Task(2): Writing a proposal: Skills building 3公开课教案

Lesson Plan M4U3 Task

Writing a Proposal Qili FU

5/31/2018

Class 13

40 mins

Lesson Objectives: By the end of this class, Ss will be better able to: 1. present problems and give suggestions in a proposal; 2. practice listening, speaking, reading and writing; 3. care more about people in poor areas. Difficult Points: To guide Ss to present problems and give suggestions in a proposal Key Points: To write a formal proposal Teaching aids: A blackboard, a projector, a pointer Teaching Procedure:

5 mins Before the class Play the video about students’ life in a remote countryside in Ningxia. Step One: lead in 1. Stimulate Ss’ sympathy for those students in Ningxia by asking questions. T: Just now we watched a video about some students in Ningxia province. Now I have some questions: 1) Do you have to walk long-distance rocky road to go to school everyday? 2) Do you have to help your family with back-breaking farm work? 3) Do you have to be separated with your parents for a long time, like several years? No, you don’t have to. You are so lucky! You have wonderful lives like this(show pictures our students) But, they are not as lucky as you. 2. Guide Ss to realize the necessity of writing a proposal to help them.

T: Do you think we should help them? How?

Ss: donate T: yes, we can donate food, clothes, books and other things. This can be one way, but I think that won’t help much, because your food will be eaten up; your clothes will be worn out. Then they go back to their lives. Nothing will change. Do we have any other ways? How to get to the root of the their problems? T: How about writing a proposal to the Minister of Education to appeal to them to do sth for these poor students in Ningxia? He is powerful and he can do much more than we can. T: so today our main task is to write up this proposal. Step Two: general introduction of a proposal 【Design Purposes】

This part aims to prepare students for later proposal writing. In this part, students will get to know what is a proposal and what makes a proposal.

1. What is a proposal?(definition) T: A plan or suggestion which is made formally to an official/ a leader or a group.It is usually written in the form of letter. 2. What makes a proposal? T: A proposal usually consists of four parts: beginning, problems, suggestions and ending. The beginning part usually explains reasons for writing the proposal. Ending usually expresses gratitude. Today we are going to focus on the other two parts. 3. Rules in a proposal writing

Rule 1: use facts, not opinions Rule 2: always be formal T: How to distinguish facts from opinions? What is the difference between formal writing and informal writing? We’re going to use some examples to explain. (see the slides)

T: please keep the two rules in mind. We are going to use them later Step Three: present problems 【Design Purposes】

On the one hand, in this part, students will practice their listening and reading ability; on the other hand, students will learn to apply the aforementioned rules to presenting problems in a proposal. 1. watch the video again and fill in the blanks Every day, Guo Yunyun and his younger brother and sister roll out of bed at the crack of dawn（破晓时分）. And they sit down for a simple breakfast of a steamed bun（馒头）

and a cup of green tea. This is (1) __________ fuel（燃料，能量）

for their

daily task---an-hour-long walk to school.

We have been walking out for about ten minutes, just from the village which is just down over there, and these guys, although they don’t look like it, have been just stomping（踩，踏）

out this hill like it’s nothing. And my poor city legs feeling pretty tired, but I think (2)___________________. I’m here at Chencha primary school, which is 40 kilometers away from the county seat of Xiji, is (3)_____________ primary school in this area. Kids here ranges from preschool up to grade five, and there is 48 in total, with 11 in the preschool class alone. Once they graduate from here, the kids will go on to a middle school class in the county seat. Despite the new buildings and equipment, rural schools (4)________ to retain（留住）staff. In fact, headmaster Zhang Qiang is(5) _________________ who has been in Chencha primary school for more than two years. Guo Yunyun is in Grade five. Last semester, he was one of (6)_______________ in the whole county. In China, to graduate, you must pass exams in core subjects areas. One is English. But Chencha does not have an English teacher. And last year, Guo Yunyun (7)___________

to just guess the answers to his English exam. This is by no means（绝非）

an isolated case（个例）. In rural Ningxia, the number of teachers that retire(退休）each year exceeds the number of new recruits（招聘）. And added to this, teachers move around the county from school to school. Students (8)_____

consistency（统一性）and structure. Both teachers and students are (9)___________. The central government in 2011 initiated（启动）the National Nutrition Programme(国家营养餐计划),and these students here are just enjoying dinner from that. Each child here is allocated（分配）five yuan a head for each meal. There is two meals a day. ... For many of these children, two school meals are the most nutritious food they would eat all day, as parents struggle to make ends meet. And the patched(贫瘠的）field yield pitiful harvest. Many children eat little more than potato or steamed buns at home. I’m here in the village of Chencha, which is in the south of Ningxia. The whole province holds 6.8 million people and 2.8 million people are actually living here,in the countryside. This area I’m living in is home to 187 families, (10)_____________ live below the poverty line. Keys: (1) barely enough

(2)we got a long way to go (3)the most remote

(4) struggle (5)the only teacher

(7)the top 10 students (8)was forced

(9) lack (10)painfully shy

(11)130 of which

2. Summarize their problems by completing the notes below 1. Means of transport to and from school:___________________________ 2. Nutritional status:___________________________________________ 3. Educational conditions:_______________________________________ 4. Family economic status:_______________________________________

Suggested answers: 1. walk across hills 2. only steamed buns and potatos 3. no English teachers; few regular teachers 4. below the poverty line 3. Present their problems in a coherent paragraph Give students a sample paragraph which uses opinions and written in an informal

style, and ask students to replace opinions with facts, and informal language with formal language. Sample paragraph These buddies

have to get up very early

and walk very long

to school every day.They only eat very little food

at home.The educational conditions there are not good.Their families are very poor. T: please replace words in red according to the rules we discussed in the beginning. Revised version: They have to get up at 5:30 and walk for an hour across the mountains to go to school every morning, although they are just primary school students. Most of their families are living below the poverty line.They can only eat steamed buns and potatos

at home. What's more, they have no choice but to guess the answers to their English tests because they have no English teachers.

Step Four: give suggestions 【Design Purposes】

In this part, students will be encouraged to come up with suggestions to the above problems, express them orally and write them up in a formal style. Thus, students will get their speaking and writing ability practiced. 1. Role-playing Ask two students to play the roles. One student act as a student representative; the other as a teacher. The student representative will ask the teacher for suggestions to the above problems. The problems will be shown again in a table and some sentence patterns will be given to guide students’ discussion. Below is the table

Problems

Long-distance walk every day Lack of nutrition No English teacher;few regular teachers Possible solutions A school bus,... Milk, fruit,... Improve payment; volunteer teachers

Poor family

Sentence patterns Financial aid SR: We are trying to help..., they have some problms like..... can you give us some advice on...? T: My suggestions on this problem is that... SR: Do you have any thoughts on ...? T:

...I suggest/advise that... SR: Do you think it's a good idea that...? T: ...it is suggested/advised that... SR: ... T: ... 2.write your suggestions A sample paragraph of suggestions will be given, which is also written in an informal language. Students will be asked to replace informal expressions with formal ones. Sample paragraph Hey,

I think

it would

be cool

to offer these guys

a school bus. And a daily quato(配额)of milk and fruit would be fantastic! Also, I'm sure some teachers would be willing to stay if they can make a big money out of the job. Giving money to their families may also give them loads of help.

T: please replace words in red with formal expressions Revised version:

After deep discussion and wide consultation, we come up with the following suggestions to deal with their problems. To begin with, we suggest that a school bus should be offered to free them from the long-distance climbing. Furthermore, it was advised that each student get a daily quota of milk and fruit to ensure their nutrition supply. In addition, improving rural teachers payment should be helpful to get them regular, stable teachers. Last but not least, we sincerely hope that our suggestions could be of help in making a difference to their lives.

Step Five: write up your proposal 【Design Purposes】

In this part, students will combine the two paragraphs of problems and suggestions with beginning and ending to make a complete proposal, so that the main task of this class will be finished. A Proposal to the Minister of Education

Dear Minister of Education,

We are students from Wuxi No. 3 Senior High School. Thank you very much for reading this letter. We learned about the story of some students who really need help in Xiji County, Ningxia Province the other day. Therefore, we are writing this proposal to you with the hope that something could be done for them.

They have to get up at 5:30 and walk for an hour across the mountains to go to school every morning, although they are just primary school students. Most of their families are living below the poverty line.They can only eat steamed buns and potatos at home. What's more, they have no choice but to guess the answers to their English tests because they have no English teachers.

After deep discussion and wide consultation, we come up with the following suggestions to deal with their problems. To begin with, we suggest that a school bus should be offered to free them from the long-distance climbing.Futhermore, it was advised that each student get a daily quota of milk and fruit to ensure their nutrition supply. In addition, improving rural teachers payment should be helpful to get them regular, stable teachers. Last but not least, we sincerely hope that our suggestions could be of help in making a differnece to their lives. Thank you again for your time. We are looking forward to hearing from you soon!

Yours sincerely,

XXX Homework: 1. Polish up your proposal

2. Exchange your proposal with your classmates for proofreading

Take-home message LOVE makes the world a better place!

Reflection This class was a bit heavy and challenging for my students. It could be better if I had offered them more guidance. Moreover, time should also be better organized.