World of personalities (P1)

山东省烟台第二中学  柳力文

 

I. Leading-in   

1.What are people from different nations like? Do you have general views on this? Can you list some examples?

2.Do you think people’s stereotypes (成见) are reliable? Why?

 

II. Skimming

Read the article quickly and answer the question.

•What is the main idea of the article?

•It discusses the issue of different nationalities’ personalities.

 

III. Scanning

Read the article carefully and answer the following questions.

•1. What do we know from the two studies?

①People’s general views about the personalities of people from different nations are normally wrong.

②Some countries and regions can be said to have dominant personality traits. 

③There’s a lot of variation (变化) among all populations.

 

•2. Who are the most extroverted people according to McCrae’s study?

•The Brazilians, the French-speaking Swiss and the Maltese. 

 

•3. What are the populations that are most open to experience?

•German-speaking Swiss, Danes and Germans. 

 

•4. What is the author’s suggestion?

•Maybe the best lesson to learn from this is not to judge people based on where they’re from. We should, as the English saying goes, “take people as we find them”.

 

Read the article in detail and decide whether the following statements are true (T) or false (F).

•1. Americans are less extroverted than the British.

•2. Robert McCrae and his team interviewed about 12,000 college students from 51 countries.

•3. There are no obvious differences among people from different nationalities.

•4. Indonesians are more outgoing than Brazilians.

•5. A Hong Kong Chinese person is less willing to seek new experiences than a German person.

Key: TTFFT

 

IV. Discussion

 “The way people actually are isn’t the way people think they are.”

Do you agree with this statement? Do you have any experience that support it?

 

 

Keeping creativity alive (P4-5)

中国人民大学附属中学  宋玖青

 

I. Warming up   

What does the word “creativity” make you think of? 

 

II. Pre-reading

Among the following, which ones do you think involve creativity?

•Making a presentation

•Studying chemistry

•Reading

•Doodling(涂鸦)

•Writing poetry

•Teaching a foreign language

•Living abroad

 

III. While-reading 

Scanning

Read the article and answer the following questions.

1. What problems may an obsession with reading lead to?

Reading a book while walking to school can be risky when you are crossing roads.

2. What is the advantage of teaching a foreign language according to the author?

You have to be creative all the time.

 

Close Reading

Decide whether the following statements are true or false.

1.The author’s chemistry teacher didn’t like his idea of changing the theories into doodles.

2.The tutor at university didn’t listen to discussions while she was doodling.

3.Teaching a language is a creative process.

4.There’s no creativity in the author’s life abroad because she cannot find time for it.

Key: TFTF

 

Read the article and divide it into different parts, then summarize the main idea of each part.

Possible answer:

Part 1 (Para. 1): Two teachers in the author’s high school did not understand her creativity.

Part 2 (Para. 2-4): The author realized the significance of creativity at university.

Part 3 (Para. 5-6): Creativity is important to the author’s teaching and life in Spain. 

 

Read the article again, and answer the following questions.

1.What is the function of the first paragraph?

In the first paragraph, the author shows that she was a creative teenager but her teachers discouraged her. She shows readers that not everyone values creativity, and her personal experience arouses the readers’ interests about the story that follows. 

2. What is the significance of being creative according to the author? 

Creativity is an effective way to relax and express yourself.

3. What does the author mean by saying “I feel like my life now revolves the process” ? 

She means that although she cannot find any specific time to practice creativity, creativity actually exists everywhere in her life. 

 

IV. Post-reading 

Discussion

In the article, the author tells us that her high school teachers were not interested in her creative ways of doing things. 

•Have you ever had this kind of experience before?

•Do you agree with the saying that “schools kill creativity”?

 

V. Homework

Writing

Watch the TED talk “Do schools kill creativity?” by Ken Robinson and write an article to express your views on this issue. You should summarize the speaker’s opinion first, then give your own opinion with sufficient evidence and examples.

视频地址：https://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity

 

 

Get to know neighbors (P6)

山东省烟台第二中学  孔洁

 

I. Warming up   

Think about the following questions: 

•Are you familiar with your neighbors?

•Do you often have gatherings with your neighbors? 

 

II. Skimming

Read the passage quickly and summarize the main idea of the passage.

•The author shares with us the first time she hosted a neighborhood soup night. It helped the neighbors get to know each other well and the author intended to continue the gathering monthly. 

 

III.Scanning 

Read the passage quickly and find the answers to the following questions.  

•1. Why did the author accept her friend’s challenge?

•She saw  it as a way to connect with her neighbors.

 

•2. How many guests came to the soup night?

•Ten 

•Chris and Lisa, along with their infant son, Harry;

•May, a single woman;

•The Williams, a family of six.

 

•3. What confused Chris?

•He wondered what made the author decide to hold the soup night and whether she was from their city originally.

 

•4. How did the soup night go? 

•The mood was friendly, as they all sat around sharing stories about themselves and their families. The room was filled with the sound of both laughter and conversation. Neighbors sat unhurried, some expressing gratitude for the evening.

 

•5. What was the neighbors’ attitude toward the soup night?

•It’s clear that the neighbors attending the first Soup Night appreciated real contact, away from the screen of a computer or smartphone.

 

IV. Language focus-----sentences

Find out the following sentences in the passage and rewrite the underlined part.  

•1. Walking out to the front of my house to look over my familiar, empty street,  I realize how much I have been living apart from my own neighborhood. 

•现在分词作状语，表示时间。

•When I walked out to the front of my house to …

•2. I accept my friend’s challenge, seeing it as a way to connect with my neighbors.

•现在分词作状语, 表示原因。

•… because I see it as a way to connect with …

•3. Next comes May, a single woman living down the block who walks in, smiling.

•现在分词作后置定语；现在分词作伴随状语。

•who lives down the block；… and she is smiling 

•4. The mood is friendly, as we all sit around sharing stories about ourselves and our families. 

•现在分词作伴随状语

•… and share stories about ourselves and families

•5. Neighbors sit unhurried, some expressing gratitude for the evening.

•现在分词在独立主格结构中表主动

•and some express gratitude for …

•6. It’s clear that the neighbors attending my first Soup Night appreciated real contact, away from the screen of a computer or smartphone.

•现在分词作后置定语

•who attended My first Soup Night

 

IV. Language focus----expressions

Find the following expressions in the passage and make sentences with them

•gives sb pause

•question the reason behind sth 

•take the time to

•echo with 

•set up 

•express gratitude for 

•contribute

•intend to 

•clean up the mess 

•be founded on

 

V. Discussion  

•Nowadays, people are used to communicating with friends through smartphones and computers. Some think gatherings like the Soup Night in the article are a waste of time. What’s your opinion on these kinds of social gatherings?