英语专业毕业论文-On Lead-in in Primary school English Class

英语专业毕业论文-On Lead-in in Primary school English Class On Lead-in in Primary school English Class Author: Huang An Number: 08680213 Tutor: Ma Chao Abstract: Lead-in in English class has some artistic qualities. An appropriate lead-in can improve students? interest and classroom efficiency. But, in our daily life more and more students? passion of learning English are shrinking for lacking of motivation. In order to solve this problem and help primary teachers improve their teaching skills. It demands that a teacher should use his or her language art and management art skillfully to create a pleasant situation and make his or her students enjoy English learning. In this stage, a teacher should make full use of different teaching resources, such as multi-media, technology picture, to introduce his new lesson. He may also use his students? vivid and humorous performers to lead in a new lesson. In short, this paper aims to help primary English teacher to realize the importance role of lead-in in classroom instruction and try their best to improve their teaching skills. Key Words: Lead-in; English class; primary school the importance of lead-in in English class I. Introduction With the further development of reform and open-up process in China more and more children start to learn English at an early age. As is know to all, English classroom is the main place of cultivating pupils? interest and motivation of learning English. So the writer believes that a skillful primary English teacher should be able to attract pupils? attention from the beginning of every lesson and make them enjoy learning English. In English teaching, the lead-in is the most basic step in the process of teaching. As an old saying goes: "A good beginning is half done." An appropriate lead-in can directly attract students? attention, arousing students? interest and producing a good motivation to learn. However, in our daily life more and more tutors found that traditional English teaching methods are not very suitable for present educational situation. Traditional English teaching methods from the beginning is that paying more attention to imparting language knowledge to students but ignoring their non-intelligent facts such as interest, motivation, anxiety. For these reasons primary English teachers should make full use of teaching resources to help students take an active part in English leaning. The writer thinks that lead-in plays an important role in promoting students? English leaning. This paper will simply talking about the function of lead-in, then the principles about lead-in in primary school English class, at the last focusing on analyzing some methods of lead-in in primary school English class. II. The function on Lead-in in English Class A successful class depends on lead-in in some extent. It plays an important role in English teaching. Such as arousing students? interest, creating a kind of learning atmosphere, clearing the teaching goal of the lesson, improving the speaking ability and so on. But the writer thinks that among all these functions, arousing students? interest is the most important function, as we all known that interest is the best teacher. 2.1. Arousing students’ interest What is interest? “Interest is a phenomenon that immerges from an individual?s interaction with his or her environment, it refers to a feeling of wanting to known, learn, see, or take part in something (Renninger, Hidi and Krapp, 1992: 5).” It exists in the relation between persons and activities. Interest is the best teacher. If a student experiences interest, he will take an active part in the classroom activity. It will have a significant impact on their ability to learn a new lesson. So a skillful primary English teacher want their pupils to become interested in English learning and retain inertest after a formal teaching has ended. At the same time, a common sense tells us that a person?s behavior is governed by certain needs and inertest, and interest is conceptualized in a variety of ways. So primary teachers often use a variety of factors to arouse and maintain pupils? individual interest in English learning. There are two main factors, during the lead-in step, that can influence and maintain student?s interest. The first one is curiosity that is an important aspect of interest and can lead to interest. As we all known, children are naturally curious. They are eager to learn new things and will actively do so. They learn best when they are able to fellow many of their own interest and desires to learn. But their ability is only based on their perception of colors, sounds, positions and time. They are eager to look after things of attractiveness and novelty. So they will be attracted by these novel things and then are eager to know what they are, these eagerness and curiosity about new things will gradually lead to interest as time goes by. Most pupils do not have a clear purpose for English learning. In pupils? eyes English is full of mystery. So they are curious about their language and their culture. For example, pupils often ask their English teacher “what is this in English?” “how to say „恐龙? in English?” and so on. These questions make pupils curious about the language, and the curiosity leads to their interest of English learning. So according to the characteristics of pupils the first step of cultivating pupils? interest in English learning is to arouse their curiosity. During the lead-in, the second factor of arousing pupils? interest is the sense of success. In class, it is easy for a teacher to found that a child often complaints about a low score, feels frustrated by it and finds no interest in learning. Why? Sense of success can motivate child to learn. According to educational psychology, one of the most important types of motivation is achievement motivation. We often notice that if a pupil who experience success, he or she will be more interested in this activity. In contrast, pupils who do not experience success will tend to lose the motivation to success and turn their inertest elsewhere. It is hard to imagine that a child who can not find a sense of success will study hard and make efforts in learning it. Most people are more motivated when they are involved with the tasks that give them a sense of success or at least of progress toward achievement. Nobody enjoys failure. Everybody, especially a child, wants to be successful. Pupils are very shy and timid, for they are afraid of failure. If they make some mistakes when they are answer teacher?s question, they will feel nervous, and they are afraid of being laughed at by their classmates. They are eager to get some positive appraisals from the teacher. They need to be encouraged more than criticized. Some English teaching practices show that children who expect to be successful work confidently. Those who do well in English learning are likely to be the pupils who are constantly encouraged. Sense of success can motivate them to learn and gradually develop their inertest in English learning. 2.2. Creating a kind of learning environment After the ten minutes of break, most students are also feeling very happy, exciting, and relax. But lead-in as the first step of a class, though some introductory methods, it can arouse students? interest, curiosity and attention to a new lesson, at the same time, creating a kind of learning environment for a new lesson. A good learning environment can meets the needs of children and make learning a more meaningful and joyful experience. So primary English teacher need to try their best to create a pleasant learning atmosphere by using some ways which are introduced as follows. Experienced primary English teachers often set a real and vivid situation to create a leaning atmosphere and make pupils interested in learning English. Besides, the classroom, the school, the surrounding area can all be used as resources. In our classroom instruction, an experienced primary English teacher tries to make full use of teaching recourses, such as beautiful pictures, or write some English sentences to decorate the classroom, put them on the wall to make the classroom interest and lively. When you enter the classroom, you will be attracted by the some beautiful pictures at once, and can enjoy this kind of light and active learning environment or atmosphere. For example, when we teach the sentence pattern “when is your birthday?” , we may create a wall chart to put all the months in it and write down all the names of students into the space according to the months of their birthday, then asking them “when is your birthday?”. When pupils look at the chart, they will be active in asking and answering activities and are eager to answer teacher?s questions, because there is an environment of English learning. So the step of lead-in plays an important role in creating an English learning environment. 2.3 clearing the teaching goal Teaching goal is the lighthouse during the navigation of every lesson. It will tell students the direction, so students will know target of the lesson and what should be done in the next. That is to say lead-in creating a good classroom teaching situation, inducing the goals of learning and problem needed to be solved. For example, when we teach the sentence pattern “when is your birthday?” , during the step of lead-in the teacher can presenting a wall chart to put all the months in it and write down all the names of students into the space according to the months of their birthday, then asking them “when is your birthday?”. When pupils look at the picture chart and thinking about the answer, and at the same time, the teacher?s action imply that the teaching goal of this class is to learn the new words about twelve months and the sentence structure “when is your birthday?” So, both teacher and pupils known that what need to be done in the text step of this class. III. The Principals on Lead-in in English Class There are three major principals in a good lesson in the process of lead-in. They are Diversity principle, Feasibility principle Consistency principle. 3.1 Diversity It refers to the process of planning a number of different types of activities and to make it possible to lead students to a wide selection of materials so that learning is always interesting, motivating and never monotonous for the students. In the viewer of the writer, diversity involves two aspects: on one hand, diversity requires that when a teacher teaches different lesson, he or she can use different lead-in method. The aspect is very easy to understand. On the other hand, diversity requires that when a teacher teaches the same lesson in different class, he or she should try his or her best to use different methods of lead-in to start the new lesson. For example, when a teacher teaches the lesson 7-- “we are firefighters” in Primary School English for grade four students. In this lesson the main task is to learn some new words about position, like these: firefighter, policeman, soldier, teacher and doctor. So according the principle of diversity, during the step of lead-in, the teacher can tell a story to students just like that: Once there was a big fire in a flat. An old man was at home alone. Suddenly, he heard someone shouting “Fire! Fire! ”He saw his neighbors are running rush out, but he could not get out because he had hurt his leg. So, at this time he feels very nervous and sad, for he thinks that he will be swollen by the ocean of the fire. But a few minutes late, a living hope happened, for a young man wears wet jacket and quickly rushed into his house to save him. The fire burned the young man?s neck, arms, and face. The young man was in hospital for two months. After the story, then ask students the question “who do you think the brave young man is?”. Students may have lots of answers in Cheese like that he is a policeman, a firefighter, a doctor, a solder and so on. These answers are all relate to the new lesson, at the same time, when students are listening to the story; they also feel very interesting in the new lesson. According the principle of diversity, when the teacher teaches the same lesson in another class, the teacher should use different method of lead-in. So, in another class, the teacher can use a song named “peerless” to lead in the new lesson. There are lots of words about positions that are relative with the new lesson. The teacher also can use picture that contain different people wearing different uniforms to show different position. In short, when they are starting a new lesson, during the step of lead-in, teachers should respect the diversity principle that can let their lesson become more interesting and successful. 3.2 Feasibility It means the contents and tasks planned for the lead-in should be within the students? learning capability. Of course, things should not be too easy either. Things that are beyond or below the students? copying ability will diminish their motivation 3.3 Consistency It means the procedures and the steps in each stage are planned in such a way that they are somehow linked with one another. Language learning needs recycling and reinforcement. V. The Methods on Lead-in in English Class Actually, lead-in is an art. When primary teachers improve their lead-in skills and methods, they should pay attention to the follow aspects. Firstly, a teacher?s classroom language should embody artistic quality: brief and vivacity. An English teacher?s pronunciation should clear and loud. His or her tune should be correct, providing students with wonderful audio environment. Secondly, the teacher should behave with humor. A teacher?s rich facial expression, vivid body language and beautiful handwriting can contribution to the creation of positive teaching atmosphere enjoyable to the students in the class. Finally, a successful and attractive lead-in skill should promote students? active participation in learning activities, make students put their heart into the class, and enjoy their English learning. In short, in English classroom, you should put your students in the first place and make your students enjoy your teaching and their leaning. Here the writer will give some methods on lead-in in primary English class, and hope that they are useful for the primary teachers. 4.1 Asking question An effective teacher should be an effective questioner. Questions to pupils can make pupils take an active part in activities. In lead-in stage, we can begin a new lesson by asking some questions. In classroom instruction, the first requirement of questioning is that these questions are appropriate for the subject matter and the purpose of the new lesson. A qualified primary teacher should be skillful in selecting appropriate questions before presenting new language material, stimulating pupils? thinking and attracting their attention to the lesson from the beginning. For instants, when we teach the pattern “How many….are there….? ”, we may ask pupils some following questions to introduce the new lesson, “How many boys/girls are there in your class? Do you know?” When the pupils listen to these questions, they will be attracted, try to understand the meaning of these new sentences and participate in counting numbers with the help of the teacher. These questions not only help pupils to review numbers effectively, but also introduce the new sentences pattern naturally. 4.2 Telling stories Interesting stories can call the desire of children to learn. Storytelling is a useful lead-in method in primary English classroom. On the one hand, as a primary teacher, we can tell an interesting story to lead in a new lesson. Every child likes to listen to stories. Funny and interesting stories can help pupils to develop positive attitudes towards English learning. It can provide a meaningful and natural context for children to begin a new lesson. The meaningful context of story can help them to understand unfamiliar knowledge and arouse their curiosity. On the other hand, we may inspire pupils? imagination and ask them to tell a story to lead in a new lesson. The imaginative experience can help them to develop their own creativity and their speaking skill. Various interesting story also can create a lively classroom atmosphere. For example, when we teach the following adjectives: beautiful big young old long short We can use storytelling to introduce new words to the pupils by telling an interesting story that is designed with these adjective in it. Just like this: Long long ago, there lived an old king. He had a beautiful daughter. She had big eyes and long hair….. 4.3. Sing songs and chants Children naturally love to sing. Songs and chants are often used to lead in a new lesson in primary English class. We may lead in a new lesson by asking pupils to listen to a song or a chant. Songs and chants can help pupils to keep calm and relax from the beginning. In addition, songs often include lots of repetition. It can help pupils to grasp the language points effectively. As a primary English teacher, you may ask your students to sing songs and chants to introduce your new lesson. Their participation can further promote their strong desire for English learning; develop their interest in the long run and create the vivid classroom atmosphere. These songs are widely used in the teaching of primary English alphabet, pronunciation, vocabularies and so on. Famous songs, such as Happy Song, Merry Charismas, Jingle Bells, are always welcomed by pupils before a new lesson is presented. The following chant is very popular for teaching numbers because its simplicity and rhyme are very suitable for young children. One, two, three, It is a tree; two, three, four, It is a ball; three, four, five, It is a knife. 4.4. Playing games Games are no doubt welcomed by children. Its main purpose is entertaining. It also can provide a meaningful context for learning activities. More importantly, games can increase children?s interest. Children, generally speaking, learn well when they are active. Because the method of the game during the lead-in can fully make students become more aggressive active; every one of them wants to be the winner. When playing games the students are motivated and enthusiastic in classroom atmosphere. This method can allow students to actively participate in the study activities. Language learning is not a easy work. Games can help and encourage students to sustain their interest and build self-confidence. As a primary English teacher, if we design an interesting game to begin our new lesson, pupils can calm down at once and will be active to do it. We can use different types of games to motivate pupils? interest before a new lesson, such as guessing games, picking apples. 4.5. Drawing picture Generally speaking, children? observation is direct. Eye-catching pictures or humorous simplified pictures can not only create vivid environment for classroom instruction, but also attract pupils? attention effectively. Teachers can lead in a new lesson by showing pupils some pictures, such as simplified pictures or asking pupils to draw pictures. As we all known pupils like to do things with their hands, bodies and minds. In lead-in stage, we may ask pupils to draw their own pictures with imagination to introduce a new lesson. Their participation in drawing can activate classroom atmosphere and motivate them to learn English. For example, when we teach some transportation facilities, because we can not show the real objects, we may ask pupils to draw some simplified pictures with some English words and help us lead in our new lesson. 4.6. Employing the technology of multimedia The important role of the technology of multimedia English teaching is undeniable. Using multimedia is more and more popular in English teaching. Multimedia enriches the learning environment and makes the language learning more interesting. There are many advantages in using multimedia. For example, before class, teachers can sue multimedia technology to gather some information about the teaching content to be given to the pupils. Besides, we may use the technology of multimedia to lead in a new lesson. It can offer lots of different situation of daily life. As we all know, children like watching English cartoons. For instance, when we teach some new words about animals, we can play some cartoon about the animal word to lead in these new words by using the technology of multimedia. These teaching materials are presented in the form of text, audio and video which can attract pupils? attention with its beautiful and humorous pictures and the pop English music. Therefore, a primary English teacher should make full use of the technology of multimedia to make English teaching and learning more interesting. Generally speaking, the above are major lead-in methods in primary English teaching. It is hard to say which method is the best. All the methods are only the examples of lead-in. Of course, there are many other ways to do so. However, primary teachers should use them flexibly according to the different situation and different materials. In a word the most important thing is that the way you teach should meet the needs of your learners and make learning enjoyable. So in this paper, the writer will give a sample of lead-in. 4.7. A sample lesson of the lead-in part( 这部分的不重要的部分，应 该放到appendix附录,中， When the writer works as an intern English teacher in Chen Guan Primary School, Miss He who is an excellent teacher in the Chen Guan Primary School, gave us a successful English lesson. The following is the lead-in part from the teaching plan of this sample lesson. She had a successful lead-in. Teaching content: Unite 7 it is a cow Objectives: 1 To help pupils to master new words of animals and the basic sentences: Words: cow, duck, hen, mouse, pig (listen, speak, read and write) Sentences: What is it? Is it a ….? It is a … Yes, it is a… No, it is a… 2 To cultivate pupils? listening, speaking and reading skills and communicative ability to use the basic sentences. Teaching aids: some picture, recorder and tape and CAI Important language points: some new words and basic sentences Teaching procedure: Step1. Greeting and free talk: Hello! How are you? What is your name? What is his name? What is her name? What is this? What is that? (Showing some picture) Step2. Lead-in: Look, listen, and guess (show a beautiful picture by CAI) Teacher: Today we are going to the zoo. Look, there is a beautiful picture. Here is an animal world, and what is this? Do you known? Now, listen! The teacher plays the tape twice and asks students to listen to the following recording materials. “Moo, moo!” The teacher draws a picture on the blackboard and tries to induce the pupils to answer the following question. “What is it?” Then teacher points to a cow and ask the pupils another question “Is it a cow?” The teacher helps the pupils to understand the meaning of sentences by body language, such as facial expression and answer the question. “Yes, it is a cow” The teacher asks some pupils to play the different roles of a duck, a mouse, and a hen by different mask to introduce the new words. The teacher continues to play her recording materials and ask the following questions (Pupils imitate the sound of these animals and do some funny actions according to deferent roles) “Quack, quack!” “What is it?” “Guess” “Oink, oink !” “Is that a monkey?” “Squeak, squeak!” “What is it?” ………. The teacher leads in these new words and sentences in these ways and writes new sentences and words on the blackboard. This teaching plan clearly demonstrates the way of lead-in. from shown above, we can see that the teacher used facial expressing, different tones, pictures and pupils humorous performance to lead in these new words and sentences. It can make pupils take an active part in class, attract them attention, and arouse pupils? interest in English learning. During the process of the lead-in, there are three advantages that it is worth us to learning. Firstly, interesting recording materials can attract pupils? attention at once at the beginning of the class. It can help pupils to listen to the recorded materials carefully, maintain their attention and develop pupils? listening skill. Secondly, the teacher?s beautiful picture and the teacher?s body language (facial expression and funny actions) can help build the harmonious atmosphere and let pupils feel relaxed in class. Thirdly, the teacher?s question can reinforce pupil?s desire to answer. Pupils? active participation in the activities can make them find more interesting in English learning, at the same time it can help the teacher to present new language materials naturally and effectively. V. Conclusion Lead-in is so important in English teaching that a successful lead –in method can trigger pupils? interest and make pupils actively participate in learning activities. Primary English teachers should enrich their knowledge of effective teaching skills to introduce a new lesson and make class interesting by creating a pleasant relaxing classroom atmosphere. So they need to understand pupils? emotions, attitudes, and interest and try to meet their needs. 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