我们不难发现中学外语教学中存在着这样的现象：初中生，尤其是初一、初 二的学生，说英语的积极性普 遍很高，上课踊跃发言，大胆说英语。而到了初 三以上，特别是到了高二、高三，说英语的积极性大大下降。 学生中笔头考试 能得八、九十分，但口头表达能力极差的大有人在。究其原因有：1.机械的听说 读写分割法， 即认为在初级阶段（初一、初二）主要抓听、说，中级阶段从听、 说过渡到读、写，而高级阶段（高二、高三 ）抓读和写，片面地把听说读写分 割开来；2.应试教育带来的后果，只重分数，忽视能力的培养；3.教师的教 学 脱离学生心理发展的特点等等原因。所以英语教学到了高中阶段就忽视兴趣的激 励和说话能力的培养。
那么，高中阶段如何激发兴趣、培养说的能力呢？
一、根据学生年龄特征，激发兴趣，培养说的能力
在初级阶段由于学生年龄小，好学、好问、好奇、好模仿，思维形式处于从 形象思维为主向主要以抽象思维为主转化的阶段，直观、重复、模仿等教学手 段有着很重要的地位。到了高中阶段，学生身心发展趋于成熟 ，抽象逻辑思维起主导作用。同时说话时的心理活动也随之变化，对说话的兴趣有所下降，显得 不那么积极主 动了。根据这些特点老师应调整自己的教学方法，重视激励学生 说话的兴趣，使之与学生的身心发展相适应。 为此，我们从高一开始着手从教 学方法上激励兴趣，调动学生说英语的积极性。
1.改革Daily Talk活动 改变原来的Duty report等比较单调、 机械的方 法。每堂课前化三分钟，每次一位学生上台演讲，谈当天的新闻，讲故事，讲 班级中最新发生的事及一切学生感兴趣的事，多传递信息。例如 ：足球世界杯赛举行时，学生们，尤其是男生，上台大谈足球："My favourite football stars”，“The f ootball match betweenBrazil and Argentina"，"Football in China"，"The development of footb all"等等，简直成了足球系列讲座。 每年3月5 日到来时，学生就会谈诸如："How shall we learn from Le i Feng？ ""LeiFeng has come back again.""Is it necessary to learn fromLei Feng today？" 等等。每当班级中出现问题时学生也会加以评论，谈 自己的想法，如：“What shall we do with those who don'tkeep the rules of our school ？ ""Shall we cheat in theexaminations in order to get a good mark？"有时学生们利用2 —3分钟做个游戏，如：Guess the letters of some English words ，Tongue twisters等。学生的兴趣越来越高， 积极性也不断高涨。 在此基础上我们要求学生演讲时多与教学 相结合，尽可能多用新学的单词、词组、句型等，并鼓励学生创新。教师注意引导，定期总结， 表扬说得好的 学生。渐渐地学生说英语的积极性高涨了起来，大家你追我赶， 积极准备。遇有困难，主动与同学商量或请教 老师。久而久之，学生的英语表 达日趋准确，内容更加丰富，听的学生更乐意听，使学生听、说的能力同时得 到 了训练。
2.创设情景串联对话 以往对话教学多采用让学生听对话录音、重复、背诵、 模仿编对话等方式。这种操练往往脱离真实的情景，忽视了语言内容的真实性， 教学形式比较呆板，高中生很容易生厌。针对这种情况， 我们的教学不是停留在这个阶段上，而是进一步创设新的情景，培养学生在新的情景中进行交际性操 练，努力 达到创造性地运用所学语言知识进行交际。如我在教对话时让学生了解词语和句型内容后，充分发挥学生的想 象力，让他们联系新旧知识，创设情 景进行对话练习，拓宽学生的思路，取得了较好的效果。有些学生可以把 许多情节串联起来，以对话的形式表演出来，内容贴近学生日常生活实际，所学语言 知识得到灵活运用。例如 我们在课本第一、二册中学过Asking the Way， Inquiring about Health， Inquiring about Weather， Asking forStreet Direction；第三册中学到Giving Advice about Having MorePhysical Exercise， 他们把内容串起来编成下列对话：
S[,1]:(Picking up the phone)Hello, may I speak to LingLing?
S[,2]:It's Ling Ling speaking.Is that Zhang Hai?
S[,1]:Yes, I'm calling to tell you that our formerclassmate Li Yin is ill in hospita l.
S[,2]:I'm sorry to hear that. What's the matter with him?
S[,1]:I'm not very clear about that. I'm only told that heis in the No. Six Hospital of Shan ghai.
S[,2]: Then we'd better go and sec him in the hospital.
S[,1]:That's what I think. He'll be glad to see us.
S[,2]:When shall we go?
S[,1]:How about this Sunday afternoon?
S[,2]:That's a good idea. But by the way, what willthe weather be like that day?
S[,1]:I've just listened to the weather forecast. Theweatherman says it will be fine.And it will not be very hot.The high will be 30℃.
S[,2]:That's fine.Where shall we meet?
S[,1]:Let's meet at the No.224 bus-stop at two.
S[,2]:All right.See you then.Bye!
(Sunday afternoon)
S[,1]:Hi, Ling Ling. How long have you been waiting?
S[,2]:I've just arrived. Look, the bus is coming.
S[,1]:Let's get on the bus.
(On the bus)
S[,2]:Do you know where we shall get off?
S[,1]:I'm afraid I don't. Let's ask the conductor.
S[,2]:Excuse me, conductor. We're going to the No. SixHospital. Can you tell us where to get off?
S[,3]:Certainly. Get off at the fifth stop. Then,turn backand go straight forward for about two minutes. You'll seethe hospital on your left.
S[,1],S[,2]:Get off at the fifth stop. Turn back and gostraight forward for two minutes. The hospital is on our left.OK. Thank you very much.
S[,3]:You are welcome.
S[,1],S[,2]:Oh, here we are.
(In the hospital)
S[,1],S[,2]:Hello, Li Yin.
S[,4]:Hello, Ling Ling and Zhang Hai.Why are you here?
S[,1]:We are told you are ill and now we're here to seeyou.
S[,4]:I'm very glad to see you, and thank you very much.
S[,2]:What's wrong with you? Are you better now?
S[,4]:I was down with a high fever a week ago. I came tosee the doctor. The doctor told me there was something wrongwith my lung. And he asked me to stay in hospital for a fewdays. Now, I'm much better.
S[,1]:We are glad to hear that. You know how worried wewere when we knew you were in hosp ital.
S[,2]:You should take good care of yourself in the future.
S[,4]:Yes, I will. But could you give me some advice onmy health?
S[,1]:I think you should have more physical exercise.Taking part in some ballgames will do you good.
S[,4]:Thank you for your advice.
S[,2]:We'd better take leave now. Have a good rest. Wewish you'll soon be well again.
S[,4]:Thank you for coming to see me.
S[,1],S[,2]:Bye-bye.
S[,4]:Bye.
这样不仅学生说英语的能力得到了提高，而且语言知识得到了巩固。
3.注意课文创造性提问的设计 一般提问可分理解性、记忆性及创造性三类。 随着学生思维能力的提高， 课文提问要适当增加创造性问题，以满足学生抽象 思维发展的需求。提问时适当减少Yes／No问题， 逐步增加 用Why 等句型提 问。
例如， 学习第六册第五课After TwentyYears，这课的内容、情节、语言 都比较简单， 我向学生提了以下问题：Did Jimmy recognize Bob? But why didn't Jimmy take Bob tothe police st ation himself? Do you think Jimmy is right? Whatkind of person do you think Jimmy is? Would you do the sameif you were Jimmy? Why or why not?…在使学生理解课文的 同时激发学生的思维和发言兴趣，使其乐意思考，竞相发言。有时我们针对所 学内容安排讨论会，对不同的观点、看法进行讨论。如学习第五 册第二课 lmproving Your Study Habit ， 我让学生就以下题目进行辩论：Whatdo you think is more impor tant, intelligence or hard work, ifyou want to be a top student? Is study habit important or no t?Give your reasons to support your idea. …由于这些都和学生的实际生活有关，课文又给学生提供了语 言材 料，他们积极发言，积极思考，热烈地参与辩论，常有欲罢不能的局面。
二、适当把握难度，让学生不断获得成功感， 促进说话能力
成功感固然能激发学生的学习兴趣，但是没有困难、没有障碍的学习也会抑 制学生的学习兴趣，会削弱有积极作用的情绪感受。在培养学生英语说话能力 时教学内容必须有适当的难度，教师必须善于提出有一定深度 的问题，鼓励学生不满足现状，更上一层楼。同时让学生从克服困难、掌握新知识中得到乐趣。 我们的具体做 法是，高中三年中对学生的说话要求由低向高，形成坡度，逐渐提高要求。高一教对话时，在学会词汇、句型 、课文的基础上让学生练习说英 语，也就是说在提供语言材料的基础上练习说。如让学生用新的词汇、句型造句， 用自己的话复述课文，总结段落大意， 归纳文章中心等。 例如学完课本第三册 AcidRain一课整篇课文后 ，在老师的帮助下，学生们作出归纳：
Paragraph 1:How acid rain is formed.
Paragraph 2:The damages acid rain has done to forests, lakes and streams.
Paragraph 3: One example of the damages that acid rain has caused to forests.
Paragraph 4:Because of the acid rain some kinds of animal population is declining.
Paragraph 5:The bad effects acid rain has on buildings and monuments.
Main idea:The great damages acid rain has done to us.
当学生积累了大量的语言材料，有了初步的说话能力，我们便进一步提高要 求，让高二学生练习Topic Ta lking。老师根据所教课文内容提出Topic让学 生谈。还是以刚才Acid Rain一课为例，我给了学生这样的Topi c:Being a student,what should you do to deal with acidrain？有些学生谈得很好， "Although we ar e students, still wecan do our bit to help solve this problem. First, we can tryour best to tell people the harmfulness of acid rain so thatpeople will pay more attention.Secondly,we sho uld do our bestto learn as much knowledge as possible so that some day we'llbe able to find out ways to solve this problem. "再如学了第三册 Modern Examinations 一课后，我提出了"What do you think ofour examinations today?Do you like to take examinations? Why?How do you feel before ex aminations? What do you like ourexammations to be?"等主题让学生讨论，发表他们自己的看法。 学生们 畅所欲言，纷纷谈自己的想法："I don't like examinations atall. I always feel nervous before exa minations. And the morenervous I am, the worse I do in examinations. So I hateexaminations . ""It's hard for me to like examinations.But I think it's necessary. After taking exam inations. we'llknow how well we have grasped the knowledge and the teacherswill have a clear picture of how we've learned our lessons,then they can make some changes in their teaching."到 了高三阶段再上一层楼， 不但让学生练习复述、主题讨论，还让学生针对课文中的人物及事情作出 Comment ，展开小组讨论， 举行辩论。例如学习了After Twenty Years一课后，我让 学生从不同的角度对故事中人物的 行为、 做法发表评论。如从法律的角度、从 友谊的角度去评价Jimmy，引导学生进行辩论。我们在课堂上把班 级分成两组， 一组为正方，另一组为反方。 正方认为："Jimmy is right. As he is a policeman, heshoul d do everything according to the law.Jimmy and Bob aregood friends but Jimmy still think s of his duty as apoliceman first.He sets a good example to all the policemen. We should learn from him."反方认为："As Jimmy is a goodfriend of Bob's,he should think of friendship first. He mayjust tell Bob the whole thing and let him go. And at thesame time, he may try to persuade Bob to stop doinganything against the law.In this way,Jimmy can not only be agood friend but also a good policeman."由于在要求上做到循序渐 进，学生不断获得成功感，不断得到新的目标激励，不断感受到艰苦思维的愉 悦，说话的兴趣就不断得到激发与保持。
三年来（从高一到高三），在师生的共同努力下，学生在英语的各项能力上 取得了丰硕成果，学生的英语口头表达能力受到了来校参观访问的外国客人和 教学实习老师的高度赞扬。许多学生还在社区里充当英语译员 ，深受欢迎和好评。我任教班级的全体学生参加97年英语高考口试，全部合格；会考平均分96， A、B级达98％ ；高考平均分120 （市平均分93，市重点中学平均分110）。
