为什么我们不喜欢英语课堂

Why we don’t like English classes 本文英语原文节选自 antimoon，略有删改并增加中文译文

English classes are the most popular way in which people study English. They are so amazingly popular that most people do not even think about how to learn English. The process is automatic: I want to learn English, so I sign up for an English course. I will pay some money, sit in class for a few hours a week, and I will get good English. 人们学英语，最受欢迎的方法就是上英语课堂。这些课堂是如此出奇地受欢迎，令大部份人连怎麼学英语how to learn English都不去想了。这个逻辑是很自然的：我想学英文，所以我就去报名上课学英文。我会付钱，每个星期上几个鐘头的课，那麼我就会学好英文了。

This is very surprising, because English classes are a very poor way of learning English. We spent a large part of our lives in English classes (in high school, college, and in language schools), and we know what they are like. With all our knowledge of English classes and courses, we would be surprised if we met a person who has learned to speak English very well by going to English classes. 这是让人很惊讶的，因為英语课堂是一种很差的学英文方法。在我们的人生裡，已经花了很多时间在上英文课（在中学、大学、语言学校），而我们都知道那是什麼一回事。我们都知道英文课堂和课程是怎麼样的，假如遇到一个人可以靠上课就学会说英文，是很令人惊奇的。

If you attend English classes, you spend many hours a week on them. Often, you also spend lots of your money. What do you get for your time and money? Here is what you can do at an English class: 如果你去上英文课，你每个星期都会花几个鐘头。你经常都要花很多钱。你付出这麼多时间和钱，又得到什麼呢？以下就是你在英文课可以做的事：

• Listen to some bad English. The pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary of other students (and sometimes the teacher, too) will be bad. Sometimes as bad as this, or worse. Surely listening to these people will not make your English better.
• Say five sentences in English. There are usually 10-20 students in the class, so there is little time for you to speak English. Normal English classes are very poor speaking practice. (Conversation classes are better.)
• Read a boring textbook. Almost all English teachers use textbooks. Want to know why? Because it makes their work easier. They don’t have to prepare for every class. They just do the next unit in the book. Textbooks make teaching easy. And they make learning boring and ineffective. You have to read stupid stories about Michael Jackson or a woman who lived in the African jungle for two years. Then you have to answer questions about them and talk about them with other students. This is madness! All this nonsense that you don’t care about. It makes you think that learning English is boring.
• Listen to a few grammar rules, such as “the present continuous tense is used for talking about developing and changing situations”. Memorizing dozens of grammar rules is the stupidest thing you can do. The two main reasons: 1) It is impossible to memorize all those hundreds of grammar rules anyway, 2) When speaking English, you don’t have time to think: “What tense should I use? Let’s see... I want to present the idea of action continuing up to the present time, so I should use the present perfect tense.” You want to use your English naturally. Grammar rules may improve your scores in tests, but they do not improve your English.
• Do some grammar exercises. After talking about grammar rules, teachers usually give you some exercises, such as multiple choice or gap filling tests. Grammar exercises have two functions: 1) they make you review the grammar rules, 2) they test your English. The first function is useless because grammar rules are useless (see previous section). The second function, testing, is okay if you want to compare your knowledge with other people. But testing does not teach you any English.
• Get a homework assignment. The homework is usually a grammar exercise (see previous section) or a composition. The subject of the composition will usually be something that you don’t care about. Examples: Your opinion on the proverb “Blood is thicker than water”, Is it good to be famous?. What nonsense. Doing boring things is not going to help your English. It will only decrease your motivation.
• 听一些很差的英文。其他同学的发音、文法和词汇都会很差（有时连老师都是），有时会像这样，有时更加差。可以肯定，听这些人说话，不会令你的英文有进步。
• 说五句英文。通常课室裡面都有10至20个学生，所以你可以说英文的时间很少。一般的英文课对练习口语都不太好。（口语课程会好一点）
• 读一本很闷的教科书。几乎所有英文教师都会用教科书。你猜為什麼？因為这可以减轻他们的负担。他们不用总是要备课，只需要教下一课课文。教科书令教书容易了，也令学习变得沉闷和没效率。你要去读Michael Jackson或者一个在非洲森林住了两年的女人这种无聊故事。然后你就要回答一些关於他们的问题，又要跟其他同学讨论。这是傻的。这些都是你没兴趣知道的废话，令你觉得学英文是很无聊的。
• 听老师说几条文法规则，例如“现在进行时是用来讲述一些在发展和改变的情况”。学文法规则是最无聊的，有两个原因：一，根本没可能背下几百条文法规则；二，说英文的时候，你没有时间去想：“我应该用什麼时态？嗯……我想表达一个意念，是在进行的，到现在為止，所以我应该用现在完成时。”你想自然地运用英文。文法规则可以改善你的测验成绩，但不能够改善你的英文。
• 做些文法练习。讲解了文法规则之后，老师通常会给你练习做，例如是多项选择题或者填充测验。文法练习有两种用处：一，令你温习文法练习；二，测试你的英文。第一个是没用的，因為文法规则没有用（看上一段）。第二个用处是有用的，假如你想跟别人比较你的程度，但是测验不会教你任何英文。
• 做功课。通常这些功课是文法练习（见上段）或者一篇作文。作文的题目通常是你没兴趣写的，例如：你对谚语“血浓於水”的意见、做名人好吗？。都是废话。做无聊的事情不会帮你学英文，只会令你失去动力。

English classes will not teach you good pronunciation (which is simply necessary for communication!). Most teachers completely ignore it, sometimes because their own pronunciation is bad. Some teachers will correct your mistakes when you speak. But very few teachers will tell you how you can avoid making the same mistakes again. Very few teachers will tell you about the sounds of English and how to use a dictionary to learn about the pronunciation of words. 英语课堂不会教你好的发音（但对沟通是很重要的！）。很多老师完全忽略发音，有时因為连他们的发音都很差。有些老师会在改正你说话时的错误，但很少老师会告诉你怎麼可以避免再犯同样的错误。很少老师会告诉你英文的语音和怎麼用词典去学词语的读音。

Most teachers will not encourage you to read in English, to buy a good English-English dictionary, to listen to English-language recordings on your own. They will just do their textbook and the exercises in it. If your teacher is different, you are lucky.

大部份老师不会鼓励你自己去看英文书、去买一本好的英英词典和听英文的录音。他们只会用教科书和裡面的练习教书。假如你老师不是这样的话，你很幸运。

This is what most English classes look like. Think about your classes. If they are like that — boring and ineffective — then you are simply wasting your time. (Don’t worry: you are not alone. Millions of people around the world waste their time by going to English classes, even though they do not improve their English.)

这就是大部份英文课堂的情况。想不想你的课堂是怎麼样。如果你的课堂都是沉闷和没效用，那麼你只是在浪费时间。（别担心：不是你才会这样。世上几百万人都把时间浪费在上英文课，即使他们改善不了自己的英文）

You can replace ineffective and boring classes with interesting things which will really improve your English: 你可以用一些有趣的东西取代没效和沉闷的课堂，真正改善你的英文：

• Instead of listening to bad English in the classroom, turn on your TV and watch CNN International or another English-language channel. You will get lots of perfect sentences in excellent English.
• Instead of sitting for two hours to say five sentences in English, sign up for a conversation class with a native speaker. Or start speaking English with your best friend.
• Instead of working with a boring textbook, read something interesting. There are so many interesting texts in English! Surf to English-language sites on the Web. Read a good book in English. Simply, read something that interests you. Something that won’t bore you to death.
• Instead of memorizing grammar rules and doing grammar exercises, read and listen to English. Input is the only way to learn impressive, natural English.
• Instead of writing compositions about the subject that your teacher gave you, write about something that you care about. For example, write some e-mail in English. Don’t write for your teacher — write for yourself!
• 与其在课室听差劣的英语，不如打开电视去看CNN International或者其他英语频道。你可以听到很多优质完美的英文句子。
• 与其待在课室两个小时说五句英文，不如报读由外教主持的对话课程，或者去跟你的好朋友说英文。
• 与其看沉闷的教科书，不如看些有趣的书。有很多英文文章都是很有趣的。你也可以上网看英文网页。或者看一本英文书。总之，就是看你感兴趣的东西，看些不会闷死人的东西。
• 与其背诵语法规则和做语法练习，不如去看和听英文。只有吸收输入才可以学会令人印象深刻而自然的英文。
• 与其写老师给你的作文题目，不如写一些你喜欢东西，例如去用英文写电邮。不要為老师而写，而是為你自己！