Unit 1 A New Start Understanding ideas 教案-2025-2026学年高中英语外研版必修第一册

Language Ability: Master key words and sentence patterns related to senior high life and improve reading and expression skills.

Cultural Awareness: Understand the similarities and differences between Chinese and foreign senior high school life and cultivate cross-cultural communication awareness.

Thinking Quality: Develop logical thinking by sorting out the plot and inferring the author’s feelings.

 Learning Ability: Master effective reading strategies and form the habit of independent and cooperative learning to adapt to new learning stages.

Key Points: Master the key vocabulary such as eagerness, explore, impression and relevant sentence patterns; understand the main idea and plot of the text; grasp the emotional changes of the protagonist.

Difficult Points: Understand the usage of adverbial clauses and infinitive structures in the text; accurately infer the implied meaning of the text; combine personal experience to talk about the understanding of a new start and express feelings in appropriate English.

Step 1: Lead-in (Warm-up and Lead-in)

Activity 1: Brainstorming. The teacher writes the topic “A New Start” on the blackboard and asks students to think about what a new start means to them. Students are invited to share their own experiences of new starts, such as the first day of primary school, junior high school or a new hobby, and talk about their feelings at that time (excitement, nervousness, curiosity, etc.). The teacher encourages students to express freely in simple English, and helps them supplement key words and sentences if necessary, such as “nervous”, “excited”, “eager to know”, “full of expectations”.

Activity 2: Picture and Video Presentation. The teacher shows pictures of senior high school campuses, classrooms, teachers and students’ daily activities, and plays a short video about the first day of senior high school life. After watching, the teacher asks two questions: “What can you see in the pictures and video?” “How do you think the students feel on their first day of senior high school?” Students discuss in pairs for a while and then share their answers with the whole class.

Design Intention: The brainstorming activity is designed to activate students’ prior knowledge and life experience, arouse their emotional resonance with the topic “A New Start”, and lay a foundation for understanding the protagonist’s feelings in the text. The picture and video presentation can intuitively show the scene of senior high school life, help students quickly enter the topic, stimulate their learning interest, and at the same time accumulate relevant vocabulary and expressions for the subsequent text learning. In addition, pair discussion can cultivate students’ cooperative learning awareness and improve their oral expression ability in a relaxed atmosphere.

Step 2: Pre-reading (Vocabulary and Background Preview)

Activity 1: Vocabulary Preview. The teacher presents the key vocabulary in the text on the screen, including verbs (picture, rush, explore, organise, breathe), nouns (eagerness, campus, noticeboard, impression, panic, challenge), adjectives (surprised, nervous, embarrassed, relaxed, calm) and phrases (rush out of, make a good first impression, with butterflies in

one’s stomach, pay attention, depend on, make the most of). For each word and phrase, the teacher explains its meaning, pronounces it correctly, and gives simple example sentences related to senior high school life, such as “I am eager to explore the new campus.” “She felt nervous when she made a speech in class.” Then, students read the words and phrases after the teacher twice, and practice making simple sentences in pairs to ensure that they have a preliminary grasp of the usage of these words and phrases.

Activity 2: Background Briefing. The teacher briefly introduces the background of the text: the text is a diary written by Meng Hao, a senior high school student, recording his first day at senior high school. The teacher tells students that diary is a common genre in English, which usually records personal experiences, feelings and thoughts, and the language is usually colloquial and emotional. At the same time, the teacher reminds students that when reading a diary, they should pay attention to the time, events and the author’s emotional changes, which helps to understand the text better.

Design Intention: Vocabulary is the foundation of text reading. Previewing key vocabulary before reading can help students reduce reading obstacles, improve reading speed and efficiency, and lay a solid foundation for understanding the text. The example sentences closely related to senior high school life can help students connect vocabulary with real life, deepen their memory and master the usage of vocabulary. The background briefing can help students understand the genre characteristics of the text, master the key points of reading diaries, and guide students to form correct reading strategies, which is conducive to the smooth development of the subsequent reading link.

Step 3: While-reading (Text Reading and Comprehension)

Activity 1: Fast Reading. The teacher asks students to read the text quickly and complete two tasks: ① Find out the time, place and main character of the text; ② Summarize the main idea of the text in one sentence. After reading, students complete the tasks independently, and then the teacher checks the answers with the whole class. The teacher emphasizes that fast reading requires focusing on the key information, ignoring unimportant details, and improving reading speed. For the main idea, the teacher guides students to summarize it accurately, such as “This text records Meng Hao’s experiences and emotional changes on his first day at senior high school.”

Activity 2: Careful Reading. The teacher asks students to read the text carefully and complete the following tasks in groups of four:

•   Task 1: Sort out Meng Hao’s activities on his first day at senior high school and fill in the form (the teacher provides a form with columns of “Time” and “Activities”).
•   Task 2: Find out the sentences that reflect Meng Hao’s emotional changes and analyze the reasons for the changes.
•   Task 3: Underline the difficult sentences in the text and discuss with group members to understand their meanings.

After the group discussion, each group sends a representative to share the results. For Task 1, the teacher guides students to sort out the activities in chronological order, such as “woke up early and rushed out of the door”, “explored the campus”, “met a white-haired man”, “had English class”, “introduced himself to the class” and so on. For Task 2, the teacher helps students sort out the emotional changes: eagerness (before arriving at school) → nervousness (when introducing himself) → embarrassment (after making a mistake) → relaxation (after the teacher’s comfort). The teacher guides students to combine the specific content of the text to analyze the reasons for each emotional change, so as to deepen their understanding of the protagonist’s inner world. For Task 3, the teacher focuses on explaining the difficult sentences, such as “After I had pictured it over and over again in my mind, the big day finally arrived: my first day at senior high!” (explaining the past perfect tense and the usage of “picture” as a verb), “With butterflies in my stomach, I breathed deeply.” (explaining the meaning of the phrase “with butterflies in one’s stomach” and the structure of “with + object + object complement”), “It all depends on what you do.” (explaining the object clause guided by “what”).