Unit 5 Revealing Nature-Starting out 教案-2025-2026学年高中英语外研版选择性必修第一册

Unit 5 Revealing Nature-Starting out 内容导航 Starting out of Unit 5 Revealing Nature mainly includes a science magazine page introducing three unusual animals and a video about seed dispersal. It activates students’ prior knowledge, introduces core vocabulary, and lays a foundation for exploring nature and scientific spirit in subsequent lessons. 教学目标和重难点 1. 教学目标 Language Ability: Master words and phrases related to nature and animals, and use simple English to talk about rare animals. Cultural Awareness: Understand the exploration of nature by scientists from different countries and cultivate respect for natural diversity. Thinking Quality: Develop critical thinking and exploratory awareness through observing and discussing natural phenomena. Learning Ability: Learn to use listening and reading strategies to obtain information and lay a foundation for autonomous learning in subsequent units. 2. 教学重难点 Key Points: Master core vocabulary such as “evolve, date back to, survive” and key sentences about animal introduction; understand the basic information of the three unusual animals and the main content of the seed dispersal video; be able to talk about natural phenomena simply. Difficult Points: Correctly use the key phrases in oral expression; deeply understand the scientific significance behind the animals and seed dispersal; initially form the awareness of exploring nature. 教学过程 Step 1: Lead-in (Warm-up and Activation) Activity 1: Free Talk & Picture Presentation The teacher presents pictures of various magical natural scenes on the screen, including lush rainforests, mysterious deep oceans, rare animals, and peculiar plants. Then the teacher asks students the following questions in English: “What do you think of nature? Have you ever seen any unusual animals or plants? What do you know about them?” After asking the questions, the teacher gives students 3 minutes to discuss in pairs. During the discussion, the teacher walks around the classroom, listens to students’ conversations, guides them to use simple English to express their ideas, and helps students who have difficulty in expression. After the discussion, invite 3-4 groups to share their opinions. For example, if a student says “I have seen a panda, it is very cute”, the teacher can respond positively: “Very good! Pandas are rare animals in China. They are very precious. Do you know any other rare animals?” Design Intention: This activity starts with familiar natural scenes and simple questions, which can quickly attract students’ attention and arouse their interest in nature. Pair discussion provides students with opportunities to practice oral English, activates their prior knowledge about nature and animals, and lays a good emotional and language foundation for the subsequent learning of the unit. At the same time, the teacher’s guidance and positive feedback can enhance students’ confidence in speaking English. Activity 2: Vocabulary Preview The teacher writes the core vocabulary of Starting out on the blackboard or presents it on the screen, including nouns (Komodo dragon, duck-billed platypus, nautilus, fossil, seed), verbs (evolve, survive, encounter, judge), and phrases (date back to, be regarded as). The teacher pronounces each word and phrase clearly, and explains their basic meanings and usage with simple English and body language. For example, when explaining “date back to”, the teacher can say: “If something dates back to a certain time, it has existed since that time. For example, the Great Wall dates back to the Qin Dynasty.” When explaining “Komodo dragon”, the teacher can show a picture of a Komodo dragon and say: “It is a large lizard, which was first encountered by Western researchers in 1910.” After explaining, the teacher asks students to read the words and phrases aloud twice, and then invites several students to read them individually to check their pronunciation. For students with incorrect pronunciation, the teacher corrects them patiently. Then, the teacher asks students to match the words with their meanings, and checks the answers together with the whole class. Design Intention: Vocabulary is the foundation of language learning. Previewing core vocabulary in advance can help students reduce the difficulty of understanding the subsequent magazine page and video. The teacher’s pronunciation demonstration and simple explanation can help students master the correct pronunciation and basic usage of words and phrases. The matching exercise can consolidate students’ memory of vocabulary and lay a solid language foundation for the next step of learning. Step 2: Presentation (Input and Understanding) Activity 1: Reading the Science Magazine Page The teacher presents the science magazine page in Starting out on the screen, which introduces three unusual animals: Komodo dragon, duck-billed platypus, and nautilus. First, the teacher asks students to look at the pictures of the three animals and guess their names. Then, the teacher asks students to read the magazine page silently and answer the following questions: 1. When were Komodo dragons first encountered by Western researchers? 2. Why did the first scientists judge the preserved platypus body a fake? 3. Why is the nautilus often considered a “living fossil”? After students finish reading, the teacher invites students to answer the questions one by one. For the first question, the correct answer is “In 1910”. For the second question, the teacher can guide students to find the key sentence in the text: “The first scientists to examine a preserved platypus body judged it a fake in the late 18th century.” and explain that the platypus is very peculiar, so scientists thought it was a fake at first. For the third question, the correct answer is “Fossil records indicate that the nautilus has survived relatively unchanged for around 500 million years.” Then, the teacher leads students to read the magazine page aloud sentence by sentence, explaining the key sentences and difficult points in the text. For example, the sentence “The researchers said the ancestor of the Komodo dragon most likely evolved in Australia and spread westward, reaching the Indonesian island of Flores 900,000 years ago.” The teacher explains that “most likely” means “probably”, “evolved” means “developed gradually”, and “spread westward” means “moved to the west”. The teacher also guides students to pay attention to the participle phrase “reaching...” which is used as an adverbial of result. After reading, the teacher divides students into groups of 4, and asks each group to discuss the characteristics of the three animals and fill in a simple form. The form includes three columns: Animal Name, Key Information, and Characteristics. After the discussion, each group sends a representative to present their form to the whole class, and the teacher comments and supplements. Design Intention: This activity mainly trains students’ reading ability, including skimming and scanning skills. By answering questions, students can quickly grasp the key information of the text. Reading aloud helps students improve their pronunciation and intonation, and understand the structure and meaning of sentences more deeply. Group discussion and form-filling can cultivate students’ cooperative learning ability and ability to summarize information, and help students have a more comprehensive understanding of the three unusual animals. Activity 2: Watching the Video about Seed Dispersal The teacher tells students: “Besides unusual animals, nature also has many magical phenomena. Now we will watch a video about seed dispersal. Please watch it carefully and answer the questions.” Then the teacher plays the video twice. The first time, students watch it to get the general idea. The second time, students watch it carefully and answer the following questions: 1. What are the ways of seed dispersal mentioned in the video? 2. How do some seeds disperse with the help of animals? 3. Why is seed dispersal important for plants? After watching the video, the teacher invites students to share their answers. For the first question, the possible answers are: wind dispersal, water dispersal, animal dispersal, and self-dispersal. For the second question, students can answer: Some seeds have thorns or hooks, which can stick to the fur of animals and be carried to other places; some seeds are eaten by animals and excreted in other places. For the third question, the teacher can guide students to think: Seed dispersal can help plants spread to new areas, avoid overcrowding, and increase the chance of survival. Then, the teacher plays the key parts of the video again, and explains the key words and phrases related to seed dispersal, such as “seed dispersal, wind, water, animal fur, excrete, survival”. The teacher also asks students to repeat the key sentences in the video to strengthen their memory. Design Intention: Video is a multi-modal teaching resource, which can make the teaching content more vivid and intuitive, and arouse students’ interest in learning. Watching the video twice can help students first grasp the general idea and then obtain detailed information, which conforms to the law of language input. Answering questions and repeating key sentences can help students consolidate the knowledge they have learned and improve their listening comprehension ability. At the same time, this activity can expand students’ knowledge about nature and lay a foundation for exploring the theme of “revealing nature”. Step 3: Practice (Consolidation and Application) Activity 1: Vocabulary and Sentence Practice 1. Fill in the blanks with the correct words or phrases from the text. The teacher presents the following sentences on the screen: ① The Komodo dragon ______ (首次被西方研究者发现) in 1910. ② The nautilus ______ (追溯到) about 500 million years ago. ③ Some seeds are dispersed by animals, which can help them ______ (生存) in new areas. Students complete the blanks individually, and then the teacher checks the answers together with the whole class. The correct answers are: ① was first encountered by Western researchers; ② dates back to; ③ survive. For students who make mistakes, the teacher explains the reasons and helps them correct them. 2. Make sentences with the given words or phrases. The teacher gives the following words and phrases: evolve, date back to, survive, be regarded as. Students are asked to make one sentence with each word or phrase. For example, “Many species evolve to adapt to the changing environment.” “This ancient building dates back to the Tang Dynasty.” After students finish making sentences, the teacher invites several students to share their sentences, and comments on them. For good sentences, the teacher praises them; for sentences with mistakes, the teacher corrects them patiently and guides students to make correct sentences. Design Intention: This activity aims to consolidate students’ mastery of core vocabulary and key sentences. Fill-in-the-blank exercises can help students review the words and phrases they have learned and understand their usage in context. Sentence-making exercises can train students’ ability to use language flexibly, and help students apply the learned knowledge to practical expression, laying a foundation for subsequent oral and written expression. Activity 2: Oral Discussion The teacher divides students into groups of 5, and asks them to discuss the following topics in English: 1. Which of the three unusual animals do you like best? Why? 2. What other ways of seed dispersal do you know? Please introduce them briefly. 3. Why should we protect rare animals and plants? The teacher gives students 8 minutes to discuss. During the discussion, the teacher walks around the classroom, provides help for students who have difficulty in expression, guides students to use the vocabulary and sentences they have learned, and encourages students to express their own opinions boldly. For example, if a student does not know how to express “protect rare animals”, the teacher can prompt: “We can say ‘protect rare animals’ or ‘take measures to protect rare animals’.” After the discussion, each group sends a representative to make a 2-minute report to the whole class, introducing the group’s discussion results. After each representative’s report, the teacher makes a brief comment, affirming the advantages and putting forward suggestions for improvement. For example, “Your report is very good! You used many new words we learned today. If you can add more details, it will be better.” Design Intention: Oral discussion is an important way to improve students’ oral expression ability. This activity combines the knowledge learned in this lesson with practical topics, which can help students apply the learned language knowledge to real communication. Group discussion can cultivate students’ cooperative learning ability and communication ability, and encourage students to express their own views boldly. The teacher’s guidance and comments can help students find their own shortcomings and improve their oral expression ability continuously. Activity 3: Reading Comprehension Practice The teacher prepares a short passage related to nature and rare animals, which is slightly more difficult than the magazine page in Starting out. The passage introduces another rare animal — the giant panda, including its living habits, living environment, and the reasons for its rarity. The teacher asks students to read the passage silently and answer the following questions: 1. Where do giant pandas mainly live? 2. What do giant pandas mainly eat? 3. Why are giant pandas rare? After students finish reading, the teacher checks the answers, and explains the difficult words and sentences in the passage. Then, the teacher asks students to retell the passage briefly with their own words. Invite 2-3 students to retell, and the teacher comments and guides them to retell more fluently and accurately. Design Intention: This activity aims to further improve students’ reading comprehension ability and ability to summarize and retell. The short passage related to the theme of the unit can help students consolidate the knowledge they have learned and expand their knowledge. Retelling the passage can train students’ ability to organize language and express ideas, and lay a foundation for the subsequent reading and writing tasks of the unit. Step 4: Extension (Expansion and Promotion) Activity 1: Introduction to Famous Scientists The teacher tells students: “Many scientists have devoted themselves to exploring nature and made great contributions to human beings. Today, we will learn about a famous scientist — Charles Darwin.” The teacher presents a brief introduction of Charles Darwin on the screen, including his life experience, his voyage on the Beagle, and his book On the Origin of Species. The teacher reads the introduction aloud, and explains the key points, such as “natural selection, evolution”. Then, the teacher asks students: “What do you think of Charles Darwin? What can we learn from him?” Students think for a few minutes, and then share their opinions. The teacher guides students to realize that Darwin had the spirit of perseverance, curiosity, and exploration, and that we should learn from him to observe nature carefully, think boldly, and pursue the truth. Design Intention: This activity connects the content of Starting out with the theme of scientific exploration, expands students’ knowledge, and helps students understand the scientific spirit. Introducing Charles Darwin can lay a foundation for the subsequent learning of Understanding Ideas, which tells the story of Darwin’s exploration. At the same time, this activity can cultivate students’ sense of responsibility and spirit of exploration, and promote the development of their thinking quality and cultural awareness. Activity 2: Group Project Preparation The teacher divides students into groups of 4-5, and assigns a group project: “Collect information about a rare animal or plant, and prepare a short presentation (3-5 minutes) for the next class. The presentation should include the name, appearance, living habits, living environment, and the reasons for its rarity. You can use pictures, videos, or PPT to assist your presentation.” The teacher explains the requirements of the project clearly, and reminds students to use the vocabulary and sentences they have learned in this lesson. The teacher also provides some channels for collecting information, such as textbooks, encyclopedias, and reliable websites. Students discuss the division of labor in groups, such as who collects information, who makes PPT, who gives the presentation, etc. The teacher walks around the classroom, provides guidance for each group, and helps them solve problems encountered in the preparation process. Design Intention: Group project is a kind of task-based teaching activity, which can cultivate students’ autonomous learning ability, cooperative learning ability, and information collection and processing ability. The project is closely related to the theme of the unit, which can help students apply the learned knowledge to practical tasks, and deepen their understanding of the theme of “revealing nature” and “protecting nature”. At the same time, the preparation for the presentation can lay a foundation for the oral expression activity in the next class. Step 5: Summary and Homework Activity 1: Class Summary The teacher invites students to summarize what they have learned in this class. For example, ask students: “What did we learn today? What new words and phrases did we master? What did we know about nature?” Students share their summaries one by one, and the teacher supplements and sorts out. The teacher emphasizes the key points of this class: the basic information of the three unusual animals, the ways of seed dispersal, the core vocabulary and key sentences, and the importance of protecting nature and exploring scientific spirit. Design Intention: Letting students summarize the class content by themselves can help them sort out the knowledge they have learned, deepen their memory, and improve their ability to summarize and organize language. The teacher’s supplement and sorting out can help students form a systematic knowledge framework, and emphasize the key points, which is conducive to students’ review and consolidation after class. Activity 2: Homework Arrangement 1. Review the core vocabulary and key sentences learned in this class, and copy them 3 times each. 2. Finish the reading comprehension exercise handed out by the teacher. 3. Continue to prepare the group project with group members, and collect relevant information and materials. 4. Write a short passage (80-100 words) about your favorite rare animal, using the vocabulary and sentences learned in this class. The teacher explains the requirements of each homework clearly, and reminds students to finish the homework on time. For the short passage, the teacher gives a simple example: “My favorite rare animal is the panda. It lives in Sichuan, China. It mainly eats bamboo. Pandas are very cute, but they are rare because their living environment is destroyed. We should protect them.” Design Intention: Homework is an important part of teaching, which can help students consolidate the knowledge they have learned in class and apply it to practical writing. Copying vocabulary and sentences can strengthen students’ memory of language knowledge. The reading comprehension exercise can further improve students’ reading ability. Continuing to prepare the group project can ensure the smooth progress of the next class activity. The short passage writing can train students’ written expression ability, and help students apply the learned knowledge to practical writing. Step 6: Evaluation and Feedback During the whole teaching process, the teacher conducts formative evaluation on students’ performance, including their participation in free talk, pair discussion, group discussion, their answers to questions, their performance in oral reports, and their completion of classroom exercises. The teacher uses positive language to encourage students, such as “Very good!”, “You did a great job!”, “Your idea is very creative!”, to enhance students’ confidence in learning English. After class, the teacher will carefully correct students’ homework, especially the short passage, and give targeted comments and suggestions. For students who have made great progress, the teacher will praise them; for students who have difficulties, the teacher will communicate with them individually, understand the reasons for their difficulties, and provide targeted help. At the beginning of the next class, the teacher will briefly summarize the students’ homework completion and give feedback, and comment on the excellent homework and the homework that needs improvement. Design Intention: Formative evaluation can help the teacher timely understand students’ learning situation, find out the problems existing in students’ learning, and adjust the teaching plan and method in time. Positive evaluation and feedback can stimulate students’ learning motivation and interest, and help students establish confidence in learning English. Individual communication and help can help students solve their learning difficulties and promote the all-round development of students. 1 / 1 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 学科网（北京）股份有限公司 $