--It hardly takes a miracle to explain….Thanksgiving….(para. 3) What does the sentence mean?
--The bird had to be slaughtered……and priced and displayed. (para.5)
Why does the author use so many “and”s in the sentence rather than use one “and ”before the last term?
--The social order of freedom…gift from above.(para.9) What does “from above” refer to? --What is “invisible hand” in your opinion?
c. Work in groups and discuss the following questions.
According to Adam Smith, “the invisible hand” leads innumerable people, each working for his own gain, to promote ends that benefit many. However, some people think that the free market only promotes selfishness and greed, where business try every means to work for their own gain. What do you think? Can “the invisible hand ” do anything to deter business malpractice 3. Assignments:
---preview Text B &C, and get ready to answer questions in class.
---make yourself familiar with the researching task on page 13 and get ready to do the research in group in the third class period. 4. Reflection: 5. Others:
2nd week--Text B&,Text C& exercises Teaching Objectives:
1.Know what is specialized vocabulary and acquire some specialized vocabulary for economics.
2. Understand the functions of parenthetical statements
3.Comprehend stylistic differences between formal and informal English and acquire some formal expressions Course Structure (6 periods/unit) 1. Lead-in & Text A (2 periods)
2. Text B&,Text C& exercises (2 periods)
3. Research, lecture or seminar and writing practice (2 periods) Teaching key points:
1. Know what is case study, and know more economic terms and cases . 2.Acquire some specialized vocabulary for economics. 3.Use parenthetical statements properly. Teaching difficulties:
1. How to make their own research well.
2. How to use formal English wisely in academic writing. Teaching Methods:
Task-based language teaching, Audio-lingual method, situational language teaching, communicative teaching method, class discussions, classroom demonstration activities,Lecture Method Teaching Procedures: 1.Text B
(1) Imagine the following situations:
---Your girl/boy friend gives you cash as birthday gift, will you accept it? ---Your employer substitute merchandise for you paycheck,will you accept the cash or object?
What are your opinions toward these two situations if you were the boy/girl friend
or the employee?
(2) Read “Gifts as signals”and find out what economics is behind these situations. (3) Signaling theory is useful for describing behavior when two parties have access to different information. Typically, the signal sender chooses whether and how to communicate certain information, while the receiver chooses how to interpret the signal. Signaling theory tackles a fundamental problem of communication and applies in various areas.
(4) Work in group of 4-5 and discuss the following questions:
--Why does the man's girlfriend break off their relationship when she gives her cash as a birthday gift? Analyze why in this case the cash gift is considered offensive but in some other cases it is well accepted?
--Read more about the signaling theory and then try to find out the other examples in your life where signaling theory can be applied.
--After reading the two passages “美国政府起诉微软公司违反联邦反垄断法”,“微软遭遇反垄断败诉前后”and “The Microsoft Case”, find out answers for the following questions :
Q1: Interpret “antitrust”in your own words.
Q2: Do you think Microsoft' s behavior is reasonable or not? why?
(5) A case study refers to an intensive study of a person,group,phenomenon,etc., and is often used as an instructive example to derive underlining concepts and foster analytical development. (6) Researching
Many years have passed since the U.S. filled its antitrust case against Microsoft in 1998, but echoes of the case continue to reverberate(回响). Search and read more articles to the case, think about the following questions and then discuss with your classmates.
--Do you think the government regulation in this case will impede the technological progress in the industry?
--Is the regulation a knid of intrusion, which is incompatible with the law of the “ invisible hand”?
2. Text C
Translate Adam Smith'words in Paragraph 1 from English into Chinese.
每一个精明的一家之主都知道,如果买一样东西所花的钱比在家里自己生产所花的成本要小,那就永远不要尝试在家里生产。裁缝不会去做自己的鞋子,而向鞋匠购买;鞋匠不会去做自己的衣服,而雇裁缝来做;农民不会去做鞋也不想缝衣,宁愿雇用不同的工匠来做。他们都会为了自身的利益而采取某种方式来利用整个产业,在这种方式里,他们会比邻居更有优势,并用自己生产的一部分产品或者相同的东西,即以一部分产品的价格来购买他们所需要的其它任何物品。 3. Excercises
(1)specialized vocabulary
---Give a brief introduction to the concept of specialized vocabulary. ---Check Ss’ answers to Task 1/Language building-up/Text A ---Additional activity:
Ask Ss’ to translate the following economic terms, which appears in Texts B and C, from Chinese in to English.
---Additional classroom activity:
Translate the following economic terms, which appear in Texts B and C, from Chinese into English.
? 信号传递理论 ? 市场支配力 ? 商品 ? 反垄断法 垄断 ? 相对优势 股票经纪人
? 税收(制度)
(2) Signpost language
---Check Ss’ answers to Task 2/ Language building-up/Text A ---Discuss with Ss the effects of parenthetical statements ---Additional activity:
Ask Ss to find parenthetical statement in Text B.
(3)Formal English
---Give a brief introduction to differences between formal and informal English
---Check Ss’ answers to Task 3/Language building-up/Text A 4. Assignments:
(1) Prepare the researching task and do presentation in next class. (2) Finish doing more exercises if they are not done in class. 5. Reflection: 6. Others: