Unit The environmentThe environment

Task Designing a poster

Skills building 1: listening and drawing conclusions

Draw conclusions from what is said in the dialogues

1.I’ve just been to the hospital, and the doctor asked me to take some medicine.

2.W:When will the film start? M: In two minutes. Ticket, please.

3.W: The light will be shut off at ten to eleven. M: So we’ve got only a quarter of an hour left.

The speaker is ill.

The woman is going to see a film.

It’s 10:35 now.

listen to some short descriptions from news reports and draw a conclusion about what kind of natural disaster occurred in each situation.

Answers1. flood 2 . fire 3. earthquake 4. typhoon 5. drought

listen to a news report. Decide which of the conclusions below are logical according to what you will hear.

Answers1 2 4

Step 1: listening to a lecture

What causes desertification?

people plant too much on the land without giving it a rest

too many animals depend on the same land to eat

people cut down trees for fuel and to make space for more farms

…

1.What is desertification?

2.Where does it happen?.

3.How are people affected by it?

Listen to the lecture, and answer the following questions:

It is when useable land becomes dry and turns into a desert.

It happens in Africa, the USA, South America and China

People lose their homes and farms; many families starve and others move to the cities to find work.

4.Why does it happen?

5.Who should be concerned?

Listen to the lecture, and answer the following questions:

People plant too much on the land without giving it a rest; too many animals all depend on the same land to eat; and people cut down trees for fuel and to make space for more farms

Everyone should be concerned.

Listen again and match the following statements with the conclusions .

1 Your teacher wants you to help educate people about desertification.

2 A desert is an area of dry land. Desertification is what we call it when land turns into desert.

3. People plant things without giving the land a chance to rest.

4 the wind carries sand from the deserts to the cities, causing air pollution.

a the ending –ification means a process.

b one way to stop desertification is to allow the land a chance to rest between plantings.

c some people become ill after breathing this air.

d Many people around the world do not know about desertification.

Skills building 2: reading for information

Why we want to read the following?

a news paper/a website/a plane ticket/a bus timetable/a magazine/an advertisement

to find out departure/arrival timesto find out where the bus stops

a news paper to find out about the day’s news to find out about the weather

a website to research information to find out the day’s news

a plane ticket to find out departure/arrival timesto find out your seat number

a bus timetable

an advertisement

a magazine to find out about the latest fashionsto find out more about a particular topic, such as gardening.

to find out where you can buy the product

to find out more about the

product

Scan for specific information from the newspaper article and answer the four questions.1. At what time can you see The Matrix: Revolution?

At 14:30 and 18:00.

2. What is the weather like in Beijing?

Cloudy.

3. What has just opened?

The city’s new Modern Art Museum.

4. How many people went to the opening?

Over 10,000people.

Step 2: reading a scientific article

Read the article about desertification. Work in pairs and list three things we can do to help stop desertification:

…to build fences (which stop wind from blowing the dirt away)……to plant more trees and bushes.…better management of areas that are likely to turn to desert and training people in responsible water usage.…sharing information and solutions between countries and using satellites to pick out likely areas for desertification.

Have a discussion with your partner to think of things we can do to help stop desertification, which can be included in our posters later.

Collect some money to help the poor farms.

Save as much water as possible in our daily life.

Ask scientists to find more plants that are suitable for growing in deserts.

Skills building 3: presenting your point of view

I think/believe that…From my point of view it seems that…it seems to me that…Personally I agree/disagree because…

because…

as a result of…

due to…

on account of…

Step 3: designing a poster

Heading___________________________________________________________________________Content_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pictures/layout_____________________________________________________________________

1. pick out (P35) …because I have to pick up the rubbish where I a

m going to sit.(P29)pick sb/sth out

1)to choose and emphasize, make clearer or highlight someone or something: 显眼

2)2 ） to recognize, find or make a choice among different people or items in a group: 分辨

The ship's name was picked out in bright gold letters along her stern.

Can you pick out the three deliberate mistakes in this paragraph?

pick sth out : If you pick out a tune, you play it slowly or with difficulty, note by note: 凭记忆奏乐 I can pick out a simple tune on the piano, but that's about it.

pick up:

1) to lift someone or something using your hands:If she starts to cry, pick her up and give her a cuddle.2) to collect, or to go and get, someone or something:When you're in town could you pick up the books I ordered?

3) to learn a new skill or language by practising it rather than being taught it:Don't bother with the computer manual - you'll pick it up as you go along.4) to start again after an interruption; to return to something:The author picks the same theme up again on page ten.5) to increase or improve:The truck picked up speed slowly.

（ 2005 湖北）This picture was taken a long time ago. I wonder if you can __________my father. A. find out B. pick out C. look out D. speak out

（ 2006 福建）She ______Japanese when she was in Ja

pan. Now, she can speak it freely.A. picked out B. made outC. made up D. picked up

2.due to (P36) because of: A lot of her unhappiness is due to boredom.

The great success of this programme has been largely due to the support given by the local businessmen. （ 2004 广东）