The Third Period: Reading Ⅰ

Teaching material: Unit 4 A garden of poems

Lesson type: Reading I

Teacher: Wang Yu

Teaching Aids: Multi-media, Tape Recorder

Teaching Aims:

1. Learn about poets and poems of difficult countries.

2. Improve the students’ reading ability.

Teaching Difficult Points:

1. The detailed information of the reading material.

2. The similarities and differences between the Chinese and English poets and poems.

Teaching Methods:

1. Fast reading to grasp the main idea of the text.

2. Intensive reading to get the detailed information of the text.

Teaching Procedure:

Step I Greetings (1 minute)

T: Class begins! Good morning, girls!

S: Good morning, teacher!

T: Sit down, please!

Step Ⅱ Warming up (4 minutes)

T: We’ve learned so many poems since we were young, even before the primary school, right? Who taught us those poems?

S: Our teacher!

T: well, we learned those from our teacher. Besides, where can we learn those poems? e.g. 山無棱，天地合，乃敢與君絕。Where did you get to know this poem?

S: From the TV.

T: Very good. It’s from the TV. Everyone is familiar with this poem. Right? What’s the topic of this poem?

S: Love.

T: Of course it is about love. It’s a very moving love poem. Do you know the first love poem in china?

S: No.

T: 關關雎鳩，在河之洲。窈窕淑女，君子好逑。Have you ever heard of this poem?

S: Yes.

T: I am glad to hear that. It is from Shijing. And it was written about 2000 years ago. From here we can see that China has such a long history. During such a long period, there are so many poets. Some of them we still remember today. Here I’ve got some photos of them. Now let’s have a look and try to guess who are they.

The first one:

He is a realistic poet. And he lives in the Tang Dynasty. I think most of you have heard of this poem:朱門酒肉臭，路有凍死骨。Who is he?

S: Du Fu.

T: That’s right! He is Du Fu. Now look at this man. We have learnt this poem in the primary school. Remember? ( Read the first two sentences)

S: Bai Juyi

T: Good job! He is the famous poet Bai Juyi. What about this woman? Look at the third one. She is a very sensitive poet living in the Song Dynasty. Most of her poems are all very sad.

S: Li Qingzhao.

T: Yes! She is Li Qingzhao, the most famous woman poet in history. Do you like her?

S: Yes!

T: Good! I like her very much. Let’s look at the last poet. I think he is the most famous romantic poet in China.

S: Li Bai.

T: Good job! He is Li Bai. His poems are all very bold.

StepⅢ reading (38 minutes)

A Fast reading (6 minutes)

T: Just now we’ve said that Chinese poetry has a history of 2000 years. What about English poetry? Is it also as long as 2000 years old?

S: No.

T: Of course not. It has only several hundred years old. But although it is very short, there are still a lot of poets around. So today we are going to learn something about English poetry. Our book gives us 8 poets. Now will you please turn to page 28? Let’s look at paragraph 3,4 and 5. While reading, please find out the 8 English poets our book mentioned. Are you clear?

S: Yes.

T: Good. I’ll give you 3 minutes.

(3 minutes later)

T: Have you found out them?

S: Yes.

T: Ok. Who can tell me the name of these poets? Yes, **, please!

S: William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton, Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, George Gordon Byron, John Keats,.

T: Well done! There are so many poets in England. Look at the slide. William Shakespeare, John Donne, John Milton and Alexander belong to the early English poets. William Wordsworth, George Gordon Byron, John Keats belong to the 19th century English poets. And Robert Frost is the modern English poet. How many of them have you heard of?

S: Only one.

T: Don’t worry. We’ll learn them one by one. Can you tell me the name of this person?

S: William Shakespeare.

B Intensive Reading (32 minutes)

T: Good! William Shakespeare. He is the most famous writer in the world. Here is his photo. He was born in 1564 and was died in 1616. Nobody knows the exact life of Shakespeare. The only thing that we can make sure is that he worked as an actor at first to make a living. If you want to know more about him, perhaps you can watch the movie: Shakespeare in Love. Have you heard of this movie?

S: Yes.

T: This is a rather romantic story. And it is very interesting. No matter what did he do in his early years, at last, he became a very famous player. Let’s look at one of his plays. What’s the name of this play?

S: Romeo and Juliet.

T: Yes. It’s Romeo and Juliet. It’s the classical copy. Now let’s look at the modern copy. Look at the slide. This is Romeo and this is Juliet. These are all guns.

So which one do you prefer? The classical one or the modern one?

S: The classical one.

T: You share the same opinion with me. I like this one too. Do you all familiar with the story of Romeo and Juliet? Who can tell us the story? Yes, **,please.

S: …………

T: Good. It’s a very romantic tragedy. Here I’ve got the dialogue of the last scene. At that moment, Romeo thought Juliet was died and he said:

My love! My wife!

Death that hath sucked the honey of thy breath.

Hath had no power yet upon thy beauty

Thou are not conquered.

Beauty’s ensign yet is crimson in thy lips and in thy cheeks.

And death’s pale flag is not advanced there.

Can you understand this poem?

S: No.

T: So from here we can see Shakespeare’s language is very difficult for us to understand. These are the early English. At that time, Romeo and Juliet were married and they parted only after a short period. When Romeo came back, Juliet has died. So what do you feel if you were Romeo? What’s your feeling?

S: Very sad.

T: Yes. We will feel so sad that we weren’t to live alone. So how to pronounce the first two sentences? Use your saddest voice.

S: My love! My wife!

T: Good job! Now let’s listen to the tape and see how does the Romeo say.

(1 minute later)

T: From here we can see Romeo was almost cried. Right? Now who’d like to Chinese copy? Read it loudly and use your own feelings, ok? Who’d like to have a try?

Good, ** , please!

(After reading)

T: Excellent! I was deeply moved by your moving performance. Besides Romeo and Juliet, can you name other plays that were written by Shakespeare? e.g. Hamlet?

S: 哈姆雷特！

T: That’s right. Hamlet. Now look at the slide. These are the most famous plays written by him. King Lear, Othello, Macbeth. I suggest you read these plays. If the language is too difficult, you can read the Chinese copy. You can find them in the school. Shakespeare is most famous for his plays, but his poetry is very good too.

He is good at sonnets. According to the name, we can see that for each poem, there are 14 lines, right? And these poems are all about love and friendship. Now besides Shakespeare, can you find other poets in that period from the book? Who are they?

S: John Milton, John Donne and Alexander Pope.

T: Very good! They are John Milton, John Donne and Alexander Pope. Now will you pleas e read paragraph 4 quickly find out the features of their poetry, OK? I’ll give you 2 minutes.

(2 minutes later)

T: Time’s up. Have you found out the answer? Good, **, please.

S: John Donne likes to use surprising images while John Milton’s work was famous for the absence of rhyme.

T: Yes. Correct! This is John Milton. John Milton was one of the first poets who started writing poems without rhyme. After that, many poets began to learn from him. Besides, John Milton is a very hard-working poet. He read so many poems that his eyes became blind. Do you want to learn from him?

S: No/Yes. (Do you want to become blind when you are old?)

T: Of course not. So we must protect our eyes while reading, right?

S: Yes.

T: Can you tell me whose poetry reminds us of Su Dongpo?

S: John Donne.

T: Well, he is John Donne. We have learnt that John Milton is famous for the absence of rhyme. There is a person who is totally different from Milton ---- Alexander Pope. His poetry is the finest in England. This is Alexander Pope. We know that the history of Chinese poetry is more than 2000 years old. Do you know which periods are most famous?

S: Tang and Song.

T: Right! Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty. We call them “唐詩宋詞”。In England, there is also a period, which can be compared with Tang Dynasty. That is the 19th century. Or we can say “the romantic period”. Our books introduced 3 poets in that period. That is Wordsworth, Byron and Keats. Now let’s look at paragraph 4 and find out the answers to the question: Whose poetry reminds us of Du Fu and Li Bai? Are you clear? I’ll give you 3 minutes to read.

(3 minutes later)

T: Have you found out the answer? Whose poetry reminds us of Du Fu and Li Bai?

S: Wordsworth, Byron and Keats.

T: Yes. Very good! Now first let’s look at William Wordsworth. He was born in 1770 and died in 1850. When Wordsworth was young, he became very interested in nature. So when he was grown up, he went to live near a quiet lake. Then he got to know 2 other poets and they became good friends. We call them “lake poets”. William Wordsworth wrote many poems. Now let’s look at one of his poems.

The title of this poem is “I wandered lonely as a cloud”. Here “wander” means walk slowly, so how to translate the title?

S: …………

T: Good. Or we can say “我獨自漫步猶如孤云”。（read the poem）I wandered lonely as a cloud, that floats on high over vales and hills. 我獨自漫步猶如孤云，在高山，在溪谷。When all at once I saw a crowd, a host of golden daffodils. 突然間，我望見了一大片水仙，一朵朵， 一簇簇。 Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 在湖邊，在樹下，迎風起舞，搖曳生姿。Is it beautiful?

S: Yes!

T: Now just close your eyes and imagine. When you walk by the river, the wind is soft, the sun is shining, and suddenly you saw a crowd of yellow daffodils. They are dancing in the wind and nodding heads at you. What’s your feeling?

S: Comfortable!

S: Fresh!

T: Yes. Good! Very fresh, right? So from this poem, we can see the style of Wordsworth, right? He wrote the flowers, the trees and the countryside. So we can say he always wrote about nature. And most of his poems are all very fresh. Now let’s look at another poet in romantic period ---- George Gordon Byron. This is the picture of George Gordon Byron. Is he handsome?

S: Yes.

T: In the history, Byron is described as a very handsome poet. Can you find any works from our textbook?

S: Isles of Greece.

T: Yes. Very good. Isles of Greece. Here Isles means Small Islands. In the history, Byron is described as a hero. He took part in the war for the independence war of Greece. This poem was written at that time. Now let’s look at another romantic poet. He is John Keats. What is he famous for?

S: Sonnets and long poems.

T: That’s right. John Keats is famous for Sonnets and long poems. So this paragraph tells us 3 poets in the romantic period. Romantic poets are very popular in China. What about modern poets? Can you name some modern poets in our book?

S: Robert Frost.

T: Good. Now let’s enter the modern period. Look at paragraph 5. I’ll read it for you. While listening, please find out the feature of this period, Ok?

(after reading)

T: So what’s the feature of this period.

S: Modern poets stand closest to us both in the language and images they use.

T: Good job!

Have a review (If time permitted)

T: Now let’s look at these poets. They are altogether 8 poets. Do you still remember? Who is he? Can you tell me something about him?

T: Now let’s take a rest and enjoy a Chinese poem. 回鄉偶書。Have you heard of this poem before?

S: Yes!

T: We learnt this poem in the primary school, right? Here I’ve also got an English version. Now who’d like to read it for us? Good, **, loudly, please.

(after reading)

T: Well, your pronunciation is very good. Thank you, sit down please. Now let’s look at the last two sentences:“ The children don't know me, whom I meet on the way, ‘Where do you come from, sir?’ they smile and say. ”So which one do you like better? The English one or the Chinese one?

S: The Chinese copy.

T: Why?

S: Because it is more interesting.

T: Yes, it is more interesting. So is the translation of a poem the same to the original work?

S: No.

T: Of course not. It’s known to all that none of the Chinese writers won the Nobel Prize, do you know why from this poem?

S: The spirit is lost.

T: Good, you are clever! Chinese language is a unique language and has its own kind of beauty. So if we translate it into another language, it will lose its original spirit, just like this example. Clear?

S: Yes.

T: But in order to help the foreigner understand a poem better, we had to translate these poems. Lots of famous writers translated many poems into Chinese. Let’s look at paragraph 6 and see who are they, OK? Who’d like to read this paragraph? Good, **, please!

(After reading)

T: Good. Thank you. Sit down, please. So who are they?

S: Lu Xun and Guo Moruo.

T: Right. Lu Xun and Guo Moruo translated many poems into china and then the poems became bridges between the east and the west. They can help us understand each other better. The famous poet Mu Dan wrote:” Quietly, we embrace in a world lit up by words.” Here “light up” means “hug”, so how to translate this sentence? Have a try.

S: …………

T: Good job! Or we can translate it like this”我們靜靜地相擁，在這個用語言照亮的世界里”. It means that the world is dark if not for the language. Poetry and literature make us closer to each other, right? So if you want to know more about English poetry, you can check the line:

http://poetic.ayinfo.cn/srjj/yg/000.htm

http://dir.sina.com.cn/search_dir/wx/sgyw/wgsg/yg

You can find many information about English poets and poetry from here.

StepⅣ Homework (2 minutes)

T: Just now, we’ve learnt so many poets, have you ever thought of finding some poems to read?

S: Yes.

T: Good, now I’ll give you an opportunity to present yourself. Will you please find out an English

poem that you like best. You can find out the background of this poem and of course the writer.

Try to read this poem use your own feeling, clear?

S: Yes.

T: And in our exercise class, we’ll have an English poems reading competition. Each dormitory

can choose 1 or 2 competitors to take part in this competition. The winner can get a little surprise. If you find English poems are too difficult for you, you can choose plays instead, e.g. Romeo and Juliet. Ok?

S: Ok.

T: Another homework is read the text carefully after class and find out the language points that you can not understand. Next lesson, we will deal with these language points one by one. See you tomorrow!

S: See you!

（★ 附課件）