hit the nail on the head

Unit One: Hit the Nail on the HeadObjective:1.To instruct how to draw an analogy2.To arouse students’ interest in apt diction.3.To impart the knowledge of outlining a passage4.To teach the usage of some words and expressionsKey Points: Outlining the text, appreciation of the difference in meaning, drawing an analogy Difficult Points: Outlining, Appreciation of the difference in meaning, Drawing an analogy Approach: Task-based and communicative approachesDuration: Seven PeriodsContent:●.Lead-in questions:▼Question 1: Ask students to describe their summer holiday▼Question 2: Ask some to describe their partners▼Comments: usher in the topic of describing with apt words.▼Have you ever heard of the English proverb “Hit the nail on the head”? What does it mean?Literally:Strike the nail in a skillful way so that it could be knocked into the wood. Figuratively:It means being exactly right in words or action.(Comment on the students’ answer: hit the nail on the head, hit it to one side)Eg. You really hit the nail on the head with your description.Professor Li hit the nail on the head in his speech on the demerits of the existing housing policy.●. Scan for the main ideas and outline of the textPart One: Paragraph 1Part Two: Paragraph 2-11Section 1 (para. 2-3) : the significance of finding the right wordsSection 2 (para. 4-7): semantic differences between words having the same rootSection 3 (Para.8): wrong choice of words caused by failure to recognize their connotationsSection 4 (para. 9) stylistic differences between synonymsSection 5 (para. 10) the abundance of specific words in English for general notions.Section 6 (para 11) encouragement●Text Discussion▼Discussion about Paragraph One:▽Question:Who often uses nails? (carpenters) And who often uses words? ( people,esp. writers). Can you find a general word in paragraph one which can be used to refer to both carpenters and writers? (craftsman: a person skilled in a job or a trade)▽Question: Then is this essay mainly about how carpenters hammer nails or about how writers employ words? (The author advises that the English students should try to get the words, phrases and sentences completely right for their purposes in their writing.). How does the author shift the topic from carpentry to language?▽Question: In Paragraph one, the author really touches upon carpentry or the skill of a carpenter; then why does the author touch upon carpentry but focus on the writers’skill of choosing words? What is the use of the description of how a carpenter knocks a nail into the wood? (The author uses something we are familiar with to explain something that we are unfamiliar with. -----analogy) （by analogy, draw an analogy）★Analogy: analogy is a method often used in exposition and description by which an unfamiliar object or idea is explained or described by comparing it with more familiar objects or ideas.Eg: To liken the complicated and less tangible process of learning a foreign language to the more familiar and visible process of building a house is a very popular analogy. V ocabulary: bricks. Grammar: principles of bricklaying, etc)▽Question: Then do you know why he author uses “ hit the nail on the head” as the title? Is this title good? Why or why not?It is good, for it both touches upon the skill of hammering a nail (related to carpentry) and the skills of choosing proper words. It provides a bridge or a common point for them.▽Question: Analyze the development of the first paragraphContrast: Clumsy carpenter Vs Skillful CarpenterAnalogy: Carpenter Vs Writer▽Language Points: Deft/ drive something home/ ambiguous (ambi-)▼Discussion about Paragraph Two:▽Question: How is the second paragraph related to the first one?▽Question: What do you know about Gustave Flaubert? Try to offer some information about this writer.★Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist, was associated with, thought not representative of, the movement of naturalism and known as one of thegreatest realists of nineteenth-century France. He devoted his life to longhours spent in heavy toil over his work. His writing is marked byexactness and accuracy of observation, extreme impersonality andobjectivity of treatment, and precision and expressiveness in style, or theprinciple of the mot juste.▽Language Points: Apt/ scrupulous/ subtle/ delicate▼Discussion about Paragraph Three:▽Question. How is the third paragraph related to the second one? What can we learn from this?▽Question: Analyze paragraph three. What are the relationships between different sentences? In other words, how does the author develop his ideas?▽Language Points: limit VS limitation/ conception VS concept /-ceive→-ception▼Discussion about Paragraph Four▽Question: What is the function of the first sentence in this paragraph?▽Question: After you read the paragraph, can you try to distinguish the word “human” from “human e”? Try.▽Question: What does the phrase “for example” strike you?▽Question: What do you know about the Declaration of Human Rights?▽Language Points: human VS humane, distinct VS distinctive▼Discussion about Paragraph Five▽Question: What are key words in this paragraph?▽Question: What is the function of the first sentence in this paragraph?▽Question: What are the differences between “anxiety” and “eagerness”?▽Language Points: look afield / anxiety VS eagerness/ have some kinship with▼Discussion about Paragraph Six▽Question: What is the relationship between this paragraph and paragraph five? How is this paragraph related to the previous one?▽Question: For what purpose does the author write this paragraph?▽Question: What do you know about Uganda? Try to search for some information about this country.▽Language Points: opportunism/ cowardice/ rife in/ n.+ly/ singularity▼Discussion about Paragraph Seven▽Question: What is the relationship between paragraph seven and paragraph six? Is the relationship of this kind similar to the relationship between paragraph six and paragraph five? Support your idea.▽Question: What do you know about Mrs. Malaprop and Malapropism?★Mrs. Malaprop is a famous character in Sheridan’s comedy The Rivals. She is noted for her blunders in the use of words. “As head strong as an allegory (alligator) on the banks of the Nile” is one of her grotesque misapplications. She also requests that no delusions (allusions) to the past to be made. She has given us the word malapropism as a name for such mistakes.▼Discussion about Paragraph Eight▽Question: What is the function of the first sentence of this paragraph? For what purpose does the author give the example?▽Question: What do you know about Charles Dickens? Try to search for some information about him and his works.▽Question: Can you analyze the sentence relationships in this paragraph? Try.▽Language Points: imprison/ sum up/ epitomize/ essence/ distill▼Discussion about Paragraph Nine▽Question: What do you know about Walter W Raleigh? Please refer to explanation 15 on page 6.▽Question: Why does the author quote from Professor Raleigh?▽Question: The author says there is some differences between sentence 1) in my childhood I loved to watch trains go by and sentence 2) when I was a child I loved watching trains go by. Have you realized this difference? Try to translate these two sentences into Chinese appropriately?▽Question: What is the difference between “die” and “expire”? and how about the difference between” poor” and “in indigent differences”? can you try to put the two sentences “he died poor”and “he expired in indigent circumstances”into Chinese aptly? Try.▽Question: then is it appropriate to say “ he dies in indigent circumstances” or to say “ he expires poor”? Why or why not?▽Question: What suggestions has the also made to deal with this kind of differences? ▽Language Points: disprove/ alternation/ marked/ expire/ indigent▼Discussion about Paragraph Ten▽Question: What are the differences among the words related to walk? For example, pace and patrol? Try to look them up in the dictionary.▽Language Points: words related to walk▼Discussion about Paragraph Eleven▽Question: What is the function of the first sentence of this paragraph? ( a topic sentence or a transitional one?) How do you know?▽Question: What kind of figure of speech has been used in the first sentence of this paragraph?▽Question: What suggestions has the author offered deal with the matter of vocabulary? What can we learn from this paragraph?▽Question: What is the function of the last sentence of this paragraph? With which sentence in the previous text does it correspond?●RetellingTry to use the outline of the text to retell the passage. Pay due attention to the logical relationships between the neighboring paragraphs.●Homework:1.Try to memorize the new words.2.Try to finish the excises in workbook.3.Try to search for some information about pollution.●Reflection:。