During the centenary celebration of the Chinese Department of Peking University, I once said: "Mother tongue education is not only reading and literacy, but also involves knowledge, thinking, aesthetics and cultural stance. I have taught in universities in Chinese mainland, Taiwan Province Province and Hong Kong, and I deeply feel that the Chinese level of mainland students is not satisfactory. " The former sentence is easy to say, and the latter sentence is very hurtful, which is actually related to our whole educational thought.
I remember that four years ago, at the inaugural meeting of Harvard Center in Shanghai, I exchanged my experiences and puzzles with the professors of English Department of Harvard University. I talked about the decline of "Freshman Chinese" and the decline of college students' writing ability, and the other party was surprised, because "reading and writing" is a compulsory course for them and cannot be erased. Accurately and elegantly using one's own language and characters is very important for college students in any country and any era. This ability cannot be acquired overnight, nor can it be replaced by political courses or general education courses.
Learning one's own language and literature should be a wonderful enjoyment. At the same time, this course covers a wide range-Chinese knowledge, literary interest, cultural construction, morality, ideology, and even "international relations."
2. "There is no other way but to study hard and do more."
Chinese classes in high schools or literature history classes in universities still pay attention to free reading, without so many restrictions of "taking courses first", let alone "step by step". It doesn't matter whether you are willing to jump, read backwards or even read backwards in the face of a vast number of famous books or articles. This is also the reason why "literature education" is not valued in universities-"professionalism is not strong", and there will be no connection without a few classes.
But this is a lovely place for middle school Chinese or college literature classes. Its success or failure will not be immediately revealed, but it is often subtle and "smooth". For example, looking back many years later, Chinese class will arouse your infinite reverie, and you may even intentionally collect some old textbooks and look through them from time to time. Besides, for many old students, China is more admired than math, English or politics teachers. It is not only the arrangement of class hours, the talent of teachers, but also the memory of students' own growth. In this sense, it is no exaggeration to say that Chinese classes in primary and secondary schools are very important and affect students' lives.
The threshold of Chinese teaching is very low, but it is extremely deep. The reason is that the teaching and learning of this course is really "urgent", just like cooking soup in Guangdong, it takes time and patience. How to find the right degree between diving and extensive reading is worthy of serious consideration by scholars.
Now, if learning is regarded as an investment, people will want to maximize their income. But this idea is obviously not suitable for Chinese teaching. In fact, there is no shortcut to learning Chinese. First you are interested, then you should read more books, be willing to think and write frequently. In this way, you will learn Chinese well. Zhi Lin in Dongpo mentioned that Ouyang Xiu was asked how to write an article. He said: "There is no other way but to study hard and do more work. The world suffers from writing less and is lazy to read. Every article published is asking for help, so few people come. Don't blame others for the defects, you can see them yourself. " This dialect is based on experience. Ouyang Xiu and Su Dongpo still can't find the "trick" of reading and writing. Of course, I have no comment.
3. "Classic reading" and "happy reading" are not diametrically opposed.
Why say "learning" first, then "teaching"? Because the learning of mother tongue depends largely on students' consciousness. The so-called "the master leads the door, and the practice depends on the individual" is particularly prominent in this course. What teachers can do is mainly to arouse their reading enthusiasm and then give some guidance. If the students are not interested, it is useless even if the teacher spits lotus flowers all day.
When it comes to the fun of Chinese learning, we must distinguish between two different kinds of reading fun: one is to appeal to intuition, which comes and goes quickly; One is that the eagle's mouth came late and went late. "Classic reading" and "happy reading" are not diametrically opposed. I just emphasize how to cultivate students' "eyes of discovery" in teaching. What did you find? Discover the beauty of language, article, humanity and nature contained in seemingly inconspicuous lines. And this "discovery" ability is not naturally formed, but needs long-term training and cultivation. In this regard, teachers' "excellent performance" and "guiding according to the situation" are very important.
Lecturing is an art, and the classroom is the stage. It is not enough for the speaker to "speak freely", but also for the listener to "disobey", which is the ideal state. Last year, I wrote an article in Wen Wei Po, acknowledging the great advantages of massive open online courses (large open online courses) in popularizing education and disseminating knowledge. At the same time, I also said that I have been engaged in literature education for many years and I know the importance of "face to face". For example, it is more like doing farm work, and it is difficult to "save as soon as possible" depending on the weather, location and people. I don't understand other classes, but I know that Chinese classes can't be taught from a distance. It is important to have a sense of existence. You must stare at the students' eyes and keep communicating and talking with them. Only in this way can this course be taught well. Just fiddling with beautiful PPT and treating the students present as "nothing" is not a successful teaching or a competent teacher.
4. Being too rich, too slick and too elite is not necessarily a good thing.
I have said two words about Chinese classes in middle schools and literature education in universities: First, please read useless books; Second, the Chinese department is to lay the foundation for your life; Now it seems necessary to add the third sentence, that is: Chinese learning is inseparable from life experience.
Say the first sentence first, when answering a reporter's question. I talked about three dimensions of advocating reading, including "reading more useless books". Why do you say that? Because reading in China is too "immediate" nowadays. During school, read according to the course; After leaving school, read books according to the needs of work. Books that have nothing to do with exams or employment are all dismissed as "useless". The most typical thing is to shelve literature, art, religion, philosophy and history. In my opinion, the so-called "elite reading" refers to these works that have no practical use at present, but are meaningful for cultivating life experience, cultural taste and spiritual realm.
The second sentence is a speech at the graduation ceremony of the Chinese Department of Peking University on 20 12: "People in the Chinese Department are often dismissed as' omnipotent' and seem to be omnipotent in politics, business, literature and art; If you get great grades, it seems that it has nothing to do with professional training. But there's nothing funny. The basic training of Chinese department is to lay the foundation for your life, which will help you to be unconstrained and unrestrained in the future. Someone asked me, what are the specialties of Chinese graduates? I said: smart, open-minded, broad-minded, able to read, cultured and good at expressing, isn't that enough? Of course, it is another matter to study for a doctor and take the road of experts. "
This leads to the third sentence. Quoting Zhang Taiyan's sentence "Although there are teachers and friends giving lectures, there are also many patients who are worried" ("Mr. Taiyan's self-determined chronology") seems a bit high; Then take a step back and talk about the learning state of ordinary college students. Middle school graduates from different regions and at different levels have come together through the college entrance examination. But in fact, their learning ability and life experience are very different. Generally speaking, students from key middle schools in big cities have a high academic level and broad horizons. College students who come out of the countryside obviously work hard in the first year, and they will get better in the third and fourth years. If their intelligence and potential are well stimulated, their future development is often more exciting. If you study literature, history, philosophy, etc., your understanding of life, reverence for nature, and deep understanding of happiness and pain will all become important aids to your study.
In a sense, people who study literature are too rich, too slick and too elite, which is not necessarily a good thing. How difficult it is to be rich, adversity inspires, and college students from poor families or small places don't have to feel inferior at all.
You should learn to think independently and express accurately.
For today's college students, it is not enough to study hard, but also to learn to think independently and express accurately. The expressions here include written and oral. A few years ago, I wrote "Training, Talents, Stage" and gave speeches, listened and asked questions at academic conferences. Among them, there are a few words: "As a scholar, besides diving and writing books, you should also learn to explain your thoughts to the audience within the specified time. Sometimes, the road of a lifetime is decided by this 10 minute or 20 minute speech or interview. Therefore, it should not be underestimated. "
The specific explanation may not be accurate, but I think it is inseparable to emphasize the importance of oral expression. When college students from Chinese mainland, Hongkong and Taiwan Province meet together, you obviously feel that mainland students are generally very talented, but they can't speak very well-either they can't express clearly, or they are off topic, or they can't grasp the time well. This is related to our classroom teaching tendency to talk rather than discuss. The implementation of small class teaching and tutorial system requires students to actively participate in discussions and record scores. Only a few years later can this prejudice be corrected. Compared with other courses, Chinese class is most likely to be ahead.
In a professional era, talking about "reading" and "writing" is particularly naive. Perhaps because of this, most university teachers are reluctant to touch such topics. Since there are no wings, you have to rely on a boat to cross the river. Whether in primary school or middle school, it is natural for teachers to provide students with "boats" to cross the river-although the realm and methods are different. In the special class of Peking University and the lecture at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, whenever I comment on students' papers as usual, I not only find faults, supplement information and explain theories, but also put myself in their shoes to help them think about what else this article can do. Students told me that this is the time to benefit the most.
Chinese classes in middle schools and humanities classes in universities are, in the final analysis, to cultivate readers who are good at reading, thinking and expressing. It is not enough to talk about "professional knowledge", but also about "speaking and writing"-this standard is not low, so try it.