The Use of Body Language in English Teaching of Primary Schools

張興美

[Abstract] With the continual reform of language teaching and learning methods， teachers are in great demand to organize the classes in English and create English-learning circumstances. However， with the limitation of students' vocabulary， teachers have to simplify their teaching language with the help of facial expressions and body movements. In this article， the possiblity and the effect of using body language in speaking and daily language will be further discussed.

[Key words]English teaching in primary schools， body language

I. The necessity and importance of using body language in English teaching

Learning English is primary period and is also the key period in primary school. With the people pay attention to English is change more and more deep. Both parents and English educators are expect to let children study English well and are interested in it. During in six years of teach English in primary school， I find pupil students are weak in ability of control themselves and pay attention to a lesson. If we use cramming education method in teaching， The students will feel boring. So， in English teaching， I cater for the active nature of pupil students， take full advantage of body Language， so that they have enough times to activity in English class. let their thinking Moving with body. Let them to study in play and I received a good effects in the end.

II. The concrete application of the body language in teaching of speaking and daily language.

1.Body language helps to improve speaking

The spoken language is one of the important ways to communicate， so we should try to develop the students' ability of speaking. Factually they are helped to reach the aim in a certain degree by their teacher's body language.

Generally speaking， the body language can arouse and sustain the students' interest of learning and using English. In the English class， the teachers should not only use body languages themselves， but also ask the students to use them according to the different situation. Take it for example， the first lesson in Unit one， book one is about the time when the new students first meet， and they don't know each other. So a teacher can introduce himself first， such as： "Hello， everyone， nice to meet you here. Now I'll introduce myself to you. My name is sarah. I like playing basketball， for， it makes me much stronger； I like playing chess， for， it makes me more clever； and I like reading books， for， 'reading makes one perfect'". During the introduction， the teacher should use the new vocabularies and sentence structures together with a vivid expression and mating gestures as possibly as he can. He smiles when he says hello to the class； he shakes hands with some students saying "Nice to meet you"； he writes name down on the blackboard； he imitates the action of dribbling and shooting at the basketball， playing chess and turning pages to explain his hobby. After his introduction， the teacher can create a circumstance for the students to practice： "Mary and J ack are new classmates. They are walking together in the street， and they meet one of J ack's old friends， Chenjie. Then Chenjie and Mary are introduced to each other by Jack." After the students' practice the dialogue is introduced naturally from it. Usually， the application of body language in different situations will result in an attracting and successful lesson.

2.Body language can help students understand Daily language .

The children Just contact with English， For some oral of the English teachers are not easy to be understood，Then the teachers can use gestures While saying. For example；

1）“l(fā)isten，”we put hand near ear and do pose of listen.

2）“point”，we use fingers to point the book while say to imply

mean of point.

3） We can stretch out two thumbs when say“ practice in pairs”，then，to shake left thumb， following， to shake right thumb.

The students will understand unconsciously the meaning of words as long as continuous training like this.

In a word， in English teaching activities， both a encouraging eyes and a caressing action of teachers can let children feel love， support and trust. Effective use of body language ，to help organize the teaching， enhance teacher-student feelings， to arouse interest in learning， to improve the teaching effect.

Bibliography：

[1]He Guangkeng， The Basis of English Teaching and Learning Methods， Ji Nan University Press， 1999 .

[2]Shen Minxian， The Use of the Body Language in Elementary School， Shanghai Education Vol. 12， 1999.