Some observations on using motion pictures to teach Business English. THE USE of motion pictures or other captioned films as part of teaching English as a foreign language has markedly increased in recent years in China. Because of this, we undertook a four-year experiment to determine how effective the use of English-language movies has been in the teaching of business. From this experiment it became clear that a cavalier use of movies in effect misused them. The appropriate and effective use of motion pictures requires a range of elements: (1) movies that are at one and the same time educational, informative, and entertaining; (2) a workbook linked to such movies that enables students to get ready beforehand; (3) most importantly, a range of classroom activities to induce and elicit timely and optimal output from the students, so as to make talking and writing about communication easier and more effective. Activities such as dubbing, story retelling, acting, discussing, debating, and role playing are only a few of the effective techniques a teacher can employ to engage the students.
A discussion of the sociolinguistic risks faced by the People's Republic of China in rapidly opening up to Western influences in both economic and linguistic terms. The writers argue against what they consider a currently over-enthusiastic adoption of English in which ‘a Westernised China … might more aptly, if ruefully, be referred to as “Chingland”.’
The mysteries of exotic China arise not only from its voluntary isolation from the modern world during some of the most formative and progressive decades, but from an inability or unwillingness of the west to understand Chinese logic and thinking. The west views China with western eyes and judges China according to western standards. The west asks some seriously ignorant questions about China, such as: What is the culture of China? What do the people of China think? What do the people of China eat?To fully comprehend the absurdity of these questions, simply invert them, as Chinese college students regularly do in their English classes that are taught by foreigners: How is the culture of America? How do the people of America think? How do the people of America eat? Each populace assumes that the other is a mono-culture. This thinking also carries over into the area of lingua franca. The west assumes that all Chinese people speak Mandarin or Cantonese and have a common written language. China actually teaches that one must learn ‘Standard British English’ or ‘Standard American English’ or ‘Standard International English.’ In addition to Mandarin and Cantonese, China has 55 minority languages and an uncounted number of localized dialects such as Shanghainese, Wuhanese, and many others. There are at least three written Chinese languages, not just one, for example, traditional Chinese, simplified Chinese and pinyin.
A GREAT DEAL has been said and written about various approaches to the successful methodology for teaching English as a second language in China. Entire professional journals are devoted to the subject, such as Teaching English In China and Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. But no matter how much is written, and no matter what teaching method is employed, the bottom line is that the average Chinese student learns to communicate orally in ‘Chinglish’: that is, in Mandarin sprinkled with English words and phrases or in English with a Mandarin-induced syntax.
teaching and learning english as a foreign language: an adverse perspective. in china english is viewed as the ‘gatekeeper’ to higher education, employment, economic prosperity and social status. is chinese, as a result, drowning in the sea of english?
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