4.3 The relationship between form and content 11

4.4 Suggestions for English teaching activities 12

5. Conclusion 13

References 14

Appendix ……………15

1. Introduction

1.1 Background of the study

With the development of globalization, English, as a tool for communication, become more and more significant in our daily life. In China, English has become a compulsory course in primary school since the autumn of 2001. Now, in most of public schools, students start to have English lessons at Grade 3. However, English teaching in primary school is still at the stage of exploring. New English Curriculum 2011 advocates quality-oriented education and all-round learning. Teachers of English in primary school are responsible for arising students’ interests and positive attitudes, cultivating their sense of the language as well as developing their language abilities including listening, speaking, reading and writing. Under the guidance of this criterion, a new version of English text book has been designed. Compared to the old version, it focuses more on situation ad topic which aims to provide students with a real situation where they can practice and improve the English competence. At the same time, teachers also adopt new method to achieve teaching objectives as well as improve teaching effectiveness which is of great importance to teachers. 文献综述

Recent years, based on the interactional view of language and socio-constructivist view of learning, there has been great interests in task based language teaching method and communicative teaching approach as they can create a real situation and provide many opportunities for students to practice their English. Under the guidance of this trend, many teachers will design different kinds of activities for students to participate and it is called activity approach. 

However, at the beginning stages of reform, inevitably, some problems occur. The most notable one is the misunderstanding of reform concept. Firstly, based on the students-orientation idea, students are the subject of learning, and teachers should function as guides and organizers to make the learning process go smoothly. The question is that some teachers tend to overemphasis students’ function and neglect teachers’ role as controllers. No control will do no less harm to students than over-control at all. When students take part in activities, teachers’ control can make sure the accuracy of students’ production. The same situation appears in cooperative learning. When teachers carry out an activity that aims to facilitate students’ cooperative learning ability, they must keep students in control or students will feel confused and then start talking in their native language. As we know, traditional class follows the model of “teacher says and students listen” or “teacher asks and students answer” where students are passive learners. Questioning is an effective activity to arouse students’ learning interests and facilitate their thinking ability. The problem lies in the quality of questions. Some teachers are prone to make the class full of questions, many of which are too simple or don’t need thinking. These questions are invalid and waste of time. 

English class today is no longer what it used to be. Various activities are created to make the class less dull and more intriguing to students so that they can learn in an easy way. Nevertheless, to carry out an activity successfully is not an easy job. Teachers should consider both effectiveness and amusement. It is common that sometimes students all enjoy the activity but their English ability is not improved. What’s the reason that causes the failure? Is it because the improper theory behind it or the performance failure of the teachers? How to make these activities more effective? These all need to be further studied.