小学英语教学技能培训教程.doc

Chapter 1How Children Learn English引言：儿童与身俱来对世界就有自己独特的感受和观察的角度。他们活泼好动；他们对周围的事物充满好奇；他们对一切充满幻想；他们富有创造力。这些独特的本性在他们本族语习得与学习中经常被无意识地运用，并成为他们掌握本族语的保障之一。这些独特的本性一旦在外语学习中得到充分的利用与发挥，将会成为他们学习外语的巨大推动力。本章试图探讨儿童语言学习的特点，并以此揭示推动儿童学好外语的方法。Objectives By the end of this chapter, hopefully you will be able to l Identify childrens special characteristics and instincts in language learning.l Explain how these abilities may support childrens foreign language learning.l Exploit childrens characteristics in your teaching contexts.l Understand the influence of language learning conditions.l Provide more favorable conditions for language teaching.Part 1 Childrens characteristics and instinctsIn foreign language teaching, only when we know our learners well can we find the best Way to teach. We need to unpack the generalizations to find out what lies underneath as characteristics of children as language learners. Knowing childrens characteristics and instincts in foreign language learning makes effective teaching possible.characteristics and instincts: qualities which will help children to learn a foreign language, e.g. the skill in using limited language creatively, imagination, etc. Context : language takes place in a particular situation for a purpose with specific participants with reference to events or topics this is all parts of the context and these aspects help to give clues to the meaning.Task 1.1 How good learners learn English Before exploring childrens special characteristics and instincts in foreign language learning directly, lets prepare ourselves with the following discussion: Think about your children learning English and answer the following questions:1. What do they like doing in the classroom?2. What do good English learners do in the classroom?Good language learnersImitate teachers and tapesTask 1.2 Children are imaginative Read Anecdote 1 and then brainstorm the following questions in pairs or groups.Anecdote 1Context: the children are in their 3rd year of English learning and they have learnt words of weather . The teacher is playing music with a tape recorder. Here comes the music with something like bird singing. The teacher is asking the children to listen and imagine: Whats the weather going to be like on the moon? One of the children guesses:“Its going to be fine.”Another one guesses:“Its going to be warm. ”The teacher praises both of them and encourages others to make imaginative conclusions. Explore: examine thoroughly in order to find out. Anecdote: short, interesting or amusing story about a real person or event.Brainstorm: if a group of people brainstorm, they have a meeting in which they all put forward as many ideas and suggestions as they can think of. Questions:1、 What are the children doing in this activity?2、 What sentences are they practising?3、 Think of your pupils: do they like imagining? Can you give us any examples of activities where they have used their imagination?4、 What characteristic of children does this example indicate?5、 What teaching implications can we get from this example?Commentary The more interesting the learning activity is, the more children will get involved in it. In the NEC, one of the basic learning strategies is “to build up imagination between the words and the corresponding things or objects”(2001:23). By making good use of their capability of imagination, children can have a better understanding of the target language, and we can create a more interesting situation for them, in which they can experience many interesting and unusual things that they dont have chance to experience in the real word. Therefore, English learning becomes more enjoyable to them and their interest to learn and desire to participate in the learning activities will be increased. Furthermore ,they will have more language input and more opportunities to practice the target language .Task 1.3 Children focus on meaning firstRead Anecdote 2 and then brainstorm the following questions in pairs or groups.Anecdote 2Context: in this lesson, the teacher is talking about a sports meeting with the first year English learners. He is asking David: “Whats your favorite sports ? ”T: teacher / D: DavidT: Hi, David! Whats your favorite sports ?D: I favorite sport is basketball.T: I favorite?D: I faT: “I” favorite or “My” favorite?D：My favorite sport is basketball.Questions:1、 In the anecdote, there is a breakdown in the talk between David and the teacher. What is the reason for it?2、 What does the teacher focus on? What does the boy focus on?3、 When you talk to each other, do you focus on meaning or grammar?4、 What characteristic of children does this example indicate?5、 What teaching implications can we get from this example? input: the language that the child is exposed to through listening to the teacher , peers or tapes etc. Or through written text. This provides the raw material for the child to work and develop his / her internal language system.CommentaryThrough relating their knowledge of everyday life and finding the clues provided by the situation , realia, ,or pictures, children tend to work out the meaning from a situation first instead of paying attention to words and grammar , like the boy in this example . Children have a good instinct for interpreting the meaning of a situation , This ability to go for meaning first is very useful in language learning. We, as teachers , should allow children to focus on meaning initially , and respond to their interest in what is going on .Furthermore , we should make full use of gestures, intonations , demonstrations , actions and facial expressions to convey what we mean . We should also provide meaningful context , in which children can make use of their sense-making ability , like stories ,action games , dramas , project work , etc. realia : real objectsTask1.4 Children use language creativelyWe are usually surprised by what children say . Read the following anecdote , brainstorm the following questions and find out clues about how children learn language from the words they say .Anecdote 3 The teacher wants to play a cartoon VCD but she forgets to turn on the TV . she murmurs : “Whats wrong ? ”One student says : “Open the TV .”And the teacher says : “ Oh, thats right . Turn on the T V .” 1. What dose the student mean when he says “Open the TV ” ?2. Dose the student focus on meaning or grammar ?3. In your opinion , how has the student learnt “ Open ” and “ the TV ” ? how dose he make up the sentence ?4. When the student says the wrong sentence , what dose the teacher say ?Dose she force the student to correct the sentence ?5. What characteristic of children dose this example indicate ?6. What teaching implications can we get from this example ? CommentaryThe boy in this example makes up a new sentence to express himself , i.e . “Open the TV .” He is focusing on the meaning he wants to express , and he is experimenting with the previously learnt language creatively , since he has a real need to do so ,Therefore , teachers supportive behavior ,such as listening with interest and patience ,allowing them to make mistakes , and encouraging them to say what they really think , provide children with opportunities to use the language they have already learnt and try it out in new contexts . Gradually , a sense of confidence will be built up ,Teachers should also provide helpful feedback to help children to confirm or correct their inner guesses about language . feedback :information provided to someone on his or her performance . For example , if a teacher suggests a boy give more details about the accident he wrote about in his composition ,this is a kind of feedback .Task1.5 Children learn by doingRead the following anecdote and then brainstorm the question in pairs or groups .Anecdote 4Context the teacher has just presented new words : “ nose ” ,“ ear ” , “ mouth ” and “ eye ” with a story .She used the phrase “Touch your ” with actions in the story .Now the teacher is asking the children to act like the monkey in the story and play an action game with her . (T : teacher .)T : Touch your nose .Most children touch their noses by themselves ,some imitate their classmates action .T : Touch your eyeAs the children have reacted correctly , the teacher says the instructions faster to make it more challenging . Every child join in the activity and sometimes they laugh .Question :1. What activity are the children doing ?2. What helps the children understand the phase “ Touch your ”3. Are the children enjoying the activity ? Why ?4. What characteristic of children dose this example indicate ?5. What teaching implications can we get from this example ?CommentaryChildren are energetic and active . They learn well by doing actions in which teachers convey the meaning of words . Physical activities like action games , songs , crafts making and drama provide rich contexts for language learning . The purpose is to expose children to the target language , and reinforce their money with actions . Besides , children to develop their listening ability much earlier than their speaking or writing abilities . They might gain confidence and have an active understanding of the target language , without the stress of giving output at an early stage .Task1.6 children pick up chunk easilyRead the following anecdote , which shows two Chinese-speaking children learning English in a big city in china .Lets see how children make use of ready-made phrases of language . Brainstorm the questions in pairs or groups . target language : language to learn . output :the production of language . chunks : big pieces . Chunks of language are words that are often found together , making phrases .Anecdote 5Context : Alex , a first-year English learner ,is playing His teacher Miss Li comes and has a conversation with him .Miss Li : Alex ,今天你值日，该扫地了。（Alex , youre on duty today . Its time to sweep the floor .）Alex : Yes , Madam .Miss Li smiles and says : Good boy !你这句英语哪里学来的？（Good boy ! Where did you learn this sentence ?）Alex : 电视上学的。（From TV .）Questions :1. What sentence dose Alex say in English ?2. Where did he learn it ?3. Did he use it correctly?4. Have you heard your pupils say any phrases or sentences in English learned out of class ? What are they ? Where did they probably learn them ? 5. What English does the teacher say to the boy ? Why does she say it in English ? Can the boy understand it ? 6. What characteristic of childern does this example indicate ? 7. What teaching implications can we get from this example ? CommentaryThe conversation in Chinese until Alex produces a “chunk”of language in English:Yes , Madam ! He may not have been taught this expression formally ,but he could use it properly . At an early stage of language learning , childing have so limited an amount of vocabulary that they are keen on imitating the language around them .Usually ,they pick up the language as chunks and learn them as a whole , e.g. Come on ! Ah ,I see .Good-bye ! Game over !Thank you! Just do it ! etc .We find that songs , chants and stories are valuable resources which provide lots of ready-made bits of language . These bits of language ,or chunks , enable children to take in and play an active role in conversations . Again in conversations , they get a lot of exposure to the language .Part2 Childrens characteristics and teaching context Know childrens characteristics is not enough ,since teaching situations vary from place to place ,and from person to person . It is essential to analyze your own situation and textbook and apply childrens characteristics flexibly in teaching .Heres a checklist for you to consider when you analyze activities in you text book .1. Will the children like the activities ?Why or why not ?2. Which of childrens characteristics or instincts do these activities take account of ?3. How can you support children to learn by using their characteristics and instincts ?_pick up: to learn unconsciously.checklist:a list of questions which helps to draw out a set of criteria or to analyze.Task 2.1 Analyze your own textbooksChoose two activities from different textbooks . You are going to :1. make a poster about the childrens characteristics and implications concerned in the activities;2. decide which activity is more favourable for childrens language learning ;3. share your poster with others.SummaryIt is pointed out in the NEC that one of the English course in the elementary education , is to cultivate childrens interest in English learning ,and help them build up self-confidence .Childrens characteristics and instincts in their language learning are valuable and supportive factors which will speed up their learning if teachers can make good use of them.Here is a summary of some of the important characteristics of children:l Children are imaginative.l Children focus on meaning first.l Children use language creatively.l Children learn by doing .l Children pick up chunks easily . 小结：本章通过对儿童学习、生活过程中使用外语的具体事例的分析，总结了儿童学习外语独具的特征，初步探讨了根据各种特点所得的教学启示。在以后的几章将通过探讨各种教学方法，更详细地讨论如何利用儿童的特点来设计教学活动。合理利用儿童特点，能帮助我们顺利、有效地进行课堂活动，使学生能更有效地学习英语。此章讨论的儿童特点是为各个年龄段儿童共有的特点。在今后的教学中，应注意观察不同年龄阶段儿童表现出来的差异，不断进行教学反思，使我们的教学工作开展得更成功。ReflectionWhat have you learnt in this chapter ?Bibliography1. The National English Curriculum . Beijing Normal University Press , 2001 2. Cameron, L . Teaching language to Young Learners . Oxford University Press , 20013. Halliwell,S.Teaching English in Primary School . Pearson Education Limited , 19924. Moon , J . Children Learning Language . Cambridge University Press , 20015. Willis , J . A Framework of Task-basked Learning . Longman , 2001Suggested Answers Task 1.11. They like:l moving.l singing.l playing games.l speaking.l watching video .2. Good learners :l imitate teachers and tapes ;l do things or carry out tasks ;l play ;l interact with others ;l make mistakes ;l are encouraged ;l are willing to take risks ;l listen and speak more than others . interact : act together or co-operatively, so as to communicate with each other.You may add more to this list . It seems that children learn a foreign language better by conduting the above-mentioned behaviors . What factors lead to these behaviors ? Now , we will discuss some instincts that children are both with , which may give us some hints in our English teaching .Task 1.21. They are listening to the tape recorder and guessing “Whats the weather going to be like in the moon ?”2. Theyre are practising :“Its going to be .”3. Yes , they do . Other possible imaginative activities include : asking the children to read the text like a sick old man , telling children a story and then asking them to make up their own ending , asking the children to act like a monkey or other animals in the story they have read , making their own words to a song ,etc .4. From the example , we have learnt that children have the characteristic of imagination .5. In our teaching ,we can use teachniqes , e.g.special voices , parts of pictures ,actions , etc.to arouse their imagination . Or we can use activities involving imagination to help children learn language . E.g. telling a story ,making up a story ,a guessing game , role playing ,etc.Task 1.31. The reason for the breakdown is that David and the teacher have different focuses on the description.2. David is trying to tell the teacher what his favourite sport is, whereas the teacher is concerned with getting the grammar right,i.e.the teacher focuses on form, while David focuses on the meaning.3. When we talk on each other, we focus on meaning first.4. This example shows that children have the characteristic of going for meaning first,They can work out the meaning of a situation according to their life experience and knowledge.5. When we present new words, we do not need to translate English into Chinese.We can set up a meaningful situation to help children work out the meaning of words by themselves, For example we can show them pictures, actions or gestures etc.we also need to provide meaningful situation for them to use language.E.g.make a survey etc.Task 1.41. He means Turn on the TV.2. He focuses on meaning.3. Yes, he has. He has probably learnt phrases like Open the book and TV.But he has not learnt turn on. So he uses open the TV to express the meaning of turn on the TV.4. The teacher says, Oh,thank you. Turn on the TV. No, she doesnt. Because she doesnt want to discourage the student.5. From this example, we learn that we should allow children to make mistakes when they try out their language. In classroom learning, we may provide free atmosphere and real situation for children to try out their language. We also need to give helpful feedback to help them confirm their trying.Task 1.51. They are playing an action game.2. The teachers model actions in the story help the children understand the phrase.And the action game helps the children practise understanding the words with their own actions.3. Yes, they are. Because they all join in the activity and sometimes laugh. The children like moving in the class. They will not sit still in the classroom all the time.4. This example shows that children have the characteristics of learning by doing.5. When we present new language, we may use body language to help children understand the meaning of the new language. After we have presented new