Leisure Activities

 

Objectives:

After finishing this unit, students will be able to:

● get some idea of leisure activities on campus

● talk about the some clubs and societies on campus and Ss’ own experiences in a club or society in a club or society on campus

● learn to use the key words and expressions in this unit

● learn to use correct verb tenses in making sentences

● learn to adopt the reading skill Improving Concentration while reading

● learn to create a poster for a music concert and an invitation to a party

 

Section I Listen and Talk (2 periods)

Step 1 Lead in (25 mins)

1. Warm up questions:

  Can you name some leisure activities you usually take part in?

Camping, outing, traveling, fishing, taking a walk, Yoga, dancing drawing, calligraphy, skating, bowling, picnic, Kara OK, barbecue, playing music, etc.

2. Listening: (Listen to the passage and fill the missing words in the blanks.)

Key:

spare, clubs, societies, music, party, meet, make, hang out, bored

3. Words and expressions:

hang out: go out

leisure: adj. 闲暇的，从容不迫的;

adv. leisurely

4. Look at the pictures and try to say something about leisure activities. (Pair-work)

Brain storm questions:

What leisure activities are they taking?

Have you taken part in the similar leisure activities as them?

 

Step 2 Dialogues (30 mins)

1. Listening to the two sample dialogues and learning some useful phrases and expressions

  Dialogue 1 At a Party

  Dialogue 2 At a Concert

2. Post-listening questions

What do they do at a party?

Who will Zhang introduce to Connie?

What kind of music band does Mei like? Why?

3. Phrases and expressions:

in full swing: take part in

They are eating me out of house and home.  他们把我吃穷了。

outgoing: extroverted

be into that: be good at

sellout: adj. 叛逆

fade off: out of date

 

Step 3 Communicative Tasks (35 mins)

Work in pairs and act the dialogues to the whole class.

Task 1: Talking about the differences between party etiquette in China and the USA

Tips: 

drinks, meet a lot of people, formal/ informal, be crazy about, dream of

    What is the difference between…

    Did you find any difference between…

    We have more…

Task 2: Talking about pop music in China and the USA

Tips:

Enjoy/ prefer, pop/ classical, favorite, charming/ wonderful/ popular, tune/ song

What about…?

My favorite is…

I know about…

Do you know anything about…?

 

Step 4 Assignments

1.Read the dialogues and practice communicative tasks

2. Preview new words in Passage A

 

Section II Read and Explore (4 periods)

Passage A Clubs and Societies

 

Step 1 Pre-reading Tasks (15 mins)

1.      Greetings and a brief revision

Ask one or two pairs (groups) to act out their own dialogues

2.      Lead-in questions:

1)      What do you usually do in your leisure time on campus? (open)

2)      How do the students at Oxford spend their spare time?

3)      Can you name some clubs and societies at Oxford?

3.  Culture notes:

1)      OUSU: OUSU is the Oxford University Student Union, a completely separate organization from the Oxford Union. It is there to support students from all the affiliated Oxford Colleges in a number of ways by, for example, offering various student support services such as the Student Advice Service and The Oxford Legal Student Advice Scheme. OUSU also produces its own publications like The OUSU Living Out Guide, The Oxford Directory, The Welfare Directory and Freshers' Guide.

2)      Freshers' Fair: Freshers' Fair is one of the most important events in the student calendar, and the focal point of freshers' week. It offers Oxford's 6 500 new students a unique opportunity to sample some of the activities going on in the city and University. It also gives the 350+ student societies that exist the chance to recruit eager new members. There are rooms and a large marquee set aside for companies offering student services to display their products and attract potential customers. Stalls are set out by category, such as sporting clubs, international societies, and religious organizations. It is entirely organized and run by OUSU, and takes place in the major rooms of Examination Schools on the High Street, on Thursday and Friday the first week in October each year.

3)      The Oxford Union: The Oxford Union is the world's foremost debating society, with a deserved reputation for bringing international guests and speakers to Oxford. Since its foundation in 1823, the Oxford Union has been the only central student venue in the City and remains the social focus in this fragmented college system. The Union's aim is to serve its members by providing numerous facilities. It has a restaurant, two bars, two full-size snooker tables, the largest lending library for students in Oxford, and the only late-night student bar. In short, with over 10 000 resident members and roughly 85% of new students joining every year, the Union is the centre of University life in Oxford.

 

Step 2 While-reading Tasks (75 mins)

1. Read the text as quickly as possible and try to answer the following questions:

1) How can you find out about the activities that take place in a university like Oxford?

2) How can you find out what clubs and societies are on offer at Oxford?

3) Do people get involved in societies to the same degree?

4) What kind of people do some high status clubs such as the Oxford Union or the Guild Society tend to attract? Why?

5) Does the author generally encourage students to join clubs and societies? Why?

2. Skim the passage and try to find the main idea:

Main idea: Colleges have clubs and societies for many purposes. There’s a group for almost any interest or spare time activity a student may have. It’s a good way to learn, relax, and make new friends. Joining groups can also help build a student’s resume for future employment.

3. Language points:

1) put one’s finger on: to find or show exactly (the cause of trouble)

e.g. Something is wrong with this room, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.

    I could not quite put my finger on what was different about him.

2) throw oneself into: to do or take part in actively and energetically

e.g. Since her husband died, she has thrown herself into her work.

    The National Day is coming; they have thrown themselves into the organization of Celebration Activities.

3) get one’s hands on: catch, or obtain

e.g. They all want to get their hands on the old man’s money.

  I’d like to get my hands on a nice pair of cowboy boots.

4) browse through: look through

e.g. I was browsing through the newspaper when I spotted your name.

   I’ve found the article while I was browsing through some old magazines.

5) find out: to learn or discover (a fact that was hidden or not known)

e.g. I won’t tell you—you’ll have to find out by yourself.

    We found out later that we had been at the same school.

6) vary:

vary [in]: to be different; have the qualities that are not the same as each other

e.g. The price varies according to the season.

     The flowers are the same in color but vary in shape.

vary [from:] to be different

e.g. Roses vary from daisies.

vary [from… to]: to change, esp. continually

e.g. The weather varies from very cold to quite mild.

7) immerse oneself in:

1) to put deep into a body of liquid

e.g. He lay immersed in a hot bath.

   Immerse your foot in ice cold water to reduce the swelling.

2) to cause to enter deeply into an activity; absorb in it or be absorbed by it

e.g. I immersed myself in work so as to stop thinking about her.

8) ignore: to take no notice of; refuse to pay attention

e.g. My advice was completely ignored.

    The government would be unwise to ignore the complaints of its people.

9) hang out: to live or spend lots of time in a particular place or with particular people

e.g. Why do you just hang out in bars? Do you want to hang out with me instead?

    You should give your children more opportunities to have personal time and space to hang out with friends or do whatever they want.

10) give out: to give to each of several people; distribute

e.g. The teacher gave out the exam the exam papers.

    Give the books out to the children.    

11) hack:

   1) to cut (up), esp. roughly, violently, or in uneven pieces

e.g. He hacked the limb from the tree with an axe.

2) to do successfully

    e.g. This assignment is too hard, I just can’t hack it.

3) to enter a computer system without permission

     e.g. The students who hacked their way into the academic records were punished.

4) to seek office in a group without caring about the group’s success

  e.g. He tried to hack his way to the presidency of every club on campus.

12) apply:

   a. apply [to, for]: to request sth., esp. officially and in writing

e.g. I applied to four universities and was accepted by all of them.

b. apply [to]: to bring or put into use or operation

 e.g. New technology is being applied to almost every industrial process.

    The term ‘mat’ can be applied to any small rug.

13) tend to: to have a tendency; be likely; to do or be often or usually

      e.g. Sally tends to interfere in other people’s business..

          People tend to gain weight on holidays.

14) secure:

   a. to hold or close tightly

      e.g. They secured the windows when the storm began.

          Before you leave for the weekend please secure the door.

   b. to get, esp. as the result of effort

      e.g. I was lucky to secure a seat on the crowded bus.

         UN negotiations are still trying to secure the release of the hostages.

15) though: in spite of the fact; nevertheless

      e.g. He’s had two heart attacks in a year. It hasn’t stopped him smoking, though.

         She won first prize, though none of us had expected it.

16) apart from:

a. without considering; except for

  e.g. Apart from the occasional visit, what does Allen do for his kids?

     Quite apart from the cost, there is the question of your health to be considered.

b. as well as; in addition to

  e.g. Apart from her obvious beauty, the clean air of the mountains was good for me.

17) bore: to make sb. tired or uninterested, esp. by continual dull talk

e.g. I’m sorry I spoke for so long—I hope I didn’t bore you.

bored:[bored with] tired and uninterested

e.g. She is getting really bored with her job.

       I’m bored with the same old routine day after day.

boring: dull or uninteresting; tedious

e.g. Her husband is about the most boring person I’ve ever met.

       I always thought ancient history was deadly boring.

 

Step 3 Post-reading Tasks

1.      Summarize the passage

Summary: Colleges have clubs and societies for many purposes. There’s a group for almost any interest or spare time activity a student may have. These groups typically recruit the freshmen to join, and most freshmen decide to join some of them. It’s a good way to learn, relax, and make new friends. Joining groups can also help build a student’s resume for future employment. But the majority of students are quite right to be suspicious of ambitious classmates who try to be leaders of every group they join.

2.      Check the answers of Ex.4, 5 and 6

 

Step 4 Assignments

1.      Oral practice---- Talk about it

2.      General writing--- My leisure-time hobby on campus

 

Passage B A Well-Balanced Life

Step 1 Pre-reading Tasks (15 mins)

1.      Greetings and a brief revision

Ask students to present their dialogues according to “Talk about it”

2.      Lead-in questions:

1)      In your opinion, what is more important, study and work, or leisure-time activities?

2)      What is a well-balanced life according to you?

3.      Culture Notes:

1) Walt Whitman (1819~1892): Walt Whitman was born in 1819 in Long Island, New York. He attended grammar school in Brooklyn and took his first job with the Long Island Patriot. Between 1841 and the summer of 1859, Whitman held editorial positions on seven different newspapers. During the spring of 1855, at his own expense, Walt Whitman published the first edition of Leaves of Grass. Today it is considered a masterpiece of world literature and Whitman is recognized as America’s national poet.

2) Robert Frost (1874~1963): Robert Frost was born in San Francisco in 1874. He moved to New England at the age of eleven and became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts. His first professional poem, "The Butterfly," was published on November 8, 1894, in the New York newspaper The Independent. By the nineteen-twenties, he was the most celebrated poet in America, and with each new book-including New Hampshire (1923), A Further Range (1936), Steeple Bush (1947), and In the Clearing (1962)-his fame and honors (including four Pulitzer Prizes) increased.

 

Step 2 While-reading Tasks (75 mins)

1.      Read the passage as quickly as possible and try to answer the following questions:

1)      According to the author, what is the significance of a well-balanced life?

2)      Why does the author say try every means to be a better-adjusted person?

3)      What does the author usually do in her free time?

4)      When the author went through a short period of depression, what did none of her friends do to help her?

2.      Scan It—Find the structure of the passage

Section 1 (Para.1): The importance of a well-balanced life (Introductory paragraph)

Section 2 (Para.2-4): How the author lives a well-balanced life (Body paragraph)

Section 3 (Para.5): A well-balanced life is of great importance. (Concluding paragraph)

3. Language points:

1) neither … nor …: It is used between two or more choices to negate both or all of them.

e.g. He neither drinks, smokes, nor eats meat.

       The equipment is neither accurate nor safe.

2) develop into: to become or bring gradually to a larger, more complete, or more advanced state; grow into

e.g. In less than ten years, it develops from a seed into a full-grown tree.

   The place has rapidly developed from a small fishing community into a thriving tourist resort.

3) well-rounded:

(of a person) having a full, pleasantly curved shape; shapely                                                    e.g. Even after the birth of her three children, she still keeps a well-rounded   

figure.

    (of a person’s experience) full of different types of activity; complete and varied

      e.g. She has a well-rounded background in management.

                 Distance learning helps to provide a well-rounded education for all the people.

  4) stress: pressure caused by the problems of living, too much work, etc.

e.g. I think her headaches are caused by stress.

   The thought of the coming exams gives me great stress and anxiety.

5) try every means: do everything possible

      e.g. He’s tried every means to get a new job.

  6) adjust: to change slightly in order to make right or make suitable for a particular purpose or situation

e.g. You can adjust the color of the TV by turning this knob.

    They will soon settle in – kids are very good at adjusting.

7) relieve: to lessen (pain, anxiety, or trouble)

      e.g. I went for a walk to relieve the boredom of the day.

         Volunteers were recruited to relieve the acute labor shortage.

  8) handle: to pick up, touch, or feel with the hands

e.g. Customers are asked not to handle the goods in the shop.

   When the children handled the kittens, it made the mother cat restless.

         to deal with; control

e.g. She couldn’t handle the pressures of her new job.

    He wasn’t sure if he could handle such a powerful car.

  9) along with: together with

e.g. This was the bill which arrived along with the parcel.

    She lost her job when the factory closed, along with hundreds of others.

  10) relate to: to concern; be about or be directed towards

e.g. These proposals are only related to agricultural land.

    We shall discuss the problem as it relates to our specific case.

       to have a connection with

e.g. The cost relates directly to the amount of time spent on the job.

   In the future, pay increases will be related to productivity.

11) go through: to suffer or experience; endure

     e.g. Men don’t know what it’s like to go through childbirth.

         He’s amazingly cheerful considering all he’s had to go through.

12) figure out: come to understand or discover by thinking

     e.g. We still haven’t figured out how to do it.

         Have you figured out what the problem really is?

13) add to: to increase

     e.g. The unexpected storm added to the difficulty of the construction of the road.

          contribute to, add up to

     e.g. Good study habits add to academic success.

14) lead to: to result in

     e.g. This will lead to trouble in the future.

         His carelessness led to his failure in the future.

15) other than: except, apart from

     e.g. There was nothing we could do other than hope for the best.

         There’s no good cooking other than your mother’s cooking.

16)maintain: to continue to have, do, as before; keep up

     e.g. He took the lead, and maintained it until the end of the race.

         She maintains good relations with her business partners.

17) get by: to have enough money for one’s needs or way of life

     e.g. She doesn’t know how to get by if she loses this job.

         I can just about get by in French (= I can speak basic French)

18) Without…neither function properly nor develop into a well-rounded individual.

     A well-balanced life is needed for a person to develop and function properly.

19) Music is the universal language and it can express different feelings.

   Almost everyone understands music, especially to express their feelings.

20) It can relate to the soul, or in fact I think it is the soul of feelings.

   It can deeply affect the human spirit, even becoming identical with it.

21) The good friends that I have are always there for me in every situation I am in.

  My friends are always available whenever I need help.

22) Not so long ago I went through a short time of depression.

   Recently I experienced a brief depression.

23) I do not know what would have happened if she had not been there.

   I couldn’t have handled the situation without her help.

24) But when it happens, you can do something other than wait…

   But when it happens you don’t have to wait, there are some other choices.

 

Step3 Post-reading Tasks (90 mins)

1.      Summarize the passage

Summary: A well-balanced life is likely to be a happier and healthier life. People with a variety of interests and activities are less likely to be depressed, and even if they are busy they often have less stress. One activity can provide relief from another. For example, music or conversation can provide relief from work or study. However, when we are too stressed out we must also know when to relax. Friends can help us recognize the problems of stress and depression, and restore the balance in our lives.

2.      Check the answers of Ex.4, 5 and 6

 

Step 4 Assignments

Review the words and phrases in Passage B

 

Section III Write and Produce (2 periods)

Step 1 Revision (10 mins)

Dictation of words and phrases in Passage A and B

 

Step 2 Grammar (35 mins)

Verb Tenses

Tenses is used to indicate time. By using different tenses, we can get the time of the particularly situation we want to describe and also show the continuity of the action or state. If we do not want our readers to misunderstand the time of actions and events in our writing, we should try to use verb tenses correctly. It is true that high school graduates have already learned a great deal about English verb tenses, but when is comes to writing in English, many students tend to make mistakes. So if you want to write with correct verb tenses, more practice is necessary.

 

Step 3 Practical Writing (45 mins)

1.      Poster

To write a good poster for a concert, or some other entertainment, you must arouse the readers’ interest and enthusiasm. Graphics are very helpful for this. Then you must clearly and simply give the readers all the information they need to know to attend the event at the right time, place, etc. If there is an admission charge, say how much it is.

2.      Invitation Cards

To invite people to a party does not require a fancy card unless the party is very formal. But the information should be very clear and specific, and it should also be clear whether an acceptance of the invitation is required. If so the letters RSVP (“ Reply Sent Very Promptly” in English, or “Responez s’il vous plait” in French) is something used.

 

Step 4 Assignments

1.      Write an invitation card to a party for graduating seniors at your campus. Include local details to make it interesting and realistic.

2.      Make a poster for a music concert at your campus. You may conclude the names of local places, people or groups to make it more realistic.