Practice Always Makes Perfect Integrated English Course By Hu Weiwei Warm Welcome Sept. 10, 2009.

Practice Always Makes Perfect

Integrated English Course

By Hu Weiwei

Warm Welcome

Sept. 10, 2009


When Lightening Struck

Unit Three

Practice Always Makes PerfectLead-in questions

• When lightening struck, how did you feel?

• What are the possible consequences caused by lightening?

• Do you think such bad weather affects the flight?

Practice Always Makes PerfectHow bad weather affects the fight

• When bad weather hits, occasional delays are usually unavoidable. Aircraft typically cannot take off unless the visibility at the destination airport is forecast to be at or above a certain distance, usually half a mile. Airlines are cautious about aircraft operating in the vicinity of bad weather due to passenger injury.


• Typically, the spring and summer months of the year are the worst for bad weather delays. These months carry hot humid air, which produces dangerous thunderstorms, severe lightening and turbulence.


• When aircraft in flight encounters bad weather, the crew has to take measures to deal with it. Typically, announcements will be made by the flight attendants or the pilot to make sure that the passengers stay in their seat and have their seat belt fastened. In an exceptionally heavy thunderstorm, an emergency landing is needed.


• Have you ever heard of anything about an air crash before? How did it strike you?

• What do you think are the main causes of an air crash?


• If you encounter an emergency in a plane/ bus, what will you do?

• Suppose you were one of the survivors of an air crash or bus accident, how would you feel?

Practice Always Makes PerfectText-related questions

• Is this essay an exposition, a narration or an argumentation?

• What is this essay concerned with?• What must have happened to the plane when

the author was in the bathroom? What did it have to do?

• According to the text, did passengers always pay attention to the emergency procedures instruction before takeoff? Why (or why not)?


• How did the passengers behave before the plane landed safely?

• Can you best sum up the author’s feelings during the flight?

• Why did the author feel almost tearful to be parting from her fellow passengers on board?


• What is the significant point of the author’s experience from the accident?

Practice Always Makes PerfectStructural analysis of the text

• Part One: paragraphs1-4

• Part Two: paras.5-9

• Part Three: paras.10-12

• Part Four: paras.13-14


• -Part 1-Introductory paragraphs, telling us about the setting and the unexpected happening, and introducing some main characters.

• -Part 2-Feelings, thoughts, and actions of the writer and other fellow passengers when they were faced the dangerous situation.


• -Part 3-What the passengers saw and did after they landed safely.

• -Part 4-Conclusive paragraphs, telling us about the author’s gratefulness for her fellow passengers and her purpose of writing this story.

Practice Always Makes PerfectText comprehension exercises

• Decide the author’s purpose of writing

----Explain why the other three are not correct

• True or false statements

• Pronunciation of new words and expressions

Practice Always Makes PerfectDetailed reading

• Listen to the text

• Ask students to read the text part by part and compete to be the pronunciation star

• Analyze the text in great detail

Practice Always Makes PerfectParagraphs 1-4

• What did the flight attendants do?

• How did passengers feel when they were faced with the horrible situation?

• Pick out those vivid, specific words that best describe the terrible situation.

• What do you know about the girl sitting next to the author?


• What kind of rhetorical device is employed in the 1st sentence of para. 3?

• Why did the author use the simple present tense instead of the past in the sentence “And that really worries me …”?

• What did the pilot decide to do?

• Did the passengers always pay attention to the emergency procedures instruction?


• It’s an inversion. Inversion takes place when the subject is too long or too heavily modified.


• The writer uses the simple present tense because that is her general idea about something, not what she thought at that moment.

Practice Always Makes PerfectPart 1/ Main idea

• -Part 1-Introductory paragraphs, telling us about the setting and the unexpected happening, and introducing some main characters.

Practice Always Makes PerfectPart 1/ Words Bank

• Slam: Vi. Vt. N.• >>The door slammed shut. (shut loudly and with force)

• >>In the distance, we heard the slam of the car door.

• >>Li Weifeng slammed the ball down on the grassland and angrily walked out.(put sth on or against a surface with a fast violent movement)

• >>Fan Paopao and Yang Buguan were slammed by the press for their lack of sense of responsibility. (criticize sb or sth strongly)


• Jolt: Vi. Vt. N.• >>People in Wenchuan felt the 1st jolt of the

earthquake at about 2:18 p.m. on May 12, 2008. (sudden rough shaking movement)

• >>The news of Sanlu Milk Powder gave the young mothers a jolt. (sudden shock)

• >>The cart jolted along over the rough road, jotting every bone in her body. (move suddenly or roughly)

• >>Her angry words jolted him out of the belief that she loved him. (give sb a sudden shock)


• Swerve: N. Vi• >>The car made a sudden swerve to avoid

the schoolboy crossing the road. (changing direction suddenly)

• >>The minibus swerved to the right and crashed into a wall. (make a sudden sideways movement while moving forwards, esp in order to avoid hitting sth)

• >>He vowed he would never swerve from his declared aims. (change from an idea, purpose,

course of action, etc)


• Scramble: Vi. N.• >>Campers scrambled to safety when a

flash flood came down the canyon. (move quickly)

• >>Many people scrambled madly for seats when the subway pulled up at the station. (struggle or compete with others to get or reach sth)

• >>The hikers scrambled up the rocky slope. (climb up or over sth with difficulty)


• Somehow: • >> Somehow, the boy managed to escape

from the bathroom through the window. (by some means or in some way, although you do not know how)

• >>Somehow, I don’t feel I can trust him. (for some reason that is not clear)


• Strap in: fasten in place with a seat belt

• >>Make sure that you are firmly strapped in before the plane takes off.

• >>The man strapped his heavy bag onto his bicycle.

• >>strapless: 无肩带的，不遮盖肩膀的（尤指女人上衣）


• Lunge: vi. make sudden forceful forward movements, often to make an attack.

• >>She lunged at me with a knife.

• >>Tom made a lunge towards his opponent, but missed.

• >>They both lunged forwards to catch the ball.


• Stricken expression: an expression as if affected by sth overwhelming, such as fatal disease, painful

emotions, etc.

• >>Panic-stricken crowds swarmed into the room.

• >>poverty-stricken


• …was supposed to make a connecting flight …

• >>You were supposed to be here half an hour ago.


• The laptop was put away.

• >>My best friend puts away about one third of her monthly income for the rainy days in the future.

• >>set aside


• I heard vaguely through my fear.


• When he was done, the voice of a flight attendant came on, reminding us of the emergency procedures she had reviewed before takeoff.


• What did the writer do when she saw the face of the girl next to her?

• How did the glamorous young woman comfort the writer?

• How did the writer’s fellow passengers behave during the rough journey?

• Why did the writer feel proud of them?• What was the gift given by the dying

father? What do you think of this gift?


• Pick out those vivid and specific words and expressions in part II that best describe the rough journey?

• Find details showing their attitude in response to such an emergency.


• These paragraphs narrate and delineate （详细记叙） the feelings, thoughts, and actions of the writer, the acts of kindness of the glamorous young lady, and the behaviors of nobleness of the other passengers on the plane when they were faced with the dangerous situation.


• What kind of rhetorical device is employed in the sentence “After this, London’s going to seem like small potato.”? And why did the writer say so?


• It’s a simile. The writer is being optimistic, attempting to comfort and reassure the girl next to her. This sentence implies that the journey they were taking by plane was much more unusual and exciting than a trip to London.


• Now we began a roller-coaster ride through the thunderclouds.

• I reached for her hand and reassured her that we were going to make it.

• >>Do you like the writer?


• It’s a metaphor. The plane they were taking was rolling and swerving sharply through the thunderclouds. The pretty rough ride is compared vividly to a roller-coaster ride.


• >>succeed in doing sth

• Despite the heavy rain, she made it to the airport just in time to catch her plane.

• He seems to have made it: a nice car, a big house, a good job, a beautiful wife and two kids.


• Reassure (sb. that …)

• >>Reassuring(ly); reassurance

• >>I held out my hand to take hers, comforting her and restored her confidence by saying that we would manage to have a safe and sound journey home.


• Pull oneself together: recover self-command; force oneself to stop behaving in a nervous, frightened way

• >>Stop behaving like a baby! Pull yourself together – your future is in your hand.

• >>The brave man is able to pull himself together in the face of danger and hardship.


• Glamorous – glamour/ glamor

• Equivalent (n.) – equivalence (n.)– be equivalent (adj.) to – equivalently (adv.)

• >>He changed my 5,000 pounds for the equivalent amount of US dollars.


• Confide (v.) – confidence – confident – confidential -- confidentiality

• >>Ms. Gao confided her dislike of her husband to her bosom friend.

• >>Xiao Wang confided his money to his father’s safekeeping during his absence.

• >>Jane felt that her husband didn’t confide in her.


• “the problems I brought up on this plane with me sure don’t seem really big right now.”

• >>The speaker will bring up the environment protection problem at the next meeting.

• >>It is their old granny who has brought up them three.


• Indiscriminate (adj) – discriminate (v.) – discrimination (n.)

• >>The indiscriminate use of fertilizers is damaging the environment.

• >>She is indiscriminate in her choice of friends.


• … her soulful squeezes.

• I was sure that even if I survived the plane crash, I’d have a couple of broken fingers from all the TLC (tender loving care).

• >>Do you like this lady? Why?


• The glamorous young woman squeezed the writer’s other hand in a profoundly emotional manner. Obviously, she was making much effort to comfort the writer. (act of pressing sth firmly, usu with the hands)


• >>He’s just lost his job, so the family is really feeling the squeeze.

• >>Mr. Li’s secretary agreed to squeeze the visitor in at 4p.m.

• >>Four persons squeezed into the back seat of the car.


• Among the many feeling going through my head during those excruciating 20 minutes was pride – pride in how (admirably) well everybody was behaving.


• >>China has gone through too many wars.

• >>Many people start the day by going through their e-mails.


• No one panicked. No one screamed. As we jolted and screeched our way downward, I could hear small pockets of soothing conversation everywhere.


• As our plane was shaking forcefully downward, making a high-pitched, strident noise (尖锐而刺耳的噪音） , we could hear small groups of people talking to, comforting each other everywhere in the plane.


• Pocket: a small group of people

• >>The invaders met pockets of resistance.

• >>pocket money/ pocket book

• Soothing (adj) – soothe (v)

• >>This soothing medicine will certainly soothe your headache.

• >>It took her much effort to soothe her friend who failed the driving test again.


• Screech: shriek; make a high sharp noise

• >>The lorry came to a screeching halt.• >>”Leave me alone!” she screeched in

fright.• Panic/ panick (n. v.) – panicked (adj)• >>The kids panicked/ got into a panic at

the sight of the snake. • >>Panic-stricken crowds swarmed into the

room.


• Alarm: n. v.

• >>The news was greeted with alarm by the Greens.

• >>I heard the alarm go off.

• >>We could not see what had alarmed him.

• >>alarm clock – alarmed (adj) – alarming (adj)


• How did the passengers feel after their safe landing?

• What acts of kindness were done after the safe landing? Why did they do so?

• What had the writer’s husband been complaining about?

• Were they happy to be on board their new flight? Why did the writer feel tearful then?


• Part 3 tells the readers what the passengers saw and did after they landed safely, and describes the writer’s emotional feeling when she had to be parting from her fellow passengers whose lives had so intensely, though briefly, touched hers.


• …transfer us to alternative flights.

• >>We transferred in New York before arriving in North Carolina.

• >>Sun Yue is hoping to be transferred to the Lakers.

• >>She is asked to transfer 15,000yuan to her old mother’s account every year.

• >>I had no alternatives but to give up.


• Cling

• >>Little kids usually cling to their mother.

• >>Most women hate the smell of smoke clinging to their hair and clothes.


• …, I felt almost tearful to be parting from the people whose lives had so intensely, if briefly, touched hers.


• When I had to say bye-bye to those people, I felt that my eyes were filled with tears. Though we spent only short time together on the plane, they had so profoundly and strongly influenced my feelings through what they said and did to me and to others.


• Why does the writer sometimes look up at an airplane?

• For what is the writer indebted to her fellow passengers?

• What does the writer learn from the rough journey?


• Part 4 tells the readers that the writer misses her fellow passengers and feel grateful to them. It conveys the writer’s purpose of writing this story: What is most important is to make known such nice people and their fine deeds and to pass on their kindness from generations to generations.


• Fateful day

• >> fatal disease

• Be indebted to

• >> be grateful/ thankful to …

• Pay back• Clutch: hold sth or sb tightly esp when you are

frightened, in pain, or do not want to lose sth.


• Remembering my aisle mate’s hand clutching mine while I clutched the hand of the high school student, I feel struck by lightening all over again: the point is not to pay back kindness but to pass it on.


• All of a sudden, I come to realize that I have become enlightened.

• What counts most is not to return kindness for kindness, but to make it known and pass it down to future generations.

Practice Always Makes PerfectAfter reading …

• What is the main idea that the author argues for?

• What is the author’s purpose of writing?

• What have you learnt from this text?

Practice Always Makes PerfectSummary

• The author was in the tiny bathroom in the back of the plane when she felt the slamming jolt, and then the terrible swerve that threw her against the door. The plane was hit by lightening and had to make an emergency landing in New Orleans. The author provides vivid accounts of the pretty rough journey and of typical acts of kindness she witnessed and received;


• Though scared to death, the passengers tried to keep calm and did as the flight attendants instructed them to do; at the same time, they comforted each other, reassuring each other that they were going to be ok.


• meanwhile, she narrates and describes her own thoughts, feelings, and actions. The author wants to tell her readers how kind, friendly, and helpful, or generous her fellow passengers were even when they were faced with an emergency of this type; she wants to make it known how touching their actions and how praiseworthy their deeds are;


• she wants to inform the public how lovely, how noble, and how respectable such people are. In short, the author aims to eulogize such nice people, praise them for their fine deeds and pass on their admirable acts of kindness, which is the theme of the story.

Practice Always Makes PerfectMain idea

• This story is the author’s objective and vivid narration of her extraordinary and unforgettable travel experience on a plane for the purpose of praising good people and their fine deeds and bringing out superb touching relations witnessed at critical moments.

Practice Always Makes PerfectDiscourse Analysis

• A piece of narration, which is reasonably organized – with a beginning, a body and an end.

• I narrator – personal feelings, thoughts, and actions; the fellow passengers’ behaviors and deeds

• Many vivid, dynamic and specific words and phrases are used in proper places.

Practice Always Makes PerfectDiscourse Analysis

• A mixture of both formal and colloquial words and phrases.

• Flexible use of simple, compound, and complex sentences.

• Plain narration and vivid description.

• The tone is objective, descriptive and emotional, with concrete detailed accounts of actual situations and touching scenes.

Practice Always Makes PerfectAssignment

To look for sentences showing the usage of the following words and phrases

remind, reassure, equivalent, confide, scramble, indiscriminate, survive, alternative, be supposed to, put away, pull together, go through, be indebted to,

Retell the story in various ways

Practice Always Makes PerfectSelf-study

• Grammar exercises

• Oral activities

• Writing practice

• Text B

• Memorable quotes

Practice Always Makes Perfect Integrated English Course By Hu Weiwei Warm Welcome Sept. 10, 2009.

Documents

Transcript of Practice Always Makes Perfect Integrated English Course By Hu Weiwei Warm Welcome Sept. 10, 2009.