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1、“Mind the gap”: building bridges between students readers and texts作者来源：徐汇中学 张 琼发布时间：2004-04-02Discovering the gap between students readers and textsIn the underway when passengers disembark from a subway train, a clear voice warns as the doors open, “Mind the gap”, because there is a small crevice
2、between the edge of the platform and the floor of the train. At other times, there is a more obvious gap between our students interests, reading abilities, levels of life experiences, and the world of the texts they are asked to read. Now our students are learning “The New Century Senior English” bo
3、ok which is regarded as one of the modest and best textbooks. During the teaching process we teachers find this kind of gap appeared frequently. Even though our textbooks are appreciated by teachers and students for its wide knowledge, various themes, clear structures, open-minded ideas, large vocab
4、ulary and so on, most students would find such gaps between them and texts. While a few good students leap gracefully over such gaps, many other students find reading difficult or insignificant in learning texts for different reasons: they may lack appropriate skills, motivations, interests, or trus
5、t in the learning system, or they just might not like learning English, the teacher, or the way the textbook makes them feel too difficult and dumb. So what could an English teacher do to help them? To my opinion, texts that present no difficulties for readers are usually judged to be at their “ ple
6、asure” reading level, rather than at the “ instructional” level. Our students need instruction from teachers when they are carrying some tasks through.Teachers as BridgeHow does a “bridge” do in our daily life? It helps us connect one point to another, similarly, texts need to have bridges to built
7、into them when our students feel confused about them. Teachers are the bridge. Often we devote to helping connect our students with the textbook by our own experience to open students to the world of the text. We help students find new perspectives, new ideas, and new understanding of other people,
8、place, and times by studying the “instructional” level text. But some students often cant feel comfortable in the world of text, even cant easily understand the meaning of the text. As their teacher, we should try our best to help them leap the gap. For instance, unit 6 “Going to the Cinema” of modu
9、le 3 in column 2 senior 1 is a text about stunts in movies. For our students, “stunts in movies” is not one of their familiar topics. But film stars such as Jackie Chan, Tom Cruise, Stallone are popular with them. So before entering into the explanation of the text, we can first design some activiti
10、es to build a bridge into the text. My teaching plan was as following: A.Before the Reading ask Ss to collect information about Jakie Chan or other film stars by means of books, magazines, pictures, DVD, and Internet (especially about stunts).B.A QuestionnaireAsk Ss to answer these questions and fil
11、l in the table below in a group work. 1.How often do you go to the cinema?2.What kind of movies do you like？3.Do you ever go to the cinema alone or with your parents or friends?4.Do you like a movie to have a happy ending or a sad ending?5.Do you ever watch action movies on VCD and DVD?6.Whos your f
12、avourite movie star? Say something about him/her . Subject 1 Subject 2Subject 3Subject 4DramaThrillerActionCartoonHorrorRomanceScience-fictionMysteryOthersC.Discussion: Group work: Your likes and dislikes for a film or a film star, using as many examples and reasons as possible . And then give a rep
13、ort to the class. D. Show some chapters of famous films about stunts in movies, give a sensational understanding about the text to the students first. “All roads lead to Rome.” Before the text studying, we should stimulate students imagination about the text and make them attempt to know the details
14、 in the text.Additional Readings as BridgeTeaching is truly a challenging art. It consists of designing activities that lead students to acquire knowledge and thoughts by thinking through their work. A skillful teacher must know not only how to design such activities, but also how to ensure that stu
15、dents could get to comprehension and insight. If we want to promote students meaning-making skills, we ought to build another bridge into the text. In addition to the additional reading in the textbook (Sometimes it is too difficult for students), we can choose some “pleasure” reading level passages
16、 to help students deepen the texts understanding. We had a text about “English Manners”(unit3 of module2 in column1 senior 1) ,which was not in the range of students life experiences. In order to let the students enter into the world of the text, I provided them with some materials easier read to he
17、lp them find connection with the text. My teaching schedule was as following:A.Situational story reading Read the situation below, and choose the best answers to the questions. Sometimes more than one answer is possible.Martha, an American teacher in the US, had started teaching English to a group o
18、f Japanese students. She wanted to know the students more informally, so she invited them to her house for a party. The students all arrived together at exactly 8:00 p.m. They seem to enjoy the party: they danced, sang, and ate most of the food. At about 10:00 p.m., one of the students said to the t
19、eacher, I think its time foe me to leave. Thank you very much for the party. Then all the other students got up to go, and all left at the same time. Martha decided she would never invite them again!1.Why did all the students leave together?a.They didnt like late nights.b.There was no more food.c.Th
20、ey were doing what was normal for them.d.They had an invitation to another party.2.Why did Martha decide never to invite these students to her house again?a.She felt insulted, because they all left at once.b.They had eaten all the food.c.They stayed too late. d.They hadnt brought her a present.B.Soc
21、ial behavior reading Work with a partner. Imagine that the situations below take place in an English-speaking country. What would you do in each situation? In some cases, more than one answer is possible.1.Youve been having digestive problems for a week, and have just started to feel better. You mee
22、t a British friend at a party. Your friend says, “How are you?” what would you do?a.Start taking in detail about your problem.b.Say, Fine, thanks. How are you?c.Say, Not bad, thanks. How are you?d.Nothing.2.Youre visiting an American friend in her new apartment. You like the apartment and you want y
23、our friend to know. What would you do?a.Say, Your apartment is nice. How much is the rent?b.Say, Gee, this place is really nice.c.Say, I really like your apartment.d.Say nothing, but show that you are interested by everything that is movable. We can use these materials to find the differences betwee
24、n China and English manners. My desire was to increase students motivations and participation in the text learning. By comparing with the difference, students got a general meaning about the manners and wanted to know what “English Manners” was about. Additional reading is not only a bridge, a compl
25、ement for the text but also an opportunity for students to expand their mind and vocabulary.Media as BridgeIn an era of MTV, video games, and the Internet, how do we keep students engaged in the disciplines of texts study? Teachers always complain that it is harder to keep students interested, harde
26、r to keep them devoted in their work. Why not build a bridge by media to help them? It is true that most of students are keen on new ideas and updated information on the Internet. Once we learned a text about metropolises (unit5 of module 3 in column1 senior 1), I asked students to find some informa
27、tion about their favourite metropolises on the Internet and prepared a PowerPoint presentation before class. My schedule was as following:A.Choose one famous metropolis from the text and find out related information as much as possible. (At first, students found it difficult to seek appropriate info
28、rmation and arrange it in proper order. I selected a paragraph in the text about London to give an example to them. After intensive reading, students found out that we could introduce each metropolis about different aspects such as its location, its population, its history, and its special character
29、s etc.)B. Enable students to make sure their purpose that is to learn how to introduce a city with complete information and emphasize its distinguishing feature.C.Ask Students to find connection between their assignment and the text then to fulfill their task smoothly. D.Every group presented their
30、PowerPoint work before class and had a competition among them. In this procedure, every group strove to show their excessive abilities and grasped a chance to practice their oral English. I was delighted in enjoying their work with wonderful words and dazzling pictures at that time. After this activ
31、ity, every student concluded that we could build bridges into the text by various ways including Internet, TV, radio, etc.Gaps and Bridges - conclusionAll the above-mentioned methods are consistent with our original goals to help students succeed in leaping gaps and get to the final destination. I h
32、ope that, as a teacher, I can do more to help our students enter into the texts we want them to read by helping them “leap the gap”. I hope I can work at building bridges over these gaps, so that our students can board the English learning train, enjoying the benefits of the textbook, confident in t
33、heir ability to connect with texts in personal ways and achieve their aims in English studying.Works CitedSweeney Thomas,and Robert Catt. “Training and Teaching.” Language and Learning (Mar. 1993)Carleo, Lorie:Poems about Getting Up ( New York. 1994)Lois T. Stover: English Learning (English Journal. 2001)
