内容正文:
Unit 9 Learning-Topic Talk
教学目标和重难点
教学目标
It focuses on developing students’ language ability to talk about learning, cultural awareness to understand learning concepts in different contexts, thinking quality to analyze and reflect on learning methods, and learning ability to form autonomous and cooperative learning habits.
教学重难点
Key points: Master core vocabulary and sentence patterns about learning ways and experiences; conduct fluent conversations on learning topics.
Difficult points: Use learned language flexibly to express personal views and reflect on own learning effectively.
教学过程
Step 1: Lead-in (Warm-up and Activation)
The teacher starts the class with a brainstorming activity. First, write the word “Learning” on the blackboard and ask students: “What comes to your mind when you hear the word ‘learning’? ” Encourage students to freely express their thoughts, such as “study at school”, “read books”, “learn new skills”, “make mistakes and correct them”, etc. The teacher writes down students’ answers on the blackboard to form a mind map. After 5 minutes of free discussion, the teacher asks follow-up questions: “Do you think learning only happens at school? ” “What is the most important thing in your learning process? ” to guide students to think deeply about the connotation of learning.
Then, the teacher shows a short video (1-2 minutes) about different learning scenarios, including students studying in the library, a cook learning new dishes, an old man learning to use a smartphone, and scientists doing experiments. After watching the video, ask students: “What do these people have in common? ” Guide students to conclude that “Everyone is learning all the time, and learning is a lifelong process”. Finally, the teacher introduces the topic of this class: “Today, we will talk about learning—our own learning experiences, ways of learning and views on learning.”
Design Intention: The brainstorming activity activates students’ prior knowledge and life experience related to learning, reducing their anxiety about new knowledge and stimulating their learning interest. The short video enriches students’ understanding of learning scenarios, helps them realize the universality and lifelong nature of learning, and naturally leads to the theme of the class. The mind map helps students sort out their thoughts and lays a foundation for the subsequent discussion.
Step 2: Presentation (Vocabulary and Sentence Patterns Input)
First, the teacher presents the core vocabulary of this Topic Talk based on the mind map and video just discussed, including nouns (learning, experience, method, skill, mistake, progress), verbs (learn, master, practice, reflect, improve, overcome), adjectives (effective, difficult, interesting, lifelong, practical) and phrases (learn from, take notes, make progress, reflect on, deal with mistakes, in my opinion). For each word and phrase, the teacher provides simple and easy-to-understand example sentences combined with students’ daily learning life, such as “I learn English by taking notes every day.” “We should reflect on our mistakes after exams.” “Practice makes perfect—it’s an effective way to master a new skill.”
After explaining the vocabulary, the teacher presents the key sentence patterns for talking about learning, which are divided into three categories: 1. Expressing learning ways: “I learn... by doing...”, “My way of learning... is to...”, “It’s helpful to... when learning...”; 2. Expressing learning experiences: “I once tried... and found that...”, “In my learning experience, I have learned that...”, “I used to... but now I...”; 3. Expressing views on learning: “In my opinion, learning is about...”, “I think the most important thing in learning is...”, “From my point of view, everyone should keep learning throughout their life.”
The teacher reads each sentence pattern aloud, and asks students to repeat it twice to ensure they master the correct pronunciation and intonation. Then, the teacher invites 2-3 students to make simple sentences with the new vocabulary and sentence patterns, and corrects their mistakes in pronunciation and grammar in time. For example, if a student says “I learn English by read books”, the teacher gently corrects it to “I learn English by reading books” and explains the usage of “by + doing”.
Design Intention: Combining the prior activity to present vocabulary and sentence patterns makes the input more contextual and helps students understand and remember. Example sentences closely related to students’ daily life reduce the difficulty of learning new language points. The repetition and sentence-making activities help students consolidate the new knowledge in time, lay a solid language foundation for the subsequent speaking practice, and also cultivate their language application ability initially.
Step 3: Practice (Controlled Practice andamp; Guided Practice)
This step is divided into two parts: controlled practice and guided practice, to help students gradually master the use of vocabulary and sentence patterns, and transition from mechanical imitation to flexible application.
In the controlled practice, the teacher designs a fill-in-the-blank exercise. The exercise content is closely related to the theme of learning, and students need to fill in the blanks with the newly learned vocabulary and sentence patterns. For example: 1. We should ______ (反思) our learning every week to find out our shortcomings. 2. My way of learning math is to ______ (做大量练习) every day. 3. ______ (在我看来), learning a foreign language requires persistence. 4. I learn new words by ______ (制作单词卡片) and reviewing them regularly. After students finish the exercise independently, they check the answers in pairs. The teacher then explains the key and difficult points in the exercise, especially the collocation of vocabulary and the correct use of sentence patterns, and emphasizes the common mistakes that students may make.
After the controlled practice, enter the guided practice link—pair work. The teacher gives a discussion task: “Work with your partner and talk about your learning experiences and ways of learning. You can talk about your favorite subject, the difficulties you meet in learning, how you overcome them, and your views on learning. Try to use the vocabulary and sentence patterns we just learned.” To help students carry out the discussion smoothly, the teacher provides a discussion outline on the screen: 1. What’s your favorite subject? Why? 2. What’s your way of learning this subject? 3. Have you met any difficulties in learning this subject? How did you deal with them? 4. What do you think is the most important thing in learning?
During the pair work, the teacher walks around the classroom, observes students’ communication, and provides timely help. For students who have difficulty expressing themselves, the teacher guides them to use the sentence patterns on the screen and prompts them with relevant vocabulary. For example, if a student doesn’t know how to express “overcome difficulties”, the teacher can remind them of the phrase “overcome difficulties” and give an example sentence. After the pair work, invite 3-4 groups to present their discussions to the whole class. After each group’s presentation, the teacher makes a brief comment, affirming their advantages in language use and content expression, and putting forward suggestions for improvement, such as “You used a lot of new sentence patterns, which is very good. If you can add more specific examples, your talk will be more vivid.”
Design Intention: Controlled practice helps students consolidate the new vocabulary and sentence patterns in a targeted manner, ensuring that they master the basic usage of language points. Guided practice (pair work) provides students with opportunities to use language in real communication, transforms the learned knowledge into practical language ability, and also cultivates their cooperative learning ability. The discussion outline reduces the difficulty of students’ communication and helps them carry out the discussion more smoothly. The teacher’s guidance and comments help students find their own shortcomings and improve their language expression ability in time.
Step 4: Production (Free Practice and Application)
On the basis of the previous practice, this step carries out free practice to let students apply the learned language knowledge flexibly and express their own views and experiences in a more comprehensive way. The teacher divides students into groups of 4-5, and assigns a group discussion task: “Discuss the topic ‘Lifelong Learning’ in your group. You can talk about: 1. What is lifelong learning? 2. Why is lifelong learning important in modern society? 3. How can we keep learning in our daily life? 4. Share a story about lifelong learning (it can be your own story, a story of your family or friends, or a famous person’s story).”
Before the group discussion, the teacher gives a few tips: 1. Everyone in the group should speak and express their own views; 2. Try to use as many new vocabulary and sentence patterns as possible; 3. Listen carefully to your group members’ opinions and respond actively; 4. Choose a spokesperson for the group to summarize the group’s views and present them to the whole class. Then, the groups start the discussion, and the teacher walks around to guide and help. For example, if a group is not clear about the connotation of “lifelong learning”, the teacher can explain it briefly: “Lifelong learning means that people keep learning new knowledge and skills throughout their life, not just in school.” For groups that have difficulty thinking of stories about lifelong learning, the teacher can give examples, such as “Your grandfather may learn to use WeChat to keep in touch with your family—that’s a kind of lifelong learning.”
After 10 minutes of group discussion, each group’s spokesperson presents the group’s views and stories. The teacher makes comments on each group’s presentation, focusing on the fluency of language expression, the flexibility of vocabulary and sentence pattern use, and the richness and rationality of content. At the same time, the teacher encourages students to ask questions to the presenting group. For example, after a group presents their views on lifelong learning, the teacher can ask other students: “Do you agree with their views? Why or why not? ” to stimulate further discussion and deepen students’ understanding of the topic.
In addition, the teacher invites students to write a short paragraph (50-80 words) about their own views on learning, using the vocabulary and sentence patterns learned in this class. Students finish the paragraph independently, and then exchange their paragraphs with their deskmates to correct each other’s mistakes in grammar, spelling and expression. The teacher collects some typical paragraphs, reads them to the whole class, and makes comments and corrections.
Design Intention: Group discussion on “Lifelong Learning” expands the depth and breadth of the topic, helps students realize the importance of lifelong learning, and cultivates their critical thinking ability and cooperative learning ability. The short paragraph writing combines speaking and writing, further consolidates students’ language knowledge, and improves their written expression ability. Mutual correction between deskmates helps students find their own mistakes and learn from each other, which is conducive to improving their learning ability and autonomous learning awareness.
Step 5: Summary and Extension
First, the teacher summarizes the content of this class with the students. The teacher guides students to review the core vocabulary, key sentence patterns and the main topic of this class: “Today, we learned a lot of vocabulary and sentence patterns about learning, talked about our own learning experiences and ways of learning, and discussed the importance of lifelong learning. We know that learning is a lifelong process, and everyone can learn in different ways.” Then, the teacher emphasizes the key points again: mastering the use of vocabulary and sentence patterns related to learning, and being able to express personal views and experiences on learning fluently.
Then, the teacher arranges the extension task: 1. After class, interview your parents or grandparents about their learning experiences and views on lifelong learning, and take notes. 2. Write a short interview report (80-100 words) based on the interview, using the vocabulary and sentence patterns learned in this class. 3. Share your interview report with your classmates in the next class. In addition, the teacher recommends some English materials about learning, such as English short articles about famous people’s learning stories, to help students expand their reading and accumulate more language materials.
Design Intention: The summary helps students sort out the knowledge learned in this class, consolidate the key points, and form a systematic knowledge structure. The extension task connects the classroom learning with real life, lets students apply the learned language knowledge to practical communication, and further deepens their understanding of the theme of learning. Interviewing parents or grandparents not only enriches students’ learning experience, but also helps them realize the universality of lifelong learning. Recommending English materials helps students expand their vision and improve their English reading ability.
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