Unit Ten Risks

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Unit Ten Risks
Teaching Objectives In this unit students are
required to 1. Practice listening skills 2. Get
to know some useful information concerning the
topic of this unit 3. Do some preparation
activities such as discussion, group work to
enhance their spoken English and communicative
skills 4. Learn new words and phrases to further
broaden students scope of vocabulary 5. Read
the in-class reading passage within limited time
for a general idea of the passage and then do
detailed reading for a command of useful
expressions 6. Do post-reading exercises and
some after-class reading to test how far they
have gone in grasping reading skills and language
points 7. Translate some key sentences in the
unit to upgrade students translation
abilities Teaching Methodology Communicative
approach Multi-media teaching Teaching process
Pre-task------Task cycle------Post-task Time
Distribution Listening Speaking 2 periods
In-class Reading 2 periods Exercise
After-class Reading 2 periods Further
Development Writing 2 periods.
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Period 1 2 Listening and Speaking
I?Teaching Focus 1.Background information
introduction 2.Preparation 3.Listening to tapes
II?Teaching steps 1. Background
Information Risk is the probability of losing
something of value. Since we value life above
other things, the greatest risk for most people
is the risk of death. Yet life itself, to the
best of our knowledge, is ultimately fatal. The
key word here is ultimately, Since we hope to
live a lot a lot longer, we easily overlook the
routine and long-range risks associated with
being human, and concentrate, or try predict the
times of their occurrence. Walking across the
street in many cities is more dangerous than
riding an airplane across an ocean, but many
people give no thought to the former and have
great fear of the latter. People eagerly do
dangerous things for recreation that they would
rarely do at work, such as scaling a steep
mountain or skiing rapidly down it, Young people
are especially willing to take foolish chances
for the sheer joy of doing so, or because they
discount the probability of adverse outcomes. Yet
they should probably be much more careful than
their elders, since they have longer life
expectancies remaining and thus have more at
stake.
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Other things we value include health,
safety, money, property relationships and
happiness. There are risks attached to the loss
of any of these. Hypochondriacs exaggerate the
risks of ill health or injury. Ironically the
precautions taken to promote health and safety
may add to a hypochondriacs perception of the
risks involved. A wise investor takes calculated
risks with money and tries to choose reasonable
risks over unreasonable ones. A compulsive
gambler, on the other hand, is so addicted to
risk that there is little thought of the loss
that inevitably follows from gambling
indefinitely against the odds. So risk itself may
at times be perceived as a reward.
Optimists and pessimists have opposite attitudes
toward risk. Extreme optimists always expect the
best. Therefore they try to maximize the maximum
gain. More cautious optimists may try to maximize
the minimum loss. More moderate pessimists may
try to maximize the minimum loss. The science of
cost-benefit analysis studies these and other
strategies for managing risk. So does actuarial
science, with special emphasis on the risks of
death, injury, or illness. One way to
manage risk in ordinary life is through rational
planning. By considering alternatives and
balancing the greatest or most likely risks
against the greatest or most likely rewards, we
can often make better decisions and give greater
consideration to long-term outcomes. By always
having a contingency plan in case our main plan
fails, we can usually avoid catastrophes. But
planning takes effort, and we must balance this
effort against the pleasure of doing things
spontaneously because they are not very important
or not very risky and plan other things carefully
because they are very important or very risky.
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2. Preparation 1.Risks in jobs Sample
Physical risks Financial risks Emotional risks
Nurse, policeman Coalminer, secretary, Teacher, fighter pilot, Interpreter, fireman, Football player, writer, Cleaner, tourist guide, Factory worker, Chemical engineer, Computer programmer Businessman, stockbroker, accountant, peasant, writer, civil servant, tourist guide Nurse, psychiatrist, Lawyer, president, Beggar, teacher, Singer, psychologist, Tourist guide, writer, Host of TV show, Ambassador, model, journalist
2.Which Activity Is Riskier? The following is a
list of the activities from the riskiest to the
safe Rock climbing skydivingdriving a
motorcyclebeing a 65-year-old manskiingflying
in an airplanedriving a carworking on a farm 3.
Listening to tapes
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• Period 34 Reading.

I?Teaching focus Practice students reading
skills and help them learn new words and
phrases II?Teaching steps 1.Pre-reading 2.Words,
phrases and grammatical points 1.risk ??risk??????
at risk ?????? e.g. The disease is spreading,
and all children under five are at risk. Heart
disease can be avoided if people at risk take
medical advice. at the risk of ???? e.g.
At the risk of offending you, I must tell you
that I disapprove of your behavior. Run the
risk of ???? e.g. I dont want to run the
risk of meeting George. I was afraid to
run the risk of betting on the game. Take a
risk/risks ????????????? e.g. You are taking
a big risk driving so fast. But he must be
cautious he must take no unnecessary risks.
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• 2.And from these threats come questions that we
  must pose to ourselves(L.6-7)
• This sentence means that these threats give rise
  to questions that we must ask ourselves.
• ???????????????,?????go, come?????????????,???????
  ??
• e.g. From the room came the sound of children
  singing.
• From the fountain bubbled a stream of cool
  water.
• 3.Exercises
• Period 56 Post-reading and Exercise
• I?Teaching focus
• Test students reading skills the their command
  of new words and phrases.
• II?Teaching steps
• 1.Fast reading for exercises
• 2.Questions for discussions

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• Period 78 Further Development and Writing
• I. Teaching Content
• Further enhance students communicative abilities
  and writing abilities
• II. Teaching Steps
• 1.Case study
• 2.Personal Safety
• Describe the figure in your own words Only about
  2.5 of all accidental deaths are caused by
  firearms.
• Suggested ways of preventing accidents reduce
  the speed limit, make less powerful cars never
  go swimming alone keep poisons out of reach of
  children ban all firearms never ride a
  motorcycle without wearing a helmet and
  protective gear wear a safety belt on the
  highway wear a life jacket when swimming
• 3. Writing Are Environment Risks Worth Taking?