下文选自上海外语教育出版社出版的《学习教学：英语教师指南（Learning Teaching: A Guidebook for English language teachers）》（作者Jim Scrivener）第四章“Activities and lessons”（活动与授课）。对于教材，我们要有一种平视的心态，不要把它奉为不可更改的经典。作为体制内教师，也许我们没有选择用哪套教材的权利，但我们可以选择教材里的哪些内容可以使用，哪些内容可以稍后再说。当然，如果不是体制内老师，那就更简单了，可以对教材是否适合使用做一判断，合适的就用，不合适的就换。我们教的是学生，不是教材。不过，对于新教师来说，在一段时间内按照教材的指示去教学，这样能够快速建立教学常规。一般来说，教材编写者总是经验比较丰富的教师，跟着他们走，出错的可能性不大，能取得比较好的效果。等到有了一定的把握，再尝试着实验一点新东西，照此操作，逐步对教材的使用实现“随心所欲”。今天的选文中还有教材典型课文内容的教学分析，通过提问的方式让我们思考教材的语言内容、语言技能、预计学生可能遇到的困难、与学生真实生活相联系的方面、教师角色、教学步骤、何处增删等，朋友们可以留意一下。因篇幅有限，这些问题的答案（Commentary部分）放在对应小程序里，朋友们可以点击下面链接进入。本次的习题除了关注语言之外，还有教法的题目，值得朋友们看看！教材使用的成熟状态是怎样的？是将其当成一种教学资源，具体有这样几个用法：A coursebook can be a good source of useful, exploitable material. It will also sequence the activities. Sadly, not all coursebooks are equally helpful, but as a starting point I’d certainly recommend finding out if your book is usable or not. (At the very least your students will probably expect you to use the book and starting with what they expect is probably quite sensible.)Of course, you do not necessarily need to be a slave to the book; you can adapt and vary the activities if you wish; you can do them in a different order; you can omit some of them or all of them.Similarly, you can, if you wish, do precisely what the book suggests you do. In your early days of teaching, doing precisely what the book suggests can be a very good way of learning how to teach.The coursebook writer is a more experienced teacher than you and knows something of the problems learners have, provides a useful syllabus for them to follow, and has devised a course to help them learn. The questions in Task 1 below are intended to make you more aware of the aims of coursebook material and to start you thinking about ways to exploit that material in class.Look at the page from the New Cambridge English Course 1 (Fig. 4.6), a widely used course aimed at beginners and low level classes of learners.Study the page, doing the questions below in turn. You’ll find answers and commentary following the task.
1 What are the main areas of grammar, function, vocabulary or phonology that the lesson is working on?2 This question is about what the learners might do in this lesson. Assume that the exercises are done in the ways suggested by the book's instructions. Mark letters beside the seven activities as follows: S (a lot of speaking); L (a lot of listening); R (a lot of reading); W (a lot of writing); T (a lot of thinking). Note: an exercise may not clearly indicate how it can be done (the teacher or students could therefore choose how to do it). A single exercise might also involve more than one of these categories.3 Which activities would you categorize as 'games’ or ‘game-like’?4 Although the activities may look straightforward to us, they could prove very challenging to the learners. What do you think will challenge them in each activity?5 Which activities relate the language to true personal information about the learners?6 Visualize yourself as the teacher using this lesson. Where are you standing or sitting at each point in the lesson? How much are you talking? What are you saying? What are you doing? Divide the activities into 'teacher does a lot'; 'teacher does some things' and teacher does very little'.7 What would your classroom procedure be for using the material in Exercise 1? (ie what activity would you organize to exploit the material?)8 If the learners do not know what bored means, at what stage of the lesson do you think they will learn it?9 How will they learn it? From what or from whom will they learn it? Fig. 4.6: From New Cambridge English Course Student^ Book 1, Swan and Walter (CUP 1990)10 What are the language aims of Exercise 5? What do you think the ‘teacher's questions' will be?11 If you were working with this page in class, are there any parts you might omit (because they are complicated, boring, confusing; because you just don't like them, etc)? Which parts might you need to plan carefully if you had a particularly shy or self-conscious class?12 Why might you want to add something of your own (or from another source)? Think of one activity (perhaps very short) to supplement what is on this page.Commentary (Possible answers to questions in Task 1)·to give less experienced teachers support and guidance and the control of a well-organized syllabus;·to give more experienced teachers material to work from.I suggest that, until you feel secure, you use your coursebook exactly as intended by the author. When you are ready, then experiment a bit; for example, by personalizing a few exercises, choosing not to do some of them, etc. Gradually assume control over the book and use it increasingly as a resource rather than the centrepiece of the course.Using a coursebook as a resource:You don’t need to do everything. Choose what is appropriate for you and your students.If it’s not appropriate - leave it out.Remember that the book is no substitute for your own teaching. The book is a resource to help and inform your work; it doesn't do the teaching for you. What you bring to it is the human element - you know and work with your students; they know you.You don’t need to plod step by step through page after page. Find interesting ways to adapt or exploit the material. Devise variations on activities that give your students the practice that they need. For example, try doing things in a different order. Give different instructions to the ones printed on the page.Use teacher’s ‘recipe’ books, magazine pictures and articles, your own ideas, board games, real objects, projects, tape and video recordings, etc.
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