Unit 13 We’re trying to save the earth!
Section A（3a-3b）
Language goals
To have the awareness of protecting sharks and respecting nature.
Key words and phrases
shark, fin, cruel, harmful, be harmful to, at the top of, chain, the
food chain, ecosystem, industry, law, scientific
Teaching
Key sentences
Aims
1. But do you realize that you are killing a whole shark each
time you enjoy a bowl of shark fin soup?
2. But in fact ,around 70 million sharks are caught and traded in
this industry every year.
Let Ss have the awareness of protecting sharks and respecting
Teaching
Difficulties nature.
Teaching CAI, multimedia courseware or other realia that the T needs for
Aids teaching
Teaching Procedures Tips
Step 1 Warm up
Warming up
Show Ss pictures of endangered animals in China. T
can encourage Ss to say more endangered animals they know
and ask them to think about: Why these animals are
endangered? What can we do to protect them?
Free Talk
T asks the first two questions and let Ss answer:
What do you know about sharks?
Do you think sharks are endangered? Why?
For the third question, T can ask Ss to work in
groups of four and discuss the question: What do you think
might have caused a fall in the number of sharks? Later, T can
encourage Ss to share their answers to the class.
Let Ss watch a video about sharks. T can ask Ss totalk about their feelings after watching the video.
Step 2 Presentation & Reading
Pre-reading
Teach Ss some new words and expressions such as
shark fin, the food chain and Wild Aid using the pictures
from PPT P9-P13.
Show Ss another video about catching sharks and
getting shark fins, then ask them to complete the sentences
on PPT P15 and P16. After that, T can ask Ss to answer
the questions: What will happen to the shark? What should we
do?
While-reading
First reading
Ask Ss to read the passage sentence by sentence. T
explains the new words and phrases to Ss.
Second reading
Show Ss the questions on PPT P22 and P23, let them
read the passage quickly and find for the answers from the
passage.
Answers:
1. Sharks are at the top of the food chain in the ocean’s ecosystem.
2. Yes, I think sharks are endangered. Because when people catch
sharks, they cut off their fins and throw the sharks back into the ocean.
Without a fin, a shark can no longer swim and slowly dies.
3. People catch sharks and cut off their fins and throw them back into
the ocean. Without a fin, a shark dies.
Third reading
3a
Ask Ss to complete the chart based on the passage.
T may want to ask Ss to do some additional research to find out
more about sharks before this lesson. This will enable the Ss to
have a better understanding and greater knowledge about sharks.
Answers: (from top to bottom)
southern China
around 70 million
to develop laws to stop the sale of shark fins
WildAid and the WWF.
3b
T may want to check that Ss understand how to
correctly use the conjunctions before having them complete
the activity.
Note:
so: used to say that something is a result of something else that hasjust been mentioned.
although: used to contrast one part of a sentence with another; has
the effect of making the main idea in the sentence seem surprising
or unexpected.
if: used to talk about the circumstances in which something else
might happen; gives the condition for something else to happen.
but: used to contrast two parts of a sentence and show that they are
opposite or very different in meaning (usually not used at the
beginning of a sentence in formal writing.)
when: used to talk about the time at (or during) which something
happens.
Answers: 1. when 2. so 3. but 4. Although 5. if
Post-reading
Show the summary of the passage to Ss and ask them
to fill in the blanks with proper words from their memory.
Before T shows the answers, T can ask Ss to check the
answers with their partners first.
Answers: (from left to right, from top to bottom)
southern, cruel, cut off, swim, harmful, top
Show Ss a video about “No eating shark fins”. T can
tell Ss that every creature has its own value of existence,
people need to protect the animals and maintain the
ecological balance.
Step 3 Language points learning
“the numbers of... ”是“the number of…”的复数形式。
the number of...与a number of...的区别是：
the number of...的意思是“……的数量”，“the number of+可数名
词复数”作主语时，谓语动词用单数形式。
a number of...的意思是“一些；若干”，“a number of+可数名词复
数”作主语时，谓语动词用复数形式。
“fall by” 意为“下降了”，by表示变化的幅度。fall to意为“下降
到”。
Step 4 Exercises,Summary & Homework
Exercises
Do the exercises from PPT P33-P35
Homework
Read and recite the passage in 3a.
Do the exercises in students’ book.
Teaching In this period, we should review the present progressive tense, present
Reflection perfect tense, passive voice, modal verbs and the structure “used to”in reading and speaking activities. We will learn some new words
and expressions about environmental protection in language learning,
so it is necessary to get the students to pay enough attention to the new
words and try to collect more of them.
