Unit 3 Message of the Land

Teaching Procedures:

Ⅰ Warm-up Ⅱ Questions to check on pre-class work Ⅲ A map of Thailand Ⅳ General understanding of the text Ⅴ Detailed study of the text Ⅵ Language focus Ⅶ Exercises

Ⅰ Warm-up

1. Questions

1) How much do you know about farming in China?

2) What do you think are the impacts of urbanizationon on farming? Take China as an example.

Note : Urbanization refers to the process by which more and more people leave the countryside to live and work in cities)

Ⅰ Warm-up

2. Speaking activities

1) Work in pairs and play the roles as instructed below.

One students takes on the role of a newspaper reporter, while the other student is a farmer in the countryside. The reporter should prepare a list of questions focusing on the changes that have taken place in rural life in the past three decades. Then conduct an interview.

2) Work in groups and play the roles as instructed below.

Form into groups of six. Imagine a family reunion of an old farming couple and their two sons and two daughters after a long seperation. The parents and their grownup children talk about the changes in their village. They all agree there are big improvements, but they also discuss some of the new problems. It is clear that their views very often differ.

Ⅱ Check on pre-class workQuestions 1) What is the style of writing adopted in the text? 2) What kind of people do you think the farmer and hi

s wife are? What fine qualities do you find in them? 3) Compare the farmer with his wife.What do they ha

ve in common? In what ways are they different? 4) What are the typical characters of young people What about the old ones? 5) What is the message of the land? 6) Do you think it’s reasonable for young people in the

countryside to leave for the city to seek better opportunities for themselves?

Ⅱ Check on pre-class work

2. P 57 Preclass work for languageFind useful phrases and idioms from the text and list bel

ow a pair of a strip of land as for as soon as be able to be at peace with be filled with be good be thw way with sb be willing to even if from morning till dusk hundreds of in a certain way in infancy in one’s day in rags in spite of no longer not only…but… now and then only if used to year after year

Ⅱ Check on pre-class work

2. P 57 Preclass work for languageFind useful verb + noun collocations and expressi

ons from the text and list belowattract people build a house bully people catch crabs condemn a person dig a wellgather flowers insult people litter the placemind one’s own life paint lips or nailspierce one’s heart plant the ricereplace sth smell the scent till the soil

Ⅲ A map of Thailand

Ⅳ General understanding of the text

1.Theme of the story

The text tells about the deep regret of the old people over the loss of traditional values and the way of life.

Ⅳ General understanding of the text

2. Structure of the text

The text can be roughly divided into two parts; both can be further divided into several sections.

Part 1: The wife’s speech(paras.1-7)

Part 2: What the farmer says(paras. 8 - 11)

Ⅴ Detailed study of the textthe loss of traditional values and the way of li

feChanges in family Changes in the village

The wife’scomplaints

All four

children

went away.

Children wear

jeans instead.

no barter, but cash

no pay-free help

plastic things instead

only the old on the land

no practice of the old customs

no respect for the old

Thefarmer’scomplaints

None of the children will come back to inherit the land.

Greed, anger, and lust are the root of all evils. No young man will care what message the land gives.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

What’s the message of the land?

It’s our history, our culture, our tradition and our life. In a

word, it is our root which we cannot live without.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Part 1: The wife’s speech(paras.1-7)A. Her family and their land (para. 1- 3 ) 1. How she inherited the land. 2. How her four children live and work in cities. 3. How she and her husband persited in working on their land.B. changes in the villages the farmer’s wife does not like (para. 4-7) 1. People have to pay their neighbors for services. 2. Plastic things have replaced village crafts. 3. Young people copy fashions of city people. 4. she thinks certain things, such as religious beliefs and traditions shoul

d not change. 5. She wouldn’t change and doesn’t complain about their hardships.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Yes, these are our rice fields. They belonged to my parents and forefathers. The land is more than three centuries old.

Question: Why does the wife start her conversation with the talk about the land?

The wife has already regarded the land as part of her life. This is the land where her parents and forefathers lived and it is bound with family history and tradition. It represents the root of her family.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: What’s the main idea of Paras. 1—3?

The wife makes a brief introduction of her family and tells us how all her four children left for cities. She feels sorry about this and she also feels sorry about the land. The land is no longer fertile, like her and her husband, getting old and exhausted.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: What is the topic sentence of Para. 4? What are the supporting details?

Topic sentence: “… we two haven’t changed much, but the village has.”

Supporting details:

Cash instead of barter

Paid help

Plastic things instead of village crafts

The old alone on the land

Young people’s different way of thinking,

dressing and behaving

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: How does the wife present her speech? What is her attitude toward the changes around her?

By comparison/contrast and exemplification, the wife

presents her idea of this changing world. She dislikes

the changes around her. She won’t accept the changes

and even refuses to change with the life.

Part 2: What the farmer says(para. 8 - 11) A. The reason for his silence—he knows the root of all e

vils(paras. 8-9) B. His worry—who he will give his land to when he dies

(para. 10) C. His love of the land(paras.10-11) 1. He finds joy in farming. 2. He never wants to leave his land and hopes she can pass

on the land’s secret message to his grandchildren.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: What can be inferred from

Para. 10?

The farmer is very traditional. He still clings to th

e conventional idea of having a big family with

children around him. Because of his strong att

achment to the land, he wants his children to f

ollow in his footsteps and be content with the f

arming life.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: What can we learn from the last paragraph?

The farmer nurses a strong love towards the land. He loves the feeling when tilling the land and the smell and sight when the rice on the land is ripening. He feels so close to the land that he can even read the message of the land. He strongly hopes that one day he can pass on the land’s secret message to his grandchildren.

Ⅴ Detailed study of the text

Question: What are the traits, as shown in the old couple, shared by other farmers?

In the couple we find traits that are shared by many farmers who till the land:

love of land and physical labor, and love of family being honest and kind, and easy to be satisfied clinging to traditional values and the way of life We can still find the common problems: generation gap confusion of the old towards the changing world young people’s quitting of the farming life

Ⅵ Language focus

1. Key words: to get, to put 2. word formation 1) prefixes:un-, re-, fore- 2) suffixes:-able, en 3) compound words: n+v+ -er n, eg hairdresser; adj + n + -ed adj, eg old-fashioned

Ⅵ Language focus

3.verb patterns

1) link v + adj (as predicative)

2) verbs frequequently used with this pattern: be, become, feel, get, to, grow, keep, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, taste, turn

Ⅵ Language focus

4. Idioms and expressions a pair of a strip of land as for as soon as be able to be at peace with be filled with be good be thw way with sb be willing to even if from morning till dusk hundreds of in a certain way in infancy in one’s day in rags in spite of no longer not only…but… now and then only if used to year after year

Ⅵ Language focus

5. verb phrases

barter for belong to complain of/about

feel a pity for occur to pass on

put on spring up

Ⅵ Language focus

6. Verb + noun collocation attract people build a house bully people catch crabs condemn a person dig a wellgather flowers insult people litter the placemind one’s own life paint lips or nailspierce one’s heart plant the ricereplace sth smell the scent till the soil

Ⅵ Language focus

7. Grammar

1) ought to do sth

2) shouldn’t have done sth

3) unreal conditional clauses (present)

Ⅶ Exercises

Omitted.

Messages of the land

The end