6. F (the person wants to go to the east of China)

Step Ⅲ 3b

This activity provides writing practice using the target language.

Read the instructions to students.

Ask: Who can explain the instructions in your own language?

Choose two or three among those who have put up their hands to explain the instructions in English.

They may say like this, Suppose I work for Ace Travel Agency and I have received the letter from S.T. Zhang. Then it is my duty to reply the e-mail and I have to tell where they should go on vacation.

After they all know what to do, get them to begin writing. Move around the classroom as they write, offering help if necessary. Remember whose passage is excellent and prepare to ask them to read theirs to the class.

After they’ve all finished writing, ask the students who have written very good passages to read theirs to the class.

Let them work in pairs to correct the mistakes in the passage they’ve written.

Tell them that they have to rewrite the letters after class and bring them to school tomorrow.

A sample writing

Subject: Vacation　　 From: Ace Travel

Dear S.T. Zhang,

We are very glad to receive your letter.

Thank you for choosing our agency.

I think Qingdao is the best place for you and your family to go on vacation based on your e-mail.

Qingdao is a very beautiful city with lots of nice scenery. It’s on the east coast of China. The waves of the sea are really wonderful. It’s really an exciting place to visit. And you can also do a lot of exercise there, such as hiking along the coast

on the beach, swimming in the great ocean.

It will become a more attractive place in summer.

We can help you book an inexpensive room with three beds. Many local people there run that kind of hotels with their own houses. The rooms are very clean and nice and you can cook your meals in the kitchens if you like.

I suggest you’d better travel by plane.

You can save much time in that way.

How do you think of travelling to Qingdao?

Please tell us.

Best wishes to you and your family.

Ace Travel

Step Ⅳ Part 4

This activity provides reading, writing, listening and speaking practice using the target language.

Read the instructions to students.

Say something about the three places in the chart. Showing some pictures of these places to the students, say like this,

Qufu is a small city in Shandong Province.

It is famous for Confucius. It was Confucius’ hometown. He was born there.

The Great Wall is the pride of the Chinese people. It is very long and it is hard to believe that it was built over two thousand years ago.

The Forest of Steles in Xi’an is a great place for people who are interested in writing Chinese with brushes.

What do you think of the three places?

Look at the chart in Activity 4. We can see the sample answer in the box about Qufu in the column of you.

Continue saying, Now please fill in the boxes about The Great Wall and The Forest of Steles in Xi’an on your own.

You can use the words above the chart or any other word.

Tell them to write out the three students’ names in the proper places in the chart.

Then. get them to survey the three students. Let them work in groups of four.

Ask a pair of students to read the model conversation in Activity 4 before they begin their own ones.

At last, have several groups report the results to the class. Then ask the class where they would prefer to go together.

Sample answers to the chart:

Step Ⅴ Summary

In this class, we’ve read an e-mail to a travel agency and we’ve also written an e-mail. And we’ve done some reading, writing, listening and speaking practice using the target language through group work.

Step Ⅵ Homework

5. T

4. DK

3. DK

2. F(the :family enjoys hiking and swimming)

1. F(the family wants an inexpensive hotel and wants to save money by cooking)

6. How long would they like to be away?

(About three weeks.)

After they’ve all finished reading, get some students to answer these questions.

Encourage them to ask questions on what they don’t understand about the e-mail.

Ask one student to read the letter to the class. Help him or her with the pronunciation. Then let all the students read the passage several times.

Answers

5. What does S. T. Zhang want the travel agency to do?

　(Give them some suggestions for vacation sports and let them know if it’s best to travel by plane, train or bus.)

4. What does S. T. Zhang say about the hotel they want to live in?

　(They need to stay in an inexpensive hotel. And they wish their hotel had rooms with kitchens so that they could save money by cooking their own meals. The room needs to be big enough for three people. And they’d like to stay at a place with a big pool or somewhere near the ocean.)

3. What exercise do they especially love doing?

　(They especially love hiking and swimming.)