澳大利亞WSL教師一席談
1、Australian ESL Teacher Presents His Viewpoints Lixin: Mr. Shaw, as an experienced ESL teacher, how long have you been in China? Mr. Bill Shaw: I’ve been in China for nearly five years. I just finished teaching in a college and was invited to PEN (Patrick English Network). Li: What kind of subjects do you usually teach? Mr. Shaw: English, mainly spoken English, specializing in conversation. I think it’s a big disadvantage of Chinese students. They all have very good written and reading capabilities, but when they come to speaking and listening, they get dumbfounded. Unfortunately, Chinese students don’t get enough practice. I find that very hard because the students all learn English, but they don’t tend to get together and talk English to each other. But they have to speak English, and only in this way they learn a lot faster. For the students going overseas to study, they have to practice more because they’ll need to survive straight away in English. Li: Yes, they have to do so, but that requires extensive exposure to the English environment. What should our Chinese students do then? Mr. Shaw: Yes, that’s true. Because most of the students that are more advanced here in China with their spoken English have had good exposure by working for foreign companies or have had the experience of traveling overseas. But they do seek out good English magazines such as your English Salon and read them regularly. Besides, they also seek out English corners and practice their English a lot. Li:Just now you mentioned that you teach spoken English, specializing in conversation. Could you say something about it? Mr. Shaw: You know, I teach my students how to start a conversation and how to keep the conversation going, but at the same time, keep it short and simple, so the person you are talking to wouldn’t be bored. To start a conversation with a foreigner, for example, there is a right way and there is a wrong way. The wrong way is to walk up to a foreigner and say, “ Hey, can I teach you Chinese and you teach me English?” Ha! That happens too many times. You know, the right way is to go along and say to a foreigner, “ Oh, good morning or good afternoon. Welcome to Beijing.” And then a nice polite introduction will go a long way. That person will think, “ Oh, this is a nice person.” and will say, “ Oh, good morning. Nice to meet you too.” The next thing is to introduce yourself and ask questions, such as “ Where are you from?” In this way, the conversation goes along very good. Actually, the Chinese students are practicing their English with far more polite manners. Furthermore, instead of walking up to a foreigner and say, “ Hey, let me show you Beijing.” , you can say in other ways. Always remember, politeness accounts to a lot. Li: But for politeness, there is a different criterion in China. Mr. Shaw: Oh, for sure. This is something that I teach in class. I teach them the common thing is that you shouldn’t keep others too long from what they are going to do. As an example, the children from central Java in Indonesia who can speak English use the same method. They go to the tourist spots and talk to the tourists, but they don’t talk to a tourist more than five or ten minutes. They politely say, “ Thank you very much for your time. We hope you enjoy your stay here.” And then go on their way to find another tourist. While for Chinese students, they’ve got to learn not to be shy. I’m trying hard in my class to teach them to overcome their shyness, because a lot of these students are going overseas to study. In a new place, they tend to be too shy to make foreign friends. They very quickly go looking for Chinese friends. Li: For most language learners,they may find it difficult to choose the right style to begin a conversation.What do you think? Mr. Shaw:Yes,here in China I find people are quite open with the questioning.I have to teach my students that you cannot ask that type of questions to western people, because we would turn around and say, “ Hey, that’s not your business.” I teach them the basic rules,such as: you don’t ask a lady her age.We don’t discuss money even among the best friends.And the other thing is we never discuss anything about religion or politics.These are all common things to know.For Chinese students,they’ll have to bear in mind that when you go away,you are not just another person, you are an ambassador for your country. So,if you give people in another country one bad impression, you give all of your people a bad impression.That’s why politeness is very important. Li: So for Chinese students, they have to prepare to fit in a western culture before going overseas. Mr. Shaw: Oh, yes. They have to prepare for the culture. That’s why we spend a lot of time discussing about culture shock so that my students wouldn’t feel lonely at a new place facing a new culture and could get used to the culture as soon as possible. Li: Mr. Shaw, may I ask what other skills do you teach in class? Mr.Shaw: Well, I teach them listening skills. For those going away to study or work in an English environment, they have to learn to listen, because they need to know what is bouncing back to them so as to reply. Sometimes, what bouncing back to them is so quick, they are shocked, “ Oh, what did he say? ” They are not prepared for a very quick reply. I always encourage my students back home to watch television. I encourage them to listen to the English programmes on TV and in radio as much as they can. One thing with listening skills is trying to listen as a questioning to make sure you have comprehended. Here I want to mention that don’t rely on an electronic dictionary, find a good dictionary and use it wisely. By wisely I mean to read all the meanings instead of the first meaning. A really good dictionary with many meanings and many phrases can show you how to use the word, while the electronic dictionary doesn’t. Li: After the English learners having improved their listening, what would you recommend them to do? Mr. Shaw: I would recommend them to buy good English storybooks and read them. But novel is a challenge, few people could really finish a novel, while for a magazine, one can easily finish one article a day. The variety of a magazine provides the readers with an important cultural experience. I think, short and simple article with good facts can help English leaners as much. 澳大利亞ESL教師一席談 李昕：肖先生，你是位很有經驗的非母語英語課程教師，請問你在中國待了多久了? 肖彼爾先生：我在中國待了已快5年了。我剛在一所大學完成了任教期，后被聘到張士柏 英語網(PEN)任教。 李：那你通常教哪類課程呢? 肖：英語，主要是口語，偏重會話。我認為這是中國學生的一個大弱項。他們寫和讀的 能力都很好，但一到聽和說就手忙腳亂了。很可惜，他們沒有足夠的練習。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這種 情況很難解決，因為這些學生都學英語，但他們卻不常聚在一起用英語交談。但是他們 必須開口說，只有這樣，他們才會較快地學好。那些要出國留學的學生，就更得多練， 因為他們得在海外用英語立足生存。 李：對，他們是得這樣做，但這需要廣泛地接觸英語環(huán)境。中國學生該怎么做呢? 肖：是啊，這倒不假。因為在中國，那些口語比較好的學生中，大多數(shù)都有好的英語環(huán) 境，要么在外企工作，要么去海外旅行過。但他們都挑選好的英文雜志經常閱讀，比如 你們的《英語沙龍》雜志。而且他們都設法找到英語角去多多地練習講英語。 李：剛才你提到你教英語口語，擅長教會話。你可以就這方面談一談嗎? 肖：你知道，我教我的學生們如何開始交談以及如何使交談進行下去，但同時要教他們 做到談話簡短，這樣與你交談的人就不致于厭煩。比如，同外國人開始交談，有正確的 也有錯誤的方式。錯誤的方式是，走近一老外，說“嘿，我可以教你漢語，你教我英語， 行嗎?”哈，這種情況太多了。而你知道，正確的方式是走上前對老外說，“噢，早上好( 或下午好)。歡迎來到北京?！苯酉聛碛卸Y貌地認真作個自我介紹，這會大有好處的。那 人就會想，“噢，這個人還不錯。”于是會說：“哦，早上好。我也很高興認識你?！比缓?就是介紹你自己，還可問一些諸如“你從哪兒來”等此類的問題。這樣，談話就會很好地 進行下去。實際上，中國學生是在用非常禮貌的方法練習口語。此外，也不要直接上前 對老外說，“嘿，我領你轉轉北京吧?！蹦憧梢愿挠脛e的說法嘛。一定要記住，講求禮貌 是非常重要的。 李：但禮貌的標準在中國是不同的。 肖：哦，那當然。這正是我在課上所教的，我教給他們通常的道理，那就是你不應占別 人太多時間，他們還有事兒要干呢。例如，在印度尼西亞的爪哇中部地區(qū)，那里會講英 語的兒童就是用這種方法練習口語的。他們去旅游景點，找游客說話，但跟一位游客談 話的時間從不超過5到10分鐘。他們會有禮貌地說：“謝謝你花時間跟我們談話。祝你在 這兒過得愉快?！比缓笤偃フ伊硪晃挥慰驼勗?。而對中國學生來說，他們要學的就是不要 羞怯。我在課上盡量教他們克服羞怯，因為他們中許多人是要出國學習的。而到了一個 新地方，他們往往太害羞而不去交外國朋友。他們會盡快去交中國朋友。 李：對大多數(shù)語言學習者來說，選擇合適的談話類型是很困難的，這你怎么看? 肖：是的，我在中國發(fā)現(xiàn)人們什么問題都要問。我得教給我的學生們，某類問題不能問 西方人，因為我們會轉身說道：“嘿，這跟你無關?！蔽医探o他們一些基本準則，如：不 要問女士的年齡。即使在好朋友之間我們也不談論錢。另外就是我們從不談論宗教和政 治。這都是些要知道的基本常識。對中國學生，他們得記?。寒斈阒簧碓谕鈬鴷r，你不 僅僅是一個人，你是代表你們國家的大使。因而，如果你給別人留下了壞印象，你就給 你們國家的人民留下了壞印象。這也說明了講究禮貌的重要性。 李：所以對中國學生來說，他們在出國學習前得準備好適應西方文化。 肖：是的。他們得準備適應西方文化。所以我在課上花許多時間討論文化沖撞。這樣我 的學生在一個新地方、面對新文化時就不會感到孤單了，也就能盡快適應新的文化了。 李：肖先生，請問你還教給學生們什么技能? 肖：哦，我教他們聽力技巧。對那些要出去在英語環(huán)境中學習或工作的人來說，他們就 得學會聽，因為他們得明白別人說了什么才可以做出反應。有時，別人的話回得很快， 他們呆住了。“噢，他說的是什么呀?”人家回答得很快，他們沒準備。我常鼓勵學生回家 看電視，鼓勵他們盡量多聽電視和廣播里的英文節(jié)目。有一個聽力技巧是帶著問題聽， 可以確保你聽懂了。我還想一提的就是不要依賴電子詞典，找本好詞典，用時還要擇義 恰當。所謂擇義恰當，我是說要讀所有的釋義而不只是頭一個釋義。一本真正的好詞典 ，一個詞有許多釋義、許多短語和詞組，能告訴你如何用一個詞，而電子詞典是辦不到 的。 李：英語學習者的聽力水平提高后，你會建議他們再做些什么? 肖：我建議...
澳大利亞WSL教師一席談