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薛雁翔

Thesis:In the classroom, without the vocal language, there is another very important way to communicate with students, which is body language. With the reform of language teaching and learning methods, teachers are now in charge of organizing the classes in English and create harmonious atmosphere. However, with the limitation of students vocabulary and ability, teachers have to find a way to let the students understand the meaning of this class with the help of facial expressions and body movements which we called body language. In this article, we will talk about the use of body language in English education.

Key words:Body language English teaching methods

I. Introduction

We all know that teaching is one of the most important ways that the students could learn something. So when we talk about the English education in primary school, we have to pay our attention on the students interest so that they may learn better. Actually, we have many ways to arouse their personal interest in the class, body language used in English teaching is one of them.

Although we may not realize it when we talk with others, we make ourselves understood not only by words. We send messages to the people around us also by expressions and body movements. We call it body language, which is a kind of communication, A smile and handshake show welcome; waving ones hand is to say “goodbye”, nodding the head means agreement, while shaking it means disagreement.

We already know that body language is an important tool we could use forcommunication with each other. In class, body language is a positive way to cultivate the students personal characters. If their teacher is good at this, all the students would learn much more than the content from the books. In a word, teachers graceful body language helps to improve the students artistic-appreciation and moral character. If the students could develop a wonderful body language that could leads them to create optimistic and positive feelings.

The meaning of teachers body language on the students is reflected not only by establishing a good example, but also make the relationship between teacher and students more harmonious. When this kind of atmosphere created in class, teacher could shorten the distance with the students. In fact, teachers kind behavior could greatly encourage the students studying enthusiasm. Furthermore, the characteristics of theoretic and abstraction of knowledge also requires the vivid, dramatic and an accessible gestures to make it specific and figurative. As a result, the students interest is motivated and the effect of teaching is greatly improved.

II. The and importance of using body language

As we know culture influences communication. Different country has different culture; different language, different gestures. So the way people in different countries communicate is different too. For example, In Japan men greet by bowing .In the Unite States, people shake hands to show“their friendship”. But our Chinese, we always say hello to another person to show our greeting and kind emotions. In China, when you want to give something to another people, you should use both hands to show your respect.

Because of special culture influences some countries, some body languages should attract our attention. In Asian countries you must not touch the head of another person. That is very impolite. And in China, people dont kiss or hug each other, except hisher lover. There is another good example to show the importance and use of body language, as an Arab, it is a good manner to stand close to his friend when they are talking.

All above show that it is important to know the meaning of gestures and movements, even in classroom, body languages are still very useful and important. We can communicate with them in a better way, not only by words, but also by body language to influence the students.

As a teacher, I know that English teaching is a key part of the whole education system. In recent years, our country is becoming more and more open to the world, in this epoch, we have to learn from others and try to research some new ways to educate our children. Now, more and more English teachers use English to teach in English class, which I have to explain that in the past years, teachers in our countries were always using Chinese to teach English, that is not a clever way. This is a brand new method in English education, but today, we have to try to improve it. The best way we know now is the use of body language. Now almost all students in large cities could answer the questions in English. If we could use body language to make the students communicate with foreigners more fluent. That is really a big improvement.Some students in the middle school dont understand why they should use different tones in different time or situation. In this circumstance, teachers should use body language to tell them and let them know this hard to be answered question. After some researches and interviews with students. They said that according to their present level and practical situation, body language was required. For example,when a teacher wants two students to come to the blackboard. They can easily understand it as if the teacher looks at some two students. Then, the teacher points to the blackboard. The students will carry out the order without obstacle even if they dont hear the key words “blackboard” clearly. Furthermore, teachers usually have to explain some language points, and at this time, they have to differentiate the classroom expressions and the examples. Take it for example, we ought to use the form “have done” such as “Have you started that job yet?” To make the students understand clearly, a teacher has many ways. He could use a common speed when reading the instructions, and then reads slowly when giving examples; he can also get the effect by repeating the example“Have you started the job yet”;a more frequent way is to use gestures to lay emphasis on the key points when he said “have done”. In this way, students would pay attention to the teacher right now. And they would have a very deep impression just because of this action. From this, we know that the use of body language in English teaching is practical and important. In the English teaching in primary schools, or middle schools , body language is now more and more frequently used to improve the teaching atmosphere and the students understanding ability.

III. The real application of the body language in English teaching

1.Body language helps to improve listening.

If teacher could use body language in class, students could learn better and better in many ways, like listening. The Greek philosopher Epictetus ever said that:“Nature has given man one tongue and two ears that he may hear twice as much as he speaks.” From this we could know that how important the listening is in our daily life. Why we have to learn a different language? The answer should be to know their culture. But how we could know their language? The first thing we should do is to listen from others, which is a basic purpose in English teaching too. In this process, if the body language is used, the effect will be better. Before we start a lesson, teacher should tell some outlines of the context, in this case, body language could do a lot of help. Teacher also could imitate some sounds when he talks about some kinds of animals. Those ways all would be helpful.

2. 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 teachers body language.

The contemporary emphasis is gradually laid on spoken English teaching. Actually, we know that the beginning of every unit in senior high schools book is dialogue. According to the characteristics of dialogue, the teaching programs need the teachers to organize the students to practice English .And generally speaking; the body language can make the students know how to learn English with their interests. In the English class, the higher level of using the body language is to let the students use them by themselves, so they could know the deep usage of body language. For example, the third lesson in Unit Two, the content of that lesson is mainly for telling the students how to do when they meet at the first time in the case of they dont know each other. So a teacher could choose two students and give each of them a character. And then tell them what to say and how to say. For example, the teacher could say:" hello, nice to meet you, my name is Sang bin. Now Ill introduce myself to you. And the other student could say that My name is Lee. I like playing football, for, it makes me much stronger; I like playing piano either, for, it makes me clever; and I like reading books, for, reading makes one perfect". During this process, the teacher should use the new vocabularies and sentence structures together with a vivid expression and mating gestures as possibly as he can. When he say these sentences to the students, he could write them on the blackboard either, and then wave his hand to show that the meaning of hello. If they just learn in the book ,they dont know how to use it when they really meet some foreigners. The application of body language in different situations will result in an attracting and successful lesson.

3. Body language helps to improve reading

In modern English teaching, the main aim of English class is to train the students basic ability of using spoken and written English. So in this part, we would like to talk about the meaning and helpfulness of reading which could help students have the right pronunciation and the right intonation. We should say that English is a language which means a tool. To read the content of the book is basically for them to understand the deep meaning of vocabularies and dialogues. Furthermore it helps the students to find out how to appreciate the beauty of the language.

You could ask students to read some articles, because many meanings are staying between the lines. For example:

Once it was the Walkman. Then it was the PlayStation. Today it is the Toyota Prius that epitomises Japans technological and industrial prowess. Built by Japans largest company, which is now on the verge of becoming the worlds largest carmaker, the Prius is a hybrid car propelled by the combination of a petrol engine(for range) and an electric motor (for energy-efficiency). The Prius was the first commercial hybrid car and has become by far the most successful, with sales of over 1m since its launch in 1997. Although that is a modest figure compared with Toyotas annual output of around 8m vehicles, it has transformed the companys image. Toyota is now known for greenery and innovation as well as manufacturing efficiency.

After they read this paragraph, the teacher could ask some question about this part to examine whether the students know the meaning of the context or not.

In a word, the vivid gesture together with the fluent English can create a good circumstance of learning, which will surely play an active part in improving the students reading ability.

4. Body language helps to improve writing.

Writing is one of the four basic skills of learning language, and it is so important a skill that we can even say without it, people cant communicate with others. Not only should the students get some English knowledge and vocabularies, but also the ability to communicate in spoken and written English as what is mentioned in the teaching programs. To some extent, writing is much more important than speaking, Since the students learn English as a media for communication, they should have the ability of writing.

To get rid of the students feelings of being dull and tiring, an English teacher has to use every possible method. This is the same to the writing. the application of body language can deepen the object impression, such is magnificent in developing the students writing ability.

The linguist Franklin ever said, "Tell me, Ill forget; teach me, Ill remember; involve me and Ill learn." If you asked the students to write an unfamiliar stuff, they would probably be unable to and feel discouraged and embarrassed. However, if they have the experience ,the students can write brilliant articles. In and out of class, we should ask the students to join some English-related activities. To write the whole process of their games down to a book, Take “word puzzles” for example, having enjoyed themselves in the funny words and been given some hints, the students can learn many new words in a interesting way, all the students , no matter good at English or not, would love this game. That is the purpose of English teaching. The students are deeply impressed by the body movement of the teachers and themselves in the process of game. which surely leads to a better article.

IV. Conclusion

When we learn a different language, we need practice a lot. As a teacher, the time limit of a class is 45 minutes which is very precious and should be cherished. In this range of time, students should get enough knowledge and practices. Teacher should let them practice as many as they can. That is a good way to use the limited time in class. Teachers should try to adopt some effective methods. The use of body language can not only attract the students attention, but also deepen their impression and imagination. When we were a kid, our English class is just conventional audio teaching principle. But now, we should improve this situation for our children. Teachers should use English to teach in the whole class, except that, he also should use body language to deepen the impression of students. As if we have this concept, the students ability of English will be certainly and greatly improved.

Bibliography:

1. Wu Zongjie. Readings for Applied Linguistics and Language Teaching. Zhejiang Teachers University, 1994

2. Liu Yongfa, Liu Xuanen, The Practical Body Language, Hua Wen Press, 1995

3. Gu Xueliang.The Basic Technical Training in English Teaching.Hangzhou University Press, 2001

4. Smith, F. Understanding Reading [M]. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston. 1971

5. Shen Minxian.The Use of the Body Language in Elementary School, Shanghai Education Vol. 11, 2002

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

作者單位:深圳市東湖中學