Unit 4 American DreamBy 魏华Objectives:1.Understand the main idea (Tony Trivisonno realized his American Dream through his ownefforts) and structure of the text (one part telling the story of Tony’s life and the other giving the author’s comments on it);2.Learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features, together with supporting detailswhich demonstrate the features;3.Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text;4.Conduct a series of listening, speaking and writing activities centered upon the theme of theunit.Focuses:1.Understand the main idea and structure of the text;2.Learn to describe a person by his/her characteristic features;3.Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the textOutline:Pre-reading activities1.Asks several Ss the following questions to check if they have listened to the taped interviewwith Dr. Hertz. (5 mins)2.Ss do Cloze B in after-text exercises to have a better understanding of the American Dream;when they finish T and Ss will discuss what they have filled in those blanks. (15 mins)3.Based on the above two activities, T asks Ss’ opinion on the essence of the American Dream.(10 mins)4.T sums up the things mentioned above and leads in to the text. (5 mins)While-reading activities:1.Story narrated according to time sequence. (15 mins)2.T explains the language points and gives Ss practice. (2 periods)Post-reading activities1.Ss read Writing Strategy and instructions for Theme-related Language Learning Tasks. (15mins)2. T guides Ss through several after-text exercises. (20 mins)3. Theme-related Language Learning Tasks (1 period)Pre-reading activities1.T asks several Ss the following questions to check if they have listened to the taped interview with Dr. Hertz:---- What did American Dream mean to Dr. Hertz’s grandparents? (hint: it first meant getting out of poverty; later it meant the chance for their children to succeed)---- Why does Dr. Hertz say that the American Dream is in one’s head and in one’s pocket? (hint: it is in one’s head because one wants to live as well as or better than others; it is in one’s pocket because one has to keep on spending money so as to have things other people have). (5 mins)2.Ss do Cloze B in after-text exercises to have a better understanding of the American Dream; when they finish T and Ss will discuss what they have filled in those blanks. (15 mins)3. Based on the above two activities, T asks Ss’ opinion on the essence of the American Dream.(10 mins)4. T su ms up and leads in to the text by saying: We’ve often heard about the American Dream, and by now we know it means the belief that everyone can succeed as long as he/she works hard enough. Of course, we must realize that here success is narrowly defined as financial success. In this unit you will read how such a dream came true. (5 mins)While-reading activities:1.A story narrated according to time sequence(1)Ss scan the text to circle all the time words, phrases or sentences in this text. (They are: oneevening, The next two days, Summer passed into fall, The months passed, one day, A year or two passed, After about two years, Sometime later, Then , during the war, After he passed away.). By this they will see that the text is written according to time sequence.(2)T explains to Ss that Tony fulfilled his American Dream step by step, and that the time phrasesserve as transitions between steps.(3)T draws Ss’ attention to Text Organization Exercise 2. Here they will see that, between thefirst time phrase –― one evening‖—and the time sentence –― Summer passed into fall‖, Tony took the first step by working as a help at Mr. Crawford’s house.(4)T lets Ss know that they are to complete Text Organization Exercise 2 as he/she goes througheach step, which is similarly defined by the appearances of time phrases.(15 mins)2.T explains the language points from Line1 to Line 21 and gives Ss practice. (15 mins)3. Pairing: What does a gardener do?(1)T copies down the following two columns on the blackboard;A BTo mow the gardenTo weed the yardTo sweep the lawnTo clean up any little tasksTo take care of heavy objectsTo lift the walksTo fix things(2)Ss try to pair the verbs in Column A with objects in Column B. For some verbs, more than onecollocation is possible. (Possible pairings: to mow the lawn, to weed the garden, toSweep the walks, to clean up the yard, to take care of any little tasks, to lift heavy objects, to fixthings)(3) T stresses the importance of looking out for collocations in the course of reading. (10 mins)4.T explains the language points from Line 22 to Line 27 and gives them practice. (7 mins)5.Ss sum up what Tony achieved during this time interval. (hint: Tony got a job clearing snow at Mr. Crawford’s factory) (3 mins)6.T explains the language points from Line 28 to Line 36 and gives them practice. (7 mins)7.Ss sum up what Tony achieved during this time interval. (hint: Tony learned to be a skilled worker) (3 mins)8. T explains the language points from Line 37 to Line 49 and gives them practice. (7 mins)9. Ss sum up what Tony achieved during this time interval. (hint: Tony bought a house with Mr. Crawford’s help) (3 mins)10. T explains the language points from Line 50 to Line 63 and gives them practice. (7 mins)11. Ss sum up what Tony achieved during this time interval. (hint: Tony bought a farm and sent for his family in Italy)(3 mins)12. T explains the language points from Line 64 to Line 67 and gives them practice. (7 mins)13. Ss sum up what Tony achieved during this time interval. (hint: Tony died, leaving his family a prosperous farm and his children educated)(3 mins)14. T explains the language points of the remaining paragraphs and gives them practice. (10 mins)15. Ss sum up the main idea of this sectio n. (hint: Author’s reflections on the story of Tony)(5 mins)16. (1) Ss scan the text again to find out all descriptions of Tony’s physical appearance.(They are: Line 3 He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.Lines 50-51 He seemed to stand a little straighter. He was heavier. He has aLook of confidence.Line 60 …Neatly dressed)(2) T points out to Ss that a good writer only includes those details that will help get across his/her points to the reader. The above-mentioned descripti ons of Tony’s physical appearance, for example, show how Tony became more and more successful. (5 mins)Language Points1.Turn away: refuse to helpHe’s my son after all; I can’t just turn him away when he is in trouble.2.Work out: planMy mother allowed me to take the trip, but asked me to work out the total cost first.Finally I worked out that the parcel had been sent to Paris by mistake.3.Do with: used in questions with what: deal withWhat do you do with such rude boys?4.Personnel:Personnel has/have rece ived you’re application form.All personnel in this company are entitled to medical insurance.5.Turn down: refuseHe was offered the job but he turned it down because it involved too much traveling.6.Call on: visitHe wanted to call on his girlfriend after work, and then go to see a movie with her.7.Down payment: an initial amount of payment8. Discard: throw awayI’m going to discard those magazines if you finished reading them.8.Abandon: give upMy car broke down and I had to abandon it on the main road.9.Pass away: dieThe old lady passed away peacefully.Post-reading activities1.(1) Ss read Writing Strategy and instructions for Theme-related Language Learning Tasks;(2) Ss read Lines 68-71 in text;(3) Ss work alone or in pairs to find out those details that illustrate Tony’s ―vision,determination, self-control, optimism, self-respect and above all, integrity‖.(4) Some Ss report their findings to the class. (15 mins)2. T guides Ss through several after-text exercises. (20 mins)3. Theme-related Language Learning Tasks (1 period)。