2. Divide the class into three groups and allocate one article to each group. While students skim the text on their own, ask them to underline the words they do not know. Then go through the words students have underlined.

1. Review key vocabulary according to the general ability of the class. Tell the class about a friend or relative. If possible, show his/her photo. Say,

　 e.g.: My best friend is small and thin with long hair. She is very smart and helpful.

　Then ask questions to check understanding. (Is my friend tall? Is her hair short or long? Is she willing to help?)

5. To recognize the use of comparatives and superlatives

Part A

Background information

This section presents three letters about ‘best friends’ for a writing competition held by ‘Teenagers’ magazine. The context invites students to think about qualities in their friends.

Teaching procedures

4. To use adjectives to describe people’s appearance and characteristics

3. To identify specific information about different people form their friends’ descriptions

2. To skim text for overall meanings and scan for details

1. To guess general meanings from keywords and context

6. On the board, write ‘What qualities of a good friend are important to you?’. Ask the class to think carefully about what qualities they appreciate in friends and put ticks under the correct headings in the table. Encourage students to work on their own. Then ask them to compare their answers with a partner. Ask individual students to tell the rest of the class about their own choice and their partner’s choice of qualities. Write some structures on the board to enable students to focus on the choice of adjectives and to maintain a fluent oral performance.

Extension activity

You can copy the table. More able students can add more adjectives describing qualities of a good friend. Students can also interview several classmates using this table. They should write tally marks instead of ticks in the table. Then they can compare their results with a partner or in class to find out which qualities are the most popular.

Game

Ask each student to write three adjectives or phrases to describe a classmate on a piece of paper. Remind students to write his or her name as well. Encourage them to work on their own and not to show their choice of words to other students. Then collect the pieces of paper and put them together. Draw one at a time and read each description. Invite the class to guess whom it describes.

牛津 8A Unit1 教案(2课时)

Reading

Objectives

5. Read the list of words in Part B and chick that students understand their meanings. Check also understanding of ‘quite important’ and ‘very important’.

4. Ask more able students to think of other qualities of a good friend, e.g., generous, clever, kind, understands my problems, makes me laugh. Write the words and phrases on the board.