Cultural Background Knowledge and English Teaching(8)

主要讲文化背景对英语学习的影响,值得我们学习这一方面的知识

with me?

Helen: OK. Let‘s go to that newsagent in the corner. I want some cigarettes.

Susan: I want to go to the one down the road. I‘ve got to send off this parcel and there is a post-office in that one.

This dialogue tells us in England some newsagent‘s shops not only sell sweets and cigarettes, but also install post office where people can send off letters and parcels. But in China, there are not such shops. If teachers don‘t give the explanations, students may feel puzzled.

Secondly, encourage students to read extensively, including novels, magazines, and newspapers etc. To most Chinese learners, acquisition of knowledge of western culture, mainly depend on reading material, while literal works is the most rich material through which we can know something about a people‘s psychology, cultural characters, customs and habits, social relations etc. Teachers should guide students to accumulate relative cultural background knowledge when reading material. Through enormous reading, students‘ understanding of culture will become ripe and complete.

Thirdly, in the classroom, teacher should pay attention to proper language forms as well as suitable use of language. One way of classroom teaching is to ask students to make similar dialogues to the text. A student inevitably needs to play a role and carry on a conversation according to a certain role. Teacher should attract the student‘s attention to his role and point out his expressions which are improper for his character or the occasion. Furthermore, remind students to pay attention to details such as pronunciation, intonation, countenance wording, gesture etc.

Fourthly, use good native English videotapes and films in teaching, and then organize discussions. When watching videotapes or seeing a film, students and teachers should pay much attention to the scene of daily life, such as conversations between shopkeepers and clients, dialogues on the telephone, chat in the street, etc. After that, teachers and students may exchange views and replenish each other.

Fifthly, encourage students to communicate with native English speakers. But so far, we haven‘t carried out such activities enough. In contact with native speakers, students can be deeply impressed by the differences between two cultures at first hand. Moreover, in such relaxed conversations, students can learn much knowledge, which cannot be learned in the classroom.

Sixthly, hold some lectures about cultures and customs, comparing Chinese culture with western culture.

In teaching, teachers should attach importance to cultural differences and study these differences. As English teachers, we should not only help students to learn a foreign language, but also to learn social and cultural background knowledge. Only so, students can widen their knowledge and thus further learn English well. ( 4,168)

Bibliography

百度搜索“77cn”或“免费范文网”即可找到本站免费阅读全部范文。收藏本站方便下次阅读，免费范文网，提供经典小说教育文库Cultural Background Knowledge and English Teaching(8)在线全文阅读。