现代大学英语（第三版）口语3-教师用书U8 You Are What You Speak

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U8YouAreWhatYouSpeak

Theme:language,thinkingandidentity

SettingGoals

Inthisunit,youwilllearnto

expressyourideasatgreaterlength;

examinetherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthinking;

discusstheimportanceoflanguageinshapingouridentityandthoughts.

Session1GettingStarted

Warm-up

Focus/Objectives:Thisactivityaimsatguidingstudentstothinkabouttheuseoflanguageanddialectsinsociallife,andmakingthemawareoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandidentity.

Procedures:

Studentsfirstworkinpairs,fortwominutes,anddiscussthetwoquestionsrelatedtothepicture.Theteachertheninvitesstudentstoreporttoclasswhattheyhavediscussed.

AskstudentstoeachinterviewatleastthreeclassmateswhospeakbothPutonghuaandalocaldialectandfindanswerstothetwoquestions.Theteachertheninvitesstudentstoreporttoclasswhattheyhavefoundintheinterview.

Teachingnotes:

Thepicturetask:

Question1:Whatdoyouthinkthecartoonistryingtoshow?

Answer:Asparrowisasmallbrownbird.Heresparrowreferstothe“language”thatthesparrowspeaks,orratherthesoundthatthesparrowmakes.Inthepicture,althoughthebirdslookverysimilar,whenaskedifanyonespeakssparrow,nobodylooksup.Thisindicatesthatifthereisnosharedlanguage,therewillbeacommunicationbreakdown.

Question2:DoyouthinkwearegoingtofacesituationslikethisifwedonothavePutonghuaasacommonlanguageinChina?

Answer:Yes.

Language

isanessentialpartofanyculture,anditservesmanyimportantfunctions.Fromexpressingthoughtstoconnectingwithothers,languageplaysavitalroleinourlives.Itcanbringpeopletogether,buildcommunities,andallowustocommunicatewiththeworldaroundus.Whenpeoplehaveacommonlanguage,ithelpsbindthemtogetherasaculture.Itgivesthemasharedunderstandingofoneanotherandcreatesasenseof

unity

withinthe

community

.

Theinterviewtask:

Question1:DotheyusePutonghuaandtheirlocaldialectsinterchangeablyinallsituationsordotheypreferoneofthemforcertainsituations?Explainthereasonsindetail.

Apossibleanswertothequestionisthatpeopleusedialectstocommunicatewithfamilymembersfordailylifematters.PeoplearemorelikelytousePutonghuatodiscussacademicandotherformalissues.Thisisbecausepeoplelearndialectsfromaveryyoungageindailyenvironments,buttheygeteducatedinPutonghua.

Question2:DotheythinkPutonghuaandtheirlocaldialectsreflectdifferentaspectsoftheiridentity?Inwhatways?

Theanswertothisquestionmayvaryfrompeopletopeople.Encouragestudentstoprobeintotheissueandfindoutwhy.

Listening

Text1:“TheChineseLanguage”Procedures:

Afterlisteningforthefirsttime,studentscanworkinpairstoanswerthequestions.Or

theycanskipthepairworkandgodirectlytoclassdiscussioniftheyfeelreadytoanswerallthequestions.

Afterlisteningforthesecondtime,studentscandiscusstherelatedquestionsingroupsoftwotothree,andthengiveabriefreporttothewholeclass.Ortheinstructorcanselecttwotothreegroupsforgroupreports.

Teachingnotes:

Afterlisteningforthefirsttime:

Question1:WhatarethefeaturesofSino-TibetanlanguagesthatmakethemdifferentfromWesternlanguages?

Answer:Theyaremonosyllabic,haveevenlessinflectionthanEnglish,andaretonal.

Question2:WhendidPutonghuabecometheofficialdialect?

Answer:Itbecametheofficiallanguagein1955whentheNationalLanguageReformCommitteebegantostandardizetheexistingcommonlanguageinChina.

Question3:WhatarethefeaturesofPutonghua?

Answer:PutonghuahasthephonologicalsystemoftheBeijingdialect,thevocabularyofthenortherndialects,andthesyntaxofmodernvernacularliterature.

Afterlisteningforthesecondtime:

Question1:DoyouthinkthisisagoodbriefintroductiontotheChineselanguage?

Why?

Answer:Studentsmaythinkdifferently.WhatisimportanthereisthattheycanexplainwhytheythinkitisorisnotagoodbriefintroductiontotheChineselanguage.

Question2:Whatwouldyouaddtothisintroduction?

Answer:Iftimeorspacepermits,someexamplestoillustratethelanguagefeatures,suchasmonosyllabic,inflection,andtonal,willhelpreadersunderstandbetterwhatthefeaturesare.

Text2:“HowCultureandLanguageInfluenceOurIdentity”Procedures:

TheproceduresshouldbesimilartothoseforText1.

Teachingnotes:

Afterlisteningforthefirsttime:Question1:Whatisculturalidentity?

Answer:Culturalidentityisself-identification,asenseofbelongingtoagroup.Itistheextenttowhichoneisarepresentativeofagivenculturebehaviorally,communicatively,psychologically,andsociologically.Itconsistsofvalues,meanings,customsandbeliefsusedtorelatetotheworld.

Question2:Whatroledoeslanguageplayinculturalidentity?

Answer:Somescientistsbelievethatlanguageinfluencesthewaywethinkbecauseitshapesourthoughtsindifferentforms.Languagecaninfluenceourbehaviorandwordchoice.Somestudiessuggestthatourpersonalitymaychangedependingonthelanguagewespeak.Weconnectthelanguagewiththecultureassociatedwithit,whichimpactsusgreatly.

Question3:Whyshouldculturesoftheworldtrytosafeguardtheirculturalidentity?Answer:Whenpeoplefromdifferentculturesmeetandtrytospeakeachother’slanguages,theybroadentheirhorizonsbyborrowingandsharingculture.However,intheprocessofglobalization,manycountries’uniqueculturaltraditionshavebeenincreasinglyinfluencedbyculturesofmoredevelopedcountries.That’swhytheworldculturesneedtoshareandsafeguardtheirlinguisticandculturaldiversity.

Afterlisteningforthesecondtime:

Question1:Doyouthinklearningaforeignlanguageaffectsone’sculturalidentity?

Why?

Answer:It’spossiblebecausesomestudiessuggestthatourpersonalitymaychangedependingonthelanguagewespeak.Wetendtoconnectthelanguagewiththecultureassociatedwithit,whichimpactsusgreatly.Solearningaforeignlanguagecandefinitelyenrichourlifeandempowerusininterculturalcommunication,butweneedtosafeguardourownculturalidentityandappreciateourownculturaltraditions.

Question2:Whatcanwedotosafeguardlinguisticandculturaldiversity?

Answer:Forindividuals,wecanlearnmultiplelanguagessothatwenotonlyexpandourowncommunicationskillsbutalsogainadeeperunderstandingofothercultures.Thishelpsinpromotingcross-culturalexchangesandpreservingdiverselanguages.

Gettingreadytotalk

BuildingvocabularyProcedures:

Askthestudentstofirstpreparea3-minutespeechontherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthinking,usingatleastfivewordsorexpressionsfromthevocabularylist.Remindthestudentsoftheshortpassageonhowtoconstructlongturnsonpage117ofthetextbookanddecideonthebestwaytoorganizetheirspeeches.

Theythenworkinpairsandtaketurnstopresenttheirspeeches.Thepartnergivesfeedbackoncontentandlanguage.Contentshouldincludetheorganizationofcontenttoo.

Teachingnotes:

Thevocabularyinthisunitincludessomewordsrelatedtolanguagesandlinguistics,andsomeotherstothinkingandidentity.Seethechartbelowfordetails.Teacherscanaskstudentstoaddtothelistswhiledoinglisteningandreading.

Languages andlinguistics

Romancelanguages,Sapir-WhorfHypothesis,Sino-Tibetan,syntax,tonal,variation,vernacular

Thinking andidentity

frameofreference,identity,intellectualmusings,mindset,perceive,preconceivednotions

Physicalappearance

dominant,effeminate

Someofthewordsandphrasesinthevocabularyareadverbsoradjectives.Itisimportanttomakestudentsawarethatalotofsuchdescriptionsarebasedonsubjectivestandards.Forinstance,differentpeoplemayhavedifferentperceptionsofwhatiseffeminate.Inthissense,languagereflectspeople’sthinking.

Pre-classresearch

Focus/Objectives:ThepurposeofPre-classresearchistopreparefortasksinMakingYourVoiceHeard.Itencouragesstudentstofindouthowlanguageaffectsthewaywethink.Italsogivesstudentsachancetolearnmoreaboutandreflectonthelanguageordialectthattheyhavebeenusingforalongtimebutdonotnecessarilyknowmuchabout.

Teachingnotes:

Remindstudentsthattheyhadbetterchoosealanguageordialectthattheyarefamiliarwithanduseitforcaseanalysis.Theyareadvisedtodoresearchandfindoutanswerstothesequestions:Whatisthislanguageordialect?Whereisitspoken?Howmanypeopleareusingit?Howdoesthelanguageordialectaffectthewayyouthinkaboutyourselfandothers,ortheworldingeneral?Theycanstartwiththelisteningmaterialsandthetworeadingpassages.TheycanalsosearchforProfessorLeraBoroditskywhoseresearchinterestisrelationshipsbetweenmind,worldandlanguage.ThereisaTEDlecturebyLeraBoroditskytitledHowLanguageShapestheWayWeThink.

Inthecaseanalysis,studentsshouldgiveoneortwoexamplestoillustratetherelationshipbetweenlanguage,thinkingandidentity.Theseexampleswillbeusedinclassactivities.

Session2MakingYourVoiceHeard

Activity1:DevelopingSkillsforOralCommunication

Focus/Objectives:Thisactivityfocusesondevelopingtheskillstopresenttheresultsofacasestudy,followingaproperdiscoursestructure.

Teachingnotes:

Thisactivityisdividedintothreesteps:presentingthespeechingroupsandgettingfeedbackintheformofquestionsandcomments,reflectingonthedifferentwaysoforganizinginformationandideas,andvotingforthebestspeechtobepresentedinclass.Iftimeislimited,teacherscanconsiderputtingtwogroupstogethersothatthetwobestspeechescanbepresentedinthecombinedbiggroup.

Giventhecontentofthespeech,thebestorganizationalstructuremaybefromgeneralitiestospecificsorviceversa.Forinstance,theycanfirstpresentandanalyzeexamplesfromthechosenlanguageordialect,andconcludewithwhatscientistshavefoundingeneral.Ortheymayvarythestructureabit:fromspecificstogeneralitiesandthentospecificsagain.Forexample,theymaybeginthespeechbyanexampleofhowlanguageaffectsthewaywethink.Thiswillattracttheaudience’sattention.Theythenmovetowhatthescientistshavefoundingeneralandlaterillustratewithcasestudyofthechosenlanguageordialect.

Activity2:Problem-Solving

Focus/Objectives:ThisactivitybuildsonActivity1andfocusesondevelopingtheabilitytoanalyzerealcaseswiththeoriesthathavebeenlearned.

Teachingnotes:

ItisveryimportantthatstudentsformgroupsoffourorfivewithclassmateswhowerenotinthesamegroupinActivity1.Thisistomakesurethatthemembersofthenewgrouphavenotheardtheirpreviousspeechesandtheanalysisofthecasesoflanguagesordialects.Thegroupmembersareexpectedtoanalyzetheexamplesonthespotandseeiftheiranalysisagreeswiththespeaker’s.AnexampleoftherelationshipbetweenlanguageandthinkingisthatunlikeEnglish,Chinesedoesnotmarkpast,presentandfuturewithtensebuthasaspectwhichmarksprogressivesuchaszhengzai(正在)andcompletionsuchasle(了),anduselexicalmeanssuchaszuotian(昨天),jintian(今天),mingtian(明天)totalkabouttime.DoesthelackoftenseconstrainChinesepeople’sthinkingoftime?

Step3consistsoftwoparts.Thefirstisareflectiononhowwellgroupmembershaveanalyzedtheexamplesprovidedbythespeakers.Itishopedthatthroughthecaseanalysisanddiscussion,studentsaremoreawareoftheimportanceoflanguageinshapingourthoughts.Thesecondpartisapicturetaskwhichfocusesonthe“chickenandegg”problemoflanguageandthinking.ThisservesasatransitiontotheMini-Debatetask.

Activity3:Mini-Debate

Focus/Objectives:Thisactivityaimsathelpingstudentstobecomeawareofcompletelydifferentideasconcerningthesameissueandtodevelopfair-mindedthinkingaboutcontroversialissues.

Teachingnotes:

Putstudentsinpairs.It’sveryimportantthattheyprepareforthedebatetogether.Decideonthesideofeachteambydrawinglots.

Theformatofthemini-debateisintroductionofposition,freedebate,andsummaryofdebate.Inintroductionofposition,thefirstspeakerofeachsideintroducestheirbasicarguments,startingwiththeaffirmativeside.Eachspeechshouldbenomorethantwominutes.Infreedebate,thetwosidestaketurnstospeak,startingwiththesecondspeakeroftheaffirmativeside.Eachspeechshouldbenomorethanoneminute.Insummaryofdebate,thesecondspeakerofeachsidetakesturnstospeak,startingwiththenegativeside.Eachspeechshouldbenomorethantwominutes.Teacherscanvarytheformatofthemini-debatetocaterfortheneedsoftheirstudents.

Iftimepermits,teacherscanaskeachgrouptoreporttheirmajorargumentsforeachsideandlistthemontheblackboardorapowerpointslide.Theclasscanthenanalyzetheargumentstogetherandseeiftheycanreachanagreementonwhetherlanguageshapesourthoughtsorourthoughtsshapeourlanguage.Itdoesn’tmatterifconsensus

cannotbereached.Whatisimportantinthisexerciseisthatstudentscanargueforthepositionswithevidenceandlogicalreasoning.

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