Using LanguageⅡ优质课教案内容

An April Fool’s Joke: The Noodle Harvest Objectives:

1.

Read and comprehend the passage. 2.

Be able to retell the passage and write a summary. Step1 Lead-in Have you ever played jokes on others on April Fool’s Day? Have you been fooled on that day? Do you know any of the funny tricks people play on each other? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step2 Skimming: Please write the main idea of each paragraph in your own words. Para 1_______________________________________________________________ Para 2_______________________________________________________________ Para 3_______________________________________________________________ Para 4_______________________________________________________________ Step 3 Scanning: Please fill in the chart below.

Name of the programme

Its usual content The particular content on

April 1st, 1957

People’s reactions

Step 4 Careful reading: Please design comprehending questions of each paragraph, and then answer them. Para 1_______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Para 2_______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Para 3_______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ Para 4_______________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________

Step 5 Post-reading: Please choose one task you like. Task 1: Try to retell the passage and write a summary. Task 2: If you are the host of this programme, what will you say to make people believe the Noodle Harvest? _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Spaghetti Harvest Hoax

It is not only in Britain that spring, this year, has taken everyone by surprise. Here in the Ticino, on the borders of Switzerland and Italy, the slopes overlooking Lake Lugano have already burst into flower at least a fortnight earlier than usual.

But what, you may ask, has the early and welcome arrival of bees and blossom to do with food? Well, it is simply that the past winter, one of the mildest in living memory, has had its effect in other ways as well. Most important of all, it's resulted in an exceptionally heavy spaghetti crop.

The last two weeks of March are an anxious time for the spaghetti farmer. There is always the chance of a late frost which, while not entirely ruining the crop, generally impairs the flavour and makes it difficult for him to obtain top prices in world markets. But now these dangers are over and the spaghetti harvest goes forward.

Spaghetti cultivation here in Switzerland is not, of course, carried out on anything like the tremendous scale of the Italian industry. Many of you, I am sure, will have seen pictures of the vast spaghetti plantations in the Po valley. For the Swiss, however, it tends to be more of a family affair.

Another reason why this may be a bumper year lies in the virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil, the tiny creature whose depradations have caused much concern in the past.

After picking, the spaghetti is laid out to dry in the warm Alpine air. Many people are very puzzled by the fact that spaghetti is produced in such uniform lengths. This is the result of many years of patient endeavour by plant breeders who suceeded in producing the perfect spaghetti.

Now the harvest is marked by a traditional meal. Toasts to the new crop are drunk in these boccalinos, then the waiters enter bearing the ceremonial dish. This is, of course, spaghetti -- picked early in the day, dried in the sun, and so brought fresh from garden to table at the very peak of condition. For those who love this dish, there is nothing like real home-grown spaghetti.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_7180000/newsid_7185500/7185593.stm?bw=nb&mp=wm&news=1&ms3=6&ms_javascript=true&bbcws=2