搜索
LearnersandLearning新场中学顾燕Inthestageoflanguageanalysis,Iwantedtohelpmystudentsreviewthebasicknowledgeofrelativeclause.Mymainfocuswasonthecompositionoftherelativeclause,thedifferencebetweenrelativepronounsandrelativeadverbs,andthedifferencebetweenrestrictiveandnon-restrictiveclause.Seventypercentofthestudentsinmyclassaregirlsandtheytendtolistentomeandmakenotesinclass.Besides,althoughmostofthestudentsaregoodatwrittenwork,theydon’tdoagoodjobinspeaking.Therefore,IfoundmostofthestudentswerebusywritingdownwhatIshowedonPPTwhenIexplainedtherulesofthisgrammar.AndwhenIaskedthemtotellmethesituationwhereonly“that”canbeusedastherelativepronoun,onlyafewstudentscouldtellmeoneortwosituations.Moststudentsseemedtohavelearntnothingaboutrelativeclause.Ithoughtsincetheyhadlearnttherelativeclauseinsenioroneandseniortwo,theyshouldhavegivenmethecorrectanswersandtheyshouldhavebeenmoreactiveinthisstage.However,onthewhole,studentskeptsilentandpassiveinthispart,thatistosay,Ididn’tquiteachievetheaim.IthinkthereasonisthatItalked,demonstrated,andexplainedtoomuchhereandstudentslackedpractice.Therefore,ifItaughtthisstageagain,Iwouldgivestudentsmoreexampledofrelativeclauseandelicittheanswersfromtheminsteadofgivingthemeverything.Forexample,Iwouldgivestudentsdifferentsentenceswithdifferentrelativepronounsandaskthemtopickouttherelativepronounsandexplainwhytheyareusedhere.Inthisway,eventheweakerstudentswouldbeabletomakeaconclusionbyanalyzingthespecificexamplesgiven.What’smore,allthestudentswouldsurelybemoreengagedinthislessonbecausetheywouldknowwhattosay.Myteachingstylehereiskindof‘jugandmug’----theknowledgebeingpouredfromonereceptacleintoanotheremptyone(JimScrivener,2002).Icontrolledtheclassinmostofthestage,whichlookedgood.However,justasJimScrivenersaid,peoplelearnmorebydoingthingsthemselvesratherthanbybeingtoldaboutthem.Therefore,inclassteachershouldgivestudentsmorechancetothink,todiscussandtoperformbythemselvesinsteadofalwaysleadingthestudentsbythenose.Ifweteachersareover-helpful,thestudentswilllosetheopportunitytodeveloptheirlearningability.Yetifweemployanapproachofguideddiscoveryinreviewinggrammar,studentsaresuretolearnmore.Intheactivityofagame,Idividedthewholeclassintotwobiggroups,andgavethewhitecardswithmainclausesonittoonegroup,andredcardswithrelativeclauseonittoanothergroup.ThenIaskedstudentstomatchthemandcombinethemintoacorrectandappropriaterelativeclause.Theobjectiveofthisstageistohelpstudentspracticeusingrelativeclauseandconsolidatetheuseofrelativeclause.Moststudentsofthisagearekeenonkinestheticactivities,sostudentswereveryactiveinthegame.Theymovedaroundtheclassroom,lookedatcardsindifferentcolorandtriedtheirbesttofindtheirmatch.Thefirstgroupwhofoundtheirmatchsattogether,veryexcited.However,Inoticedthreeorfourstudentssatintheirseat,atalossastowhattodo.Iapproachedthemandcommunicatedwiththemandfoundtheydidn’tunderstandmyinstructions,soIthinkgivingICQsbeforethegameisreallyimportant.Otherwise,someweakerstudentsmayfailtounderstandmyinstructions.Andanotherproblemwasthattheclassroomwaskindofatamessanditcostmemuchmoretimethanexpectedtocheckthecorrectanswers,whichmadethefollowingstageabitofarush.Therefore,ifIdidthispartagain,Iwouldarrangefourgroupsinsteadoftwo,andtwoofthefourgroupseachhavetheirwhiteandredcardsandthenplaythegamewiththeother.Inthatcase,IthinktheclassroomwouldbecontrolledmoreeasilyandwhenIcheckedtheiranswers,Iwouldonlyneedtocheck10sentencescomparedwiththe20sentencesinthislesson.IreadfromJimScrivenerthatanimportantpartofyourlessonisintheworkingatmosphereandtherelationshipthatyoubuildwithyourclass–andthatisunlikelytobeparticularlycloseifyousimplydirectthemmechanicallytodoexerciseafterexercise.Therefore,it’sasensibleideatodesignagameinagrammar-focusedlesson.However,sometimesawhole-classactivityishardforteacherstomanage,soweneedtomakeacarefulplanbeforethelesson.Weshouldtakepossiblesituationanddifferentlevelsofstudentsintoconsideration.Forexample,whatifthetimeislimited,howtomakeeverystudentsinvolvedintheactivity,andhowtodothefeedbacktothewholeclass,etc.WhatIbelieveisthatifwemakeamoredetailedandthoughtfulplan,thechanceofgivingasuccessfullessonwillbemuchbigger.Intheextensionactivity,Igroupedstudentsin4andaskedthemtointroducetheirfavoritephotos,whichhadbeenpreparedbeforeclass.Theadditionalrequirementwasthattheyshoulduseasmanyasrelativeclauses.Andtheobjectiveofthisactivityistodevelopstudents’abilityofusingrelativeclauseinapassageandalsotopracticetheirspeaking.First,studentswereinterestedintheactivitybecausetheywereeagertoknowsomethingabouttheirclassmates.AndIfoundonegroupofstudentswereextremelyexcitedandtalkedwitheachotherheatedlybecauseoneboystudenttookaphotoinwhichhelookedlikeagirl.Inaddition,duetothefactthatIgaveamodelbeforetheintroducedtheirpicture,moststudentscouldintroduceitwithsomerelativeclausesincluded.Generallyspeaking,Iachievedmystageobjectivehere.However,theproblemwiththisactivitymightbethatwhatstudentstalkedaboutwasnotverynatural.Actually,alltheexamplesandactivitiesinthislessonwerenotpresentedinanaturalwayandlackedasuitableco