深圳南山外国语学校 葛岩峰
Abstract
English is widely learned in many countries including China not only as a language tool to communicate with others but also as a way to know the culture of the other countries. The original English films are very nice resources for EFL learners. This article discusses the strategies about teaching Chinese students to learn spoken English by dubbing English films and suggests a practical way that actually widens students’ communicative abilities. Dubbing is the process students speak English for the characters in the films in English.
l Why do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
Improve communicative abilities
Aware of the different cultures
Appreciate the film art
l How do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
Prepare materials (films)
Appreciation and understanding
Analyze the different characters
Imitate sentences
Acting plots
Dubbing the film
In addition
l What have the students got from the dubbing class?
Language acquisition
Social skills
Art experience
l Conclusion
We could say films can be used successfully in class as long as they are carefully chosen and used with a clear purpose. They help teachers to create the most suitable environment in language teaching. They help students to improve their oral speaking skills. They help to widen their knowledge of the world and culture by this memorable and motivating experience. It is rewarding and worthy to devote our hearts and spirits to.
Ladies and gentlemen,
My name is Linda. I am from China. I work for Shenzhen Nanshan Foreign Language School as an English teacher. Today I am very delighted to accept the invitation from the 8th Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness and share with you all some of my ideas on teaching students in English and developing students’ creative ability.
First please allow me to ask you some questions? Do you watch movies? Have any movies impressed you a lot or influenced you in your life? There must one or two. I guess. So my topic today is about films and my English teaching. Teaching spoken English by dubbing films.
I would like to introduce three parts about this theme:
l Why do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
l How do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
l What have the students got from the dubbing class?
Why do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
l Improve communicative abilities
Speaking is the direct and fast way to communicate with others which involves quite a lot of listening and speaking skills. Original English films offer very good authentic language. Students can get plenty of correct English words, phrases and sentences into their heads. With movies, they know how native speakers speak in English, e, g, what words they use, how they say these words. Students won’t learn anything from the movies if they don’t understand the language. Once they understand the movies, it will be more motivating for them.
Students are very active to imitate and perform before classmates. Dubbing and acting are very good opportunity for them to practice English. The more they practice the language from the movies, the better their English is improved. They are able to speak fluently, correctly and beautifully, even make their own sentences. They create new sentences as they are willing to use what they have learned from the imitation.
Meanwhile students gain more confidence and share more ideas from their peers through cooperation and communication.
l Aware of the different cultures
Films represent a country’s culture. In watching movies the culture becomes familiar and accessible. Students will know about a certain country’s literacy, history, politics which help to open their eyes to the world. It’s a national identity and challenges students’ thoughts and value the world and human beings.
l Appreciate the film art
Film itself means a sort of art which attracts student’s great interest in exploring. They have entertainment function. Students can gain knowledge about films, for example, the stories making and editing, music composing, scenes choosing, actor and actress’ performance and directing, operation and shooting, etc.
How do we teach spoken English by dubbing films?
l Prepare films
² Do a survey on students’ favorite films.
² Pre-watch them before class at home.
² Select short pieces from the films, print the scripts.
According to the survey we find that students of Primary 4-6 are interested in animated films best. The top ten films are Lion King, Bug’s Life, Tazan , Nemo, Beauty and the beast, Harry Potter. Mickey, Donald Duck, Simba, Aladin, there are many characters from Disney that have become well-known all over the world. Because they meet the children’s interests and take into account their psychological characteristics. They enhance the motivation of learning. Motivation is as much an effect as a cause of learning (Ausubel)
We choose short pieces from the film which last around five minutes. The dialogue should be simple and easy, but with several characters which students can work together with.
l Appreciation and understanding
With the high tech, students are able to enjoy the combination of music, animated tech, plots which support the process of children’s understanding. Not only the meaning of the words and sentences, but also the idioms and different areas of knowledge. When students learn the film Lion King, they learn something about the circle of life, food chain. Another example is He looks blue. Blue here means depressed, a sort of emotion instead of color.
l Analyze the different characters
Students are supposed to discuss the different characters in the film .They figure out their features by analyzing how they act, how they talk, how they act and sense the meaning and feeling. By doing so ,students are able to express it, act it our ,show it out from their understanding .
l Imitate sentences
Students repeat the short parts sentence by sentence. They imitate by the means of choral speaking .It maybe not fashionable, but many students benefit a lot .All of them speak together and shy ones feel not explosed.
They learn to pronounce the words by watching the shapes of the mouth, they are supposed to learn to say the sentences in several moods, happily, sadly, angrily or in a thoughtful way, a casual way, or frightened way. Apart from the above statement, they need to learn to use variety of human voice, including pitch, volume, rhyme, softness, pace and pause, in which they can help to express well. By doing so, they explore a new voice and reduce the Chinese sounding accent.
l Acting plots
Students are very fond of acting. They are appreciative and kink listeners. They have strong desire to show off and wait for encouragement. They can choose their favorite roles and form a group to practice by themselves. They don’t have to recite the whole part, just need to memorize their own part. After practice and acting almost everyone is able to recite the whole part and they also like to try other roles.
Months long after we have taught many parts of the films, students are able to recite all the part from beginning to the ending word for word. They surprised me and made extremely excited. They even could sing the songs of the film. Obviously they have retained a great deal of the knowledge.
l Dubbing the film
Students go to the audio room to record their dubbing for the film. It is a record of both their individual and group work and many of their speaking skills are challenged.
l In addition
Students are signed to write reviews after watching films which help them to rethink of the films. Some of them even try to write their own drama.
What have the students got from the dubbing class?
l Language acquisition
Students learn more words, especially in spoken English. Their listening comprehension and speaking skills are improved. They speak fluently, correctly and speak pure English. It’s not only the understanding of customs and cultures, but also a stimulus for reading and writing .We observed that many students had improved their reading. They could write a review after seeing the films with deep thoughts. Some group even could edit their own drama using the dialogues they had learned in a creative way. So they not only learn the language, but also learn how to gain methods and develop their skills for life-long learning .
l Social skills
In dubbing class， students are may asked to speak English clearly and operate a short piece successfully, but it’s sometimes difficult to say exactly what they are learning .In fact they learn many different things. How to cooperate with other people
² How to share work
² How to delegate roles
² How to appreciate the work of others
² How to work alone
² How to take responsibility for a group task
² How to encourage and praise others
All these are social skills and help to build up self confidence which is key to a child’s success.
l Art experience
Watching films is enjoyable. But doing a part of work related to film is more interesting and motivating. Students get the first-hand experience which is very essential in learning. It helps to produce a positive attitude towards learning and get a sense of achievement. Never underestimate students because they have potentials of creativities, sometimes they really can make something beyond our imagination.
Conclusion
We could say films can be used successfully in class as long as they are carefully chosen and used with a clear purpose. They help teachers to create the most suitable environment in language teaching. They help students to improve their oral speaking skills. They help to widen their knowledge of the world and culture by this memorable and motivating experience. It is rewarding and worthy to devote our hearts and spirits to.
（该篇文章是作者2004年7月参加韩国第六届亚太地区天才儿童教育研讨会的发言稿） |