The clever woman

By Li Hua

Ⅰ.Content analysis

What: The Clever Woman是一篇幽默轻松，内涵丰富的故事，主要讲述了主人公mr murphy辛苦工作一天之后，身心疲惫，期待着回到家享受家的宁静与温馨。但事与愿违，嘈杂的环境让他备受困扰。在朋友的推荐下，Mr Murphy向聪明的妇人Linda寻求帮助。Linda建议他将鸡、鹅和羊分别带进家里，然而家中嘈杂更甚。此时Linda又建议他把所有的动物带离家里，终于家庭恢复原样，Mr Murphy却感受到了家的宁静。

Why: 这是一个非常贴近学生现实生活的文本，学生在成长过程中不可避免地会遇到各种问题，各种烦恼。只有坦然接受，想办法解决，换个角度思考问题，拥有一颗平和宽容的心态，才能发现生活中的美。

How: 本文按照事情的发展顺序，讲述了Mr Murphy试图通过聪明的妇人Linda的帮助，改变家庭嘈杂氛围的现状而做的种种努力。从最初的不堪其扰到最后的豁然开朗，从最初的生气郁闷到最后的平和心态。从中让学生得到启示:如果我们不能改变环境，就改变自我。对温馨家庭的概念也有了更新的认识：爱，包容，帮助......。阅读这个故事，犹如一次人生的历练，是自我意识的觉醒和成长，对初二学生来说是一次思想的洗礼。

Ⅱ.Teaching objectives

By the end of the lesson, students are expected to be able to

1.know the main idea of the story by analyzing the plots.

2.understand the characters’ personalities by analyzing the description.

3.realize the importance of developing an active attitude to life.

4. master some strategies and reading skills and appreciate the beauty of novel language .

Ⅲ. Teaching procedures

Step1:Lead-in

1.Magic eyes

2.Free talk: Are you happy ?I'm very unhappy. After a hard day's work,I want to relax,but my two daughters make a lot of noise,so I can't relax myself.Can you give me some advice?

Step2:Pre-reading

1. Task One--Preview checking about characters.

Who is the clever woman? Is she the main character in the story?

How many characters are there?

Step3:While-reading

1. Task Two-- Read the plot

1)Introduce the story mountain.

2)Skim the text and divide the story into five parts.

3)Infer something from the pictures in the book and ask some questions?

a. Ask Ss to read the rising action and discuss the question in pairs .

How many times does Murphy ask Linda for help?

What advice does Linda McCormack give to Mr Murphy at a time?

What happened after each visit?

b. Ask Ss to read the climax and talked about the fourth visit.

2. Make a summary according to the story mountain.

Step4:Post-reading

1. Task Three--Read the theme

Why does the writer use “seems” here?

Is the house really quiet?

What has changed?

Step5:Further thinking

What else can you learn from the book?

Step6:Homework

A. Individual work : write a reading response of the story.

B. Group work: act out the story vividlly.