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Here on my blog. This blog is related to the teaching language through literature.
☆ Introduction of teaching language through literature:
A major problem of language teaching in the classroom is the creation of an authentic situation for language. All language classrooms, especially those outside the community of native speakers, are isolated from the context of events and situations which produce natural language. Literature can overcome this problem because, in literary works, language creates its own context. The actual situation of the reader becomes immaterial as he or she looks at the events created by language. These events create, in turn, a context of the language of the book and enable it to transcend the artificial classroom situation.
☆ what sort of activities to cane be designed to teach language using a " novel" or " short story."
•What do we do to teach language through novels?
● Teach language using a " Short story:
Short stories are very useful in the trials to improve students' vocabulary and reading. The results of Lao and Krashen‟s (2000) study which compared the reading achievement between a group of students that read literary texts and a second group that read non-literary texts at a university in Hong Kong revealed that the group who read literary texts made better improvement in vocabulary and reading.
The idea that short stories are the most suitable literary genre to use in English teaching due to its shortness is supported by Hirvela and Boyle‟s (1988) study on adult Hong Kong Chinese students' attitudes towards four genres of literary texts (short story, novel, poetry and drama) indicated short stories as the genre that is less feared and the second most enjoyed (43%; the novel is the most enjoyed with 44%), since short stories are easy to finish and definite to understand. The idea is also in line with Collie and Slater . when they list four advantages of using short stories for language teachers. First, short stories are practical as their length is long enough to cover entirely in one or two class sessions.
if students have reached a high level of language proficiency. For example, if teachers bring to class A Long Walk.
◇ Home, they can assign the following writing activities:
1. Write a dialogue between Jackson and his father that morning (paragraph one).
2. Paraphrase the last two paragraphs of the short story.
3. Write a book report or summarize the story in five to seven sentences, including the main character, setting, conflict, climax, and resolution.
4. Write one sentence on the theme of the story.
5. Write a paragraph to explain what you think Jackson has learned from that experience.
6. Write a review on the story.
7. Write an essay on what you like or dislike in the story.
The idea that short stories are very suitable to use in English teaching is supported by Pardede‟s (2010) research findings on the interest, perceptions, and the perceived needs of the students of the English teachers training of Christian University of Indonesia towards the incorporation of short story in language skills classes. The research revealed that a majority of the respondents basically found short stories interesting to use both as materials for self-enjoyment and of as components language skill classes. Most of them also agreed or strongly agreed that the incorporation of short stories in language skills classes will help learners achieve better mastery of language skills. They even believed that English teacher candidates should master the skills of employing short stories to teach language skills. In addition, the statistical analysis revealed that the students‟ interest and perceptions were positively and significantly correlated, and both variables significantly affected each other.
The use of short-story in English teaching should be aimed to encourage the students to use what they have previously learnt. By doing this, the learning process will be student-centered. However, the teacher plays a great role. She/he must choose a suitable text to use in class, and should help her/his students understand the story with various activities. In using short stories to teach English, story selection is indeed one of the most important roles of the teacher. Since the lengths of short-stories quite vary, choose a story short enough to handle within course hours. The shortness of the text is important for the students because they will see that they can read, understand and finish something in English, and it will give the students a feeling of achievement and self-confidence.
● points out three other basic criteria of choosing the text:
(1) the needs and abilities of the students; (2) the linguistic and stylistic level of the text;
(3) the amount of background information required for a true appreciation of the material.
☆ what sort of activities to cane be designed to teach language using a " film " or " video " :
Film can bring variety and flexibility to the language classroom by extending the range of teaching techniques and resources, helping students to develop all four communicative skills. For example, a whole film or sequence can be used to practise listening and reading, and as a model for speaking and writing. Film can also act as a springboard for follow-up tasks such as discussions, debates on social issues, role plays, reconstructing a dialogue or summarising. It is also possible to bring further variety to the language learning classroom by screening different types of film: feature-length films, short sequences of films, short films, and adverts.
Given the benefits of using film in the language learning classroom, it is not surprising that many teachers are keen to use film with their students, and an increasing number of them are successfully integrating film into the language-learning syllabus.
Working with film in teaching, like with any medium or supporting object, requires some thought about how to get the best out of the materials. In education, this kind of thinking is about pedagogy – the theory, or sometimes the science, of teaching and learning. We say teaching AND learning, because the two are not always the same. Often what we teach is not the same as what learners take away.
In film education, a number of techniques and approaches have been devised, tested, and shared over the years. In this step we will look at three examples of pedagogical approaches to film, and ask you to write a few lines in response.
● The three approaches are:
《1》Basic Teaching Techniques.
《2》Cs and Ss.
《3》Tell Me.
《1》 Basic Teaching Techniques :
The first set of approaches called Basic Teaching Techniques, come from a resource published many years ago called ‘Moving Images in the Classroom’. In this booklet, a group of teachers and advisers came up with eight ‘Basic Teaching Techniques’ (BTTs), designed to help teachers who hadn’t used film, video or TV before in their teaching to make the most out of these media.
● Eight Basic Teaching Techniques:
■ Freeze Frame – concentrates on the visual language of moving images.
■Sound and Image – highlights the important sound in the interpretation of moving image texts.
■Spot the Shots – draws attention to the editing process.
■Top and Tail – shows how moving image texts are produced and circulated to audiences.
■Attracting Audiences – shows how moving image texts are produced and circulated to audiences.
■Generic Translations – ways of making changes to moving image texts and relating them to other media.
■Cross- media Comparisons – changing moving image texts and relating them to other media.
■Simulation – changing moving image texts and relating them to other media
The eight basic techniques are designed to help you unravel the codes and conventions of the moving image, and enable you to use a wider range of film and video texts in the classroom when teaching languages. The techniques are not age-specific. If you wish to learn more about the eight BTTs and how they can be applied to language teaching please download the two ‘Basic Teaching Technique’ resources from the download section.
《2》 Cs and Ss:
Cs and Ss are a way of categorising and analysing techniques in film that either share features with other modes of storytelling, or which are distinctive to film. The ‘Cs and Ss’ approach offers possibilities for vocabulary work in a variety of languages for example in identifying colours, places, character types and adjectival descriptions of mood. The original ‘family’ of Cs and Ss comprised:
Character, Story, and Setting (categories that could be applied across film, print, and other fiction media). Camera, Colour, and Sound (categories specific to film).
If you wish to learn more about this approach then please download the ‘Cs and Ss – Thinking About Film’ resource in the download section.
《3》Tell Me :
The ‘Tell Me’ approach is based on a questioning framework developed by a group of teachers, authors and advisors for eliciting children’s responses to the books they were reading. This questioning framework was worked on and refined over a long period, with teachers and children, in an attempt to ensure that the questions were generative – i.e. that they created spaces for children to talk extensively – and that they didn’t threaten, or imply a right answer. The effect is something like a conversation, rather than a lesson.
◇ Basic ‘Tell Me’ question examples:
•Was there anything you liked?
• What caught your attention?
• Was there anything you disliked?
• Was there anything that puzzled you?
•That you’d never seen in a film before? That surprised you? •
•Were there any patterns?
Thank you...
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