一、背景
新版的JEFC教材课时安排紧凑,教学任务重。在教学过程中不少教师往往为了赶课时进度而无暇顾及教材中安排的写作任务。
写作是一个高度复杂的思维过程。在写作过程中,学生需要借助纯语言手段组织段落,考虑逻辑结构,使之条理清楚。写作对认知能力、思维能力、语言能力、组织能力、自我监控能力都有很高的要求,特别是用非母语进行写作,的确让很多学生望而生畏。此时,教师的课堂指导、技巧点拨就显得尤为重要。那么,教师在普通中学大班教学的条件下,如何利用有限的教学时间开展写作训练和对学生进行写作指导呢?
二、教学设想
阅读与写作密不可分。阅读是写作的基础,是作文素材和表达方式的源泉。通过阅读学生可以扩充词汇,扩大知识面,增强语感,从而汇集大量的语言信息,为写作打下扎实的语言基础。因此,教师可以将阅读教学和写作教学结合起来,利用阅读教材对学生进行写作训练。
笔者在任教的班级进行了一系列基于阅读的写作教学尝试。由于课时有限,只能从每节阅读课里挤出10分钟左右的时间,结合阅读内容对学生进行写作指导,主要采用了阅读扩写法、阅读仿写法、阅读续写法、阅读改写法及阅读缩写法几种方式。笔者把这种写作指导课称为“写作快课”。
这一教学尝试完全符合新课程的教学理念。一方面它最大限度地利用了有限的数学时间,将阅读与写作整合在一起,提高了教学效率;另一方面它将学习的主动权还给了学生,学生将自己的生活体验应用于写作实践中,突出了他们的学习主体地位。同时,学生在写作过程中相互合作,分享信息与观点,锻炼了其从多个角度分析问题的能力。
三、教学示例
例1:阅读扩写法
JEFC Book 2A Lesson 6的第一部分是一篇简短的阅读文章,描绘了一群学生郊游过程中遇到的一系列麻烦,但文章对每一种麻烦的描述都只是一笔带过。因此,教师可以针对这些麻烦让学生展开想像,指导学生从动作、表情、心理活动或对话描写等角度进行具体描写,使学生在扩写文章的过程中练习写作。根据这一思路,笔者设置了以下问题:They have met some problems when hiking to the top of the mountain.What are those problems?在多媒体课件中图片的启发下,学生很快文思泉涌。笔者继续问:Jill often goes the wrong way. Have you got lost before? Can you describe her feelings in that situation?学生们纷纷根据自己的生活经验,从表情、语言、心理活动等各个方面进行描述:
学生甲说:She is very scared. She wants to see her friends.
学生乙说:She looks around and around, but she can't see anything.
学生丙则从Jill的心理活动分析道:"Oh, dearme. Where are you, my friends? Please, please come and help me." She says with tears in her eyes.
与此同时,有的学生专注地倾听别人的发言,有的则快速记录同学们讲的句子。笔者在下课时总结说:Just now you gave a good description of Jill. You can say something about Katy, Li Mu or Jiang Wei as well. Please write a composition about the field trip as your homework. Try to be more specific.
例2:阅读仿写法
JEFC Book 2A Lesson 18是一篇描写动物园里动物生活的文章。课文结尾部分用拟人的手法描绘了一场dolphin show,既简短又生动,非常贴近学生的生活。学完这段文字后,笔者对学生说:
Now we know something about a dolphin show. I'm sure you have seen other animal shows before, such as a monkey show, a bird show or a bear show. Animal shows are interesting. Write a short composition about an animal show. You may follow the pattern of the text.
这一次笔者要求学生尽量采用拟人的手法描绘自己记忆深刻的一场“动物秀”。五分钟之后,学生甲开始朗读自己的习作:
Look! There are five monkeys over there. They are very naughty and clever.They look like human beings. One of them is riding a bike. He fides very fast, and he turns round and round.Another one is doing math exercises. All of his answers are right. How clever they are! Where are the other three monkeys?
Oh, they are over there. They jump very high onto a tree, then to another. They do it again, but this time they fall into the water. Very quickly they jump out of the water to the bank.
学生乙补充说:The monkey is saying "Hello" to us.
学生丙在习作中运用了刚学的条件状语从句:If you give the bear some food, he may play basketball again.
短短十分钟的仿写任务结束了。在整个过程中,学生们时而埋头思索,时而对别人的佳句啧啧称道。
例3:阅读续写法
在初二年级的教学中,一般过去时是个难点。开始学生很难掌握动词过去式的各种变化形式,总是出错。笔者考虑到一般过去时是初中生写作中最常使用的时态,选用这一时态进行写作训练无疑是非常重要的。通常学习JEFC Book 2 Lesson 30和Lesson 32,学生认识了一位工作非常忙碌的大老板Uncle Mike,学生们极为欣赏他工作时的勤奋和严谨,但也都认为他还应做点工作以外的事情,于是笔者提出一个问题:If you are the son or daughter of Uncle Mike, what would you like to say to him?有个学生说:Dad, I' d like to have dinner with you.笔者继续引导学生说:Uncle Mike decides to have a ten-day holiday with his family every year. Last summer they went to a seaside town. What did they do there? Please describe it.这一写作任务可谓一举多得,既完成了Lesson 32的教学任务,又让学生运用一般过去时给课文续写了结尾。
例4:阅读改写法
The Man Upstairs和A Bad Neighbour是JEFC Book 2B Unit 24中的两篇幽默小故事,文章描绘了邻里之间发生的小摩擦,内容生动有趣。文中出现了以下两个句子:(1)He found it hard to go to sleep.(2)The man upstairs heard the sound of children playing in the park.这样的句子可以使文章行文更为优美,句子结构更加富于变化,于是,笔者在阅读教学的复习巩固阶段创设了这样的语境,让学生在阅读并进行重点句强化训练的基础上结合自身的情感体验改写文章。
The man downstairs liked to live in this house because it was nearthe park.Every day he came back home early, took off his shoes, put them on the floor quietly, and then he opened the window. Let's guess what he could see outside the window.
这一语境为学生插上了想像的翅膀。思考片刻后,第一位学生说:He could see different colours in different seasons, so he found it good to live there.第二位学生:He could see many cute animals jumping happily on the trees, and he found it interesting to live there.
He could see the clean, clear sky on a sunny morning and he thought it wonderful to live there.
He could see colourful flowers everywhere inspring and golden leaves everywhere in autumn, and he found it romantic to live there.
He could see clouds upon the top of the mountain, and he...
学生的构想令人目不暇接。笔者又提出了第二个问题:What could he hear when he opened the window? You should try to say he could hear the sound of...doing...男生甲说:He could hear the sound of the dogs barking.第二位学生说:He could hear the sound of the sheep bleating.学生陷入沉思,他们在短时间内似乎还想不出可以继续发挥的内容。于是笔者点拨道:Yes, he could hear the sound of the animals, but how about other sounds?学生乙反应敏捷,她说:He could hear the wind blowing through the leaves.又一位学生说:He could hear the sound of rain dripping on the leaves.还有一位学生说:He could hear the sound of golden leaves falling on the ground.从学生们的眼神中笔者知道他们不仅在努力记忆这些佳句,而且已经真正感受到“The man downstairs found it good to live there.”这句话的意境。于是,这节课的作文题也就出来了:
假设你住在公园旁边。良好的居住环境让你特别满意,可是你的邻居却给你带来了烦恼。请你根据生活经验编写一个发生在你和恼人的邻居间的故事。
要求用“I found it good to live there. But there was one problem: My neighbout...”作为承上启下的过渡句。
例5:阅读缩写法
阅读缩写要求学生在理解课文内容及其结构的基础上,抓住原文的重点,在尊重原文大意的前提下,用简洁流畅的语言对原文进行压缩和整理。阅读缩写活动也能检测学生对课文的理解程度。教师在进行阅读教学时所设计的问题不仅能帮助学生更好地理解课文,还能为其进行阅读缩写提供一条很好的线索。例如,JEFC Book 3 Lesson 10一文的关键句是:It's our duty to keep our environment clean and tidy.此句为全篇的主题句,根据文中的两个关键词protect和improve,笔者设置了如下问题:It's our duty to keep our environment clean and tidy. How can we protect our environment?学生们的回答丰富多彩:Don't pour dirty water into the river. /Don't throw any litter on the ground/Don't spit in public. /Don't cut down trees.笔者进一步提问:Now we know We mustn't do harm to our environment any more, and we should try our best to improve it because we have only one Earth. Do you know how to improve our environment? You many discuss with your partners.
经过讨论,学生提出了许多改善环境的建议。笔者趁热打铁,让学生抓住主题句和关键词,模仿课文写作手法对原文进行缩写。
四、教学反思
1.信息加工理论认为,大脑的首要功能是对信息积极地探求、选择、获得、组织和储存,并在适当的时机取出加以利用。“写作快课”是在信息加工理论指导下开设的一种新的写作课型,它将阅读与写作教学巧妙地整合在一起,既强调信息的输入,又强调信息的选择、组织、储存和运用。它不仅强化了学生对课文的理解以及对语言知识的积累,还为学生创造了在写作中运用语言的机会,是阅读教学的有效延伸。同时,学生作为信息加工的主体和知识的主动建构者,在教师的指导下,凭借已具备的认知结构对来自客体的信息进行选择和加工处理。这种学习是非常有意义的。
2.在“写作快课”的实施过程中,教材成为笔者和学生共同分析和探讨的对象,我们从自身的角度对它进行诠释和说明。所有的这些尝试都让笔者深刻地体会到作为课程改革的实践者,教师需要学会审视教材,有效地利用教材,并大胆地开发教材。
3.“写作快课”速度快和信息量大的特点让班内的优秀学生受益匪浅。在教师精心设计的教学情境里,这批学生的思维经常处于兴奋状态,学习积极性得以激发,而他们在课堂上的出色表现也带动了其他学生的进步。但是,班级里英语基础薄弱的学生却倍感吃力,词汇量匮乏和语法知识模糊成为他们接受来自同学和老师信息的最大障碍,而优秀学生在课堂上的出色表现无形之中又给他们施加了更大的压力。面对水平参差不齐的学生如何实施差异教学?如何建立一种促进每个学生都能较好发展的机制?差异也是一种教育资源,如何有效地开发利用?这些都是笔者今后开设“写作快课”时要努力思考并着手解决的问题。
中小学外语教学:中学篇京25~28G381中学外语教与学沈雨20062006
沈雨 浙江温州市教育教学研究院
作者:中小学外语教学:中学篇京25~28G381中学外语教与学沈雨20062006
网载 2013-09-10 20:54:16