内容正文:
Integrated skills(2) Speaking and writing
Unit 4
Exploring poetry
In this lesson, you are going to:
talk about the poem “The Road Not Taken”;
write a poetry review.
Lead-in
Do you like the poem The Road Not Taken we learned?
If you met such situation, what would you do?
Let’s discuss these questions in this class.
Speaking
Discuss in groups and the following questions and expressions can help you.
1. What message do you think the poem is trying to get across to readers?
2. Have you ever been in a similar situation? Connect your personal experience with the poem.
Confirming understanding
• The listener
Do you mean ...?
Are you saying ...?
I think you mean ... Am I right?
• The speaker
Do you know what I mean?
Do you see my point?
You understand what I mean, don’t you?
Expressions
1. What message do you think the poem is trying to get across to readers?
“The Road Not Taken” presents the poet and the reader with a dilemma. The central message is that in life we are often presented with choices. When making a choice, one is required to make a decision. Viewing a choice as a fork in a path, we understand that we can only choose one direction or another, but not both. Any person who has made a choice will agree that it is human nature to contemplate “What if ...” about the direction you did not choose. But who knows what the future holds down the road? The poet implies that when he is older, he might look back at this turning point in his life—the morning he took the road less travelled, because taking that particular route altered his life in some way.
2. Have you ever been in a similar situation? Connect your personal experience with the poem.
A: The poem “The Road Not Taken” is great. I like Robert Frost’s honest and direct style in this poem. It feels conversational—like he is speaking to me. Do you know what I mean?
B: Definitely! Throughout the poem the speaker uses the word ‘I’, so he seems to be telling me his own experiences. When reading it, I feel like I am al