雅思口语中的阅读背景资料

　　IELTS: Reading without Speaking?

　　Numerous IELTS programs that are offered through out Asia and most often inChina are divided into four major areas which mirror the actual IELTSexamination: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. In most cases theseclasses use different teachers and certainly different text books for eachmodule. The majority of programs use brute memorization to prepare for the exam.The classes are structured to utilize the students past educational processesi.e. memorize or fail, to “teach” the students. The words are more importantthan the method. As in the traditional Chinese educational system the student’scapacity for memorization is challenged. The result rather than the method arestressed. The exam becomes the reward, not the knowledge that should be gainedfrom the class.

　　So here rises the problem. Can the reading module portion of the IELTS exambe taught independently from the speaking part? There are pros and cons to thisquestion. Do we as westerners teach reading to our children with speaking tothem? The answer is obvious NO!! So why should we as educators teach the youthof China or for that matter the world, how to pass a reading exam without sayinga single spoken word. Sounds rather stupid doesn’t it. But in fact many westerneducators are expected to teach their class to pass a test in reading sans oralinteraction. The spoken word is over looked in favor of the written word. Readand recite. Read and repeat. Read and regurgitate.But NEVER read and tell mewhat you think about what you read. Never read and let’s discuss. Never read andgive me your opinion. WHY? Is the examination overshadowing the learningprocess? Simply “YES”.

　　From day one of a prototypical IELTS reading class, the students are givenoutdated textbooks that are aimed at educating a non-native speaker how to read,and understand a text that has little or no relevance to real life or real lifeexperiences. Again the student is “taught” to read and understand some textsthat a native speaker may have difficulty in understand, not because of thecomplexity, but because, let’s face it, it’s boring and does not relate toanything we can talk about. I am a great sports fan. I enjoy reading about allsports International football, F1 racing or track and field. That inrestes me.So why don’t we find things for the students that interests them and then TALKabout them before trying to answer the questions about the article. Stress theunderstanding of what the article is saying and talk about it. NOT read andanswer. TALK about it. Maybe the student’s grammar is poor, maybe theirpronunciation is poor, but still let’s talk about what we just read. Certainlywe can not please every student, but articles from the local English languagenewspaper will initially suffice, if there is no newspaper, then the WWW. Anynews site will give the student more reading material than they will ever needto know. Day to day news will not only teach a student how to read, it willeducate them in relevant topics they can discuss. It may be the weather, a majornews story, or some very simple 2 paragraph item about a “talking dog”. It maysound stupid, but current events will further discussions. AND discussions willimprove both understanding and communication skills....