Lesson Plan for Unit 5 Text A: A Valentine Story

Study of the Text Warm-up activities Text analysis Cultural notes Language study

Warm-up Activities (1) Do you like love songs? How do you understand love and romance? Well, let’s enjoy a love song and see what the singer has to say about her Valentine.

Warm-up Activities (2) How would you describe the feelings of someone in love? Write down two key words to describe such feelings. How do people behave when they are in love? Write down two kinds of behavior or actions that you think may be typical.

Warm-up Activities (3) Read the following quotations: Life is a song—sing it. Life is a game—play it. Life is a challenge—meet it. Life is a dream—realize it. Life is a sacrifice—offer it. Life is love—enjoy it. ---Sai Baba Love conquers all. ---Virgil

Text Analysis (1) How is the story developed? And from whose point of view do we get the story? Two points about the story are worth our attention: -- changes in tense -- change in narrator Now, read through the text, looking for changes in tense and narrator.

Changes in tenses From the past tense to the past perfect tense: L.1John Blanchard stood up from the bench, … and studied the crowd of people… L.5His interest in her had begun twelve months before in a Florida library.

Change in narrator From the 3rd person narration to the 1st person narration: Paras. 1-6 He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t. Para. 7I’ll let Mr. Blanchard tell you what happened.

Text Analysis (2) So, the text can accordingly be divided into four parts: Part One (Para. 1) John Blanchard was expecting someone at the Grand Central Station. Part Two (Paras.2-6) How John Blanchard had fallen in love with Miss Maynell. Part Three (Paras. 7-15) Miss Maynell put Blanchard to a test. Part Four (Paras ) It was wise of Miss Maynell to give such a test.

Cultural Notes Public libraries in the U.S. Public libraries in the U.S. are free to the public. One can get a library card at the local library by filling in a form and showing the librarian a valid ID and something to prove that one lives in the neighborhood (e.g. a used and stamped envelope with one’s name as the addressee, one’s phone bill, gas bill, etc.). Besides borrowing books, people go to the libraries to borrow video tapes, use the computers there, attend book readings by authors and other cultural events. Libraries are regarded as community centers.

Language Study (1) How do you understand the following sentences? 1. He looked for the girl whose heart he knew, but whose face he didn’t, the girl with the rose. (Lines 4-5, Para.2) 2. The soft handwriting reflected a thoughtful soul and insightful mind. (Lines 7-8, Para.2)

Language Study (2) 3. With time and effort he located her address. (Line 10, Para.3) 4. The next day he was shipped overseas for service in World War II. (Lines 12-13, Para.3) 5. If your feeling for me has any reality, any honest basis, what I look like won’t matter. (Lines 17-18, Para.4)

Language Study (3) 6. I’d be always be haunted by the feeling that you had been taking a chance on just that, and that kind of love would disgust me. (Lines 18-20, Para.4) 7. When the day finally came for him…, they scheduled their first meeting…(Lines 26-27, Para.5)

Language Study (4) 8. …a girl he had never seen, yet whose written words had been with him and sustained him unfailingly. (Lines 30-31, Para.6) 9. A young woman was coming toward me, her figure long and slim. Her golden hair lay back in curls from her delicate ears; her eyes were blue as flowers. …and in her pale green suit she was like springtime come alive. (Lines 34-37, Para.7)like

Rhetorical devices: Simile & Metaphor A simile is a comparison of one thing to another, using the words “like” or “as”. e.g. her hair was black as night A metaphor is a suggested but not stated comparison of one thing to another. e.g. “while I spoke I felt choked by the bitterness of my disappointment” (Para.14).

Language Study (5) 10. She was more than a little overweight, her thick-ankled feet thrust into low-heeled shoes. (Lines 45-46, Para.10) 11. I felt as though I was split in two, so keen was my desire to follow her, and yet so deep was my longing for the woman whose spirit had truly companioned me and upheld my own. (Lines 47-50, Para.11)

Language Study (6) 12. I did not hesitate. (Line 52, Para.12) What does the sentence suggest? 13. This would not be love, but it would be something precious, something perhaps even better than love, a friendship for which I had been and must ever be grateful. (Lines 54-56, Para.13)

Language Study (7) 14. She said it was some kind of test! (Line 65, Para.15) Q: What kind of test do you think it was? 15. The true nature of a heart is seen in its response to the unattractive. (Line 67, Para.16) Q: How do you paraphrase the sentence?

Language Study (8) 16. “Tell me whom you love, and I will tell you who you are.” (Lines 68-69, Para.17) Q: How do you understand this sentence? **If you tell me whom you love, I will tell you what kind of person you are. OR:**I can judge you by the person you love.

Language Study (9) Compare “make one’s way” and “go one’s way”. make one’s way: go e.g.Early in the morning the hunter made his way into the woods. The old man slowly rose from his seat and made his way to the front of the bus. go one’s way: go in sb’s direction e.g.I’m going your way, May I give you a ride? I wasn’t sure whether he was going my way or not, so I decided to go home by myself.

Vocabulary file (1) Word-building: straight (adj.) ---- straighten (v.) broad (adj.) ---- broaden (v.) thought (n.) --- thoughtful (adj.) insight (n.) --- insightful (adj.) sense (n.) --- sensible (adj.)

Vocabulary file (2) Synonyms: thoughtful --- slim --- previous --- delicate --- keen --- sensible --- grateful --- attractive --- Antonyms: thoughtful --- slim --- previous --- delicate --- keen --- sensible --- grateful --- attractive ---

Announcement for next week ’ s big class: Units 7- 10, Listening and Speaking Course 1 下周大课上听力课，请同学们带《听说教 程》。 Thank you!