Unit 9 How I Found My Voice Teaching plan综合教程四
UNIT 9 HOW I FOUND MY VOICE
Teaching Objectives
1)Master the following key words and expressions: flood, in a daze, retreat, savor, vibrant
with
2)M aster the use of model verb ―be able to & could‖
3)Analyze the structure and rhetorical features of the text and get the message of the text
4)Be able to discuss self-confidence
Warming up discussions
1)Have you ever spoken to a large audience? How did you feel?
2)Do you think voice is important to personal development?
Cultural background
1.Stuttering
Stuttering is a communication disorder that affects the fluency of speech. It begins during childhood and, in some cases, persists throughout the life span. The disorder is characterized by disruptions in the production of speech sounds, known as ―disfluencies.‖Disfluencies are not necessarily problematic; however, they can impede communication when a speaker produces too many of them or does not resolve them promptly.
2. Stuttered speech
Stuttered speech often includes repetitions of words or parts of words, as well as prolongations of speech sounds. The frequency of these disfluencies among people who stutter tends to be much greater than it is for the general population.
Text I
HOW I FOUND MY VOICE
James Earl Jones
Global Reading
I. Structural analysis of the text
This text is an autobiographical narrative and it is intended to tell the readers that the building-up of self-confidence is very important to one’s personal development.
It comprises three parts:
Part I (Paragraphs 1 – 2): The writer presents a striking contrast between his successful career as an actor and television announcer and his severe stutter in his early childhood. (beginning)
Part II (Paragraphs 3 – 22): The author recollects how his high school teacher, Professor Crouch, helped him to overcome his stutter and find his voice. (development)
Part III (Paragraphs 23 – 29): The author tells the reader how his voice found with the help of Professor Crouch turned a new leaf in his life and brought him great successes in memorable roles on stage, in films, and on television, and how grateful he is to his teacher, ―the father of my resurrected voice.‖ (ending)
II. Rhetorical features of the text
The New Testament is mentioned twice in the text, first in the first paragraph and then
in the last paragraph. It is repeated and distributed this way to give the essay a sense of completeness and to imply that Professor Crouch was ―the father of his resurrected voice‖. Resurrection refers to the rising of Jesus from the tomb after his death. His resurrection is the basis for the Christian belief that not only Jesus but all Christians will triumph over death.
Detailed Reading
Questions:
1. Why could the narrator hardly believe that such good things as described in Paragraph 1 could ever happen to him? (Paragraph 2)
Answer: Because the great achievements were far beyond the expectations of such a poor stutterer as he used to be. When he was young he was completely unable to speak in public due to his serious stuttering. Thus he could never imagine that he would make such good achievements.
2. Why does the narrator describe his moving at the age of five as traumatic? (Paragraph 4) Answer: Because he felt that the place he moved to was drastically different climatically and culturally from where he had been.
3. Why did the narrator quit Sunday school and church? (Paragraph 6)
Answer: Because he wanted to avoid the humiliation he suffered there for his stuttering.
4. Why does the narrator say the farm animals knew he could talk? (Paragraph 7) Answer: Because the animals never laughed at him, he was not nervous at all when he talked to them as a way of venting his feelings.
5. Why couldn’t Professor Crouch stand not being a part of the narrator’s school? (Paragraph 9)
Answer: Because he loved English classics, especially poetry, which was one of the subjects taught at the narrator’s school. His deep love for poetry was vividly described in the metaphor: ―He held a book of poems as if it were a diamond necklace, turning pages as if uncovering treasures.‖
6. What event made the narrator open his mouth in public without stuttering for the first time? (Paragraphs 13－18)
Answer: It was Professor Crouch’s trick. When the narrator handed in his poem, Crouch purposefully challenged him for his authorship. Consequently the narrator was provoked into reciting his poem in the presence of his classmates without stuttering.
Text II
THANK YOU, MR. CHIPS
T.R. Reid
Lead-in Question
How important the school education is for the achievement of Jack St. Clair Kilby?
a.Fairly important
b.Not very important
c.Not important at all
Main idea
Jack Kibly’s marvelous achievements on inventing microchips and thus launching a technological revolution led him to winning the Nobel Prize in physics, although he is not a physicist, and what’s more, he even flunked a math test in the MIT entrance examination when he was young and never had much formal physics training in his lifetime. He has never accumulated much money out of his invention, but this has not bothered him. He always tries to be a good problem-solver in his field. The author also tells us that our media-saturated society is always looking for new faces and genuine national heroes like Kilby who have been overlooked.
Notes
1. About the text — This text is taken from Reader’s Digest, July 2001.
2. About the author—T. R. Reid is an American foreign correspondent for The Washington Post and author of nine books. A Classics major at Princeton University, Reid served as a naval officer, taught and held various positions before working for The Washington Post.
3. flunked a math test (Paragraph 1) — failed in a math test
4. anomalous (Paragraph 1) — different from what is normal or expected
5. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science (Paragraph 2) —an independent organization founded in 1739, whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society
6. PlayStations (Paragraph 3) — an electronic commercial network with major interest in various kinds of games
7. Edison (Paragraph 3) —Thomas A. Edison (1847 –1931), American inventor. He not only invented the light bulb, but many other things such as Dictaphone, mimeograph, storage battery and silent film.
8. Bell (Paragraph 3) — Alexander G. Bell (1847 – 1922), American inventor. He invented the telephone in 1876 and formed the Bell Telephone Company in 1877.
9. Ford (Paragraph 3) — Henry Ford (1863 – 1947), American inventor. He completed the first automobile in 1896, formed Henry Ford Company in 1901 and incorporated Ford Motor Company in 1903.
10. mecca(Paragraph 4) —a place which attracts people of a particular group or with a particular interest
11. D-J Day (Paragraph 7) — the day of victory over Japan
12. in short order (Paragraph 7) — to satisfy the urgent need quickly
13. a group of Texas Instruments brass(Paragraph 17) —a group of high-ranking officers of Texas Instruments
Additional notes
1. arguably (Paragraph 3 ) ― If sth. is arguable, it is not obviously true or correct and should be questioned. ―arguably‖ is the adverb form.
2. His father ran a local electric utility …(Paragraph 4) ― His father had a local
company which provided electricity …
3. It was a heady time in electronics. (Paragraph 7) ― It was a very exciting period in
the development of electronics.
4. …so I didn’t rule anything out. (Paragraph 12) ― … so I thought everything was
possible.
5. He gave a here-goes-nothing shrug.(Paragraph 18) ― He shrugged his shoulders,
meaning that he was about to do something that would probably fail.
6. Somehow our media-saturated society, with its insatiable appetite for new
faces, has managed to overlook a genuine national hero … (Paragraph 24) ― In one way or another, our society in which media can be found everywhere and people are always anxious to see new faces, has s ucceeded in ignoring a national hero …
Questions for discussion
1.Why was it considered marvelous that Mr. Kilby received the Nobel Prize in physics?
2.For what contribution did Mr. Kilby win the Nobel Prize in physics?
3.Did he mind that he didn’t accumulate much money out of his inventions?
4.Is Mr. Kilby still remembered by the general public?
Key to questions for discussion
1.That’s because he is not a physicist. What’s more, he even failed in a math test in the MIT
entrance examinations when he was young and never had much formal physics training in his lifetime.
2.He won the Nobel Prize in physics because he invented microchips and launched a
technological revolution, which benefited the people all over the world.
3.No, he didn’t. To him, the job of an engineer is to solve problems. When he solved one
problem, he began to solve another without paying attention to his personal gains.
4.No. The last paragraph tells us that our media-saturated society is always looking for new
faces and genuine national heroes like Kilby have been overlooked.
Memorable quotes
To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage.
－Confucius Confucius (551 BC－479 BC)was a great thinker of ancient China and educator, founder of Confucianism, one of the world’s most famous cultural figures.His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. His teachings may be found in the Analects.
Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.
－Ana?s Nin Ana?s Nin (1903－1977) Ana?s Nin was born in France and moved to the United States in 1914. She was an obscure literary figure until her journals began to be published in 1966. The ten volumes of The Diary of Ana?s Nin have remained popular. As a leading figure of a part of the feminist movement known as ―difference feminism‖, she believed that self-knowledge through journaling was the source of personal liberation.
Questions for discussion:
1) What’s the origin of courage?
2) What will courage bring to our life?
Guidance
1) For example: clear understanding of the circumstances and oneself
2) Suggestions:
a. Courage sometimes can dramatically or even totally change our life. I have a motto －― think big, aim high, to be different, and go for it.‖
b. Blind courage sometimes can only lead us to risks and danger.