Situational Lead—in in English Classroom

胡秋凤

A good lead-in can draw students attentions and stimulate their learning interests. This paper is mainly about the ways of creating the situations for lead-in. The situations can be set in the text itself and created with the help of pictures， available objects and music.

1. Introduction

Every teacher has his attention-getting device， but if he does not need to say“Please pay attention” and students can go into the class easily， teaching effect will be better. In order to achieve this effect， an elaborated lead-in is needed. According to the English Teaching Syllabus， teachers are required to lay stress on cultivating students abilities of using language. They should try hard to create English learning environments. （張正东 黄泰铨 1999：16） So in the process of lead-in， it is rather necessary for teachers to create the situations correctly and flexibly.

2. Ways to create the situations

According to classroom English teaching， some ways are employed to create the situations for an effective lead-in.

2.1 To utilize the situations in the text itself

Every unit has four lessons in JEFC （Junior English For China）. Each unit focuses on one topic which includes different patterns of lessons. As for every specific lesson， it should be carried out in situations where the teacher and students talk naturally.

For instance， in JEFC Book Ⅱ ， the first unit is “Welcome back！”At that time， the new term just begins. The teacher does not know students names. So the teacher can use some everyday expressions to have a talk with students in real situations. First， the teacher says， “Good morning， girls and boys！Welcome back！My name is... This is our first lesson，so I do not know your names. Now let me call your names. Is…here？” In this way the teacher introduces the topic of the lesson naturally.

2.2 To create the situations for lead-in， set the language contexts

2.2.1. Lead-in with pictures

Straight， dry lessons can be boring， and bored students soon stop paying attention to lessons. The teacher should introduce varieties to maintain students attentions. Every lesson has figures in Go for it. The teacher can use its figures for lead-in. For example， in Go for it， there is a unit about transportations “How do you usually come to school？”. In the second period， the teacher says， “I usually come to school by bus.” Then he holds up some pictures one by one and asks：“How does Mr. Green usually come to school？” （He usually comes to school by bike.） “How does Aunt White usually go to work？” （By train.） “Does Jim come to school by plain？” （No， he comes to school on foot..）endprint

2.2.2. Lead-in with available objects

If the teacher uses the real objects for lead-in， he can present the new knowledge to students in vivid forms. In the classroom， students should be provided with a chance to experience the language in meaningful ways and try out their skills， so the teacher can utilize students learned knowledge to set the language context for students. （Cai Ping 2006：101） For instance， in the unit of “Shopping” in JEFC Book Ⅰ， the teacher can create the situations about shopping in the classroom. The teacher prepares some potatoes， tomatoes， milk， price tags before class， uses the teachers desk as the counter. The classroom becomes a small store through the elaborated designs.

2.2.3. Lead-in with music

The experienced teacher is good at making use of the active characteristic of students. At the beginning of the class， singing or listening to some songs students will be molded in singing and learn English readily. There are many songs easy for students to learn， such as： Twinkle， Twinkle， little star，Happy New Year，Jingle Bells.

The practices prove that singing can draw students attentions， make the classroom atmosphere active. Listening to the good music can improve students qualities. Using the music is really a good form of lead-in.

3. Conclusion

Lead-in is not only a very important part in teaching activities， but also a start of teachers ' classroom teaching， which directly affects the efficiency of the whole lesson. （Long Yumei 2007：102）So creating the situations of lead-in is very necessary in English teaching. Teachers should strike to create the situations in various forms for the better teaching effect.

Bibliography

[1] 蔡平. Language context and the English Teaching. www. Google.com. （2006：101）.

[2] 張正东， 黄泰铨. 英语教学法双语教程[M]. 北京： 科学出版社， 1999.

[3] 龙玉梅.浅谈导入在英语课堂教学中的运用[J]. 牡丹江教育学院学报， 2007（02）.

（作者单位：广东省雷州市第八中学）endprint