Reading-----How-life-began-on-the-earth.doc

Unit 4 Astronomy: the science of the starsReading How life began on the earth大城县职教中心 常云英Teaching Aims: 1.Train the students reading ability.2.Make students learn and master the useful words ,phrases and sentence structures.3.Learn the origin of life on the earth and stimulate students interest in astronomy.Teaching Important Points:1. Improve the students reading ability.2. Master the useful words, phrases and sentence structures.Teaching Difficult Points:1. How to help the students improve their reading ability and understand the passage better.2. How to master the language points in the passage.Teaching Methods:1. Fast reading to get the general idea of the text.2. Careful reading and discussion to help the students understand the passage better.3. Explanation to help the students master some language points.Teaching Aids:The multimedia and other normal teaching tools.Teaching Procedures:Step 1 Greetings and revision.Greet the whole class as usual and check the homework exercises.Step 2 Lead-inTo arouse students interest in astronomy ，introduce some stories that tell how the universe began with the help of pictures. The examples of these stories are: The story of Pangu, and Nvwa s mending the sky.Step 3 Warming up and Pre-readingAsk students to look at the screen and fill out the chart about the universe .Then ask the students the question: What are names of the eight planets that circle our sun? Ask the students to look at the picture in their books and name them first in Chinese and then find the English names in the box and match them. To make sure that students know the names and correct positions of the planets , show them the picture about the eight planets on the screen. After that , show the students more pictures on the screen and ask them: The earth is the home to the living things .Do you know how life began on the earth? Ask the students in pairs to discuss how they think life began on earth. Then ask them to compare their ideas with another pair and be prepared to give their best ideas to the class. If the students do not know very much ,stimulate their memory by asking them some questions about the scientific explanation:1. How old is the universe? (several billion years ago)2. How old is the earth? (between 4.5 and 3.8 million years ago)3. Which were the first creatures or plants on earth?(very small air-breathing creatures)4. Do you know what the order for the development of plants and animals is ? (see reading)5. Do you know why human beings are more intelligent than other animals?( talk)Step 4 ReadingI Fast reading : Ask the students to read the text quickly and then choose the correct answers to the exercises on the screen. Then check the answers together.1.Why was it necessary for plants to grow before animals appeared?A. Because plants provided oxygen for animals to breathe.B. Animals needed plants to protect them from the sun.C. It was easier for plants to grow.2. Why did life develop on the earth but not on other planets?A. The earth had a solid shape.B. The water existed on the earth but not on other planets.C. The earth was not too hot or too cold for humans to live on.3. We can infer from the last paragraph that_.A. human beings are the last animals that appeared on the earthB. scientists find out some ways to deal with global warmingC. animals cant live on the earth if it becomes too hotII Careful readingAsk the students to read the text carefully and then look at the screen to fill in the chart about the origin of life on earth.watershellfish and all sorts of fishgreen plants on land Insects (on land) Amphibians(on land and in waterforests small clever animals with Hands and feetreptiles(on land)dinosaurs (on land)mammals(on land)III Discussion and talkThe teacher can ask the students to work in groups and discuss the questions on the screen:1.Why is it wrong to show films with dinosaurs and people together?2. What problem is caused by human beings?Possible answers:1. Because dinosaurs died out long before human beings developed on the earth.2. Human