Using Situational Teaching Method in the Primary School English Teaching

倫龍

abstract：Situational teaching plays an important role for improving students` learning enthusiasm， stimulating students` English-learning interests and cultivating students` practical ability to use language. In the process of English teaching， according to teaching materials， combined with the practical life， teachers create a suitable English-speaking environment as far as possible， carry out teaching and learning activities in the context. Situational teaching can develop students` abilities to listening， speaking， reading comprehensive and writing， also can conducive to train students` language sense and self-learning capabilities.

key words：situational teaching;English;teachers;students` interest

In China， English is taught as the second language in most of the primary schools. By means of listening， speaking， reading and writing， we teachers must enable students to have basic knowledge of English and communication ability for the initial use of the English language， help them develop good study habits， in order to lay a good foundation for further study. I think we need to create situation in the English teaching， implement the spirit of the outline earnestly， and enable students to achieve the purpose of verbal communication， but also it`s one of the effective way to change the traditional language teaching to knowledge cultivation.

In this paper， I want to talk about the importance of this method. I will give some situational teaching models which I have done in my class teaching.

一、The importance of situational teaching method.

（一） Situational teaching can mobilize the enthusiasm of the students and stimulate students` interests

In the situational teaching，through the students and teachers， students and students` exchange activities， teachers can lead life scenarios， such as shopping， asking for directions， seeing a doctor into the classroom， shortening the distance between the reality and teaching， and also satisfy the curiosity of students， active， enable students to truly appreciate the practicality of the knowledge of foreign languages.

（二） Situational teaching can cultivate students` capabilities in listening， speaking， reading comprehension.

In the process of situational teaching， the creation of a more closed-life scenarios， before the activities， the event will be informed to students， so that they can have a destination to collect and read materials which are related to the situation， it can improve their reading ability. In the scene to carry out activities， because of the preparation of information， communication activities will be more rich and colorful ，students are daring to speak.

（三）Situational teaching is helpful to students` language sense.

Teachers take full advantage of the limited time in the class to carry out a variety of more realistic teaching， so as to make students have the opportunity to apply what we learned to the language knowledge， through teachers and students`， the students` a lot of activities， gradually， develop the habit of students` study and the opportunity of thinking in English. Thus， the situational communication activities contribute to the formation of the subconscious sense of language and improvement.

（四） Situational teaching is conducive to students` ability to self-study.

Situational teaching can embody the “student-centered” teaching requirement. Students is not only the main bodies of language drilling， but also in a simulated or actual communicative occasions， students’ imagination and creative thinking have a free space to develop， students can express their feelings and insights in English freely.

The creation of the scene is a very important aspect in the English teaching， which directly affect the effectiveness of English teaching. A language can only be understood and expressed in certain situations. As an anthropologist said： “If there is no language situation， words will have no meaning， can not mean anything. Therefore， the discourse can produce significance only in the situational context.” The words， sentences and paragraphs come from the scene， but also can not be divorced from the scene.

二、The practical application of situational teaching method.

（一） Role play by imitating， citing scene.

In this way， teachers should seize the students` lively， active psychology and physiological characteristics， ask students to play the role of text characters and words in the article as often as possible， and set different scenes for the presentation， so that students in the course of performing the conversation performances， review what they learnt

（二） Creating the ideological context， so that students can experience success in the process of thinking .

The design of situation should be suitable for students， the level should be more abundant， so that students of different abilities can obtain success. For example， Go for it Unit one Section A 6a， display the landmarks of our own city to the students at the same time， can ask students the question， how can I get to Muslim Street from Bell Tower？ Guide students to imagine， inspire students to use English to express their thoughts and train students` thinking capacity， and then go back to the subject “talking the different ways to get to there”， “Talk about the children the best way to get there” lays the foundation training for the next part of listening.

（三） Create the problem situation.

Teachers ask the students the issue of stimulating， creating suspense.

（四） Taught to sing English songs， the forming the relaxing learning atmosphere.

Select some simple English songs， the rhythm is simple， catchy， music， couples with the unique charm of the ability of students` understanding， easy for students to learn English. Each class began， I have arranged for some beautiful English songs， to sing and dance with the students， this series of “warm-up exercise” have students exposure unwittingly to a relaxing， enjoyable learning atmosphere.

三、 Situational teaching in class.

In my teaching， I like to make my English class interesting and vivid. I’ve worked for thirteent years. I taught hundreds of students. They like me， also my teaching method .They often say “How quickly the English class goes”. I regard these words as my praise. I could give fours models to show how I use the situational teaching method in my class.

First， the nouns teaching. In PEP English. There are about 800 new words in the whole vocabulary. When I teach fruit， I use some real things. They are apple， orange， peach， pear， grape， strawberry and watermelon.

Second， short paragraph teaching .The next paragraph is from PEP English 6B Unit 2. There is an easy short passage about comments. And it is writing in a letter. Before the class， I set the situation that the housekeeper got the comments. And the housekeeper retold the comments to the manager in a letter.How could the manager deal with it？ When the students finish the task， they know he must take the role of the manager， to think of the hotel and comfort the customers.I ask the students to finish a letter of apology.So that the whole teaching procedure is about letter. Students may get familiar with the literary form.

Third， the dialogue teaching. The next dialogue is from PEP English 6A .Unit 1 .The title is How can I get there？

A ：Excuse me .Where’s the cinema？

B ：It’s next to the bookstore .

A ：How can I get there？

B ：Turn right at the first crossing. It’s on your left.

Before this class， I prepare some signs and choose some students to hold the note. Everyone can be A. The other one is the policeman or policewoman. The room between the two rows are imagined to be the blocks. Also in the classroom， there are turning and crossing. I ask the students to look for the person or guess who he /she is. For example， I say： How can I get to the bank？Students may say： Walk along... I think this is deeper than just learn how to recite the dialogue. Especially， The phrase “on the left ” ， “take the second turning on the right .” But when we move the “real” situation into our classroom， it gets easy.

Fourth， a play teaching .The next is from PEP English for 6B Unit 2 .

Last weekend （ A PLAY ）

The manager： May I help you？

Wu Yifan： Yes， Our stay at the hotel was not good.

The manager： May I know what is wrong？

Wu Yifan： The table was not stable that we couldn’t have dinner well at the table. And the door of the wardrobe was broken， so we couldn’t close it. we found some bread crumbs on the floor. And it left a bad taste in my mouths.

Yifan’s mum：There was no hot water.I couldn’t take a shower.

Yifan’s dad： The speed of network was too slow.I couldn’t sent the email.

The manager： I’m sorry to hear that. First，we will replace the old with some new furniture. Then， we will make sure the room will be clean. Next， we must be sure the hot water supply in 24 hours. Finally， we will overhaul all the electronic devices in each room.I hope you can come back to our hotel and enjoy yourselves next holiday. I promise you will have a good stay next time.

Before the class， I get some clothes. They fit for a manager， a child， a father and a mother. Then we act out the play. The students learn in the role play. I think the best way to teach the play is to let the students take part in. When they do， they remember.

There are so many models in my daily teaching. I think to be a teacher is a hard work because you can’t stop learning and trying out the new teaching ideas and methods.

Reference documents：

[1] American Federation of Teachers .Back to School Classroom Management Study Guide .

[2] Junior English for China Students Books 1 Students Book 2. Students Book 3 .

[3] 中華人民共和國教育部制定，英語課程標準（實驗稿）[R]北京師范學出版社 2001

[4] 施良方 《學習論》 人教出版社

[5]王文靜 《社會建構主義研究》、《全球教育展望》

[6]何廣鏗 《英語教學法基礎》 暨南大學出版社

[7]王新如 《心理學》