外国大学课程中没有的英语精读课,我们为什么要必修(2008-03-25 09:48:06)
中国大学生有一门必修课叫做“英语精读”,它是具有中国特色的一门英语课程,因为西方的大学课程表里压根找不到这门课。外国人不相信中国人的英语在中国就能学得如此棒;日本人请中国老师去日本讲授英语......也许,一切的秘密就在于,中国开了一门“英语精读”课。
视频讲稿:
Now, that is
the importance of reading. Then we are coming to the two types of
reading: intensive reading and extensive reading.
Intensive reading, now, here you have an outline on this. It is typically Chinese, useful. Now what does that mean?
It means that if you look up the word "intensive reading", you won't find it in any western university, they don't have this course. They will have fresh man English, they will have intermediate English, or advanced English, but they don't have intensive reading. They don't have intensive reading. So that's why I say, it's typically Chinese, with Chinese characteristic. 有中国特色,right? Now, the thing is, it is useful.
Intensive reading, now, here you have an outline on this. It is typically Chinese, useful. Now what does that mean?
It means that if you look up the word "intensive reading", you won't find it in any western university, they don't have this course. They will have fresh man English, they will have intermediate English, or advanced English, but they don't have intensive reading. They don't have intensive reading. So that's why I say, it's typically Chinese, with Chinese characteristic. 有中国特色,right? Now, the thing is, it is useful.
I can tell
one thing that I met, a very responsible member in Japan, who is in
charge of English teaching. They have a national association. I
think he is the vice president of the association. He came to
attend some of the classes at this university in English. And then
he was very much impressed by the students' English. And finally he
came out with one remark. He said, in Japan,
for a fourth year university student in English, in classroom,
English is taught in Japanese, so their students
could not open their mouths, could not talk in English, because
everything is taught in Japanese. And, in a jokingly way, he said,
maybe we would like to invite some of the Chinese
teachers to go to teach in Japan to show how you can teach English
in English. Now, that is one thing.
So our way of teaching, in a sense,
is effective. When.. when I went to the United
States, at Yale University in 1983, well, everyone asked me, where
did you learn your English, in the United States or in England?
Well, my pronunciation, because of my professors, had a big
influence of English English, English pronunciation. So they said,
maybe you studied at Oxford or Cambridge? No. I said, I was
China-produced. That was more or less the first
time I went to the United States or went to any of the
English-speaking countries.
So it showed
in one way, that China's teaching of English, in a
sense, is effective. And one of the things I feel, is intensive
reading. Intensive reading. You conc…The teacher
conc.. and the students concentrate on a short piece, in
order to learn the basic skills of the language.
Now the piece is used as an example to show you what are the things
that you should pay attention to and you should study.
I don't mean to say that this intensive piece
would be enough for the language material for you, I said earlier,
that you need a lot of exposure. Now this little piece is not
enough for exposure. The purpose is to
tell you what are the things that you should pay attention
to.
It is a
tool, once you have the tool, when you
do other readings, you can use this tool to analyze other
things. If, you ask me, you say, I memorized every piece
in intensive reading, can I learn the language well? I would say,
that would not be enough. It will be a good beginning, but it
won't be enough because, too limited exposure. Too
limited exposure. You need to read more.
Now, for
example, any pattern, if you haven't come across it, say, three to
four times, you won't be able to use it. You can't say that "I come
across it once and I will be able to use it." That's why for a
time, some people ask me, "Could I just memorize the
dictionary?"
Because once
they read a piece about田中,田中首相,the Japanese Prime Minister,
when he was in prison, he tried to memorize the dictionary, so when
he could recite the words on one page, he tore it off, and then he
memorized the second. So they want to follow that. Well, I said
that that's because he couldn't get any other thing to
read.
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