李陸桂
Language objectives
With the help of dictionaries and advanced students,the students of elementary&intermediate levels will be able to understand the meaning of the following lexical chunks—have a “l(fā)ive for today”attitude,have a casual attitude to,manage one’s finances,on top of one’s finances,financial return and so on.
Ability objectives
1.Develop the students’ability to read Englishmen’s English.
2.With the help of the teacher and the advanced students,the students of elementary&intermediate levels will be able to read the lines such as:“With interest rates at a low record for over a year now,it’s more important than ever for people to stay on top of their finances and make sure that they are with a provider that will give the best service and financial return for their individual circumstances.”
3.The majority of the students will be able to read between the lines such as“People who tend to use the right side of their brain...poor management.”and so on.
4.The advanced students will be able to read beyond the lines,that is,what is not written in the passage.It should probably be like this:what activities must we do to develop the potential of our left brain?
Teaching focus
the understanding of the last paragraph
Teaching method
co-operative learning,task-based approach
Teaching aids
a white board,an overhead projector
Teaching procedures
I.Pre-reading—Survey(5′)
Activity:The students are asked to do a survey by interviewing 3 or 4 students and asking them a question related to the names of bank(s)where he or she,or their parents deposit money and another question concerned with the quality of bank service.Three students will be chosen to report their survey to the class.
Aim:What we are going to teach should be relevant to the background knowledge.Therefore this activity is to activate the student’s prior knowledge.
II.While-reading(20′)
Activities:The students are asked to
1.read for the gist of each paragraph and the passage.(一讀大意)(5′)
Note:independent reading.After reading,the students are asked to tell the main ideas of each paragraph and the passage.It is better for the teacher to tell the gist of each paragraph and the text.
2.read the lines and read between the lines.(二讀細節(jié))(3′)
Note:solve the language problems in groups and there should be one student whose English is better so that he or she may help others with the problems.
3.read the last paragraph and discuss the meaning of the long sentence,“With interest rates at a low record for over a year now,it’s more important than ever for people to stay on top of their finances and make sure that they are with a provider that will give the best service and financialreturn fortheirindividualcircumstances.”(三讀解惑)(5′)
Note:solve the language problems in groups.Each group must contain one students whose English is better so that he or she can help solve the problems.
4.read the passage again and pick out the sentences they appreciate and share the reason.(四讀欣賞)(7′)
Aim:The students are given enough time to read in order to fully digest the passage.
III.Post-reading(13′)
Activities:The students are asked to...
1.imitate the original sentences(仿寫)(五讀運用)(6′)
(1)It was found out that they fewer savings and a casual attitude toward to finance management.
仿寫:據(jù)說大多數(shù)學(xué)習(xí)成績不好的學(xué)生對學(xué)習(xí)持一種隨意的態(tài)度。
It was found that__________________________________________________________________.
(2)It’s more important than ever for people to stay on top of their finances.
仿寫:It’s more important than ever___________________________________________________.
2.read beyond the lines:2 students of advanced level are asked to introduce the main points of a passage they surfed from the Internet about how to balance the use of the right and the left side of the brain.(7′)
Aims:To encourage the students of the advanced level to deepen the understanding of the passage and develop their ability to think critically.Although the number of the advanced students is not very big,yet they will exercise greater influence over the other students.
IV.Homework(2′)
Further reading:Why most Japanese can’t speak English well?Because they use their right side of brain more often than other Asian people.According to an experiment done by a scientist with Cambridge University.
Aim:To widen the students’perspective and consolidate their reading comprehension ability.
V.設(shè)計思路
1.采用“五讀”法:一讀大意、二讀細節(jié)、三讀解惑、四讀欣賞、五讀運用,同時由淺入深、循序漸進地培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的三種英語閱讀理解的基本能力,即read the lines(讀字面意思),read between the lines(讀字里行間的意思)和read beyond the lines(讀弦外之音的意思)。
2.因材施教,分層教學(xué)。不同語言水平的學(xué)生在真實的語境中對語言都有真實的體驗,形成一種語言的“覺性”(語感),從而達到理解性輸入、有效輸出、提高思維品質(zhì)和心智的目的。任何一個班級均有不同層次的學(xué)生,教師如果對他們管理得當,教學(xué)效果會得到很大的提高。文本中有若干不太容易理解的句字,在小組討論時可安排一個英語程度較好的學(xué)生充當“小先生”到每個小組當中負責解答其他同學(xué)的疑惑。
3.通過自主探究、合作性學(xué)習(xí),讓“知識流”“思想流”在課堂上真正流動起來,使英語學(xué)習(xí)回歸到教學(xué)的原點,即“以生為本”。閱讀課是比較適合采用合作探究模式的,但合作學(xué)習(xí)應(yīng)建立在自主探究的基礎(chǔ)上。
教學(xué)反思
本課的課文材料選自一篇課外閱讀材料,語言地道、生活氣息濃厚,與學(xué)生的生活密切相關(guān)。這節(jié)課的亮點有如下五個方面:
第一,閱讀理解第一課時的教學(xué)目標明確。閱讀課是高中英語教學(xué)的主要課型之一。本課的課型為閱讀理解新授課,是兩節(jié)閱讀理解課的第2課時。閱讀理解課到底要分幾個課時完成,這是一個仁者見仁、智者見智的問題。筆者的觀點是:分幾個課時要視閱讀材料、教學(xué)需要和學(xué)生的情況而定。有的時候,閱讀理解課完全可以用1個課時解決,而另一些時候則要根據(jù)教學(xué)的需要可以分幾個課時完成。無論是用幾個課時,“閱讀”應(yīng)該是閱讀課的主旋律,教師應(yīng)該激發(fā)學(xué)生閱讀的欲望。
這節(jié)課基本體現(xiàn)了閱讀理解課的第一課時的主要特征,有“梳理課文背景知識”“理解整體大意”“概括段落大意”“查詢細節(jié)信息”等教學(xué)活動,但也有創(chuàng)新突破之處,例如:“五讀運用”環(huán)節(jié),讓學(xué)生學(xué)以致用,仿寫文本的核心句型。
第二,本課的核心教學(xué)活動突出。這節(jié)課的核心活動就是讀懂文章,即通過各種教學(xué)活動確保學(xué)生的理解性輸入,確切來說是真正讀懂一篇由英國人寫的學(xué)生好像熟悉又不太熟悉的文章??梢赃@么說,讀懂了文章就是這節(jié)課的最大收獲。為了使學(xué)生能理解文章的思想,教師必須給予他們較為充裕的閱讀時間。北京一個英語教研員在評論一節(jié)閱讀課時,曾一針見血地說過:“閱讀課的核心任務(wù)是讓學(xué)生去閱讀,我們上閱讀課是上給圈內(nèi)人看的,無需有太多與主題毫不相干的花架子。”
一篇英語文章之所以不好讀懂,往往是因為某些段落或者是某些句子不好懂。本文的最后一段有個長句:With interest rates at a low record for over a year now,it’s more important than ever for people to stay on top of their finances and make sure that they are with a provider that will give the best service and financial return for their individual circumstances.教師通過小組活動,讓學(xué)生就自己對這個句子的理解進行討論和解惑,直至學(xué)生心中沒有任何疑惑。
The trouble with such people is that while they have acquired a knowledge of the English language,they not learnt much about the English mind,the English character,the English life,the English traditions,and so forth.They have got,so to speak,the spirit of the language.Imagine a man who knows several thousands Han characters and a great deal of Han syntax and yet is entirely ignorant of the Chinese mind,the Chinese character,etc.Do you think thisman could read even the ordinary Han-language newspaper and general literature in Han?(這些人的困難是:雖然他們習(xí)得了英國語言方面的一些知識,但他們不太知道英國人的心理、性格、生活、傳統(tǒng)等??梢赃@樣說,他們沒有抓到英語的精神。設(shè)想一個人識了幾千個漢字和大量漢語句法,但是完全不知道中國人的心理、性格等。你認為這個人能夠讀懂即使是普通的漢語報紙和用漢語寫的一般讀物嗎?)
第三,教師安排“仿寫”環(huán)節(jié)的目的是檢測學(xué)生理解性輸入的情況。學(xué)習(xí)外語是學(xué)習(xí)別人說的母語,別人怎么說我們就怎么說,別人怎么寫,我們就怎么寫。仿寫在中學(xué)英語學(xué)習(xí)中十分重要,它是寫作的一項重要訓(xùn)練形式。
第四,課后作業(yè)別具匠心。課后作業(yè)是一篇延伸性閱讀。文章的內(nèi)容也與人的左右腦使用有關(guān),這與學(xué)生剛學(xué)的文章主題契合,文章內(nèi)容令人忍俊不禁,同時也增長了知識,從而進一步提高學(xué)生的閱讀興趣。
第五,所謂的“教學(xué)改革”即任務(wù)到人,確保人人有事做。教師通過任務(wù)型教學(xué)和小組活動中學(xué)生的自我管理(小組中每個人都有具體分工),有效提高了學(xué)生的“雙商”:即,在閱讀體驗中加強自我管理的“情商”,在輸出活動中有效表達思想的“智商”。
然而,經(jīng)過對本課的試教,筆者發(fā)現(xiàn)教學(xué)設(shè)計有如下方面需要加以改進:
第一,盡管本節(jié)課耗費了較多時間讓學(xué)生進行閱讀,確保他們對文本有理解性的輸入,但學(xué)生對文本的理解,特別是深層次的理解仍浮在表層,教師沒有采用較為可行的手段檢測學(xué)生對文本,尤其是一些較為晦澀的語句的理解,如...stay on top of their finances and make sure that they are with a provider...“stay on top of their finances”究竟是什么意思?這個短語的理解即使對于教師也是有一定困難的。解決這個問題,教師可以用傳統(tǒng)的“翻譯法”,重點翻譯文段中幾個重點句子。上文提到的“stay on top of their finances”的意思是“keep checking the coming and going of the money”。翻譯句子,不要求學(xué)生達到“信、達、雅”的境界,只要他們能基本理解句子即可;教師還可以根據(jù)文章內(nèi)容設(shè)計若干“閱讀理解題”,但這些閱讀理解題必須要有高考題的難度,否則無法檢測出學(xué)生是否真正理解了文章。筆者通過對一些閱讀理解試題的研究,發(fā)現(xiàn)了兩個弊端:一是閱讀的文章較深,理解題較淺,學(xué)生往往不需要讀文本就可以猜出答案;二是文章較淺,但題目較難,學(xué)生的答對率較低。因此,在設(shè)計閱讀理解題時,應(yīng)以高考試題為藍本,設(shè)計出仿真性強的試題(力求做到文章與試題的質(zhì)量同一檔次),提高試題的可信度和有效度。
第二,本課授課教師考慮到了學(xué)生在英語學(xué)習(xí)方面的差異,通過“分層教學(xué)”讓不同層次的學(xué)生做不同難度的教學(xué)活動,取得了一定的效果。但在閱讀時間的分配方面做得不夠好。pre-reading和while-reading兩個環(huán)節(jié)所給出的時間只是平均時間,并沒有考慮到英語水平較強的學(xué)生其閱讀速度相對較快這一事實。針對這一問題,教師應(yīng)在閱讀活動開始之前向?qū)W生說明,所給出的時間是平均時間,建議那些提前完成閱讀任務(wù)的學(xué)生可以做其他的練習(xí),比如:記憶單詞、整理筆記等。
第三,不管采用何種方法教學(xué),教師必須要牢記,幫助學(xué)生有效掌握語言形式始終是教學(xué)的核心。語言形式承載語言的內(nèi)容,不了解語言形式就難以理解語言的內(nèi)涵。有一次,筆者在學(xué)校調(diào)研時遇到一個學(xué)生,他問了這么一個問題:“文章我讀懂了,可為什么題目答對率不高呢?”筆者告訴那個學(xué)生,根本原因是他沒有真正弄懂,而沒有讀懂文章的最主要原因是被文章中的語言形式所迷惑。
本課第一課時的主要教學(xué)任務(wù)是梳理課文背景知識、理解整體大意、概括段落大意、查詢細節(jié)信息,但是這些教學(xué)活動均建立在對詞匯的理解基礎(chǔ)上。因此,教師有必要在學(xué)生開始閱讀之前,對一些妨礙學(xué)生理解的核心詞匯(如:reveal,manageone’s finances, have a casual attitude to,tend,interest rates,at a low record,stay on top of their finances,provider,stay on top of one’s finances,individual circumstances等)進行必要的解釋,以免學(xué)生,特別是中下水平的學(xué)生在閱讀時,有囫圇吞棗的現(xiàn)象。