Unit Weeping for My Smoking Daughter.docVIP

Unit 5 Weeping for My Smoking Daughter I. Teaching Objectives The students will be able to: grasp the main idea and structure of the text; master the key language points and grammatical structure in the text; conduct a series of reading, listening, speaking and writing activities related to the theme of the text. II. Pre-reading Tasks Background Information 1) Alice Walker (1944- ) Author, activist Alice Walker, best known perhaps as the author of The Color Purple, was the eighth child of Georgia sharecroppers. After a childhood accident blinded her in one eye, she went on to become valedictorian of her local school, and attend Spelman College and Sarah Lawrence Her works are known for their portrayals of the African American womans life. She depicts vividly the sexism, racism and poverty that make that life often a struggle. But she also portrays as part of that life, the strengths of family, community, self-worth, and spirituality. She continues not only to write, but to HYPERLINK /cs/walkeracauses/ be active in environmental, feminist/womanist causes, and issues of economic justice. 2) VICTORIA (reign time. 1837-1901) Queen Victoria is associated with Britains great age of industrial expansion, economic progress and, especially, empire. At her death, it was said, Britain had a worldwide empire on which the sun never set. 3) Prince Albert (1819 - 1861) He married Queen Victoria his first cousin in 1840. It was Albert who masterminded the Great Exhibition of 1851, with a view to celebrating the great advances of the British Industrial Age and the expansion of the empire. In 1861 he died of typhoid. In the text it is also a brand name of tobacco. 4) Georgia (abbrev. GA) A state in the southeast US, one of the original 13 states established under British rule. Its capital and largest city is Atlanta, an important industry center for the southeastern US. 5) Hollywood It is an area of Los Angeles in California which has been the center of the US film industry