Unit 1 - Parents

1. Unit 1 - Parents

2. Part A. Pre-listening Task • Go through the discussion questions quickly as a whole class. • Read aloud the sentences and structures in the Language Focus part.

3. Part B. Dating with My Mother • Language and Culture Notes: • In the United State many old people live by themselves either because they do not want to be a burden to their children or because they prefer to maintain their individual lifestyles. When they cannot take care of themselves, they are often sent to special nursing homes for the aged. They don’t see their children on a regular basis. So for many people in America, old age can be a sad and lonely time. The text explores the loneliness of the old people and also the love between a son and daughter-in-law and their mother. • dating: American dating customs are somewhat different from those in our culture. Young people in America see dating as a time for fun, often without any romantic interest in mind. Only after some time when two people decide to have a steady relationship do they think of each other as boyfriend or girlfriend.

4. Text 1 • Exercise 1: c, a, b • Exercise 2: • 1. her husband spend more time with his mother. • ‘Life is too short, you need to spend time with the people you love. You probably won’t believe me, but I know you love her and I think that if the two of you spend more time together, it will make us closer.’ • 2.she was waiting by the door with her coat on and she had her hair curled. • She had told her lady friends about this.

5. Text 2 • Exercise 1: c, d, d • Exercise 2: • 1. It can be inferred that the speaker’s mother often took him out to dinner when he was small. (F) • 2. The mother has poor eyesight now. (T) • 3. On their first date the speaker took his mother out to dinner and a movie. (F) • 4. The speaker’s parents worked in the same factory during the Second World War. (T) • 5. The speaker and his mother now meet once every month. (F)

6. Speaking Task: Debating • Go through the sample quickly. • Choose a Card/Topic, A or B, and divide your group into two parts, with different perspectives. • List your reasons/points first, and then try to develop into a logical passage.

7. Unit 2 - Coincidence

8. Language and Culture Notes • bank statement: a written statement issued by a bank to a client every month showing money paid and received within the month and the balance of the client’s account (银行月结算单). The bank statement mentioned in the text, however, belongs to a different kind. Andrew’s grandpa must have deposited the money for a period of fifteen years. He must have calculated that by the time it was mature (到期), Andrew would be old enough for college. That’s why the bank statement was delivered on that particular day fifteen years after the money was deposited. It was to inform the client of the standing value of the original amount and how much interest it had earned over the years.

9. Text 1 • Exercise 1: b, a, d, c • Exercise 2: • 1984, son, medical school, tuition • afford it, realize, newspaper ads • extra business, advertisement • succeeded, agent, changed, phone call • put aside, doing, immediately, familiar • his father-in-law’s, visited, father-in-law, alive, coincidence

10. Text 2 • Exercise 1: • 1. Several coincidences happened in this story. (T) • 2. The coincidences made it possible for the owner to sell his house at a good price. (F) • 3. No one actually benefited from the coincidences. (F) • 4. It can be inferred that Mr. Stewart did not have to seek extra work from then on. (F) • 5. With the extra money Mr. Stewart had earned, Andrew’s dream finally came true. (F) • Exercise 2: • 1. He was intrigued. • 2. A bank statement. • 3. His father-in-law had put an amount of money in the bank for his grandchildren’s education. • 4. A little over $15,000. • 5. He could use the money to cover the tuition of his first year at a medical college. • 6. He is a doctor in Illinois.

11. More listening

12. Listening Skills: News • 1st listening: Get a general idea and try to note down key words. • 2nd listening: Try to use the materials and your own understanding to develop these words into a passage. • 3rd listening: Check your answer and make revisions. • Never ever try to write down the words you hear one by one!

13. Relief Operations Races against Time • From the BBC World Service in LondonThe NEWS at 12 hours GMT for BBC news online • The Indonesian government has appointed a single cabinet minister to coordinate the earthquake relief effort in the northwestern province of Aceh.Military cargo planes with supplies have been landing around the clock at this small airport at Banda Aceh. From there, RH reports. • The noise of helicopters overhead used to be a characteristic of the conflict which has raged here between Indonesian security forces and separatist rebels for the past 18 months. Now it is a welcome sound of hope. Aid has started arriving here by air, road and sea, but there is a shortage of manpower on the ground to unload supplies when they arrive and the shortage of safe places in which to store them. The Indonesian minister for people's welfare Alwi Shihab has been put in charge of the situation. " At first we had no idea how bad this disaster was", he said, " then we panicked. The government must now make up for lost time and start coordinating what is likely to become a massive operation.

14. Homework • Finish the listening exercises in Unit 1 and 2. • Practice speaking tasks in Unit 2. • Practice the listening skill by listening to more BBC news Stella gives you. • Preview Unit 2 in the Integrated Course by reading through the Culture Notes from Stella and trying to finish section 1 in the Vocabulary exercise.