Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
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Listening and Speaking
86 E.Laird, Welcome to Great Britain and the USA, Longman, 1983. R.Musman, Britain Today, Longman, 1982 (3rd edn). B.E.Pryse, Getting to Know Britain, Blackwell, 1983. J.Randle, Understanding Britain, Blackwell, 1981. Other very important sources of information are the media— BBC World Service has a regular programme ‘News about Britain’ and ‘English by Radio’ often deals with cultural topics; the English press is always available in reading rooms and libraries of embassies, consulates or the British Council, and in most parts of the world can be bought commercially from newspaper kiosks and in international hotels. Materials of this nature, and to a lesser extent the books mentioned earlier in this chapter, are a very direct and lively introduction not only to English culture but also to the contemporary use of the English language. They can be exploited in every conceivable way in the classroom. Many magazines are visually very attractive and an excellent stimulus to discussion. At the simplest level, students can be asked just to describe what they see. Carefully chosen pictures will give scope for them to make deductions about what has happened and what might soon happen. This in turn will probably suggest wider themes which can be expanded and developed. Practice of this nature is very valuable for students taking certain examinations—Cambridge First Certificate and Proficiency Examinations and the ARELS Certificate in Spoken English and Comprehension for nonnative speakers of English involve this type of exercise. Materials from the media are excellent for developing the skill of reporting. In the first place news items are by their nature models to imitate. The ability to narrate events is a useful skill to acquire. Each member of the class might be given a news story, and given the task of putting it across orally to the others from notes. Not only is he asked to tell a coherent story, but also he needs to be able to summarise, make notes and speak in public in an understandable way. As time goes on, the exercise set can become harder—he might be given a non-factual interpretive piece by a political commentator, for example. As in the case of visuals, this can easily be seen as very relevant work by the many advanced examination candidates who are asked to give a short talk, with only a few minutes’ preparation, to the examiner. Listening and Speaking 87 It would be wrong, however, to think of conversation classes solely in terms of a final examination or testing. Certainly the exploitation of the teaching materials should never be restricted only to provide practice in examination questions. Variety has got to be present. It is all too easy to sink into an initially successful, comfortable format which never varies from lesson to lesson. For instance, instead of taking a newspaper article and always having the students summarise and report it orally to the class, they may attempt to reconstruct in pairs the original interview and make a list of the reporter’s questions, a verbatim statement of the interviewee’s replies, and a copy of the reporter’s notes jotted down at the time. The article can be rewritten for a very different newspaper in a suitable style for homework. Variety must be allied to pace. A slow, boring lesson teaches very little, so it is important to keep everyone moving and challenged with something which is just a little beyond his capacity. No topic or device should be overworked, however good an idea it is or however much preparation it has entailed. It is always better to stop whilst everyone is enjoying it and wants more, rather than pursue it to the bitter end. Then a repetition on another day provokes eager anticipation rather than groans. The class atmosphere is very important, and is greatly helped by a less serious side to class activities. As well as more serious materials and teaching, there should always be room for games, songs and puzzles. There are specially written books on the market that can help (for instance M.Carrier, Take 5; C.Granger, Play Games with English; J. Hadfield, Communications Games and A.Wright et al., Games for Language Learning) and records produced for the overseas learner, mentioned earlier in this chapter. But it is best to build up one’s own collection of games and puzzles from as many places as possible. The type of book sold on railway stations to keep travellers occupied on their journeys are a rich source, as are the competition pages of weekly and monthly magazines. Some records from the present Top Ten, universally known contemporary classics such as the Beatles’ records, and English folk songs are also very exploitable. Of the periodicals listed at the end of this book, English Teaching Forum and Modern English Teacher are useful for this type of material. Listening and Speaking 88 Variety, pace and humour go hand in hand with a necessary lightness of touch on the part of the teacher. They all contribute to the essentially informal nature of the conversation class, which is one of its great strengths. With careful management, the pitfalls of boredom through conversation for conversation’s sake can be avoided and a friendly atmosphere established in which the advanced student feels free to develop oral confidence and the ability to project himself and his personality in a foreign language. Download 0.82 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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