Nowadays, more and more foreigners from different countries come to learn Chinese in China. The students are differently featured, but the most difficult for teachers to teach are those who are not willing to open their mouths to speak Chinese. This condition often happens both in the class teaching and in one-on-one Chinese learning programs.
Therefore, whether teachers are able to stimulate learners become active in speak Chinese gradually becomes a standard to measure the excellent teachers. The excellent teachers can use beneficial techniques in the class to stimulate those who learn Mandarin become active in Speaking Chinese. It is understandable because the purpose of learning language is to speak that certain language.
As a result, teachers in qualified Mandarin program face the difficulty to active the classroom atmosphere. Chen Wengao is a famous expert in Chinese language education. Recently, he provided a good suggestion for the teachers who teach Chinese language in Singapore. He holds the opinion that the classroom atmosphere will be activated if teachers ask the students to speak mottos to the others one by one in class.
One piece of opinion comes from the teachers in Chinese school in China that the Chinese languageteaching attached much importance to the reading and writing. However, as a matter of fact, teachers should pay more attention to improve students’ ability of oral language. Mr. Chen pointed out that the oral language is applied to many chances and occupations in our daily life. According to the research, about 88.5% of profession needs much oral expression. Obviously, it is so important for foreign learners to speak Chinese.
In the teaching process, some teachers often shake their body when speaking and some of them have no idea where should they put their hands to. In fact, the deportment when speaking is important for the oral expression. So teachers can pay more attention to the training of this aspect to help students learn to speak Chinese. The natural and calm posture is helpful to promote the nimble thought.
The process of speaking Chinese will experience three stages: listening, thinking and speaking. The one-sentence questioning and answering is a basic practice to be fluent in oral expression. When teachers train them in this aspect, students can express it by experiencing the three stages. The learners who study Chinese in China should answer the questions correctly, completely and briefly within a few seconds.
After training them to speak one sentence in this way, teachers should continue to teach them to speak a whole passage. If students can do it well, they are supposed to connect the passages into a whole text. It seems not difficult for those who study in China to finish reading out one text. This is not an instant process, each stage needs much practice.
But one point teachers should pay attention to in this process that teachers should ask students who learn Mandarin in China speak first. Only by this way can enlighten and guide them to speak. If teachers speak it out firstly, it is meaningless for students to repeat the sentences.
The most important key is to stimulate their desire to speak out Chinese language when they learn Chinese language in China. So, the questions raised by teachers should be enough for students to expand the contents. It can be some famous people. For example, when mentioning the table tennis player Li Jiawei, the learners in Singapore will have much to talk.
Of course, teachers can organize some other activities to train their interest to speak. For the activity of speaking mottos we mentioned above, more contents can be expanded. Everyone prepare one motto, when one sys it to another, the other one should express his idea about the motto he just heard. To ensure everyone get the chance, they should move it on to another one till the end.
Chinese language learners may be familiar with the composition during the process of learning Mandarin Chinese. But it is the written form. It is strongly suggested that the oral composition should be applied to the teaching class. After giving five to ten minutes to them to prepare, teachers can train the flexibility, sensitivity, activeness and rigor of speaking Chinese.
The key factor of activating students’ interest is to find the interesting topics for them to practice step by step. So, teachers should make more efforts in this aspect.