英语教学法原著选读5：把交流进行到底·确立英语为主要教室语言

本篇选自《英语教学成功之道》（上海外语教育出版社）pp. 5-10.

前面几篇有朋友反映没什么可操作的内容，要求上点具体的。今天就给大家来一篇带“教学金点子”的，至于说是不是金点子，那要看老师们觉得怎样了。为了保留一点英文原文，本篇有两个地方没有翻译，但相信老师们肯定没问题的。

今天的篇目没有什么槽点，就不评述了，朋友们也省点力气，总是看吐槽也没多大意思。

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原文

Communication first and last

If communication in English is to be perceived by the learners as the main goal of the course, English should be used for real communication in the classroom as much as possible. This means introducing some of the English needed for genuine communication early in the course, for example, that needed for routine greetings, instructions, and requests. And, depending on the overall objectives of the course, as much time as possible should also be given to realistic work on the language skills that the learners need to master, for example, conversation, reading comprehension, or written composition.

This may mean seeing your course syllabus in a new way. It may seem on the surface that the most important element in the syllabus is a sequence of new language items. However, if you look more carefully, you will probably find that you are also expected to enable the learners to communicate in real situations. You may also find that you are expected to run the class mostly in English, avoiding complicated discussion of the new language items in the learners’ native language.

To do this successfully, especially with beginners, you will need techniques that allow you to focus on new language items without using the learners’ first language much. You will also need techniques for establishing and developing English as the main classroom language, for if you simply ‘speak English all the time’ you will quickly drive beginners, and even more advanced learners, to despair!

English as the main classroom language

Among the many possible uses of English in the classroom are:

-- greetings and farewells, for example: ‘Good morning. How are you?’; ‘See you tomorrow.’

-- instructions, for example: ‘Open your books at page sixty-two. Look at the picture.’

-- enquiries （询问）, for example: ‘Can you see, David? Would you like to move over here?’

-- feedback, for example: ‘That’s interesting, Maria. Very good.’

-- chat, for example, calling roll （点名）: ‘Tony...No? Where is he today? Does anyone know?’

Many of these interactions recur naturally, class after class. They can quickly become routines for the learners, just as they would learn common interactions if they were living in an English speaking country. Some teachers try to introduce English in the classroom little by little, using the learners’ first language most of the time at first. This is rather like trying to give up smoking little by little -- it hardly ever works. One of your first objectives in an English language course, even with beginners, should be to establish English as the main classroom language.

Teaching ideas

教学金点子

Here are some of the most useful techniques for presenting new English expressions for use in the classroom:

Demonstration with actions and objects

For example, close your own book as you say ‘Close your books’, hold up a sheet of paper as you say ‘Take a sheet of paper, one sheet of paper’, or draw columns on the board as you say ‘Draw three columns like this’.



Gesture and mime

For example, make the typical gesture with your hand as you say ‘Stand up’, ‘Come here’, or ‘Sit down’; mime writing as you say ‘Write the answers’, or mime distributing things as you say ‘Please give out these photocopies’.

Paraphrase

Use a cognate expression, that is, one similar to an expression in the learners’ first language -- for example, ‘That’s correct’ helps Spanish learners understand ‘That’s right’, and ‘Excellent’ helps them understand ‘Very good’.

Translation into English

For example, learners may say in their L1 ‘What does that mean?’, ‘I don’t understand’, or ‘Will you repeat that?’ You can put the English versions of such useful expressions on cards on the wall and point to them when necessary. Add cards for new expressions as you introduce them.

Translation

Give the translation of the new expression the first time you use it, but after that get a learner to demonstrate or, if necessary, translate.

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译文

把交流进行到底

如果要让学习者认为“用英语进行交流”是课程的主要目标，那么课堂上就应该尽可能用英语进行实际交流。这就要在课程早期就介绍一些真实交流所需的英语，例如日常问候、指令和请求用语等。另，有鉴于课程的整体目标，应该把尽可能多的时间用于真实地操练学生需要掌握的语言技能上，如会话、阅读理解或作文。

这可能就要求你以新的眼光看待课程大纲。表面上看来可能大纲里最重要的元素是一系列新的语言项目。然而，如果细看，就会发现也要求教师传授学生在真实情境下的交流能力。可能你还会发现要求教师基本上以英语进行课堂管理，避免用学生的母语进行复杂的新语言项目讨论。

要成功地做到这一点，特别是对于初学者，教师需要一定技能，才能在不大量使用学生第一语言的情况下聚焦新的语言项目。也需要确立并逐步操练英语作为主要课堂用语，因为如果只是“一直讲英语”的话，初学者、乃至高年级生也要被你吓傻了！

英语作为主要的课堂语言

课堂上英语有许多用途：

这些互动大多自然而然地反复出现，日复一日如此。这些话语可能很快就成为学生习惯的用语，就好比他们住在英语国家能够学会常见的言语互动一样。一些老师试着在课堂上一点一点地引入英语，从一开始大部分时间仍然使用学生的第一语言。这倒像是一点一点地戒烟——不太可能有用的。英语语言课程的首要目标之一，即便是初学者，也应该是确立英语作为主要课堂语言的地位。