A few minutes later.

T: Have you finished? Let's check your answers.

S1: The topic sentence in Paragraph A is: This is a painting by the Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso, considered to be the greatest western artist of the twentieth century.

S2: The topic sentence in Paragraph B is: This painting by a contemporary American artist Roy Lichtenstein is a world famous example of pop art.

S3: The topic sentence in Paragraph C is: Qi Baishi, one of China's greatest painters, followed the traditional Chinese style of painting.

S4: The topic sentence in Paragraph D is: Xu Beihong was one of China's best-known twentieth-century artists.

T: Excellent! The first sentence in each paragraph is usually the topic sentence. So pay more attention to the first sentence in each paragraph when you read a passage. Put the topic sentences together and you will find the general idea of the passage.

Task 2

Let the students do Activity 1 in WRITING on page 38.

T: Look at the sentences of Activity 1 in WRITING on page 38. Put them into the right order to make a paragraph. Find the topic sentences first.

After several minutes, check the answers.

Step II Writing Task

Write a paragraph that begins with the topic sentence given.

In this part, the teacher can read out the topic sentence, and then ask the students to write a paragraph individually. Then they can exchange their writings with their partners and correct the mistakes. After that ask a few students to read out their paragraphs to the whole class. At last, show them a model passage.

T: Now, let's go on with Activity 2 on page 38. I'd like you to write a paragraph using the topic sentence given. Before you write, please read the writing tips on the slide.

Show the tips on the slide and ask the students to read them as quickly as possible.

Learning to learn

When you write a paragraph in English, remember that you can use relative pronouns to write longer and more interesting sentences.