Part 1 Analysis of this lesson
This lesson is the second period of Unit 3. and it’s a reading lesson. The purpose of this reading is to introduce the life and work of Charlie Chaplin and his excellent performance in his silent films. It plays a very important part in teaching of this unit. So if the students can learn this lesson well, it will be helpful to make the students learn the rest of this unit. They can learn more about the humor especially English humor. Such topic is related to our daily life, so it is helpful to raise learning interests of students and it will be easier to get knowledge in their laughter.
Teaching aims and demands
1. Knowledge objects
Make the students be aware of the cultural aspects of humor by learning this lesson.
2. Ability objects
Let the students realize that humor is to let people be optimistic about everything around.
3. Moral objects
① To enable the students to learn to be faced with difficulties and overcome them.
② To encourage them to keep up optimistic attitude towards life and improve their sense of humor.
Teaching key points
1. Help the students grasp the important words and phrases in the text.
2. Help the students to learn to get information, analyze the information and understand the information from the text.
Teaching difficulties
1. How to fire the students’ enthusiasm to express their ideas.
2. To make the students know the acting style of Charlie Chaplin and understand the connotation of humor.
Part 2 Teaching theories, methods and aids
Before dealing with this lesson, I’ll do my best to carry out the following theories:
1. Make the students the real masters in class while the teacher acts as a director;
2. Let the students receive some moral education while they are learning the English language.
Teaching method:
Double activities teaching method; Question-and-answer activity teaching method; Watch-and-listen activity
Teaching aids:
computer and the blackboard
Part 3 Teaching procedure
Step 1 Revision ( 2 minutes )
Get the students to match different types of humor that they learned in Warming-up and some names of famous comedy actors. For example, Mr. Bean and mime, Mark Twain and funny stories and so on.
This step is employed to review the words related to humor and draw the students’ attention to the topic about nonverbal humor.
Step 2 Lead-in ( 3 minutes )
Show the students a clip from the film The Gold Rush and ask them two questions:
① In this film, what was he eating? (a pair of shoes)
② Can you try to give a description on Chaplin?
(He wore a small black hat, very wide trousers, a moustache and carried a stick that he swung in the air as he walked.)
These questions are intended to warm up the students and think about the theme of reading. And it can also arouse the interests of the students to speak English in class on the topics they like and they are familiar with.
Step 3 While-reading
I. Fast reading ( 5 minutes )
First I will introduce Charlie Chaplin briefly, who was a great silent movie star of his time. And then ask the students to read the passage quickly to find more information about him and answer the questions that will be shown on the screen:
① What was Charlie Chaplin famous for?
② How many famous film or characters are mentioned in the text? What are the names?
In this part the students are required to get some related information from the passage. This method is used to train the student to get the general idea of the passage. And it is also a good chance for them to improve their skimming skills.
II. Detailed reading ( 15 minutes )
I will ask the students to read the whole passage again carefully and answer some detailed questions. It is also called depth reading or study reading. It means reading for detailed information. The purpose is to make the students understand the reading material better.
1. True of false
① Chaplin became famous for using a particular form of acting including playing on words.
② In The Little Tramp, Chaplin always wore large trousers, worn-out shoes and carried a walking stick.
③ The Gold Rush is set in California in the middle of the nineteenth century.
④ Chaplin’s movies were produced, directed and wrote by other people.
2. Choose the best answers according to the passage:
① What’s the passage mainly about?
A. The history of English humor B. The films Chaplin made.
C. The humor Chaplin made in his films. D. The Gold Rush in California.
②Chaplin made people laugh when they felt depressed because _______.
A. they enjoy doing so
B. it makes people more worried about their life.
C. it makes people more content with their life.
D. there’s much fun is doing so.
③ Why did people like The little Tramp?
A. Because it gives people courage to overcome difficulties;
B. Because he was always kind even when people were unkind to him.
C. Because he was optimism.
D. All of the above
④ In the middle of 19th century people went to California to look for ______.
A. films B. gold C. entertainment D. water
⑤ Chaplin was given a special Oscar for ______.
A. they enjoy doing so. B. the films he directed.
C. the joy he gave us in his films. D. the contributions he made in films.
⑥ What’s the author’s attitude to Charlie Chaplin?
A. positive B. negative C. serious D. appreciative
3. Write down the main idea of each paragraph:
Paragraph 1: The world situation
Paragraph 2: Charlie’s childhood
Paragraph 3: His famous film character
Paragraph 4: An example of his work
Paragraph 5: His achievements
I think a good way to check whether the students have understood the reading is to ask them to summarize the passage in one sentence. This is a valuable skill that students will be asked to attempt in the comprehending section.
Step 4 Post reading
1. Discussion ( 7 minutes )
① What should we learn from Charlie Chaplin?
(We should be optimistic(乐观) no matter what difficulties we meet with, just as Charlie Chaplin was.)
② What should we do to get success?
(Set up an aim; do our best; pay more time then others; never give up / lose heart; insist on what we pursue)
Apart from the knowledge they get from this lesson, it is a good opportunity for the students to receive moral education.
2. Make a dialogue ( 10 minutes )
Imagine one of the students wants to write an article about Charlie Chaplin for the column“HUMOUR” of the school newspaper. So he is going to interview Charlie Chaplin.
The purpose of this step is to create a language environment for students’ communication in class; and give the students a chance to practise their spoken English. If the students can finish this task well, they will benefit a lot in their spoken English. They can use some important words and phrases that they have learned in the passage. This process can be regarded as a quiz. I can know if my students understand the whole text really and if they master what I mean to tell them in this class.
Step 5 Summary ( 2 minutes )
Today we have learned something about humor. Humor is everywhere in our daily life. I hope in the future you can be optimistic(乐观) no matter what difficulties you meet with, just as Charlie Chaplin was.
Step 6 Homework ( 1 minute )
Try to rewrite the passage in the first person in 120 words and then present it in the next class.
This step is used to practise their ability of writing and looking up information by themselves.
