Unit 2

Teaching objectives Grasp the main idea (never delay expressing your true feelings to a friend) and the structure of the text (developing a story around a letter); Appreciate that spoken English is much more informal than written English; Master the key language points Integrate four basic skills related to the theme of the unit

Warm-up Strategy 1

Step 1 Sing along: Auld Lang Syne Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, for auld lang syne. For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne. We’ll take a cup of kind yet, for auld lang syne.

What proverbs about friends do you know in English? Step 2 What proverbs about friends do you know in English?

Proverb 1 Friends must part. Friendless is the dead. Friends agree best at distance. A friend in need is a friend indeed. The only way to have a friend is to be one. Friends may meet, but mountains never greet.

Proverbs 2 Friendship is a plant which must be often watered. Friendship is to be strengthened by truth and devotion. Friendship is, at any rate, a relation of perfect equality. Friendship is love with understanding (love without wings).

Proverb 3 Friendship is the golden thread that ties the heart of all the world. Friends are like fiddle-strings, they must not be screwed too tight. Friends that desert us in the hour of need are friends in name, not in reality. Friendship multiple joys, and divide grief. Friendship? Two bodies and one soul. Friendship cannot stand always on one side. Friendship is like wine, the older the better.

What expressions about friends do you know in Chinese? Warm-up 3 What expressions about friends do you know in Chinese?

Expressions about friends When people meet and become friends, they hold a ceremony and promise each other that they will cherish their friendship and be loyal to each other until the day of their death, and during their lifetime, they will share almost everything they have. 生死之交

Expressions about friends 2 Two persons, one being much older than the other, have become such good friends that they forget their difference in age 忘年之交 bosom friend 知音 Two students in the same class who have become friends 同窗

Warm-up Strategy 2

Questions on the CD-ROM for T 1 Have you ever heard of Dionne Warwick? Have you happened to hear her sing? 2 What does a fair weather friend mean? 3 What does Dionne Warwick think friends are for? 4 4 Does the song give you any idea of what stories in this unit will be about?

Do you often write letters to friends frequently, sometimes, rarely, never?

A lead-in question to the text Sometimes we put off writing letters because we think letters can wait until other matters are dealt with, or because we think a phone call will do instead. However, sometimes, as you are to find in this text, we may leave it too late to write, and letters are the best in expressing our innermost feelings.

While-reading 1 Ask the Ss to read the text, and put it into a dialogue, and work in pairs first, then have role play. Here are the tips:

While-reading (Questions) 1 Is your cab available? 2 Is the letter from a child or grandchild? 3 He’s someone you’ve known quite a while? 4 Did you go to school together? 5 Is he dead? 6 Did you two work at the same place? 7 The letter must have made you feel good, didn’t it? 8 I thought your friend was Ed. Why did he sign it Tom?

While-reading (Answers) 1 Yes. 2 No. Ed was my older friend. 3 All my life. 4 All the way through high school. 5 He died a couple of weeks ago. 6 No, but we hung out together when single, later we grew more distant.

While-reading (Answers) 7 The driver said something that the narrator couldn’t understand. 8 The letter was not from Ed to me, I am Tom. It’s a letter I wrote to him before I knew he’d died. So I never mailed it.

Text Organisation Parts Paras Main Ideas Part 1 (1-20): From a conversation with the cab driver the author learned how much he regretted failing to keep up correspondence. Part 2 (21-35): Reading the letter by himself, the author learned more about the lifelong friendship between the driver and Old Ed. Part 3 (Para36): The driver’s experience urged the author to reach for his pen.

Language study 24 language points

Language Points 1-2 1 be lost in/ lose oneself in): be absorbed in, be fully occupied with He was lost in playing computer games so he was unaware of my entering the room. She was lost in her novel. I had lost in my thought. 2 available: able to use, had, or reached There are tickets available for Jay Chow’s concert. You can use the directions available in the book.

Language Point 3 3 or something: or something like that, used when you are not sure about you have just said. The air fare was £199 or something. Here’s some money. Get yourself a sandwich or something.

Language Point 4 4 go ahead: continue, begin (sometimes followed by with +n) They will vote today on whether to go ahead with the plan. Henry will be late but we will go ahead with the meeting anyway.

Language Points 5-6 5 know/learn a classic poem by heart: memorise, remember exactly 6 might as well: you have the strong desire to do it though you may feel reluctant about it So many people queue here to get serve. We might as well go home first. Anyway, you’re here; you might as well stay.

Language Points 7+8 7 not much of a: not a good He is not much of a father, but he is an outstanding professor. In their eyes, being a pop singer is not much of a career. 8 correspondence: the act of writing, receiving or sending letter His interest in writing came for correspondence with a penfriend.

Language Point 8 Letters that sb receives or sends (used as an uncountable noun) Any further correspondence should be sent to my new address. She never mentioned her French experience in her correspondence.

Language Point 9 9 neighbouthood: one of the parts of a town where people live It seems like an ideal neighbourhood to raise the kid. Houses in a good neighbourhood are likely to be sold at a high price.

Language Points 10-11 10 lost touch with sb, keep in touch with sb 11urge sb to do sth: try very hard to persuade sb to do sth They urged the local authority to take actions immediately. Sir Fred urge that Britain join the European Monetary System.

Language Points 12+13 12postpone: delay doing sth The couple postpone having kid to establish their careers. Somehow they postponed telling me the sad news. 13 reference: the act of talking about sb/sth, or mentioning sb/sth Strangely he made no reference to any work experience in his resume.

Language Points 13+14 Sth that shows you where else to look for information Make a note of reference number shown on the form The act of looking at sth for information See Page 23 for further reference.

Language Points 14-16 14 absolutely: totally and completely Funding is absolutely necessary when Shenzhou 6 is to travel into the space. 15 a family reunion/ an annual reunion 16 years /each day go(es) by: (time) pass

Language Point 17 17 hang out: stay in or near a place He often hung out in the pub when unemployed. We can just hang out and have a good time. Hang clothes on a piece of string outside in order to dry them What a pain! It’s raining and I have just hung my bed mattress out.

Language Points 18 18 every now and then: sometimes, at times Every now and then I have a desire to quit my tedious job. I still see Jane for lunch every now and then, but not as often as I used to.

Language Point 19 19 mostly: almost all, generally They have invested their money mostly in expensive real estate. The guests at the wedding party are mostly friends of the bride.

Language Points 20+21 20 awful: (infml; used to add force)very great; very bad and unpleasant I have got an awful lot of work to do. I can’t bear the awful smell of cigarette smoke. 21 choke up: become too upset to speak When he learned the news of his friends’ sudden death, he was so choked up he couldn’t say a thing. Losing my job left me completely choked up; I was so upset that I didn’t know what to say.

Language Points 22+23 22 destination: the place to which sb is going or being sent Singapore is still our most popular holiday destination. Only half of the emergency supplies have reached their destination because of the bad weather. 23 skip: pass from (one point, etc.) to another, disregarding or failing to act on what comes between

Language Points 23+24 The teacher skipped chapter five and said it wouldn’t be on the test. ‘As time is limited, we will have to skip some of the exercises in Unit 10’, said the teacher. 24 right away: (infml) at once Tom has got a high fever; he should go and see a doctor right away. I wrote him a letter and posted it right away.

Bye-bye and Good Luck!

Unit 2 Friendship (3rd session)

Objectives 1. Grasp the main idea and structure of the text (developing a story around a letter), and be able to retell the whole story. 2. Review the useful expressions. 3. Appreciate that spoken English is much more informal than written English . 4. Be aware of the skills to conduct conversations. 5. Master different forms of English letters.

Step 1 Review the text Step 2 Review the uesful expressions Step 3 Writing style a、Colloquial Vs. formal b、Skills to conduct conversations Step 4 Role-play Step 5 Letter writing Step 6 Assignments

Review : the text How many heroes are there in Text A? Who are they? What is the cabbie’s name? Who’s Ed? What does the story begin with? Is it the letter the cabbie received from his friend Ed? Who wrote the letter? Retell the story. Back

Review: useful expressions 沉浸于…… Be lost in… 引起某人注意 Get one’s attention 坐在了后座 Settle into the back seat 又或者别的什么（猜测） Or something 我不忙 I’m in no hurry 背下来了 Know it by heart 在行写作 Be much of a hand at writing 保持，持续（联系） Keep up (correspondence) 我想象着认为 I take it…… 老邻居 Old neighborhood 有点 Kind of /sort of

和某人保持/失去/取得/联系 Stay in/keep in/lose/get in touch with 在脑海里 On one’s mind 出现 Come up/occur 鼓励某人做…… Urge sb. to do sth./urge +that-clause(“should”) 马上 Right away/at once 推迟/拖延 Postpone/put off/delay 参考 Reference 毕业后的同学聚会 A class reunion 随着时间的流逝 As time goes by 闲逛、徘徊 Hung out 不时的 (every now and then) 窒息 Chock up Back

Writing Style Try to find out the similar meaning/the original sentence in the text. -- Go on reading your letter. -- I’m not used to writing letters. -- We were friends since our childhood. So our friendship has a long story. -- For one reason or another you lose touch even though you never forget. -- It is painful to lose any friend.

-- Go on reading your letter. -- I’m not used to writing letters. （Go ahead and finish your letter） -- I’m not used to writing letters. (I’m not much of a hand at writing) -- We were friends since our childhood. So our friendship has a long story. (We were kids together, so we go way back) -- For one reason or another you lose touch even though you never forget. (You kind of lose touch even though you never forget) -- It is painful to lose any friend. ( It’s no fun to lose any friend) Which sentences above are more colloquial?

Spoken language in daily life: 1、short and simple, or incomplete i.e. “ (Is the letter) From a child or a grandchild?” “ (You) Went to school together?” “Time.” “( I have) Enjoyed talking with you.” 2、do not exist in written language i.e. sort of , kind of, you know, I think, I guess, I take it , well, go ahead, hang out , it’s no fun to do sth. , not much of a hand at doing sth., a couple of , every now and then, an awful lot. Back

Ways to keep conversation going: 1、Express agreement to show the cabbie what a sympathetic（富有同情心的）listener he is. 解析：用表示同意的方法表达听者的同情 2、Ask questions directly to get more information out of the cabbie. 解析：直接发问获取信息 3、Ask indirect questions by making guesses. 解析：用猜测来间接的发问 back

i. e. “ Letters from home always mean a lot i.e. “ Letters from home always mean a lot. At least they do with me because I’m on the road so much.” “ I don’t think any of us keep our correspondence too well. I know I don’t.” “ Well, we should all keep in touch with old friends more than we do. But things come up and we just don’t seem to find the time.” “You know I’d like to receive a letter like that from my oldest friend.” Back

“You said ‘was’. Does that mean--?” “Did you two work at the same place?” “I thought your friend’s name was Ed. Why did he sign it Tom?” Back

“From a child or maybe a grandchild?” “Went to school together?” “ I take it he’s someone you’ve known quite a while?” “ You must have spent a lot of time together.” “That must have made you feel good, didn’t it?” Back

Role-play Later on, you are required to give us wonderful performance. Pay attention this is role-play, do as if you were Tom or the narrator. Try to be creative and active. back

Letter Writing Two types of letters: Business letters & personal letters ( formal & informal )

Business Letter What kind of letter is “business letter”? It is usually consists of six parts: 1、heading （信头） 2、the inside address 3、the salutation （客气称呼） 4、the body 5、the complimentary close（表敬意的） 6、 the signature （签名） a sample letter

Heading The full address of the writer . The date of the letter. It is indented to the middle of the page. Put a comma after each line in the heading and end the address with a period (British way) Samples

Example: British American Mr. Zhang Qinghua, Mr. Zhang Qinghua The Faculty of Foreign The Faculty of Foreign Study, Study Hubei University, Hubei University Wuhan, 430062, Wuhan, 430062 China. China Nov. 1, 2004 Nov. 1, 2004 back

Thank you for any help you can give me. Yours faithfully, Lin Huafeng English Department Beijing Foreign Studies University Beijing, 100081 Sept. 5, 1993 Editor Newsweek International 444 Madison Avenue New York, NY 10022 U.S.A. Dear Editor, I read in Newsweek/September 14, 1987 that an updated second edition of the unabridged Random House Dictionary of the English Language is being published. I would be very grateful if you could give me some information on where and how I can get a copy of the dictionary and if there is a less expensive edition than the one described. Thank you for any help you can give me. Yours faithfully, Lin Huafeng back

Personal/friendly letters The salutation The complimentary close The signature A model

Nov.1,2004 Dear Liping, It has been a few months since I last wrote you and sent you a box of books, and as I have not heard anything from you, I thought I would write again to make certain that you did, in fact, receive my letter and books. I am concerned about the books arriving there and would appreciate your letting me know if you have received them and if they were the kind of books you could use. Best regards, George

Summary

Assignments 1. Finish all the exercises on the book in this unit, and you will be checked next time. 2. Write a personal letter to whoever you want to write. Pay attention that you should bear in mind the format of writing a letter while you are doing the task.

Teaching objectives: 1 Grasp the main language points; 2 Use the new words correctly; 3 Conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking, writing and translating activities centered upon the theme of the unit.

Dictations

Check answers and do some activities.

Read words and phrases in the third unit.

Assignments: a) Go over unit 2 b) Prepare for unit 3