《新编大学英语》第二册电子教案2

Book II Unit 2 Communication Problems

Teaching Objectives:

In this unit students are required to:

1)get to know some useful information concerning the topic of the reading passages in this unit .

2) do some preparation activities such as discussion, group work, etc. to practice their spoken skill and

communicative skills;

3) grasp some new words and try to use these words which help them to enrich their vocabulary;

4) read the in-class reading passage in a limited time and grasp some expressions and grammatical points in the in-class reading passage to improve their reading comprehension;

5) do some post-reading exercises and some after-class reading to practice what they have got to know in class to improve their English comprehensive skills.;

6) translate some typical sentences into Chinese or English by using some expressions learned in the reading passages to acquire some translating skills and better their translating abilities.

Student Level: Grade 2005 level 1 2005-2006 II term

Useful Information: (10MIN)

Learning a second language is never easy, and, generally speaking, the older one is when one attempts a new language, the more difficult it becomes. This is at least partly due to what is known as language interference, meaning that the linguistic patterns of our first language interfere with those of the second because no two languages have exactly the same sounds and grammatical structures.

All languages have obligatory categories of grammar that may be lacking in other languages. Russian---unlike English---has an obligatory category for gender which demands that a noun, and often a pronoun, specify whether it is masculine, feminine, or neuter. Another obligatory category, similarly lacking in English, requires a verb state indicating whether or not an action has been complicated. Therefore, a Russian finds it impossible to translate accurately the English sentences “I hired a worker” without having much more information. He would have to know whether the “I” was a man or woman, whether the action had a completive or non-completive aspect ( “already hired” as opposed to “was in the process of hiring” ), and whether the “worker” was a man or a woman.

Likewise, when translating an English story into Chinese in which a character identified as cousin appears, a Chinese translator requires to know whether it refers to a male or a female, whether the character is older or younger than the speaker, and whether the character belongs to the family of the speaker’s father or mother. Therefore biaomei ( 表妹)can be translated into English only by the awkward statement “a female cousin on my mother’s side and younger than I ”. of course, the translator might simply establish these facts about the character the first time she appears and thereafter translate the word as “cousin”, but that would ignore the significance in Chinese culture of the repetition of these obligatory categories.

The Russian/English and Chinese/English examples illustrate the basic problem in any translation. No matter how skilled translators are, they cannot take the language our of the speech community that uses it.

Translation obviously is not a simple two-day street between two language. Rather, it is a busy intersection at which at least five thoroughfares meet------the two languages with all of their peculiar characteristics, the cultures of the two speech communities, and the speech situation in which the statement was uttered.

The English language has a very large vocabulary because it has incorporated words from many other languages over the centuries. This is nowhere more apparent than in its color words. For example, there are many words that express the color “purple”, describing its different shades and hues: mauve, violet, lilac, or lavender. An interesting linguistic gender difference among native speakers of English is the likelihood of women using these color terms to differentiate between shades of purple, whereas, men will be satisfied with the one word “purple”. This is true of other color words too. Words like “beige”, “ecru”, “aquamarine”, “off-white”, etc. are quite common in a woman’s active vocabulary but absent from that of most men. Similar sorts of differences exist elsewhere in the English vocabulary. There is, for instance, a group of adjectives which have, besides their specific and literal meanings, another use of indicating the speaker’s approval or admiration for something. Some of these adjectives are neutral as to the sex of the speaker: either men or women tend to use them. But another set seems, in its figurative use, largely confined to women’s speech.

Thus, when learning a language, we sometimes need to pay attention to which sex uses which words, particularly when we reach an advanced stage where we are adding many new words to our vocabulary and want to use them accurately. We also need to pay attention to some of the multiple meanings that words have, as well as to their connotations.

Part One Preparation

I.Saying Things Sincerely or Sarcastically (10)

The students divide themselves into several groups, choose a group leader, then they each say one sentence about another. The rest of them will judge if the sentence was made sincerely or sarcastically.

The sentence may be about any aspects: appearance, interest, opinions, life, etc.

II.Telephone Chains. (15)

The class will be divided into many groups. The first student of each group will be given a massage by the teacher. The message should be whispered from one person to the next. The last person should repeat the message loud. The group that gets the message through with the least changes wins.

samples:

1)John’s mother bought him a lovely cat.

2)There are thirty boys and twenty-two girls in our class.

3)I cannot understand why you get so angry with me.

4)I was talking to a girl I just met several days ago.

III. Enjoy a joke. (10)

Read the following joke and discuss in groups what made you laugh and what caused the problem in communication in the joke.

A city man had a new car and decided to try it out by driving in the country. He was so happy with his car that he didn’t notice where he was going, and he soon became lost.

He stopped when he saw a farm boy walking along the road, and he said, “Hello, boy.”

The boy replied, “Hello yourself,” and scratched his head.

The man asked, “Where does this road go?”

Th e boy answered, “It doesn’t go anywhere. It’s always been right here.”

The man then answered, “Don’t know, I’ve never measured it.”

The man was disgusted and said angrily, “You don’t know anything, and you’re the biggest fool I’ve ever met.”

The boy replie d, “I know I don’t know much, and I may be a fool, but at least I’m not lost.”

In this joke, the problem is that the boy always took what the man said literally. In fact, when the man asked “Where does this road go?”, he expected that the boy would tell h im that the road went to a certain place. But instead, the boy didn’t catch what the man meant and his answer seemed irrelevant. The same thing happened with the question “How far is it to the next town?”. Therefore, the reader may think the boy is stupid. But surprisingly, the boy’s last remark was very clever: “I know I don’t know much, and I may be a fool, but at least I’m not lost.” This made the man seem stupid.

Part Two Reading-Centered Activities

Pre-Reading (30 MIN)

Discuss the following questions with your partner.

1)Do you agree that men and women seldom mean the same things even when they use the same words?

Are there any examples in your daily life that may support your point of view?

---Yes, I agree. Male students are more direct, and female speakers are more indirect or tactful. For instance, if a man says “You don’t look good in that dress”, he means what he says. In contrast, a woman might say “That’s an interesting dress you’re wearing”, when she actually means she doesn’t like the dress. She is trying to be tactful.

----Usually, when people say something, they try to make themselves understood by expressing the literal meaning. But on some occasions, the same words can have different meanings. For example, when a woman falls in love, her words to her lover may imply something special. What she says that she feels cold, she might actually man that it’s time for the man to move closer to her. In that case, it is an invitation to the man to hold her hands, or to put his arms around her.

2)Besides the gender difference, are there any other differences that may cause people to speak

differently?

---I think, besides gender differences, differences in social position, education background, culture, occupation and age may also cause problems in understanding each other.

---In my opinion, those who speak the same language may express themselves differently because they have different personalities, likes and dislikes, or value systems. All these work together to lead to different personal styles or ways of communication.

Passage reading (20MIN)

This passage is taken from the very popular book, Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, by John Gray. In this passage, Dr. Gray explains the source of miscommunication between men and women.

The main idea of the whole text should be discovered by the students by scanning the text and finishing the exercise 1 in the reading comprehension part on page 45.

I.New words and phrases in the passage.

1. encounter(l.1): v. 1) experience something, especially problems or opposition

Eg. I）We encountered serious problems when two members of the expedition were injured.

II）The more dangers we encounter, the harder we should push forward.

III) The young scientists encountered many difficulties during their exploration.

3)meet, especially unexpectedly; come upon

eg. I) Yesterday, I encountered an old friend on the street.

II) I first encountered him when studying at Cambridge.

n. a meeting, especially one that is unplanned, unexpected, or brief

eg.I) She didn’t remember our encou nter last summer.

II) A bus ride from New York to Miami brings encounters with all kinds of people.

2. mis-(l.13) prefix

1) bad or badly

Eg. Misfortune (bad luck)/misbehave (behave badly)

2) wrong or wrongly

misinterpret, misunderstand, mislead, misguide.

3) show an opposite or the lack of something eg. mistrust

3. emerge (l.4) v.

1) appear or come out from somewhere

Eg. I) The sun emerged from behind the clouds.

II) The ship emerged from behind the fog.

2) If facts emerge, they become unknown after being hidden or secret

Eg. I) Eventually, the truth emerged.

II) Later it emerged that the boss had been employing an illegal immigrant.

4. means (l.43)/mean (l.18)

Means: n. a method, system, object, etc. that you use as a way of achieving a result

Eg. I) Are there any means of getting there?

II) The quickest means of travel is by plane.

Some other words are similar, such as “way”, “method” etc.

Eg. I) Some like the older ways of doing things.

II) Our teacher is showing us a new method of writing.

Mean: v.

1)intend a particular meaning when you say something

eg. I) I meant you’d better be careful.

II) So what he means is that we’ll have to start the whole thing again.

2)Have or represent a particular meaning

eg. I) the red light means “Stop”.

II) “What does ‘Konbanwa’ mean in English?” “It means ‘good evening’.”

3)Intend to so something or intend that someone else should do something

Eg. I) I didn’t mean to interrupt your work.

II) I never meant him to watch all those TV programs.

5. tend (l.23)/ intend(ll.25-26)

Tend: v. (to) have a tendency or disposition to do or be something; be inclined

Eg. I) The machine does tend to overheat.

II)She tends to be nervous before her lectures.

Intend: v. have in mind; plan

Eg. I) Today, I intend to finish reading this book.

II) We intend this news report as teaching material for freshmen.

6. as if (l.22)/ as though (l.50)

1) in a way that suggests that something is true or not true.

Eg. I) You look as if you’ve had a good time.

II) It so unds as though she’s been really ill.

III) Many felt as if they were all ganging up on her.

2) used to suggest a possible explanation for something although you do not think that this is the actual explanation

Eg. I) That news reporter always sounds a s if he’s caught a cold.

II) You make it sound as if you have to go without water for days on end.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/573540841.html,nguage points

1)Everyone knew that people from Mars and people from Venus spoke different languages, so when there

was a conflict they didn’t start jud ging or fighting but instead pulled out their phrase dictionaries to

understand each other more fully. (para 2)

Here “judge” means “form an opinion about someone, especially in an unfair or criticizing way.”

Eg. He just accepts people for what they are and he doesn’t judge them.

2)If that didn’t work they went to a translator for help. (para.2)

Here, “work” is an intransitive verb meaning “be effective or successful”.

Eg. How long does a sleeping pill take to work?

3)You see, the Martian and Venusian languages had the same words but different meanings depending on

the way they were used. (para 3)

The word “see” means “understand” or “realize” and the expression “you see” is used when the speaker is explaining something.

Eg. Well, you see, that is what I want to say.

4)For example, when a woman says, “I feel like you never listen,” she does not expect the word “never” to

be taken literally. (para 4)

The word “take” means “consider, understand”

Eg I take from what you say that you don’t feel well today.

5)Because they misunderstand the intended meaning, they commonly react in an unsupportive manner.

(para 5) “intended meaning” 想要表达的意思

6)“I want to forget everything.” (para 5)

Here，“forget” means “deliberately put something out of one’s mind and do not think about it any more.”

7)“I want more romance.” (para 5)

“romance” here means “love or a feeling of being in love.

Eg. The romance had gone out of their relationship.’

8)You can see how a “literal” translation of a woman’s words could easily mislead a man who is used to

using speech as a means of conveying only facts and information. (para 6) “means” 单复数同形，谓语动词应该根据句子的具体含义选择适当的形式。

9)The number one complaint women have in relationships is: “I don’t feel heard.” (para 6)

Eg：Our means is still to be tried.

Is there any means of contacting him?

All means have been used to get him to change his mind.

10)A correct translation of a woman saying “I don’t feel heard” is……(para 8)

“heard” 是过去分词，“I don’t feel heard” 意思是：我觉得没人听见我说的话。

11)At such times, it is important to rethink or translate what they have heard. (para 9)

Here，“translate”doesn’t mean “change/the change of …into another language”, but means “explain/explanation.”

Post-Reading

Reading Comprehension

1.Understanding the main idea of the passage.

2.Understanding specific information

3.Misunderstanding between men and women

4.V ocabulary

5.Translation

1)I went to a dentist yesterday to have a bad tooth pulled out.

2)The development of things depends fundamentally on internal causes.

3)All roads lead to Rome.

4)I meant to give you that book today, but I forgot to bring it with me.

5)I was on the verge of accepting his advice.

6)Divorce is not a matter you can afford to take lightly.

After-class Reading

1.Five New Words at a Time

2.Misunderstandings

3.

Part Three Further Development

I.Clearing Up a Misunderstanding

What caused the communication problem between John and Laura?

Sample

The problem was caused because here are differences in communication between masculine and feminine cultures. John understood Laura according to the rules of the masculine culture. Women give a lot of responses to show their interest and involvement in a conversation because relationships and using communication to build them are very important to them. Masculine culture, on the other hand, focuses on outcomes more than processes. Thus, men tend to use feedback to show agreement and disagreement. When John heard Laura’s “ums”, “un huhs”, and “yeses”, he thought that she was agreeing with him. However, according to the feminine culture, she was only showing interest and being responsive to him. She was not signaling agreement.

II.How to Avoid Misunderstandings

Samples

---speak clearly, especially on the phone.

---Ask the other person to repeat what you have said, especially important facts and details such as where, when, who.

---Write clearly and exactly.

---If you are not sure about what the other person has said, do not hesitate to ask. Do not pretend to know or understand. Don’t guess. Questions to avoid or clear up understandings are welcome because nobody wants to be misunderstood.

---Do not make too many inferences. Sometimes trying to guess the implied meaning will cause trouble.

---Try to make out the intended meaning of what one has said, not just the literal meaning, especially when you are talking to a person of the opposite sex. Remember that men are usually more factual while women may be more emotional.

---Pay attention to similar-sounding words or words which are pronounced the same but spelled differently in conversation. When you say any words of the kind, make sure your listeners hear the word you actually said or meant. If you’re a listener, try to make sure what you heard is really what the speaker had said.

Part Four Writing and Translation

1)Misunderstandings are very common in our daily lives.

They will cause problems and unnecessary trouble: ruin friendships, bring misery.

2)There are many ways to avoid misunderstandings.

A.Do not use words that may have double meanings.

B.Express ideas and pronounce words clearly.

C.Emphasize the main points.

D.Don’t pretend to understand when you don’t.

E.Ask for clarification when not clear about the meaning.

F.Be aware of the gender differences in communication.

3)Many misunderstandings can be avoided if we are careful enough. Life without misunderstandings will

be better and happier.

Writing : Sample

How to Avoid Misunderstandings

Misunderstandings are very common in our daily lives. Even though not all misunderstandings are very serious, they still cause problems and unnecessary trouble. Sometimes, they can even ruin good relationships or friendships. This will undoubtedly bring misery.

There are many ways to avoid misunderstandings. First, we should not use words that may have more than one meaning. We should express our ideas clearly and also pronounce words clearly, such as seventeen and seventy. Second, as listeners, when we are not quite clear about what we have heard, we should not hesitate to ask for clarification. We shouldn’t pretend to know or understand if we don’t. Third, we shouldn’t always take it literally when we hear a state ment. For example, if a woman says “You never clean the house” to her husband, he should not argue that the day before yesterday he cleaned the house. Instead, he should take it as a signal that either she is tired or she is bored with the housework.

Of course, there are many other ways to avoid misunderstandings. If we can avoid misunderstandings, we can have a better and happier life.

View Listen & Speak Unit 1 BOOK 2 ( Listening Lab)

Ss are supposed to finish as much as the activities in the book. Make sure that the effectiveness of Ss’participation.