-
一名语言教师的个人看法
威尔
?
皮德克罗夫特
1
我每天都会在报纸上、公共汽车上看到各种广告,声称轻轻松松就能学好英语。按
照这些广告的说法,学生不必费什么力气,要说一口流利的英语只需短短
3
个月
,
甚至
10
天就行。
广告还常常提到威廉
?
莎士比亚和查尔斯
?
狄更斯等英语文学
大师的名号进一
步激励学生。每当看到诸如此类的广告时,我真是哭笑不得。如果学英语
真像这些广告
所说的那么轻松,我恐怕得另谋出路了,因为不需要那么多合格的英语教师
了。但是肯
定有许多人相信这些可笑的噱头,不然的话这些广告也不可能出现。
2
学生们喜欢实惠的速成学习方法也
在情理之中,但要用浅显易懂的语言去解释为什
么某一方法比另一方法更有效并不是一件
简单的事,
而且也无需装模作样地声称有什么
人已经找到了一个
万能的适合所有学习环境的教学方法。
一些专家甚至认为,有多少个
好老师就有多少种好的教学方法,因为每一个老师都有其自身的特点。
这种说法无疑
是
有几分道理的,但对学生来说不是很有帮助。
3
有很长一段时间,人们认为学好一门语言唯一的方法
就是去使用那种语言的国家待
上一段时间。当然去英国、美国、或者澳大利亚等国家学英
语的学生肯定比那些不能去
的学生具有很大优势,但是很多学生支付不起那笔费用。有些
学生走向另一极端:他们
认为可以借助词典在家自学。
如果你认
为英语中的每一个词在另一语言中都有完全对等
的词,那就错了,反之亦然。通过翻译法
来给学生讲解口语的自然形式是不可能的,更
不要说做到语音、语调地道了。
4
现在大量的教学活动还是建立在行为
主义心理学的基础之上。行为主义者热衷于让
学生复述短语,不断做一些只需更换句中某
个词的练习。假如我们是鹦鹉或黑猩猩,那
这些方法或许能奏效,可惜我们不是,这似乎
让很多理论家引以为憾,否则他们提出的
那些方法用起来就会容易得多了。
5
我个人认为,假如没有兴趣,任何人都
不可能学好英语或其它任何语言。与鹦鹉或
黑猩猩不同,人类不会无缘无故地发出噪音,
除非他们明白这些声音是什么意思,并且
能将其与自己的生活联系起来。值得牢记的是:
语言是一种交际手段,人们在母语中怎
么说怎么写,用另一种语言表达时也大同小异。因
此,人们所听所读的不应该是程式化
的东西,听的读的材料必须真实自然。
6
还有一个相关的问题值得一提:在交际
时我们需要有交谈或倾听的对象。在学习较
生疏的内容时,
如果
身边的其他学生能和我们在一起学习,一起练习那些陌生的语言形
式,用真实的语言去谈
论真实的生活,那一定会受益匪浅
学会去读书
约翰
.
霍尔特
1
在我曾经任教的一个班上,许多孩子学习起来非常吃
力,尤其是阅读。
因此我决定
不惜任何代价消除他们对书籍的恐
惧和厌恶心理,让他们能够多读些书,更勇于尝试。
2
开学后没多久,
有一天我对孩子们说:
“
我要跟你们说说读书的事,
也许还没有哪个
< br>老师这样对你们讲过。
今年我想要你们读许多书,
但是我
想要你们只需要为了寻求乐趣
而读书,我不会提问题去检查你们读懂了没有。如果你们读
懂了一点儿,觉得会喜欢这
本书,并愿意把它读完,这就够了。我也不会去考你们词语的
意思。
”
3
“
最后,
”
我继续说道,
p>
“
你们不要觉得读一本书就得把它读完。先读三、四十页,看
看故事情节如何发展。如果你不喜欢书中人物,或者对他们的经历不感兴趣,只管合上
书,放到一边,去读另一本。你们读的书是难还是容易、篇幅长还是篇幅短,我都不在
意,只要你们喜欢就行。另外,我会写信把我的意思告诉你们的家长,好让他们知道没
有必要在家里查问或检查你们的读书情况。
”
4
孩子们都愣住了,坐着不出声。这真的是老师在说话
吗?其中一个女孩,因为功课
不好最近才转学到我们学校来,后来我发现她非常有趣、活
泼、聪明,在我所有的学生
中都算突出的。
我讲完后,
她盯住我看了很久。
然后,
她继续看着我,
p>
缓慢而严肃地问:
“
霍尔特先生,你说的话
是真的吗?
”
我也同样严肃地回答:
“
真的,一点不假。
”
5
显然,
她打算照我说的办。
她读的第一本书是瑟斯博士写的
《格林奇偷走圣诞节》
,
这本书对大多数三年级的学生都不算难,更不要说这个年级的孩子了。
有一阵子,她读
的都是这个难易度的书。也许她是在消除对阅读的一些困惑,而以前她没
时间去做,因
为老师总是催促她看这个年级
“
< br>该看的书
”
。她在这个班上学习了大概六周后,我们成了
好朋友。
我试探地向她建议:
既然她喜
欢马,
而且骑马的水平还不错,
她可以读一读
< br>《玉
女神驹》。我尽可能委婉地提出这个建议。我只告诉她那是一个关于一个热爱
马并常常
骑马的女孩的故事;如果她不喜欢读,她可以放回去。她去读了,也许她觉得这
本书比
她先前读的书要难点,但是她读完了,而且挺喜欢。
6
春季的那一学期,她的表现可真的让我吃惊了。一天
,在我们的自习课上我看到她
坐在课桌前看书。我瞥了一眼书中的插图就知道这是一本什
么书了。我心想:
“
不可能
吧。
”
我走过去仔细一看,她果然在读《白鲸》,是配有罗克威尔
?
肯特木刻画的那个版
本。我走近她的课桌,<
/p>
这时她抬起头来。我问她:
“
你真的在看
这本书吗?
”
她说,是的。
我又问:<
/p>
“
你喜欢这本书吗?
”“
嗯,是的。这本书很好。
”
她答道。
< br>“
你不觉得有些地方很
难吗?
”
我又问道。
“
有啊,不过,看不懂就跳
过去,挑有意思的地方看。
”
她这样回答。
7
真正的阅读就该如此。
但是上学时,
阅读不见得总是有趣或让人喜欢。
拿上一本书,
钻进去,读有趣的部分,跳过不好的部分,尽可能从书中得到点收获,然后再去读其它<
/p>
书。为什么非要让每个孩子读一样的书,作出同样没有意义的
“<
/p>
理解
”
呢
?
Listen and Respond
Task One Focusing on the Main
Ideas
Choose the best answer
to complete each of the following sentences
according to the information contained
in the listening passage.
1) In this monologue Alberto tells us
that ________.
A) he is
interested in language research
B) he is good at Chinese and
German
C) he has a degree in
political science
D) he
wants to be a language teacher
2) According to
Alberto, he is not very good at ________ in
learning foreign
languages.
A)
verb tenses
B) reading speed
C) speaking D) spelling
3) To learn a
foreign language well, Alberto strongly emphasizes
________.
A) watching TV in
that language
B) reading
extensively in that language
C) communicating with native
speakers
D) reading about
the culture of that language
4) In this
monologue Alberto talks about all of the following
EXCEPT
________.
A) why he likes to learn foreign
languages
B) when he first
started learning a new language
C) why learning foreign languages is
necessary
D) some helpful
ways he finds in learning a new
language
5) One of the reasons why Alberto
learns multiple languages is that
________.
A) he has a
natural talent in learning languages
B) he can study political science in
greater depth
C) he is
attracted by the beauty of different
languages
D) he can broaden
his mind by knowing more languages
Task Two
Zooming In on the Details
Listen to the recording again and fill
in each of the blanks according
to what
you have heard.
1) Alberto
has started learning
English
,
French
,
Portuguese and
Italian
, and he
would also love to learn
Chinese
and
German
in the near
future.
2) Alberto is confident that
with time and practice
he
can overcome the
difficulties he
encounters in learning new languages.
3) According to
Alberto, learning a new language besides one’s
mother tongue
can be useful,
especially in a world where distances
are shortened
and people
from different countries communicate
with each other
more frequently
.
4) He
recommends(
推荐
)three good
ways of language learning. They are:
a.
read a lot
b. watch a lot of television in that
language; and
c.
listen to CDs
.
5) He also
mentions three other things that are helpful for
learning a language.
They
are:
a.
good
dictionaries
;
b.
vocabulary books; and
c.
the Internet .
6) Finally Alberto says
learning a language might seem a little
difficult at first
,
or even strange, but one will get used
to it. Though the learning process is long
and it
never
ends
, it is also
highly
enjoyable
.
Related
Information
Task One
Discovering the Main Ideas
1
Answer the following questions with the
information contained in
Text
A.
1) According to Will
Pidcroft, the writer of this text, can English be
mastered
within a very short period of
time? Does he provide any evidence to support his
view?
No, Will
Pidcroft doesn’t think that English can be
mastered within a short
period of time.
He says that in fact English is not that easy to
learn; otherwise,
he wouldn’t be
working as an English teacher any mor
e
as there would be far
less demand for
trained English teachers.
2) Does he support the idea
that a language is best learned where it is
spoken?
Yes, he
does.
3) What is the belief held by
behaviorists in terms of language
learning?
Behaviorists
believe that language learning is a kind of habit
formation. So they
are fond of making
students repeat phrases and do exercises where
they
continually have to change one
word in a sentence. They assume that people
learn things very much like parrots and
chimpanzees.
4) What does Pidcroft say about one’s
interest in language learning?
Pidcroft thinks that interest is a very
important factor in language learning. No
one can ever learn to speak English or
any other language unless he or she is
interested in it.
5) What
distinguishes human beings from parrots and
chimpanzees according
to
Pidcroft?
Parrots and
chimpanzees make noises that are meaningless while
the speech
sounds human beings make are
meaningful and they can relate them to their
own lives. In other words, human beings
use language to communicate.
2 Write down
the main idea of each paragraph in the space
provided
1) Para.
1:
Advertisements often give
the false impression that learning English is easy
and
does not need much
effort.
2) Para. 2:
There
is no such thing as a good method that suits all
students in every
situation.
3) Para.
3:
People used to believe
that the only way to learn a language was to spend
a lot
of time in a country where it was
spoken. The other extreme is that some think
that they can learn a foreign language
at home relying solely on dictionaries.
4) Para.
4:
Teaching methods based on
the behaviourist theory may not work, as human
beings are not parrots or chimpanzees.
5)
Para. 5:
Interest is the key
to learning a language, which is a means of
communication.
6) Para. 6:
To
learn a language well, it is important that we
have other people to talk to
and listen
to.
Task Two Reading Between the
Lines
1
Read the following statements and then
decide whether each of
them is true or
false based on the information in the text. Write
T for
True and F for False in the space
provided before each
statement.
1)
T
In order to catch the
attention of potential learners, advertisements
usually
exaggerate(
夸大
)the fast pace
and great ease of learning English.
2)
T
To be able to read the original works
by great writers can be a motivation
for people to learn the language of
those great writers.
3)
F
People don’t believe what
advertisements say about langua
ge
learning at
all.
(Lots of people must believe what
advertisements say; otherwise, the
advertisements would no longer
exist.)
4)
T
Each
individual teacher may have his or her unique way
of
teaching a
language.
5)
F
The only way
to learn a language well is to go and live in
a
country where it is
spoken.
(Living in a country
where the target language is spoken has advantages
over
many other methods.)
6)
F
Learning a language is just like how a
parrot imitates a human
being.
(Language
learning must be meaningful. A parrot, however,
makes
meaningless noises by imitating
human beings.)
2 Read the following sentences
carefully and discuss in pairs what
the
author intends to say by the italicized
parts.
1) But it is
difficult for anyone to explain in simple language
why one method is
better than another,
and
it is no use pretending that anyone
has discovered a
perfect way of
teaching English in every possible
situation
. (Para. 2)
There is no such thing as the best way
of teaching English which suits all
situations.
2) A large number of
theorists seem to think
it is a pity we
aren’t, because it
would
make it easier to use their methods
.
(Para. 4)
Many behaviorist
theorists wish that human beings were just like
parrots or
chimpanzees, so that they
could use their methods of teaching on human
beings with ease.
3) Human
beings, unlike parrots and chimpanzees,
do not like making noises
unless they understand what the noises
mean and can relate them to their own
lives.
(Para. 5)
Human beings are not like animals. When
they talk, they make speech sounds
that
are meaningful and relevant to their
lives.
Task Three Voicing Your
Views
1)
2) Is Chinese as difficult for a
foreigner to learn as English is for a Chinese?
Give
reasons to support your
view.
Yes. Chinese is as
difficult for a foreigner to learn as English is
for a Chinese.
But for learners of a
foreign language that belongs to the same language
family
as their mother tongue, some
aspects may seem easier. But overall, all
languages are equally difficult (or
equally easy) to learn.
3) Do you think motivation
is a very important factor in learning a
foreign
language? Are you
highly motivated to learn English? Why or why
not?
Yes, it is. Motivation
is always an important factor in learning a
foreign
language.
Teachers may ask students to select
some students in their class who are
very
good in English and ask
them to discuss if these students are motivated or
not
in
learning
English. Teachers may guide students to list all
kinds of motivations
into
two general types: instrumental
motivation and integrative motivation.
4) Do you
believe what advertisements say about the fast
pace and great ease
of
learning a foreign language? Why or why
not?
Checking Your Vocabulary
Word Detective
1
Play detective and find the required word in Text
B according to the
clues given. Then,
make at least two sentences with each of the
words you have found. The number of the
paragraph in which the
target word
appears is given in brackets.
1) A verb meaning “to be worried,
anxious,
or concerned about
sb. or sth.”:
(Para. 3)
Write down the target word here:
care
a.
When her cat died, Mary did not seem to
care
at all.
b.
The only thing he
cares
about is money. That
is why I don’t like him.
2) A verb meaning “to fill
with great surprise and perhaps disbelief”: (Para.
6)
Write down the target
word here:
astonish
a.
He was
astonished
to learn that he
had won the first prize.
b.
My parents looked
astonished
when I told them the news.
3) A noun
meaning “a journey, experience, etc. that
is strange, exciting and
often dangerous”: (Para. 7)
Write down the target word here:
adventure
a.
He spent almost two hours talking about
his
adventures
in the
Himalayas.
b.
We
were all stunned by his
adventures
in the forest.
4) A noun meaning “the
state of being mixed up or mistaken”: (Para.
5)
Write down the target
word here:
confusion
a.
There’s still
confusion
about the number
of people who got killed in the
accident.
b.
There was some
confusion
as to whether we had won or lost the
game.
5) A noun
meaning “a quick
look at or an incomplete view of sb. / sth.”:
(Para.
6)
Write
down the target word here:
glimpse
a.
To catch a
glimpse
of their movie star, some of the fans
had waited 24
hours outside
the hotel before he showed up.
b.
I just caught a
glimpse
of the thief, so I
can’t really describe him now.
6) A noun
meaning “a drawing or picture in a book, magazine,
etc.
especially one that
explains sth.”: (Para. 6)
Write down the target word here:
illustration
a.
She looked like a princess in a
nineteenth-century
illustration
.
b.
As far as this book is
concerned, the
illustrations
are better than the text
itself.
7) A noun meaning “a number
of copies of a book, newspaper, magazine, etc.
that are produced and printed at one
time”: (Para. 6)
Write down
the target word here:
edition
a.
In his library he keeps some valuable
first
editions
of well-known
authors.
b.
The
last
edition
of the
newspaper comes out at midnight.
8) An adjective
meaning “having or showing powers of learning,
reasoning,
or
underst
anding, esp. to a high degree”:
(Para. 4)
Write down the
target word here:
intelligent
a.
It is such an enjoyable experience to
teach those
intelligent
boys
and girls.
b.
He
has read a lot and can ask
intelligent
questions and put forward
intelligent
suggestions.
2 Rewrite each of the
following sentences with a phrase that appears
in Text B. Focus on the italicized
parts. The number of the paragraph
in
which the target phrase appears is given in
bracket.
1) When I started
learning English, I
had some difficulty
in
pronouncing such
sounds
as /?
/ and /ai/. (Para. 1)
When I started learning English, I
had some trouble with
such
sounds as
/?
/ and
/ai/.
2) We must protect our environment from
pollution(
污染
)
no
matter what we
have to do
.
(Para. 1)
We must protect
our environment from pollution
at all
costs
.
3) I’m glad
that
I’ve finally freed myself from
that
annoying fellow
.
(Para.
1)
I’m glad
to
rid myself of
that annoying
fellow.
4) You’d better do it now, or you will
feel sorry.
I’m serious about what I
s
ay.
(Para. 4)
You’d better do it now, or you will
feel sorry.
I mean every word of
it
.
5) I’m assuming that the
misunderstanding will be
settled and an
explanation
will be given.
(Para. 5)
I’m
assuming that the misunderstanding will be
cleared up
.
6) I said that
he would be late for class, and
as had
been exactly expected
, he
did come to class 10 minutes late.
(Para. 6)
I said that he
would be late for class, and
sure
enough
he did come to class 10
minutes late.
7) As soon as he got hold
of a book about personality development, he
started
reading it keenly
and whole-heartedly.
(Para.
7)
As soon as he got hold of
a book about personality development, he
dived
into
it
.
Checking Your Comprehension
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