Innovative approach in teaching English at high school
статья по английскому языку

Муниципальное бюджетное

общеобразовательное учреждение

основная общеобразовательная

школа п. Долми

Иринчинова Ц.Б.,

учитель английского языка

March, 27-28, 2017

Innovative approach in teaching English at high school

I have been working at school for many years. I like my job. Working with children is great! It gives me much energy, expand my mind, just I study and develop with my children together, you know.  According to the social search, teaching a foreign language is the second most difficult teaching at school after Maths.

The problem of learning languages is very important today. Foreign languages are socially demanded, especially at the present time, when the progress in science and technology has led to an explosion of knowledge and has contributed to an overflow of information. Foreign languages are needed as the main and most efficient means of information exchange of the people of our planet.

Today English is the language of the world. Over 350 million people speak it as a mother tongue. The native speakers of English live in Great Britain, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. It is the major international language for communication in such areas as politics, economics,  science, technology, business, culture, education, sport and mass entertainment. English is the official language of some political organizations, such as the United Nations Organization. It is the language of the literature, education, modern music, business,  international tourism.

Russia is integrating into the world community and the problem of learning English for the purpose of communication is especially urgent today. To know English is absolutely necessary for every educated person, for every good specialist. This language is really required one.

Learning a foreign language is not an easy thing. It is a long and slow process that takes a lot of time and patience. Reading books in the original, listening to the BBC news, communicating with the English speaking people will help a lot. When learning a foreign language you learn the culture and history of the native speakers.

Beginning with, I should say that each teacher is to know “Aims and objectives of teaching English”

The aims are the first and most important consideration in any teaching. The teacher should know exactly what his pupils are expected to achieve in learning English, what changes he can bring about in his pupils’ knowledge at the end of the course, year, term, month, week, and each particular lesson. The term “aims” is considered to be a long-term goals such as to cover the upper-intermediate course program with beginners. The term “objectives” can be used for short-term goals that may reasonably be achieved in a classroom lesson.

There are three types of aims (objectives) which should be achieved in foreign language teaching:

Firstly, practical - pupils acquire habits and skills in using a foreign language;

Secondly, educational  - in the process of learning a foreign language the pupils acquire their own learning habits and strategies, they learn to study;

Thirdly, developmental - they develop their mental abilities and intelligence in the process of learning a foreign language;

Finally, cultural - pupils extend their knowledge of the world in which they live and in which the speakers of the target language live.

The teacher also must know the principles of Teaching English.

Principle is defined as a guide to action, in our case to teaching. Methodology of teaching English is based on the fundamental principles of Didactics. They are the following: scientific approach in teaching, accessibility, durability, conscious approach, activity, visualization and individual approach to instruction, systematic practice. Except for the basic didactic principles Methodology of teaching English uses specific principles that are applied in teaching a foreign language. Let's consider them.

        Since the aim of teaching English at school is to teach the pupils how to use the target language for communicative needs', one of the main methodological principles is the principle of communicative approach. It means that the pupils should be involved in oral and written communication throughout the whole course of learning English.

        There are four types of language activities to be developed in pupils: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Each language activity has its own set of actions that are characteristic of this activity, thus special exercises are needed which should be adequate to each activity. So in teaching a particular language activity the teacher faces specific problems that should be solved since the development of each activity requires certain techniques and exercises. This is the application of the principle of a differential approach in teaching English, i.e. each language activity requires special attention on the part of the teacher.

        The principle of an integrated approach is another methodological principle. Pupils do not assimilate sounds, grammar units, lexical items as discrete components of the language, but they acquire them in sentence-patterns, pattern-dialogues related to certain situations. Pupils should use their skills in the four language activities as interdependent parts of their language experience.

        The principle of durability implies the ability of a pupil to keep in his memory linguistic and language material he learns of ready access, i.e. the pupil can use units of the language whenever he needs them for oral or written communication. The durability is ensured: - by vivid presentation of material; - by constant revision and drills; - by the use of the material on the part of the learner for communicative needs; - by systematic control; - by constant supervision of pupil's habits and skills on the part of the teacher.

In his work every teacher tries to use different methods to encourage his pupils to achieve the communicative aim of learning a foreign language. Foreign language teachers learn:

• best practices for instruction that can be applied to any language,
• practical design for activities and lesson plans that can be adapted for any language classroom,
• analysis of classroom materials and classroom interactions, and
• opportunities to learn by observing the development of actual foreign language teachers.

No doubt, there are many methods of teaching such as:

-the direct method (in this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good pronunciation);

-grammar- translation (learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed on developing oral ability);

-audio-lingual (the theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form);

-the structural approach (this method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced and practised before the present continuous tense which uses "to be" as an auxiliary);

-suggestopedia (the theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods it is suggested to the student that the language is easy - and in this way the mental blocks to learning are removed);

-total physical response (TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the importance of aural comprehension);

- communicative language teaching (The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or notions such as the expression of time, quantity, location);

-the silent way (this is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue );

-immersion (this corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. Students are immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn Maths, Science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.);

-task-based language learning (the focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little correction of errors);

-the natural approach (this approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between learning the first and second languages. There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes place by the students being exposed to language that is comprehensible or made comprehensible to them);

-the lexical syllabus (this approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most common (and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses. The syllabus teaches these words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis is placed on the use of authentic materials).

As English teachers, we’re always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to stimulate our language learners. I mean ways of teaching because “ways” is much wider than “methods” I think. Do you agree with me?

Each teacher  tries to find interesting and useful ways of teaching, of course. As you know, richness of vocabulary is one of the main things.

Firstly, guessing the rebuses is an exciting exercise to enrich lexical items, you know. (slide with rebuses).

Secondly, exercises with crosswords is also beneficial to make wide vocabulary. Deciding the rebuses and crosswords, the learners usually help each other. We call it cooperation.

I should say, beyond all doubt, playing shows and plays is an integral part of the English teaching. In such kind of work, the kids learn by heart their lines, mind their grammar in a proper way. It sure is, they always help each other to learn, to play. In general, English theatre let link studying and educating in logical way. It is a very interesting moment when children make their lines themselves and play them.

In senior classes we try to translate poems from English into Russian or from Russian into English.  It is considered that such work enables the learner to look for different variants of words in two languages. Certainly, in such a way, the pupils` vocabulary becomes richer and richer from time to time. .“Poetry evening” is held at our school. Boys and girls take an active part in this event, you know. It is a good exercise for developing memory, learning more about English poets, writers, enriching cultural awareness. (example of translating)

To sum it up, I should say that working with children is great. My best wishes.

Literature

1. An Online Methods Course for Foreign Language Teachers
2. Passov E.I. Communicative method of teaching, 1
3. Rogova G.V.01.08/2011
4. Sokol Marina,  Moscow, 2011
5. Vilya 12.10.2012 Methodology of Teaching English