A Brief Discussion on Reading Lesson for Junior high school students

Abstract:Reading as an essential way of learning plays an important role in knowing the world and setting up people’s values towards life and society. It is also very important for the students in Junior School. This essay will briefly introduce the current reading situation of junior high school students in China and then focus on reading class teaching for a group of junior high school students in China.

Key words：Reading reading class teaching junior high school

Reading as an essential way of learning plays an important role in knowing the world and setting up people's values towards life and society. We have been interpreting the actions of people throughreading' them since we were born and this behaviour carries on throughout our lives (Smith， 2004).As Monaghan and Hartman (2002) suggested that \"the most time-honoured rationale for knowing and doing is that we can learn from reading the past\" (cited in Fresch， 2008， p4). Each person reads read for different reasons: some people read English materials for the acquisition of a language or for their future careers; some people read so that they may know more about the world and others read in order to acquire new or more advanced technology， and also some people just read for pleasure. According to Smith (2004) there are two main reasons for reading: knowledge and experience. No matter which of these reasons， they all contribute to structure the reader's personal knowledge and affect their way of life to some extent.

This essay will briefly introduce the current reading situation of junior high school students in China and then focus on reading class teaching for junior high school students in China.

The current reading situation of junior high school students in China

The English curriculum standards for full-time compulsory education (experimental draft) from July 2002， it emphasised five new aspects of learning English comparing to the old English curriculum standards: Language literacy， language skills， attitude， learning strategy and cultural awareness (Wang， 2008; Yang， 2009). Meanwhile， English curriculum standards in China stated that the importance of reading should be stimulating the students' interests therefore， improving their reading ability， which will contribute towards their life-long learning (cited in Wang， 2008). A student who has finished their junior study should have the ability to obtain， analyse and solve a problem using English and the English way of thinking.

However， the current reading situation for junior middle school students seems to fall far short of meeting necessary competence (Wu， 2001;Yang， 2009); many of the students cannot speak and read as they should be able to (Chen， 2006; Yang， 2009). Most of the students have realized the importance of English Reading as a relevant skill in a globalised world however they exhibit little interest in learning and reading English (Yang， 2009; Fang and Xu， 2007). It is not so strange to see the division into two opposing extremes with regards to the students' attitude towards reading. And some students ， in fact，gave up learning English due to loss of their interest and confidence in their reading (Wang， 2008) . Teachers have to use materials which are out of date or contain irrelevant topics to the learners according to the textbook (Hadfield and Hadfield， 2000). For instance， teachers in China have had great difficulty explaining the history of America that happened in 1968 in an English Language Class. But this kind of reading material really exists in Unit 3 of year eight students' textbook and the title of this Unit is \"Do you remember what you were doing\". In the same way， year eight students who definitely were not born at that time (1968) have difficulty with an exercise from the textbook which asks: do you remember what you were doing at that time. Some junior high school students can find it difficult to be interested in and have fun reading English (Yang， 2009)， this has become a problem to the English teachers and they must make every effort to solve it urgently.

There will be a challenge for the language teachers. The teaching of reading not only intends to help the language learners' language acquisition but will also make the effort to improve their reading strategy and ability. In addition， trying to make reading fun and attractive is what English teachers' should strive for. Thusly，the author aspires to make effort to try to create some changes in this reading lesson including some practical skills for teaching.

Thinking on Reading Materials

Reading materials should be meaningful and salient to studnets. Good reading texts can stimulate students' interest， create a discussion atmosphere naturally， encourage students' imaginative responses and contribute to fascinating and attractive lessons (Harmer， 2004). There is a heated discussion about what kinds of reading materials are suitable for learners of the English language; whether it should be \"authentic\" or not (Harmer， 2004). During the process of choosing appropriate reading material， it was caught in a dilemma. It is difficult to decide to choose material from a textbook in China or choose material which is written by native authors or speakers. On the one hand， the language-teaching materials in the textbook seems traditionally artificial and with a greater array of simpler language expressions used though they are easily accepted and helpful for the beginner of learning the English language. Meanwhile， that means the students lose the chance to experience and appreciate the original English material. On the other hand， the materials which are copied from The Times or China Daily seem hard to reach and understand for the beginners of learning the language. If the material is not adapted for their level， their interest in learning a new language will reduce (Harmer， 2004). According to the previous working experience in the Junior school， the teacher has heard that some junior high school students complained that， \"we don't like reading\". Such a remark makes the teacher think deeply again and it actually means \"I don't like what I have read yet\". Evidentally， it is essential to choose an attractive and appropriate reading material. The teacher should care more about the readers， trying to make reading and even learning fun.

Considering these reasons， the reading material should be interactive and support for the classroom that encourages students to read for pleasure. For example， the material named \"Survive\" which was from theOxford bookworms have a worldwide reputation provides superb reading. It was written by Helen Brooke and published by the OxfordUniversity Press in 2008. \"Survive\" is an adventure travelling material with interesting and attractive content. It will not be so long and overly challenging to the students and it increases their level of confidence to tackle the problems. Students will read unconsciouly and be engaged in the activities. And before putting into practice， a pilot test can be conducted. If the teachers and students in the pilot study can reached an agreement that there is not much difficulty in understanding this material;it is attractive and they enjoyed reading this material， it can be used in the real class. Thus， It is suitable for the Junior students who are learning English as their second language for less than four years in China.

Thinking on the Teaching plan

The lesson plan can be designed according to the criteria in China for developing the reading strategies using Hadfield， J and Hadfield， C. (2000)'s reading teaching model as a theoretical framework. The main aim of reading lesson is to enhance the students' ability of comprehension for the narrative materials with particularly training on two reading strategies (skimming and scanning) and gives the link to other stages which can be writing， listening， oral English class. The teacher should try to create a student-centred and peer- guiding environment in order to let the students solve their problems among their classmates and learn dependently.

There is an impressive commitment to English Language Teaching (ELT) from both teachers and learners in China nowadays (Wu， 2001; McKay， 2002; Cortazzi and Jin， 1996). Exploring the effective ways of teaching and learning English is an increasingly important subject that draws much attention (McKay， 2002; Zhang， Wang， Zhang， and Liu， 2009). The traditional PPP (Presentation， Practice， Produce) teaching tries to alter students from using parts of a language accurately to using it fluently. TBLT (Task-based language teaching) approach involves the student directly with the language being taught by cognitively engaging activities that reflect authentic and purposeful use of language， resulting in language-learning experiences that are pleasurable and effective (Leaver and Willis， 2004). Much of the research findings have proven to be highly effective during facilitating the students' with the acquisition of a second language (Willis， 1996; Nunan， 2004; Willis， D and Willis， J， 2007; Branden， 2006; Leaver and Willis， 2004). Including reading exercise， there should be some follow-up exercises to help students understand the text and strengthen the knowledge gained from the text. Harmer (2004) stated that the most interesting reading material can be destroyed by a boring and unsuitable task and question. At the same time， the most ordinary text can become quite fascinating with appropriate， inspiring and imaginative tasks (p70). In order to engage students reading through playing and exercising (Baker Carolyn D， 1980)， there should be some exercises to be designed and presented.

Green (1997) stated that the use of a student-centred teaching environment is likely to produce more positive results for both learner and teacher. It allows students to choose and organize their own topics， carry out peer and self-observation and evaluation. So the teacher should use the topic for leading a discussion among the students and to make sure the task is compatible with the topic which is being studied. According to Harmer (2004)， it is just like the relationship between a restaurant menu and the food. After the students know the menu and the ingredients of the food， they will be more interested in knowing what the foods from the menu actually are (P70). So， after the students know the content of the material on the face of it， teachers should inspire them to think more deeply about the material and topic through the way of discussion among the classmates. It will provide the students the chance to develop language skills other than reading， such as speaking and writing skills， by using the reading materials. Smith (2004) presented that \"teachers help children learn to read by stimulating interest and facilitating written language use\" (P232) . The teacher can be suggested to ask students to discuss and write the end of the stories in their own group. They can create a happy ending or they can write the story with a sad ending from that situation. They can do this individually or in pairs or groups. After several minutes' discussion， several groups can do the presentation and share their stories/work with the whole class. There will be a link between one class and the next with the students being advised on what the next class will focus on.

Reflection and Conclusion

Through a series of activities such as brainstorming， interactive reading， free discussion， retelling of the story and rewriting new stories of their own active participation in the learning process will inspire the students' interest so that it can make them feel accomplished and eager to learn more. Harmer (1991) stated that many activities can be considered to be problematic from some aspects. The teacher should try their best to make them more efficient and to be beneficial for the students of their level. The teacher should try to employ the combination of listening， reading， speaking and writing together - emphasis is placed upon the reading part in order to facilitate students. The teacher also should have the awareness of training students' reading strategies during the lesson. However， it is impossible to cover all the information of this reading material， activities and ability training in one class within 50 minutes. The teacher should attempt to make the link from this lesson to the next lesson to make the learning process consistent.

Being able to read successfully is a difficult task that we do with apparent ease; it is done bybalancing' a group of elements that support， correct and reinforce one another. This balancing of the grouped elements must be promoted to the students by teaching in a \"balanced way\" (Bielby， 1998). No matter in which way the teachers teach the students， it should lead to balanced and integrated development for their foundation of life-long learning.

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