Teaching Chinese Students
In at least one respect, I'm not a typical expatriate teacher of English. Many-perhaps most-of us make our careers teaching overseas. I came out here after many years of teaching and teacher training in England only three years ago, so I'm still relatively a newcomer. And of course I make comparisons. Of course former colleagues ask me what it is like to teach Chinese students? In what ways do they differ from native speakers of English? How do they compare with the students in English schools who are of Asian parentage, but who hardly remember a home elsewhere than in an English city? To these questioners my answer is that Chinese students differ from one another just as do those of any other nationality. The longer I stay, the less I am willing to generalize.
我教中国人英文
至少,就某方面而言,我还不能算是最典型的外籍英语教师.我们当中许多人,也可以说大多数的人都是以海外教书为终身职业。我经历多年的教书生涯，而于三年前到英国接受教师训练之后，才来此地任教，因此算是相当资浅的教员。不过，我倒作过不少教学的比较研究。当然，以前的同事总会问我教导中国学生的一些心得；比如，在教法上，中国学生和以英语为母语的学生有何不同？ 或者，和就读英语学校，从小又一直生活于讲英语的城市之亚裔学生，又有何不同？针对这类问题，我总是回答，中国学生和其它任何国家的学生一样，也因个性和程度的差异，各有不同。我教书时间愈久，愈不愿以偏概全，一概而论。
When students ask me similar sounding questions, I find that I want to give a rather different answer. There is, I think, more to their questions than friendly curiosity. They want to know (even if they do not put it like this) where they stand, and how they rate, as users of English as an international language. They know, as I do, that for all the hard work that has gone into their learning of the language, their attainments still fall short of their hopes. They want to know if that English is good enough, and indeed what “ good enough” means. They would like to know if there are ways in which their bilingualism, and their biliteracy, gives them and appreciable advantage, and whether, especially, their limitations and weaknesses in English are identifiable and can be remedied.
要是学生问我类似的热门问题，我就很想以不同的方式来答复。我认为在回答时， 不应是满足善意的好奇心理，而就针对他们的问题，多作阐释与发挥。他们很想知道（即使不明讲），自己目前的程度，以及在使用国际语言的能力方面，如何给予自己确切的评估。他们也和我一样明白，尽管为了学好英语，下过功夫苦读，但成效依然不能令人满意。他们也想知道，自己的英语是否够好，而“够好”的真正定义又是什么？他们更想了解，是否可利用某些捷径，得以有效提升自己的双语沟通与读写的能力；此外，尤其想知道，是否可以找到自己学习英语的先天限制与种种缺失，以及补救之道。
These are some of the answers I think are true, and that I hope are useful. Learning any foreign language takes a long time and a great deal of effort, but learning one that belongs to a different language family from your mother tongue is especially hard. I knew in England experienced teachers of English to speakers of Asian languages belonging (as do the languages of Europe) to the Indo-European language family. When these teachers met primary students from Hong Kong they perceived them as diligent but slow. Those teachers simply failed to recognize that if Cantonese is your mother tongue you simply have more to do than (say) a Punjabi speaker, so of course you need longer to do it. It is easy to get discouraged and, in effect, to give up. Some people do—even if among those who go on attending classes conscientiously! Many more fail to recognize how much they have actually learnt and to respect their own achievements.
我想下面这些答案是千真万确的，也盼望对大家有所帮助。学习任何语言都需要很长的时间和巨大的努力，而学习一门跟你的母语不属于同一语系的语言，尤其艰辛不易。我在英国认识一些经验丰富的英语教师，他们专教（十分接近欧洲语系的）印欧语系的亚裔学生。他们一旦碰到班上有来自香港的小学生，立刻会察觉这些学生虽然用功勤勉，但却成效不佳。这些教师都未能认清一个事实：要是本身的母语是广东话，学起英文来比讲印度加语的人士，就得多花一些功夫，自然学习时间要拉长了。这样他们很容易气馁从而放弃学习。其中还不乏不曾缺课的认真学生！更有不少人对自己所学的实际进展，茫然不知，不晓得珍惜自己的学习成效。
Realistic Targets
It is important to set yourself realistic targets. For all but a small, exceptionally gifted minority, native proficiency is not a realistic target. A Chinese user of English should not feel that because he sounds and seems Chinese when he uses English that he has been less than successful in acquiring it. To have learned English well is to be fully intelligible to another user of standard English and to understand him, in ordinary circumstances.” Of course “ordinary circumstances” differ between users. Highly technical vocabulary is entirely ordinary in the context of air traffic control or information technology or any one of the many scientific and technical contexts for which English is the language of international communication. Advanced students of English need to consider what are the range of purposes for which they are likely to use their international language, and to select courses where those purposes are recognized and understood by their teachers.
学习目标不宜太高
重要的是，你应当为自己订立实际可达的目标。要是目标订得太高， 想学到和英语母语人士一般的流利自然，除了极少数资赋特优的天才外，对一般人而言是不切实际的。中国的英语学习者不应该因为自己在应用英语时有些中国味，就感到自己没有学通而耿耿于怀。所谓学通英语，就是指在一般的情况下，你的英语能让讲标准英语的对方完全了解，同时，你也能了解他所说的。当然，所谓的“一般情况”也是依讲英语的对象的不同而有差异。若是在国际间以英语来沟通，所涉及的内容是航空管制或是资讯科技，或是任何一门科学技术，那么：有关高级技术的专门词语全都成了“一般的普通用语范围”。程度高的学生必须先考虑自己所学的英语，可能要无用在那些目标范围，去作国际沟通；在选定课程时也应让教师认清并了解这些目标范围，互相配合。
Appreciate Your Strengths
I have said it is important to recognize your achievements. It is also important to appreciate your strengths. Failure to do so leads to misplaced anxiety and misdirected effort. In my experience Chinese students usually have (relative to the stage they have reached) a large vocabulary. In addition, they are good at spelling. (Many intelligent native speakers fail to come to terms with the writing system of English, which is not irrational, but is complex, and spell badly.) Chinese students have some characteristic weaknesses too. Even when they can distinguish unfamiliar English sounds quite well, they often fail to do so because they speak much too fast. Then they wonder why native speakers have trouble understanding someone whose English is so fluent! They need someone to say – just slow down! Take it easy! Stop trying to prove how fluent you are, and your spoken English will improve.
重视学习的成果
我曾提过，认清自己学习的进展成效十分重要，而体认并珍视自己的长处，更是重要。如果说不重视自己的进展和长处，在学习过程中，就会因步骤零乱而焦躁不安，目标错误而徒劳无功。我发现，中国学生（以他们所达到的学习阶段而言）通常都拥有相当丰富的词汇。而且，他们也擅长于拼字。（许多受过教育的英美人士对于那套还算合理，但颇为复杂的英语书写体系，不见得能得心应手，反而拙于拼字。）中国学生也有一些独特的缺点，他们讲英语时，常因为速度太急促，往往把原本可十分简易辨识的一些不熟悉的英语语音，发得模糊不清。于是，他们觉得奇怪，怎么有些人讲这么流利的英语，英美人士竟然不易听懂。他们需要有人来提醒他们：只要把速度放慢就行！放轻松一点，不要再试图表现自己讲得多么流利，那么，你的英语口语能力，必定会大为提高。
Compositions Not Too Soon
Some-not all of the weaknesses students display in writing English are, I believe, aggravated by the educational system, and the pressures it exerts on teachers and students alike. In particular, I believe that students are often required to write English compositions too soon. Writing so as to express your own thoughts, opinions and observations is difficult even in your mother tongue. There are pitfalls and opportunities to error at every turn when you are using your second language! The stage of guided writing, the exercises where you are given the ideas or where you are expected to complete or change or adapt sentences, rather than to invent them, is a very important stage, and should be an extended one. I think it is too often cut short in case students get bored. If the exercises are suitable though, they are difficult enough to be interesting, but not so difficult that most students have no real expectation of success.
英语作文不嫌迟
我相信，学生在英文书写方面军的某些缺点，当然不是指所有的缺点，之所以会每况愈下，应归咎于教育制度以及教师与同学所加诸的压力。尤其是教师常常太早要求学生写英文作文，我认为这并不恰当。因为 即使是使用母语来表达自己的想法、意见和观感都不是件容易的事， 而使用第二种语言来写，更免不了随时都有陷阱和犯错的机会！引导写作的这一重要阶段应该拉长，这个阶段的练习，在于提示你一个中心思想，在于要你完成句子，变换句型或修饰句子，而不要你急着自行独创句子。我认为，这个阶段，往往一遇到学生感到厌倦就予于缩短，实在不该。只要练习合乎需要，就该难度适当，足以引起学生的乐趣，而不应太过艰难，使得大多数的学生缺乏成就感。
Reading a Bilingual Magazine
Students often say to me that they would like to improve the level of their English—what can they do on their own? Reading a bilingual magazine is obviously one answer! Some of these suggestions are helpful to some students. Read the English language newspapers and concentrate on the pages that really interest you—sports or fashion or the stock market if you like. If your family doesn’t want to watch English language TV, see if you can have a small set in your bedroom.
中英对照杂志有助益
学生也常常向我表达他们有心增进英文程度的愿望，但自己却不知从何着手？显然，我最现成的答复是，定期阅读中英对照的杂志！另有一些建议对某些人也很有帮助，象看英文报纸，专选自己真正有兴趣的部分精读：运动、时装或者是股市，只要你喜欢的就看。 假如你的家人不要看英语电视节目，看看你能否自行买一台小型的摆在自己的卧房。
Use English
You do need to use English with speakers who are not teachers of English. This isn't easy, since everyone feels constrained speaking English with friends with whom it would be natural to use a shared mother tongue. Joining an English Club is a good idea and joining a club with an international membership (where English is in use at least some of the time) is, for many people, even better. If nothing like this is accessible, you might consider what would be involved in getting something going.
活用英文乐趣多
你需要常常和英语教师以外的人士用英语交谈。这当然很不容易，因为与母语相同的人自由交谈时，彼此若用英语交谈总会觉得很不自在。亦可参加英语俱乐部或国际会员的俱乐部（至少有时使用英语沟通），这样对很多人而言更有益。如果没有合适的社团可加入，也不妨考虑任何足以提高英语能力的机会。
What I say in answer to questions, is, as you see, what I have learned and I am still learning. This is natural enough, given that the study of a language is a collaborative effort between teachers and students. Success in it, it seems to me, is conditional on avoiding not boredom but discouragement, of setting goals that matter to you and targets that are attainable, of realistic assessment of what has been achieved and of what has still to be done, and of finding opportunities of putting what you have learned to enjoyable use.
以上我针对问题所提的答案，各位想必明白，都是透过学习而得来的经验之谈，而我自己也还要不断的学习。由于语言的学习要靠老师与学生共同努力，相辅相成，所以我这么说是最自然不过的了。我认为要想学能英文，关键并不在于避开单调乏味的学习，而在于避免因挫折而退却；在于配合你的需要，设立实际可达的目标，切实评估你的进展与目标，以及把握机会，享受实地运用所学龄前乐趣。
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[杭州家教]历年真题
