Teaching Plan for Comprehensive Class

Unit 5 

Intended for: non-English major freshmen(2)

Time: 5 periods

Topic: Prison Studies

Reading for Life

Objectives: The students should

 1. Understand the main idea and the organization of text A

2. Learn the way to write an argumentative essay

3. Grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text.

4. Conduct some reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit.

Method: mainly getting the students actively involved in your class.

1. reading extra materials relevant;

2. group discussion (scanning the key information);

3. pair work or role-play (reading work, acting work);

4. volunteers’ work (question-answer);

5. translation work (getting familiar with some important words and phrases)

Procedures:

I.       Pre-reading tasks (2 periods)

1.      Warm-ups by background information/ extra materials

2.      Listening ex.

3.      Lead-in questions

4.      New word study

5.      Reading together the whole text and do some preparatory work;

6.      Assignment for next class.

1)      Review the words and expressions by trying to do the voc. Ex.

2)      Preview the text to find your problems there.

II.    While-reading Tasks (2 periods)

1.      Review the new words by a dictation or translation and by checking up the students’ ex.

2.      Global understanding of both the structure and the text by checking up the students’ ex

3.      Detailed understanding of the text by questions

4.    Assignment

1)      Finish all the ex left (cloze, translation, text B, other reading, listening ex)

2)      Preview Text B

III. After-reading Tasks (1 periods)

1.      Checking up the students’ assignment.

2.      Fast reading of text B

 

 

Contents

Ⅰ。Words　　　

1.       roots and affixes

(1)    mammal: mamm (the breast)+ al (泛指物)

(2)    miniature：mini(small)+ature, minimum

(3)    maximum: max(great)+imum

(4)    correspondence: cor(with)+respond (to answer) +ence  

respond: re(back)+spond (to promise)

(5)    rehabilitation: re(back, again)+habilitate(to enable) habilis(able)

(6)    inmate: in(in)+mate(a companion)

(7)    interval: inter(between)+val(a rampart )

(8)    dormant: dorm(to sleep)+ant, dormitory

(9)    confer: con(together)+fer(to bring)

(10)ignorance: ig(in-, not) + nor(e)(norare, noscere: know)+ance

2.       Word games

(1)    emulate, penmanship, tablet, thumb, painstaking

It’s painstaking to improve one’s ragged handwriting. To do this it is necessary to thumb through and emulate some calligraphers’ penmanship. That’s to say, make a copy into your tablet.

(2)    burrow, mammal, termite, live off

It’s a burrowing African mammal, which live off termite.

(3)     Inevitable, word-base, broaden

To broaden your word-base is inevitable to be a good English learner.

(4)    imprison, rehabilitate, inmate

When an inmate is imprisoned, there is heavy emphasis on rehabilitation.

(5)    well-read, debater, devour, literature, maximum, isolation

A well-read debater tends to devour maximum number of literature works in a total isolation.

(6) outrage, engrossing

It is quick to be outraged with interruption in the middle of something engrossing.

(7) corridor, interval, footstep, feign

When it’s time to bed during our high school, we usually feigned sleep once footsteps approached in the corridor. At intervals we chatted on.

 

3.       Compounds

(1)    painstaking: n+doing(动宾)＝adj., awe-inspiring, hair-raising, self-respecting, breathtaking, fact-finding, man-eating, child-bearing, heart-breaking, peace-loving, movie-going

(2)    word-base, light-glow, footstep: n+n=n. (to Unit 1)

(3)    well-read, homemade: adv+v+ed=adj./adv., well-educated, well-done, half-done, manmade, handmade

(4)    outrage: out+n./v.=n./v. outnumber, outgrow, outgrowth, outgo, outlaw, outlive, outmatch, outpoint, outplay, outrank, outrun

Ⅱ.　Phrases

1.       in person: physically present, personally

Many who today hear me somewhere in person, or on television, …, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade.

I talked a lot to my net pal, over the telephone or on the net, not in person.

Once you do something in person, it will be more impressive.  

2.       take charge of (to Unit 1): take control of, be responsible for

Bimbi had always taken charge of any conversation he was in, and I had tried to emulate him.

Elder sisters and brothers are often asked to take charge of their younger ones while the parents are away.

3.       go through the emotions (of doing sth.): pretend to do sth.; do sth. without sincerity or serious intention

So I had come to the Norfork Prison Colony still going through only book-reading motions.

The two cheats/frauds were going through the emotions of weaving (the weaving emotions) once someone was sent by the emperor to have a look.

Those revolutionaries were going through the emotions of doing something idle/ trifle when the footsteps of guards approached.

4.       along with: together with

It was both ideas together that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfork Prison Colony school.

Each child, along with his given name, picks up a label.

He came along with some friends.

The body must be developed along with the mind.

5.       thumb through: turn the pages of (a book, etc.) quickly

I spent two days just thumbing uncertainly through the dictionary’s pages.

I usually thumb through newspapers.

He was thumbing through the news on the internet.

6.       down to: including even

In my slow, painstaking, ragged handwriting, I copied into my tablet everything printed on that first page, down to the punctuation marks.

She could describe what the other women in the room are wearing, down to the color of their stockings.

She is ready to find his faults, down to every word of his speech.

7.       live off: have as food; depend upon for support; live on, feed on

Aardvark lives off termites caught by sticking out its tongue as an anteater does for ants.

The family lived off his small earning.

Some of the college students live off their own part-time jobs.

8.       pick up: increase speed, speed up

I went a lot faster after so much practice helped me to pick up handwriting speed.

As the dark approached, she picked up her pace.

You are not allowed to pick up in the district.

9.       smile upon/on: encourage or approve of, favor

An inmate was smiled upon if he demonstrated an unusually intense interest in books.

Fortune smiled on us.

The government began to smile upon small business when it realized that they are the key to economic growth.

10.   check out: register a book, etc. as having been borrowed, opposite to check in

An inmate who was known to read a lot could check out more than the permitted maximum number of books.

I checked out a book from the library.

They checked out a classroom form the school.

11.   adjust to: become used to, be accustomed to

The glow was enough to read by, once my eyes adjusted to it.

It is hard fro the newborn to adjust to the light.

12.   reflect on：think deeply about; consider carefully about past events or about something that involves possibilities or opinions rather than definite facts

I have often reflected upon the new vistas that reading open to me.

I reflected upon that he had said to me.

The manager demand time to reflect upon what to do next.

13.   confer on: give an honour, a gift or status to sb. formally

I certainly wasn’t seeking my degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students.

The honor was conferred on him just after the war.

A bachelor degree will be conferred on you 2 years later.

Ⅲ.　Text

Pre-reading tasks

1. Pre-reading Questions

(1) Do you know some stories about prison study in our liberation war and in Cultural Revolution? For example?

(2) Do you think prison is good for study? Why?

(3) What do you think is the difference between prison study and college study?

2. Cultural Background (to the reference book)

(1) Malcolm X

(2) the Norfork Prison Colony/ the Charlestown Prison

(3) Elijah Muhammad

3. Organization and main idea

Part Ⅰ(Para 1): people’s impression of his being well-read

Part Ⅱ(Para2-14): the story of his prison study

Part Ⅲ(Para15-16): some outcomes of his prison study

4. Difficult Sentences

(1) Those who read something I’ve said, will think I went to school far beyond the eighth grade.

Many people who are present at my speech somewhere or hear them on television these days…will think that I have got much more education than just eight years’ schooling.

(2) But every book I picked up has few sentences which don’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese.

But every book I took up was full of sentences which contained one or almost all of the words which were completely unknown to me as if they had been in Chinese.

Might as well or may as well mean that somebody do not have a strong desire to do something and may feel slightly reluctant about it, or to suggest that no harm should be caused or no difference made by doing something.

Examples:

I may as well admit that I knew the answer all along.

Since nobody else wants the job, we might as well let him have it.

I thought I might as well go: you can’t keep saying no to people.

(3) Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did (received). (subjunctive mood)

Before long I would have stopped even that reading without understanding, if I had not been inspired by a desire to read.

 If I weren’t out here every day battling the white man, I could spend the rest of my life reading. (subjunctive mood)

(4) I was lucky enough to reason also that I should try to improve my penmanship. ---It certainly did me a lot of good to decide that I should also to improve my handwriting.

reason---vt. to use the faculty of reason, to think

Let’s go and reason things out with him.

To reason on such a subject is of little use.

(5) …which lives off termites caught (get hold of, seize) by sticking out its tongue as an anteater does for ants.

It always seemed to catch (find unexpectedly) me right in the middle of something engrossing.

   You will never catch (find)me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something I feel might be able to help the black man…

   Every time I catch (take) a plane, I have with me a book that I want to read.

(6) No university would ask any student to devour literature as I did when this new world opened to me, of being able to read and understand.

I devoured literature more than any university students were required when I was able to read and understand.

(7) Where else but in prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day?

Without intense study as much as fifteen hours a day in prison, I kept being a person of ignorance.

5. Language points

(1) This impression is due entirely to my prison study. (attribute …to, come out of, result from)

His success is due to hard work.

His growth is due to his family.

(2) When Bimbi first made me feel envy of his stock of knowledge. (metaphor, his knowledge is as much as a stock)

(3) It was both ideas that moved (to urge, to impel, to excite an action, to stimulate, to inspire) me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfork Prison Colony school.

move one’s blood: 使人奋发

The mother was moved by an irresistible intention. (P40)

(4) I went a lot faster after so much practice helped me to pick up (=speed up) handwriting speed.

   I could for the first time pick up (=take hold of, take in the hands) a book and read and now begin to understand what the book was saying.

(5) You couldn’t’ have got me out of books with a wedge. (metaphor)

You could never force me away from books.

(6) There was a sizable (quite large) number of well-read inmates.

(7) Some were said to be practically walking (活) encyclopedias.

a walking encyclopedia: a very informative person

a walking dictionary

She’s a walking history book.

(8) It always seemed to catch me right in the middle of something engrossing.

in the middle of doing sth. : be busy doing it and not want to be interrupted

I was in the middle of washing when the telephone rang.

He’s in the middle of planning his department budget. 

(9) At one-hour intervals the night guards paced (to go at a pace or with slow steps) past every room.

(10) As I see it today, the ability to read awoke inside me some long dormant craving to be mentally alive.

Today I believe that it was my ability to read that made me conscious of a strong inner desire to be mentally active which had long been be suppressed.

Crave implies the force of physical or mental need (as of hunger, thirst, love, or ambition), while desire often implies intention or aim.

He was craving for a smoke.

What people crave is peace and security.

He passionately desired to continue his career.

6. Sentence patterns

(1) But every book I picked up has few sentences which don’t contain anywhere from one to nearly all of the words that might as well have been in Chinese. (p158)

   You could hardly mention anything I’m not curious about.

   You will never catch me with a free fifteen minutes in which I’m not studying something… 

(2) Pretty soon, I would have quit even these motions, unless I had received the motivation that I did.

(3) It was both ideas that moved me to request a dictionary along with some tablets and pencils from the Norfork Prison Colony school.

(4) I certainly wasn’t seeking my degree, the way a college confers a status symbol upon its students.

(5) Where else but in prison could I have attacked my ignorance by being able to study intensely sometimes as much as fifteen hours a day?

7. After-reading Questions

(1) What have you learned from the text? What’s the impression you get from the text?

(2) The author said one of the biggest troubles with colleges is there are too many distractions. What do you think of the idea? Can you give some examples?

(3) What can you learn from the author?

8. After-reading tasks

Ⅳ.　Exercises

1.       The young man worked hard in      of his father.

A. competition   B. emulation   C. assimilation    D. following

2.       He took it down, busily     it     and left.

A. looked…through   B. saw…through   C. thumbed…through   D. got…through

3.       The composer kept calm and accepted the       with philosophy.

A. inevitable   B. indispensable   C. incurable   D. unbelievable 

4.       She kept up a       with Mrs. Smith.

A. correlation   B. correspondence   C. correspondent   D. corruption

5.       All the staff in the hospital were devoted to the       of the injured by the storm.

A. habilitation   B. habilitate   C. rehabilitate   D. rehabilitation

6.       He      every word of the speaker.

A. devoured   B. devoid   C. devolved   D. deviated

7.       The Chinese people protested emphatically against the     committed upon them by the Japanese army.    

A. outlay   B. outlook   C. outrage   D. output

8.       There’s a two hour’s     to the next train.

A.      occasion   B. interval   C. transient   D. space

9.       She     herself sick when the teacher stood right before her.

A.      pretended   B. disguised   C. feigned   D. dissembled    

10. This country was subjected to the attacks of     economy.

A. asleep   B. latent   C. hidden    D. dormant 

11. The hero was      a medal due to his bravery in the flood. 

A. relied on   B. conferred on   C. counted on   D. built on

12. Every well-read man refuses to live in a state of     .

A. ignorance   B. recognition   C. deafness   D. dumbness

13. They stopped talking and went      the motions of reading as soon as the teacher came in.

A. by   B. over   C. on   D. through

14.   For dinner they have some hamburgers, vegetables,      dissert.

A. along   B. together   C. along with   D. among

15.   They examined carefully the person murdered       the brand of his coat.

A. downwards   B. down to   C. up to   D. upwards

16.   They couldn’t make their ends meet by      their father’s small salary.

A. living down to   B. living up to   C. living through   D. living off

17.   The government began to      small businesses when the realized that they were indispensable to economic growth.

A. smile at   B. smile upon   C. smile away   D. smile into   

18.   In the first week, freshmen are not permitted to      books from the library.

A. check at   B. check up   C. check out   D. check in

19.   You should      yourself     the new environment as soon as possible.

A. .adjust…to   B. used…to   C. be used…to    D. be accustomed…to

20.   In high school, you usually       the vistas that college will open to you.

A. thought   B. supposed   C. reflected upon   D. reflected

Keys: 1-5 BCABD   6-10 ACBCD   11-15 BADCB   16-20 DBCAC