to look through the whole scene. Tell the students to read the text silently and then ask some detail questions about the text on the slide show with their partners. Teacher encourages the students to express their ideas.
T: Now we are going to learn Act I, Scene 3. Read the whole scene quickly and find out the answers to the four questions here.
Teacher shows the questions on the screen:
1) How did Henry Adams come to England?
2) Where did Henry work before? How much did he have?
3) What did the two gentlemen give Henry?
4) When can Henry open the letter?
Students read the whole scene (Act I, Scene 3) for three minutes and try to answer the questions.
T: Well, class, have you finished reading the whole scene?
Ss: Yes.
T: Ok, who can answer the first question? How did Henry Adams come to England?
S1: It was the ship that brought him to England.
T: Very good. You did a good job. Next, where did Henry work? How much did he have?
S2: He worked for a mining company before and he had no money at all.
T: Very good. Then what did the two gentlemen give him?
S3: They gave him a letter.
T: When can Henry open the letter?
S4: He can’t open it until two o’clock.
T: Ok, great.
2. Second reading: reading aloud
In this part, students will read the text again and try to understand the sentences and the main ideas of the whole scene.
3. Listening
After that the students discuss the questions and then the teacher checks the answers with the whole class.
T: Please listen to the tape and try to find the characteristics of the whole scene.
Students listen to the tape.
T: Well. Can you tell me the characteristics of the passage?
Ss: Yes. This is part of a play. So, the narration is written in the present tense.
T: Ok, all of you did a good job. Next, let’s read the scene again and do some exercises.
Step Ⅳ Post-reading
Do comprehending exercises.
T: Read the scene again and do some comprehending exercises in Exe.1 and Exe.2 on Page 19.
The students begin to do these two exercises. After a while, check the answers by asking the students to give their answers orally and later gives the answers, using a slide projector.
Exercise 1
T: Have you found out the answers?
Ss: Yes.
T: Ok! Let’s check the answers. Who’d like to tell us which of the statements are opinions?
S1: I think statement 3, 4 and 5 are opinions.
T: Very good. Now who will tell us which of the statements arefacts?
S2: I think statement 1 and 2 are facts.
Exercise 2
Get the students to do this exercise by themselves, and then ask them to check their answers with the whole class.
Later the teacher gives the answers, using a slide projector.
Explain language points.
T: Well, class. What do you think of the scene? Do you think it is difficult to understand some sentences?
Ss: Yes.
T: Now, please look at the screen and let me explain some sentences.
Explain the following language points to the students:
1) a large amount of: a large quantity of; a great deal of
e.g. The old man has a large amount of money ,but he often feels lonely.
2) make a bet: make an arrangement to risk money, etc. on an event of which the result is doubtful.
e.g. They made a bet on the result of the match.
3) permit somebody to do something: allow somebody to do something
e.g. Alice’s parents don’t permit her to come home late at night.
4) by accident: as a result of chance.
e.g. I found the money I lost by accident.
5) stare at: look at somebody or something with the eyes wide open in a fixed gaze ( in astonishment, wonder, fear, etc)
e.g. It is rude to stare at others.
6) to be honest: to tell you the truth; to be frank
e.g. To be honest, I don’t think we have a chance of winning.
Students read the whole scene again and again and try to retell it.
T: Well, class, have you got the main idea?
Ss: Yes.
T: What’s the main idea? And can you retell it?
Then the students begin to prepare for retelling the whole scene.
Step Ⅴ Retelling
Show the key words and relevant pictures on the screen, using the computer.
Ask the students to retell the whole scene, according to the following key words: summer, 1903, Henry Adams, American businessman, rescued, British ship, London, without money, lost, walk down, street, led to, two rich brothers, made a bet, a letter, a million-pound bank-note, open, two o’clock.
Invite two students to retell the reading to the whole class.
T: Now, look at the key words and pictures, who can retell the reading?
S1: It was the summer of 1903, and Henry Adams, an American businessman, had some very luck. He was rescued at sea by a British ship that takes him to London where he finds himself without money, friends and the prospect of a good job. He was lost and alone in London. He had no money and did not know what he should do. Walking down the street, he heard someone calling him. Then he came in and was led to two rich brothers, Roderick and Oliver, who made a secret bet and gave him a letter in which there was a one-million-pound bank-note. He was asked to open the letter until two o’clock in the afternoon. Roderick believes that a man can’t survive in the city for a month with only a million pound bank-note in his possession but Oliver believes he can. (The play takes us along Henry’s misadventures with humor and surprise to discover who will win the bet.)
T: Good, the next one, who wants to try?
Then another student retells the whole scene.
T: You’ve done a good job. Now let’s retell the whole scene together.
Step Ⅵ Summary
Get the students to summarize they have learnt in this lesson. Remind them to recall the contents in Act I, Scene 3 , the useful words ,expressions and key sentences in this lesson . Then ask some students to talk about it.
T: Now let’s summarize what we have learnt in this lesson. For example, the contents in Act I , Scene 3, the useful new words, expressions and key sentences.
Do this job together with the whole class.
Step Ⅶ Homework
Give the students some homework.
T: Please look at today’s homework on the slide.
1. Review what have been learnt in this lesson.
2. Act out Act I, Scene 3.
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