A Couch Potato

Teaching aims

Students will be able to comprehend the passage and list the main character’s daily activity using timeline.

Students can be able to master the pronunciation, spelling, meaning and usage of the three underlined words.

Students will be able to use the words in their daily communications.

Students will be able to cultivate the awareness of having a healthy lifestyle.

Key and difficult points

Key point

To understand the passage and master the underlined words.

Difficult point

To apply the words in daily use accurately and learn to improve their lifestyle.

Teaching procedures

Step 1: Warming-up

1. Greetings.

2. Have students describe what their perfect day will be like and what they will do. Invite some volunteers to share their perfect days. Have others decide whether the lifestyles are healthy. Tell students Brian is telling us about his perfect day as a couch potato. Lead into the topic and ask them to guess what a couch potato is according to the context.

Step 2: Presentation

1. Have students read the article quickly and share their understanding of couch potato (a person who takes little exercise and watches a lot of television).

2. Read the passage again and complete the timeline on the screen in 5mins. Check the answers together.

3. Have students guess the meaning of the three underlined words. The teacher makes a summary and adds more information about these words.

a. “Immediate” means at once or soon, and its adverb is “immediately”.

b. “downstairs” means to the floor lower than the one you are on, and its antonym is “upstairs”.

c. “Living room” means a room in a house where people sit together and watch television. Besides, in dining room, people have meals, and in bathroom, people take a shower.

Step 3: Practice

Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in the box. Encourage students to share their answers and have other students to review them.

1. Our troops immediately returned the fire.

2. Wait downstairs in the hall.

3. You have my room and I'll bed down in the living room.

4. He carried the plate through to the dining room.

5. Our immediate concern is to help the families of those who died.

Step 4: Production

Tell students that Brian is determined to a have healthy lifestyle, and invite them to design a timetable for him. 5 minutes are given for discussion. They are encouraged to use the vocabulary learned as much as possible. Then invite some groups to share.

Step 5: Summary and Homework

Summary: wrap up today’s lesson and remind them to exercise regularly, eat healthily, reduce stress and drink plenty of water.

Homework: ask students to observe their mother’s or father’s lifestyles. Describe them to group members next class and share their opinions on how to improve them.

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