The teacher’s role in the oral lesson –a reminder.doc

theteachersroleintheorallessonareminder作者：范夏英 文章来源：本站原创 点击数： 4837 更新时间：2004-6-15outline1. raise the question-what roles in the oral lesson the teacher should aim to fulfill.2. the teacher should be a motivator.3. the teacher should be an informant4. the teacher should be a conductor5. the teacher should be a diagnoser.6. the teacher should be a corrector.7. give the conclusion - the teacher must seek to encourage the students with a sympathetic attitude.abstract: in the oral lesson, the teacher should be a motivator, informant, conductor, diagnoser and corrector. the teacher must seek to encourage the students with a sympathetic attitude.the teachers role in the oral lesson a reminder in the thick of day-to-day teaching, trying to cram a seemingly endless syllabus into all too few hours, let us sit back a moment and try to remember what roles, in addition to getter-through-of syllabus, we should aim to fulfill. here are a few notes.1. motivatorthe teacher-as-motivator is to my mind the single most important role for, whatever technical virtues a teacher possesses, however good at the language the teacher is, without motivation the students will never learn. the following are motivating factors.personality of the teacher -overall attitude: sensitivity, sympathy, encouragement, openmindedness, flexibility; -avoidance of sarcasm and ridicule aimed at the student; -appropriate personality role according to the situation:a) paternal (authority figure)b) maternal (affectionate figure)c) fraternal (permissive figure). the last of these personality roles is more appropriate to teaching older children and adults.competence and confidence of the teacher the teacher must be seen by the students to be both competent and confident, even if in a limited area. the teacher must be competent in the following:-clarity of thoughtmuddled thinking in the teacher creates confusion in the student;-care in preparation and efficiency in execution -the language being taughtthis does not mean teachers must know everything, merely be competent within the limitations required by their teaching. teachers ability to interest students if the students are bored they will: -not pay attentionnot learn; -be easily distractedget up to mischief prevent others from learning.the teacher must provide interest through:-identifying and catering to the students interests in terms of topics, e.g. themselves (the most interesting topic of all!), their hobbies, ambitions, dreams;-variety of language points, skills practiced, interaction ts, st, ss, pair/group activities;-humor (in visual aids e.g. cartoons; anecdotes and jokes as reading or listening passages; mime); -inherently interesting tasks, e.g. problemsolving. remember that students are more likely to be interested in you and what you are doing if you show an interest in them. no matter how big your class, you must try and get to know your students as people and not just as numbers in a register. do not regard time in class spent on learning about your students as wasted teaching time. on the contrary, the extra motivation generated through this will more than compensate.showing the need students who do not see the point of what they are meant to be learning will not learn well. show the need in terms of:-the syllabus and tests;-what the students do not know (language areas where the students cannot function whether because they have never learnt it or because they have forgotten;-situations/roles in which the students may indeed need to function.2. informantperhaps the most obvious role of the teacher is as an informant. this can be in the following contexts:a) new input (initial presentation);b) extension of already presented material;c) revision (reminding students of forgotten points);d) explanationduring a)-c), but also in remedial work.the teacher needs to bear in mind what and how much information to give, when and how to take a ridiculous example, do not teach the students all the uses of the past perfect (including 3rd conditional and regrets with if only) from a native speakers grammar book when they cannot yet handle is and are!3. conductorby conductor is meant the person who conducts the lesson. this role is concerned with the practical things a teacher needs to be able to do in the lesson. the teacher must be able to:-elicit (draw words/sentences from the students instead of simply giving them);-initiate rules and check that the students have grasped the concepts involved;-explain things and answer students questions;-handle aids;-provide a model for students to imitate;-give cues (for instance in drills);-establish linguistic and situational contexts;-give instructions for activities (especially important in setting up and managing pair and group work);-monitor (check whether the students are doing the activity in the way required, whether they are getting the language points right, whether there are any problems);-correct all these things must be efficiently executed.remember: it is better to be competent in a few things and expand the techniques later than to be incompetent in many and, through the sheer quantity, unable to improve any.4. diagnoser the teacher must be able to diagnose what should be taught by: -showing the need to learn an item (because of lack of knowledge)for instance, by trying unsuccessfully to elicit it; -evaluating the learners errors in terms of the need for remedial work. never forget to praise what the students do know.5. corrector the teacher must come to a decision about what, how much, when and how to correct.what? could be recently taught items, commonly recurring errors, what a student has asked to have corrected, errors just too horrible to leave uncorrected (e.g. mans instead of men).how much? depends on the confidence of the student (according to level, age and character) and on the aim of the activity more correction if the aim is accuracy, less if it is fluency.when? in accuracyorientated activities (e.g. drills), as soon as possible. in fluencyorientated activities (e.g. role-play, discussion), later. you can note down the errors and tell the students and play it back afterwards or, if possible, it is better still to record the activity and play it back afterwards, correcting it.how? remember that no! or thats wrong plus a correct version is not the only way. you can use gestures (shaking you head) or expressions (a grimace). you can react authentically (interpreting the remark/question as actually spoken rather than as obviously intended). try to let the students correct themselves before giving the correct version or let other students help. conclusion