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浅论中学英语教学中的跨文化意识培养(1)(2)

2013-11-01 01:02 4.1. 3. The principle of practicability
Primarily, according to the demands of the principle practicability, the acquainted cultural contexts must be closely connected with the language contents and can be used in students’ daily communication. So it can excite students’ interest to learn English culture.
4.2. Contents of intercultural awareness cultivation
According to Stern cultural teaching should include six main aspects:(1)Places; (2)individual person and way of life; (3)People and society in general(4)History; (5)institution; (6)art, music, literature and other major achievements.［12］
Contents of intercultural awareness cultivation refer to all aspects of culture, but what should we teach in middle school? Middle school students are at a special age period. At this stage, it is hard for them to tell what is good and what is bad. What’s more, they don’t have enough time, so it is impossible for them to learn all the cultures of English-speaking countries. According to the New English Curriculum Standards for middle school and the analysis of the middle school English textbooks, the writer advises that the contents of intercultural awareness cultivation in middle school should focus on the following aspects:
4.2.1 Ways of addressing
In middle school English class usually begin with “Good morning, teacher.” In fact, this is Chinese form of address by using of a person’s title, office, or occupation, such as 黄局长，林经理，马校长. But English native speakers seldom address others like this. The most frequently used titles are Mr. (for adult males), Mrs. (for married women), Miss (for unmarried women), Ms (for women whose marital status are unknown or is not indicated). There are some less frequently used titles such as president, prime minister, governor, mayor, doctor, judge, lawyer, and professor.［13］ So we’d better say “good morning, Sir/Madam or Good morning, Mr. / Mrs. Wang”. In junior middle school, students can learn a lot about English names. A lot of English people have three names: a first name, a middle name, and a last name. Their family name comes last. They do not use their middle name often. So “John Henry Brown” is usually “John Brown”. People do not use Mr., Mrs., Ms or Miss before their first name. They use them with their family name. So we can say “John Brown” or “Mr. Brown”, but we can never say “Mr. John”.  In China, we often address members of our family, relatives or close neighbors as “ 二 哥、三姐、四婶、周大伯” which should not be carried over into English. In English, the name alone would be enough. It should be mentioned that in English “Uncle” and “Auntie” or something like that should be followed by a given name, not a family name. For example, Uncle Tom and Aunt Mary. Therefore, “Uncle Wang” is a way of Chinese thinking style in English. （科教论文网 Lw.nsEAc.com编辑整理）
4.2.2 Greeting
In everyday life, people always greet each other when they meet people coming from different cultural backgrounds. Proper greetings are sure to be a good beginning of a communication, and they can help us build up a good social relationship. The first lesson of JEFC often deals with how to greet. That is, “Good morning!” or “hello/Hi!” when meeting in the morning, instead of Chinese saying” “Have you had breakfast yet?”  For westerner the greeting might mean this: “I haven’t either. Come on, let's go together and get something to eat.” or it could indicate an invitation to a meal. When we Chinese meet for the first time, there is no special expression for the occasion. But as for most English-speaking people, when they meet for the first time, they often say something like “How do you do?” and “Nice to meet you.” And when they part, they are expected to remark: “It’s nice meeting you.” or “Very nice talking with you.” or something similar.
4.2.3 Compliments and thanks
It is quite common for people to exchange compliments in English speaking countries and in China. However, there are cultural differences between English and Chinese compliments and responses. In middle school English teaching of daily conversations, compliments and their responses deserve to be studied.
Cultural differences are also evident in the ways of responding to others’ compliments and gratitude. It is noted that people from English-speaking countries tend to verbalize their gratitude and compliments more than Chinese speakers and that they tend to accept thanks and compliments more than Chinese. When Chinese people hear compliments like “You are so beautiful.” or “You speak excellent English.” They may feel embarrassed and would say “No, no” to decline the expression of gratitude. However, a native English speaker will accept the complement by giving positive response like “Thank you” or “I’m glad to hear that”. To them, accepting compliments is not an expression of pride or impoliteness; it’s almost dishonest to deny an expression of sentiment
What's more, “Thank you” is used more widely in English-speaking countries than in China even between members of the family, even for minor favors like borrowing a pencil, asking directions, passing an apple, etc. In JEFC, we can find this dialogue:
Han Mei: Good evening, Lucy and Lily.
Twins: Thanks for asking us.
Han Mei: Would you like a moon-cake?
Lucy: Yes，thank you.
Han Mei: Would you like another one?
Lucy: May I? Yes, Thanks.
Han Mei: How about another one?
Lucy: Oh no, Thank you.
From the example above, we can know how often English-speaking people say “thanks”. On the contrary, in China, such polite expressions are often omitted, especially among close friends and family members. Many Chinese often regard the frequent use of “thank you” by English-speaking people unnecessary and even tiresome.
4.2.4 .Privacy and taboos
Some words or expressions are to be avoided because of the tradition or social custom. And the topics talked about must be carefully chosen to suit the speakers and the setting. This may not be easy to do even in one’s mother tongue，and therefore in a foreign language it can be even more difficult. It is important to consider cultural factors in middle school English conversations. In student’s book, there is a dialogue between Meimei and Mrs. Green:
Meimei: Hello! What's your name?
Mrs. Green: My name is Mrs. Green.
Meimei: How old are you?
Mrs. Green: Ah. It's a secret.
English people place a high value on privacy. To most British and Americans, age is one of the things being considered improper to ask of a stranger especially a lady. Besides age, one’s income, marital status, political attitude and religion are also considered as privacies in English culture. So in middle school English teaching we should guide the students to avoid the following topics when talk with westerners:
“How old are you?” “How much do you earn?” “Are you married or single?” “What is your religion?” “How much did that dress cost you?” “How many children do you have?” 大学排名
4.2.5 Miscellaneous social amenities
(i) The term “please”
The English term “please” is usually regarded as equivalent to “请” in Chinese. However, they are not used in exactly the same way. When asking another person to enter the room or to get in a car first, the normal expression is “After you” rather than ““You go first, please”. And “Help yourself” is customary when urging someone to start eating, or to take more of the food.［14］ Both Chinese and English have expressions for apologies and remarks preceding a request, for example, there are“对不起，请……” and “Excuse me, please...” On the whole, they are quite similar. However, there are certain differences even among these. “Excuse me.” is a general term preceding a request or interruption. In Chinese, however, there are different terms:“劳驾”when asking a favor or requesting a person to do something; “借光” and “请让一让”, when asking a person to step aside or make room;“请问” When asking for information or  making a query. If not knowing this distinctions students tend to use “对不起” for all such situations . Then mistakes will occur. For example:
A: Would you like to go to the flower show?
B: Excuse me, but I’m not free
Here we’d better have students know that for refusal to invitation, “I’d love to, but…” is proper.
(ii) Gift giving and responses
Gift giving is very important in our daily life. It is necessary to introduce some knowledge about gift giving in western country to middle-school students. People in English speaking countries give gifts on a number of occasions: at Christmas and other important holidays, at weddings, on birthdays, on a visit to a friends and so on. However, they normally give only small gifts (a card, a bunch of flowers, or a bottle of wine) to good friends. Gifts from casual acquaintance or expensive gifts will make them uncomfortable, for they will not know how to return the kindness. When they receive a gift, they always unwrap it in the giver’s presence and say a few good words about it, in order to let the giver know that his or her gift is appreciated.［15］
4.3. Approaches of intercultural awareness cultivation
Teaching English is also teaching English culture. The importance of teaching culture has been discussed a lot and widely recognized. Now how to cultivate intercultural awareness in middle school is also a problem all English teachers confront. The writer suggests the following approaches.
4.3.1 Intercultural awareness cultivation in classroom
Classrooms are middle school students’ main study places, so how to carry out intercultural awareness cultivation effectively in an English classroom is vital to the teaching.
(i)Role play
Role-play is a frequently adopted classroom item, which involves the students in simulated intercultural communication situations in daily life such as greetings, telephone talk, and concern-expressing, present-giving and so on. It arouses students' great interest in classroom interaction .It does not only help the students understand cultural differences, experience foreign culture, but also provides opportunities for oral communication. It is very popular with English beginner.［16］
Different talking topic has the different social meaning in the different culture. In middle school English teaching material there are dialogues in each unit, and many talking topics are involved. Teachers should make full use of these topics to cultivate students’ intercultural awareness. We can require students act out a dialogue by role play. If an English teacher wants to present students with the general practice of eating out in a restaurant in western，the best way is probably to provide students with English introductions about how to find a table reserved, how to order and how to pay and so on, which can then be displayed in students’ role- play. This will not only show how well the students understand them, but also give them a vivid impression. In textbook many texts can also be acted alike: The Necklace, Jobs, Body Language, First Aid, At the Tailor’s, A Famous Detective, and so on.
(ii) Comparisons and contrast
When we carry on the language knowledge teaching, cultural should be put into it. Teachers may summarize some vocabularies and idioms which have cultural connotation. And use direct explanation method and comparative method to show students the difference between Chinese and English. Therefore, teachers should make comparisons and contrast between cultures, which may help students to understand foreign culture and their native culture on the basis of previous experience and new knowledge. Only by comparison and contrast can one distinguishing acceptable culture from unacceptable culture, thus preventing students from accepting the target culture uncritically.
(iii)Audio-visual Approach
The audio-visual approach means to guide students to experience the cultural content of English-speaking countries by the use of various audio-visual aids, such as pictures, tapes, videos, computers, newspapers, magazines and so on. For instance, when teaching Disneyland in Unit 1 in SEFC Students’ Book 2A, teachers can show students some pictures of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck to arouse students’ curiosity. When teaching Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day or Body Language films and TVs can be shown to help students to understand the cultural behaviors of Westerners: what they eat; what they wear; what houses they live in; how they make friends; what traditional activities they have on their important festivals.
4.3.2Intercultural awareness cultivation outside class
Middle school students show interests in many things outside class. For example, reading, listening to the music, seeing films, and so on. Therefore we should make full use of them so as to arouse students’ study interest, and help increase students’ intercultural awareness.
(i)Authentic materials
Using authentic sources from the native speech community helps to engage students in authentic cultural experiences. Sources can include films, news broadcasts, photographs, and television shows, Web sites, and magazines, newspapers, restaurant menus, travel brochures, and other printed materials. Teachers can adapt their use of authentic materials to suit the age and language proficiency level of students. For example, even at the beginning students can watch and listen to video clips taken from a television show in the target language and focus on such cultural conventions as greetings.  The teacher might supply students with a detailed translation or give them a chart, diagram, or outline to complete while they listen to a dialogue or watch a video, then engage them in discussion of the cultural norms represented in the segments. Students might describe the behaviors they observe and discuss what are similar to their native culture and what are not and determine strategies. （科教范文网http://fw.ΝsΕΑc.com编辑）
(ii)Communicative activities
Organizing English corners, English party, English Sharon and so on. These activities can provide students with the opportunity to communicate in English. So the students can experience the western culture to a great extent, which is good for them to improve their intercultural awareness and obtain the intercultural competence.

5. Conclusion
On the whole, the relationship between language and culture determines the importance of culture teaching. With the increase of exchange between China and Western countries resulting from the reform and opening up program, people have come to realize that due to the lack of profound knowledge of the Western culture, “cultural shock” will appear now and then when Chinese people communicate with Westerners. Culture plays a very important role in English teaching. Thus it is required to foster students’ intercultural awareness and improve their cultural understanding competence. What’s more, the intercultural communicative ability must be developed at an early age. Middle school is the beginning of English learning ,therefore, English teachers should try their best to increase students’ cultural awareness, so that they will notice the differences when exposed to the target language and culture, besides, they will be able to find out for themselves what to say or do and what not to say or do . Filtering cultural teaching into English teaching can bring about new spirit to middle school English teaching, and it can also promote the quality education.

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