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中小学教育资源及组卷应用平台
人民教育出版社 八年级上册
Unit 4 Amazing Plants and Animals
Section B 3a-3c
Content analysis
This expository passage centers on blue whales. It introduces their basic biological features and ecological value, including their identity as the largest and heaviest animal on Earth, maximum weight of 200 tons, living habitats across all oceans except the Arctic Ocean, diet of tiny sea animals with a daily food intake of four tons, and a lifespan of up to 90 years. The text also highlights their vital ecological function: dead blue whales provide nutrition for marine organisms and sustain the balance and vitality of ocean ecosystems.
This passage aims to help students acquire factual knowledge about blue whales and recognize their unique characteristics and irreplaceable ecological status. It raises students’ awareness of marine creature protection, fosters their sense of responsibility for ocean conservation, and realizes the integration of language learning and ecological literacy education.
This well structured expository text adopts a clear logical order. It begins with a general introduction to blue whales, then elaborates on their weight, habitat, diet, lifespan and ecological significance one by one. The text uses descriptive adjectives such as largest and heaviest, as well as subject-specific vocabulary related to marine ecology. It employs simple sentences for clear factual explanation and complex sentences to present logical relationships. Meanwhile, it uses expressions like up to and as much as to accurately describe numerical ranges, enabling precise and scientific information expression.
Learning Objectives
By the end of this section, students will be able to:
1. extract key facts about blue whales concerning physical features, habitat, diet, lifespan and ecological roles, and organize them systematically;
2. rewrite the text into a first person self introduction for a blue whale with accurate scientific information;
3. recognize blue whales’ value in marine ecosystems and raise awareness of marine conservation.
Focal and Difficult Points
Focal Points
1. Extract and sort key information about blue whales’ features, living habits and ecological functions.
2. Rewrite the text into an accurate and natural first-person self-introduction of a blue whale.
3. Understand blue whales’ ecological significance and build awareness of marine conservation.
Difficult Points
1. Ensure scientific accuracy and natural language when converting from third-person to first-person narration.
2. Deeply comprehend and convey blue whales’ contribution to the marine ecosystem for better protection awareness.
Procedures
Teaching Activities Learning Activities Purposes
STEP 1 Lead-in Play a short, lively animation clip in which a “talking blue whale” introduces itself in a playful tone. Raise guiding questions: Guess which animal is the largest on Earth Have you ever imagined what a blue whale’s daily life is like STEP 2 In-class Exploration 1. Divide students into groups and hand out the detective worksheet (the table in 3a). Read the text aloud with proper expression. Walk around to offer guidance, and award small stickers to active groups. Ask students to hunt for information as detectives. 2. Use the funny “blue whale voice changer” hat as a prop to demonstrate first person rewriting skills for Task 3b. Instruct students to imagine themselves as blue whales and finish their self introduction writing. STEP 3 Post-class Extension 1. Present the colorful marine ecosystem poster and explain blue whales’ roles within it. Organize the “marine protection ambassador” activity and require students to prepare a short speech on protecting blue whales. 2. Assign the completion of exercise 3c. Encourage students to add extra interesting details about blue whales from books or online resources. STEP 4 Homework Must do My Blue Whale Diary Write a 5 sentence diary entry from a blue whale’s perspective. Include at least 3 class learned facts (size, food, habitat, etc.) plus one imaginative detail about its daily life. Choose to do 1. Blue Whale Fun Facts Find one new fun fact about blue whales not covered in class and get ready to share it in the next lesson. 2. Protect Blue Whales Poster Design a simple poster featuring a blue whale drawing and a short slogan to show why blue whale protection matters. Watch the animation clip, respond actively to the questions and share prior thoughts about blue whales. Work in groups, read through the text, discuss and complete the detective worksheet. Take part in the detective themed information hunting task. Step into the role of blue whales and finish vivid first person self introduction writing. Some volunteers present their self introductions in front of the class. Discuss actively, prepare short speeches and take part in the selection for “marine protection plete the passage exercise. Add self collected interesting facts or draw blue whale pictures to enrich the work. To spark students’ interest in blue whales, activate their prior knowledge and prepare them for text learning. To engage students in extracting and sorting key text information through cooperative detective tasks, improving their reading and teamwork skills. To help students master first-person text rewriting through situational role-play, enhancing their creative language output ability. To help students understand blue whales’ ecological value and foster marine protection awareness. To consolidate text learning and enrich students’ knowledge of blue whales. To consolidate core knowledge about blue whales and improve students’ creative writing and first-person expression skills. To expand students’ knowledge and develop their autonomous learning skills. To deepen students’ marine protection awareness and integrate language output with artistic expression.
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