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英语论文范例-The Application of Humor in Senior English(2)

2013-06-13 01:23
The teacher states how hurricanes at one time were given feminine names and how ships and places were usually referred to as “she”. The students may raise their hands and ask, “What gender is a computer?”
The teacher may not certain which it is. So he can divide the class into two groups, males and females, and ask the students to decide whether a computer should be masculine or feminine. Both groups are asked to give four reasons for their recommendation.
The groups of girls conclude that computers should be referred to masculine because:
1. In order to get their attention, you have to turn them on.
2. They have a lot of date but are still clueless.
3. They are supposed to help you solve your problems, but half the time they are the problem.
4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that, if you had waited a little longer, you could have had a better model.

The boys, on the other hand, decide that computers should definitely be referred to feminine because:
1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic.
2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.
3. Even you smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.
4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half you paycheck on accessories for it.

Here I propose the use of humorous material in written and oral form as input in language classrooms. However, we do not exclude other forms of humor such as the use of personal anecdote or story related to the topic, some form of verbal comedy or a brief humorous comment on national or world event. In these instances, the instructor should to be spontaneously humorous and should not confine himself to the oral or written material.

2.2 Choosing Humorous Teaching Method
Teaching method is the combination of ways and methods the teachers and students used in the process of teaching in order to achieve the common teaching goal and to finish the common teaching task. It includes two parts, the way of teachers teaching and the way of students’ learning. Some of the most recognized methods in nowadays-English teaching are grammar-translation approach, direct approach, audio-lingual method, community language learning. However, what the author refers to here is the narrow sense of teaching method, that is, the method of explaining the difficult words, phrases and grammar rules.

2.2.1  Using Humorous Example （科教作文网 zw.nseac.com整理）
As we know, reference books offer so many examples that teachers can prepare lessons conveniently. However, lots of the places and person in the examples are strange to the students. If the examples were changed to familiar person or places, students would be attracted. The example seems to happen around the students, so they can remember them for a long time（陈艳松 2004）.
E.g. when the teachers explain the difference between “except” and “besides”, they can give these examples.

(1)     In the classroom, you are students except me.
(2)     Besides me, there are 72 persons in our class.

E.g. “more…..than” is used to make a comparison between different aspect of the same person or thing. The teachers can give these examples.
(3)     Deng Xiaoping is more alive than dead.
(4)     Mr Peng is more a friend than a teacher.

E.g. When the teachers explain the difference between “used to do” and “be used to doing”, they can give the students two examples like this:

(5)     Wang Junli used to be a millionaire.
(6)     Dengmiao is used to living on the moon.
 After hearing such kind of examples, the atmosphere suddenly get activated and the students follow to make similar examples. Through these examples, the students all get a deep impression on these two phrases.

E.g. When the teachers explain the new word “promise”, they can cite such an example:

(7)     Father: Didn’t you promise to be a good boy?
Ben: Yes, father.
Father: And didn’t I promise you no spending money if you were bad?
Ben: Yes, father. But since I have broken my promise, you can break yours.

After hearing this, the student all burst into laugher, at the same time, they know how to use promise to be, promise sb sth, break one’s promise. This is far better than merely tell the students how to use them with some formal examples.

E.g. When the teachers explain were in subjunctive mood, the teacher can make up the examples like this:

(8)     Wang Tao is my boyfriend, he is studying in Shanghai. I love him very much. If I were a bird, I would fly to him.

(9)     If I were rich, I would buy a car. But as a teacher, I am too poor to do that.