1. Teaching objectives
(1) Knowledge objective:
Students will understand the facts about dinosaurs and Diogenes, and learn some elements of writing.
(2) Ability objectives:
a. Students are able to find out the main idea and the details of a passage.
b. Students can describe people or object in writing.
(3) Emotional objective:
Students will be more careful in observing and describing things.
2. Teaching contents: This is a reading and writing lesson, which introduces dinosaurs and Diogenes.
3. Teaching key&difficult points:
(1) Key point: How to make students grasp the details of the passage.
(2) Difficult point: How to improve students’ reading capacity and try to use it in writing.
4. Teaching procedures
Step 1: Lead in (2 min)
Teacher shows some pictures of dinosaur on the PowerPoint.
Students are asked to introduce what they know about it.
(Justification: In this way, students’ interest will be aroused and it’s convenient for teacher to go on talking about the main topic.)
Step 2: Pre-reading (8 min)
Students are shown a picture of Diogenes and they are asked to guess who he is. Teacher will offer some cues such as Plato and Aristotle.
(Justification: This will make students to guess the person on their own and feel the main idea of the passage ahead of time.)
Step 3: While-reading (15 min)
(1) Fast reading
Students read the passage as soon as possible, and find out the main idea. Teacher will also help to conclude.
(Justification: Students will get the general idea of this passage, and their reading ability of skimming and scanning can be
practiced.)
(2) Careful reading
Students read the paragraphs again carefully and find the specific description of dinosaurs and Diogenes.
Teacher will guide them to pay attention to the structure and words in the passage.
(Justification: Students will understand more about the passage and get ready to write the article.)
Step 4: Post-reading (15 min)
Students work in groups and talk about the famous animals or people they know.
Students write their own articles. They are encouraged to offer help to each other.
Teacher will encourage some of them to share their own composition to the whole class.
(Justification: Students will learn more elements of writing according to the passage.)
Step 5: Summary and Homework (5 min)
Students will summarize what they have learned today by themselves.
Teacher stresses the necessity of observing and describing different things and persons.
Students need to finish the exercise on their textbook and find more information about dinosaur and Diogenes after class.
(Justification: Students should learn knowledge actively, and it’s essential to learn after class as well.)