Unit 4 The first underground in the world

Reading 2

Teaching aims:

After this class, students will be able to

1. further understanding of the text.

2. understand and use the words and phrases: distinction, complex, distant, choke, accelerate.

3. be placed under the authority of..., link up, permit.

4. help students analyze the following sentences：1）However, most trains into London only

went to the outer city limits, because building railway tracks into the city would have damaged many old buildings. 2）Having seen the situation, a wealthy American businessman, Charles Yerkes, undertook improving the system by obtaining ownership of the many different lines and setting up the Underground Electric Railways of London, in 1902.

5. apply the target language to practical use and in certain contexts.

Teaching procedures:

Step 1 A brief revision of the text

Try to help students to recall the information of the London Underground in the world in the following aspects: introduction, reasons, development, unusual functions, popularity (ppt.4)

Step 2 Language focus

Part one the brief introduction to the underground

During this process, teacher can offer relevant exercises to students and help them make a summary about usage by themselves. Students are supposed to work first individually and then in pairs or in groups.

1. Please fill in the blanks in the two sentences (ppt.5)

☆Welcome to the London Underground, or as it is ________ known, the Tube.

☆It has the ___________of being the oldest and most _________ underground system in the world.

Answers: usually, distinction, complex

2. Ask students to read the following sentences with the word "distinction" and choose the sentence which has similar meaning to that in the text. (ppt.6)

　　　☆ The school makes no distinction between male and female students.

　　　☆ No one today doubts Yao Ming is a basketball player of distinction.

3. Ask students to answer two questions and explain the meanings of the word "complex". (ppt.7-8)

　　　☆ why do we call it the most complex underground system?

　　　☆ Can you guess what the detective is saying to himself ?

Answers: No one today doubts Yao Ming is a basketball player of distinction.