山西省陵川县教育局教研室.ppt

Advice to English Teachers in Mountain Area Lingchuan teaching and research section, Shanxi Li Donglin Foreword v In order to gain an understanding of the local English teaching situation, I went down to the grass-roots level to visit twenty-four junior middle schools. During this time, I not only gave ten English lessons for discussion but also listened to ninety-three English teachers lessons. We appraised each others lessons through discussion. One hundred and sixteen English teachers took an active part in the activity. By this means I found out some problems. The problems have seriously impaired the local English teaching quality. In view of this situation, I give the following advice to English teachers from many years teaching experience of my own. 1.Raise your own professional competence The present situations: lSome teachers pronunciation and intonation are not good. lMost teachers lead a class in reading aloud word by word. lMany students seldom listen to the tape. They cant read English sentence by sentence, but they read it word by word instead. lA number of teachers know nothing about many teaching methods, so they cant use flexible strategy and tactics in class. lSome teachers are lacking in enthusiasm for work. Smiles of pleasure never pass across their faces. lSpeak too much Chinese in English classes. Suggestions: lMake great efforts to learn international phonetic symbols well. Understand the main differences between British English and American English in pronunciation. Read some books about English phonetics in action. lLet students listen to the tape more and read after the teacher less. lStudy many different kinds of teaching methods and learn from others advanced experience. lPractice speaking English in your spare time. Speak more English in class so as to create a favorable English environment. lA teachers smile is a great magnet for students, so you should always smile in class. lResearch on your students and English teaching. Be a teacher of great scholarship, then youll become a happy person. Your lesson will be permeated with fervor. 2.Insist on making people the center The present situations: lMost teachers take teaching materials as the dominant factor. They make plans for teaching materials. After that theyll quicken the pace according to the plan. The thicker the textbook is, the hastier the teacher is. Some students give up learning English because they cant stand the rapid pace. lMost teachers only pay close attention to the top students in the class. lThe students arent divided into helpful groups. lSome teachers are beginning to lose their patience with the students who cant keep up with the others. lA few teachers behavior towards some students shows that they do not like them. However, they need the teachers love and emotional support. The students bad behavior is just the result of emotional problems. Suggestions: lThe English lessons you give must be well received by your students. lTeachers effort must be geared to the needs of all the students. lElect the top students group leaders. Let them work as the teachers of groups. lPatience is a virtue. Youll have to be patient with the students. lYou must love your students and pay great attention to the healthy growth of students lTeachers can take turns making up a missed lesson for the students who fall behind. 3.Intensify training on language skills The present situations: nDo a great number of multiple-choice exercises in grammar. nAttach great importance to explanation. Look down on training on language skills. nSpend a lot of time in explaining grammar. Students havent enough time to practice too much. nStudents dont have very much skill in listening or speaking. nThere are few language skills contests for the students in school. Suggestions nExercises in school work must be carefully chosen by teachers. nTeachers must lay equal stress on knowledge and skills. nTime is pressing and the task heavy, so teachers should save time for students nLet students do more listening, do more speaking, do more reading, and do more writing. nHold several language skills contests for the students in school. The contest must aim to stimulate students interest in English. Encourage students to enter for the contest. nProvide good material for developing the reading skills. The new words account for less than 5% of the material. Increase students reading knowledge in the zone of proximal development. 4. Pay great attention to the guidance with the students methods of learning The present situations: vTeachers seldom teach students methods of study, instead, they pouring out words in a steady flow in class until sending the students to sleep. vStudents dont know how to learn English and what to learn first. vMost students always complain that they cant remember new words. vSome students dont learn English of their own accord. vStudents dont understand there arent really any short cuts to learning English. Suggestions: Students will find out the right way to learn English under the guidance of the teachers. Get students to derive a lot of pleasure from reading, so that they may remember the new words easily. Tell students listening and reading are like energy, speaking and writing are like volume. If the input of energy is increased, the volume will get louder. Since each phase of the development of any phenomenon is permeated with contradictions, teachers should guide children in their studies in each phase. Help the students cultivate the habit of analyzing and solving problems independently. Teachers should offer concrete proposals for learning English and write programs for students, for example, “Listen to the tape before reading Read after the tape. Grasp the meaning of the article. Retell the article (prompted occasionally by Chinese language). Write down the article. Have an achievement test Read English magazines and newspapers.” 5. Put comprehensive evaluation into practice The present situations: Some teachers think the students who get bad marks in written examination are hopeless. But some students among them enunciate their words clearly. Some students handwriting is beautiful. Most students think learning English is only understanding the meaning of the sentences. Some students who get good marks in written examination cant speak fluent English or get bad grades in aural test. The teacher often tests the students knowledge of grammar but not English proficiency, so the students are gradually not interested in English, and then the number of the students who dont pass the English exam is growing. The test is usually beyond the students strength because the examination papers came from other famous schools. Teachers hardly set a paper for their students in the light of the specific conditions. The students will lose confidence in themselves for fear of difficulty. Suggestions: Take encouragements as a purpose to evaluate students. Dont expect them all to stay at the same level and give them a test at different levels so that they can be encouraged at their success. Praise also acts as an encouragement to the young. Let students receive more praise. Each person has his own strong points. Teachers must try their best to find out their merits from various angles. Students should be awarded a prize not only for excellence in their studies but also for great advances in every field of work. Open a file on each student and collect their achievement. Establish a new oral examination and put students calligraphy on show. Students are expected to develop in an all-round way-listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Establish a proper ratio between them so that students might get a high mark and be full of confidence. For example, if you give 120 marks for English , you can give 50 marks for reading, 25 marks for listening, 20 marks for speaking (Give a mark together with other English teachers), 15 marks for writing (An open-book examination), 10 marks for handwriting (copy by hands). 6.Improve interpersonal relationships The present situations lThere is little understanding between English teachers, headmasters, students parents and students, thus teachers are often in a difficult position. lTeachers think that headmasters dont give their full support to a reform in teaching methods. lSome students cant receive a goo