Unit 2

Text IUnwillingly on Holiday

Objectives

• 1. The planning of a narrative piece of writing• 2. Descriptive writing skills• 3. Vocabulary and sentence structures

Teaching Tasks and Process

Pre-reading Questions

• Is going on holiday generally a pleasant or a painful experience?

• Who might be going on holiday? An old man/woman? A young man/woman? A young boy/girl?

• Where might the person be going on holiday? To a flat in the city? To a cottage in the countryside?

• Why might the person be going on holiday unwillingly? Is he/she going to be cooped up in a place? Is he/she going to help with farmwork?

Background information

• Ann Philippa Pearce (1920-2006)

Tom's Midnight Garden (1958)

• Awarded the Carnegie Medal (1959) • ALA Notable Book

More books by the Author

• The Little Gentleman Minnow on the Say Familiar and Haunting

The main idea

• Tom Long was unhappy to be sent to his uncle’s because his brother was down with the measles.

Measles

• Measles is a disease caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus.

• Symptoms : fever, cough, runny nose, red eyes and a generalized, maculopapular, erythematous rash.

• Measles is spread through respiration (contact with fluids from an infected person's nose and mouth, either directly or through aerosol transmission),

• It is highly contagious—90% of people without immunity sharing a house with an infected person will catch it.

Language points

• look his good-bye at: bid goodbye to … by looking at it

• wave somebody good-bye • kiss somebody good-bye

Town gardens are small, as a rule, …

• as a rule: in most cases; generally speaking

• As a rule, he goes to work on time.• They did not talk very much as a rule, as they

went about together.

…,and the Longs’ garden was no exception to the rule.

• Every student should keep classroom discipline, and you are no exception.

• Most of the buildings in this town are rather unattractive, but this church is an exception.

…, but Mrs. Long clung to the case for a moment,…

• cling to: to hold fast

• They clung to each other as they said good-bye.• She clung to the hope that he was still alive.• cling to somebody like a leech 依附于别人；纠缠某人

,…claiming his attention first.

• claim: to require

• Babies cry to claim mother's attention.• claim a reward• A hurricane claimed two lives

…for taking Tom off at such short notice.

• at such short notice: without much time for preparation

• We were told to bring the huge project to a close at short notice.

• The students gave the landlady one month’s notice before they moved.

I am sorry—spoiling the beginning of your summer holiday like this.

• spoil: to lesson the enjoyment of

• The party was spoilt by quarreling.

• The little girl is terribly spoilt—her parents give her everything she asks for.

• Spare the rod and spoil the child.

If only he’d beat me, …

• If only: used to express an unfulfilled wish or condition at present, in the past or in the future.

• If only I were here.• If only I had been here.• If only I would be here.

Cooped up for weeks with Uncle Alan and Aunt Gwen in a poky flat…

• be cooped up: having to stay for a period of time in a place that is too small

• to coop up the mind in …• It isn’t good for you to be cooped up in the

house all day.

Text II

April Fools’ Day

Questions

• Have you ever heard of April Fool’s Day before?• From the notes written by various English

children, what impression do you get of April Fool’s Day?

• What do you think of playing jokes on people on the first of April? Do you think it interesting or meaningless or harmful or harmless? Give reasons for your answer.

About April fools’ Day

• A day to play jokes on others

• No one knows how this holiday began but people think it first started in France.

• In the 16th century, people celebrated new years day from march 25 to April 1. In the mid—1560s king Charles IX changed it from march 25 to January 1.

• Some people still celebrated in on April 1, so others called them April fools.

Celebration in different countries

• In France, people call the April fools “April fish”. they tape a paper fish to their friends backs to fool them. when he or she finds this , they shout “April fish!”

• In England, people play jokes only in the morning. you are a “noodle” if someone fools you. in Scotland, April fools day is 48 hours long. they call an April fool “April gowk”. gowk is another name for a cuckoo bird.

• In the America, people play small jokes on their friends and any other people on the first of April. they may point down to your shoe and say, “ your shoelace is untied.” if you believe them and look down to see, you are an April fool then.

April Fool's Jokes and Tricks

• Get up really early and sneak into your victims bathroom and fill their hair-dryer with baby powder. And when they turn it on, their head will be pure white just like an old person!

• Take an empty coffee mix can and replace it with a can with coffee mix in it. Make sure coffee cans are the same brand, or it will not work. At the bottom of the can put a piece of paper that says April Fools. Make sure you help the person with making their coffee to see their reaction.

• Before one of your family members takes shower, remove the shower head and place a life-saver candy in it, replace the shower head with the candy now trapped in it. When the person takes a shower he or she will not notice, until they get out and start to dry off the towel will stick to them they will get back in the shower to rinse off... works like a charm.

• Find a box about the size of a cake. Then cover it with frosting, making it look like a cake. Then put it out in the office kitchen, or wherever people leave free food. Sit back as one of your co-workers tries to cut a slice.

• Get a small alarm clock and set it for 3:00 a.m. Sneak under the victim's bed. Once it goes off, he/she won't be able to find it will drive them nuts.

• Switch the "Pull" and "Push" signs on a set of doors. Watch as people get confused trying to open the doors. (Don't do this on fire escapes)

Discussion/Exercises

• An unforgettable experience

Assignments

• Exercises on Work Book