Cynthia Zaitz 博士，张晚霞，王晶，杨健雅
背景：高中外语教研组与外教一起开展教研活动，通过互相听课评课，交流教法,开阔了外语教师的视野，拓宽了思路,也使得外教更好地融入了中国的文化，适应在中国的教学，从而在整体上提高了高中外语教学教研的质量。
在北京经常能看见外教的身影，这充分证明目前很多中国人都非常想学习英语。由Robert Wyss Jr. （文学硕士）以及 Emily A. Thrush （哲学博士）编写的《在中国教授英语》一书的封皮上出现了这样的字样“由外国专家局推荐”，这也显示了中国政府更加认同和接受一些英语母语国家用来帮助学生说一口流利英语的更为成功的教学方法。
我最近与一些中国同事就英语教学目标和方法的相似性及差异性进行了探讨。我发现我们的教学目标非常相似，但所采取的教学方法却显然不同。我们都希望学生能够学好英语，而且也都夜以继日地努力寻找如何能增强教学效果、提高学生英语流利度及理解力的教学方法。因此，我们决定共同写一篇文章，主题就是“我们从彼此那里学到了什么”。我们讨论了如何能给读者生动展示与来自完全不同文化的外国专家一起工作的益处。在这篇文章中你会看到我们每一个人的观点，以及我对高中外语教研组做过的公开课的分析和整理。
我认为，通常中国的英语老师在仅仅只有四十分钟的一节课里要处理至少三个教学目标。所以老师们不得不赶进度，有时候很难保证每个学生都能参与进课堂中。相反，外教一节课只有一个教学目标，也足够有耐心等待学生慢慢思考和回答问题。
我从Cynthia博士那里学习到了耐心对于一个老师的重要性。只有有耐心，一个老师才能鼓励每一个学生参与到课堂中，只有老师有耐心了，学生才能自由展示自己的想法，逐渐产生对英语的兴趣，并最终掌握这门外语。我以后要在自己的教学中控制课堂节奏，对学生更有耐心。
课堂管理本身就是一门艺术。所有的老师都希望自己的课堂活跃积极，使得更多的学生融入到课堂之中。然而在过于活跃的课堂上很多同学想争抢着展示自己，亦或思维敏捷的学生总是第一个说出答案根本不留给其他人思考的时间，这种课堂表面看起来丰富活跃，但是并不是受益于每个学生。思维敏捷的同学和那些争抢着回答问题的同学的行为并不应该受到批评或忽略，因为那些孩子的积极参与为课堂本身创造了价值，我们也需要维持他们的兴趣。但是他们“抢夺”了所有的机会，我们又如何听到其他孩子的声音?因此适当的拒绝提问他们，将机会留给其余的学生，让所有的同学都学会耐心，学会向对方学习，学会倾听他人。
小孩子都有一种表现自己的强烈愿望，老师的鼓励与表扬更会促进他们的踊跃发言。但是很多老师，包括我自己以及其他教师都想将课堂提问的机会给与每个学生，看到每个学生的反馈与进步，因此无论那些“优等生”怎样一直举着手不放或是在老师眼前不断挥舞自己的右手，最终都会被“忽略”没有任何语言的安慰。由此老师可能在不知不觉中打击了他们的积极性以及英语语言学习的兴趣。
而这点我在听Cynthia公开课上就得到了很大的启发。在她的课堂上也是有那个两三个学生总是抢着回答问题，甚至还没等老师讲完他的答案就说了出来，其他的学生根本没有思考时间。同时其余学生也是很有进取心想自己探究出答案，当听到已经报出的答案时，也是有不满的情绪。当Cynthia发现这一问题时，她用诚恳与赞赏的眼神看着那位学生就简单的说了几句话：“‘我知道你已经找到答案，但是我们能不能把机会留给其他人？’‘我很高兴你知道答案，让他们自己找答案是不是更好？’‘我知道你一直都做得很好。’”就这些简单的语言马上就让他安静下来，耐心地等待倾听别人的答案也没有任何沮丧的表情。
之后我将从外教课上学到的技巧应用到自己的课堂上又看到了他们的自信与微笑，这也让我倍感欣慰。
当我设计课程的时候，一般会优先考虑课文目标。这样，我所有的教学步骤都会紧紧围绕我的教学目标，使每一步骤都连贯有意义。在我看来，一个年轻的英语教师应该练习掌控整个课堂的能力。这意味着我们课堂进行的每一步骤都得事先周密的计划好。这样在实际课堂中年轻教师会更有自信和热情，不显青涩之感。
Cynthia 是一位很能把握住课堂局面的外教。在她的课堂中，她很清晰的明白老师做什么以及如何把学生代入到每一个环节。和中国教师不同的是，她的课堂中永远是学生为主讲人。学生在她的带动下，能够积极参与课堂。同时，她的一些教学方法颇具特色，例如让学生轮流互相提问，绘画思考地图等值得我们中国教师借鉴和学习。
我认为外国教师在组织不同的课堂活动中更具经验。他们会在课堂展开丰富多彩的教学形式使得课堂更加生动有趣。我们中国教师应该借鉴与此从而进一步完善自己的课堂。
在北外附属外国语学校教书对我来说是一个很特别的经历。在这里，不仅有中国英语教师运用传统教学方法教授英语，也有像我这样运用不同的教学方法进行教授的外国专家。通过我观察，中国教师最常规使用的是机械教学。这和我个人教学风格很有差别，我习惯与学生频繁互动，小组活动，让学生积极参与课堂。
根据Robert Wyss Jr. M.A., 和 Emily A. Thrush 博士，我同事所采用的传统教学法在亚洲很盛行。在《在中国教授英语》一书中，他们把这些传统方法描述为“语法翻译法”。
语法翻译法仍是在中国乃至亚洲大部分区域的中学课堂中所推崇的一种教学方法。这种方法被推崇的很大一个原因是它是帮助学生准备通过国家英语考试的可靠手段。在这些考试中，包含了大量的语法和词汇练习，而口语的部分则恰恰缺失。所以学生通过用心背诵英语长篇课文来学习的方式与不足为奇。但是，如果一个学习者有着令人钦佩的英语词汇和语法知识，甚至对于古典文学颇为熟知，有时候他也不能做到在每天的实际生活场景中交流自如。
我的专业领域是创造性和互动性教学课程设计。我采用的是Wyss 和Thrush所指的“交际语言教学法”。交际语言教学法和语法翻译法对于老师在课堂的角色涉入有所不同。语法翻译法中，教学是智慧的提供者，而在交际语言教学法中，老师充当的是引领者，帮助学生独立思考并且互相分享学习的责任。如果将这两种教学风格融合到一起就能使得学生更好地备战国家英语考试。并且与此同时让他们在出国时更有自信的与外国人交流。
在北外附属外国语学校中，中国的英语教师总是让学生以小组为单位进行阅读。我认为这种形式会很难在形式上评估个人能力。并且有可能使得个别有理解问题的学生会被不经意的忽略掉。然而，我同样认为这种方法可以让老师快速提供大量信息给学生，并且帮助他们应对考试。
英语外教Cynthia Zaitz博士简介
我（Dr. Cynthia Zaitz） 于2012年九月来到北京，任教于北外附校高中部以及北京外国语大学。我来自于美国卡罗拉多州奥罗拉市地球村学院。在那里我教授7年级和8年级学生英语语言文化以及文学，以及为在校所有学生教授戏剧，鼓乐以及交谊舞。地球村学院是一个多元素的学校，学校设置的语言课程有汉语、西语、法语、俄语。学生也来自己不同的国家，大多学生也将英语作为第二语言。因此，地球村学院的老师在这样的语言环境中需要很强的语言感知力和耐心。
地球村学院为老师们提供很多专业发展的渠道。我们经常组织会议讨论最前沿的阅读教学方法以帮助学生明确良好地阅读能力对他们的帮助以及增强阅读资料的理解能力。因为阅读对于母语习得者是很困难的事情，更何况对于那些一英语为第二语言习得的学生。
在地球村学院任教之前，我在佛罗里达亚特兰大大学任教，也是在此我获得了我的对比研究方面的博士学位。不过在此我主要教授表演、戏剧、音乐史，在拥有300人容量的大课堂里，我更理解到学生参与的重要性。作为一个拥有奥尔夫教学法资质的教师，我致力于培养学生的创造力、自信心、个性以及团队协作能力。
Cynthia Zaitz博士拥有9年的专任教师经验，获得佛罗里达州及卡罗拉多州在英语，音乐，戏剧等科目的教师认证，肯塔基大学的奥尔夫三级认证证书；丹佛市Bridge Linguatech的英语外语教学认证等。
The Benefits of Collaborating with Foreign Teachers
By Dr. Cynthia Zaitz, Zhang WanXia aka Meg, WangJing aka Cathy,
and Yang JianYa aka Misty
Introduction by Dr. Cynthia Zaitz
It is clear that many Chinese have a strong desire to learn English as evidenced by the abundance of foreign teachers here in Beijing. The book “TEFL: Teaching English in China” by Robert Wyss Jr. M.A., and Emily A. Thrush Ph.D. is endorsed on the cover as follows: “Recommended by Department of Culture and Educational Experts, State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs”. This endorsement highlights the desire of the Chinese government to assimilate and better understand some of the more successful teaching methodologies used in English-speaking countries for helping students to speak English with fluency.
I recently met with some of my Chinese colleagues to discuss some of the similarities and differences in our teaching objectives and techniques. I discovered that our objectives were similar; the methods we use are remarkably different. We all want to see our students succeed and we spend hours upon hours looking for ways to improve our effectiveness and students’ fluency and comprehension. We decided to write an article about what we are learning from each other. We discussed how we might offer a picture to our readers of some of the benefits of working closely with professionals from completely different cultural backgrounds. In this article you will find the individual opinions of each of us, followed by an attempt on my part to analyze and synthesize our observations.
TheImportance of Reaching Teaching Goals and Being Patient with Students by Zhang WanXia aka Meg
From my perspective, a Chinese English teacher usually deals with more than three goals in a single forty-minute class. As a result,he or she has to be in a great hurry to reach all the goals, and sometimes it is hard to make sure that every student gets involved. In contrast, a foreign teacher has only one goal at one time so that he or she is able to be patient enough to wait for students to give answers.
What I have learned from Cynthia is that patience is really important to a teacher. With patience, a teacher will encourage every student to take part in classes. With the teacher’s patience, students feel free to voice their opinions, become interested in English and finally to acquire the foreign language. I think in my class I will control my pace and be more patient.
How to Refuse to Call On Students in Class Without Hurting Them by Wang Jing aka Cathy
Class management is an art. Teachers all love active and lively classes, and we are happy to see students involved. At the same time, if too many students want to voice their answers all at once, or the smartest students always speak out before the other students, without leaving them the time to think, that might be a bad thing. How can a teacher refuse to call on the smartest students without hurting them? Gentle words with a comforting tone as well as the sincere appreciation of them is a good way to teach them to be patient, to listen to others, and learn from each other. This is what impressed me most while I was attending Cynthia’s class.
The reason why I focus on this point is because of an unforgettable experience I had when I was a junior student. For young students, I am sure they all want to represent themselves well in order to get praise from the teacher. Of course, I was the one looking for approval back then. I love history because I loved my history teacher. She always gave the students a lot of praise when they did a good job. At the beginning of each history class she would have a quiz about what we had learned in the previous class. I was quite good at short-term memory and most of the time I got the chance to represent myself well. However, later the teacher refused to ask me to answer any questions. I kept raising my hand all the time or waving my hand just before the teacher’s eyes but ended up being ignored again and again. I got very upset and refused to speak in history class from then on. At that time I just needed some reassurance from her like "I know you know the answer but can we give the chance to others?” or, “I am glad you know the answer, but I hope she can figure it out too.” or “I know you always do a good job". Now that I am a teacher, I regularly encounter this problem. I believe it is fair to give everyone in my class a chance, and I prefer waiting for the students to say something. Yet I also feel I may hurt those who are just like I was in the past. After attending Cynthia’s class, I learned a lot. I started to adopt this strategy in my class and I saw their confident and smiling faces again, which really delights me.
My Understanding About English Teachingby Yang JianYa aka Misty
When I design my classes, I always put objectives into consideration first. All my teaching steps are centered on teaching aims, making sure that each step is coherent and meaningful. In my opinion, a young English teacher should practice taking charge of the whole class, which means each step must be well planned before the actual implementation. Thus, we can have more confidence and power during real classes and appear like an experienced teacher rather than novices.
Cynthia is a teacher who definitely knows how to take charge of the whole class. She knows exactly what a teacher does and when to get students involved in each teaching step. In contrast to Chinese teachers’ classes, it is the students rather than teacher that speak most of the time. Motivated by the teacher, students participate in every activity passionately. Also, her special teaching methods, like having students take turns to ask questions, and drawing Thinking Maps on the blackboard, are worth paying attention to.
I think foreign teachers have more experience in organizing different teaching activities. Various teaching forms make their classes interesting and attractive. We Chinese teachers should benefit from their ideas to perfect our own classes.
Teaching at Beijing Foreign Language School as a Foreign ExpertbyDr. Cynthia Zaitz
Teaching at Beijing Foreign Language School is a unique experience for me because there are both Chinese English teachers using traditional Chinese teaching methods, and foreign experts like myself who bring a different set of teaching techniques and methodologies. What I have observed is the regular usage of rote teaching by Chinese teachers. This contrasts with my personal style which is highly interactive and requires students to speak singly, do group work, and to be actively engaged in lessons.
According to Robert Wyss Jr. M.A., and Emily A. Thrush Ph.D., the traditional techniques used by my colleagues are widespread throughout Asia. They describe these traditional methods, referred to as the “Grammar Translation Method”, in their book “TEFL: Teaching English in China”
The Grammar Translation Method (GTM) is still the preferred approach to teaching English in secondary school classrooms in China and in most of Asia. One of the reasons for this is that GTM is a reliable method for preparing students for the state English exams, which consist mainly of grammar and vocabulary exercises and lack a speaking component. It is not uncommon for students who learn this way to be able to recite long passages of English by heart, but, a learner’s admirable lexical and grammatical knowledge of English – and even a keen familiarity with classic literature – sometimes goes unaccompanied by the ability to communicate in everyday “real-life” contexts. (23)
My area of expertise is creativity and interactive curriculum design. I use what Wyss and Thrush refer to as “Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)” (23). Communicative Language Teaching and Grammar Translation Method involve different roles for the teacher. Whereas with GTM the teacher is the supplier of wisdom, with CLT, the teacher acts as a facilitator, helping students to learn to think independently and to share responsibility for their learning. This blend of teaching styles results in students being better prepared for the state English exams, while concurrently preparing them to be able to confidently communicate with English speakers when they go abroad.
At Beijing Foreign Language School Chinese English teachers often have students read as a group. I would argue that it is difficult to assess individual ability in this format, and that there is the possibility that students who may have more difficulties in comprehension could be inadvertently ignored. However, I would also argue that this technique allows teachers to present a great deal of information to students quickly and prepare them for the state exams.
Since moving here and beginning to teach high school at Beijing Foreign Language School, I have had to discover the ability levels of my students fairly quickly. Two of the biggest problems my students face are that, while they can usually read English well, and recite it correctly much of the time, they are often reluctant to speak individually and for many students comprehension is a problem. That said, I am impressed by how capable, bright, funny, and curious my students are in general.
One of the biggest mistakes I see language teachers make, whether in China or in America, is that they talk too much and their students talk too little. A great deal of contemporary research has shown that while students have many different learning styles, more content is retained when students make personal connections and are engaged with the material rather than when they must merely sit and listen to instructions and explanations. This is not a new concept in China; Confucius is credited with saying the following as far back as 450 BC: “Tell me and I will forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I will understand.”
My Chinese colleagues are extremely professional and hard working. I have observed some of their classes and have found the teachers to be enthusiastic and dedicated. I have also found that, just like me, they are open to learning new techniques for improving their teaching and their students’ reading and listening comprehension, and writing and speaking abilities.
A practice that is highly effective at Beijing Foreign Language School is that of regularly observing each other teach and giving feedback. I have been observed by many of the teachers and have received a lot of feedback, which I found to be carefully thought out and constructive. I believe that through collaboration with my Chinese colleagues I will have the opportunity to become a better teacher as we continue to share ideas and techniques from our different cultures.
For those of You Who Are Curious, Here is A Little About My Backgroundby Dr. Cynthia Zaitz
I recently moved to Beijing, China to teach at the Beijing Foreign Language School and Beijing Foreign Studies University. I came here from Global Village Academy located in Aurora, Colorado, where I taught English and Literacy to grades 7 and 8, and Drama, Drumming, and World Dance to students in kindergarten through 8thgrade. Global Village Academy is a language immersion school offering Chinese, Spanish, French, and Russian at its various campuses in Colorado, and serves an extremely diverse population. As a result, many of my colleagues were more comfortable speaking a different language, and most of my students were learning English as a second language. This environment required a high level of cultural sensitivity and patience!
Global Village Academy offers teachers many opportunities for professional development and we often had meetings in which we learned cutting-edge techniques for helping our students not only to appreciate the benefits of reading well, but also to understand what they had read. Comprehension is difficult enough for native speakers; it is much more difficult for second language learners.
Prior to teaching at Global Village Academy I was teaching at Florida Atlantic University where I received my Doctorate in Comparative Studies. While at Florida Atlantic University I taught Acting, as well as Theatre, Dance, and Music History courses to as many as over 300 students in one class. I insisted on making even my largest classes interactive. As a certified Orff-Schulwerk teacher, I am keenly aware of the importance of student participation. Orff-Schulwerk is a developmental approach for fostering the following in students: creativity, confidence, personal responsibility, and the ability to collaborate well with others.
Dr. Cynthia Zaitz has been a professional educator for nine years and has a Ph.D. in Comparative Studies from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida; a Masters in Consciousness Studies (Philosophy) from John F. Kennedy University in San Francisco, California; a Bachelors in Drama from the University of California in Irvine, California; Professional Educator Licenses from both Florida and Colorado with endorsements in English, Music, and Drama; Orff-Schulwerk Level Three certification from the University of Kentucky; and TEFL certification through Bridge Linguatech in Denver, Colorado. She is listed in “Who’s Who in America”, and is on the National Dean’s Honor List, and is a member of the Golden Key National Honor Society.
