选文、导读：武太白 导读 今天的选文讲的是“交际活动”。作者也不客气，上来就给“交际活动”下了一个定义：有信息沟通与交换的活动，才叫交际活动，不然就不叫这个。为了充分说明这个定义，作者举了一些反例，其中比较典型的两个是：1、一名学生在全班同学都看着一幅图片的情况下用英语描述这幅图片；2、编写对话，使其中包含大量新学的语法结构。1的问题是，既然全班同学都能看到，那还要这位同学描述干什么呢？这个过程中并没有发生什么信息的交换。2的问题是，尽管编写对话是新创信息，但这种信息和正常的交际活动中难以预测的内容之间有很大的不同，毕竟“包含大量新学的语法项目例子“，这不是什么难以预测的内容。总的来说，只要是展示类、背诵类、机械操练类、演讲类活动，都不是有效的交际活动，因为这些活动中虽然练习了口语，但没有信息的交换。 在给出了反例之后，作者又列举了若干结对交际活动（pair activities）、小组交际活动和全班交际活动，都是按照“信息差（information gap”的思路来组织的，应该说也各有妙处。其中集邮（stamp collecting）活动和生存挑战（survival）活动都有着很强的动员力，值得朋友们尝试一下。详细内容，请朋友们读一读接下来的选文。 Communicative activities We normally communicate when one of us has information (facts, opinions, ideas, etc) that another does not have. This is known as an ‘information gap'. The aim of a communicative activity in class is to get learners to use the language they are learning to interact in realistic and meaningful ways, usually involving exchanges of information. Task l Consider the definition above and tick which items on the following list are communicative activities. a repeating sentences that the teacher says; b doing oral grammar drills; c reading aloud from the coursebook; d giving a prepared speech; e acting out a scripted conversation;f giving instructions so that someone can use a new machine; g improvising a conversation so that it includes lots of examples of a new grammar structure;h one learner describes a picture in the textbook while the other students look at it. Commentary ■ ■ ■ By my definition, only f above is a communicative activity; it is the only one that involves a real exchange of information. Repetition, drills, speeches, etc all give useful oral practice but they do not provide communication. In f one person knows something that another doesn’t know and there is a need for this meaning to be transferred. I exclude h because the communication is meaningless: why (other than in the classroom) would we listen to someone describing something we can see for ourselves? h is a display activity, showing off language learned, but there is no communication here. We can, however, transform it very easily: if a learner describes a picture that the others cannot see and the listeners have a task, say of themselves drawing a basic sketch of that drawing, then there is real communication and the ‘describers’ and 'artists’ will interact with a specific purpose. This classroom activity effectively mirrors activities that learners might be involved in when using the language in the outside world - listening to a description of something over the phone, for instance. g is excluded from the list because in real communication the language that the students use is largely unpredictable. There may be many ways to achieve a particular communicative goal. Communicative activities are not simply grammar practice activities, for although the teacher could offer likely grammar or vocabulary before the activity, the main aim for the students is achieving successful communication rather than accurate use of particular items of language. ■ Here are examples of some communicative activities you may wish to try out. Note that in every case we are primarily concerned with encouraging communication, rather than with controlled use of particular items of language or with accuracy. Pairs interview This is useful at the start of a course to help people get to know one another and to create a friendly working relationship. It also establishes the fact that speaking is an important part of a course right from the start. Put the students into pairs. They should interview the other students, asking any question they wish, and noting down interesting answers. When finished they introduce the person they interviewed to the rest of the class (or to a small group of students). If you are concerned that the class may not have enough language to be able to ask questions, you could start the activity by eliciting a number of possible questions from the students. Pairs compare This activity goes a little deeper than the one before. It’s useful at the start of a course, but also at other points, to allow people to find out more about one another. First stage: filling the grid dictation Give one copy of the grid below to each student. Give instructions for words or pictures to be put in each square. For example: Write the name of your favourite film in box 7; Draw your favourite food in box 2; Write your favourite English word in box 12; What is your dream? Draw it in box 6; What are you worried about at the moment? Put that in box 9; etc. You can vary the instructions depending on the age, experience, English level, etc of the class. Once they've got the idea encourage them to offer instructions, too. Go on until the grid is filled. Second stage: comparison, discussion In pairs (or small groups) the students can now compare what they have put in the grid. Many small discussion topics can easily grow out of this. Third stage: whole class After sufficient time for a good conversation in the pairs or groups, you may want to draw together any particularly interesting ideas or comments with the whole class.
Picture difference In pairs, one student is given picture A, one picture B. Without looking at the other picture they have to find the differences (ie by describing the pictures to each other).
Stamp collecting Divide the class into groups of four students. Tell them that they are stamp collectors and that they desperately want three more stamps to finish their collection. They also have a number of stamps available to give away or swap. The students sit apart from each other so that they cannot see what stamps the others have got. Photocopy groups of stamps such as the ones below a number of times. Cut the sheets up and make 'wants’ cards - each with three stamps on. Hand these out and also randomly distribute a number of individual ‘stamps’. The students must ‘telephone’ each other and describe the stamps they want, trying to find out if another student has them. They do not look at each other’s collection! If they think they have found a stamp they want then they make an agreement to exchange but still do not look or exchange. At the end of the game, when all bargains have been made, the students can then meet up and pass over the agreed stamps and see if they have got what they wanted or not!
Planning a holiday Collect together a number of advertisements or brochures advertising a holiday. Explain to the students that we can all go on holiday together, but we must all agree on where we want to go. Divide the students into groups of three and give each group a selection of this material. Their task is to plan a holiday for the whole group (within a fixed budget per person). Allow them a good amount of time to read and select a holiday and then to prepare a presentation in which they attempt to persuade the rest of the class that they should choose this holiday. When they are ready, each group makes their presentation and the class discusses and chooses a holiday. Survival Tell a lost in the forest story. Make it dramatic (invent the details). Include a disaster of some kind, eg minibus crashes miles from anywhere, injuries, etc. Give them the map and the notes. Students must plan what they should do to have the best chance of survival.
