1、Unit 2 Natural disasters Welcome to the unit & Reading (I) Nature is kind of a loving mother, but also a butcher in cold blood. Victor Hugo Step 1: Lead-in Watching and sharing Free talk 1. What do you know about the signs of a natural disaster? 2. What would you do during an earthquake? Step 2: Str
2、ucture and language characteristics of news reports How is a news report usually organized? Inverted pyramid Inverted pyramid The tail (optional) The lead The body the most important information detailed information background or supporting information News report 1 News report 2 The lead Para. 1: F
3、ALMONTOn 17 March, 476 students and 36 teachers at Falmont Primary School escaped an earthquake that hit the county at 2:27 p.m. Para.1: A 10-year-old girl, Sabrina Andron, helped around 100 people escape danger with her knowledge of tsunamis. The body Paras. 2 and 3: The process of escaping success
4、fully from the earthquake. Paras. 2 and 3: How Sabrina saved so many lives. The tail Para. 4: The reason for their calmness in the earthquake. (Not mentioned.) Discussion Why is the “inverted pyramid” widely used in writing news reports? The purpose of news reports is to inform readers of what is ha
5、ppening in the world. It makes senses for the facts to be arranged from most to least important. The “inverted pyramid” allows information to be found quickly in specific sections. . that hit the country at 2:27 p.m. . that hit the country at about 2 oclock. Compare the sentences and tell which is b
6、etter when used in news reports and the reason. Language characteristics Precise or vague? On 17 March, 476 students and 36 teachers at Falmont Primary School escaped an earthquake. On 17 March, 476 students and 36 teachers at Falmont Primary School were rescued in an earthquake. Active or passive v
7、oice? She made signals to her students to exit the classroom in an orderly line covering their heads with their hands. She signalled to her students to exit the classroom in an orderly line covering their heads with their hands. Verb or noun? Language characteristics of news reports To be precise To
8、 be short and simple To choose proper verbs To be objective . Step 3: Further reading 17 March themselves from an earthquake saved The schools safety procedures taught students and teachers how to protect themselves Goldshore Beach saved around 100 people on the beach from a terrible tsunami The gir
9、l warned of an approaching tsunami, and the beach was cleared just in time Explore the body part of the first news report and learn about the details by discussing the following questions. What did the head teacher and her students react respectively when the earthquake suddenly occurred? Why? Who W
10、hat Why Alice Brown Students _ the classroom door _to her students to exit in an orderly line _ their heads with hands in case it became damaged and _ to open it was the best time _ their escape _ under their desks, _ the legs of the desks _still, _ calmly and quietly went down the stairs and _ to t
11、he playground to _themselves from being injured by falling pieces to _ the teachers instruction to _ and shelter in a safe place opened signalled covering failed moved held on to remained waited rushed to make protect escape wait for Enjoying on the beach Noticing the unusual waves Warning her paren
12、ts of the possible tsunami Convincing a safety officer of the danger Evacuating the people on the beach Associating the sign with geographic knowledge Read the second news report and finish the following flow chart to figure out what happens in the story. Step 4: Critical thinking and discussion Q1:
13、 What personalities did Miss Brown and Sabrina show in the disasters? Use details from the news reports to support your opinion. Miss Brown was thoughtful when she remembered to open the classroom door during the earthquake. She was calm enough to sense the best time to escape. Sabrina was watchful
14、when she noticed the strange condition of the sea. She was quick-thinking, took immediate action and determined to warn her parents of the danger. Q2: What can you learn from these two news reports? We cannot prevent natural disasters but we can arm ourselves with knowledge. Loss of life can be limi
15、ted through disaster preparation. We need to respond to these situations calmly and quickly. Q3: Can you list some warning signs of natural disasters you know of? If the sky turns a sickly shade of green, it is a fairly common indicator for exceptionally severe thunderstorms. Cats, dogs, and other s
16、mall creatures are known to get anxious and run away moments before an earthquake strikes. These animals are able to sense the preliminary waves signalling an earthquake ahead of the more destructive seismic waves, which humans cant detect. Developing cracks on the ground indicates a landslide in th
17、e making. Even strong surfaces like pavements can suddenly crack before a landslide brings them down. . Q4: What can be done to prepare for a natural disaster? In the event of a natural disaster, the following things can be helpful: better warning systems, awareness-centred education programmes, sup
18、ply kits, plans to get people out of the danger area, and shelter construction. Homework Rewrite how Sabrina realized the danger and managed to warn people of the coming tsunami using the first person narrative. The sea was fizzing and there was froth on the waves. I kept thinking, “Ive seen this, I
19、 MUST have seen this!” I finally remembered I once saw it in my geography class! Our teacher Andrew Kearney showed us a video of a tsunami in Hawaii and it had been really shocking. I suddenly felt something terrible was going to happen. But when I rushed to tell my parents, they brushed my warning
20、aside, saying that it was just bad weather. But when I noticed a log spinning in circles in the sea, I was sure that it was an incoming tsunami, and that everyone was in a grave danger. That is when I started shouting: “Tsunami, theres going to be a tsunami! We have to get off, we have to run!” Sample
