Unit 5 On the Road-Understanding ideas 教案-2025-2026学年高中英语外研版必修第二册

Language Ability: Master travel-related vocabulary and sentence patterns, and improve reading and expression skills.

Cultural Awareness: Understand the diversity of world cultures through travel texts, respect cultural differences, and establish cross-cultural communication awareness.

Thinking Quality: Cultivate logical and critical thinking by analyzing text structure and comparing travel experiences.

Learning Ability: Develop autonomous and cooperative learning habits, and master effective reading and learning strategies to lay a foundation for lifelong learning.

Key Points: Master core vocabulary such as caravan, oasis, hitchhike and phrases like be determined to do, keep in touch; understand the structure and main ideas of interview and diary texts; grasp reading strategies of skimming and scanning.

 Difficult Points: Understand the implied meaning of the texts and the author’s attitude; correctly use present participles as attributes; express personal views on travel meaning logically and fluently in English.

Step 1: Warming-up and Lead-in

Activity 1: Video Appreciation and Free Discussion

The teacher plays a short video about different travel experiences, including historical silk road caravans, modern backpackers’ trips and natural scenery of various countries. After watching the video, the teacher asks students to discuss the following questions in groups: “What kind of travel experience have you had?”, “What do you think is the meaning of travel?” and “If you have a chance to travel, where would you go and why?”. Each group selects one representative to share their views with the whole class.

Design Intention: The video can quickly attract students’ attention and arouse their interest in the topic of “travel”. By sharing personal travel experiences, students can activate their existing knowledge and language reserve related to travel, lay a good foundation for the subsequent text learning. At the same time, group discussion can cultivate students’ cooperative learning ability and oral expression ability, making them quickly enter the English learning state.

Activity 2: Vocabulary Preview

The teacher presents the core vocabulary of this lesson on the blackboard or multimedia, including nouns (caravan, oasis, backpacker, budget, continent), verbs (blog, quit, hitchhike, engage), adjectives (professional, remote, dramatic) and phrases (be determined to do, make one’s dream come true, keep in touch, on a budget). The teacher explains the pronunciation and meaning of the words with simple English and related pictures, and asks students to make simple sentences with the words, such as “She is determined to become a professional backpacker.” and “We traveled on a tight budget last summer.”.

Design Intention: Previewing core vocabulary in advance can help students reduce difficulties in reading texts. Using simple English and pictures to explain words conforms to the cognitive level of senior high school students, which can help them understand and remember words better. Making sentences can consolidate the use of words and lay a foundation for the

understanding and expression of the following texts.

Step 2: Pre-reading

Activity 1: Title and Picture Analysis

The teacher shows the titles and pictures of the two texts (Silk Road: Threads of Civilization and Backpacker Diaries: Europe on a Budget) to the students. Ask students to observe the titles and pictures carefully and predict the main contents of the two texts. For example, ask: “What do you think the text Silk Road: Threads of Civilization will talk about?” “What kind of person do you think the backpacker in the picture is?” “What difficulties may a backpacker encounter during the trip?”. Students can express their predictions freely, and the teacher will not judge right or wrong temporarily, but guide them to record their predictions and verify them in the process of reading.

Design Intention: Analyzing titles and pictures is an important reading strategy. It can help students predict the main content of the text, improve their reading initiative and pertinence. At the same time, it can cultivate students’ observation ability and logical reasoning ability, making them form the habit of thinking actively before reading.

Activity 2: Background Introduction

The teacher briefly introduces the background of the two texts in English. For Silk Road: Threads of Civilization, the teacher introduces the basic situation of the Silk Road, including its historical origin, geographical scope and the role of promoting cultural exchanges. For Backpacker Diaries: Europe on a Budget, the teacher introduces the backpacker culture in Europe, including the characteristics of backpackers and common travel ways such as hitchhiking and couchsurfing. The introduction should be concise and easy to understand, avoiding too many difficult words and complex sentences.

Design Intention: The proper background introduction can help students better understand the cultural connotation and ideological content of the texts, narrow the distance between students and the texts, and lay a foundation for in-depth understanding of the texts. At the same time, it can enrich students’ cultural knowledge and improve their cultural literacy.

Step 3: While-reading

Part 1: Reading Silk Road: Threads of Civilization

Activity 1: Skimming for Main Idea

Ask students to read the text quickly (skimming) and answer the following questions: 1. What is the main topic of this text? 2. What role did the Silk Road play in history? After students finish reading, ask them to answer the questions independently, and then check the answers with the whole class. The teacher summarizes the main idea of the text: This text introduces the historical background, main routes and important role of the Silk Road in promoting cultural and economic exchanges between the East and the West.

Design Intention: Skimming is a basic reading skill. Through this activity, students can quickly grasp the main idea of the text, improve their reading speed and ability to grasp key information. Answering questions independently can cultivate students’ autonomous learning ability, and collective check can help students find their own mistakes and deepen their understanding of the main idea.

Activity 2: Scanning for Specific Information

Ask students to read the text again carefully (scanning) and complete the following table. The table includes three columns: Key Time, Key Events and Key Roles. Students need to find relevant information from the text and fill in the table. After finishing, students exchange their tables in groups and check each other’s answers. The teacher selects several groups to show their tables and comments on them, correcting wrong information and supplementing missing content.

Design Intention: Scanning is an important skill to find specific information quickly. Completing the table can make students focus on the key information in the text, improve their ability to extract and sort out information. Group exchange and mutual check can not only help students find their own mistakes, but also cultivate their cooperative learning ability and communication ability.