"King/Emperor/Queen."

"Yes. Today we are going to look at the story. Before reading, let's look at the title 'In search of the Amber Room'. What's the meaning of 'in search of'？"

"Look for/find/search for..."

"Yes. If you are in search of something that means that you have lost something. So the Amber Room must have been..."

"...got lost."

"Yes. So can you guess what the passage may be about?"

"Who stole it? / How did it get lost? /..."

"Ok. We have mentioned that such a expensive room must have been made by Kings or Queens, so before you read the whole passage, please find out the names of king or queen."

Since the name of kings and queens are capitalized, students can list them quickly. According to the sequence of appearance, students will list them as this order: Frederick William I, Frederick I, Peter the Great, Catherine II. Write them on the blackboard and show their relationship.

　　Prussia (Germany) Russia

　　Frederick I Peter the Great

　　Frederick William I Catherine II

　　Nazis army

　　Germans Russia

"Yes. Now start your reading and then finish the comprehending exercise 1 on page 2."

Step Five: Reading

1) comprehending exercise 1:

After reading, students can match the name of people with what they did to the Amber Room. Check with them.

Frederick I A. stole the Amber Room

Frederick William I B. sent a troop of his best soldiers to the King of Prussia

Peter the Great C. had the Amber Room made.

Catherine II D. had it moved outside St Petersburg

The Nazi army E. gave it to the Czar as a gift

The Russians and Germans F. built a new Amber Room after studying pictures of the old one.

2) Answering the questions:

After they are clear about the names of kings and queen and what they did to the Amber Room, the basic structure of the text is clear. Then we can go to the details. There are one or two questions for each paragraph. Those questions are from comprehending exercise 2 on page 2.

Paragraph 1: Ask students to read paragraph one in details and answer this question:

"How was the amber room made?"

"Several tons of ambers were used to make it. The amber which was selected had a beautiful yellow-brown color like honey. The design of the room was in the fancy style popular in those days. It was also a treasure decorated with gold and jewels, which took the country's best artists about ten years to make." This answer could be found in the text. Ask students to pay attention to the red words.

Paragraph 2: Ask students to read paragraph two in details and answer this question:

"Why did the King of Prussia give the Amber Room to the Czar of Russia as a gift?"

"Frederick William I gave the Amber Room as a way of showing friendship. Because it was such an important one, Peter the Great was expected to make a gift in return." This answer could not be found in the text. Students should make some inference to get the right answer.

Add one more question to it: "What did Peter the Great do with the Amber Room."

"The Amber Room served as a small reception hall for important visitors."

Paragraph 3: How did the Amber Room become one of the wonders of the world?

"Catherine II moved the Amber Room to a palace outside St Petersburg. She told her artists to add more details to it and it was considered one of the wonders of the world"