Designs of Teaching Subjunctive Mood in Senior High School

廖青

【Abstract】Subjunctive Mood is a key grammatical point in senior high school English.Generally，teachers will directly present the formation and rules of Subjunctive Mood on the blackboard and give the students practices for consolidation，which will get students bored of learning grammar.While this paper aims to present some designs of teaching Subjunctive Mood，which can be used as references for English teachers.

【Key words】Subjunctive Mood； designs； senior high school English

1.Audio method

Listening materials may come from different resources such as play，music，movies，dialogues，daily communications and speeches addressed by the famous，etc.If various materials are made full use of，students attention can be drawn and their interest can be aroused to firmly grasp it.

For instance，before explaining Subjunctive Mood opposite the present，I let the students listen to a piece of music from South America named 《El condor pasa》 and remind the students to pay attention to its lyrics and follow it to sing： “I'd rather be a sparrow than a snail，yes I would if I could.I surely would.I'd rather be a hammer than a nail，yes I would if I only could I surely would？”Then I raise a lead-in question“Can I be a sparrow or a snail？ Is it possible？”to formally begin teaching subjunctive Mood.The students may imagine：“If I were a sparrow，what would/could/should I do？”What's more，before teaching Subjunctive Mood opposite to the past，I played a piece of tape.The tape script is as follows：“Last Sunday Alice went shopping in a department store.Suddenly she caught sight of a beautiful address.It was of right size and color.But it was too expensive.It was 600 yuan.”While listening，they were required to answer the question“Did she buy the coat？”After listening，I led the result“If the coat hadn't been so expensive，she would have bought that coat.”by asking the questions I raised before.The listening materials should be interesting and native as much as possible and shouldn't be too difficult.Grammar lessons can be more effective if a teacher can find audio materials that suit the class and stimulate the aural function of students.

2.Story-telling method

For instance，I once made two students in a pair and asked them to tell a story to each other.But the picture is not intact，which requires students to discuss，further develop to end the story rationally and finally to tell it.I made the topic of the story“a 10-dollar Ford Car.”I asked them first：“Can you buy a Ford car with only 10 dollars？”，letting them realize the thing is impossible to happen unless in some special situations.

After they have finished the story，I told the story first myself and wrote two sentences on the blackboard： If I hadn't seen the advertisement in the newspaper，I wouldn't have bought a Ford car for 10 dollars.If I hadn't gone to the address in the newspaper，I wouldn't have known why it was so cheap.In this way，the students can sense Subjunctive is taught by telling stories according to pictures.At this time，the teacher can guide the students to do ask&answer practice and reorganize it with their own words.Grammar teaching like this can not only create a particular situation for the cultivation of communicative competence and writing ability but also can ensure them to digest and consolidate the grammar points they have learned.

3.Movie-watching method

I once designed teaching activities with a clip from the movie《Schindler's List》 and asked students to follow the narration to read in heart silently.Below are subtitles of the movie clip：

Oskar： I could have got more out.I could have got more.I don't know.If I just I could have got more.If I'd made more money（laughs）.I threw away so much money.

Oskar： this car.Goeth would've bought this car....He would have given me two for it，at least one.He would have given me one，one more.One more person.A person，Stern.For this.（sobbing）.I could have gotten-One more person and I didn't.And I.I didn't！（loud sobbing）.

Then I have a question for them： how did Oskar show his regret？ Then I set a sitcom myself to express my regret.In this way，students can master grammar points in such a real language environment and show some interest in it.

For the above-mentioned methods of teaching Subjunctive Mood，they are only my personal designs and are certainly not the best ones.Nevertheless，teacher may adopt them as references to arouse students interest and motivate them while teaching Subjunctive Mood or other grammar points.

References：

[1]Ellis，R.SLA Research and Language Teaching，1997.

[2]Diane Larsen-Freeman Teaching Language From Grammar to Grammaring.Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press， 2005.

[3]James E.Purpura.Assessing Grammar.Cambridge University Press，2004.