2. Using context clues to find out the meaning of words 3. Understanding paragraphs-How to identify the Main Idea. 4. Reading skills: Dealing with Homonyms III. Teaching Methods（教学方法） Teaching Discussing Practicing

IV. Teaching Time（教学时数）: 4 periods V. Teaching Content（教学内容） 1. Related Information

Author: Albert DiBartolomeo is the author of the novels The Vespers Tapes 《晚祷磁带》and Fool‘s Gold 《傻瓜的黄金》. His short stories have appeared in VIA and Italian Americana, which also published an essay of his titled “The Literary Sensibility of Nicolo Sacco.” He received his M. A. in Creative Writing from Temple University, where he studied with David Bradley and Toby Olson, and has received a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. He is currently working on a novel titled Cruel Spring《残忍春天》. 2. Lead-in

Think about one person who you admire most. Who is he /she?

Why do you admire him/her?

The author and his wife move to a house on a little street called Pemberton, they get acquainted with a special neighbor---Mable Howard. why is she special?

what happened between this lady and the author? 3. Text Analysis

Part I – Getting acquainted with Mable

Q: What‘s your first impression on Mable Howard? Can you give some examples? Key: She was a healthy old lady. She was proud of her job.

S1: I opened the door upon a woman with bright eyes somewhere between fierce and

merry. She was at least 65, thin, but not at all frail. Quite the opposite. All tough sinew, she looked like a hawk eyeing prey.

我打开门，看到一位妇人，明亮的双眼既犀利又透着愉快。她至少65岁，清瘦，但一点也不虚弱。恰恰相反。他身体强健，看上去像只老鹰盯着它的猎物。 S2: “Oh, that’s good.” She drew out the last word as if responding to the sight of luscious Mable to the door. “喔，很好。”她拉长了声音说出最后一个词，语气就像是看到了美味的蛋糕似的。

Part II – The clean sweep of the street by Mable

Q: From this part, we can conclude: What kind of person was Mable? Can you give some examples?

She was persistent; She hated litter and bad behaviors; She didn‘t like to owe others. Part III–The repair of the Alley gate by the writer

Q: Why did Mable want to have the broken Alley Gate fixed?

Key: Because she believed that people should take good care of the public property. S1: The wooden gate was in disrepair, and “riffraff,” according to Mable, were using the alley for “Lord knows that.” 这扇木门已失修多时，用她的话说，“只有老天知道”那些“渣滓”是怎么用这条巷子的。

S2: She gazed down the length of the street. The bright sun had turned the upper windows of the west side into fiery rectangles of yellow. The blue sky above appeared enameled. 她凝视着整个街道。明媚的阳光在西边的窗户的上半部，窗户似乎变成了赤黄色的矩形。蓝色的天空则像是涂满了釉彩。

Part IV – The block cleaning by all neighbors living on Pemberton Street Q1: What did Mable do to make us participate the block cleaning?

Key: She affixed placards to utility poles, put fliers into our mail slots before Saturday, and she knocked on our doors to wake us up on Saturday morning. Q2: Did the people enjoy the work? Why?

Key: Yes. Because they were activated by the atmosphere, and it provided them a chance to work and chat together.

S1: There was a certain combativeness in her voice, as if those who did not help had

sided with the dark forces responsible for litter, decay and dilapidation. 她的声音里透着某种好战的情绪，似乎那些不遵从她号令的人都占到了黑暗势力的一边，要对乱扔垃圾、颓败、破败负责。

S2: That incongruous sight was soon eclipsed by a gushing fire hydrant and phalanxes of neighbors pushing brooms to work the water and dirt down the street. The water shimmered in the morning sun and left the street glistening.

消防水龙头喷出粗水柱，邻居们组成方阵，挥着扫把将水和灰尘顺着街道扫过去，原来那些不和谐的景象很快消失了。水珠在晨曦中闪闪发光，整条街道流光溢彩。 S3: People who had seen one another only in passing stood elbow to elbow and chatted. 那些平时过往时才见面的人，现在在一起交谈甚欢。 Part V – The debt

Q: I‘m more in Mable‘s debt than she is in mine. Why did the writer think so? He thought he should pay Mable more because she did so much for the block. Compared with her he did less for the neighbors. Ⅵ. Summary(小结)

1. Ask the students to remember key words and expressions in Text A. And conclude the general idea of section A

2. Ask the student to remember importance of protecting environment. VII. Homework （作业） Home reading: It‘s Our world too! Learn about reading skills Practice Fast Reading Preview Unit 5

Unit 5 A Mother’s Place

I. Teaching Objectives（教学目标）

Go over the whole text in limited time and try to get the main idea of the passage Reading the text and learn some lessons from the experience of the old lady in the story.

Develop the ability to look for information

II. Teaching Importance and Difficulties（教学重点及难点） 1. The usage of new words and phrases

2. Using context clues to find out the meaning of words 3. Understanding paragraphs-How to identify the Main Idea. 4. Reading skills: Skimming III. Teaching Methods（教学方法） Teaching Discussing Practicing

IV. Teaching Time（教学时数）: 4 periods V. Teaching Content（教学内容） 1. Related Information About the author

Donna Gamache , was born in Minnedosa(明尼多萨), Manitoba(马尼托巴) in 1994 and she is a writer and teacher from Macgregor(马格雷戈). She received a bachelor(学士) of Arts degree form the University of Manitoba. She has taught language arts and social studies fulltime at the secondary level and has worked as an elementary and secondary substitute(代替) teacher.

She specializes in fiction, especially for children. She has published a book for children,Spruce Woods Adventure(云杉森林历险记), as well as many short stories for both children and adults. Her poetry has been printed in Prairie Messenger, Western People and Our Family, and has won honorable mentions in the CAA poetry contest.

2. Lead-in questions

What roles do mothers play in the family?

What will you do after you quarrel with your mother?

How did Dorothy feel about herself at the beginning of the story?

Why did Dorothy think herself redundant(多余的）? Can you give me some example? After reading what do you think of Tim‘s way of solving the problem? 3.Text comprehension

Part one:para1---para2 Mom‘s mood

Part two:para3---para18 Mom‘s solution for the argument Part three:para19---para33 Son‘s solution for the argument Part four:para34---para37 Breaking the ice

1)The rain still fell in a silent gray sheet when Dorothy opened her bedroom curtains to peer outside. (P1,L1)

Sheet : a large moving mass of fire and water. Rain in a sheet/in sheets =rain heavily Peer: look closely or carefully at sth.

eg. 她从帘子后面凝视着邻居们。She peered at the neighbors from behind the curtain.

2) And usually she acted younger than her years, if anything.(P2,L3) If anything : if there is any difference 如果有什么不同的话

(如果有什么不同的话,就是从她平日里的举止行动看不出她的实际年龄。) eg.如果有区别的话，我新的工作比以前的更差。 If anything, my new job is worse than my old one .

3) She?d known it last night, of course, after the blow up with Jenny, Tim‘s wife. (P3,L2)

Blow up with sb. : be angry with sb.

(当然，昨晚与蒂姆的妻子詹妮吵架之后，她就已经知道是为什么了。) 4) Dorothy argued that the closest garden patch needed fallowing. （P4，L3） Patch:(尤指种菜用的)小块土地 Fallowing:n. 休耕制；休闲地

(多萝西认为，屋子旁边的那块园地应该空着 。) 5) Not that anything had been said to that effect.(P13,L1) To that/this effect : 说了?话，表达了?意思 with that/this meaning or information. eg.他话里带着叫我出去的意思。 He told me to get out, or words to that effect.

6) Around here ,I won‘t be needed anymore. More than that . In this house ,I‘m in the