王 群
萨丕尔—沃尔夫假说的理论核心是语言决定思维。认知心理学认为,阅读是一种积极的信息加工过程,其实质就是一系列复杂的思维活动(邱玲2013)。阅读是一个语言与思维相互作用的过程。“英语阅读对于提升学生的核心素养,特别是语言能力、文化品格、思维品质及学习能力将会起到关键的作用。”(王蔷 2017)高质量的阅读体验有助于提高学生的思维含量,发展学生的思维品质。在英语阅读教学中,教师应该引导学生以主题探究为切入点,以语篇为依托,以解决问题为目标,通过感知、预测、获取、分析、概括、比较、评价、创新等思维活动,在分析问题和解决问题的过程中训练英语思维,提升高阶思维能力,促进英语学科核心素养的形成与发展。
A Father,a Son and an Answer是一篇课外阅读文章(文章出处:https://yingyu.chazidian.com/show-27370-all/),文章体裁是夹叙夹议。主题语境是人与社会,内容围绕一对父子在车站的幸福时刻展开,并由此联想到一系列社会问题。作者通过黑人父子与白人乘客的对比引出解决方案:父母的真情陪伴是解决问题的关键。
故事文本是一切语言的开始,因而叙事性文本的解读对语言学习和思维训练有着重要的意义。在解读故事文本的过程中,教师可以引导学生关注语言特点、对话节奏、叙事要素、故事所传达的主旨及作者是如何实现写作目的的,使他们感悟语言并在运用语言的过程中提升思维能力。
这是一堂面向高一学生的区级公开课。从知识储备来看,高一学生具备了一定的语言基础和表达能力,所以教师在设计过程中较多地采用启发式的问答活动。从情感发展角度来看,高一学生的心理发展日趋成熟,与父母的依赖关系逐渐弱化,但不善于表达自己的情感,对于细腻的情感关系没有准确的体会。
Step 1:Lead-in(引入话题,活跃思维)
教师先播放一段约三分钟的电影剪辑片段,且所选片段的情节与该篇阅读文本有很多相似之处。通过短片引入文章的一条明线:happiness。
T:What’s the name of this film?
S:The Pursuit of Happyness.
T:Is there anything wrong with the name?
S:Yes,there is a mistake in the word“Happyness”.
T:Excellent.Can you read the famous line together?
S:There’s no“y”in happiness;there is“i”.
T:Can you figure out the deeper meaning of the lines?
S:“y”refers to“why”,and“i”refers to“I”.
T:Absolutely right.So it is a story about a father who tries to pursue happiness for his son.
随后,教师在“幸福树”(课前教师让学生在黑板上画好的)上贴上父子的照片,引出故事的主人公,为后面引入标题环节作好铺垫。
【设计说明】以视频导入,能够使学生快速进入情境,同时引发他们阅读文本的好奇心。电影标题的解读一方面让学生了解到英语语言中双关的巧妙用法;另一方面能够结合文章的明线,自然过渡到文本阅读。此外,“There’s no‘y’in happiness;there is‘i’.”是对电影中感人情节的概括和升华,能够有效调动学生的情绪,活跃他们的思维,达到课前热身的目的,为阅读教学的顺利进行奠定了基础。
Step 2:While-reading(自主发现,深层阅读)
在主体阅读部分,教师设计了大量的问题,通过任务阅读的方式引导学生逐层深入,由浅入深地完成文本阅读。
Task 1
Fast Reading:background information
T:When and where did the story happen?
S:On Saturday morning,on a shuttle train at the Atlanta airport.
T:Is it fun to ride the shuttle train?
S:No.Not many people consider them fun.
T:Would you please try to find two negative adjectives to describe them?
S:They are sterile and impersonal.
T:That’s true.However,there is a good point for such trains.What is it?
S:They are free.
T:Exactly,but something unexpected was heard.What’s that and where did it come from?
S:Laughter from a father and a son.
T:Why were they so happy?
S:They were enjoying the ride together on the free shuttle train at the Atlanta airport on a Saturday morning.
【设计说明】这一环节先让学生快速阅读文本,然后通过问答互动使其快速理清文本中when,where,who,what等关键信息。对四个“W”信息的确定是学生快速把握叙事性文本内容、深刻理解文本内涵的主要途径。四个“W”在PPT课件中分别是通过time,place,character和plot呈现的(如图1所示),旨在培养学生的信息转化思维能力,避免刻意地强调,也是对“小说主要要素”这一知识点的唤起。
图1
在问题的驱动下,学生要快速阅读文章,了解文本大意,培养略读能力。对学生进行略读训练,有助于提升其整体阅读能力,同时培养其快速思维的能力,使其对故事的后续情节进行预测,从而扩大思维容量。通过问答互动形式训练学生的寻读技能,且问题的设计多用特殊疑问句形式,其目的是让学生明白回答问题时要有理有据。寻读是一种常见的通过跳读寻找文章具体信息的阅读技能,它能激发学生对文本进行深层阅读。
Task 2
Detailed reading:character analysis
T:How did they look?
S:They were black and they were dressed in clothes that were just about as inexpensive as you can buy.
T:What can you tell from their clothes?
S:They were not rich.
T:How old was the boy?
S:About five years old.
T:To this little boy,was the ride fun?
S:Yes.He made sounds of sheer delight and said,“I want to ride some more”.
T:Well done!What did he do when his father pointed something out?
S:He craned his neck to look.
T:Yes.“crane”as a noun refers to a kind of bird with a long neck.As a verb,it has the meaning of stretching one’s neck to look.Can you act it out?
(请一名学生表演这个动作。)
T:Why did the boy do it like that?What do you think of this boy?
S:Curious,lovely,innocent...
T:Did it sound fun to his father,an adult?
S:No.“More?”the father said,mock-annoyed but clearly pleased.
T:Then what’s the meaning of“mock-annoyed”?Was he really annoyed?
S:No,actually he was happy.
T:That’s right.Then what does“mock”mean?
S:It means“pretend”.
T:What do you think of this father?What can we learn from him?
S:Responsible,patient,warm-hearted,a father full of love...
(在分析完人物性格之后,教师请两名学生将父子的对话表演出来。)
【设计说明】在完成了快速阅读任务之后,学生对文本大意有了初步了解。接着,让他们精读文本的第3—11段。这一部分以人物对话为主,需要学生透过字里行间感悟并分析出人物性格。人物性格往往是作者通过文字描述或者语言对话塑造出来的,不是直接给出的信息。所以,训练学生对人物性格的分析能力也是提高其逻辑思维能力的过程。同时,在分析父亲的情绪时,教师试图引导学生通过上下文分析并判断出mock的意思,旨在进行根据上下文猜测词义的阅读技巧训练,为他们提供有效的阅读策略,帮助他们在阅读过程中克服畏惧生词的心理障碍。
通过角色扮演,一方面可以活跃学生的思维,为后续较难的深层阅读活动作好准备;另一方面可以为学生提供情感体验的机会。在阅读活动中,读者的主体参与有助于积极发挥主体的主观能动性。学生的情感参与必然能够促进其高效学习。在对话过程中,学生不只是简单地重述文字,还要开动脑筋,加入恰当的符合情境的情感,达成情感上的共鸣。
Task 3
Group work:theme exploration
叙事性文本往往围绕一个主题展开,然后就主题进行探索。这属于高阶思维活动,对学生而言有一定的难度。
T:As you know,for working parents,what would they prefer to do on Saturday mornings?
S:Have a good rest at home.
T:But this father spent his time with his son and tried to make the ride fun for his son.Why did he do so?
S:Out of deep love for his son.
T:Can this love be bought with money?
S:No,but it takes time.
T:Then what did both of them really enjoy?
S:They enjoyed being together.
T:Excellent.Can you find the exact answer from the text?
S:“The father and son,though,were just riding this shuttle together,making it exciting,sharing each other’s company.”
T:Exactly.That’s the theme of the story.It reminds me of a famous Chinese sentence,can you translate it?
S:The best way to show your deep love is to accompany me forever.
T:Perfect!Now,please have a discussion about how this father tries his best to make his son happy?
(教师让学生将讨论结果写在事先发的树叶形状的便签上,最后将便签贴到“幸福树”的树干上。)
【设计说明】通过人物分析和角色扮演,父亲的形象更加高大,这样一位肯在周末早晨舍弃自己的休息时间,带着儿子来回穿行在接驳班车上的父亲形象已然在读者心中树立起来了。那么,接下来就要引导学生思考作者的写作意图,也就是对文章进行主题探索。在叙述性文本中,主题意义的考查是一个重点,也是难点。该文本的主题意义不是特别的明显,但在教师适当的引导下,学生还是能够发现的。为了进一步凸显主题意义,教师设计了一个形象、直观的活动——课前,教师让学生在黑板上画好了一棵“幸福树”,在导入环节已经在树干贴上了父子的照片;在这个主题探索环节,教师让学生小组讨论话题:“What contributes to the happiness tree?”即“父亲是如何让儿子开心快乐的”,要求学生尽量以名词形式呈现讨论结果,并将结果写在“幸福树”的树叶上;最后,教师总结学生的讨论结果,关键词有 responsibility,love,care,patience,company,attention,commitment,time,devotion 等(如下页图 2所示)。这一环节的设计能够使学生更好地理解作者的写作意图,使他们的思维实现从广度到深度的转变。
图2
Task 4
Critical thinking:comparison and contrast
学生在上一环节中十分积极、活跃,给出了很多关键词,这同时意味着文章一条主线的结束。文章的另一条主线是作者由父子的故事引发的个人评判。教师设计如下环节:
T:On the shuttle train,there are other passengers.Can you find some information about them?
S:Most of them are white people,dressed for business trips or vacations.
T:Can you tell more about them from these descriptions?
S:They are rich and busy.
T:Can you guess what kind of parents they are likely to be?
S:Perhaps they fail to spare time to accompany their children.They might give their children much money for material things.
T:Good guesses!Now let’s read the author’s comments.Focus on L25—28,and show your understanding of the comparison and contrast in this part.
(学生完成图3,并给出自己的理解。)
图3
T:Now,based on the comparison and contrast,my question is whether happiness has anything to do with money or race.
S:Absolutely not.
【设计说明】作者在写作时主要围绕两条主线展开。教师将父子的幸福时刻通过“幸福树”这一直观形象呈现,突出了明线;暗线是作者的评论,以夹叙夹议的形式展开。这一环节是一个过渡环节,旨在让学生对比感悟,慢慢地使他们过渡到作者的视角,审视车上衣着得体的其他白人乘客,由此推理并判断出这些乘客处理亲子关系的可能方式。最后,得出结论——幸福无关金钱或种族,为后续问题的进一步展开作好铺垫。
Task 5
Critical thinking:problem and solution
作者由亲子关系的视角转向社会,是一个提出问题、分析问题并解决问题的过程。
T:With parents like that,what might their children become?
S1:They might be very lonely.
S2:Perhaps they don’t know how to love and communicate with others.
S3:They are likely to be selfish,distant and cold-hearted...
T:All of these can lead to trouble,right?Then read L33—37 to find out what the writer worried about.
(在学生阅读的同时,教师解释长难句,把不容易理解的部分转述成易于学生理解的表达。)
T:What can you know from the author’s comments?
S:These are all social problems,but they also result from family problems.
T:Wonderful.As the writer said,there were so many problems about what to do.Then what can we do?What is your answer?Now work with your partner and figure it out.
S1:Parents should spend more time with their children.
S2:Parents should educate their children in a right way.
S3:Children should talk to their parents and ask them for help when in trouble.
...
T:In fact,the author gave his own answer.Can you find it out?
S:The answer is so simple:parents who care enough to spend time,and to pay attention and to try their best.It doesn’t cost a cent,yet it is the most valuable thing in the world.
【设计说明】通过一系列发问,学生不仅在文章中找到了答案,还结合自己的生活实际给出了合理的解决方案。
Step 3:Post-reading(自主构建,升华主题)
在教学的最后环节,教师设计了一个开放性的问题,即让学生给文章提炼一个恰当的标题。
T:Since there is no title for this passage,can you give a possible one for this story?Show your reasons.
S1:I think it can be“A love journey”,because the story happened on a train and journey has a symbolic meaning,which can stand for our life.
S2:I think it should be“A lesson on the train”.The author intends to teach us a lesson.He wants us to show our attention to family members.
S3:“A key to happiness”might be proper.
S4:I’d like to recommend “Love,Care and Company”.The story shows us the deep love from the father,who cares his son and tries his best to keep his company.
...
T:I really appreciate all of your ideas.Actually,there is a title for this passage.Let’s appreciate the original title.
(教师把“幸福树”上写有happiness的爱心换成 answer,并呈现原标题:A Father,a Son and an Answer。)
T:Life can be hard some time,but it won’t be that hard with the company of our family members,as“family”means“father and mother I love you!”
Hope all of you can love your father,love your mother and love your children in the future!
(教师总结,学生齐读。)
【设计说明】这篇阅读文本的语言和情节都较为简单,为了加强对学生高阶思维的训练,教师进行教学设计时删去了原文标题,而设计了一个较为开放的问题。通过让学生提炼文本标题,进一步提高他们的概括能力。概括能力是一项重要的思维能力。思维课堂必须指导学生进行有效的提问、学习和总结,自主获取和建构知识(陈沪军 2017)。教师让学生探讨合适的标题并陈述理由,可以训练他们自主构建知识的能力。通过对陈述性知识的反思、讨论及总结,充分挖掘文字背后的深层内涵,使学生可以自主建构程序性知识,达到思维课堂的要求。在学生小组汇报标题之后,教师再次回归“幸福树”,呈现原文标题,让学生对比体会其中的意蕴,并将文章的明、暗两条线融合起来,体现作者的写作技巧,同时让学生从中感悟、理解,提升思维品质。最后,教师总结,让学生齐读,并提出希望——学生能够爱自己的爸爸、妈妈,在未来也能成为爱自己孩子的好父母。这一环节的意图是在顺应文章主题和作者写作意图的情况下,在英语阅读教学中融入德育,实现英语学科立德树人的目的。
基于英语学科核心素养的高中英语阅读教学设计旨在培养学生的思维能力,打造思维课堂,培养具备高效学习能力的现代化人才。基于所选文本的体裁特点,教师在教学中多以问题导学。问题教学法已经成为目前国际上较为流行的教学方法(朱琳 2012)。在阅读教学设计中,教师通过创设不同的情境设计逐层递进的问题,培养学生学会思考和解决问题的能力,以落实、提升他们的英语学科核心素养。同时,希望更多的研究者和一线教师能够积极参与交流和讨论,逐步探寻更加适合的培养学生思维能力的教学方法。