The tell-tale heart lesson plan
江凌云
Teaching goals:
By the end of the class, students will be able to:
1. Grasp the structure and the plot of the story
2. Appreciate the well-written sentences in the story
3. Understand the writing method of repetition, comparison, first point of view, etc.
4. Think critically about the characters and the theme
5. Know the symbolic meaning of the vulture’s eye
6. Analyze the meaning of the title
7. Make comments on their understandings of the story
8. Improve their critical thinking and deep reading abilities
Teaching procedures:
Step 1: Brainstorming
1. Play a video from the conjuring
2. List some important elements in a horror story: darkness, loneliness, a closed chamber, horrible music, etc.
Step 2: introduction of the writer
About the writer and his works
Step 3: While-Reading
1. Read para1-2 together and answer the questions:
How many characters appeared in this part?
What did the narrator(叙述者) decide to do at last? Why?
What is your first impression of the narrator ?
2. Read para3 a
1. the main idea of the passage
2. appreciating sentences “You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I went on with the work. I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.”
Discuss the question in pairs: Why does the narrator treat the old man so well in the mornings?
3. Read para4-11
(1) Read quickly and fill in the blanks in order to get the main plot in this part
The e______ night:
When he was about to open the l________, the old man c____ out and discovered him. So he
w______ for a long time p________. The old man uttered a groan. Then he decided to open the lantern. The old man’s e_____ and the beating of his h______ increased his f______. he went mad and jumped into the room. The old man s_______ once.
He dragged the old man to the f_______ and pulled the heavy b_____ over him. Then he s_____ happily. His eyes would t_______ him no more.
(2) find some sentences in this part that you think are well-written and share them with the class.
4. Read para12-16 and discuss the following questions
Who visited him? What is his feeling at first?
What did he hear? What is the sound?
What happened at last? Why did he do that?
Step 4: Post-Reading
1. Discussion:
What is the possible relationship between the narrator and the old man?
What does the vulture eye represent?
What is the point of view (人称) of this story? Would you like to change it?
What is the theme of the passage?
2. Show time:
Find 2-3 details, descriptions, or actions that the author uses to create an atmosphere of horror. And read it to us. Pay attention to your tone, intonation, voices, pronunciation.
Step 5: Homework:
Write down your own understanding of the story in more than 200 words. You may analyse more than two of the following aspects: the language; the theme; the writing style; the character
教学反思与评价：选择这篇小说有一部分原因是因为个人喜好，个人在上学期间非常喜欢爱伦坡的小说。再加上上学期在天一中学听过一节文学作品赏析课后，觉得深受启发，我就一直想要尝试这种文学作品的课堂教学。个人认为英语教学的最高境界应该是把一节英语课上成语文课。应该是让学生从learning to read过渡到reading to learn；从read between the lines过渡到read beyond the lines。我们现在的学生上英语课几乎很少思考，很少动脑。他们觉得英语只要记背就可以了，动脑筋那是理科的课堂才要做的事。而我们的老师有的时候在上课时，也会过于注重基础知识而忽视了对学生思维能力的培养，这样培养出的学生可能应试还可以，但是让他对某一观点话题，说一说自己独特的见解时，往往就会千篇一律，毫无思想内涵。
而文学作品的赏析尤其是小说，往往不简简单单只是阅读表面上的信息，需要学生深入剖析里面人物的性格特征，作者的写作手法，文章所表达的主旨，标题的含义等。这些都需要学生进行深入思考，需要他们read beyond the lines。因此在课堂里教授文学名着对于训练学生的思维能力和阅读理解能力和英语表达能力都有很大的帮助。
本节课需要学生深入思考的问题和表达的内容很多，课前我已经让学生将文章看了一遍，大部分学生已经能够基本把握文章的情节。所以在课上我并没有将重点放在处理故事情节上。而是将教学重点放在了文章的写作手法，语句赏析，主旨大意的理解，对个别语句的隐含意义的分析。并且在课堂过程中鼓励学生说出自己的观点。比如让学生分析 “I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole week before I killed him.”中“我”为什么已经下定决心杀了老人时，还会对老人如此之好的问题；大胆猜测老人和“我”之间的关系；谈谈自己对主旨的见解等问题。这些问题原文中并没有答案，也没有唯一的标准答案，为了就是让学生去思考，去表达自己的观点，训练他们的思维能力及表达能力。
这节课对于我的挑战主要在于我需要在整节课上用英语对文本进行深入剖析，学生能够跟上，能够听懂。非常考验自己的英语表达能力。还有一些其他的挑战，比如如何一步步引导学生进行正确的思考，如何鼓励学生敢于说出自己的见解，开放性问题的设定要让学生感到有话可说，但又不是那么简单就可以得出答案等。课堂上学生们的表现还是不错的，因为文章的故事性比较强，学生喜欢读。我发现学生的积极性也和平时的课堂不太一样。平时的课堂中，很少有学生会想要主动举手表达自己看法。但是这节课，不断有学生举手并且用英语发表自己对文本独特的理解。这说明我们的学生对英语文学名着，至少是对小说兴趣还是比较浓厚的。我们英语老师如果能根据学生的兴趣选择文学方面的文本材料进行授课，我相信效果会事半功倍。
课后我让学生从语言，人物，写作手法及主旨四个方面任选两个方面写一篇感言。根据作业情况，我发现大部分学生都是有话可说的，我的要求是200字，但是有很多同学洋洋洒洒写了好多，虽然语法错误百出，但是内容非常真实。并且其中有些同学另辟蹊径，在讨论主旨时，并没有选择我讲解的主旨，而是写出了自己的真实理解。虽然有些偏差，但他们的作文是有真正有意义的，有血有肉的。
综上，我觉得我们英语老师可以在平时的课堂中加一些文学名着的阅读指导，让学生们有机会接触到英语文学名着，学会鉴赏英美文学，提高学生的英语综合素养。
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