2). To learn about how festivals begin and howto celebrate festivals so as to enable them to learn more about differentcultures while learning different language .
2、重点词汇和短语：
熟记课文中重点词组或短语。
festival, celebrate, celebration, lunar, takeplace, on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, beauty, harvest, relatives,custom, admire, decorate, origin, separate, dress up, parking lot, luck money,family reunion, get together, Christmas，solar calendar, carnival, parade,Christian, Easter, Lantern Festival, Arbor Day, Pure Brightness Day, JesusChrist, the Easter Bunny, hot cross buns, the best bands Sentence structures: (句子) 1)、Festivals are meant to celebrateimportant times of year. 2)、Discuss when they take place, whatthey celebrate and what people do at that time. 3)、Cara suggests that Li Mei change hershoes to something more comfortable, wear some lighter and cooler clothing andalso take a hat. 4)、Easter customs include making andeating hot cross buns, coloring and searching for eggs supposedly hidden by theEaster
能力目标：
Letstudents to know how to get the key words from the conversation about thecarnival parade, and how to talk about sth. happened.
五、情感目标：
Letstudents to know and compare Chinese festivals and customs with westernfestivals and customs.
六、教学重难点：
1、How to talk about the Chinesefestivals and social customs at festivals.
2、How to get the key words tounderstand the conversation about the carnival parade, to talk about sth.happened.
七、教学过程:
Step 1 Warming up
Step 2 Pre-reading
Lookat the pictures and discuss in pairs what kind of information you think will beintroduced in the passage.
Step 3 Reading and comprehending
1.Ask the students to skim the passage and find out what festivals are mentionedin each paragraph.
Paragraph 1:__________________
Paragraph 2:__________________
Paragraph3: __________________
Paragraph4: __________________
Paragraph5: __________________
Suggestedanswers:
Paragraph1: Ancient festivals: celebrate the end of the winter, planting in spring andharvest in autumn; celebrate when hunters catch animals.
Paragraph 2: Day of the Dead;Halloween.
Paragraph3: Dragon Boat Festival; Columbus Day; October 2.
Paragraph 4: Harvest andThanksgiving festivals;
Mid-AutumnDay.
Paragraph5: Spring Festival; Carnival; Easter;
Cherry Blossom Festival.
2. Read the passage carefully and answerthe true or false questions.
( ) 1)、The ancient people needn't worry about their food.
( ) 2)、Halloween used to be a festival intended to honor the dead.
( ) 3)、Mohandas Gandhi helped gain India's independence from the USA.
( ) 4)、ThanksgivingDay is held to celebrate harvest.
( ) 5)、Eastercelebrates the birth of Jesus.
Suggested answers:
1)F 2)T 3)F 4)T 5)F
3. Work in pairs. Imagine that somestudents are celebrating a festival. Use the information given in the text tohelp them make up a dialogue.
Step 4 Language study
Dealing with some language problems to helpthe students to have a better understanding of the text.
1. At that time people would starve if foodwas difficult to find, especially during the cold winter months.
2.Some festivals are held to honor the dead or to satisfy the ancestors, whomight return either to help or to do harm.
3. The country, covered with cherry treeflowers, looks as though it is covered with pink snow.
Step 5 Study the text
1. Find out a sentence in the text whichhas a similar meaning with the following one.
As long as the neighbors don't give anysweets, the children will make a fool of them.
2. Translate the followingsentence.
Itis now a children's festival, when they can dress up and go to theirneighbour's homes to ask for sweets.
Step 6 Listening, reading aloud and underlining
Ask the students to read the passage aloudto the tape and let them pay attention to the pronunciation of each word andthe pauses within each sentence. Tell them to pick out all the usefulexpressions or collocations from the passage while reading and copy them intothe notebook after class as homework.
Step 7 Groupwork
Discussin pairs which festivals you think are the most important and which are themost fun. Then fill in the chart with your ideas.
Type of festival
Example of festival
Reasons for your choice
Most important
Most fun.
Step 8 Retelling
Let the students try to retell the passageaccording to the key words and expressions given on the blackboard.
Step 9 Homework
1. Findout useful words and expressions, beautiful sentences and finish the exercisesin Learning about Language accordingly.
2. Write an introduction of the festivalyour group have created.
