Unit 4 The Virtual World . Suggested Teaching Plan Objectives Students will be able to 1. understand the main idea (despite the many negative effects of virtual life, the author prefers it to real life) and structure of the text (contrast between virtual life and real life); 2. learn some rules of interpreting new vocabulary and usage related to computers and the Internet in English; 3. grasp the key language points and grammatical structures in the text; 4. conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the unit. Time Allotment 1st period2nd period3rd period4th period5th period Pre- reading While- reading (text organization; language points) While- reading (language points; “find” structure; consequences of virtual life) Post- reading; Check on students home reading (Text B) Theme- Related Language Learn- ing Tasks Pre-reading activities 1. T asks Ss the following questions on the poem Surfing the Internet: (5 minutes) * What was the hero doing when his boss came in? (surfing the Internet) * How did he act in front of his boss? (He pretended to be surprised at the computer which had crashed “unexpectedly”.) 2. Ss look at the theme of this unit (The Virtual World) and the title of Text A (A Virtual Life), then try to: (10 minutes) * find antonyms of “virtual world” and “virtual life”; (real world, real life) * suggest synonyms for “virtual world”; (cyberspace, cyberia, etherworld, virtual reality, Internet world, net world, etc.) * say what people can do on the Internet, (communicating with people, shopping, reading, entertainment, education, working, hacking, publishing, etc.) 3. Imaginative writing (28 minutes) 1) T dictates to Ss the following paragraph: For the past two weeks, other participants of the Net Survival Contest (网络生存竞赛) and I have been shut up in bare hotel rooms. Our only link to the real world has been a computer that is hooked up to the Internet (联网电脑). We have relied on it, not only for food, bed sheets and other daily necessities, but also to set up an e-business （电 子商务）of our own. 2) Now Ss will complete the next paragraph beginning with: “Now it is time for me to walk out into the light of day again.” They will give their imagination full play. They will write no more than 100 words. 3) Ss form groups of four to five, and read aloud to each other their own writings. 4) T asks some groups to recommend the best piece in their group to the class. 4. T may lead in to Text A by saying: Some of us like to live a life in contact with real things and real people, but others favor a virtual existence. Which life is better? Im sure you have different opinions. Now lets read Text A to find out what Maia Szalavitz has to say about these two life styles. (2 minutes) While-reading activities 1. Text organization (15 minutes) 1) T draws Ss attention to Text Organization Exercise 1, and lets them read its instructions as well as what has already been done for them in this exercise. 2) Ss try to complete the exercise by simply reading the first sentence of each paragraph in Text A. 1) Ss compare answers with each other; if necessary, T may help. 2. T explains the key language points and gives Ss practice (see Language Study). (45 minutes) 3. T guides Ss through Structure Exercise 2. (10 minutes) 2. Ss re-read Paras 4-10, work in pairs to find out consequences of “my” virtual life. Can they use the “find oneself + adj./ past participle/present participle” structure when summing up the conse- quences? (10 minutes) 3. Some pairs report to the class their findings, using the “find” structure. (5 minutes) Post-reading activities 1. Computer-related vocabulary items (20 minutes) 1) Ss scan Text A to find out vocabulary items related to computer and the Internet. (They are: virtual life, the net, telecommuter, email, Internet mailing lists, computer-assisted, data, link, cyber- interaction, on line, system crash, click on the modem, connection, password) 2) T tells Ss that new terms related to computer and the Internet are constantly added to the English vocabulary, so much so that many of them are not included in any English dictionary. However, if we apply certain rules, their meanings are easy to deduce. 3) T gives Ss more examples of computer-related vocabulary items (see Text Analysis). 2. T guides Ss through some after-text exercises. (25 minutes) 3. T checks on Ss home reading (Text B). (3 minutes) 4. Ss do Part IV: Theme-Related Language Learning Tasks. (1 period) 5. T asks Ss to prepare the next unit: (2 minutes) 1) do the pre-reading task; 2) preview Text A. .Text Analysis The most dynamic combining forms/prefixes for new computer-and- Internet-related vocabulary in English are cyber-, virtual, Net- (net-), Web- (web-), and E- (e-). New English vocabulary items derived from them usually appear in the following forms: 1. combining forms/prefixes + noun: this is the most common type, e.g. virtual life (虚拟生活), virtual world (虚拟世界),