Serving books was first seen in the words of Confucius, a great educator in ancient China: "A gentleman's serving books is based on morality and filial piety, which is the foundation of people." Yin Zhen, a great scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was the pioneer of Guizhou's education and culture (Han Dynasty? There is no dam in the county, that is, people in Xinzhou Town, Zheng 'an County used to take action as their business book. Not far from Yin Zhen, Wan Li came to Luoyang, the capital, to learn from Xu Shen. After finishing his studies, he returned to his hometown to build a thatched cottage, open a lecture hall and educate business books. Then, Yin Zhen was appointed as an official, and the official went to Jingzhou to make a secretariat. When Yin Zhen became famous, she was still interested in education, so she resigned and returned to her hometown, renamed the original learning hall "Wubentang", returned to her old job and determined to educate people. Yin Zhen believes that being an official is more important than teaching. Yin Zhen culture has become a cultural phenomenon with regional characteristics, and the spirit of service first has become the driving force to lead and influence generations of literati in northern Guizhou.
The service thoughts of Confucius and Yin Zhen have given me great enlightenment to explore and think about education in China.
(B) to cultivate Chinese literacy-the essence of Chinese education
What should be the task of education in China today? Is to cultivate China people with good Chinese literacy. What is Chinese literacy? "New Curriculum Standard" has no strict academic definition, but only requires "making students acquire basic Chinese literacy" in compulsory education and "further improving students' Chinese literacy" in senior high school. The interpretation of Chinese literacy in the book Interpretation of Chinese Curriculum Standards (Experiment) in Ordinary Senior High Schools is: "Chinese literacy includes the accumulation of words and sentences, language sense, thinking quality, Chinese learning methods and habits, literacy, writing, reading, writing and oral communication ability, cultural taste, aesthetic taste, knowledge vision, interest attitude, ideas and so on." "Chinese literacy includes functional and non-functional aspects, namely language literacy and spiritual literacy. Language literacy mainly refers to the ability to accumulate, feel, understand and use language, as well as methods and habits; Spiritual accomplishment mainly refers to perceptual humanistic spirit and rational scientific spirit. The former is a good mental state, values, aesthetic taste and cultural taste, while the latter is the quality of seeking knowledge, questioning, exploring and innovating. " (Zheng Yinong's Basic Criteria for the Effectiveness of Chinese Teaching from the Perspective of Teaching Objectives and Teaching Methods, Reference to Chinese Teaching in Middle Schools, No.5, 20 10)
(C) improve language literacy-the core of language literacy training
Compared with spiritual literacy, language literacy is at the core. The name of Chinese class is "language", and any value of the text should be reflected through language. The cultivation of spiritual accomplishment must be carried out through language education, and spirit is contained in language, that is, language is the home of spirit. A culture can only exist in a specific language, and when the language disappears, so does the culture. As long as there is language, the blood of culture will not be interrupted. After thousands of years of displacement, the Jewish nation can still restore the country because it has its own culture. The first thing Israel did after the restoration of the country in 1948 was to restore the language, which is enough to show the great cultural connotation of the language. The reason why a country can build a country depends mainly on nothing but culture, but its own mother tongue. The history of China also illustrates this point. Ancient Egypt, Babylon and India are ancient, but China has a continuous history, because China has its own mother tongue and China culture.
Although Qu Yuan, Tao Yuanming, Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi, Wang Anshi and Su Shi have passed away for many years, their spirits still exist and still live in today's language. "Ten years of life and death are boundless and unforgettable" contains Su Shi's sad feelings of infinite nostalgia for his wife. This feeling does not exist independently anywhere else, but in this particular language. "The apes on both sides of the strait are crying, and the canoe has passed Chung Shan Man." What this language expresses is not the crying of apes and the swiftness of canoeing, but the surprise that Li Bai suddenly heard the good news of pardon on his way to being demoted. Zhang's Moonlit Night on a Spring River expresses many spiritual feelings about time and space, life and the universe through specific language.
Human spirit and culture can only exist in language, and only through language can they spread and continue. Language and spirit are not heterogeneous, but have amazing identity. This is the essence of language. Therefore, to cultivate Chinese literacy, we must grasp the core of improving Chinese literacy.
(D) Building a sound language system-the significance of Chinese education
Every living thing has its own language system. For example, a person's words often include "earth, starlight, mountains and rivers" and so on. At least it can be judged that this is a person with some natural interests; And if a person's words often include "bars, disco dancing and singing", at least it can be judged that this person likes modern consumption methods. This kind of judgment can often be established, because a person's psychological structure and spiritual realm can be revealed through language.
People who have received Chinese education and those who have not received Chinese education have obviously different language systems, and more importantly, their spiritual realm is obviously different. Montaigne said: "There are two kinds of ignorance in the world. Shallow ignorance exists before knowledge, and learned ignorance exists after knowledge. " Why are you knowledgeable and ignorant? Because knowledge is external, material, instrumental and quantifiable to people, it must be allowed to enter the cognitive subject and penetrate into people's life and behavior before it can be called literacy. In the final analysis, humanistic knowledge has an ultimate concern, that is, the concern for "people", without the concern for capitalized "people", without great emotion and rich wisdom. Even with humanistic knowledge, it only has the value of reference books, which cannot be called cultural literacy.
Knowledge is specialized and culture is comprehensive. Culture is a comprehensive accomplishment and humanistic realm that not only contains knowledge, but also transcends it. Culture in a broad sense is related to people's thoughts, behaviors, moral feelings, and the minds and realms of intellectuals. There is a class of high-level intellectuals in society. They may have a high level in a certain professional field, but they are indifferent to social life and know nothing about the world, history, reality and politics. Such intellectuals (strictly speaking, they are not real intellectuals, and real intellectuals should bear ideological, moral and cultural responsibilities) can only be tools of human society. If they are used by evil politics, their knowledge will become a crime.
The essence of Chinese literacy mentioned in "New Curriculum Standard" is cultural literacy. The significance of Chinese education lies in constructing and perfecting the language system that can reflect students' cultural literacy. It is necessary to change students' ignorance before knowledge and avoid students' ignorance after knowledge. Improving students' cultural literacy is the responsibility of all aspects involved in the school cultural platform, and Chinese education is duty-bound.
Let's be realistic
The so-called truth-seeking means that teachers should be pragmatic in teaching practice, pragmatic in educational objectives and pragmatic in teaching methods, and ultimately they will get practical results in cultivating China people.
(A) Chinese teachers' personal role models-reality
The word "Shi" is explained in Modern Chinese Dictionary from the aspect of people's quality: "Honesty; True; Solid (work, work); Tunnel; Not sloppy "and so on. The final output of China's education is a compassionate, sincere and humane person. The success or failure of Chinese education depends on the ideological background and spiritual model of educators. This requires a Chinese teacher to be such a person first. No matter from knowledge and wisdom, or from personality and emotion, he must have the light and strength from the depths of life to influence the spiritual world and quality of life of students with such light and strength. In other words, Chinese teachers' leading by example plays a vital role in cultivating students' cultural literacy.
Specifically, the practical training of Chinese teachers can be reflected in the following eight aspects: first, they have deep feelings of loving the motherland; Second, there is a rich and extensive language accumulation; Third, have a sensitive and accurate sense of language; Fourth, creative thinking with considerable level and quality; Fifth, have good study methods and habits; Sixth, have a positive and healthy emotional attitude and values; Seventh, outstanding spirit of inquiry and innovative consciousness; Eight is to be proficient in reading, writing and oral communication. My essay "On the Example of Chinese Teachers" and "Chinese Teaching and Research? "Teaching and Research World", No.6, 2007)
To cultivate students into literate China people, Chinese teachers should first be China people with real Chinese literacy.
(B) the goals and requirements of education in China-reality
High school texts can be divided into three categories: expository texts, practical texts and literary texts. The teaching goal and requirement of New Curriculum Standard is: "When reading expository texts, teachers should guide students to grasp the relationship between ideas and materials, and pay attention to the profundity of ideas, the scientificity of ideas, the rigorousness of logic and the accuracy of language." "When reading news in practical texts, students should be guided to pay attention to the source and authenticity of materials, the relationship between facts and opinions, basic events and typical details, the value orientation and practical effects of texts, etc. ; In the teaching of general practical writing, we should mainly use text examples to understand its function and basic format. " As for literary texts, the teaching requirements of New Curriculum Standard for Chinese and foreign literary works are: "Have a positive appreciation attitude, pay attention to aesthetic experience, cultivate temperament and cultivate mind. Can feel the image, taste the language, understand the rich connotation of the work, appreciate its artistic expression, and have their own emotional experience and thinking. Strive to explore the national psychology and the spirit of the times contained in the works and understand the rich social life and emotional world of mankind. " For the excellent ancient works in China, the new curriculum standard requires: "To understand the Chinese national spirit contained in them and lay a foundation for the formation of a certain traditional cultural heritage. Learn to understand the content value of ancient works from the perspective of historical development and draw national wisdom from them; Examine the works with modern concepts and evaluate their historical significance and historical limitations. "
The core of the teaching objectives and requirements of "New Curriculum Standards" is to cultivate students' Chinese literacy. Chinese literacy has two characteristics: functional and non-functional. In the teaching process, one side is often emphasized and the other side is ignored. Or make the Chinese course an all-inclusive cultural course, including astronomy, geography, history, society, folk customs and religion. The teacher stood on the platform and talked with Kan Kan, from the emperor to the president, from philosophy to science, from architecture to music, and talked with Kan Kan and Kan Kan, showing his talents. As we all know, this practice of paying too much attention to the non-utilitarian side of Chinese literacy and ignoring the functional side will give people a feeling of being too vain and not down-to-earth, and it is easy to turn Chinese classes into completely exam-oriented or problem-oriented training courses. Teach whatever you take in the exam, or simply design a text into a series of exercises. After the students finish their exercises, the teacher will finish the task even if the text is finished. This exam-oriented and problem-based Chinese teaching can not only help students learn non-functional spiritual nourishment, but also enjoy the elegance and beauty of functional Chinese.
We should be soberly aware that it is impossible for a person with good Chinese literacy not to take the exam. Chinese literacy has included the basic literacy and skills of taking the exam. At the same time, the current senior high school entrance examination and college entrance examination papers pay more and more attention to examining students' true Chinese literacy. Adhering to the teaching objectives and requirements of cultivating people with Chinese literacy and cultivating students with comprehensive Chinese literacy can not only adapt to the current exam, but also take care of students' lifelong development. Having both fish and bear's paw is the most practical teaching goal and requirement.
Chinese education should combine the study of China culture with the study of Chinese civilization, from the experience of writing words and sentences to the cultivation of listening, speaking, reading and writing skills. Chinese education, which separates the relationship between language and culture, is bound to slide to a dead end of "playing with language"; Putting up solid language training and deliberately pursuing the teaching of "pure articles" and "pure literature" will inevitably slide into the mire of "playing with culture". Chinese education should not only lay a solid language foundation for students, but also pay attention to the accumulation of students' strong culture. Let students learn and use the language while naturally being nourished by culture; While learning culture, we can obtain the methods and rules of learning and using language, thus forming standardized, healthy and fluent language expression and cultural behavior habits. Only in this way can education in China truly serve the purpose, improve the quality and produce benefits.
(C) Chinese teaching method-practical
In recent years, with the start and promotion of the new curriculum reform, there has been unprecedented prosperity in the field of Chinese education, with various ideological trends one after another and various viewpoints contending, which has set off the trend of ideological emancipation in Chinese education. Most of these arguments focus on "what to teach" and "how to teach" in China education. "What to teach" is a matter of content, while "How to teach" is a matter of method. Behind "what to teach" stands the spiritual background of educators. "How to teach" is only a means to achieve specific educational goals under this spiritual background, and there is room for free choice. We often say that there is no definite method in teaching, and its essence is to let the spirit fly on the basis of familiarity, which is a profound and comfortable life experience. The methods and approaches of Chinese teaching are only the means to achieve success, and the key to Chinese education lies not in the means but in the results. In other words, you can choose the way, but you don't have to be too persistent. When we cling to a certain method, in fact, we have become prisoners of this method.
It can be said that the classroom teaching without mastering the language is not a Chinese class, nor can it be an effective Chinese teaching. It is a phenomenon of pan-China or even non-China to stay away from the text language and focus on the content and spirit of the text, which is not practical and effective. The idiom "Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying his magical powers" refers to the relationship between goals and methods. This "magical power" refers to the methods and strategies used by each, and the goal is one-"crossing the sea." Instead of crossing the sea, climbing mountains and flying. Only the method of trying to figure out words and phrases in class is practical and effective, and any overhead analysis method that is divorced from the language context, no matter how fancy and lively, is not desirable. Taking Chinese character teaching as an example, the author thinks that Chinese character teaching in senior high school should activate the vitality of Chinese characters, make them move from plane to three-dimensional, from unit to multi-dimensional, from static to change, and vividly explain the joys and sorrows expressed by Chinese characters. A large part of students' humanistic quality comes from this mysterious and changeable square character. If you understand Chinese characters, you will understand the culture of China. (My essay "Word Teaching is the Breakthrough to Cultivate Humanistic Literacy" and "Chinese Teaching and Research? Teaching and research world (No.1 2009).
In Chinese teaching, we should not only pay attention to the content of language expression, but also pay attention to the form of language expression, and see how the specific ideological content is expressed through specific language forms. Language form is the carrier of language content, and the content of language expression is concerned by various disciplines. Mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and other disciplines are also very concerned about the accurate expression of definitions, principles and concepts, and pay attention to the content of language expression. Language form is the focus of Chinese subject. In teaching, students should not only know what the language expresses, but also pay attention to how the content of the language is expressed, pay attention to the form of the language, try to figure out the sound, shape and meaning of the language, taste the color, fragrance and taste of the language, and even weigh the lightness and heaviness of the language and feel the rigidity and softness of the language. There are some descriptions in "I and Ditan": "The ancient cypresses around the altar are becoming more and more secluded, and weeds and vines are everywhere, and they are unrestrained and flourishing." "Bees are like a small fog, firmly stopping in mid-air; The ant shook his head, stroked his tentacles, suddenly figured something out, turned around and ran away. " "Many years later, I gradually realized that my mother's words were actually self-comfort, a secret prayer, a reminder, a plea and an exhortation." When describing the scenery, the author transfers a large number of adjectives that reflect the feelings of life to the description of the scenery, and the expression form is novel and unique. When remembering my mother, let multiple sentences form a parallelism. In these two groups of languages, the former expresses his unique feelings when he encounters misfortune in the form of transliteration, while the latter expresses infinite guilt and endless regret for his dead mother in the form of parallelism.
Language form is often the external expression of the author's unique life sentiment, the natural expression of deep feelings and thoughts, rather than meaningless word games. As a teacher, being able to guide students to understand ideological content and spiritual feelings from the form of language expression is to have a Chinese class with Chinese flavor. As a student, being able to actively study under the guidance of practical teaching methods full of Chinese flavor is the real learning of Chinese. When Chinese teaching has achieved this step, it can be said that it has achieved practical results.
Confucius said, "A gentleman's business is based on his foundation." If Chinese teachers want to be gentlemen and teach students to be gentlemen, they should focus on the basis of Chinese education, talk about classes with Chinese flavor and cultivate people with Chinese literacy. Einstein said: "To measure the success of an education depends mainly on what remains after the educated forget all the knowledge given by the school." This tells us that when the subjects who receive Chinese education throw away the knowledge backpack of Chinese courses and forget to learn coping skills for utilitarian purposes, they are still healthy and energetic. People who have received systematic Chinese education always keep the words pure and elegant, and their spirit will not become barren in the end. This is the fundamental Chinese education, and it is the effective Chinese education! We educators in China have fulfilled our responsibilities and a sacred and unshirkable responsibility!
Li Zongxue, a special Chinese teacher in Guizhou Province, now lives in Zheng 'an, Guizhou. This article is edited by Wang Ling.