Contemporary College English

1. Contemporary College English Intensive Reading I Demo Session

2. What is Intensive Reading? • Intensive reading is comprehensive but not all embracing • Intensive reading is training of all basic language skills thorough, systematic, sustained, all-around training listening, reading, speaking, writing, translating skills • Intensive reading training develops through different stages, each stage with its own emphasis • Intensive reading is not evaluated by the course alone; its assessment has to be done in relation to the overall development of all the basic skills in all the courses from Prof. Yang Liming’s Speech Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

3. Objectives of First-year Intensive Reading At a macro level • To help students transfer from secondary level EFL learning to tertiary level • To help students become conscious of the discrepancy between language knowledge and language use • To help students develop their ability of using what they have learned in middle school through classroom teaching and all kinds of language activities organization of learning in terms of materials, requirements, class performance, assessment, teacher’s role, and their own role – how these elements could be different now Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

4. Objectives of First-year Intensive Reading • To introduce students to some new language phenomena • To help students become aware of socio-cultural issues in the learning of language • To help students appreciate language from the stylistic perspective Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

5. Objectives for First-year Intensive Reading At a micro level • To help enlarge students’ vocabulary • To help students both clarify and consolidate grammar knowledge, particularly in terms of use • To help students further develop basic reading skills • To help students learn to retell and summarize • To help students realize the importance of critical thinking in language learning Students are expected to learn about 2,000 new words in the first year - collocations, phrases, verb patterns, word-formation, synonyms, acronyms, etc. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

6. Half a Day Naguib Mahfouz

7. 1 2 3 4 Warm up & Preview Background Text Analysis Discussion & Revision Half a Day Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

8. Warm up First day of school … Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

9. Warm Up First day of school … In 1957, fifteen-year-old Dorothy Geraldine Counts and three other students became the first African American students to attend the previously all white Harding High School in Charlotte, North Carolina. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

10. Warm Up First day of school … Stanford Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

11. Warm-up • Do you still remember your first day at school? Try to recollect it and share it with your partner. • How did you feel the first day your arrived at university? Did you feel like a stranger? Did you find the university just as you had imagined? In what way was it different? • What are your expectations of university? What kind of changes do you think it will bring upon your life? Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

12. Preview Reading Thinking Listening Style General idea Pronunciation and spelling Main idea Structure and logic Questions on the texts Language and grammar Theme Concepts Questions for discussion Preview Worksheet Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

13. Naguib Mahfouz • Born in 1911, educated at Cairo University • Wrote short stories and historical novels before WWII • Turned to write novels of social realism after WWII • Later works combined realism & symbolism • A prolific writer: no fewer than 30 novels, more than 100 short stories, and more than200 articles. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

14. His Works The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street(first published 1957) The Time and Place and Other Stories, 1991 Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

15. His Influence … through works rich in nuance - now clear-sightedly realistic, now evocatively ambiguous - has formed an Arabian narrative art that applies to all mankind • The first Arab Writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature – 1988, The Cairo Trilogy • Depicts realistically the social and political life in Egypt • His classical and lucid style rejuvenated literary Arabic without recourse to colloquialisms "a Dickens of the Cairo cafés" and "the Balzac of Egypt". Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

16. Lesson 1 – Half a Day A Short Story Plot: a little boy’s first time to go to school Setting: on the way to school at school on the way home Protagonist/Narrator: “I” –the boy in the story Theme of the story: what do you think? Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

17. Text Structure 1 2 3 Para. 17-20 At the end of school day: Everything has changed! Para. 1-7 The boy’s reluctance to go to school His misgivings about school Para. 8-16 The Boy’s life at school: Rich and colorful Requiring discipline and hard work Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

18. Detailed Analysis Para. 1-7

19. Main Ideas • How did the boy feel about going to school? Find textual evidence. • Why was he feeling so? • List the father’s comments about school. What do you think of them? School is a place that makes useful men out of boys. Don’t you want to be useful like your brothers? Put a smile on your face and be a good example to others. Be a man. Today you truly begin life. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

20. Language and Details Sentence Pattern Words Phrases Grammar throw into make out of tear from cling to clutch convince The day + that clause There is no/any good in doing I was to be thrown into clutching his right hand street lined with gardens Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

21. Language and Details clutch hold tightly, usu. in fear, anxiety, or pain • Silent and pale, the girlclutched (to/onto) her mother’s chest. 这个苍白安静的小女孩紧紧地靠在母亲胸前 • A drowning man will clutch at a straw. 他紧紧地抓着钱，匆忙走向银行 • Clutching the money in his hand, he hurried to the bank. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

22. Language and Details Lesson 1 – Half a Day • Sentence Paraphrase 2 • They did not make me happy, however, as this was the day I was to be thrown into school for the first time. “As” introduces an adverbial clause of reason. Noun phrase usu. followed by a relative clause is used as an adverbial of time. Be to do sth: future tense indicating intention or plan But my new clothes did not bring any happiness to me, because it was the day I was forced to go to school for the first time. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

23. Language and Details More examples: • 我出生在中国开始改革开放的那一年。 I was born in the year China began its open and reform policy. • 救护车到的时候，已经太晚了。 By the time the ambulance arrived, it was too late. • The moment I saw him, I recognized he was the criminal wanted by the police. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

24. Language and Details Lesson 1 – Half a Day “Why school?” I asked my father. “What have I done?” rhetorical question elliptical question Why do I have to go to school? I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong to be punished like this. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

25. Detailed Analysis Para. 8-16

26. Main Ideas • What happened the first day at school? • How did the boy like school life? • Can you describe the different stages of his day at school? Do these changes carry any symbolic meaning to you? • How do you understand “there are fathers and mothers here” (para. 12) and “I made many friends and fell in love with many girls” (para. 13)? Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

27. Main Idea But … Rivalries Pain Hatred Punishment Exertion Perseverance Then … Joyful Enjoyable Beneficial Socializing Learning Friendship Love Sweet Unclouded At first … Reluctant Frightened A stranger Imprisoned Confused At a loss Overwhelmed Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

28. Main Idea Life is like a day in school. Compromise Enlightenment Growth Half a Day Adaptation Orientation Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

29. Living beings were drawn to other living beings, and from the first moments my heart made friends with such boys as were to be my friends and fell in love with such girls as I was to be in love with, so that it seemed my misgivings had had no basis. Translated by Denys Johnson-Davies Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

30. Language and Details Sentence Pattern Words Phrases Grammar come into view burst into a matter of fool around bring about give rise to resort to take advantage of misgiving perseverance There was no question of doing Nothing but I had never imagined school would have … She would often yell and scold Part III Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

31. Language and Details • I had never imagined school would have this variety of experiences. (para. 13) possibility • And while the lady would smile, she would often yell and scold. (para. 15) frequent actions in the past • I would find the answer at home with my father. (para. 18) past future tense • … but the stream of cars would not let up. (para. 18) willingness Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

32. Language and Details • Safety precautions are observed asa matter of course. a matter of course: sth done as a routine, nothing special • It is not a matter of life and death to have failed the exam. a matter of life and death: a very serious matter • It is a matter of record that Paris is a romantic city. a matter of record: sth generally believed to be true Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

33. Language and Details Fill in the blanks: How can we _________ a change in attitudes? A huge amount of environmental damage has been ___________ by the destruction of the rainforests. His speech _____________a bitter argument. The President's absence has _____________ speculation about his health. bring about brought about Make sth. happen gave rise to given rise to fml to be thereason that sth. happened, esp. sth. Bad and unpleasant Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

34. Detailed Analysis Para. 17-20

35. Main Idea • What did “I” see when he stepped out of school? Summarize the changes. • How did he feel? • Why did he stand still? • How do you understand the unexpectedness of the changes? • Why do you think the boy was suddenly a “grandpa”? Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

36. Main Idea Allegorical Time LIFE TIME Mnemonic time Half a day Observable Time Childhood adulthood old age Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

37. Language and Details Grammar Phrases Words in vain on my own come to a halt find one’s way to take over show off let up Here and there stood conjurers … … with clowns and weight lifters walking in front trace invade daze Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

38. Language and Details Lesson 1 – Half a Day 9.trace (n) a. a small sign that shows that sb. or sth. was present or existed b. very small amount a It vanished/disappeared/without trace.  Petra’s lost all trace of her German accent.  Age has left its traces on his face.  There are traces of poison in the man’s blood.  A mere trace of smile passed over her face. a a b b Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

39. Language and Details Lesson 1 – Half a Day Then there was a band announcing the opening of a circus, with clowns and weight lifters walking in front. “With+n.+doing” construction is used adverbially modifying “announcing”. • 1. He stood there with a stick in his hand. • (with + n. + prep.) • 2.Paul soon fell asleep with the light still burning. • (with + n. + participle) • 3.She can’t go out with all these dishes to wash. • (with + n. + to do) • 4.He was lying on the bed with all his clothes on. • (with + n. + adv.) Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

40. Discussion Work in groups of four: • Pick out sentences in the text that impress you most and share them with your group-mates. • Discuss the possible themes of the text. • If the narrator goes home at last, what do you think will happen? Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

41. Language Style Lesson 1 – Half a Day echoing the style of the text (The story is told as a reflection. Thinking is sometimes disconnected.) 1. the effect of a boy’s thoughts/thinking the abundant use of short and simple sentences to achieve 2. the effect of rapid change of things and a feeling of confusion echoing the theme of the text Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

42. Possible Themes Change There is nothing permanent in life but change. Allegory a day at school stands for a whole life Coming-of-age transition from childhood to adulthood Father & son the son makes the father’s life his own Others… Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

43. Oral Presentation: Retelling Choose one topic • Imagine your are the narrator in “Half a Day” and describe the day you began school. • Imagine you are a classmate of the narrator in “Half a Day” and describe your first day at school. Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

44. Quiz • Spelling 30 words from the texts • Dictation an unseen passage related to the topic • Sentence completion testing students’ mastery of the language and grammar points Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

45. Quiz: Spelling balcony beneficial circus conjurer convince curiosity exertion halt intricate irritated misgiving observant opportunity paradise perseverance revolve rivalry startled announce invade extremely unclouded uniform vain variety Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

46. Quiz: Dictation 1 Time is important. Everybody has 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Once a day in your life is gone, it will never come back. If you love life, you should not waste time. Time is difficult to control and easy to waste. If you don’t control it, it will control you. If you don’t make it work for you, it will work against you. So you must become the master of time, not its servant, if you seriously wish to get the most out of college. The best way to use your time is to plan it well. (100 words) Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

47. Quiz: Sentence Completion make out of 1. They’ll (把他培养才成一个最优秀的医生). 2. We had better ____（趁着天气比较暖和） by going for a walk this afternoon. 3．To resolve the dispute, they decided to (诉诸法律). 4. There are（种类繁多的食品）in China. 5．It’s not only （时间的问题）. I hope you should be more serious. take advantage of a variety of a matter of Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

48. Quiz: Sentence Completion give rise to 6. Many people think that _______________ (贫穷导致了犯罪的增加)。 7. Many Chinese people will mark in their memory ____________________ (北京赢得2008年奥运会主办权的那一天)。 8. While most villagers left their farm, the old couple stayed, _______________________ (坚信总有一天他们的孩子会回来的。) the day (that) clinging to the hope that Zhaohui Li @ BFSU

49. Thank You !