How to improve and maintain the students interest

How to Improve and Maintain the Students’ Interest

in Learning English

Gaoling Susong County Central Primary School

Zhang Quanhong

2010-5-13

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How to Improve and Maintain the Students’ Interest

in Learning English

[Abstract] As we all English teachers know, interest is the key to learning English. So we teachers should create a good English-learning environment for our students, such as using various teaching methods in teaching. We can also use visual aids and other methods to help our students cultivate a good mood, inspire students and guide students thinking, opening mouth and moving hands, so that they deeply feel the fun of learning English.

1. Make teacher-student relationship much closer 2. Make students love your classes more 2.1 Create a good environment to the students 2.2 Use various teaching methods

2.2.1 Introduce the new lessons interesting 2.2.2 Create a reasonable situation 2.2.3 Organize the teaching games

2.2.4 Carry out a variety of extracurricular activities 2.3 Use a variety of visual aids

3. Pay more attention to oral communication ability

[References]

[1] Wang Tsering, English teaching communication theory, Guangxi Education Publishing House, 1997 Edition, P182-184

[2] Zhang Xuemei. On the Teaching of Primary English Classroom Situation, Several Approaches, English Teaching, 1999,12, P18-19 [3]

Yu

Xiaoqiu,

How

to

Improve

students

learning

English

interest

http://www.hwxz.com/printpage.asp?ArticleID=11085

2

How to improve and maintain the students’ interest

in learning English

English is very important for us, it’s a very useful tool to communicate with others, especially who comes from other countries. In our daily lives, we almost cannot live without English. So it’s very necessary to learn English. But it’s so boring for most students to learn English, we need do something for this.

[Abstract] As we all English teachers know, interest is the key to learning English. So we teachers should create a good English-learning environment for our students, such as using various teaching methods in teaching. We can also use visual aids and other methods to help our students cultivate a good mood, inspire students and guide students thinking, opening mouth and moving hands, so that they deeply feel the fun of learning English.

[Key words] English teaching, Interest, Visual aids,

Confucius said: “The people who loves to learn is better than the one who knows to learn, the people who feels happy with learning is better than the one who loves learning.” The point is that, the knowledge, people who know it less like the people who like it, not people like it and indulged in its people. Thus, interest in learning English plays an active role in promoting learning motivation, especially for primary school students, because they are too young and less able to control their own good mood and sense, nor their understanding of the importance of learning English depends not only on their interests to learn new things but their learning habits. In this sense, training primary school students’ interest in learning English is very important. So how do we teachers help students promote their interest in learning English? I think we can proceed from these following aspects.

1. Make teacher-student relationship much closer

Sometimes, teachers and students always think that they two are opposite sides, what’s the reason? Because I often append operation and search everywhere for students and those students

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tend to play all day, don’t know what their directions and goals are. How to reconcile the contradictions is the key, closer teacher-student relationship. Generally I will not scold the students directly in class, but pay more attention to suggesting where he make mistakes, let him know what I did not want him to do in this way, or directly call his name and asked the question earlier, if they cold not answer it, I will let him sit down as I know his heart will be very clear about the reason why I call him.

For the class naughty, the operating drag the conversation I have been using education-based approach to education, patience is my feature. During the conversation, I try my best to understand the feelings of those students and consider their issues, for I know that if I give them a chance, they will also give me a hope. Children are people who are eager for other people's respect and understanding. Only if we cannot do this how can we expect students to trust us. 2. Make students love your classes more

I often organize games or small races in class. For example, when we learn body parts of human beings, we play a game called “I say you point”; when we learn how to add and subtract in English equation, students and I will hold a math competition, although I \"lost\enthusiastically raised their hands trying to \"beat\" me. The scene is still distinct in the project. Another game called \"Polly says\" , teachers can say \"Polly says\" before issuing an order, the students do this action, if no \"Polly says\\"touch your nose \while the students do the action, they will be considered wrong, so deduct markets. This game can also be used in the form of competition, each group pumps a student to go to the front to do the movements, mistakes were eliminated, the last remaining one or two for the winners. Games are good to their English learning, although students and I are clear about that beforehand, only guarantee of a good discipline to make the game can play a good game. My goal is to make the game as the center of teaching contents. It is important for their performance as well as learning English, but not for playing.

In addition to games, body languages are a good display of English teachers. A satisfied smile, a positive nod sometimes can express an approval for the students because it will bring a lot of spirit. When I teach “Nice to meet you!”, I often shake hands with the students so that they feel the adults’ atmosphere. Another example, “guess-box-things”, I always pretended that I am so mysterious as to attract students to an unlimited imagination. In studying \"strong\" and other words, I often add some

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action, such as the Hercules-like, students easily know the meaning of “strong” without ask anything or explaining it in Chinese. We can carry out group competition in the classroom. Each lesson in the review, drill and other links interspersed some competitions, pump the students in each group, who answers the teacher's question first will win the game, can get a red paper heart or a small smile. Therefore, all students can add luster- based groups to enhance self-confidence and sense of achievement as far as possible.

Practice shows that primary school students are small, lively, responsive, and imitative strongly for vivid images of something specific can easily arouse their interest. During the class I will fully use some of wall charts, photographs, and other forms of classroom activities because these images can effectively increase the interest of the students and keep up their interest. What’s more, Recorders can not only surge the interest of our students, but also help them form a good voice, tone or pronunciation. Except those, we can also do the following things to motivate their interest in our classes.

2.1 Create a good language environment to the students

Danish linguist Jespersen once said: \"The condition to teach a foreign language is to let students get involved in it and use it as much as possible. Learning a foreign language is like learning to swim, as a potential student must be dived in the water rather than occasionally complacent water; students must bubble in the water and feel free; gradually he was able to swim like a skilled person and enjoyed it.” English classroom teaching should create a “pool” for the students, so teachers in the classroom should try their best to create a situation to let students adapt themselves to the “water”, some new words and expressions, body languages can help students understand the meaning expressed by the teachers, over and over again students will be able to move through the teacher's classroom language, let them free in the “pool”. Let students follow instructions, such as: Sit down, please. If they are late for class in the door, they should say: May I come in? Also classroom English such as “Good morning / afternoon. Look at the blackboard. Listen to me. Who wants to try? Well done or very good. Please be quiet. Who's on duty today? What day is it today? etc.” will be easily accepted by our students. Teachers need to encourage our students to speak in English during class or after class through the use of English classroom languages, then our students immersed themselves in such a good language environment and it enabled them to maintain the English mentality, always active in using these English languages.

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2.2 Use various teaching methods

Using games, drawing, singing English songs can create a pleasant English speaking environment. Having fun is the nature of children, the game is very attractive to them, so there is awareness in the classroom of adding some games to make them feel fun and allow them to learn to feel happy or happy to learn. For example, Learning new words such as “an apple, an elephant, a banana, a book” lets the students pass the apple which is in his hand to the student who is behind him, and he says “an apple for you.” as a password at the same time. Send down one by one, students will learn to play an apple in the word, and then we use the same method to learn new words like an elephant, a banana, a book. Similarly, using stick figure is a good teaching method, such as teaching sentence: May I draw a tree here? I let the students draw a tree on the blackboard, and then toward the class ask that Is it beautiful? Student answer “Yes, it is.” and then ask other students to draw up and asked “May I draw a tree here?” teacher answered “Sure!” so that students learn it in a happy atmosphere of this sentence.

Terms from the psychological characteristics of children, students’ singing with melody in the ups and downs will make them feel relaxed, happy and satisfied, at the same time generate excitement. Therefore, the use of this form of singing in primary school English teaching can greatly enhance students’ interest in learning English. In English teaching, proper use of this form of singing depends on the left hemisphere of the brain function of abstract thinking and right hemisphere functions combined, the effect is self-evident. This also illustrates that it’s very important to use songs in English teaching. The teaching method is more indispensable in English, with which a class will be full of lively and happy atmosphere immediately. 2.2.1 Introduce the new lessons interesting

“A good beginning is half the battle.” Moving into the new lessons successfully can make students quickly stabilize the mood, stimulate their interest in learning so that they have the desire to study psychologically, classroom teaching for the entire section lay a sound psychological basis. Therefore, when the teachers introduce into a new class, methods should be innovative and strive to create an interesting situation.

For example, when I teach \"What would you like?\I pretended to look very hungry, and said: \"I am very hungry. What can I do?\" Students said: \"You can eat something.\" I went on to say:\" What can I eat? Oh! I can eat some rice.\" At the same time,

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I showed the picture of rice onto the multimedia screen. At this point, students can learn with the very high enthusiasm, not only understood the new rice naturally and easily, but also imitated free to use. If teachers want to grasp the ten minutes before class, you can sing some English songs, tell some English stories, or do some simple dialogues in order to attract the attention of our students.

2.2.2 Create a reasonable situation

English teaching should pay much attention to the psychological and physiological characteristics of children, to creating the appropriate environment in English by listening, speaking, singing, reading, watching, writing, painting and other drills, and games, competitions, performances and other activities carried out in order to cause and maintain the students’ interest in learning English. Before presenting teaching materials, firstly, teachers should try to create some interesting circumstances which are close to students’ lives, then lead to textbooks in this context exhibited. At the same time, teacher could use reasonable physical, pictures, stick figure, recording, multimedia courseware and other resources to the scene to be rendered more intuitive, vivid, such as teaching the new text, according to the status of the student teachers, as well as the theme of the text, teachers can design or download some the Internet-related materials: animation, pictures, and so on which are made into multimedia courseware for teaching. Animation with a lively and interesting image, pleasant music and lively language can expand their thinking, arouse their interest and curiosity of students and enhance memory effectively, so as to achieve better teaching results. For example, in teaching PEP4 Unit3 My friends Part B, you can use multi-media shows “listen to music”, “do sports”, “make friends”, “paint”, “play computer games” five-paragraph scenes, and allow students to discuss these scenarios, practice sentences. Students’ interest will easily be concentrated. 2.2.3 Organize the teaching games

Natural and restless children are happy to participate in games, if dissolved in the game of knowledge among students in the practice game fun-filled learned, learning English in the bounce, then playing a multiplier effect, Students are very willing to accept these. Although just a few minutes, but an active classroom atmosphere can stimulate students’ interest, for example, when I teach the body parts of words “face, mouth, nose, ear”, a few students will be asked to come to the blackboard, so that they do \"Touch your face / mouth / nose / ear \"etc, and if he/she did so, the

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following students said “Yes!”; If he/she did wrong, the following students said “No!” This is very easy to master these words.

2.2.4 Carry out a variety of extracurricular activities

To learn a language, just 40 minutes by the classroom is not enough. Sukhomlinski once said: “The source of interest is using.” Thus, in addition to classroom teaching, teachers could show a certain degree of energy, leading students to a variety of extracurricular activities so that they have more training opportunities. For example, In the preview the new class, teachers can design a job, divide the students into several groups and each group is responsible for drawing two or three word cards (provided a certain size). In teaching new lessons, teachers can use these word cards drawn by students. This will not only enable students to preview the new knowledge, but also train the students’ drawing skills and group cooperation capacity. It has some fun and can help students to raise their interest in learning. 2.3 Use a variety of visual aids

Using visual aids can help students to learn words, sentence patterns, drill dialogue speech, the most convenient \"assistants\" are pictures, stick figures, which are almost every class missed. English teachers could be good to bring students living, tangible, familiar objects into the classroom, so that radiate life classroom atmosphere, students are able to learn to use, the more pictures they will see the more they will learn . Monotonous dull textbook knowledge brings into the classroom, then we can make use of beautiful color pictures, such as when the unit about Food, teachers can print a series of color pictures in kind, and arrangement of student work, let them go home draw on their favorite food. Through the class screen display vivid pictures of food, then the whole classes’ attention will be attracted to these foods completely, but also give students the opportunity to showcase their works, so that they take this opportunity to express their preferences. Except, of course with pictures, we can also achieve the effect we want, such as learning a variety of colors in the word, you can prepare in advance a variety of color pictures and in-kind, class, first come up with a colorful red bags and immediately attracted the attention of the students took, and the students thinking along active, and then actively participate in language practice. Through visual aids in the classroom, we are not only training students speaking ability, but also training the students’ oral skills as well as to make a deeper impression of what they learn, easy to forget, combine them with the actual.

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3. Pay more attention to oral communication ability

\"Communication\" is written and spoken language skills, experience, is teaching an advanced stage. Learning to \"apply their knowledge,\" while learning English even more so. We want students to learn English and then speak it in English. Speaking is not a brief course, but the skills classes. Skills classes rely on hard training and practicing, however, speaking will produce good results. English primary schools can no longer engage in rote stuff, the students have to absolutely prevent the English \"DMC\lectures and exercises; If students do not know how to use the English language, and in real life the role played, they cannot truly appreciate the importance of learning English, so in the class teachers asked students to speak in English as much as possible. Schools also required students to use simple everyday language, improved their English usage, and enhanced the effect of oral teaching. Extra-curricular lead teacher, said, “Regardless of the stairs in the campus or met the students and teachers in the most simple statement greeting, \"Hi! Boy, how are you?\" After a period of time, when students see the teachers after class, they will say hello to teachers, forming a language habits. In the proposed school students sing the songs to their parents which are learnt in the class, encouraging students to engage in a dialogue in English. For students to create a good environment, meet our teaching an advanced stage.

In short, as for how to teach students the language of knowledge and learning skills, we may use various methods to develop and maintain students’ interest in the discipline of English to enable students to better understood and use English. Interest is the best teacher, as long as the students have maintained a strong interest in learning English, English teaching will be able to get more with less.

[References]

[1] Wang Tsering, English teaching communication theory, Guangxi Education Publishing House, 1997 Edition, P182-184

[2] Zhang Xuemei. On the Teaching of Primary English Classroom Situation, Several Approaches, English Teaching, 1999,12, P18-19 [3]

Yu

Xiaoqiu,

How

to

Improve

9

students learning English interest

http://www.hwxz.com/printpage.asp?ArticleID=11085