1. Let students discuss the following questions:

1)What is the longest trip you have ever taken?

2)If you take a trip to Canada, what do you think you might see there?

3)What three words would you use to describe Canada?

3. Have students turn to Page 34 of the text book, look at the title of the reading passage and the pictures and predict what the passage is about. Then have them read the passage quickly to see if they are right.

→Step 3 Reading

1. Fast reading

Ask students to skim the reading passage and then answer the following questions:

1)What is the passage mainly about?

2)What is “The True North”?

3)How many cities are mentioned in the text? What are they?

Three minutes later, check the answers with the whole class.

Suggested answers:

1)The passage is about a trip of two girls, and it tells us some information about Canada.

2)“The True North” is the train that goes across Canada/the cross-Canada train.

3)Five. They are Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, Thunder Bay and Toronto.

2. Intensive reading

Allow students to read the passage carefully this time to understand the main ideas of each paragraph and get the important details, and then finish the following:

1)Choose the best answer to each question according to the text.

(1)As you go eastward, you can see the following things except ______________.

A. mountains

B. thousands of lakes

C. forests and wide rivers

D. cows

(2)Who will take part in the Calgary Stampede?

A. Cowboys from Stampede.

B. People from Canada.

C. Anyone who has a gift for riding.

D. Cowboys from all over the world.

(3)Which of the following statements is true?

A. One can cross Canada in less than five days by train.

B. Many people think Calgary is the most beautiful city in Canada.

C. In fact, the population of Canada is more than thirty million.

D. Ocean ships cannot reach Thunder Bay.

(4)Which of the following shows the right route of the cousin’s travel?

A. Toronto→Calgary→Vancouver→Thunder Bay

B. Vancouver→Calgary→Thunder Bay→Toronto

C. Vancouver→Thunder Bay→Calgary→Toronto

D. Toronto→Thunder Bay→Calgary→Vancouver

Suggested answers: (1)D　(2)D　(3)C　(4)B

2)Use the information from the reading passage to fill in the table below.

Basic Facts about Canada

Distance from east to west coast

Oceans on the east and the west coast

Population

Where most Canadians live

Location of the largest fresh water supply

Key points about Vancouver

Key points about Calgary

Key points about Thunder Bay

3)Answer the following questions in complete sentences.

(1)Which continent were the cousins crossing?

(2)Why were they not flying directly to the Atlantic coast?

(3)Why is the population of Vancouver growing so rapidly?

(4)What happens at the Calgary Stampede?

(5)How are ocean ships able to reach the center of Canada?

(6)What are some of Canada’s greatest natural resources?

3. Reading and discussing

Read the passage a third time and then work in pairs to discuss these questions.

1)Which part of the reading passage interests you most?

2)If someday you go to Canada, where will you go? Why?

(Let students have enough time to read the passage carefully and discuss the questions with their partners. Encourage them to expand their answers according to their own experiences. )

4. Dealing with language points

Help students analyze some difficult, long and complex sentences and guess the meanings of some new words and expressions. Encourage them to try to deal with the language points in the context. Give them explanations if necessary.

5. Listening and reading aloud

Ask students to read the passage aloud to the tape and let them pay attention to the pronunciation of each new word and the pauses within each sentence. Tell them to pick out all the useful expressions or collocations from the passage while reading and copy them to the notebook after class as homework. Read them aloud and try to learn them by heart.

Collocations: be on a trip to, rather than, take the aeroplane, all the way, take the train, at the airport, on the way to, chat about, as well as, less than, aboard the train, settle down, manage to do, catch sight of, be famous for, have a gift for, thousands of, in prizes, be amazed to do, at the top of, be surprised at, because of, fresh water

→Step 4 Consolidation