Unit 1 A brand-new start 1 Start-up 2 Viewing Hot phrases Video clip 1 Mike is an international student from the United States. He is learning Chinese in a university in China and recently he is confused by such phrases How to get as “xuezha”, “xueba”, “nvhanzi” “nvshen” , and “chuangye” which A’s in college are very popular among the students. Unfortunately, these phrases do not have exact equivalence in English. Please explain these phrases to him in English.

nvshen About the video clip

In her video entitled “How to Get A’s in College”, Ally Chen presents 12 tips to achieving A’s in college, nvhanzi 5 tips of which are covered in the video clip you are to watch here, including Tip 2, Tip 4, Tip 6, Tip 8 and Tip 11.

xuezha Words and expressions

distract / / v. dɪ'strækt 使分心；分散或扰乱 注意力 in the long run 从长远看；终究；最后 xueba let go of 放弃 negative / / adj. 'negətɪv 消极的；否定的；负 面的 procrastinate / / v. prə'kræstɪneɪt 拖延；耽搁 syllabus / / n. 教学大纲 chuangye 'sɪləbəs trigger / / v. 'trɪgə(r) 发动；引发

2 新国标大学英语 视听说 1 1. General understanding Watch the video clip and write down each tip on the corresponding line in the fishbone chart.

2. Detailed understanding Watch the video clip again and fill in the blanks in the table below with the exact words you hear in each tip.

(1) Have the ______of an A-plus student. If you want to get an A, you must let go of all of your negative thoughts. (2) If these are some of the things that you’re thinking, and they’re not very ______, it Tip 2 might not lead you to the grade that you want. (3) If you sit in the front, you’re more likely to pay ______, be surrounded by people who want to succeed just as much as you do.

(4) If you’re assigned reading for that day, like on your syllabus, just try to ______Tip 4 through the chapter. (5) Just go through the chapter, read the bullet ______, look at the bullet terms.

(6) Find someone who is on the same level as you are, who won’t ______you. (7) That way you have someone to ______your ideas off with, and then by the time of your mid-terms or finals come around, there’s someone you can ______Tip 6 to study with. (8) A nd when they ask you questions, and you can explain it, then you know you for sure have learned the ______. But if you don’t know it, maybe they can explain it to you.

(9) I got a ______. And I put down all the dates of my homework assignments and mid-terms. Tip 8 (10) I’m going to work on it maybe a couple of days before, so I don’t procrastinate and wait until last minute to do it, and everything just ______.

(11) When you’re in lecture, ______your hand, don’t be afraid. Tip 11 (12) You know sometimes when you have questions, more than ______other people have the same questions, too.

A BRAND-NEW START UNIT 1 3 3. Building listening skills: Inferring word meaning Watch the video clip again and guess the meaning of the following words from the context. You can use context clues, word formation, your prior knowledge, etc. Then explain what clues have helped with your guess.

mindset Meaning Clues used

dumb Meaning Clues used

skim Meaning Clues used

bounce ideas off Meaning Clues used

calendar Meaning Clues used

clarify Meaning Clues used

4. Further discussion Discuss the following questions.

(1) What do you think of the tips you’ve just heard from the video clips? Choose one tip to make some comment on and use your own experiences to support your opinions. (2) Do you know or have you heard about some other useful tips for getting academic success? Share one or two with the whole class.

4 新国标大学英语 视听说 1 5. Role-play Work in pairs. Each student chooses a role card. One of your pair chooses to act as Role A and the other as Role B. Read the corresponding role cards and conduct the role-play.

You are Ally Chen from Video You are Susan/William, a reporter Role card for Role card for clip 1. You are a straight A from the school newspaper. You Student Student A student in college. You will are to interview Ally Chen, a B be interviewed by Susan/ straight A student in college. You William, a reporter from the want to ask her for some tips school newspaper. You are supposed to on how to achieve A’s in college. Your talk about some tips on how to achieve A’s questions should be related to the five tips in college. You will be asked at least three covered in the video clip. Go over the five questions that are related to the five tips tips and prepare at least three questions. covered in the video clip. Go over the tips Write your questions and the interviewee’s before the interview. answers in the Interview notes below.

Interview notes

Questions to ask Ally Chen Answers from Ally Chen

1

2

3

A BRAND-NEW START UNIT 1 5 Video clip 2

Sydney’s campaign speech

About the video clip Words and expressions

The video clip is from the 2007 movie Sydney cater / / v. 'keɪtə(r) 迎合；照顾 ……的需求或 White , a teen comedy film starring Amanda 需要 Bynes, Sara Paxton, and Matt Long, based on Catholic / / n. 'kæθəlɪk 天主教徒 the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. disenfranchise / / v. ˌdɪsɪn'fræntʃaɪz 剥夺……的 Sydney fails to become a member of Kappa when 公民权；剥夺 ……的选举权利 Rachel humiliates her, and is welcomed by the fire up 激励；鼓舞 fleabag / / n. seven dorks who live in the Vortex house. The 'fliːbæg 廉价旅馆 mechanics / / n. [ ] , Vortex is coincidentally the target of Rachel’s mɪ'kænɪks 复数 手法 技巧 prevail / / v. plan to open a luxury center that will benefit prɪ'veɪl 获胜；占优势 prissy / / adj. ( ) only the top Greek sororities and fraternities. 'prɪsɪ 贬 谨小慎微的；过于认 She plans to subject it to a planned demolition. 真的 run / / v. Thus, Sydney, together with the seven dorks, tries rʌn 竞选；当候选人 screw / / v. ( ) to bring Rachel down from her student council skruː 俚 欺骗 wallow / / v. position by running Terrence, one of the seven 'wɒləʊ 放纵自己 dorks, for president. He is soon disqualified, but the name of this election team, Freedom to the 7th Power, stays. Sydney replaces Terrence as a presidential candidate and starts her campaign in this clip .

6 新国标大学英语 视听说 1 Gurkin Lenny Professor

Sydney Rachel

1. General understanding Watch the movie clip and put a tick (√) before the things they do for the election campaign.

(1) Get a hotel room to work together overnight. (2) Broadcast an election speech on campus. (3) Learn about the mechanics of modern campaigning from a professor. (4) Reach out to outsiders by taking part in different activities held by various associations or groups. (5) Stage some plays. (6) Do physical exercise every day. (7) Distribute leaflets. (8) Put up posters.

2. Detailed understanding Look at the following sentences from Sydney White’s campaign speech and put them in the correct order. Then watch the movie clip again to check the order.

( ) (1) To those students I say, it’s time for you to be heard. ( ) (2) The fact is that 80% of the student body at Southern Atlantic is not Greek. ( ) (3) You may be wondering why you should even care, why bother voting. ( ) (4) I’m Sydney White and I’m running for student council president on the Freedom to the 7th Power. ( ) (5) It’s time for you to be heard, and we are here to listen. ( ) (6) The Greeks win every year and it’s just one more way they run the school.

3. Critical thinking Read the following quotation by the professor in the video clip and discuss the following questions.

Take the Kennedy campaign in 1960. He was inherently an outsider, a Catholic had never been elected as president, who reached out to other outsiders... Minorities, women, the poor, the disenfranchised won that election for John Kennedy. Who are “the disenfranchised”? Why does the professor say that the disenfranchised won that election for John Kennedy?

A BRAND-NEW START UNIT 1 7 4. Further discussion Discuss the following questions.

(1) Whose support might Sydney White try to seek in the following campaigning? (2) What action might Sydney White take to win their support?

3 Listening Audio clip 1

Which student are you?

Words and expressions

drop out of school 中途退学；辍学 take advantage of 充分利用

1. General understanding Listen to a speech given by a student from Harvard University Extension School and choose the best answer to the following question.

What is the main purpose of this speech? A. To encourage the students. C. To introduce learning methods. B. To criticize the education. D. To stress his expectations.

8 新国标大学英语 视听说 1 2. Detailed understanding Listen to the motivation speech again and choose the best answer to each question.

(1) What was the speaker like before? A. He always took risks. B. He repeated the sixth grade twice. C. He struggled in school with D’s and F’s. D. He always looked into a mirror with a friend. (2) What is the reason that made him a failure? A. He never admitted his failure and never sought help. B. He dropped out of school and became homeless. C. He got excited about his education. D. He took a big risk. (3) How did the speaker grow from a failure to an academically successful student? A. He got excited about his education and used resources around him. B. He allowed all the benefits of education to pass by. C. He repeated the tenth grade twice. D. He slipped and fell a million times. (4) To the speaker, what is the most important purpose of education? A. Education is a job placement tool. B. Education is a career development tool. C. Education is about self-improvement. D. Education is about academic success.

3. Building listening skills: Inferring word meaning Listen to the speech again and guess the meaning of the following underlined words from the context. You can use context clues, word formation, your prior knowledge, etc. Then explain what clues have helped with your guessing.

(1) I went from a failure to an assiduous A’s and B’s Harvard University Extension School student.

assiduous Meaning Clues used

(2) To me, education is more than a job placement or a career development tool. placement Meaning Clues used

A BRAND-NEW START UNIT 1 9 4. Critical thinking Discuss the following statement and answer the following question.

Education is more than a job placement or a career development tool. It’s about self-improvement.

What is your understanding of this quote from the speech?

5. Further discussion Discuss the following questions.

(1) What are the differences between Chinese education and American education in your opinion? Please give some evidence for your argument. (2) You must have listened to many speeches in your past school life. Which one impressed you the most? what impressed you in the speech? Please explain it to your partner.

Audio clip 2

Meeting new roommates

About the audio clip Words and expressions

A. This is a conversation from the 2007 movie dinky adj. / 'dɪŋkɪ/ 不起眼的；无足轻重的 Sydney White. It happened on the first gosh int. /gɒʃ/ 天啊；哎呀 ( 用以替代 God day of college when Sydney White met 的委婉说法，表示惊异或强烈情感 ) her roommate Dinky in their dormitory. A legacy n. /'legəsɪ/ 继承物；遗赠产；遗产 rush party is to be held in order to recruit mishap n. /'mɪshæp/ 不幸事故 new members for a sorority. B. Kappa, in the movie, is a name of a sorority in the university.

10 新国标大学英语 视听说 1