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Unit 8 Unit 8 Learning A Foreign Language: Twice As Hard? Twice As Hard?

1.What’s your difficulty in learning English? Discussion 2.What should you do to deal with your difficulty?

Skimming Skim the text and try to find the topic sentence of each paragraph.

Topic sentences in each paragraph 1 Learning a language is more than just memorising words, phrases and structures Successful learners plan and evaluate their learning. 6 Different experts have different answers. Learning a foreign language is different from learning one’s mother tongue. Successful language learners share quite a few characteristics. The purpose of learning is important.

The main idea of the text: A language is more than words, phrases and structures and learning a foreign language is different from learning one’s mother tongue. But a success in language has a lot in commom. If we make it, we will find English is easy to learn.

Scanning Scan the text and try to get a further understanding of the text.

1.Most children have mastered their mother tongue__. A. at five B. before five C.at eight 2.Successful language learners share the following characteristics except____. A. willingness to take chances B. confidence in their ability C. the ability to memorize the words D. an interest in understanding their own thinking 3.How were we able to make sense of what we heard and distinguish the mistakes from good language? “Distinguish” means ___ A. tell the difference B.understand C. enjoy 4. The sentence “Life is a very successful language school” means_______. A. parents can not give children language lessons. B. people can learn the language by themselves. C.we are equipped with a special ability at language. D. How to learn the language well is to communicate with the people around us. B C D A

Reading in detail Read the text carfully and try to answer the following questions.

1How do we learn our mother tongue? 2What are the differences between learning a foreign language and learning one’s mother language? 3.What do the successful language learners have in common? 4.How can language learners do better in language acquisition? 5.How can we study a foreign language? 6.How can we find English is easier than Chinese to learn?

How do we learn our mother tongue? By communicating with the people around us.

What are the differences between learning a foreign language and learning one’s mother language? First,learning a foreign language usually takes place in school. Secondly,there are few opportunities to communicate with other speakers of the language. Thirdly, when we learn a foreign language we have textbooks, teachers and classmates to instruct and assist us in the process.

What do the successful language learners have in common? Interested in the language Curious about the world Willing to take risks Confident in their ability. Plan their studies

How can students do better in language acquisition? Less anxious and more relaxed Willing to take risks Place themselves in new learning situations.

How can we learn a foreign language? It takes patience to learn a foreign language. Try to adopt some of the study habits and characteristics described above.

6.How can we find English is easier than Chinese to learn? If we develop our study skills, we ’ ll find English is easy to learn.

Listen to the tape

We learn our mother tongue by _________________ people around. But how were we able to ___________ what we heard and ________ the mistakes _____ “good” language? Some experts believe that we are _____________ a special ability to learn language and that our brain _____________ the language we hear around us. Others think that we learn language ______________ we learn other things. Learning a foreign language is ______________ learning one’s mother tongue. Successful language learners ______ a few _____________. They gain ____________ and are able to _____and _____ the learning because they _______ and ________ their learning. And they’re more willing to _________.We should try to _____ some of the good study habits and _____ our study skills, we may find a foreign language is easy to learn. communicating with make sense of distinguish from equipped with adjusts itself to in the same way different from share characteristics relaxenjoy plan confidience evaluate take risksadopt develop

A We learn quite fast. B We are not taught but learn anyway. C Some people think that we are born with an ability to learn this. D We can learn faster we develop study skills. E Most people have mastered it by the age of five. F We learn this in a special place where we can get help. G It takes longer to learn this. H We learn this by communication with others. F M M F M M F M/F

Interview Now do an interview with your partner about why English is easy to learn and how to study English. One plays a journalist and the other plays the expert on English study.

Summary and Homework Today, we know learning a foreign language is more than memerising words, phrases and sentence structures. We should be brave and confident in English study. Also, we need plan and evaluate our learning. If we develop our study skills, we ’ ll find English is easy to learn. After class, finish language study and do the practice on the grammar.do the practice on the grammar