First, the importance and necessity of cultural infiltration in English teaching
No country in the world studies a foreign language as the main subject of the college entrance examination like China. However, China students who have studied English for many years often encounter many difficulties in reading English books and communicating with people from English-speaking countries because of the lack of English-speaking culture. Language and culture are inseparable. Language is the carrier of cultural inheritance and continuation, and the development of culture also has an important influence and restriction on the development of language. A certain language expression comes from a certain cultural background, and only by fully understanding this cultural background can we understand the true meaning of language expression. English contains countless allusions, famous sayings, historical works, etc., and involves ideological, political and social important events and figures in various periods. Only by knowing more about this knowledge can we learn a language better.
The English Curriculum Standard for Ordinary Senior High Schools points out: English curriculum in senior high schools should emphasize the improvement of students' ability to obtain information, process information, analyze and solve problems in English on the basis of further developing students' comprehensive language application ability, with special emphasis on improving students' ability to think and express in English; Form the awareness of cross-cultural communication and basic cross-cultural communication ability. In English teaching, culture mainly refers to the history, geography, customs, traditional customs, lifestyle, literature and art, code of conduct and values of English-speaking countries. Contacting and understanding the culture of English-speaking countries is conducive to understanding and using English, deepening the understanding and understanding of their own culture, cultivating world awareness and forming cross-cultural communication ability. The English Curriculum Standard for Senior High School puts forward specific contents and standards for cultural awareness. The following is a description of the goal of the seven-level cultural awareness:
1. Understand common idioms and proverbs in English and their cultural connotations;
2. Understand the common allusions or legends in English communication;
3. Understand the achievements and contributions of major writers, artists, scientists and politicians in English-speaking countries;
4. Have a preliminary understanding of the political and economic situation of major English-speaking countries;
5. Understand the major mass media in English-speaking countries;
6. Understand the similarities and differences of lifestyles between people in major English-speaking countries and people in China;
7. Understand the similarities and differences between people in English-speaking countries and people in China in behavior and treatment;
8. Understand the main religious traditions of English-speaking countries;
9. Understand the world culture and cultivate the world consciousness by learning English;
1 By comparing Chinese and foreign cultures, we can deepen our understanding of China culture.
In recent years, the college entrance examination English test questions also pay more attention to the test of real language and language use ability. Whether listening, single-choice, gestalt, reading or written expression, the content of cross-cultural language use is also gradually increasing. Therefore, in English teaching, besides the teaching of language knowledge, it is very important to cultivate students' cross-cultural awareness and let them know about the culture of English-speaking countries, which is very important for cultivating students' interest in learning English and improving their ability.
At present, many middle school English teaching work only focuses on the teaching of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. Many teachers think that as long as they master these things, they can have a smooth reading communication. Indeed, it is very necessary to master the basic language skills. But we must also understand that the purpose of learning a language is not to remember some words or sentences, but to communicate. As a teacher, it is necessary to cultivate students' ability to use language, not just the ability to do problems and cope with exams. Therefore, in our teaching work, we should pay enough attention to the cultivation of students' communicative competence, so that students can understand the culture of the language country they are learning and use the language appropriately according to the topic, context and cultural background.
second, how to carry out cultural infiltration in English teaching
1. Be good at tapping the cultural resources in existing textbooks
After the new curriculum reform, the current senior high school English textbooks are compiled according to the "structure-function" theory, and each module has a theme, a topic and a communicative function item. Each module reflects the culture that is not tolerated at home and abroad, and the listening, speaking, reading and writing in each module are carried out around this topic, which fully embodies the characteristic of "cultural infiltration". As teachers, we should fully explore the teaching materials and think hard, so that we can find many ways and means of cross-cultural education.
2. Make full use of festivals to teach culture
With the continuous expansion of globalization, many traditional western festivals have become popular in China. Many students are also very keen on some western festival cultures. In the process of English teaching, teachers can make full use of these festivals to infiltrate students' cross-cultural knowledge, and can also compare Chinese and western festivals to let students know the differences between Chinese and western cultures. For example, Valentine's Day, Thanksgiving Day, April Fool's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Easter, Christmas and so on are now popular. Teachers may wish to present students with rich and colorful background knowledge during these festivals, so that students can truly and intuitively feel foreign cultures, which not only enhances students' interest in learning English, but also enables students to be immersed in it and apply what they have learned. For example, Christmas, teachers can explain to students that Christmas is a celebration day for Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and how westerners celebrate Christmas.
3. Offering English elective courses and carrying out rich English activities
The new curriculum requires every school to carry out rich elective courses, and English teachers can take this opportunity to carry out some interesting English elective courses. For example, my school offers Appreciation of English Songs, Appreciation of English Beauty and Appreciation of English Film and Television Plays. Elective courses do not have language knowledge teaching tasks that must be completed like compulsory courses, and their main purpose can be to improve students' interest in learning English and to convey the culture of English-speaking countries to students. .
4. Make full use of modern teaching equipment and network resources
One of the characteristics of English teaching is to make students contact and learn English from different channels and forms as much as possible, and experience the language and its application directly.
Conclusion
It is very important to cultivate cultural awareness when learning a foreign language. We should pay full attention to the relationship between language and culture. If you only master the basic knowledge of language but lack the necessary background knowledge of language and culture, and don't understand the differences between cultures, then mistakes will inevitably occur in the process of language application. In the process of English teaching in senior high school, we should not only pay attention to the teaching of basic language knowledge, but also pay attention to the cultivation of cross-cultural awareness, and adopt various effective methods to let students know about the cultural knowledge of different countries and improve their comprehensive ability to use English.