Unit Three :Old Tom The Killer Whale
Unit 3 的主题是“Under the sea”, 中心话题是海底世界, 听说读写活动主要围绕海底动植物, 海底奇妙景观,　以及有关大海的神话故事展开的.
阅读内容是：
1. 两起虎鲸轶事.
2. 一篇有关海洋见闻和感受的日记.
Period Two  Pre-reading, Reading and Comprehending
Teaching aims:
1. Grasp the basic information about the killer whales, such as size, habit, food, how they hunt animals and the relationship with human beings.
2. Learn to retell the two anecdotes with the help of some key words.
3. Make sure the students know that killer whales are friends of human beings and we should keep balance with nature.
Teaching difficult points:
1. The relationship between the killer whales and the whalers.
2. Develop students’ reading ability
Teaching important points:
1. Reading comprehension to the text
2. Learning more about the killer whales and understanding the relationship between the killer whales and the whalers
3. Important words and expressions
Step 1 Warming up and lead-in
Riddle games：猜谜语（课件warming up第38个幻灯，显示出答案的图像）
1. a large reptile which has a thick shell covering its body.             
2. a hard substance formed from the skeletons of very small sea animals. It is often used to make jewelry.
3. a very large mammal with the general shape of a fish and one or two blowholes for breathing.
4. A type of small fish which appears to swim in an upright position and whose head looks a little like the head of horse.
After teaching them some new words and useful phrases in this unit, we lead in the new text by introducing an imagined story about a snorkeling trip under the sea.
Some new words: dolphins(海豚); turtles(海龟), manatee(海牛); eels(鳗鱼); octopus(章鱼); squids(鱿鱼); butterfly fish(蝶鱼); kelp(海藻); sea star(海星); angel fish(宝贝鱼); clown fish /
anemones fish(小丑鱼); parrotfish(鹦鹉鱼); sea flower / anemone(海葵); sea-slug(海参); clam(蛤); coral(珊瑚礁); seahorse(海滩); jellyfish(海蜇, 水母); shark(鲨鱼); the killer whale(杀人鲸); the baleen whale(须鲸); cormorants(鸬鸟); otters(水獭); ferrets(雪貂) etc.
Step 2 Presentation
Make sure students know some basic information about the whales:
Background information
Writer
Clancy
Career
A whaler
Writing style
Anecdotes (趣闻，轶事)
Time
At the beginning of the 20th century
Place
Australia
Main character
Whalers, killer whales, the baleen whales
Main idea
The killer whales help the whalers to kill a baleen whale
Step 3 Skimming
1. Ask students to skim the passage quickly and answer the questions:
1) What is the first anecdote about? And how about the second one?
2) The first anecdote mainly talks about that ________.
A. Clancy began to work at a whaling station
B. the killer whales helped the whalers to catch a baleen whale
C. the killer whales hunted in a team and killed a baleen whale
D. Old Tom showed whalers the way to a baleen whale
The second anecdote: Old Tom saved a whale James who was washed off the boat.
3) The text mainly tells us _______.
A. what a hard life the whalers lived       
B. how the killers helped the whalers catch whales
C. what the whalers did at the whaling station 
D. how the whalers caught a whale by teamwork
4) Why didn’t the shark hurt James when he was washed off the boat?
A. Because James wore a protective diving suit
B. Because other people drove away the shark
C. Because the shark wasn’t interested in James
D. Because Old Tom didn’t let it near James
2. 根据课文内容填空.
float up
Characters
The whalers and _________.
The first anecdote:
How the killers helped the whales ______ huge whales.
Old Tom told the whalers there was a whale out there.
Old Tom ______ the whalers the way to the hunt.
A whale was _______ by a pack of about six other killers.
The killers threw themselves on top of the whale’s blow-hole to ____.
The dead whale’s body was _______ into the depths of the sea by the killers.
The second anecdote:
How Old Tom saved the whaler James.
James was _______ the boat.
Old Tom prevented the shark ______ James.
James was firmly _______ in the water by Old Tom.
James was ______ back into the boat by us.
(Suggested answers: Old Tom; catch; showed; being attacked; stop it breathing; dragged; washed off; nearing; held up; pulled)
Step 4 Scanning
1. Fill in the following blanks with the proper names:
1) ________ was 16 years of age when he went to work at the whaling station.
2) ________ ordered Clancy to go to the boat as there was a whale out there in the bay.
3) ________ was swimming by the boat, showing the whales the way.
4) ________ told Clancy that they would return the next day to bring in the body of the hale.
5) ________ was carried by the waves further away from the whalers.
6) ________ knew that Old Tom would protect James.
(Suggested answers: Clancy; George; Old Tom; Jack; James; Red)
2. Reading aloud and underlining expressions:
at the times; at the whaling station在捕鲸站; hear of听说; witness it with my own eyes亲眼目睹; sort out my accommodation整理我的床铺; an enormous animal一个庞然大物; throw itself out of the water猛地跃出水面; crash down坠落; call out to sb.高声对某人说; yell out大声喊叫; ahead of在…..的前面; head out into the bay朝向海湾方向驶去; circle back转回来; a pack of一; in the bow of the boat在船头; aim at; hit the spot击中要害; within a moment or two片刻之后; the depth of the sea深海中; float up to the surface跃出水面; in the meantime同时; have a good feed on sth.跑餐一顿; wash off冲走; man overboard有人落水; the sea was rough波涛汹涌; be terrified of doing sth.害怕做什么; be abandoned by sb.被某人遗弃; hold up举起; pull back拉回;