Chapter 13 Teaching English Culture and Affection in Schools
Section 1
1. Please describe the cultural connotations of the following words in Chinese and Western countries.
(1) bat, dog, dragon;
(2) peasant, intellectual, politician
Key: (1) In Chinese culture, “bat”symbolizes “luck”since it has the same sound of “福”, meaning luck, however it is often associated with death and blood in western culture; “dog” often carries a derogative meaning in Chinese culture, implying something degrading in expressions like “狗仗人势” and “狗眼看人低”, while it is often associated with “loyalty”and “faithfulness”in English; “dragon” often symbolizes authority and good luck in Chinese culture, however it implies something terrifying in western culture.
(2) In Chinese culture, “peasant”means farmer, an agricultural worker, however it is derogative in western culture, implying someone who have rough unrefined manners; “intellectual”refers to someone who has received education and even a high school student would be called an intellectual in rural areas, however in western culture, it is limited to university professors with academic prestige, excludes university students and sometimes is derogative; “politician”is positive in meaning in Chinese, indicating someone who is
engaged in politics while it is derogative in English, meaning someone who is skilled at handling people or situations, or at getting people to do what he wants.
2. The following is a page from Go For It!, 8B by People’s Education Press. Please design a teaching process with the culture experience method.
Key: Free answer is favored.
Section 2
Analyze the emotions and attitudes of the student below, and design a solution to the problem. Zhang, a 15-year-old boy, is a junior middle school student in class 2, grade 3. His father is a small private business owner. Zhang’s score is average and he has little interest in learning English. He says, “I just can’t learn it well. What’s more, it is useless to me. I’ll take over my father’s busines s after graduation.” As an English teacher, what will you do?
Key: Zhang doesn’t have a strong motivation towards learning English and he bears a negative attitude towards it.
As an English teacher, I will tell him that his opinions are wrong. In the first place, he CAN learn English well as long as he devotes more time and efforts to English; secondly, English is USEFUL to him. He cannot hasten into the decision that he will take over his father’s business because one can never be too sure about the future; he may probably change his decision three years later. Besides, even if he takes over his father’s business, English will still be useful. We can see foreigners everywhere in China. They are in the cake shop, in the book store and in the café and may have cooperation with his business. It’s better to be armed with the language of English.。