Abstract:
This paper discusses how to reform the traditional teaching rules. In the traditional English lessons, most of the teachers are traditional enough but no creative. The teacher taught all the new words in the text .Then the text sentence by sentence .They spent most of the time in translating text and explaining grammar . The students had no opportunity to practice and develop listening ,reading and other abilities. Language teachers should achieve language teaching approach to situate their teaching. How to embody our new concept in teaching today? Today ,under the vigorous initiation of quality education, it is the teaching concept that should be transformed first. That is to say, transform the traditional teaching into the modern teaching .As an English teacher, we should be sober and ask ourselves whether object of today’s lesson is to make students remember some words and structures or is to let them know which words can be used to communicate under some special situations. How to create an environment for students in teaching today? A classroom ,that’s what is needed for test education, in order to meet demands of knowledge education. However, it can absolutely not meet the demands of quality education. We must remind ourselves every day that we should create a colorful sense environment as possible as we can. The sense environment which including seeing, hearing, touching is designed to develop students’ sense. Also, we should create an abundant activity environment, like TV station, English corner and so on. Besides, in order to develop students’ abilities, we should create a vast social environment. They can make groups of two or three to make daily talk, situation dialogues or free talk, which will improve their English abilities.
Contents
I Introduction
II Interest,love,openatmosphere,confidence,self-taught
2.1 Focus on arousing students
2.2 Teachers’ love in teaching
2.3 Form open atmosphere for classroom interaction
2.4 Build up the students’ confidence
2.5 Teach the students how to studyIII Conclusion
III References
Key words:interest,love,open atmosphere, confidence, self-taught.
Over the last century ,second and foreign language teachers have experienced a variety of language teaching methods and approaches ranging from The Grammar Translation to the Natural Approach, and to the Communicative Language Teaching .While some have achieved wide recognition and acceptance at different time, others faded away soon after they came into existence .What kind of method is better and more effective?
In traditional English lessons ,mostly in the countryside, teachers used to follow a procedure as the following: They taught all the new words in the text in isolation, went through the text sentence by sentence ,phrase by phrase, pausing to explain and translate ,asked individual students questions as a check of their understanding ,then let students listen to the tape and read the text . They had spent too much attention to grammar, and the students had never practiced or developed reading or listening. Although they have learnt English for quite a few years, even more than ten years, when they met some foreigners with English as their native language, they will feel puzzled and they can’t speak a word. For example, in such a context, you went to a shop center. You need some help. You say, “ Excuse me,” but the response you got is “Yes?” In such situation ,they felt confused . They thought, “what does “yes” mean?”
What is language for? Some people seem to think it for practicing grammar rules and learning lists of words---the longer the words the better. That’s wrong. Language is for the exchange of ideas, for communication. It’s no good knowing all about a language if you can’t use it. Many students I have taught know hundreds of grammar rules but they can’t speak correctly or fluently. They’re afraid of making mistakes too. And we break the rules. Bernard Shaw wrote: “ foreigners often speak English too correctly.”
How to imply the better arrangement of process in teaching today? In order to improve student’s quality, we should ask ourselves the following questions now and then. What problems can be placed first to make student willing to explore? What effective information can be provided next to let the students learn to absorb, deal with and gain? Finally how to design activities to transform the students’ knowledge into the language abilities.
What kind of new method can be taken in teaching today?
I. Focus on Arousing Students ’interest
A successful English class is one which doesn’t simply pass on knowledge, but arouse students ’enthusiasm for knowledge. Interest is the best teacher. It can urge the students to take an active role in study. If students enjoy the English language ,they will show great interest.
In English class ,the teachers can use material objects, models, cards, pictures, sketches, recorders and slides to create communicational situations to arouse the students ’interest of learning English and to develop the students ’thinking, listening and speaking abilities.
Some class activities are helpful to the students. Singing songs, reading texts, telling stories and playing games etc, are interesting. All these activities make the students change “ want me to study” into “ I want to study” and “ I love study”.
The students are usually very excited about learning English when they’re first introduced to the subject during their first year at middle school because it is a totally new subject, and the textbook is very well written, full of pictures and interesting activities. But the excitement and freshness fade as days and weeks by.
How can teachers keep students in English and even transform their initial interest into motivation.
(1)Conquering Shyness
Chinese students are usually very shy about opening their mouth to speak English , especially those from the countryside . To help them open up ,creating a relaxed, lighthearted class atmosphere will ease their fear of speaking English . The teachers can employ language and gesture, playing games and singing English songs and acting in different roles. If only the students ’interest and eagerness are aroused, they can certainly concentrate on learning and forget their fear of speaking English and even about themselves.
(2)Taste of Success
Everyone class has advanced students and also has students who lag behind. The teachers should give a praise to weaker students as soon as they make even a little progress. This experience of tasting the fruits of their success stimulates their interest in studying English and builds their confidence at the same time . Of course, the best way of giving opportunities to different kids for displaying their own talents is adopted in accordance with their aptitude.
(3)Tolerant –minded
The students aren’t willing to speak English in the class or out of class, the one of the main reasons is to fear of making mistakes. How to deal with this problem without losing enthusiasm of learning is strategic. The teachers needn’t correct immediately when the students are speaking. If not, it affects their fluent expression. The teachers should choose an appropriate chance to discuss with them. This also helps them build up confidence and encourage them to strive forward.
II. Teachers’ Love in Teaching
Teachers’ love is the catalyst in the teaching field, the keys to the students’ heart and soul, and the bridge leading to the inside of the students.
Teachers’ love to the students is different from others’ love. For example ,mothers’ love is easy to spoil a child ,while teaches’ love is an intellect and scientific love with strict. Friends’ love needs rewards while teachers ’love is selfless offer and an active love. Sweet-hearts are constant and selfish in love, while teachers’ love is widely spread and great.
(1)Teachers ’love can help students to change and even cure their hearts.
A greater once said, “what does a good teacher mean? At first it means he loves his students, cares for their happiness and sorrow, and always knows what the students think. Above all, thought all the excellent teachers have different teaching methods, they have one thing in common, that is to love their students.” To love students means to understand them first. But it’s not very easy to understand the students today, especially the senior middle school students . As they grow up, they have rather independent characters. They don’t like have a heart-to- talk with adults. So we hardly know what are their really thoughts. Only the good teachers can touch their hearts by love and make them become good students. That is why most of those “slow” students can remember their teachers and often call on them after they graduate. Maybe it is because the teachers spent more time and energy on them than on the other students, usually criticized them at when they did something wrong. Once they knew their wrongs, they realized how good the teachers were and how hard they worked , they certainly felt grateful to their teachers.
(2)Teachers’ love can improve the quality of teaching.
Teachers and students are just like mothers and sons. But teaching and learning is not just a kind of simple and boring machinery labor. It’s a spirit activity . The feelings of teachers and students in classes have a great effect on the results of the teaching . In classes if the teachers always have smiling faces, friendly eyesight and sweet voice with some acting, the students may feel how kind the teachers are and what hard work they do. Especially when the teachers praise the encourage them for their progress, they will be very excited and study even harder. On the contrary , if the teachers only teach the students knowledge ,don’t care whether the students can accept it, and never encourage the students in class, I think this is not good for teaching. As the result, it makes the students hate to go to school and fail to learn all the subjects. It is well known to all that only when the students like their teachers, they can learn their lessons well, and they put their hearts in learning by themselves. That’s to say they can make rapid progresses. So teachers ’love is very important in teaching.
The best method of teaching English is one that arouses in a pupil a love of learning English . Everyone in the class is like a member of a big family. The teachers should give their love to each member , especially to those who lag behind in study. Fewer exams and more exercises make the students love English .The teachers should always smile to them and speak gently to make students feel confident. The teachers need encourage them and care for them by saying the following: OK. Very good. Wonderful. Excellent. You are clever. You are a good boy/girl. I’m very pleased with you. Let me give you a star. Let me give you a red flower. Try again. I believe that you can do it well.
A good teacher-student relationship makes learning interesting and enjoyable and makes a teacher’s job worthwhile. In such a relationship, the teachers don’t force the students to learn as the students learns of his own accord. Such a relationship is a prerequisite for an effective education.
(3)Teachers’ love for students is the soul of education , as is said by Mr.Youkuang Ding, “Where there is no love there is no education.” Education takes effect when the teachers love the students and the students look forward to the teachers’ love. The teachers’ love brings the students close to the teachers a feeling of confidence of hope and value in themselves and therefore is a motive force in their process of learning.
The teachers should give loving care to the students in their daily life and studies .Making friends with them, sharing their laughter and tear. When anyone is in trouble, the teachers comfort him and lend him a helping hand . The teachers should take the students to be part and parcels for granted.
III. Form Open Atmosphere for Classroom Interaction
To obtain better interaction, the social style encourages students to be more self-reliant. In the atmosphere, students can have more room to consult with their teacher instead of just obeying orders or being left alone. First of all, to encourage students is basic in teachers’ minds. As a teacher, never desert any student no matter how slow they are. Every student has some advantages in some ways. Teachers try to catch her or his good aspects, encourage them to do better and better . Praise acts as encouragement to the young all the time. The better result is that teachers build up learners’ confidence and interest in their study and bring about affection for their teachers. If their enthusiasm can be aroused ,everything seems quite easy for kids to learn. What is more, to keep students active in class, teachers never make them depressed all the time. Let them talk in pairs. Let them debate among boys and girls. Let them argue with the teacher. Let them play games in class. Let them feel that the teacher is always the sunshine in the morning. In the last place, to make the class more lively and interactive, teachers must have a wide range of knowledge and the ability to create any kinds of learning activities in order that teachers might freely communicate with the class. Teachers must be quick-witted to give response in time, they must be up-to –date about the current affairs as well especially about the hot topics that everyone is keenly concerned (Olympic Games, WTO). Teachers have to learn some pop songs that students are fond of . It is the best way that teachers encourage students to add music to play even re-write song lyrics to teach a concept ,or play mood music in order to set the emotional atmosphere for a lesson. In that case, students will show more interests on what teachers teach.
Besides, as a teacher, he or she must pick up a bit sense of humor to melt away the embarrassment if students or teachers get into. Most importantly teachers are good at using a variety of learning activities , so that pupils high in a certain learning style are not consistently exposed to having to learn in a non-preferred approach, because students learning styles are as different as colors of the rainbow. Variation by the teachers in learning activities ensures that all pupils will be taught in their favorite style at least some of the time. Teachers play roles as friends , motivators and film directors. Above all, teachers treat students like a human being, not just a container into which teachers keep on pouring patterns and usage day after day. Teachers should try to keep them in high spirits ,in happiness, in glory, so that they can easily get rid of barrier and produce more in return for teachers’ hard work. All the mentioned are the foundation of active classroom interaction. .
IV. Build up the students’ confidence
We know, self-confidence holds a key to anything you do. Have you had any experience of forgetting the words you tried to memorize a moment ago? Someone used to keep forgetting the words that one learned the day before, or even a moment ago At the beginning they hit their scull with the fist. They lost confidence in themselves. But they soon realized that it would not help them at all. Frustration will be no solution to the problem, and no one is free from frustrations . Never let difficulties and frustrations hurt the students’ confidence. On the contrary, what one should do is do one’s best to overcome them.
Help students to set up a series of realistic goals, short ones as well as long-term ones. Short-term goals will give the students a sense of achievement week by week. As for long-term goal, try to achieve them at a time, step by step, and year by year. Don’t fail to see the daily achievement. There will never be any big achievement without a bit of this one day and a bit of that the other day.
V. Teach the students how to study
A teacher must be a scholar ,a guider, an instructor, but not a driver, a governor, even an officer. Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for ever. The teachers not only teach the students the English language, communicational skills and abilities, but also guide them to study and train their self-taught ability. For example, guiding the students to learn words and sentence patterns through context , to make notes in class ,to revise their lessons in time and to do more practice in listening, speaking, reading and writing. Thus ,the students can grasp the English language effectively.
The teachers will get a great deal of happiness from teaching ,and take great pride in the progress and success of the students.
L.G. Alexander says, “The teacher is just a facilitor, teachers can not teach anybody anything. The student is not an empty glass that will be filled with liquid, with knowledge and with wisdom. The teacher can only facilitate, make it possible to motivate students.”
So the teachers must teach the students how to learn. Such as good learning habits, go over what they studied, correct mistakes carefully, do more reading, speaking, writing, listening , recite important language points. Tell them to spend much more time on English study, etc.
We know ,English in China, is still a foreign language, but not a second language. That’s to say ,we have no atmosphere, we have no language sense. How to resolve these problems? The first thing is that we should give students more opportunities to practice in class and after class. The students are sensitive to their environments. So the students should used English as much as possible ,as often as possible. Secondly ,fluency is the primary goals. So the teacher should be tolerant of students’ mistakes. Otherwise, they will not say anything, and they will feel too shame to go on speaking. So the teachers should encourage student as to communicate from the very beginning, the teachers should encourage students to express themselves by gesture or facial expressions. In a word, effective communication is sought everywhere.
To develop and train the linguistic sense is very important. The teachers should teach the students to do more reading, listening. The students can listen to the radio, watch TV, and read the books that they can understand . Taking any chance to learn English . Furthermore, the students should do more recitation . recitation is one of the best ways of English study. Third, the students should speak English as much as possible.
Though the ways we involved play a vital role in teaching, there are still a lot of things to do. Many advanced methods are rising, such as the methods of Zhang Daozhong ’s , LiYang ’s crazy English ,etc. Language capacity includes listening, speaking, reading , writing and interpreting. How to resolve these problems? Lin Yutang, a well-known linguistist, said, “The only way of learning English is imitation and recitation .In another word, that means the teachers teach the students to spend more time on reading. They read not only words, sentences, but also articles, stories, prose, poems and so on. So that the students develop their linguistic sense as soon as possible.
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邓良平,汪佳奇: <<中国人学英语的困境思索及解决之道>>.