Урок по теме “The most pleasant season”

Цель урока: обобщающее повторение, развитие устойчивых навыков употребления в речи лексики и грамматики по теме.

Задачи:

Воспитательные – умению общаться, учить обмениваться знаниями и умениями.

Обучающие – накопление и расширение лексического запаса, практика речевых умений:

Развивающие – развивать познавательный интерес к изучению окружающего мира, к культуре разных стран, расширять возможности памяти и мышления.

T. Good afternoon, sit down. I am glad to see you today. Are you OK? So, let’s begin our lesson. The topic of our lesson is very interesting. We are going to speak about the most pleasant season of the year. Do you know what is it? Spring has three months and every month is noted for different holidays and special occasions.

T. Do you have any association with the word “spring”? You can use a wide range of adjectives and word combinations.

Green, bright, clear, nice, wonderful, first flowers, birds’ songs, green leaves, pleasant, warm, nice weather, blossom, showers.

T. So, the first page of our calendar is the weather.

T. Well, to begin with, listen to some interesting facts about every spring month.

1. What is the first spring month?

2. How many days are there in March?

3. What are the symbols of this month?

March was originally the first month of the year in the Roman calendar. The Romans named the month after Mars, the God of war. Later March become the third month.

In the middle of the month the birds begin to come back from the south. Flocks of wild geese and other birds are in the sky. The first robin, a sure sign that spring is on its way, appears on country lawns. Soon redwings, blackbirds, sparrows and larks sing in the trees. The woodpecker can be heard as he taps his beak against a tree trunk.

The animals that have spent the cold winter months asleep under the frozen ground begin to test the weather. Chipmunks, muskrats and weasels appear. Warm winter fur is replaced by lighter summer coats.

In most of the Southern Hemisphere the month of March is the last month of summer. Warm winds and rain are frequent.

In the northern Hemisphere there is a saying: “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb” The early part of the month is often stormy and cols. The wind often blows. By the end of the month the winds die down and the days become sunnier and warmer. Spring is on the way.

1. What is the second spring month?

2. How many days are there in April?

3. What are the symbols of this month?

We don’t know exactly where the word April comes from. Perhaps it comes from the Latin word aperire, which means to open.

April is a month of heavy spring rains, the month of new leaves, and first spring flowers. In April nature awakens from its winter sleep. The snow leaves the ground and the ice leaves the surface of water. The ground warms up, birds come from the south. They begin to make nests and prepare to have families.

1. What is the third spring month?

2. How many days are there in May?

3. What are the symbols of this month?

The month of May was probably named for Maia Majesta Goddess of spring. May was also dedicated to Ceres, the Goddess of grain. In the Northern Hemisphere, corn is planted in May.

People of ancient Rome celebrated the first day of May by honoring Flora, the Goddess of flowers. The Goddess was represented by a small statue decorated with garlands. A procession of singers and dances carried the statue. Later this festival spread to other parts of Europe. On the first day of May English villages gathered blossoming flowers and branches. A tall pole was set up on the village green and it was decorated with field flowers. People danced around it. Sometimes they chose May King and Queen.

T. In March nature awakens from its winter sleep. The snow leaves the ground and the ice leaves the surface of water. The ground warms up, birds come from the south. They begin to make their nests and prepare to have families.

April is the month of heavy spring rains, the month of new leaves, and the first spring flowers.

May is the most pleasant month of the year.

T. Our next page is proverbs and sayings about spring.

Now read some information about sings of spring and translate them.

1. It was noticed that if there is wind, frost or mist on the 7^th of March – it will be a year of good harvest.

2. If the day is rainy on the 7^th of April, the summer will bring a lot of mushrooms.

3. If the night on the eve of 1^st of March is warm, spring will come quickly.

4. There was a belief in ancient Russia that mermaids awoke on the 20^th of April.

5. On the 25^th of March you shouldn’t go to the forest because the hungry bear had waken up after a long winter.

6. On the 29^th of March it’s time to prepare seeds for planting.

T. There are many proverbs about spring. Do you any of them?

March winds and April showers

Bring many May flowers.

Marshak translated it so:

Ветрено в мае, в апреле дожди-

В мае фиалок и ландышей жди.

April weather

Rain and sunshine both together.

То дождь, то солнце.

T. Spring is the season when some famous persons were born. So the next part of the lesson is “Famous people”.

T. You can see some famous name on the screen. What were they?

March

Alexander Graham Bell 3.03.1874 inventor

Amerigo Vespucci 9.03.1451 traveller

Albert Einstein 14.03.1879 scientist

Vincent Van Gogh 30.03.1853 artist

April

Thomas Jefferson 13.04.1743 American president

Daniel Defoe 13.04.1660 writer

William Shakespear 23.04.1564 writer, playwright

Joseph Turner 23.04.1775 artist

Charlotte Bronte 25.04.1816 writer

T. Can you tell us anything interesting about these people?

Daniel Defoe, the king of English prose, was born on the thirteenth of April in 1660. He wrote his famous novel Robinson Crusoe at the age of 60. It became popular at once and nowadays this book is one of the most favourite books of children all over the world.

Joseph Turner, one of the greatest British painters was born on the twenty third of April in 1775. He is known for his pictures of the sea and the sky. The light and the colour of his pictures show the force of the wind and the sea.

Charlotte Bronte a brilliant British novelist was born on the twenty fifth of April in 1816. Her best novel is Jane Eyre. She describes the horrors of the charity school where she spent some years of her unhappy childhood in this novel.

T. Our next date is William Shakespeare’s birthday. British people celebrate it with a ceremony at Stratford-upon-Avon, the native town of William Shakespeare.

Do you know any facts about his life?

-He was a famous playright

- He acted and wrote plays

- He married at the age of eighteen

- he had three children

- His father was a glove-maker

T. Now look at the screen and fine the words, connected with Shakespeare

A S K W R S O N NE T

V H A M L E T K E R R

E E N A Q L H B D S A

L N D C O M E D Y T G

E L W B F B L G W R E

A E B E S Q L J I A D

P Y Q T I T O O L T Y

L C W H M F C A L F W

H M G U N J T D I O U

S H A K E S P E A R E

X Z F Z L H E H M D X

Tragedy, Macbeth, Othello, William, sonnet, comedy, Stradford, Hamlet, Shakespeare

May

Robert Browning 7.05.1833 poet

Florence Nightingale 12.05.1820 nurse

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle 22.05.1859 writer

T. Now listen to the text and answer the questions:

1. Who invented Sherlock Holmes?

2. Where was Conan Doyle born?

3. What was his job?

4. What words Sherlock Holmes uses when he starts to explain a crime to his friend?

5. Where can you find Sherlock Holmes’s museum?

6. Who was the enemy of Sherlock Holmes?

7. Why Conan Doyle killed his main character?

8. What was then?

With the words "Elementary, my dear Watson . . .", the most famous detective of all time, Sherlock Holmes, starts to explain a crime to his friend, Dr. Watson. That phrase has entered the English language.

Sherlock Holmes first appeared in a book called 'Study in Scarlet'. He became famous in 'The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'. The books about Sherlock Holmes are still sold every year.

Who invented Sherlock Holmes? Arthur Conan Doyle was his inventor. Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Scotland. He was a doctor. In 1882 he moved from Scotland to England to set up a practice. One of the doctors he worked for, Dr. Joseph Bell, was the mod­el for Sherlock Holmes's friend, Dr. Watson. Conan Doyle's medical knowledge was a great help to him in his detective stories. Conan Doyle started the fashion of the detective story.

And what sort of man is Sherlock Holmes? We learn a lot about him from the stories in which he appears. He has a thin face and intelligent eyes. He speaks when he has something to say. He smokes a pipe (he has a collection of them). He plays the violin. He lives at 221 'B' Baker Street in London.

If you go to London, you will see the museum of Sherlock Holmes. You can go to a pub called " Sher­lock Holmes' in a small street (near Trafalgar Square). In that pub there is a room like Sherlock Holmes's room at 221 'B' Baker Street, as described in Conan Doyle's stories.

Sherlock Holmes after more than eighty years is still the most famous detective in the world.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the novelist, first created his fa­mous character, Sherlock Holmes, in 1885. Six years later, when he wrote another group of stories about the detective, Sherlock Holmes was a name that everybody knew.

When Conan Doyle began to get tired of writing detective stories, he decided to 'kill' Holmes. He wrote a story in which Holmes meets his great enemy, Professor Moriarty. Holmes and Moriarty fight and are both killed. The public didn't like it. Conan Doyle had to write another story in which Holmes comes back.

Conan Doyle was a famous writer. He became popular because of his love for people.

T. Now let’s come back to our calendar again. Here are some symbols of the most famous spring holidays. Take a guess what are these holidays?

St. Patrick’s Day, The International Women’s Day, May Day, Victory Day, April Fools’ Day, Easter Day

On the 8^th of March we celebrate the International women’s day. On that day we send greeting cards and give presents to our mothers and grandmothers. We help them about the house and try to be good children.

On the 17^th of March British people celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. St. Patrick was an Irish saint, and St. Patrick's Day is very popular in cities where there are many people from Ireland. Green is the Irish colour and people often wear green on this day. If you don't wear green, someone may pinch you.

The next page of our calendar is devoted to one of the most widely celebrated days of the year – April Fools’ Day. Other countries have other names for this cheerful anniversary on which any person may be made an April Fool. How did April Fools’ Day start? Listen what Poor Robin’s Almanac of 1760 has to say about its origin:

The first of April, some do say

In set apart for All Fools” Day

But why the people call it so?

Nor I, nor they themselves, do know.

T. Can you explain the origin of this holiday?

Происхождение этого обычая, возможно, объясняется народными наблюдениями за изменчивой апрельской погодой, о чём говорится в народных пословицах: русская- «не ломай печи, ещё апрель на дворе», итальянская -«апрель то плачет, то смеётся», французская – «Если у тебя есть плохое полено – побереги его на апрель».

Неустойчивая апрельская погода вселяла тревогу в землевладельца, так как от неё зависели урожаи. Наверное поэтому и появилось поверье, что первый апрельский день несчастливый. Желание отделаться шуткой от угрозы привело к обычаю отмечать наступление апреля шутливыми обманами.

T. The most active supporters of this tradition are children, aren’t they? And you? Have you ever played tricks on relatives and friends? I am sure you have. Give examples of the most popular April Fools” tricks.

-your shoe -lace is undone

-your tie is crooked

-an insect is crawling over your neck

-your back is white

- your coat is torn

- giving somebody an empty egg-shell instead of an egg for breakfast.

T. The next holiday is Earth Day.

Earth Day is a special day around the world. The first Earth Day was held in the USA in April in 1970. Earth Day is the time when many people show that they care for our fragile planet.

I want to live and not to die

I want to laugh and not to cry

I want to feel the summer sun

I want to sing when life is fun

I want to live and not to die

I want to laugh and not to cry

The planet Earth is our common home. The air, sun, sky, clouds, rivers, seas and oceans are parts of our environment. Plants, animals and people need clean water and clean air, but people's activities can make the environment unhealthy.

Air and water pollution is one of the problems millions of people are worried about today. Most big cities dump their waste into seas and rivers. They become so acidic that fish cannot live there. Smoke from facto­ry chimneys and gases in refrigerators and aerosol sprays pollute the air. They damage the ozone layer that covers the earth. Another problem is land pollution. People use too many chemicals to grow vegetables and fruit.

: You can see what serious problems people have because of water, air and land pollution. This makes people worry about their environment. They must take care of the Earth for it to be a healthier place for liv­ing..

What can you do to protect the Earth?

- Plant trees and flowers

- we shouldn’t pick flowers in the wood

- grow vegetables and fruit without chemicals

- make bird-houses

- not to use sprays

- not to throw anything into the water

T. Our next holiday is a religious festival, celebrated in many countries.

Easter comes in spring at a different time each year (March or April). It is one of the greatest Christian festivals. It is celebrat­ed as the beginning of spring. In England, it is a time for giving and receiving presents. These presents traditionally take the form of an Easter egg. Nowadays, Easter eggs are usually made of chocolate. The Easter egg is the most popular emblem of Easter. It means nature's awakening.

In Russia people meeting each other say "Christ has risen!". Kulich and paskha are traditional dishes of this day in Russia. People go to each other's houses and exchange gifts, including painted eggs.

T. Do you know any poems about spring or spring weather?

Oh, to be in England

Now that April’s there,

And whoever wakes in England

Sees, some morning, unaware,

That the lowest boughs

And the brush-wood sheaf

While the chaffinch sings

On the orchard bough

In England now.

Merry May.

The sky scowls,

The wind howls,

The leaves shrivel up in folds;

The flocks and Herbs

And little birds

Are all suffering from colds;

And my nose

Is quite froze!

With teeth chattering away

Let us sing

Severe spring

O miserable May

The trees of the forest

The flowers on the lea

The birds on the branches

The fish on the sea

The rocks and the mountains

The rivers that flow

The rain and the sunshine The ice and the snow

All things that are lovely

All things that are good

The creatures that live

And the plants that are food

The corn-field are yellow

The sky is deep blue

The sweetness and beauty

Of life are for you.

I do not like the signs of spring

The fever and the chills

The icy mud, the puny bud

The frozen daffodils

Let other poets gaily sing

I do not like the signs of spring.

Green blades of grass

Yellow crocus shoots

Go deep, dark roots

Grow high, bright flowers

Good-bye, snow boots

T. Unfortunately, our lesson is over. Do you like it? We spoke about spring weather, famous people born in spring, spring holidays and festivals. I’ll give you excellent marks. Thank you for your work.