Christmas is a Christian holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ. No one knows the exact date of Christ's birth, but most Christians observe Christmas on December 25. On this day, many go to church, where they take part in special religious services. During the Christmas season, they also exchange gifts and decorate their homes with holly, mistletoe, and Christmas trees. The word Christmas comes from Cristes maesse, an early English phrase that means Mass of Christ. The story of Christmas comes chiefly from the Gospels of Saint Luke and Saint Matthew in the New Testament.
The history of Christmas dates back over 4000 years. Many of our Christmas traditions were celebrated centuries before the Christ child was born. The 12 days of Christmas, the bright fires, the yule log, the giving of gifts, carnivals(parades) with floats, carolers who sing while going from house to house, the holiday feasts, and the church processions can all be traced back to the early Mesopotamians.
Many of these traditions began with the Mesopotamian celebration of New Years. The Mesopotamians believed in many gods, and as their chief god-Marduk. Each year as winter arrived it was believed that Marduk would do battle with the monsters of chaos. To assist Marduk in his struggle the Mesopotamians held a festival for the New Year. This was Zagmuk, the New Year's festival that lasted for 12 days.
The Persians and the Babylonians celebrated a similar festival called the Sacaea. Part of that celebration included the exchanging of places, the slaves would become the masters and the masters were to obey. The ancient Greeks held a festival similar to that of the Zagmuk/Sacaea festivals to assist their god Kronos who would battle the god Zeus and his Titans.
The Roman's celebrated their god Saturn. Their festival was called Saturnalia which began the middle of December and ended January 1st. With cries of "Jo Saturnalia!" the celebration would include masquerades in the streets, big festive meals, visiting friends, and the exchange of good-luck gifts called Strenae (lucky fruits). The Romans decked their halls with garlands of laurel and green trees lit with candles. Again the masters and slaves would exchange places.
"Jo Saturnalia!" was a fun and festive time for the Romans, but the Christians thought it an abomination to honor the pagan god. The early Christians wanted to keep the birthday of their Christ child a solemn and religious holiday, not one of cheer and merriment as was the pagan Saturnalia.
Some legends claim that the Christian "Christmas" celebration was invented to compete against the pagan celebrations of December. The 25th was not only sacred to the Romans but also the Persians whose religion Mithraism was one of Christianity's main rivals at that time. The Church eventually was successful in taking the merriment, lights, and gifts from the Saturanilia festival and bringing them to the celebration of Christmas.
The birth of Jesus had a story: In Nazareth, a city of Galilee. The virgin's name was Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband was minded to put her away secretly. While he thought about these things, Gabriel, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him did not be afraid to take Mary as wife. And Mary will bring forth a Son, and he shall call his name, Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Before Jesus births, Joseph and Mary came to Quirnius was governing Syria. So all went to be registered, everyone to his own city. Joseph also went up out of Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and of the lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed wife, who was with child. So it was that while they were there, the days were completed for her to be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped him in swaddling cloths, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
And that, Christmas is the feast of the nativity of Jesus, is on 25th, December every year. But nobody knows the actual birthday of Jesus. And the Christmas has become popular when Christmas cards appeared in 1846 and the concept of a jolly Santa Claus was first made popular in nineteenth Century.
The custom of giving gifts to relatives and friends on a special day in winter probably began in ancient Rome and northern Europe. In these regions, people gave each other small presents as part of their year-end celebrations.
In the 1800's, two more Christmas customs became popular--decorating Christmas trees and sending Christmas cards to relatives and friends. Many well-known Christmas carols, including ``Silent Night" and ``Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," were composed during this period. In the United States and other countries, Santa Claus replaced Saint Nicholas as the symbol of gift giving.
The word Xmas is sometimes used instead of Christmas. This tradition began in the early Christian church. In Greek, X is the first letter of Christ's name. It was frequently used as a holy symbol.
May you be happy at Christmas and always. 我的心和雪花一起,飄落到你的門(mén)前,祝福,等待著你;快樂(lè),每一個(gè)圣誕。
Merry Christmas.Many happiness returns of the day. 恭賀圣誕,歲歲似今朝。
May the angel bring you peace,happiness,joys and fortunes.
“知之者不如好之者,好之者不如樂(lè)之者”,“Interest is the best teacher.”。教師要針對(duì)學(xué)生的心理特征,激發(fā)他們的學(xué)習(xí)興趣,讓他們?cè)谝淮未涡膭?dòng)中掀起情感波瀾,讓他們不知不覺(jué)地進(jìn)入最佳學(xué)習(xí)境界。
1.興趣為本,相關(guān)生活。閱讀材料,尤其是適合小學(xué)高年級(jí)學(xué)生的英語(yǔ)閱讀材料,其選材標(biāo)準(zhǔn)應(yīng)以趣味性為主,因?yàn)榕d趣是最好的老師,也是第二語(yǔ)言學(xué)習(xí)中最最重要的因素。除了英語(yǔ)笑話、寓言故事、常識(shí)性的小短文、人物傳記以及發(fā)生在學(xué)生周?chē)氖虑?,如A letter, A birthday present等等,一些經(jīng)典的英文童話、名著也可以成為閱讀的內(nèi)容。
語(yǔ)言和文化密不可分,英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)必然要涉及對(duì)英語(yǔ)國(guó)家文化的滲透,要讓學(xué)生學(xué)到地道的英語(yǔ),文化意識(shí)的滲透很重要。教師在教學(xué)活動(dòng)中要通過(guò)顯性的教學(xué)活動(dòng)和隱性的潛移默化,培養(yǎng)學(xué)生的跨文化意識(shí),提高學(xué)生的跨文化交際能力。如,在教談?wù)撎鞖庖痪洌篧hat’s the weather like today? 時(shí),我讓學(xué)生了解,在英美國(guó)家,見(jiàn)面寒暄語(yǔ)句通常是談?wù)撎鞖?,而不像我們?guó)家說(shuō):“你吃過(guò)了嗎?”學(xué)生聽(tīng)后饒有趣味,并且在不知不覺(jué)中鞏固了這一交際用語(yǔ)。
語(yǔ)言學(xué)家克魯姆說(shuō):“成功的外語(yǔ)課堂教學(xué)應(yīng)該是創(chuàng)造更多的情景,讓學(xué)生有機(jī)會(huì)用自己已學(xué)到的語(yǔ)言材料。”在學(xué)習(xí)牛津小學(xué)英語(yǔ)四年級(jí)有關(guān)職業(yè)的單詞時(shí),我讓學(xué)生模仿各種職業(yè)特征的動(dòng)作,學(xué)driver時(shí)做開(kāi)車(chē)動(dòng)作,學(xué)farmer時(shí)做農(nóng)民種地動(dòng)作,學(xué)nurse時(shí)做護(hù)士打針動(dòng)作,并讓學(xué)生進(jìn)行問(wèn)答:“Is he / she a driver / farmer / doctor ?”
3.合理利用真實(shí)情景
課堂上的偶發(fā)事件是最真實(shí)、直接的信息,教師可適當(dāng)把握時(shí)機(jī),合理地加以利用。在教Is everyone here today? Where is he? 一課時(shí),我發(fā)現(xiàn)班上真有一位學(xué)生缺席,就自然引出句型Is everyone here today? 學(xué)生自然回答:No.緊接著,可教授Where is he? 其他同學(xué)可能會(huì)回答他在家里,也許生病了,也有可能在老師的辦公室里。沒(méi)有煩瑣的講解,憑借真實(shí)情景,教材內(nèi)容的引入水到渠成,學(xué)生也易于接受。
教室是學(xué)生在校學(xué)習(xí)的場(chǎng)所,是獲得知識(shí)、提高能力的主要陣地?!懊夏溉w”的故事說(shuō)明了環(huán)境對(duì)人的發(fā)展有著極其重要的作用,教室環(huán)境的布置對(duì)學(xué)生學(xué)習(xí)的影響也不例外。在教室的布置上,教師可以根據(jù)課文的內(nèi)容對(duì)教室進(jìn)行適當(dāng)?shù)牟贾茫瑸閷W(xué)生營(yíng)造富有情趣的英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)環(huán)境,讓學(xué)生沉浸其中,潛移默化地受到感染。在教學(xué)Project English七年級(jí)下冊(cè)Unit5.Topic 1.SectionA How do you usually go to school?時(shí),教師可以把一些交通工具的圖片bike、car、ship、bus、train、plane等貼在教室的四周;在學(xué)習(xí)節(jié)日時(shí),可以把與節(jié)日有關(guān)的裝飾品擺放在教室的周?chē)?,如圣誕節(jié)時(shí),裝飾些彩燈、彩帶、氣球、圣誕襪以及圣誕樹(shù)等來(lái)營(yíng)造濃厚的節(jié)日氣氛。同時(shí),在教具學(xué)具上也盡量用實(shí)物或精心制作一些實(shí)物模型來(lái)進(jìn)行直觀教學(xué)。
目前,初中英語(yǔ)教材上的內(nèi)容大部分都貼近學(xué)生的生活和學(xué)習(xí)實(shí)際,涉及的知識(shí)點(diǎn)也大多是我們?nèi)粘I钪兴龅降?、能?jīng)常運(yùn)用的通俗易懂的知識(shí),只要教師有意識(shí)地去挖掘,就可成為英語(yǔ)課的興趣點(diǎn)。因此,課前教師備課時(shí)要靈活處理教學(xué)材料,把教材內(nèi)容活化為現(xiàn)實(shí)生活,并充分發(fā)掘趣味因素,讓學(xué)生根據(jù)自己已有的知識(shí)、生活經(jīng)驗(yàn)在輕松快樂(lè)中去感知英語(yǔ),學(xué)到知識(shí)。如:在教學(xué)“Customs in DifferentCountries”章節(jié)時(shí),除根據(jù)課本內(nèi)容介紹各國(guó)文化差異外,還可以結(jié)合生活實(shí)際,補(bǔ)充一些學(xué)生感興趣的具有濃郁中國(guó)特色的傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日及禮節(jié)上的常識(shí),如春節(jié)(農(nóng)歷正月初一)the Spring Festival,元宵節(jié)(農(nóng)歷正月十五日)the Lantern Festival,清明節(jié)(4月5日) Ching Ming Festival,端午節(jié)(農(nóng)歷五月初五) the Dragon Boat Festival等,讓學(xué)生沉醉在中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)節(jié)日的興奮中學(xué)習(xí)到中西方的文化差異。
小學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)的一個(gè)重要目標(biāo)就是對(duì)學(xué)生進(jìn)行文化意識(shí)的滲透?!队⒄Z(yǔ)課程標(biāo)準(zhǔn)》著重提出了"文化意識(shí)"這一新內(nèi)涵,明確指出"文化意識(shí)"是綜合語(yǔ)言運(yùn)用能力的一個(gè)組成部分,在"目標(biāo)總體描述"和"內(nèi)容標(biāo)準(zhǔn)"中占有十分重要的內(nèi)容,并有詳細(xì)的描述。這表明:語(yǔ)言有豐富的文化內(nèi)涵,英語(yǔ)教學(xué)中有許多跨文化交際的因素,這些因素在很大程度上會(huì)直接影響到孩子們對(duì)英語(yǔ)的學(xué)習(xí)和使用。以中西方人們見(jiàn)面打招呼為例,我們?cè)诔燥垥r(shí)間碰見(jiàn)熟人經(jīng)常會(huì)用"吃飯了嗎?"來(lái)打招呼,假如我們?cè)谥形绯燥垥r(shí)間見(jiàn)到英國(guó)人也這樣問(wèn):"Did you have the lunch?",他們很可能會(huì)以為你要請(qǐng)他們吃午飯呢!這就需要在教學(xué)中加以說(shuō)明。
又如在廣州版小學(xué)英語(yǔ)三年級(jí)上冊(cè)Unit1的課文中出現(xiàn)的句子"Good morning, Miss White!",我在教學(xué)時(shí)就及時(shí)告訴學(xué)生:這里的Miss是指女教師,英美國(guó)家習(xí)慣稱(chēng)老師為"Sir、 Mr或Miss",而teacher是指教師這種職業(yè),一般不做稱(chēng)呼用語(yǔ)。再如,學(xué)習(xí)到"How old are you?"這個(gè)句型時(shí),我就及時(shí)告訴學(xué)生:在西方國(guó)家問(wèn)年齡特別是問(wèn)女士年齡時(shí),他們往往會(huì)說(shuō):"Sorry, it's a secret."。因?yàn)槲鞣饺苏J(rèn)為年齡、收入等屬于個(gè)人隱私,隨意打聽(tīng)是一種不禮貌的行為,讓學(xué)生明白這就是中西方文化的差異。
如我在教學(xué)廣州版小學(xué)英語(yǔ)四年級(jí)下冊(cè)Unit16 In The Market一課時(shí),根據(jù)課文內(nèi)容要求學(xué)生能用英語(yǔ)進(jìn)行購(gòu)物,于是我就設(shè)計(jì)了一個(gè)場(chǎng)景,讓學(xué)生模擬在市場(chǎng)購(gòu)買(mǎi)東西,我把學(xué)生分成幾個(gè)小組,相當(dāng)于市場(chǎng)里不同的攤位,每個(gè)攤位都有各自不同的物品,學(xué)生們可以根據(jù)自己的喜好去任意的攤位上購(gòu)買(mǎi)東西。首先,我請(qǐng)班里一個(gè)英語(yǔ)表達(dá)能力較強(qiáng)的學(xué)生當(dāng)顧客,示范如何去購(gòu)買(mǎi)自己想要的東西,一輪英語(yǔ)對(duì)話下來(lái),學(xué)生們個(gè)個(gè)都聽(tīng)得很認(rèn)真,接著都迫不及待地想自己也來(lái)親身體驗(yàn)一番。在學(xué)生們一輪又一輪的英語(yǔ)對(duì)話中他們真切體會(huì)到了西方的文化,如我們?nèi)ベI(mǎi)東西時(shí),售貨員通常會(huì)直接問(wèn)顧客想要買(mǎi)什么,而英國(guó)人通常會(huì)說(shuō):"Can I help you?"或"What can I do for you?"。學(xué)生們?cè)谝粋€(gè)個(gè)"真實(shí)"的場(chǎng)景中不知不覺(jué)地融入到西方的文化氛圍之中。
我們大多數(shù)的課室布置都是對(duì)稱(chēng)結(jié)構(gòu),給人一種嚴(yán)肅氣氛。課室前后墻對(duì)應(yīng)掛上一些名人名言,以鼓勵(lì)學(xué)生勤奮學(xué)習(xí)。而英語(yǔ)國(guó)家課室的布置則像個(gè)小型展覽會(huì),別出心裁。于是我借鑒他們的經(jīng)驗(yàn),開(kāi)設(shè)了班級(jí)英語(yǔ)角,在班級(jí)的英語(yǔ)角建立西方文化集錦,及時(shí)張貼和教材內(nèi)容相關(guān)的文化知識(shí):有的是手工英語(yǔ)卡片展覽;有的是手工實(shí)物布置如toy shop, fruit shop, bedroom等;有的是英語(yǔ)手抄報(bào)展等等。通過(guò)小小的英語(yǔ)角認(rèn)識(shí)和傳遞西方文化知識(shí),讓學(xué)生直面文化,體驗(yàn)文化,感受文化的滲透給學(xué)習(xí)帶來(lái)的愉悅。