Special Homework 特殊的家庭作业

李敏

Based on teenagers' characteristics in cognition， emotion and interaction，practical and creative homework is an effective way to foster students' learninginterest and creativity. Xuzhou No.7 High School Innovation Training Centreexplores a new path to develop students'capability of language use and criticalthinking， which is to assign special homework.

To be a sharp language learner， students and English teachers have startedReading English Classics Program since it was set up last year. Before reading，students select books recommended by the teachers， then they record the booktitles and search for the background of authors online to vote for the books theywant to read for each month. Oncethe reading program begins， eachstudent will keep his own readingjournal， including the pages andchapters everyday. Meanwhile，they raise some questions to helpthemselves read between thelines and read behind the lines.Also， they discuss the charactersin groups. It took them about two weeks to finish reading a book. They have asharing class on Mondays， teachers get all the students involved to check theirunderstanding of the plots and themes as well as appreciate some sentences toimprove students'critical thinking. In addition， they imitate to write passagesor change the end of the story to inspire their imagination and enhance theirwriting skills. In order to experience the characters'lives and feelings in thestories， all the students are encouraged to act out the parts they like best， theyare able to bring their favourite characters alive in class.

Reading English Classics Program go through their summer and winterholidays， teachers guide students to finish the homework in the form of makingmind-maps and brief book reviews with vivid illustrations. Francis Bacon noted，reading makes a full man. By sorts of reading homework， students no morereject English original classics and become more interested in reading.

In the process of building China a moderately prosperous society， greatchanges have taken place in towns in recent years. To help students learn moreabout their hometown and introduce their hometown to foreigners， teachersassign students to complete a fact sheet and give a report on Welcome toMy Hometown by travelling around their hometowns. They take photos ofneighborhoods， environment and industries. They visit local places of interestand look for nice food to recommend in the report. All of them feel proud oftheir hometowns.