Question

    How do young people learn best? This is something I think about a lot when teaching foreign languages to young people. I often find that traditional teaching methods are neither always effective nor interesting for young bruins to learn a foreign language.

After moving to southern Italy I was lucky to have had the chance to run a private course teaching English to under 7-year-olds. I was aware that children liked to sing and enjoyed games so I wanted to use these tools to help my students develop English conversation skills. I found some fun and easy songs online, which they loved. I also found the English versions of some nursery rhymes they recognized. All of them were very interesting and helpful but students could still not have a basic conversation in English.

I knew I wanted these guys to he fully immersed in the language I was teaching and I also wonted them to speak it. I was keen to give 90% of my lessons in English but I knew it’d be difficult to get them to speak in a foreign language they have little or zero exposure to outside our lessons, so I had to come up with a simple yet effective plan.

One day I decided to prepare a simple dialogue in English, so that I could get them to sing and chant (有节奏地反复地唱) it, rather than simply getting students to repeat the phrases. I discovered that chanting some conversational sentences was the way to get students to speak in English — it worked!

So when teaching English to young people now, I encourage them to make up their own songs and chants to help them remember expressions or complex sentences.

1.What is the passage mainly talking about?

A.How to make young learners like a foreign language.

B.How to teach foreign languages to young people.

C.How to run a private course in southern Italy.

D.How to help the younger children with studies.

2.What does the underlined word “immersed” mean in the 3rd paragraph?

A.Amused B.Buried

C.Retaled D.Informed

3.How did the author feel when faced with difficulty in teaching?

A.He found it impossible to teach children with little English.

B.He tried to be a patient and responsible teacher.

C.He realized he was unable to finish the task of teaching.

D.He actually kind of discouraged and disappointed.

4.What can be inferred from the passage?

A.Mistakes are an important part of education.

B.A teacher can never tell where his influence stops.

C.A teacher should understand his students’ needs.

D.Confidence is the first step on the way to success.

Answer

1.B

2.B

3.B

4.C

【解析】

这是一篇记叙文。短文叙述了作者搬到意大利南部时，在教学过程中，作者发现用唱歌的方式学习一门语言会使学习者有效地掌握这门语言。

1.主旨大意题。通过全文可知，短文叙述了作者搬到意大利南部时，在教学过程中，作者发现用唱歌的方式学习一门语言会使年轻的学习者更加有效地掌握这门语言。所以判断出短这篇文章主要讲的是如何教年轻人学习外语。故B选项正确。

2.词义猜测题。由第二段“ I was aware that children liked to sing and enjoyed games so I wanted to use these tools to help my students develop English conversation skills. I found some fun and easy songs online, which they loved”可知，我知道孩子们喜欢唱歌，喜欢玩游戏，所以我想用这些工具帮助我的学生提高英语会话技能。我在网上找到了一些他们喜欢的有趣而简单的歌曲。所以作者想尽办法让孩子们对英语感兴趣，开发孩子们用英语交流的能力，所以判断出作者希望孩子们完全专注于他所教的英语课程。故划线的“immersed”在第三段的意思是 be buried in “专心于”中的“ buried”的意思。故B选项正确。

3.推理判断题。由第三段“... so I had to come up with a simple yet effective plan.”可知，所以我必须想出一个简单而有效的计划。所以面对学习英语有困难的孩子们，作者寻找更有效的办法。故可以判断出作者是一个有耐心、负责任的老师。故B选项正确。

4.推理判断题。由倒数第二段“One day I decided to prepare a simple dialogue in English, so that I could get them to sing and chant (有节奏地反复地唱) it, rather than simply getting students to repeat the phrases. I discovered that chanting some conversational sentences was the way to get students to speak in English — it worked!”可知，有一天，我决定准备一个简单的英语对话，这样我就可以让他们唱和有节奏地反复地唱，而不是让学生简单地重复这些短语。我发现，有节奏地反复地唱一些对话句子是让学生说英语的方法——它奏效了！所以，作者根据年幼孩子的特点制订了适合他们学习英语的方法而且取得了成功。故推断出老师应理解学生的需求，因材施教，才能达到好的效果。故C选项正确。