|
|
|
|
|
|
Welcome to "What's New?". This book has been written primarily for elementary school teachers who need short, authentic dialogs which will help their students to enjoy using the English language. Real-life role plays and short dramas provide an interesting and valuable way of learning English, since the language becomes real for the students, as they play out situations matching their own experience of life. In this way they learn to see English as a living language, and as a valuable means of communication.
Introduction
The words used in this book reflect everyday English as used by native speakers, but they also follow the recommended list of words issued by the Korean Ministry of Education, and do not go outside that list (even when making use of everyday idioms), except to include occasional words which have already found their way into everyday Korean life (e.g. "kiss"). Thus teachers can use the book in the knowledge that its contents are not only authentic, but relevant to the learning needs of the students. (The recommended-word list can be seen in the Appendix.) The dialogs center around topics found in Korean Elementary School textbooks, and can be used in conjunction with them, providing interesting and stimulating ways of developing the material in those books. It is not intended that the students themselves read the dialogs. Instead they can follow the teacher, who will model the words for them. In this way, students will be acquiring listening skills as well as oral skills, while they enjoy the real-life role plays. Every dialog has at least one native speaker and one Korean speaker. Most are set in Korea, and a constant theme is the intercultural cross fertilization resulting from westerners and Koreans living together, visiting each others' houses and schools, and sharing each other's lifestyles. The use of "real" English within such a cultural mix allows different ways of thought to become apparent through common idioms which the native speakers use unthinkingly, but which tell us so much about them. For example: "What's new?"; "Come on!"; "Go for it!"; "See you!"; "come on!" Much meaning is carried in these short phrases, and they greatly increase the learner's conversational effectiveness if used well.
Each Chapter presents a simple dialog at the beginning, moving on to more complex ones, which (for ease of learning and performance) are divided up into self-contained mini-dialogs. These smaller units can be studied separately if wished. Thus the longer dialogs can be practiced either as a collection of smaller ones (each complete in itself), or as they appear in the book. Drama is a great conveyor of meaning, and when practicing these dialogs, there should be little need to translate into Korean. In this way the students will have the chance to use English as a means of communication, without having to refer to their native language all the time, and real learning will take place! The authors hope that these dialogs will provide enjoyment and stimulation for teachers as well as students. If this book can also encourage and facilitate the writing of further dialogs, then it will indeed have served its function! Finally, we should like to thank Miss Kwon Mi-suk and the graduate students of English Education at the Graduate School of Education, at Andong National University, for their invaluable assistance in proofreading and in making the Korean versions of the dialogs. Best wishes, and
good luck! Hyun Tae-duck Andrew E. Finch
June 2000
|
||||||||||||
