A confident teacher makes confident learners

  In March of 2014, as part of a teachers training program for excellent English teachers from Shandong province, HESS International Educational Group was invited to conduct 2 days of training focusing on teaching skills, classroom activities and methodology. Based on a philosophy of "a confident teacher makes confident learners", our trainings aim to engage learners in an interactive and stimulating training experience that equips them with the knowledge and skills to be effective in the classroom.

2014 年 3 月，何嘉仁国际教育团队受邀至北京为山东省英语骨干教师进行为期两天的培训，内容着重在教学技巧、课堂活动以及教学法，这是山东骨干教师培训项目的一部分。我们的培训以“自信的教师造就自信的学习者”为理念，目标在于让受训的教师投入交互式的培训活动，通过这些活动的刺激与体验，使参训的教师能获得高效教学的知识与技巧。

The training contained many different elements. With topics ranging from teaching skills and methodologies to teamwork to learning trends and western culture, teachers were able to gain a deeper understanding of not only teaching but also English learning. One such area of study contained in the program was that of ways to teach reading and how to develop students' reading comprehension skills. Reading should be an active process and the use of the Directed Reading Thinking Activity helps develop critical reading skills and encourages active reading.

本次培训内容多元，主题包括教学技巧、教学法、团队合作、学习趋势以及西方文化，力求使受训教师能对英语教学及英语学习有更深入的了解。其中也包括了对如何教授阅读以及如何培养学生的阅读理解能力的指导。阅读应是一种主动的过程，“引导式阅读思考活动”（Directed Reading Thinking Activity）能培养学生的批判式阅读能力并促进主动阅读。

What is the Directed Reading Thinking Activity?什么是“引导式阅读思考活动”？

  In the 21st century, students will have access to more information than any other students before them. They must learn to locate, assess, and use this information wisely. Today's students must not only read the words on the page and understand them, but they must also think critically about the information they are reading. As one of the basic language skills needs to be mastered in language learning, reading gets more attention than any other language skills. However, many students do not have enough skills in reading and their reading achievement is low.

比起过去的学生，身处 21 世纪的学生有更多接触信息的机会。他们必须学会如何找出信息来源、对其加以评估并妥善运用。现在的学生不只要能阅读并理解文字，更还要针对他们所阅读的信息进行批判性思考。作为语言学习的基本能力之一，阅读比起其他语言能力获得了更多的关注。然而，许多学生却因阅读能力不足导致阅读成效较低。

  The Directed Reading Thinking Activity (Stauffer, 1969) is an explicit teaching method that focuses student attention on the purpose for reading. Able to be used in any content area and with fiction or nonfiction text, it helps students develop skills in reading and thinking. This reading comprehension strategy is used in each of the three stages of reading (pre-reading, during reading, and post-reading). It emphasizes prediction (thinking ahead), verification (confirmation), and reading with a purpose.

引导式阅读思考活动（Stauffer, 1969）是一种目标非常明确的教学法，重点在于让学生讲注意力集中在阅读目的上。这种教学法能应用于各种阅读题材与体裁，能协助学生培养阅读与思考的能力。这种阅读理解策略应用于阅读的三个阶段里（阅读前、阅读中、阅读后），强调要预测（预先思考）、查验（验证）以及带有目的地阅读。

Why is it helpful?为什么“引导式阅读思考活动”是有帮助的？

Too often to students blindly read along after the teacher or other auditory prompt. While these students are reading, their level of involvement with the text extends only to repeating what they have heard. Good readers make predictions and verify or refute them as they read. They also make adjustments to what they think will come next based on the text. DRTA is a strategy that explicitly teaches students how to develop good reading habits. DRTA helps students realize that prediction and verification of predictions are essential parts of the reading process. Students learn that by reading with a purpose, they can more easily focus their predictions thus improving comprehension.

学生经常是无意识地跟着教师或是CD、mp3 等将文章念出来，在这种情况下，学生与文字的互动只停留在复诵他们听到的语句的阶段。好的阅读者会在阅读的时候做出预测，并且一边读一边验证或推翻自己的预测。他们也会根据文本来调整自己对于后续情节的发展预测。 DRTA（引导式阅读思考活动）明确指导着学生良好的阅读习惯的培养。 DRTA 帮助学生了解预测与验证是阅读过程中不可或缺的元素。通过带有目的的阅读，学生能学习如何预测与验证，并能更容易聚焦他们的预测方向，进而增进阅读理解。

How to Use DRTA 如何应用 DRTA

Pre-Reading阅读前

  Choose a text. This strategy works well with both fiction and expository texts.

  选择一个文本。故事与说明文皆适用。

1. Activate students' prior knowledge 激发学生的既有知识

  As students will be making predictions about what they will read about in the text, it is important that relatable prior knowledge is activated that facilitates the prediction process. This may include grammar and or vocabulary structures.

  学生在阅读之前，先针对接下来要阅读的内容进行预测，此时，引导学生运用既有的知识来促进阅读前的预测是非常重要的，这些既有知识可能包括语法或词汇结构。

•  Have students read the title of the text, or tell them the topic of the text请学生先阅读标题，或是告诉他们文章的主题

•  Ask students to brainstorm a list of ideas that come to mind when they think about the title/topic or theme请学生根据文章的标题∕题目进行头脑风暴，列出他们想到的东西

•  Write those ideas on the board将学生的想法写在黑板上

2. Make predictions 进行预测

  Students can discuss in groups or work independently to make predictions about what they will read in the text. This can be done either orally or in written form.

  学生可以分组或是以个人为单位来预测他们会在文章里读到的内容。这个部分可以用口头或是书面形式来进行。

• Use all available clues: index, pictures, charts and tables in the text运用所有线索：索引、图片、图表和表格

• Ask how students came up with answers (Don't accept I don't know!)询问学生他们是如何做出预测的（请拒绝学生回答“我不知道！”）

• Use a Prediction Verification Checklist使用“预测验证表”

• Make sure the students understand how to use the checklist to classify their predictions as: proved, disproved, partially right/wrong, requires revision, not mentioned, not enough information.让学生了解如何使用预测验证表来分类他们的预测：符合、不符合、部分符合∕不符合、需要修正、未提及、信息不足。

During Reading阅读中

3. Read a section of text 阅读文本的一部分

• Teachers can ask students to read aloud as a group or individually, aloud or silently. Direct students to read a section to either prove or disprove the prediction.教师可以要求学生分组或是自己阅读，可以大声读出来或是默读。让学生阅读某一段落，以验证他们的预测是否正确。

• Instruct the students to place a check mark under the appropriate category on the Prediction Verification Checklist as they read the text. 指导学生读完之后在预测验证表上适当的分类格里勾选。

• Students should only read the assigned section. 学生只能阅读由教师指定的段落。

4. Confirm or revise predictions 确认或修正预测

  This allows students validation of their abilities if correct or to refocus on meaning if their predictions proved incorrect.

  学生藉此了解自己的预测是否正确，或是当预测不正确时，针对预测方向进行调整。

• Use this stage to make new predictions在这个阶段进行新的预测

• Encourage students to explain features of the text that cause new or existing predictions鼓励学生解释这个文本为什么会导致新的或是既有的预测

5. Continue steps 3 and 4 until students have finished reading持续进行步骤三与四直到读完这个文本

Post-Reading阅读后

6. Have students compare prediction with content of the text请学生比较文本内容与预测内容

• Use the checklist to analyze how well students predicted the content of the text. 使用预测验证表来分析学生的预测正确度。

7. Ask questions that promote thinking and discussion向学生提出问题，引导他们思考与讨论

Questions should focus on the meaning/feeling or main points from the article and reflect the student's comprehension and speaking ability.

问题应着重于意义∕感受或是文章的主旨，以及能反映出学生理解能力与口语能力的问题。

• Do you agree with the author's ideas or the character's actions?你是否认同作者的看法或是文中人物的的行为？

• What would you tell someone about this article/story if the person did not have time to read it?如果有人没有时间阅读这个文本，你会如何讲述∕描述这个文本的内容？

8. Teachers have students complete textbook based post reading activities focusing on comprehension教师引导学生完成基于课文的阅读后活动

• Vocabulary definition matching 词汇释义配对

• Sentence reordering 句子重组

• T/F activities 判定描述对错

• Gap fills etc 填空练习等

Example lesson教案范例

Pre-Reading阅读前

1. Activate prior knowledge激发学生的既有知识

• Please read the title请阅读标题

• What does brave mean?“brave”是什么意思？

• Brave is an adjective, it describes something we do.“brave”是形容词，用来形容我们做的某件事情。

• What is brave? – tell me some things you can do that are brave.“brave”是什么？说一说你能做到的 brave 的事情。

• Do you know anyone that is brave?你是否认识可以用“brave” 形容的人？

2. Make predictions进行预测

• Please read the title请阅读标题

• Look at the picture on the page请仔细看本页的图片

• Who is the reading about?这篇文章的主角是谁？

• Where is he?他在哪里？

• What is wrong with the man?这个男人怎么了？

• What is happening?发生了什么事？

• Who is there?谁在那里？

Prediction Verification Checklist 预测验证表

During Reading阅读中

3. Read a section of text 阅读文本的一部分

  Lin Tao is 20 years old. He was brave enough to save his neighbour from a fire.林滔 20 岁。他很勇敢，从火场里救出了他的邻居。

4. Confirm or revise predictions 确认或是修正预测

• Teacher: Lin Tao saved his neighbour. Correct?教师：林滔救了他的邻居。正确吗？

• Students: Correct.学生：正确。

• Teacher: How did he know she was in trouble? How did he know there was a fire? What was wrong with her? Please make a prediction on your checklist.教师：他怎么知道邻居有危险？他怎么知道失火了？她怎么了？请在确认表上写下预测。

5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 (until text is finished) 重复步骤三与步骤四直到读完文本

  五月十日，林滔独自一人在家。突然间他听到有人大喊着“失火了！失火了！救命！”他跑出屋外看到从隔壁门里窜出浓烟。他走进屋内找到了他的邻居──七十九岁的孙女士正在厨房里。她的左腿严重受伤，无法逃离火场。

On 10 May, Lin Tao was at home alone. Suddenly he heard someone shouting “Fire! Help!” He ran outside and saw a lot of smoke from next door. He went in and found his neighbor, the 79-year-old Mrs Sun, in the kitchen. Her left leg was badly hurt and she could not get out.

• Teacher: Did Lin Tao smell smoke? 教师：林滔闻到烟味了吗？

• Students: No. He saw smoke. 学生：没有，他看到浓烟了。

• Teacher: Did his neighbour call for help? 教师：他的邻居大声求救了吗？

• Students: Yes, she did. 学生：是的，她大声求救了。

Post-Reading阅读后

• Teacher: Please check your predictions. Who got all correct? Some correct? 教师：请检查你们的预测。谁的预测是全部符合？谁的是某些预测符合？

• Students raise hands accordingly学生根据教师的问题举手

• Teacher: What clues helped make predictions?教师：哪些线索帮助你们做出预测？

• Ask comprehension and personal interest questions using known grammar structures利用学过的语法询问内容理解问题以及个人感兴趣的部分

• Conditionals 假设问题

Teacher: Lin Tao was very brave. What would you do if you were Lin Tao? Would you go into a burning building if it were on fire? 教师：林滔很勇敢。如果你是林滔的话，你会怎么做？你会走进一栋失火的大楼吗？

• Assign and complete textbook extension activities完成课本的延伸活动

Considerations for using DRTA使用 DRTA 的注意事项

  Whilst this reading strategy is proven to be effective in improving comprehension and engagement to reading activities, it is important to consider the following things:

虽然 DRTA 已被证明为能有效促进阅读理解及增进阅读兴趣，以下几点重要事项亦须纳入考虑：

• The classroom environment needs to encourage and support students. Students need to be confident to state ideas and share thinking regardless of outcomes.教室环境必须能鼓励及支持学生的阅读活动。不论结果如何，学生必须要有自信心才能陈述自己的意见并分享想法。

• Students may want to always be correct but this may not prove the case with DRTA as students are predicting the unknown and this can be confronting for certain types of learners.学生或许会想要每次都答题正确，但是就 DRTA 的阅读活动来说，学生必须针对未知来进行预测，对某些类型的学生来说是很困难的。

• Encourage students not to be intimidated by taking a risk and not to feel pressure to state correct predictions.鼓励学生大胆假设，不要觉得有压力，非要说出正确的预测才可以。

• Prior to the reading class, teachers need to determine several appropriate stopping points within it for students to make, verify, or modify predictions. Be cautious not to interrupt the flow of the text too many times, as this will adversely affect comprehension.教师必须在阅读课之前先决定 好几个适当的停止时机，让学生有时间停下来做出预测、验证或修正预测。请注意避免中断阅读太多次，会影响学生的阅读理解。

• Guide and stimulate students' thinking through the use of open-ended questions. Wait a few seconds after asking a question, to allow students to process the information and form a prediction.        

以开放式问题引导学生思考，提问后等待几秒，让学生有时间思考现有信息并做出预测。

• When predicting prior to reading, accept and record all predictions. This provides a link to speaking and encourages students to justify their responses and activate prior knowledge. 接受所有学生在阅读前所做的预测并记录下来，这个活动提供了学生口语练习的机会并鼓励他们运用既有的知识来支持自己的意见。

• Links between reading and other English skill areas (i.e. speaking and writing) can be developed.通过 DRTA 能建立阅读与其他英语能力（例如：口语与写作）的连结。

A. Have each student write predictions in a learning log or on a piece of paper.请每位学生在学习记录册里或是纸上写下预测。

B. In small groups, students can discuss their predictions and reasoning.将学生分成小组，讨论彼此的预测与理由。

C. Students can be asked to write summary statements about how their predictions compared to the passage.要求学生书写摘要，对他们的预测与文本进行比较和总结。

• Listening skills can also be focused upon by using the same method. If so, the strategy is referred to as Directed Listening Thinking Activity (DLTA) and proceeds the same way, with the exception being the text is read to the class.通过类似的教学原则也可以培养听力，称之为引导式听力思考活动（DLTA），与 DRTA 的差别在于 DLTA 是让学生以聆听的方式来听文本。

• For use of DLTA for challenged readers, have a taped version of the passage available. Listening to text read aloud provides challenged readers with opportunities to attend to and comprehend material that they would be unable to read for themselves (Gillet and Temple 1994). 运用 DLTA 指导学习成就较低的学生时，使用录好的声音文件（例如： CD、 mp3 等）。聆听大声播放的声音文件能让这些学生有机会接触、理解一些他们也许无法自己阅读的内容 (Gillet and Temple 1994)。

Gavin Johnson（澳大利亚），中国台湾何嘉仁国际文教团队（HESS International Educational Group）教育训练发展中心主管。 何嘉仁国际文教团队成立于 1983 年，是台湾最大的民办英语教育机构。http://www.hess.com.tw