Designing a booklet

Project

What’re they?Chinese

characters

The development of Chinese characters

pictograph

Square

character

万

How did Chinese characters develop?

Who is he?

Do you know his story?

仓颉也称苍颉，是传说为黄帝的史官，汉字的创造者。传说中仓颉生有“双瞳四目”。目有重瞳者，中国史书上记载只有三个人，虞舜、仓颉、项羽。虞舜是禅让的圣人，孝顺的圣人，而仓颉是文圣人，项羽则是武圣人。

The Chinese language differs from many Western languages. Chinese people invented numerous characters to represent ideas, objects or actions. Chinese words are often formed by combining different characters.

There is a legend that says that a man named Cang Jie invented Chinese writing. One winter day while he was hunting, he saw the footprints of birds and animals in the snow and realized that each one was different. Then he had the idea that he could use different shapes or pictures to represent different objects. These shapes or pictures were the very first Chinese characters.

differs frominvented

numerous

represent

combining legend

footprints

Let’s learn a story

Listen to the tape and answer the following questions.

1. When did Chinese writing begin?

2. Who first invented Chinese writing?

3. How was Chinese writing invented?

4. When did the Chinese government introduce simplified Chinese character?

简化的 In the 1950s

Cang Jie

Thousands of years ago.

Cang Jie saw the footprints of birds and animals in the snow and he got the idea he could use different shapes or pictures to represent objects.

Types of characters:Pictographs: line drawings of physical objects ( 象形 )

Characters: made by combining 2 or more elements together( 形声 )

Characters: developed for directions and numbers( 会意 )

目

休

上

Read the passage again and divide the passage into several parts, then give the main idea of each part.

Para. 1.

Para. 2.

Para.3-6

Para. 7-8

Brief introduction of Chinese characters.

The origins of Chinese characters.

Form and development of Chinese characters.

Pronunciation of Chinese characters and

simplified Chinese characters.

Fill in the blanks with the phrases from the box below.

over time according to differ fromin that this way turn…into

as a whole develop …into

1. Old English _______ greatly _____ the modern English we use today.

2. Life on the island has changed __________ because of the growing number of tourists who visit it every year.

3. ______________ the tickets, the train will leave at 8:30. We’d better hurry to get to the station on time!

differs from

According to

over time

4. She said it was the teacher’s praise and encouragement that ______ her ______ a good student.5. Install this spell check software on your computer. You will avoid making spelling mistakes__________.6. Considering your idea ____________, I think it will contribute significantly to the development of the company. However, it may cause some problems as well.7.I was lucky _________ I was able to find what I wanted.

turned into

this way as a whole

in that

Starting the project---How to design a booklet

•Planning

•Preparing

•Producing

•Presenting

Planning • Work in small groups and discuss and choose what characters the group would like to research. • Discuss the layout of the booklet. • Divide the work each group member will do. •Collect the information needed.

PreparingLook for information as many sources as you can find. Tips (organizing information)

1.Introduction2.Method3.Findings4.Conclusion

Producing• Everyone writes a section of the booklet. Then put what has been written together. Add photos or illustrations where necessary. • Proofread the draft to correct mistakes if there are any. • New ideas can be added. • Now the booklet is finished.

Presenting

Present the booklet to the whole class by taking turns to talk about each section of their booklet.

Discussion:

仃车场

Is 仃 the standard Chinese character?

Is this right to use the character 仃 ? Why?

Can you find other examples like this in our daily life?

Do the Chinese characters remain the same for thousands of years?Do the Chinese characters remain the same for thousands of years?

NO!Chinese characters are always changing!

How about English?How about English?

Homework

1. Do Parts B1 and B2 on

page 93 in workbook.

2.Do Parts D1 and D2 on

page 95 in workbook.

3.Review words and phrases

in this unit.