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(jīng)驗(yàn)的非母語(yǔ)英語(yǔ)課程教師，請(qǐng)問(wèn)你在中國(guó)待了多久了? 肖彼爾先生：我在中國(guó)待了已快5年了。我剛在一所大學(xué)完成了任教期，后被聘到張士柏 英語(yǔ)網(wǎng)(PEN)任教。 李：那你通常教哪類(lèi)課程呢? 肖：英語(yǔ)，主要是口語(yǔ)，偏重會(huì)話(huà)。我認(rèn)為這是中國(guó)學(xué)生的一個(gè)大弱項(xiàng)。他們寫(xiě)和讀的 能力都很好，但一到聽(tīng)和說(shuō)就手忙腳亂了。很可惜，他們沒(méi)有足夠的練習(xí)。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這種 情況很難解決，因?yàn)檫@些學(xué)生都學(xué)英語(yǔ)，但他們卻不常聚在一起用英語(yǔ)交談。但是他們 必須開(kāi)口說(shuō)，只有這樣，他們才會(huì)較快地學(xué)好。那些要出國(guó)留學(xué)的學(xué)生，就更得多練， 因?yàn)樗麄兊迷诤Ｍ庥糜⒄Z(yǔ)立足生存。 李：對(duì)，他們是得這樣做，但這需要廣泛地接觸英語(yǔ)環(huán)境。中國(guó)學(xué)生該怎么做呢? 肖：是啊，這倒不假。因?yàn)樵谥袊?guó)，那些口語(yǔ)比較好的學(xué)生中，大多數(shù)都有好的英語(yǔ)環(huán) 境，要么在外企工作，要么去海外旅行過(guò)。但他們都挑選好的英文雜志經(jīng)常閱讀，比如 你們的《英語(yǔ)沙龍》雜志。而且他們都設(shè)法找到英語(yǔ)角去多多地練習(xí)講英語(yǔ)。 李：剛才你提到你教英語(yǔ)口語(yǔ)，擅長(zhǎng)教會(huì)話(huà)。你可以就這方面談一談嗎? 肖：你知道，我教我的學(xué)生們?nèi)绾伍_(kāi)始交談以及如何使交談進(jìn)行下去，但同時(shí)要教他們 做到談話(huà)簡(jiǎn)短，這樣與你交談的人就不致于厭煩。比如，同外國(guó)人開(kāi)始交談，有正確的 也有錯(cuò)誤的方式。錯(cuò)誤的方式是，走近一老外，說(shuō)“嘿，我可以教你漢語(yǔ)，你教我英語(yǔ)， 行嗎?”哈，這種情況太多了。而你知道，正確的方式是走上前對(duì)老外說(shuō)，“噢，早上好( 或下午好)。歡迎來(lái)到北京。”接下來(lái)有禮貌地認(rèn)真作個(gè)自我介紹，這會(huì)大有好處的。那 人就會(huì)想，“噢，這個(gè)人還不錯(cuò)?！庇谑菚?huì)說(shuō)：“哦，早上好。我也很高興認(rèn)識(shí)你?！比缓?就是介紹你自己，還可問(wèn)一些諸如“你從哪兒來(lái)”等此類(lèi)的問(wèn)題。這樣，談話(huà)就會(huì)很好地 進(jìn)行下去。實(shí)際上，中國(guó)學(xué)生是在用非常禮貌的方法練習(xí)口語(yǔ)。此外，也不要直接上前 對(duì)老外說(shuō)，“嘿，我領(lǐng)你轉(zhuǎn)轉(zhuǎn)北京吧。”你可以改用別的說(shuō)法嘛。一定要記住，講求禮貌 是非常重要的。 李：但禮貌的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)在中國(guó)是不同的。 肖：哦，那當(dāng)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(yīng)占別 人太多時(shí)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(huì)講英 語(yǔ)的兒童就是用這種方法練習(xí)口語(yǔ)的。他們?nèi)ヂ糜尉包c(diǎn)，找游客說(shuō)話(huà)，但跟一位游客談 話(huà)的時(shí)間從不超過(guò)5到10分鐘。他們會(huì)有禮貌地說(shuō)：“謝謝你花時(shí)間跟我們談話(huà)。祝你在 這兒過(guò)得愉快?！比缓笤偃フ伊硪晃挥慰驼勗?huà)。而對(duì)中國(guó)學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)，他們要學(xué)的就是不要 羞怯。我在課上盡量教他們克服羞怯，因?yàn)樗麄冎性S多人是要出國(guó)學(xué)習(xí)的。而到了一個(gè) 新地方，他們往往太害羞而不去交外國(guó)朋友。他們會(huì)盡快去交中國(guó)朋友。 李：對(duì)大多數(shù)語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)者來(lái)說(shuō)，選擇合適的談話(huà)類(lèi)型是很困難的，這你怎么看? 肖：是的，我在中國(guó)發(fā)現(xiàn)人們什么問(wèn)題都要問(wèn)。我得教給我的學(xué)生們，某類(lèi)問(wèn)題不能問(wèn) 西方人，因?yàn)槲覀儠?huì)轉(zhuǎn)身說(shuō)道：“嘿，這跟你無(wú)關(guān)?！蔽医探o他們一些基本準(zhǔn)則，如：不 要問(wèn)女士的年齡。即使在好朋友之間我們也不談?wù)撳X(qián)。另外就是我們從不談?wù)撟诮毯驼?治。這都是些要知道的基本常識(shí)。對(duì)中國(guó)學(xué)生，他們得記?。寒?dāng)你只身在外國(guó)時(shí)，你不 僅僅是一個(gè)人，你是代表你們國(guó)家的大使。因而，如果你給別人留下了壞印象，你就給 你們國(guó)家的人民留下了壞印象。這也說(shuō)明了講究禮貌的重要性。 李：所以對(duì)中國(guó)學(xué)生來(lái)說(shuō)，他們?cè)诔鰢?guó)學(xué)習(xí)前得準(zhǔn)備好適應(yīng)西方文化。 肖：是的。他們得準(zhǔn)備適應(yīng)西方文化。所以我在課上花許多時(shí)間討論文化沖撞。這樣我 的學(xué)生在一個(gè)新地方、面對(duì)新文化時(shí)就不會(huì)感到孤單了，也就能盡快適應(yīng)新的文化了。 李：肖先生，請(qǐng)問(wèn)你還教給學(xué)生們什么技能? 肖：哦，我教他們聽(tīng)力技巧。對(duì)那些要出去在英語(yǔ)環(huán)境中學(xué)習(xí)或工作的人來(lái)說(shuō)，他們就 得學(xué)會(huì)聽(tīng)，因?yàn)樗麄兊妹靼讋e人說(shuō)了什么才可以做出反應(yīng)。有時(shí)，別人的話(huà)回得很快， 他們呆住了?！班蓿f(shuō)的是什么呀?”人家回答得很快，他們沒(méi)準(zhǔn)備。我常鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生回家 看電視，鼓勵(lì)他們盡量多聽(tīng)電視和廣播里的英文節(jié)目。有一個(gè)聽(tīng)力技巧是帶著問(wèn)題聽(tīng)， 可以確保你聽(tīng)懂了。我還想一提的就是不要依賴(lài)電子詞典，找本好詞典，用時(shí)還要擇義 恰當(dāng)。所謂擇義恰當(dāng)，我是說(shuō)要讀所有的釋義而不只是頭一個(gè)釋義。一本真正的好詞典 ，一個(gè)詞有許多釋義、許多短語(yǔ)和詞組，能告訴你如何用一個(gè)詞，而電子詞典是辦不到 的。 李：英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)者的聽(tīng)力水平提高后，你會(huì)建議他們?cè)僮鲂┦裁? 肖：我建議...
澳大利亞WSL教師一席談