Использование материалов электронной переписки на уроках английского языка

Для создания атмосферы иноязычного общения на уроке я часто использую свою личную переписку с носителями языка из Англии, Уэльса, США и Новой Зеландии (конечно, с их согласия). Это открытки и электронные письма, посвященные праздникам, описанию дома и семьи, погоды и событий в стране и за рубежом. Учащиеся знакомятся не только с образцами неформальной письменной речи, но и получают новые сведения o культуре, традициях, быте стран изучаемого языка, задают вопросы, сравнивают и анализируют полученную информацию, выражают свое мнение.

При отборе материала я обращаю внимание на следующие критерии:

• соответствие теме урока или важным реальным событиям текущего дня;
• страноведческая ценность;
• доступность с точки зрения языковых средств;
• соответствие речевому опыту учащихся;
• соответствие возрастным особенностям, интересам и жизненному опыту учащихся.

Музыка, толерантность, терроризм, хобби, досуг, еда, школа, спорт, достопримечательности, туризм - вот далеко не полный перечень тем, которые можно обсудить с детьми, опираясь на фрагменты писем.

Например, беседа о погоде в ноябре может проходить следующим образом:

What's the weather like today? Is it typical for this time of the year? Do you like it? I got an email from my friend yesterday. Listen, what she is writing about the weather in England:

Our weather here today is typical for England at this time of year- fog! The first since last winter. I personally like to be out in it, walking. Driving is not so much fun. It's not terribly thick, but nice nevertheless. It's not cold either, our temperatures are still around 10-15 degrees, much warmer than yours, I suppose.

Далее мы сравниваем нашу текущую погоду с погодой в Англии.

А вот информация к размышлению о стереотипах:

Энн из Англии после получения моей посылки

My friends loved the doll. But what they loved most of all was the book. The pictures we tend to see of Russia here are usually just dreary grey pictures, mainly of soldiers marching around various buildings in Moscow, it made it look a very uninviting place. But your pictures, well they are just so beautiful.

А такие строчки положили начало оживленной дискуссии по теме "Кино" в 11 классе:

Delores from the USA

Not far from my town is a large shopping mall with three big theaters, each with at least 10 screens. Movie going is very popular here. Unfortunately, if we want to see a foreign film, we are limited to small special theaters, which are not very common. I can count on one hand the number of foreign films I've seen in my entire life. That's kind of sad, isn't it?

Следующее письмо не только передает личностное отношение автора к праздникам в современной Британии, но и служит отправной точкой для беседы о праздниках в России и отношении к ним учащихся:

Lorna from Wales

Mother's Day this year is on Sunday March 25. We don't really celebrate this any more. We might send a card and possibly flowers to our mothers and if you live close enough you might visit, but other than this we don't do anything special. The big Spring festival is of course Easter. This is a time when children (and some adults) stuff themselves silly on chocolate Easter eggs. People get time off from work (normally Good Friday, Easter Monday and the Tuesday). If the weather is good, people head for the beach or the countryside to make the most of the holiday. We also have May Day - traditionally May 1st but now people have the first Monday in May off from work. Some of the Trades Unions have marches but mostly people just take the day off and rest. Traditionally (a long time ago) people would have held fairs and danced around the maypole etc., but this only happens in some rural areas. I think that a lot of our traditions have just disappeared now. Not only are we a multi cultural society but also most people are atheists so the traditional Christian type festivals just don't have any meaning for a lot of people.

Часть материалов я использую не только для аудирования с последующим обсуждением, но и в качестве текстов для чтения. Так, одно из писем с подробным описанием поездки в Лондон и фотографиями было написано моей английской подругой по переписке (не учителем!) специально для моих учеников. После небольшой переработки, я использую его при работе над темой "Лондон. Транспорт". (8 класс).

Дети работают в группах из 3 человек. Каждая группа получает текст, разделенный на 6 частей (jigsaw reading). Каждый член группы работает с двумя частями текста и передает их содержание остальным участникам. Затем группа должна расположить части текста в логической последовательности и коллективно начертить схему маршрута поездки с указанием посещенных мест и видов транспорта.

Это выглядит примерно так:

Рисунок 1

 С целью проверки детального понимания текста можно предложить следующие задания:

Are these statements true(T) or false(F)?

The Main Line is the name of the London Underground .

A season ticket is a ticket which you can use for a month or for a year.

New buses have no conductor.

A taxi is a quick way of travelling, but very expensive.

Harrods is in Oxford street.

Ann and Terry came home late because of the rain.

2. Match the names with the correct definitions:

Answer the following questions:

1. What are two types of rail networks in England?
2. What kind of tickets can you buy?
3. How can you travel using a One Day Travel Card?
4. What types of buses do they have in London?
5. Who collects the fares as you get on a bus?
6. What does eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet mean?
7. What was the main purpose of Ann's trip?
8. What can you buy in Harrods?
9. Whose car did Ann and Terry use to arrive home?

Follow-up:

What new facts about London and its transport have you learnt from the text? What transport would you like to use while travelling around London? Why?

Answer Keys:

1.

1-F, 2-T, 3-T, 4-T, 5-F, 6-F.

2.

1-B, 2-G, 3-D, 4-C, 5-A, 6-F, 7-I, 8-E, 9-H.

3.

• the Main Line and the London underground.
• single, return, season tickets, special tickets such as One Day Travel Card.
• by the Underground, the Main Line and buses.
• double-deckers and single-deckers.
• a conductor in the older type buses, a driver in the newer buses.
• for one and the same price you can eat as much as you wish.
• to go to a shop called Harrods.
• anything from food to sport cars.
• their son's car.

Part 1

Our journey started locally, we left home and left for West Drayton Station. Let me explain a little about our transport system in England. We have two different types of rail networks, one is a network, which covers the whole of England, run by various transport companies now. We call this The Main Line. The other one is found in London (but there are a few cities which do have the same type of transport), and is called The London Underground. As the name suggests, the trains sometimes go very deep underneath London, in tunnels, but as you travel outwards from London, they tend to be over ground. Here is what we call a tube map. It's all the stations that are part of the London Underground. Our nearest underground station is Uxbridge, on the far left-hand side of the map, it's about 2 miles from where we live.

Рисунок 2

Part 2

On this particular day though, we chose to go into London from West Drayton (the Main Line). Our destination station was Paddington, which is in the heart of London.

11This is part of Paddington Main Line Station, it's a lot bigger than what is shown.

Let me try to explain a little about our fares. We have lots of options, you can pay for single tickets, return tickets, season tickets (that means you purchase one ticket which will last you for a whole month or a whole year), and you can also buy special tickets. We knew we would be using the trains and buses a lot on this particular day, so our best option was to buy a One Day Travel Card. This gives you unlimited travel on the

Underground, buses and Main Line stations that are in London, and it costs ?5.

Рисунок 3

This is a typical underground station and an underground or overground train:

Рисунок 4

Рисунок 5

Part 3

Our train arrived and within 20 minutes we were in London. Some stations in London are served by both the Main Line and the Underground, this is the case for Paddington. We chose to go in on the Main Line because it is quicker than using the Underground. We arrived at Paddington, and left the station to get a bus outside which would take us to Oxford Street, a very well known shopping street in London. After a few minutes, the number 5 bus came along and we got on it. We have lots of different types of buses now, but in years gone by, the bus below was the most popular and is so reliable they are still used today.

Рисунок 6

Рисунок 7

Рисунок 8

And here are some more modern buses.

As you can see, some are what we call double-deckers and some are single-deckers. The older type buses have a driver and a conductor, that's someone who walks around the bus collecting the fares and issuing tickets. The newer buses just have a driver, and he collects your fare and issues your tickets as you board. We didn't have to buy a ticket, as we had bought our One Day Travel Card, so we just showed this to the driver or conductor each time we boarded a bus.

Part 4

We made our way the short distance from Paddington Station to Oxford Street, the roads were quite busy and there was a lot of traffic. Another form of transport you will see on the streets of London is a London Taxi. These are commonly known as Black Cabs and there are literally hundreds of them in London. They are quite expensive, the fare is worked out using a meter in the Taxi, so the further distance you go, the more expensive it will be. If you only have to go a short distance and are in a hurry, it's a quick way of getting around London. This is a London Taxi:

Рисунок 9

We left the bus in Oxford Street, and browsed round the shops for a while, and then we decided to have some lunch. We stopped at a pizza restaurant, and we had an eat as-much-as-you-like buffet, which is exactly what it says. For ?3.95 you can eat as much pizza, pasta and salad as you wish. We had a very pleasant lunch indeed. We bought some souvenirs for you, which hopefully you will be able to see for yourself very soon.

Part 5

1Our main purpose of travelling into London was to go to a shop called Harrods. This is the most famous shop in England. Harrods is in a part of London called Knightsbridge. It's owner is Mohammed A1 Fayed, the father of Dodi A1 Fayed, who was the person involved with our Princess Diana. They were both killed in Paris a few years ago, I'm sure you must have heard about it. The shop is extremely plush, and terribly expensive, but it sells absolutely everything, at a price! You can buy anything from food to sports cars.

This is Harrods.

Рисунок 10

We spent an hour or so here, just browsing as everything is so expensive. Nearly every tourist who visits England will come here. This is where I bought your tea!

After leaving Harrods, we got on another bus and headed back towards Oxford Street, by this time it had started pouring with rain, so we decided to take shelter in a pub.

Part 6

When it stopped raining, we decided to make our way home, and got on the bus back to Paddington. Unfortunately there was a problem with the train drivers going on strike (this means they had a grievance with the company they worked for and refused to work).

There was no indication of the time of the next possible train, so we decided to go back using the Underground this time. Unfortunately, our car was parked at West Drayton Station, and the Underground train would take us back into Uxbridge. It's only a very short bus ride away, but we were really tired by now.

We arrived back in Uxbridge at about 10 pm and decided to have a meal in one of our local pubs, called the Swan and Bottle. After a lovely meal, I telephoned to ask my eldest son David, if he would come and pick us up in his car, which he did. So we arrived home, some 8 hours later, tired but having had a really nice day.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading all about our day in London.