Culture teaching for thebeginners of English

[摘 要]：中國(guó)加入WTO以后，社會(huì)對(duì)人才的英語(yǔ)水平的要求由過(guò)去的只注重考試成績(jī)轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)橐竽苓_(dá)到真正使用英語(yǔ)交流的程度。在目前中學(xué)英語(yǔ)教育之中，傳統(tǒng)的“語(yǔ)法-翻譯”教學(xué)法仍就占據(jù)主導(dǎo)地位。在本文中就“文化教學(xué)”在中學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)之中應(yīng)該受到的重視提出了自己的看法。并將目前中學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)實(shí)際情況做了簡(jiǎn)要分析，將教學(xué)存在的可改進(jìn)之處提出，既在中學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)之用適當(dāng)加大文化教學(xué)的比重。

[關(guān)鍵詞]：文化教學(xué) 中學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué) culture teaching， communicative

Part I. Introduction of Culture Teaching.

Most university professors and native speakers of English who works as an English teacher see culture teaching as an important aspect in English teaching. The importance of culture teaching has already been discussed by western language teaching experts（Stern， 1983）. Culture Teaching holds the key of improvements of language learners’ basic abilities applying the target language-English： comprehension which includes reading and listening， expression that is to communicate face to face and to write formal academic research paper or daily notes.

According to Samovar and Porter（1982）， if a language user wants to effectively communicate in the target language， a good understanding of the cultural differences is required. Most language learners or people who are interested in language learning believe that spending a period of time in an English-speaking country such as the UK and US can make the learners improve really fast and become a very competent user， especially in their output - speaking and writing， the reason is proper input they can get there.

Part II. The situation in China.

Since China join the WTO， the requirements of English teaching in middle schools grows higher and higher， so that more culture teaching is required in the English classrooms.

More and more Chinese admit that holding a degree from the states or UK can be a significant advantage in the job hunting market， this means better salary or possibility to a quick promotion. However， most Chinese students first landed somewhere like England or America， they found the English they learnt at school was so much different from the language that the native speakers daily use. This is the gap between the English teaching in China and reality.

How could this happen？ The truth is our teachers teach students the grammar and vocabulary， that is far from enough. Culture teaching is needed in the successful English teaching. There is a joke， maybe it is not just a joke： a Chinese student really needed help in some English-speaking country. A man saw him and wanted to help， so the man said， “ How are you？” （It means： Do you need some help or not？） But the Chinese student answered without thinking： I’m fine， thank you. Everyone could imagine what would happen then. How pathetic it is！

Part III. What to do.

Is that possible to teach culture in the middle schools’ English classrooms？ There is some discussion that could be done.

First， does language simply mean grammar plus vocabulary？ The answer is obvious. No one will deny English is a language so English should be taught and learn as a language rather than just a school subject in the exams. Do the learners learn English in China to prepare to communicate with English people？ Or English is only our passport to the universities？ Of course， English is for communication. In this way， the English teaching need to change. Modern time is an age that information and knowledge explode. There many ways and more than enough materials for English teaching. Many American and British series can be downloaded from the Internet， and they are free， more importantly， they are with bilingual subtitles. These videos are the most realistic materials of how do the native speakers of English talk.

Second， helping the students cultivate the habit of expressing in English. It would be very helpful if a student always want to know how to say something or express something in the daily life. For instance， people eat in the restaurant quite often in China. However， how to order something in English in a proper way？ This can be a kind of question most of the students did not pay attention to. The English learners may answer the question like this： I want a bowl of rice， or something like that. The truth is if you want something to eat， you may ask it like： Can I have some rice？ This is a much more polite way， or you are giving a order to someone （the waiter/waitress）， which will make people really uncomfortable. How can I know how to answer in that polite way？ It is accumulated step by step， whenever you come up with anything， think about how to say it in English and the answer is on the Internet or in the videos we watch as entertainment.

Part IV. Conclusion.

English is a language so it should be taught as a language. A language is like a child of the culture， in this case， a much better result can be expected if more culture teaching is introduced in middle schools’ English classrooms.

Bibliography：

[11]Stern. （1992） Issues and Options in Language Teaching [M].London： Oxford

University Press.

[2]Smaovar，Larry A and Richard E. Porter. Communication between Cultures. Belmont： Wadsworth Publishing Company.