Sensibility and Passion―Find Your Own Art in Classroom Teachingword资料14页

Sensibility and Passion―Find Your Own Art in ClassroomTeachingAbstract： This paper summarizes the features emerged from natural classroom observation about how experienced teachers used different devices to create better learning environment and optimize learning opportunities to actively engage the students in the classroom activities. The two participating teachers prove to be in accordance with the commonly accepted description of “good English teachers” with their own characteristics by positively influencing the different level of the pedagogic process. Classroom observation is also proved to be a desirable way for teacher development.[文献标识码]A1. IntroductionClassroom teaching is always the basic and most important way of English acquisition and there is no exception in tertiary level in Chinese context. There have been a lot of researches about language teaching methods， but no method can be employed as a cure for all. Language environment，students’ motivation and language teaching policy， all the factors will influence the choice of teaching methods and even in one class period， methods may vary according to different purposes. There’s no ready recipe forclassroom teaching and the key lies in how the teachers choose and implement different methods according to the real situation and how they incorporate various methods organically.Modern society witnesses the prevalence of learning-centered classroom， while no one will deny that teacher still plays a leading role as the manager， the facilitator， the monitor， the assessor and so on. A successful language teacher knows how to empower the learners and get them actively involved by creating better chances in a learning-centered classroom and optimizing the current learning circumstances. Now in the absence of clear methodological guidelines，there should be various ways to be a “good teacher”，as a wellrounded， confident and experienced individual（Sowden，2007）.2. Literature review2.1 Natural language acquisition and classroom teachingClassroom is always considered not as a real situation for language learning and many factors there are considered totally different from natural language acquisition. However， classroom is the place foreign language learning actually takes place and classroom teaching is the most important way of language acquisition in Chinese context. It is a real society constructed both by the teacher and the students. How to make the best of this small societyto maximize the opportunities is vital to language learning. Language teachers all share the conviction that given the right environment and appropriate tasks， students have the chances to use all those communicative strategies which are common for natural language use. 3.3 Findings3.3.1 Different stylesRosa and Christina displayed different style in their classroom teaching and both of them were charming in their own way.Rosa： follow my paceRosa showed elegance all the time in classroom and she seemed to have everything under control and nothing could disturb the pace of her class. Her motto about tertiary language learning is “learning by doing”， which was clearly reflected by various tasks she assigned to the students. Group presentation， group discussion，role-play， on-line learning tasks and even home work for oral practice in the mp3 form. Rosa gave very clear instructions about different learning tasks and tried every way to invite all the students to participate in the classroom activities. Students were no longer passive audience but took initiative in interaction and actively participate in the classroom activities.Christina： follow my passionChristina was a very passionate language teacher. She alwaysdisplayed vivid facial expressions and body language in class and laughed happily together with her students. Every class time， she tried her best to lead her students with passion and enthusiasm to enjoy the journey of learning. She used different ways to create a happy classroom environment such as playing students’ be loved English songs during the break. A remarkable characteristic was her belief of sharing life experiences and conveying positive attitude towards study， work， love and life while appreciating the language. She adopted very flexible teaching methods according to the learning material and shared a lot about her own opinions with her students.3.3.2 Shared successful practicesAlthough the two teachers displayed quite different style in classroom teaching， the observation still uncovered many factors in common that might be helpful in various contexts with individual adaptation. Many of the characteristics the teachers displayed could be said to be desirable for any successful teacher： a warm and welcoming atmosphere where learners feel themselves to be valued； good communication skills； creativity； good subject knowledge； well-planned lessons； enthusiasm and successful management skills.3.3.3 Teacher’s language proficiencyBoth teachers showed high language proficiency with clear andpleasant pronunciation which could be good examples for the students. They used English all the time with a moderate speed which was not difficult for the students to catch. As non-native teachers， their language proficiency not only serves as “comprehensible input”，but also helps create images of successful language learners. They also hold quite broad knowledge because they were supposed to give students certain feedbacks concerning a large variety of topics brought by the students to class in different assignments. Both Rosa and Christina had great familiarity with the teaching materials. They just walked around the classroom， talking and organizing activities based on the content without holding the textbook or their teaching notes. 3.3.4 Positive environment Both classrooms presented very positive and encouraging atmosphere with the teachers smiling all the time and using different ways to encourage students and acknowledge every effort and progress students made. There was one particular detail about Rosa. She used an“invitation” gesture to ask a student to express his/ her opinions in class by extending her palm out. We might not be strange with the pointing gesture which is not uncommon but might seem aggressive. This tiny difference made by Rosa is sure to make students feel more comfortable in the classroom. Christina impressed the author by her wonderful memory for students’names.She seemed to know everyone in her classroom and every time she invited a student to answer her questions， she used his/her name. The author learned from the interview with the students that knowing every of them by names makes them feel really cared for and this is one of the important reasons why they like Christina so much.Creating the positive learning environment also includes catering to students’ real needs. Rosa conducted a survey at the end of each semester and the opinions she collected are used for the alteration of teaching plans for the coming semester. Christina talked a lot with her students whenever she got time. Classroom decisions were negotiated with the students and feedbacks and advices were especially welcomed. The positive environment is also created by respecting students’ diversity. Their students were quite free to choose the topics and content of their presentation and various forms of showing their talents， which were appreciated with the tolerant acceptance and friendly encouragement. Rosa and Christina developed the affective factors of classroom teaching positively by creating a relaxed and encouraging environment for learning.3.3.5 Various teaching and classroom management methodsRosa and Christina combined different teaching methods in their classroom. You can’t name which method in particular they areadopting， but you can find details of different methods present in their teaching. According to them， there is no recipe for the best method of teaching and most teaching methods we learned in the books are based on western experiences. The big population in China brings us big English classes with quite diversified proficiency. It’s up to the teachers to adapt different ways according to the actual situation they are faced with. Group work is prominent in both classes because oral proficiency is accorded with top priority and working in groups is an effective way of managing big classes with at least 55 students. There was group presentation for each class time and group discussion was a common practice about given topics. Whenever there was a group competition， classroom atmosphere became so active and the author was once so amused to find a shy girl put up her group member’s hand for a chance to answer the question！ There were times for whole class instruction for the explanation of language terms and there were pair works for role play. When the question was about personal understanding and opinions， students were invited to express themselves individually. Both Rosa and Christina acted as different roles in different activities and tried their best to guarantee the learning opportunities.3.3.6 Rich and authentic learning materialsRosa and Christina never confined the content within the textbook and used rich， authentic and up-to-date learning materials in class. For a text with the theme of “being famous”， Rosa used movie clips from Notting Hill to encourage the students to talk about advantages and disadvantages of being famous. Pictures about Super Girls， a famous Chinese show program were also used for students to discuss about people’s desire of getting famous overnight. Christina asked her students to do a group competition of translating the most popular words，such as“Geilivable” in the first class of the semester and greatly warmed the classroom atmosphere. She also used popular American TV series for various purposes―shor t clips for the actually use of some words and some episodes for discussion.These authentic materials serve to provide authentic extension to the course book and offer students better learning environment. To include what the students are interested in into the classroom can also arouse their passion for learning English. Encouraged by the authentic materials brought by the teachers and the tolerating classroom atmosphere， students are also willing to bring to the classroom materials of their own interest， especially for group presentation. The topics varied from homosexuality to some current hot issues. The author was extremely impressed by a presentationwhich relates university life to some well-known economic terms.3.3.7 Facilitating teacher talkWithout investigating some traditional ideas of teacher talk，such as time allocation， question types and so on， the researcher decided to highlight the interactional features emerged from the observation since the optimal condition for classroom language learning is the students’ need and desire to communicate.3.3.8 After class interviews（1） Interview with the studentsSeveral students were interviewed after class and most of them showed very positive feedback to Rosa and Christina. They enjoyed the happy and passionate learning atmosphere with their contagious enthusiasm and were willing to do the various tasks because they were willing to take more responsibility and play an active role. Some of the students worried that their teachers did n’t cover the text book thoroughly as the traditional way did， so sometimes they were confused and didn’t know what they have exactly learned in class. Their worries were surely attended by their teachers. Rosa changed some of her teaching plans according to the classroom survey and Christina gave a clear outline about the important language elements in every part in the text. Christina told me later that she was so happy to find many students using those phrases she listedout in the following writing tasks.（2） Interview with the teachersRetrospective interview were conducted with Rosa and Christina after each observation period. The author asked questions about teaching process and classroom activities and clarify all the puzzles. For language teachers， the constant repetition of lesson routines， the revisiting of texts and activities make it difficult for us to maintain a sense of excitement with the business of teaching. The interviews proved the two teachers to be very enthusiastic about their career and are willingly to develop themselves all the time. The interviews displayed their constant reflections of their own teaching and their willingness to challenge what we have taken for granted and to try out new ideas. They also did classroom observations every semester and always communicated with colleagues about their gains and puzzles in teaching. In all these cases， they not only improved their own performance， but also learned more about teaching and about themselves. Reflection is valuable when teachers are able to make a critical enquiry into the process of their teaching practice.4. ConclusionThe classroom observation proves the two teachers as successful examples because they try their best to positively influence thedifferent level of the pedagogic process. They influence the affective level positively by creating a relaxed and encouraging atmosphere； the cognitive level by asking challenging questions and assigning various tasks； the social level by using different classroom management techniques and the communication level by inviting all the learners to participate （Littlewood， 2009）. Their performances are in accordance with the description of “good English teachers”of several researchers in terms of their language proficiency， t heir attention to students’needs， their promotion for real classroom communication and the encouraging learning environment they developed（Davies & Pearse， 2002； Sowden， 2007；Suliivan， 2004）. The present study also shed light on the classroom observation which turns out to be a very useful way of teacher development. The author benefited a lot by observing their classrooms and learned very useful ways which are proved to be effective in the author’s own classroom. Several interviews with the teachers h elp us to know better of each other’s teaching beliefs and experiences. Classroom observation can be a fruitful way of professional cooperation and development. Most teachers have an ideal of how they appear as teachers and about how effective certain mannerisms and techniques can be. By classroom observation， we can know better of our beliefs and practices from another empatheticcolleague’s perspective. Most of us find discussing our situation with others helps us to sort things out in our mind and to be more objective about our own teaching. Peer observation and cooperative development in a small scale should be a very helpful way of teacher development.As with all case-study research， the present study does not claim statistical generalizability of its findings and it is known to all that good teachers come in all shapes and sizes. However，this study tries to record what really happens in Chinese tertiary English classrooms and hopes to not only discuss how to adapt to the context to create better learning opportunities but also to English teaching in a global sense. This is an era of “seeing diversity in unity”（ Larsen-freeman，2012）. The author firmly believe that our profession is an art rather than a science. With all the professional knowledge， with the open mind and willingness to learn and to develop， especially with the passion and our personal charm， we are sure to achieve the common goal of effective teaching through diversified means.References：Allwright， D. The Importance of Interaction in Classroom Language Learning[J]. Applied Linguistics， 1984（2）： 156-171.Davies， P.， and E. Pearse. Success in English teaching[M].Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education press， 2002.Ellis， R. Instructed Second Language Acquisition[M]. Oxford：Basil Blackwell， 1990.Harbon， L. & H. Z. Shen. 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The Modern Language Journal， 2004（3）： 390-402.希望以上资料对你有所帮助，附励志名言3条：1、生命对某些人来说是美丽的，这些人的一生都为某个目标而奋斗。