Implementation of the Curriculum and Reflection of

Problems

July, 23rd,2008

Main topics of today:

About the curriculum Implementation of the curriculum Reflection of problems and issues Suggestions

About the curriculum

Main characteristics of the new high school English curriculum:

Design curriculum for primary, junior

& senior middle schools as a whole Set 9 levels to meet diversified needs Offer optional courses in high school Implement 3-level curriculum management

English curriculum Senior high school

LEVEL

Teach-ing stage

Compulsory courses (module1--5)

Optional courses

Series I Series II

Optional courses in sequence Optional courses

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9

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7

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11 Module 11

4 2

10 Module 10

4 2

9 Module 9 4 2

8 Module 8 4 2

7 Module 7 4 2

6 Module 6 4 2

5 Module 5 4 2

4 Module 4 4 2

3 Module 3 4 2

2 Module 2 4 2

1 Module 1 4 2

1-2 primary school Level

3-5junior middle school level

Students are required to complete 5 compulsory modules 1-5 thereby gaining 10 credits. ( Students graduate with high school graduation certification, upon gaining 144 credit points both from the compulsory courses and optional courses, from all the subjects they learn...)

compulsory modules 1-5

Optional courses in Series I

Optional courses in Series1 are designed on the basis of Modules 1～ 5 and therefore should be taught in order. There are 6 modules altogether in this series---Modules 6～ 11.Students can meet the requirements of Level 8 after they finish learning Module 8 and sit for the college entrance examination， and they will be up to the standard of Level 9 after learning Modules 9～ 11 and pass the test. All schools are required to offer Modules 6--8， and are encouraged to teach Module 9～ 11 to enable students to get better language capacity.

Optional modules 9-11 in Series I

To meet the needs of very good students and especially students in a specific interest area.

What to choose? It depends on teachers’ language capacity , students’ language level, schools’ effort to meet diversified needs of students and teachers’ creative and cooperative team work.

Optional courses (series II)

Series II are optional courses which are divided into three categories:

1. Language knowledge and skills

2. Language application

3. Language appreciation

Option One: language knowledge and skills

English translation, English writing, English newspaper reading, English speech and debate…

Aim: to help students to consolidate their basic knowledge and skills

Option two: language application

English for business , English for travel, English for personal finance. English for information technology, English for science and social science

Aim: to broaden students’ knowledge in some other specific professional areas…

Option three: language appreciation

English literature English dramas English films, English songs …….

Aim: to help students to appreciate the language and use English for personal enjoyment and enrichment

Implementation of the Curriculum

Three focuses: Inquiry learning Task-based Teaching Formative assessment

What’s new? new curriculum---domains(8)— subjects(13)—modules– credits(144)

new syllabus—new teaching materials—new teaching methods—new assessment

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Inquiry learning: Notion-- learn to be. learn to do. Autonomous learning learn to know. learn to live

together Regarding every individual student as a person with potential, provi

ding students with more opportunities to explore in the learning process; encouraging students to be autonomous learners--- to be able to apply : cognitive strategies, monitoring strategies, communicative strategies and resource strategies

(cooperate learning , task-based learning, autonomous learning and inquiry learning….)

Task-based Teaching

Can any learning process that does not take the learner into account be a complete one???

What is the best way to teach language skills and language knowledge?

grammar translation method, grammar awareness-raising approach, grammar discovery approach, audio lingual approach, audio-visual approach, task-based teaching/Instruction (TBT, TBL, TBI), communicative language teaching/learning (CLT, CLL), communicative approach (CA)…..

Teaching should always be “ Learner-centered, teacher-driven and goal-oriented”…

Teaching of grammarTeaching of grammar

Without accuracy and fluency, communication does not really happen!

Learning grammar rules is not the goal of language teaching. Grammar should be used as a tool to build communicative abilities and to strengthen skills needed for authentic communication to take place. So grammar should be used as the basic foundation for building fluency (Evelyn Doman, 200

7.)

Teachers should make sure that: students try to discover new grammar items from

the context. authentic language environment is provided in w

hich Ss can use the new grammar items and acquire ability to combine language form, meaning and usage together.

.

Vocabulary learning

Teach Ss to use lexical learning strategies, such as comparison, association, classification…

Compare the usage through translation. Encourage Ss to use new words and

expressions in contexts

Word---sentence---discourse

abandon, abnormal, abolish, abortion, abrupt, abundant, accelerate, accessible, accumulate, acquisition, adolescence, advocate, algebra, anecdote

ways that meet diversified needs of students of different levels

ways that involve students in learning activities ways that enable students to communicate and

cooperate with others ways that develop abilities to collect & handle

information, analyze & solve problems

effective ways to teach:

ways that guide students to apply learning strategies and give free rein to students’ individual potential.

ways that arouse students’ interest and motivation in learning English

formative assessment

It is aimed at: showing concern for every individual; paying attention to the process of learning; assisting learners to become skil

led judges of their own strengths and weaknesses; encouraging students with a sense of success; getting students to form the habit of reflecting on the learning effectiveness; aiming at improving the quality of learning and instruction and establishing a

diversified assessment system for promoting students’ all-round development.

Related terms: assessment and evaluation; multi-dimensional assessment: Self-assessment & peer assessment Formati

ve assessment & Summative assessment (Process & result)Qualitative & Quantitative assessment

Assessment should be based on the curriculum

What to teach and what to learn(目标 )

How to teach and how to learn(策略 :途径和方法 )

How well it is taught and how well it is learnt

(评价 )

(requirements of validity, reliability and feasibility...)

What if…What role does emotional education play?…

What if you get a student who is extremely talented but

poorly motivated or a student who is extremely motivated but always achieves bad result…? In either cases, motivation should be maintained…

Those who think they can not succeed in language learning need to be re-motivated---to get more positive feedback and reassurance from the teacher…

Pay attention to the art of teaching…

Give students a good idea of the aims and demands of each unit.

Help students reflect on what they have learnt.

Guides students to do self-assessment.

Design test papers that follow the principles of the curriculum, analyze the result of each test and give students suggestions as to what to do next to achieve better result.

Problems and issues:

Teachers are not clear about the relationship between the curriculum and teaching materials.

There are not enough teaching hours for the module unit contents.

There is serious lack of coherence between the junior middle school teaching and the senior middle school teaching, so students have difficulties in understanding what is being taught.

Teacher training is inadequate. Supplementary materials such as students’ exercise b

ooks do not match the text book, or have bad quality…

Many teachers lack a decent level of language proficiency needed for applying TBT.

Suggestions for teachers

Teaching and learning should be based on the curriculum and meet the requirements of the curriculum

Teachers should decide on teaching objectives and inform students of them, to make both teaching and learning goal-oriented( The more concrete the teaching objectives are , the easier it is to design ways to check whether the goals are obtained).

Teaching should be designed for learning effectiveness and suitable for learners of different levels…The way to teach should be varied according to the unit contents and the students’ interest;

The textbook used be used in a flexible and creative way and it’s necessary for teachers to use multiple teaching resources rather than just a single textbook; Can teachers become teaching material developers? Yes.

It’s crucial for teachers to teach by reflection of problems;

Teachers should try to upgrade teaching skills. It’s essential to focus teaching and research on

creative and cooperative team work

Achievement is a we thing, not a me thing, always the product of many heads and hands.

(J.W. Atkinson)

Thank you! wu8287668@yahoo.com.cn