编者按:本期本栏目精选了三例国外教师进行语法教学的课堂活动实例，分别练习了间接引语、从句和时态，帮助老师激发学生学习语法的兴趣。

　　Eavesdropping

　　Marta Joyce Sabbadini

　　THIS is an activity for students to practice reporting speech. It provides a situation for reporting what others have said, which can be more realistic than some of the exercises that are found in textbooks.

　　Step 1: Choose a topic that will be of interest to students. The idea of “first date” — conversations taking place between two people in a cafe — is a good example.

　　Step 2: Explain the concept of “eavesdropping (listening to someone else’s conversation)”.

　　Step 3: Do a short revision session on reported speech, eliciting from students what happens to speech when it is reported and some of the constructions that can be used. Write on the blackboard sentence starters like “First he said... / And she replied... / So he then said... / Only for her to say that... / He then went on to ask her ...

　　Step 4: Introduce the context of the “first date” in a cafe. Ask students to brainstorm ideas about whom the people might be and what they might talk about in this situation.

　　Step 5: Put students in pairs of “first date couples”, asking them first to decide on their new names and characters, and then giving them around 10 minutes to prepare a short conversation, which they should write down.

　　Step 6: Once students are ready, set up the classroom as if it is a cafe, with couples sitting face to face. To add interest to the role-play, the teacher could ask students to come up with the name of their cafe and sometimes even allocate a few students to the roles of waiter / waitress.

　　Step 7: Explain to students that some of the people in the bar will be eavesdropping on others. Couples should start talking, and if the teacher taps someone on the shoulder, he/she should get up and go and eavesdrop on another couple’s conversation (of their choice). He/She then goes back to his/her partner and reports what was being said. The process can continue for up to 15 minutes, with different students having an opportunity to eavesdrop and report back.

　　Step 8: The class then comes back together, for each couple to report to everyone what another couple said. The couple in question can then explain to what extent this corresponded to their original conversation.

　　Step 9: The activity can also be followed-up by a writing stage, where students report the speech in writing, and then compare it with the original conversation.

　　这项活动给学生提供一个真实的情景，通过转述别人说过的话来练习间接引语，比课本上的练习更加真实。

　　第一步:选择一个学生感兴趣的话题。“初次约会”是个不错的例子，创造两个人在咖啡店里谈话的情景。

　　第二步:给学生解释“eavesdropping”的含义，即“偷听别人的谈话”。

　　第三步:复习间接引语，让学生思考间接引语运用到的句法和结构，然后在黑板上写上一些句子的开头，如:First he said... / And she replied... / So he then said... / Only for her to say that... / He then went on to ask her ...

　　第四步:给学生介绍在咖啡店“初次约会”的情景，让学生尽量多地设想约会人物的身份和关系，以及他们交谈的内容。

　　第五步:学生每两人一组扮演一对约会的人。让他们先决定自己的名字和角色，再给他们10分钟的时间准备并写下一个短对话。

　　第六步:学生编写完对话之后，老师把教室布置成咖啡店的形式，让学生们每两人相对而坐。如果想让活动变得更有趣，可以让学生给咖啡店取一个名字，甚至还可以找几个学生扮演侍者。

　　第七步:告诉学生在咖啡店里有人会偷听他们的谈话。学生们开始对话，当老师拍到某个学生的肩膀时，这个学生就站起来走动并（任意选择）偷听另一组同学的对话，之后回到座位给同伴转述听到的内容。练习过程持续约15分钟，让每个学生都有机会偷听并转述别人的话。

　　第八步:让学生重新归位，每组学生报告其他一组的谈话内容，被涉及到的组说明所转述的内容在多大程度上符合他们的原话。

　　第九步:活动结束后还可接着布置写作任务，让学生写下听到的对话，并与原话进行比较。

　　Clause exchange

　　Shirley Haley-James

　　THIS activity focuses on the students’ ability to compose and punctuate sentences with dependent adjective, adverb and noun clauses.

　　Step 1: Prepare a timer (a clock or watch will do) and play money — $5 bills.

　　Step 2: Choose one student to be the timer and judge, and another to be the banker. Divide the students into groups. Each group chooses a bookkeeper and a broker (speaker). Each group gets $20 (in $5s) to start with. The banker holds the rest of the money.

　　Step 3: To begin each round, the judge names the type of dependent clause that each group must use in sentences. For example, if the judge says adjective clause, groups have five minutes to compose as many sentences as they can that include dependent adjective clauses. The bookkeeper for each group writes the sentences on paper and underlines each adjective clause.

　　Step 4: Groups must work quietly to keep the other groups from overhearing their ideas. Groups can use sentences that they overhear, but they cannot walk around to look at the charts of other groups.

　　Step 5: The judge calls time when five minutes have passed. Each broker “sells” his/her group’s sentences by holding up the group’s list and reading the sentences.

　　Step 6: Groups may challenge the correctness of sentences by saying “We don’t buy it.” The judge decides whether the sentence is correct, with help from the teacher if needed. If the group that wrote the sentence made a mistake, the group pays the challenger $5. If the challenger made a mistake, the challenging group pays $5 to the group that wrote the sentence. Each correct sentence on a group’s list is worth $5. The banker pays each group for the sentences.

　　Step 7: The game continues when the judge calls out the next type of dependent clause, and sets the timer. The groups play three rounds, one for each type of clause.

　　Step 8: Scoring. After all six rounds have been played, the group with more money wins.

　　此活动重在考查学生对形容词从句、副词从句和名词从句的组织能力。

　　第一步:准备一只钟表作为计时器,面值为5美元的纸币若干。

　　第二步:选出一名学生作计时员和法官，另外一名作银行家。将学生分组，每一组选出一名记录员和一名经纪人（发言人）。每一组开始时都有20美元（4张5美元），银行家持有剩余的钱。

　　第三步:每一局游戏开始时，法官说出一个从句的类型，然后各组同学用此从句类型组织句子。比如，如果法官说的是形容词从句，那么其他学生就要在5分钟的时间内造尽可能多的包含形容词从句的句子。各组的记录员负责把句子写在纸上并在各个从句下面划线。

　　第四步:每组学生商量句子的时候应尽量小声，以免其他组的同学听到句子内容。每个组都可以采用偷听到的句子，但不允许随意走动偷看其他组的句子。

　　第五步:5分钟过后，法官宣布时间到。每个组的经纪人开始“出售”本组的句子，即在全班面前朗读句子。

　　第六步:其他组可以通过说“We don’t buy it”来挑战句子的正确性。法官断定句子是否正确。如有需要，老师可提供帮助。如果写出此句的小组错了，那么这一组就要付给挑战者5美元。如果挑战者错了，则反之。每个正确的句子都价值5美元，银行家根据正确句子的数量给每个小组发钱。

　　第七步:游戏继续进行，法官宣布下一个从句的类型，并开始计时。游戏一共3局，每局针对一个从句类型。

　　第八步:3局游戏结束后，老师计分，余额最多的小组获胜。

　　Truth or lie?

　　Bradley George

　　THIS activity is useful for the practice of present perfect and past tense.

　　Step 1: Prepare a list of questions like the following: Have you ever spoken to a famous person / been trapped in a lift/ appeared on television / appeared in a photograph in a newspaper / left a bar or restaurant without paying?

　　Step 2: Put students into groups of three, and each group has a copy of the questions. Let the members take in turns to ask the student on their left one of the questions. The student answering the question must answer “Yes I have” regardless of the truth.

　　Step 3: The student who asked the question can then ask as many further questions as he/she likes in order to help him/her decide whether the truth is being told or not. The third student can also join in with questions.

　　Step 4: When the first student feels he/she has heard enough, he/she says “No further questions” and writes “True” or “False” next to the question.

　　Step 5: When all the questions have been asked, the truth should be revealed. This game will open your eyes to people’s ability to lie.

　　* A typical conversation

　　A: Have you ever swum naked in the sea?

　　B: Yes, I have.

　　A: Where did you do it?

　　B: Erm. On holiday in Majorca.

　　A: Who were you with?

　　B: Some friends.

　　A: What were their names?

　　B: Erm...

　　这项活动对于练习现在完成时和过去时态非常有效。

　　第一步:准备若干问题，例如:Have you ever spoken to a famous person / been trapped in a lift / appeared on television / appeared in a photograph in a newspaper / left a bar or restaurant without paying?

　　第二步:将学生每三人分为一组，每组拿到一张问题列表。学生轮流提问左边的同学任意一个问题。无论真相如何，被问到的学生必须回答“Yes I have”。

　　第三步:提问的学生接着问更深入的问题，以帮助自己判断对方所说是否属实。第三个学生也可以参加提问。

　　第四步:如果提问的学生觉得已经得到足够的信息，可以说“No further questions”，然后在所提的问题旁边注上真假。

　　第五步:所有问题问完之后，回答问题的学生要说出真相。这个游戏能让你大开眼界，看看一个人“撒谎”的能力。