Reading:  Do you know when basketball was invented? 教学建议

Section 1 Before You Read

1    This activity encourages students to talk about their knowledge of China as a sporting nation.

·Give students 2 minutes to list sports played in China. Then discuss the results with the class so that each student has the same 8 sports listed.

·In pairs, students decide on the ranking of each sport according to popularity. Note:  students should be allowed to differ in opinion, based on their own knowledge. When finished, the different results should be shared, to find out which sports are considered the three most popular.

Learning Strategy

MIND-MAPPING

Mind-mapping is a very important technique for anybody to use who wishes to retain and reproduce information they have learned.‘Mind-mapping’is an idea made famous by Tony Buzan, a British man who has devoted his life to helping students do better at school by understanding how the brain works. Create a mind-map for anything you want to learn. Do it by taking the information you are dealing with, and arranging it on a blank page in the form of a picture-a ‘neuron’:  in the center-a nucleus（the topic）with‘fingers’（the information）leading off it. The information in each‘finger’must be in a different color. The secret of mind-mapping is that the brain recalls pictures much more easily than words-the way most students record information

in notebooks.

Section 2  While You Read

·Ask students to use different colored highlighters（6 suggested）to‘group’information according to topic, as they read, e. g. historical facts, equipment.

·Ask students to work with a partner and compare‘groups’,and number of colors used.

Section 3  After You Read

3a    This activity helps students to focus on information through the use of colors.

·Ask students to complete the information in the mind-map, using the information they highlighted in the reading. Tell students to add more detail to each‘finger’of the mind-map than the lines given to them. Note:  Each student’s map must be their personal‘picture’of the information they want to remember.

·When complete, ask students to say if the highlighting in the reading helped them make the mind-map, and how they think it helped them.

·As a class activity, check everyone has filled in the missing information, and share other details or icons some students may have added.

Answers

    History:  100 years old, Canadian doctor,1st game played in 1891 The Game:  played indoors, on wooden floor, no contact, aim to score‘baskets’America:  foreign players in NBA Played in:  parks, schools Played for:  exercise Equipment:  court, basket（net/metal hoop）,backboard

3b    This activity helps students see the benefit of color to assist learning.

·Ask students to answer the questions without looking back at the reading.

·When finished, get the students’ opinions on how difficult the task was. Discuss the use of colors and pictures to aid learning.

·Ask students to go back and check their answers from the reading. Ask the class to comment on how successful they thought the task was.

Answers

    1．James Naismith.

    2．It was the first time basketball was played as an Olympic event.

    3．To get the ball into the hoop（basket）.

    4．The National Basketball Association.

Section 4 Go For It!

Everything students are learning must be relevant to their lives and to their age. The language they are learning must be useful to them in situations where English can be used. The exercises in‘Go For It!’teach students to personalize information, to think about life experiences in general, and share them with others, to feel proud of what they know and put their knowledge to good use. These exercises also extend students’ thinking beyond themselves and their family, to include the community, other countries, and the world as a whole.

·Ask students what they know about basketball as a national sport. As they give you information, put it on the board as a mind-map, starting from the central icon of a basketball net in the outline of China. Build up‘fingers’for any line of information you get, such as Chinese players, and where they play, the involvement of schools in selecting national players etc.

·Using the information now on the board, ask students to say if they think it is easy or difficult to be a basketball player. After discussing one or two ideas, ask students to complete the table with these and other ideas they have.

·In groups, students should now share their ideas. Go around and listen to each group as they discuss their answers. Summarize what you heard, and get their acknowledgement that you have heard their opinions.

If you have time!

It is important for students to enjoy the experience of learning English. If students are happy, they are motivated to learn and improve. The exercises in‘If you have time’allow students to further their knowledge in an enjoyable way, and put it to use in a‘real,’and therefore meaningful way.

·Ask pairs of students to do a project on an invention of their choice. The results of their research should be presented as a mind-map, with colored fingers and icons.

·From this mind-map, each pair could give an oral presentation of the invention they have worked on.

Additional note

Silk processing started first in China more than 3000 years ago? It is said that the wife of the Yellow Emperor was mostly responsible for its creation and development.