Unit 1 Living Well
Writing Task
Teaching Aims
1. Learn Zhang Yuncheng’ s story and his courage to overcome the difficulties and achieve his ambition.
2. Develop the reading skills by writing comprehension questions.
3. Learn the writing skills ―― an effective way of summarizing a text.
Teaching Key Points and Difficult Points
1. Enable to students to master the writing skills ―― summarizing a text.
2. Develop students’ ability to cooperate by getting them involved in pair work and group work.
Teaching Methods
1. Individual, pair or group work and discussion.
2. Student-focus approach and task-based approach.
Teaching Aids
A computer and a projector.
Teaching Procedures
I Pre-reading
This step is to interest the students in Zhang Yuncheng and his story.
1. Greetings.
2. Show students some pictures and provide students with some background information.
II Reading
1. Discuss the following question. Let students know the text they are going to read is a newspaper article.
Where do you think you might see a text like Zhang Yuncheng Achieves His Ambition? Tick the correct answer.
A. In a diary.
B. In a newspaper.
C. In an encyclopedia (百科全书).
Answer B
2. Students read the text and underline the information they think is important.
3. Students work in groups to write five comprehension questions based on the important information.
4. Students swap their questions with another group. Help each other with any difficulties they have understanding the text.
（Teacher may ask students to do Task 2 and Task 3 before class.）
5. Check with the whole class what important points should be covered in the summary and decide what information is important and what information is comparatively unimportant.
√ What has Zhang Yuncheng achieved?
√ What kind of disease does Zhang Yuncheng have?
√ What are the problems caused by his disability?
Why didn’t his parents send him back to school?
√ What does Zhang Yuncheng do in spite of his disability?
√ How did Zhang Yuncheng achieve his ambition?
What is Zhang Yuncheng’ s book about?
6. Students write the important facts in note form. Help Zhang Yuncheng to complete his resume. While checking the notes, ask students to answer the following questions
What has Zhang Yuncheng achieved?
What kind of disease does Zhang Yuncheng have?
What does Zhang Yuncheng do in spite of his disability?
How did Zhang Yuncheng achieve his ambition?
Answer
Resume
履历表
First Name名 Yuncheng Family Name姓 Zhang
Sex 性别 Male √ Female
Health 健康状况 A muscle disease and very weak
Education 教育背景 One day
Interests and hobbies 兴趣爱好 Reading and writing
Personal experiences and achievements 个人经历和成绩
Taught himself to read and write
Wrote a letter to a newspaper about his life and dreams
Kept writing and sent essays to an editor
Wrote and published a book
III Summary Writing - summarize the text and write a short article of about 150 words to introduce Zhang Yuncheng.
Help students to write the article based on the notes.
1. Write the introduction of the text. Students work in pairs and write the opening sentence (a topic sentence that sum up briefly the main idea of the text). They should say something about what Zhang Yuncheng has achieved.
Topic sentence 1
Although Zhang Yuncheng has a disability which prevents him from moving without pain, he succeeded in publishing a book at the age of 25.
Topic sentence 2
That Zhang Yuncheng overcame all the difficulties to achieve his ambition to publish a book inspires all the readers.
2. Write the middle (the body) of the text.
(1) Explain to students the following points
The summary should be in your own words.
Writing a summary, remember to
- cover all the important points.
- Leave out the details.
- Reduce the examples.
- Simplify the descriptions.
- Change clauses or sentences to phrases.
- Put the main points of a dialogue in indirect speech.
(2) Tell students that they should start a new paragraph for each new topic and that the middle may consist of two paragraphs. Ask students what the main idea of each paragraph may be.
Possible answer
The middle may consist of _two_ paragraphs.
The first paragraph is about _his disability and problems caused by his disability.
The second paragraph is about _what he does in spite of his disability and how he achieved his ambition.
(3) Show students the sample writing. Ask students if they enjoy the writing and how they can improve the writing.
Zhang Yuncheng has a muscle disease and very weak. He can not walk. He can’t get out of bed without help and he can not lift his arms above his head. He went to school for only one day.
(4) Students work with their partner to write the first paragraph. Help students to use connectives and transitional phrases (过渡连接词) so that one sentence runs smoothly to another.
Possible answer
Zhang Yuncheng has a muscle disease that makes him very weak. Because of his illness, he is unable to walk or even get out of bed without help. Also, he can hardly lift his arms above his head. Different from others, he went to school for only one day.
(5) Help students to use a transitional sentence (过渡句) so that the first paragraph leads naturally to the second paragraph.
Possible answer
No matter how challenging life can be, Zhang Yuncheng still manages to enjoy it.
In spite of all these difficulties, Zhang Yuncheng never gives up himself.
(6) Prepare the students for the second paragraph. Ask students to use transitions. Remind students to simplify the description of how Zhang Yuncheng achieved his ambition.
Phrases students might use
Like many other people, …
At the same time, …
With the help of Zhang Danuo, …
What’s more/Besides, …
Finally, …
Sample answer
In spite of all these difficulties, he never gives up himself. Like many other people, Zhang Yuncheng enjoys reading and writing. He has ambitions at the same time. He taught himself to read and write. At the age of 17, he wrote to a newspaper about his life and dreams. With the help of Zhang Danuo, an editor, Zhang Yuncheng kept writing and finally achieved his lifelong ambition to publish a book.
3. Write a conclusion for the text. Help students to summarize what Zhang Yuncheng says in indirect speech.
IV Consolidation
1. Review how to summarize the text and write an article about Zhang Yuncheng.
2. Teach students how to edit the first draft.
Compare your first draft carefully with the original. Read it several times and look for ways to improve it. Ask questions like
Have I included all the important points?
Are sentences about the same topic in the same paragraph?
Have I started a new paragraph for each new topic?
Are any of the sentences or words unnecessary?
Is the grammar and spelling correct?
V Homework
1. Write a clean, final draft of the summary.
2. Swap your article with your partner and ask your partner if she/he can suggest ways to improve your writing.