Active English (6)
Unit One: It’s never too late!
Presented by: Song Zening
1
Outline
An overview & a mini oral quiz
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Comprehensive English
Enrichment
Reading
Interactive
English
1. Frank McCourt
2. Structure speaks
3. About poverty
1. Get rid of it!
1. Impressive Pulitzer
2. Compound
compounds
2. Hi, Frank!
3. Let’s talk!
4. More than what is said
A review & questions and answers
2
An overview
3
Unit summary (1): Comprehensive English
1. Understanding the text in general (contents &
organization)
Core Text
‘The Education
of Frank
McCourt (1)’
Suppl. Text
‘Learning to
Learn’
Before reading / Reading for general
information / Reading for details / Reading
between the lines / Reading for structure
2. Understanding the text in detail (the language)
Working on vocabulary / Paraphrasing /
Cross translation
3. Language in use (the style)
Cross-reference / Understanding & practicing
ellipsis
4. Supplementary practice (word power)
4
Unit summary (2): Enrichment Reading
Core Text
‘The Education
of Frank
McCourt (2)’
Suppl. Text
‘Budget
Punishes
Schools’
Success’
1. Before reading: survey the text (scanning)
2. Reading for general comprehension (skimming)
3. Reading for information (inferring)
Working on details / Working on words /
Working on collocations
4. Beyond reading
Reading for structure
5. Extra reading
Checking your understanding / Choosing a
title / Working on vocabulary
5
Unit summary (3): Interactive English
1. Speaking about the text
Retelling the text / Airing your view
2. Speaking beyond the text
Core Text
‘Joseph
Pulitzer’
Making a speech / Practicing a conversation
3. Before you listen
Prediction
4. While you listen
Listening for general information / Working on details
/ Compound dictation / Working on structure
5. After you listen
6
A mini oral quiz
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Instruction
 10 key phrases from the unit will be provided;
 Please think about their meanings and make
sentences with them orally.
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Exercise (1)
to have/get …under one’s belt
To have achieved something useful or important

With more than ten years of teaching experience
under his belt, this kind of interrogation no longer
surprised him.
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Exercise (2)
to figure out
To think about a problem or situation until you
find the answer or understand what has happened;
To understand why someone behaves in the way
they do

These kids are yearning for a way of
figuring out this new teacher.
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Exercise (3)
to doom …to…
(usually passive) To cause … to suffer something
unavoidable and terrible

A poor economy and Malachy’s alcoholism
doomed them to an even worse existence.
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Exercise (4)
on the dole
unemployed and receiving money from the
government

Frank’s father eventually abandoned the
family, leaving them dependent on the
dole and charity.
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Exercise (5)
to throw… in one’s face
To be unkind to someone after they have been
kind to you or helped you

They will throw it in my face.
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Exercise (6)
to scrape…together
To get enough money for a particular purpose,
when this is difficult

In 1949, he scraped together enough money
to buy passage back to American.
14
Exercise (7)
to yearn for…
(literary) To have a strong desire for something,
especially something that is difficult or
impossible to get

These kids are yearning for a way of
figuring out this new teacher.
15
Exercise (8)
to furnish …with…
To supply or provide … with something

He was so ashamed of his past that he
reinvented it upon occasion, furnishing
himself with a father who held the loftiest
position imaginable in Limerick.
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Exercise (9)
to churn … out
To produce large quantities of something,
especially without caring about quality

A memoir of 150 pages that he churned out
in 1966 remained unfinished.
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Exercise (10)
to hold back
To stop yourself from feeling or showing a
particular emotion

McCourt knew that he was still holding back.
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Section 1
Comprehensive English
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Task List
Task 1: Frank McCourt
Task 2: Structure speaks
Task 3: About poverty
Task 4: More than what is said
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Task 1: Frank McCourt
Objective: To check your overall comprehension
of the text
Course tasks covered: Task 1 & 6
Duration: 10 minutes
Type: Individual work (Multiple choice)
Aids: The textbook
21
Task 1: Instruction
Please read the following statements.
Which one do you think is the best to
summarize the theme of the text “The
Education of Frank McCourt ”?
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Task 1: Exercise
A. How McCourt grew
into a successful writer
out of poverty.
B. How McCourt found
the inspiration and courage
from his students and became
a successful writer.
C. How McCourt grew
into a successful teacher
and a good writer.
D. Both miserable childhood
and teaching experience
can be one’s education.
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Task 1: Feedback (1)
The answer is
B. How McCourt found
the inspiration and courage
from his students and became
a successful writer.
How to get the theme of a narrative?
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Task 1: Feedback (2) --- About the theme

the sentence or group of
sentences which states the main
idea of the article

how the author presents the
story (the structure / inner logic)
25
Task 2: Structure speaks
Objective: To check your understanding of the
structure
Course tasks covered: Task 1 & 6
Duration: 20 minutes
Type: Pair work (Matching)
Aids: The textbook, a pen
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Task 2: Instruction
The text “The Education of Frank McCourt”
includes several flash-forwards and flashbacks.
Are you clear about the structure and its inner
logic?
Match the main idea of each section with the
inner logic of the text, and thus find out how
the author conveys the main idea of the story.
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Task 2: Exercise
The Story
Inner Logic

Invited to give a speech
______
a.

Childhood & youth
______
b.
______
c.
 Teaching in
Seward Part
An
incident in his class and
a related one in college
______
d.
 Teaching in
Writing of
Stuyvesant
______
the book and its
success
______
e.
f.
The
speech
______
g.
ending
getting courage from
students
facing the past and
understanding how it
affected him
finding his past a
worthy topic, but
frustrated in writing
success in writing
introduction
background
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Task 2: Feedback (1)
a speech
(introduction/ending)
Writing of the book
childhood & youth
and its success
(background)
(success in writing)
Teaching in Seward Part:
(facing the past and understanding
how it affected him)
Teaching in Stuyvesant
(getting courage from
students )
An incident in his class and
a related one in college
(finding his past a worthy topic,
but frustrated in writing)
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Task 2: Feedback (2) --- About structure

Don’t be satisfied with the story on
the surface. Read deeper and find
the inner logic of the text.
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Task 3: About poverty
Objective: To check your usage of key words and
phrases
Course task covered: Task 2
Duration: 25 minutes
Type: Pair work (translating)
Aids: Textbook
31
Task 3: Instruction
Frank McCourt is a successful writer out of
poverty. Thus, in this unit, many words and
phrases describing the poor are introduced.
Read the following Chinese phrases and give
their English counterparts orally.
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Task 3: Exercise
伴着辘辘饥肠与褴褛衣衫长大
 靠救济生活
 出身卑微
 破旧的廉价公寓
 让他痛苦不堪的、充满苦难与背叛的童年
 饥饿与他形影不离
 从学生的破旧衣服上看出贫困的迹象
 经济萧条
 他的三个弟妹相继夭折

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Task 3: Feedback (1)









伴着辘辘饥肠与褴褛衣衫长大 grow up hungry and ragged
靠救济生活 live on the dole
出身卑微 come from nothing
破旧的廉价公寓 dilapidated tenement buildings
让他痛苦不堪的、充满苦难与背叛的童年 the sordid childhood
with all the miseries and betrayals
饥饿与他形影不离 Hunger was ever present for him.
从学生的破旧衣服上看出贫困的迹象 recognize the telltale signs
of need in his students’ threadbare cloths
经济萧条 poor economy
他的三个弟妹相继夭折 Three of his siblings die in infancy.
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Task 3: Feedback (2) --- About translation
 The
essence of translation is to convey
the meaning. So you don’t have to
follow the sentence structure or part of
speech in the original language when
doing the translation.
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Task 4: More than what is said
Objective: To review the cohesive device:
ellipsis
Course task covered: Task 4
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Pair work (identifying coherence
devices)
Aids: The textbook
36
Task 4: Instruction
Read the following statements. Find out what
has been omitted in each sentence, and what
kind of ellipsis is used.
37
Task 4: Exercise

- “Have you read the book Angela’s Ashes?”
- “I’m afraid I haven’t,” he replied.

He didn’t read his essay to the class, and he never will.

- “Where ya from?”
- “Ireland,” McCourt replied.

He spoke to the shorter guy, and I chose the taller.
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Task 4: Feedback (1) --- About ellipsis
Verbal ellipsis
(1) echoing
Nominal ellipsis
Ellipsis
Clausal ellipsis
Verbal ellipsis
(2) Auxiliary contrasting
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Task 4: Feedback (2)
1. - “Have you read the book Angela’s Ashes?”
- “I’m afraid I haven’t,” he replied.
“I’m afraid I haven’t read the book Angela’s
Ashes,” he replied. 【Verbal ellipsis (1) echoing】
2. He didn’t read his essay to the class, and he never will.
He didn’t read his essay to the class, and he never will
read his essay to the class.
【Verbal ellipsis (2) auxiliary contrasting】
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Task 4: Feedback (3)
3. - “Where ya from?”
- “Ireland,” McCourt replied.
“I come from Ireland,” McCourt replied.
【Clausal ellipsis】
4. He spoke to the shorter guy, and I chose the taller.
He spoke to the shorter guy, and I chose the taller guy.
【 Nominal ellipsis 】
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Section 2
Enrichment Reading
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Task List
Task 1: Get rid of it!
Task 2: Compound compounds
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Task 1: Get rid of it!
Objective: To reflect on your skills of skimming
and scanning
Course tasks covered: Task 6
Duration: 10 minutes
Type: Individual work (short-answer questions)
Aids: The textbook
44
Task 1: Instruction and exercise
Here is a question about your fast reading
habits. Reflect on your reading experience
in the unit and answer the question orally.
Can you hear yourself silently reading the
words when you do fast-reading?
45
Task 1: Feedback
Silent reading will seriously slow your
reading speed. To get rid of the bad
habit, try to:
☺
☺
Focus on the meaning of have a chewing gum
what you are reading;
or sweets while reading
think actively
46
Task 2: Compound compounds
Objective: To check your knowledge in
compound words
Course tasks covered: Task 2
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: individual work (creating compounds)
Aids: The textbook, a pen
47
Task 2: Instruction
A compound word is made when two words
are joined to form a new word.
Please form as many compounds as you can
using the following words.
48
Task 2: Exercise
prize
bare
book
bound
motor
car
shock
store
thread
note
winner
absorber
spell
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Task 2: Feedback (1)







Prize winner
Shock absorber
Motor car
Bookstore
Notebook
Spellbound
Threadbare
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Task 2: Feedback (2)---about
compound words
Some compound words are formed
with a space between the two words,
while other are not.
So we have to pay attention to the
habitual ways of their spellings.
51
Section 3
Interactive English
52
Task List
Task 1: Impressive Pulitzer
Task 2: Hi, Frank!
Task 3: Let’s talk!
53
Task 1: Impressive Pulitzer
Objective: To reflect on your listening process
Course tasks covered: Task 5
Duration: 20 minutes
Type: pair work (short answers)
Aids: The textbook
54
Task 1: Instruction
You have listened to a talk about Joseph
Pulitzer’s life in the unit. What impressed
you most in the story? Why?
Give short answers to the above questions
and tell your partner about it.
55
Task 1: Feedback --- Listen and speak

Listening should not be
separated from speaking.

Learn to speak a language
through listening instead of
reading. And speak about
what you have listened.
56
Task 2: Hi, Frank!
Objective: To practice retelling a story
Course tasks covered: Task 1
Duration: 15 minutes
Type: Pair work (interviewing)
Aids: The textbook
57
Task 2: Instruction (1)
Conduct a role play with your partner.
Suppose you are Frank McCourt and your
partner is a TV reporter, giving you an
interview on your early life experience.
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Task 2: Instruction (2)
Please cover the following points in your interview:
☼ Frank’s family background (parents, siblings, poor life)
☼ Frank’s youth (quitting school, going to America)
☼ Frank’s entry into college
☼ How Frank found the topic of his book in college
The reporter may start the interview with the following
sentences:
Good morning everyone! This is Program “Miracle” from
Beijing! Today, we have invited ….
59
Task 3: Let’s talk!
Objective: To make a conversation
Course tasks covered: Task 5
Duration: 20 minutes
Type: Pair work (making a dialogue)
Aids: The textbook
60
Task 3: Instruction
In your opinion, what makes a good university
teacher?
First recall what you have read in “Skill
building: The art of conversation” in Task 5 of
the unit. Then make a conversation with your
partner about the topic.
61
Task 3 Feedback
Turn-taking
Avoiding
misunderstanding
Opening and
Closing strategies
Back-channel
behavior
Features of a successful conversation
62
A review
63
Checklist of objectives
Have we accomplished the following objectives?

To check your usage of key words and phrases
 To check your overall comprehension of the text
 To check your understanding of the text structure
 To review expressions about poverty
 To review the cohesive device: ellipsis
 To reflect on your skills of skimming and scanning
 To check your knowledge in compound words
 To reflect on your skills of listening
 To practice retelling a story
 To practice making a successful conversation
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Thank you!
Questions are welcome!
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