Unit 13 The Properties of Water

Teaching goals:
1.Talk about water and the ocean
2.Practice communicative skills
3.Review Modal Verbs
4.Write an explanation paragraph

Teaching Plan: (Six Periods)
1st period: Warming-up and Reading (1)
2nd period: Reading (2)
3rd period: post-reading and Listening (SB)
4th period: Integrating Skills (SB)
5th period: Speaking
6th period: Grammar and Language Study







Period 1 Warming up & Reading (I)
Teaching goals:
1.To get the Ss to understand the main properties of water by connecting them with some common phenomena and learning to explain the phenomena.
2.To enable them to be aware of the importance of water, making good use of water in a proper way and protecting water resources.
Important points in teaching:
Words: benefit, available, pure, mass, float, absorb, release, stable, bottom, habitat,
dissolve, property.
Phrases: benefit from, range from… to …., all the way, be made up of, that is,
freezing point, break down, mix with, be measured in, take advantage of,
keep…steady, manage to, be sensitive to, up to.
Structures: whatever…., ….., that is,…..
Teaching procedures:
Step1: Lead in
Read a short poem and guess its name: A letter from _______. (Water)
Dear User,
Shame to you all, the Ignorant,
I am your life
But you seem not to value me
Give me all the respect
For in me is eternal life
If you continue abusing me
Surely, all forms of life will wither away
Have you ever imagined,
Life without me?
I tell you, it will be unbearable
Think twice
For every drop counts...
Qs: 1) What does “Dear user” here refer to?
2)What does it talk to its users?
3)On which planet does it exist? －On the earth, which is also called the water planet.
4)Do you know why it is called “The water planet”?
－Because about three quarters of the earth is covered by water.
Step2: Pair work: Collect as many words as possible related to water. Qs:
How much do you know about water?
Is all water fresh or salty?


Step3: Talk about the properties of water.
1. Pair work
T: Water is around us and inside us. We can’t go without water. Qs:
Why is water so important to living things?
Can you point out some of its properties or characteristics?
Suggested vocabulary:
It's colorless, tasteless, odorless and universal dissolvent.
It feels wet;
It exists in three forms: liquid, solid, gas, and is cycled through the water cycle;
It can absorb a large amount of heat;
It sticks together into beads or drops;
It's part of every living organism on the planet; etc.


2. Group work
Learn more about water’s properties by doing some simple experiments and learn to describe an experiment.
What property of water does each of the four experiments illustrate?
What causes this phenomenon?
What’s this phenomenonrelated to?
① Experiment 1 shows how air pressure causes a piece of thick paper to cling to an upturned glass of water.
② Experiment 2 illustrates how substances with different densitybehave when placed in the same container.
③ Experiment 3 is an example of how water dissolves substances and objects.
④ Experiment 4 illustrates some of the differences between salt water and fresh water.
3. T: What other properties of water do you know about?
What causes the following phenomena? Can you explain?
①We can get a lot of nutrients by drinking water and having soup.
②Wood floats on water while iron sinks.
③The coastal areas are often neither too hot nor too cold.
④Why can some living things li
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