New Progressive College English Book III UNIT 2 Conspicuous ConsumptionUNIT 2 Conspicuous Consumption 1. Teaching Objectives:Students will be able toA. Have a thorough understanding of the text contextually and linguisticallyB. Talk about the conspicuous consumption of luxury goodsC. Conduct group discussion centering on the “ fuerdai ” phenomenon in ChinaD. Become familiar with expository writing2. Time Allotment:st1 Period: Lead-in Activities (Warm-up activities; Discussion about the topic)2nd Period: Global-reading (Text: Approaching the theme; analyzing the textorganization)rd3 Period: Detailed reading (Understanding the Text A in a deeper level, analyzing difficult sentencestructures)4th Period: Detailed reading Activities (Learning new words, summarizing good usage)5th Period: Comprehending Reading 1 (Skimming the text, explaining the difficult sentences of the Text, doing sentence translation))6 th Period: After-reading Activities (Viewing and Listening; Speaking; Assignments)3. Teaching Procedures:Lead-in ActivitiesStep 1. Warm-up activitiesAsk Ss to listen to a song and fill in the missing words in the lyrics.Have Ss work in pairs. One student asks the other the questions in Opener, theother answers. Then switch roles.Method: PPT, communicative approach.Step 2: Discussion about the topicIntroduce the topic of the unit to Ss either in English or Chinese: Sometimes people buy things just for the purpose of showing that they are richer, or have better taste than others. Expensive brand-name goods can serve this purpose, and are often wanted precisely because they are expensive. Whether spending money in this way is good, bad or simply silly is something we are going to explore. Method: Using task-based language teaching method, communicative approach.Global readingStep 1. Approaching the themeAsk Ss to take a look at the Culture Notes, or ask them to do some further reading before class about the idiom “keep up with the Joneses ”, its origins and its social impact, etc.Guide Ss to explore the text to fide the meaning and origin of the expression“keep up with the Joneses ” , how this phenomenon came into being, and what we should do to rid ourselves of the pressure of keeping up with the Joneses.Method: PPT; communicative approach.Analyzing the text organizationThe teacher tells students that the text can be divided into three parts whichhave been given in the Text Organization . Then students should summarize the main idea of each part and compare notes with each other.Detailed ReadingProcedure1) Students are asked to read the passage carefully again and for each paragraph(sometimes two-three paragraphs), invite students to answer questions relateddifficult sentences and understanding of each paragraph.2) Help Ss find out the good usage in the text and underlined them.3) Learn new words in details.Purpose : Further understand the text and train scanning ability to learn difficult sentence structures as well as new words and expressions.Method: Reading the text together; Using task-based language teaching method, reading approach, communicative approach, grammar-translation approach.Step 1. Questions related difficult sentences and understanding of each paragraph.Q. Where does the phrase “ Keeping up with the Joneses ” come fromA: It comes from a cartoon strip of the same title launched by Pop Momand in 1913.&4Q: Why were we not aware of what the Joneses were doing prior to the late 1880sA: Prior to the late 1880s, mass media was not born. We were only concerned about making our own living.Q: What was the ready solution provided by magazines in order for us to catch up with the JonesesA: The ready solution was to buy products that were advertised.Q: Where do true happiness and joy come from, if they are not anything money can buyA: True happiness and joy come from within.Q: What are we supposed to do to stop keeping up with the JonesesA: Instead of buying into the message that we positive self-regard. We should realize we don others. Language Focus Difficult sentences:1) I ' d love to say that need vanished when the last episode of that comic strip ran, but alas, it seems to have only gotten worse. (Para. 2)I would like to say that need disappeared when the comic strip came to an end, but it seems that things have turned from bad to worse instead.我多么想说，随着最后一集连环漫画的结束，这一心态也不复存在了。

可是，唉，情况似乎 变得更糟。

2) Prior to the late 1880s, most of us were so busy trying to make a living thatwe didn ' t care what the Joneses were doing, nor did we know, for that matter. (Para. 4)Before the late 1880s, most of us were busy trying to make a living. We didn ' t care what the Joneses were doing, and we didn ' t know either.19世纪 80年代末以前，我们多数人都在忙于生计，既不关心、也不知道邻居们在做些什么。