Content& Theme

The passage mainly talks about the American cartoon character--Mickey   Mouse. Through reading, students will find out the history of Mickey Mouse   and the reasons why it is so popular. The theme is about cultural symbol.   Mickey Mouse is a famous symbol of American culture.

How

Language& Structure

This passage is well organized and arranged, with the topic sentences   stated at the very beginning. The topic is not new to the students, so words   and expressions are not that difficult to understand in the   context.

Why

Writer’s intention

This passage aims to arouse students’ interest in exploring the cultural   symbol, thus cultivating students’ cultural awareness.

The

analysis of the

students

Cognitive Psychology

The students have learned English   for almost six years. Students have a keen interest, curiosity and motivation   in knowing more about cartoon characters, but they are easily distracted, so   the teacher designs kinds of activities to get them involved in the class and   help them to understand the passage.

Knowledge Basis

The students   have learned some words about game show in the preceding periods, and they   are very familar with Mickey Mouse, both of which create better conditions for the   development of this class. It’s not difficult for them to   understand the meaning of the passage.

Capability

Students lack   some effective reading skills and find it a little difficult to retell the   passage in their own words. The teacher guides the students to retell the   passage in the form of dialogues.

Teaching Objectives

According to New English   Curriculum for Chinese Primary Schools and Junior Middle Schools（2011）, the teacher sets the following objectives.

Knowledge Objectives

1.Through the explanation, students   can pronounce and recognize those new words: famous, rich,   successful, character,etc. and tell the meaning of such reading skills as   skimming and scanning;

2. At the end of this lesson,   students are able to tell the history of

Mickey Mouse, and list the reasons   why it is so popular.

Ability Objectives

1. During   this period, students can accurately find out the main idea and relevant   information from the reading material, thus improving their learning   ability and thinking ability;

2. Through   the post-reading activities, students’ language ability can be   enhanced. They can speak and communicate with others based on the reading   material.

Emotional Objectives

Through reading, students learn to face difficulties like Mickey Mouse and know   the importance to love, cherish and support Chinese cartoons. Students’   cutlural awareness can be developed. Meanwhile, through a series of   exercises, students’ spirit of cooperation can be cultivated and their interest   in learning English can be stimulated.

Teaching key points & difficulties

1. Important   points:

1) Students can pronounce   the new words and phrases correctly and use the reading skills   (topic sentence, skimming and scanning) to finish the activities.

2) Students’s cultural awareness can   be developed.

2. Diffcult points:

Students   can get the main idea and details while reading and realize the language   development from input to output. Therefore, the teacher will encourage   students to have a group discussion and cooperative learning to solve he   difficult problems, and if necessary, they can ask teachers for help.

Teaching methods  

1. Communicative   Approach (Through pair work and group discussion,   students will be encouraged to communicate with the teacher and other   students. )

2. Task-based   Language Teaching Method (Through activities, students   will finish

the   tasks and improve the abilities of reading and speaking.)

3. Situational   Teaching Method ( In the post-reading part,   students work in pairs

and play   the roles of interviewer and interviewee respectively to finish the   dialogue.)

Teaching aids

To improve   the teaching effect, multimedia devices and blackboard design are used throughout   the whole teaching process.

Teaching  procedures

Teaching steps

Teacher’s behaviors

Students’ behaviors

Justification

Step1: Leading

in

(3 mins)

1. The teacher greets the   students.

2. The teacher invites   students to recognize some cartoons, shows them a video clip about Mickey   Mouse and raises some questions to   begin the new lesson.

1. The students greet the teacher.

2. The students watch the video clip and answer the questions.

Through greeting, the   students will be ready for the class.

The leading-in questions   and the video clip can arouse students’ interests in this lesson.

Step2:

Pre-

Reading

(7 mins)

The teacher asks the   students some information about Mickey Mouse and discusses some useful words and expressions   with the students.

Mickey Mouse is a very familiar cartoon character to the   students. Through brainstorming and discussion, the students learn the useful   words.

This step mainly focuses on activating the prior knowledge,   learning new words and eliminating reading barriers.

Step3:

While-

reading

(17 mins)

Fast Reading

The teacher leads   students to read the passage quickly to find out the main idea and guides   them to tell the importance of the topic sentence(s).

Students read the passage quickly, underline   the topic sentences of the passage and conclude that topic sentence(s) can   tell the main idea.

According to the fast reading,   students can grasp the topic sentence(s).   Students’ skimming skills will be trained.

Careful Reading

1. The teacher directs students   to read the passage carefully and complete the time line about the history of   Mickey Mouse.

2. The teacher requests   students to read the passage again, fill out the table and have discussion about   Mickey Mouse.

The students   read the passage and get the key information and details of each paragraph   and complete the timeline and the table.

Through careful reading, students understand the

passage better and their scanning skills will be improved. Moreover, the  

discussion about

Mickey’s qualities permeates the emotional

objectives (such as bravery and so   on) in an invisible way.

Step4:

Post-

Reading

(14 mins)

1. The teacher asks the   students to work in pairs and make a dialogue about Mickey Mouse based on the   questions about the passage.

Then,   the teacher lets students form groups of four and discuss their favorite   cartoon character.

2.   The teacher focuses the students’ attention to the Chinese cartoons.

1. After practice, the students in   pairs make a dialogue about Mickey Mouse in front of the class.

Then, after discussion, the students from each group send a   representative to show their favorite cartoon character in front of the   class.

2. The students participate in discussions about Chinese cartoon characters.

1. Retelling the text in the form of dialogues  and making presentation can help students   deepen their overall understanding of the text, and consolidate their English   knowledge.

2. Through talking about Chinese cartoons, students’ cultural   awareness of loving Chinese culture will be enhanced.

Step5:

Summary

(3 mins)

The teacher guides the   students to sum up what they have learnt in this class.

With the teacher’s guidance, students make a summary of the key points of this period, i.e. the new words, history   about Mickey and reading skills.

Making a summary

enables students to have a clear idea about the teaching and   learning objectives achieved in this period.

Homework

(1min)

1. The teacher requires   all the students to retell the passage and present it next class.

2. The teacher assigns   an optional task: students write a short essay about their favorite Chinese   cartoon character by answering the following questions:

1. How was it created?

2. Why was it popular?

3.Why is it still famous   today?

Students listen and show agreement. And they promise they   will finish the task(s) on time.

Homework is assigned to help students review what they have   learned and improve their ability of practice. Homework stratification not   only conforms to the learning conditions but also

agrees with the Double Reduction Policy.

Design

concept and ideas

This   instruction design closely follows the core competence of English   discipline (language ability, thinking quality, cultural awareness and   learning ability), concentrates on the learning outcomes(guided by OBE),   and implements “students-centered& teacher-guided” model and the Outlook on English

Learning Activities.

Firstly,   through leading-in actitvities, the enthusiasm of students is aroused, and   students are ready for the topic today.

Secondly,   because the topic is not new, in pre-reading step, presentation of the useful   words and expressions in brainstorming and discussion can lay a good foundation for students to improve   language ability and thinking quality.

Thirdly, while   reading, students are supposed to learn and use such reading skills as   skimming and scanning to find out the main idea and get the details. Their learning   ability and thinking quality are cultivated. The discussion about   Mickey’s good qualities permeates the emotional objectives   in an invisible way.

Fourthly,   post-reading acitivties require students to retell the passage in the form of   dialogues in pairs, finish the survey with group members and make   presentation individually in front of the whole class, so as to realize language   internalization and application. Students’ language ability, learning   ability and thinking quality will be enhanced. Meanwhile, through   talking about Chinese cartoons, students’ cultural awareness of loving   Chinese culture will be aroused.

Fifthly, under   the teacher’s guidance, the summary is mainly finished by the students.

Sixthly, based on the analysis of learning   conditions and the requirements of the Double Reduction Policy, homework stratification helps students review what they have learned   and improve the core competence.

Last but not   the least, with the development of the class, the affective   infiltration, including the good qualities of Mickey Mouse and the love for   Chinese culture, will be finished in an invisible way, and sublimated in the   end.

To sum up, this   design always puts students in the center, integrates learning with   application, and realizes the unity of humanism and instrumentality by   exploring the humanistic connotation of teaching materials.

Teaching reflection

Firstly, the teaching objectives have   been basically achieved.  Because Mickey Mouse and Chinese   cartoon characters like Monkey King are very familiar to the

students, so it is very easy to cause the emotional resonance. The   goal of moral education has been achieved. In the post-reading activities,   the students could use the relevant words and expressions to make dialogues   to introduce the history of Mickey Mouse and list the reaons why it is so   popular, and could simply discuss some complicated questions and share their own opinions in front of the class.   That shows

the   knowledge objectives and ability objectives have been basically   achieved. However, the way of   presenting the new words could be more flexible. Although the   topic and some words are not new to the students, it is necessary for   the teacher to add corresponding output activities to help students   correctly pronounce and spell new words through effective repetition.

Secondly, the arrangement of teaching process and activities is basically clearand reasonable.   This reading class follows “PWP”teaching model. Important points and difficult points have been greatly   emphasized. In the post-reading part, because time is limited, the teacher   didn’t invite many students to talk about their favorite Chinese cartoon   characters indivually. Next time, the teacher will pay more attention to   this.

Thirdly, such teaching methods employed as   Communicative Approach, Task-

based   Language Teaching Method and Situational Teaching Method are feasible and

scientific.   Through the pair work and group discussion, students will be encouraged   to to communicate with the teacher and other students. Through while-reading   and post-

reading   activities, students will finish the tasks and improve the abilities of   reading

and   speaking. In the post-reading part, students work in pairs and play the roles   of of interviewer and interviewee respectively to finish the dialogue.

Fourthly, thanks to the complete design and full   preparation before class, the

interaction between teachers and students is perfect, and the students’ learning effect has basically reached the expected teaching objectives. However,   sometimes the instructions are clear but not simple enough. The teacher should practice teaching   instructions.

Last but not least, blackboard design is relatively simple.   It is informative but not thought-provoking enough. Maybe next time the   teacher will try the stick figure, the mind map or even the fishbone diagram,   to achieve the unity of scientificalness and artistry.

Blackboard Design