On the Functions of 21st Century in High Schools English Classes

【Abstract】This paper explores the functions of 21st Century， used as reading materials in senior high classrooms， which are refreshing and can draw students attention automatically， proving that the newspaper is beneficial and effective in high school English classes.

【Key words】21st Century； High School； English； Functions

【作者簡介】樊瑄，四川 瀘州天立學校。

1.Introduction

Reading and writing skills are the keys to learn English well. However， the present textbook cant satisfy the demands while the criteria of assessment is set ridiculously strict. Teenage students like fresh news. Therefore， using newspapers in class is one suitable approach. Studying the features of 21st Century could deepen our understanding of the teaching material.

2. The Functions of 21st Century

It is strongly believed that 21st Century can arouse students interest， improve their reading and writing， and increase the efficiency.

A. Supplying Abundant and Attractive Contents to Arouse Students Interest

21st Century sets up varieties of columns， like Our World， Campus Trends， Culture Leisure， Learning With Us and so on. Especially， the Your Words sector in Campus Trends provides a topic at the end for further discussion， which can raise students awareness of debate and express their views with self-confidence. The diversified columns surely suit teenagers taste.

Similarly， the columns draw students attention imperceptibly. Students also prefer something easy to understand. And 21st Century is the one. There will be key words of the passage in the title and several related pictures beside the article. Compared with other newspapers， it not only provides the interesting background of the incident， but also gives others opinions and comments. Necessarily， it attracts students and broadens their horizon by all these well-designed contents.

B. Providing Plentiful Reading Materials to Improve Students Reading and Writing Skills

21st Century offers plentiful current news which are related to our life. It gives us an opportunity to think about things from multiple perspectives. The most importantly， this newspaper has the advantage of vivid and easy-understanding language， and concise grammar affinage. There are large amount of standard vocabulary； grammar and sentence patterns are suitable and acceptable with a little bit challenge. Therefore， this accumulation of language points and challenges which we practice in daily classes will help students to develop reading and writing skills in the long run.

C. Supplementing Topics and Knowledge out of the Textbook to Refresh Students

Compared with the old-fashioned textbooks， the newspaper supplement fresh and amusing topics. Take a recent reading class for example， one passage introduced the movie Venom. Satisfying our curiosity and interest， the whole class were happy and quite absorbed in reading. After it， we knew the protagonist is a creature on whom the audience can see both sides of right and evil，which cant be found in previous Marvels heroes. Then， our class went to the cinema to testify the passage we read by watching the real movie. In this way， we improve our English in a relaxing and more efficient way.

Reading 21st Century in classes， teachers can easily widen the related historical background or adopt measures to enrich students knowledge and refresh them. For instance， my teacher used to introduce and play topic-related music. It works well. In addition， the hot topics give us a chance to discuss with peers， which relax our minds， enable us to learn current events， and to practice speaking English at the same time.

3. Conclusion

All in all， applying 21st Century in high school classroom is an diverting and efficient way to attract students and improve their English.

參考文獻：

[1]林麗芳.把英語報刊引進高中英語課堂[J].素質教育論壇，2015， 38：92.

[2]黃梅珠.運用21世紀英文報提高高中生閱讀、寫作和口語能力[J].考試周刊，2017，80：66.

[3]21st Century Teens Senior 1 Edition[J].2018.