Unit 2 Language Module 3 The development of Chinese characters

What’re they? Chinese characters

pictograph

万

How did Chinese characters develop ?

1.How old is the Chinese writing? Read the article at p.38 And answer questions. 2.Who invented Chinese characters? 3.How was Chinese writing invented? 4.When did the Chinese gover- nment simplified characters?

1.How old is the Chinese writing? 2.Who invented Chinese characters? Thousands of years. Cang Jie

3.How was Chinese writing invented? When did the Chinese gover- nment simplified characters? Cang Jie saw the footprints of birds and animals in the snow and he got the idea he could use different shapes or pictures to represent objects. In the 1950s.

1.The history of many Chinese words can be seen by looking at how their characters developed. 2.All the characters have been simplified True or Flase F T Some characters have been simplified and others have been made more complex over time.

3.All the characters are used to describe objects. 4.Pictographs indicate meanings and pronunciation. Not all F F but they do not show how they should be pronounced.

Please read the text carefully and find the answers to the questions 1.What does the Chinese language differ from western languages in? In that Chinese language uses characters which have meanings and can stand alone as a word.

2.Why did Chinese people invent numerous characters? They invented numerous characters to represent ideas, Objects or actions 3.What were the very first Chinese characters? The shapes or pictures.

4.Are the first real characters pictographs? 5.How did the Chinese character ‘mountain’ develop from drawings into standard forms? Yes The pictograph for a mountain was originally three peaks together. This became one peak and three lines and eventually turned into the character used today.

6.How was the Chinese character ‘rest’ was made ? 7.how was the character ‘prisoner’ formed? by putting the characters for a man and a tree together. The character ‘prisoner’ was formed with the symbol for a man inside a square.

8.How did pictophonetic characters combine? They combined part of the character indicating meaning and the other showing sound.

Tick out the pictophonetic characters. 绘 画 山 峰 符 号 象 征 drawing peak symbol indicate 阶 级 走 廊 肌 肉 惊 慌 class corridor muscle panic

Read the passage again and divide the passage into several parts, then give the main idea of each part. Para. 1. Para. 2. Para.3-6 Para. 7-8 Brief introduction of Chinese characters. The origins of Chinese characters. Form and development of Chinese characters. Pronunciation of Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters.

Useful expressions differ from in that over time as a whole develop…into turn …into this way in the 1950s

Fill in the blanks with the phrases from the box below. over time according to differ from in that this way turn…into as a whole develop …into 1.Old English _______ greatly _____ the modern English we use today. 2. Life on the island has changed __________ because of the growing number of tourists who visit it every year. 3. ______________ the tickets, the train will leave at 8:30. We’d better hurry to get to the station on time! differs from According to over time

4. She said it was the teacher’s praise and encouragement that ______ her ______ a good student. 5. Install this spell check software on your computer. You will avoid making spelling mistakes__________. 6. Considering your idea ____________, I think it will contribute significantly to the development of the company. However, it may cause some problems as well. 7.I was lucky _________ I was able to find what I wanted. turned into this way as a whole in that

Starting the project--- How to design a booklet Planning Preparing Producing Presenting

Planning Work in small groups and discuss and choose what characters the group would like to research. Discuss the layout of the booklet. Divide the work each group member will do. Collect the information needed.

Preparing Look for information as many sources as you can find. Tips (organizing information) 1.Introduction 2.Method 3.Findings 4.Conclusion

Producing Everyone writes a section of the booklet. Then put what has been written together. Add photos or illustrations where necessary. Proofread the draft to correct mistakes if there are any. New ideas can be added. Now the booklet is finished.

Presenting Present the booklet to the whole class by taking turns to talk about each section of their booklet.

Homework 1. Do Parts B1 and B2 on page 99 in workbook. 2.Do Parts D1 and D2 on page 101 in workbook. 3.Review words and phrases in this unit.

Goodbye, everybody !