Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Second Edition
Beginners and false beginners
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Beginners and false beginners
One of the greatest weaknesses of secondary school syllabuses is ambition: frequently they try to teach far more than is possible in the time available. In general, in language teaching, thorough teaching is more important than wide- ranging teaching. This is so much the case that in at least one country the secondary school language work improved greatly once it was admitted that the goal was merely to teach the primary school syllabus again, but effectively! The secondary school language course, for one reason or another, will necessarily be going over a lot of old ground, all the time, because that is the only way of constantly reinforcing the language which has already been learnt, making it increasingly fluent. At the same time, it is a good idea systematically to go back over the basic stages of the language for all students, even if they should have covered them in primary school. If no great difficulty emerges, very little time needs to be spent; if some areas do give difficulty, the revision will be valuable. If English is being started in the secondary school, exactly the same point applies, except that the revision starts a little higher up the school, but all language learners need constant practice and reinforcement of the early stages of their course. More advanced work As pupils progress through the school, their work in English will become more directed in two ways. First, if there is a terminal examination, to some extent the work will be geared to its demands. Second, as the pupils develop intellectually they will, quite rightly, be more critical about the goals of their English teaching, and it will become increasingly necessary to provide not merely a general English course, but one which is directed towards the needs in English that they are going to have. This may mean orientating the English teaching towards study skills and work at an advanced educational level, or it may mean concentrating on English for technical subjects, or—in second language situations—relating it to the work being carried on in other subjects in the school. Learning English in the Secondary School 184 To some extent younger pupils will accept English because it is in the curriculum, but after adolescence they will need to be persuaded that it has specific value to them, and this means that the course must recognise the justice of their concern. Download 0.82 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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