Unit 7 The natural world Welcome to the unit 教学设计- 2025-2026学年译林版英语八年级上册

Unit 7 The natural world-Welcome to the unit This unit focuses on "The natural world", and the "Welcome to the unit" part aims to introduce students to different ecosystems. It presents interesting facts about four ecosystems: rainforests, coral reefs, grasslands, and polar ice caps. Students are required to tick the facts they already know, which activates their prior knowledge. Then, there is a dialogue between Kitty and David about ecosystems like grasslands and deserts. Students need to work in pairs to imitate this dialogue and discuss other ecosystems. Finally, they are encouraged to share more fun facts about ecosystems they know. This part not only helps students accumulate vocabulary related to ecosystems but also promotes their oral communication skills and interests in ecological protection. 教学目标 Students will be able to master the key vocabulary related to ecosystems, such as "rainforest", "coral reef", "grassland", "polar ice", "ecosystem", "climate", "rainfall" etc. Students will understand the basic sentence patterns used to describe ecosystems, for example, "Half of the world’s animals and plants live in rainforests." "Coral reefs look like rocks, but they support a lot of life in just a small area." Students will be able to use some expressions to talk about the characteristics of different ecosystems, like "be home to", "the difference in temperature between... and...", "so... that...". 教学重难点 Key Points Key vocabulary and sentence patterns related to ecosystems. Enable students to communicate about ecosystems using the learned language knowledge. Difficult Points Help students understand some abstract concepts about ecosystems, such as how different ecosystems maintain the balance of nature. Guide students to express their own ideas about ecosystems clearly and accurately in English. Vocabulary Ecosystem names: rainforest (热带雨林), coral reef (珊瑚礁), grassland (草原), polar ice (极地冰盖), wetland (湿地), desert (沙漠) Related nouns: ecosystem (生态系统), climate (气候), rainfall (降雨量), wildlife (野生动物), temperature (温度), shade (树荫) Verbs: support (维持；支持), cover (覆盖), return (返回), act (扮演；行动), trap (吸收；使落入险境), produce (产生) Phrases: be home to (是…… 的家园), look like (看起来像), the difference in temperature between... and... (…… 和…… 之间的温差), get rid of (清除), play a role (发挥作用), keep the balance between... and... (保持…… 和…… 之间的平衡) Sentence Patterns Describing the distribution of living things: Half of the world’s animals and plants live in rainforests. Describing the appearance and function: Coral reefs look like rocks, but they support a lot of life in just a small area. Expressing the characteristic of a place: The polar ice is home to animals like polar bears and penguins. Describing climate and its result: The climate in deserts is so awful that only a few animals and plants can live there. Showing the action and effect: Plants in wetlands help get rid of pollution, and make the water clean. 教学过程 Step 1: Lead - in (5 minutes) Greet the students as usual. Show some pictures of different natural sceneries, such as a lush rainforest, a vast grassland, a beautiful coral reef, and the icy polar region on the PPT. Then ask students: "Boys and girls, look at these pictures. What can you see? Which one do you like best? Why?" Encourage several students to share their opinions. This activity can arouse students' interest in the topic of the natural world and lead in smoothly. Step 2: Presentation (15 minutes) Vocabulary teaching Present the new words about ecosystems one by one on the PPT. For each word, show its corresponding picture, pronunciation, and Chinese meaning. For example, when teaching "rainforest", show a picture of a rainforest full of tall trees and dense vegetation, and read the word aloud: /ˈreɪnfɒrɪst/, and explain "热带雨林" in Chinese. Let students read the words after the teacher several times to ensure correct pronunciation. Use some simple sentences to help students understand the usage of new words. For instance, for "be home to", say "The Amazon rainforest is home to thousands of plants and animals." Reading and understanding the facts about ecosystems Let students open their books to the "Welcome to the unit" part. Show the four facts about different ecosystems on the PPT. Ask students to read these facts quickly and tick the ones they already know. Then, explain each fact in detail. For "Half of the world’s animals and plants live in rainforests.", ask students why they think so many animals and plants live in rainforests. Guide them to think about the climate and environment of rainforests. For "Coral reefs look like rocks, but they support a lot of life in just a small area.", show more pictures of coral reefs and the various marine lives around them to help students understand how coral reefs support life. Step 3: Practice (15 minutes) Listening practice Play the recording of the dialogue between Kitty and David about ecosystems. Let students listen carefully and answer two simple questions on the PPT: "What ecosystems do Kitty and David talk about?" and "What are the characteristics of these ecosystems?" Play the recording again. This time, ask students to listen and imitate the intonation and pronunciation of the speakers. Speaking practice Divide students into pairs. Provide each pair with a set of cards. On each card, there is the name of an ecosystem (such as grassland, desert, wetland, etc.). Students take turns to pick a card and start a conversation about the ecosystem on the card according to the model in the textbook. For example, if a student picks a "desert" card, he/she can start like this: "Do you know anything about deserts?" The other student answers based on what they have learned. Walk around the classroom to monitor and offer help if necessary. After a few minutes, invite several pairs to come to the front of the class and act out their conversations. Give them positive feedback and comments. Step 4: Production (8 minutes) Ask students to think about other fun facts about ecosystems they know. They can recall knowledge from science classes, documentaries they have watched, or books they have read. Organize a group discussion. Divide students into groups of four. Each group member shares a fun fact about an ecosystem. Encourage them to ask questions and have a deeper discussion about these facts. For example, if a student says "In the tundra ecosystem, the growing season is very short because it’s so cold.", other group members can ask why the cold climate affects the growing season. Select several groups to report their discussions to the whole class. The reporter of each group briefly introduces the fun facts they discussed. Step 5: Summary and Homework (2 minutes) Summary Summarize the key points of this class with students, including the new vocabulary about ecosystems, important sentence patterns, and main facts about different ecosystems. Ask students to recall and repeat some key knowledge. Homework Ask students to write a short passage about their favorite ecosystem. They need to introduce its features, the animals and plants living there, and the reasons why they like it. The passage should be at least 80 words. Encourage students to search for more information about ecosystems on the Internet or in books and share it with their classmates in the next class. 教学反思 In this class, the use of pictures and real - life examples in the lead - in and presentation stages effectively attracted students' attention and helped them better understand new knowledge. However, in the future, more vivid teaching resources, such as short videos, can be introduced to make the class more interesting. During the pair - work and group - work activities, most students actively participated in the discussion and communication. But some students with poor English foundation were a bit shy and less involved. In the following classes, more individual guidance should be given to these students to help them build confidence and improve their English skills. The production stage successfully inspired students' thinking and knowledge reserves. However, some students had difficulties in expressing their complex ideas accurately in English. In the future, more training on English writing and speaking expressions should be strengthened to enhance students' ability to output language. Overall, this class achieved the expected teaching objectives, but there is still room for improvement in teaching methods and student - centeredness. Adjustments will be made in subsequent teaching to better meet the learning needs of students. 2 / 37 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $$