Unit 5 Learning Through Travel-Section 4 Expanding Our Horizons 教案-2025-2026学年高中英语冀教版选择性必修第一册

Language Ability: Master core words and sentence patterns about travel and growth, and improve reading comprehension and expression skills. Cultural Awareness: Understand diverse cultures in travel, respect cultural differences and enhance cultural confidence. Thinking Quality: Develop logical and critical thinking through analyzing travel experiences. Learning Ability: Form good learning habits of autonomous exploration and cooperative learning.

Key Points: Grasp the main idea and structure of the text, master the usage of key words (e.g., expand, assume, tackle) and complex sentences.

Difficult Points: Understand the deep meaning of "expanding horizons" through travel and flexibly apply what is learned to express personal views.

Step 1: Lead-in (Lead-in Activity)

The teacher starts the class with an open question: “Have you ever had a travel experience that changed your view of the world? If yes, what did you learn from it? If not, what kind of travel do you expect to have?” Then, the teacher shows 3-4 short video clips or pictures about different travel experiences, such as a student traveling to a remote mountain area and understanding the hard life of local children, a traveler exploring ancient cultural relics and feeling the charm of history, and a group of young people traveling abroad and communicating with people from different countries. After watching, invite 2-3 students to share their thoughts in English, and the teacher gives simple comments and guidance, finally leading to the topic of this section: “Expanding Our Horizons Through Travel”.

Design Intention: The lead-in activity is closely related to the students’ real life, which can quickly arouse their interest and enthusiasm for learning. By asking questions and showing audio-visual materials, students can naturally connect their own travel experiences with the theme of the text, lay an emotional and cognitive foundation for the subsequent text learning, and also exercise their oral expression ability in a relaxed atmosphere. At the same time, it can implicitly guide students to realize the significance of travel beyond entertainment, which is consistent with the core of “expanding horizons” in this section.

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

First, the teacher lists the core vocabulary and phrases in this section on the blackboard or courseware, including expand, horizon, assume, tackle, intense, adapt to, get down to, be opposed to, etc. For each word and phrase, the teacher explains its meaning, pronunciation and usage, and gives example sentences closely related to travel. For example, when explaining “expand one’s horizons”, the teacher gives the example sentence: “Traveling to different countries can expand our horizons and help us know more about the world.”; when explaining “tackle”, the teacher uses: “When we travel, we may encounter many difficulties, and we need to learn to tackle them bravely.” Then, the teacher arranges a 2-minute pair work: students work in pairs to make sentences with the given words and phrases, and then invite several pairs to present their sentences to the whole class, and the teacher corrects mistakes and optimizes expressions.

Next, the teacher briefly introduces the background of the text: The text mainly tells about the author’s travel experience in a foreign country, and how this experience helps him expand his horizons, change his cognitive mode and grow up. The teacher emphasizes that travel is not only a kind of relaxation, but also a kind of learning. It can let us contact different cultures, meet different people, and thus have a more comprehensive and in-depth understanding of the world. This part of the background introduction is concise and to the point, helping students better understand the theme and connotation of the

text.

Design Intention: Vocabulary is the foundation of text learning. Previewing core vocabulary before reading can help students reduce difficulties in reading, improve reading speed and comprehension. By explaining words with example sentences related to travel, students can not only master the usage of words, but also deepen their understanding of the theme. Pair work can stimulate students’ learning initiative, let them practice using words in communication, and lay a solid foundation for subsequent text reading. The background introduction helps students establish a preliminary understanding of the text, clarify the context of the text, and improve the efficiency of text learning.

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

This step is divided into three parts: skimming, scanning and careful reading, to help students gradually deepen their understanding of the text from the surface to the deep.

First, Skimming: The teacher asks students to read the text quickly within a certain time, and then answer two questions: 1. What is the main idea of the text? 2. What is the author’s attitude towards travel? After students finish reading, the teacher invites several students to answer the questions, and then summarizes: The main idea of the text is that the author’s travel experience in a foreign country helps him expand his horizons and gain growth; the author holds a positive and supportive attitude towards travel, believing that travel is an important way to learn and grow.

Design Intention: Skimming is a basic reading skill. Through skimming, students can quickly grasp the main idea of the text, establish the overall framework of the text, and lay a foundation for further detailed reading. The two questions designed are closely related to the core of the text, which can guide students to focus on the key information when reading, avoid blind reading, and improve reading efficiency.

Second, Scanning: The teacher asks students to read the text again, and find out the key information according to the following requirements: 1. Where did the author travel? 2. What difficulties did the author encounter during the trip? 3. How did the author solve these difficulties? 4. What did the author learn from the trip? Students can mark the key information in the text while reading. After reading, the teacher organizes students to exchange and discuss in groups of 4, share the key information they found, and complement each other. Then, the teacher invites each group to send a representative to report the discussion results, and sorts out and summarizes the key information of the text, helping students clarify the context and key details of the text.

Design Intention: Scanning is a skill to find specific information quickly. Through scanning, students can accurately find the key details in the text, deepen their understanding of the text content, and also exercise their ability to extract information. Group discussion can promote the communication and cooperation between students, let them learn from each other, complement each other’s advantages, and improve their ability to cooperate and solve problems together. At the same time, it can also make students more actively participate in the learning process and enhance their sense of participation.

Third, Careful Reading: The teacher guides students to read the text carefully paragraph by paragraph, focusing on analyzing the key sentences, logical structure and the author’s emotional changes in the text.

For the first paragraph, the teacher asks students to pay attention to the sentence: “I never thought that a short trip abroad would have such a profound impact on me.” The teacher guides students to analyze the function of this sentence: it is the topic sentence of the text, which leads to the following content and expresses the author’s surprise and feeling about the impact of travel. Then, the teacher asks students to think: Why did the author have such a feeling? What did he experience before the trip that made him have such a change?

For the middle paragraphs (describing the travel process and difficulties), the teacher focuses on analyzing the complex sentences in the text, such as: “When I first arrived in that country, I couldn’t adapt to the local food and language, and I even wanted to give up halfway.” The teacher guides students to analyze the structure of the sentence (adverbial clause of time + main clause), and explains the usage of “adapt to” and “give up halfway”. At the same time, the teacher guides students to