Unit 13 The Mystery of the Moonstone
Teaching aims:
1. Goals:
Talk about the mystery
Read a detective story
Practise giving advice
Integrative language practice
Write an informal or a formal letter
2. Special focus:
Improve reading skills and Enlarge vocabulary.
a. Direct Ss to read the 3 passages on the text book;
b. Guide Ss to learn to use the following words and expressions: garment, stain, loss, splendid, assist, vital, tension, suspect, reception, astonish, elegant, prescription, religious, enquiry, suspicion, guilty, roundabout, innocent, assume, etc.
c. Improve the abilities of using language by integrative language practice.
Period 1 Reading
The Moonstone (P112-113)
Step 1. Warming up
Task 1. Enable the students to discuss the questions on p111.
Step 2. Scanning
Task 2. Get the students to comprehend the passage quickly and accurately, and meanwhile help them to form a good habit of reading. Try to find out the main clue of the story.
Step 3. While-reading: Passage Analyzing:
Analyse the structure of the passage:
Part 1 ---- Paragraph 1 : How Rachel gets the Moonstone as her present.
Part 2 ---- Paragraph 2: Rachel’s happy life before her eighteenth birthday party.
Part 3 ---- Para 3-4: What happens at the party.
Part 4 ---- Para 5: the Moonstone is missing and Sergeant Cuff is asked to investigate the case.
Part 5 ---- Paras 6-9: how Sergeant Cuff analyse the case
Part 6 ---- the last paragraph: Sergeant Cuff finds a vital clue of the theft ---- a smear in the wet paint on the door.
Step 4. Post-reading
Exercise 3 on p113
Suspects Reasons for suspicion
The Indians They are not real entertainers but the followers of the moon god. They came to the party only for an opportunity to take the Moonstone back to India.
Dr Candy He stole the diamond in revenge for loss of the diamond at the party.
Godfrey He took the diamond in revenge for Rachel’s refusal when he asked her to marry him or only for a large amount of money.
Rosanna She stole the diamond only either from force of habit or to cause a disagreement between Franklin and Rachel.
Franklin It seems as if he was too enthusiastic to help Mr Cuff to detect the case.
Rachel She was so stubborn in resisting Sergeant Cuff’s enquiries about the diamond. There must be a secret about the Moonstone.
Task 3: What are the main clue of the story?
The detective story develops completely following the structure: the appearance of the Moonstone (receiving from Rachel’s uncle) ---- the loss of the Moonstone ---- the investigation of the Moonstone (and the person who might have stolen it )---- discovery of the truths or facts.
Step 5 Homework
Finish all the exercises on Language Practice on p114-115.
Period 2. Integrating Reading Skills
Solving the Mystery of the Moonstone (P115-117)
Step 1. Revision
1. Check the Ss how further they understand the 1st part of the story.
2. Check the homework.
Step 2. Scan the passage and make out how the story develops:
Part 1---- Paras 1-2: how puzzled Sergeant Cuff was at the case before he knew the truth.
Part 2---- Paras3-7: the things that happened after the diamond had been stolen.
Part 3----Paras 8-9: the result of the case: Sergeant Cuff discovered the thief.
Part 4----: the feeling and thoughts Sergeant Cuff has about the case.
Step 3.Extensive reading:
Period 3. Integrating Reading and Writing Skills
3 Passages on p 243-246
Step 1. Warmming-up
Do the oral pratice on p111, and enable the students to practise giving advice.
Step 2. Reading
Task 2: Read the 3 passages and finish the exercises. If possible, guide the students to analyze some long and complex sentences.
Step 3. Guided Writing
Give Ss 20 minutes to finish the writing assignment on p117,
Then ask Ss to score their work according to the following chart.
3 pluses & 1 wish
Name _______ Title _____________________ Date _______________
+ _________________________________________________________
+ _________________________________________________________
+ _________________________________________________________
? _________________________________________________________
Note: How to use this chart effectively?
Ask the student to read his/her deskmate’s writing carefully, and then find 3 valuable things (structure, passage arrangement, sentence, diction, etc) and give 1 suggestion. And then feed the message back. Next, ask the Ss to correct their work according to the chart.
Period 4:
Step 1. Analyze some long sentences:
Deal with some language points and difficult points if necessary. If possible, guide the students to analyze some long and complex sentences. The following sentences in this unit are very important:
When he died he left the Moonstone to his sister’s daughter, in an act of revenge, passing his bad fortune to her.
His move to quit smoking cigars to please her is seen by the servants as evidence that he is in love with Rachel.
Is it coincidence or is it the Moonstone’s bad luck that causes the tension and strange things that happen during the rest of the evenings?
Franklin’s reply that doctors just guess which drug they should recommend, makes Dr Candy extremely angry.
The detective believes that she may have taken the diamond either from force of habit or to cause a disagreement between Rachel and Franklin.
Rachel is stubborn in resisting his enquiries about the Moonstone to the degree that she makes it seem as if she does not want the mystery to be solved.
I was convinced that she had taken her own diamond, and that Rosanna had assisted her.
Step 2: Testing your skills on P242
Step 3: Cloze Test on p246-247
Step 4: Translating on P 247
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