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近期教两位女士口语，她们说想在星巴克上课，我开始还有点疑惑，星巴克休闲是个好地方，不过在里面上课效果怎么样，我还真有些没谱。
These days, I've been coaching two ladies in oral English, who recommended the Starbucks in Jusco as a place of learning. I wondered at first what the lesson would turn out to be in Stuckbuck though it's an ideal place to chill out.
当我到达的时候，两位美女已在里面等候了。简单地打过招呼，我们就开始正式进入学习。不过在星巴克显然是不可能像在课堂上一样讲的，于是我就努力将学习融于交流之中，就像朋友在聊天。提问的感觉就好像是在和老外聊天时想不出某个单词或不知如何表达而向他们求助一样。
Upon arriving, I found the ladies seated near the entrance, waiting for me. But mind you, I was not late, but they arrived a little early. After exchanging simple greetings, we started the lesson. Of course, you can't expect me to lecture as in the front of a classroom. What I could do there was to make teaching a casual conversation, like you were chatting with friends. The way they raised or I asked questions was just like that you raise questions to a foreigner when you can't come up with some words or phrases.
她们拿了两本书，一是《新概念英语3》，一是《走遍美国》。通过简单的英文交谈，了解到她们的需求和英文基础，我发现《走遍美国》更适合她们。于时决定学习以《走遍美国》为依托，重点强化听说。其中一位说以前看过《走遍美国》，然后我就提了几个相关的问题，结果发现她早就忘了，甚至《走遍美国》这本书的英文名字都想不起来。学习一本书首先就要从名字开始，现在我们来看一下这本书的名字--《Family Album USA》。在我用英文介绍完这本教材的故事大意后，就进入了第一课。
They both took two books, one was New Concept English 3 and the other was Family Album USA. Judging by their need and English level, I found the later was more suitable for them, so we agreed upon the textbook with a view to polishing their oral English. One of them mentioned she had read the book, but when I asked some questions about the story, she simply couldn't answer. Even the English name of the book had slipped her mind. I reminded that to learn a textbook, you've got to start with its name, and this one was Family Album USA. After I introducing the general idea of the book, we got down to the first act.
《走遍美国》网上有很多视频，也些讲座，缺少的就是互动。而在教学中，也有一句名言，“没有互动就没有教学”。所以我先让她们中的一个读一段，纠正其发音不准的地方，在一个读时，另一个听，然后由我或阅读者提问，听的一方回答。再由阅读者用自己的话把内容大意复述一遍。我从最简单的问题入手，如What does Richard Steward do? What are his photos for?，引导让她们启动英语思维，渐渐她们自己的问题也多起来。找到状态后，她们的表现好了很多。整个的学习过程也变得更加顺畅。不知不觉两个小时过去了，我并没有教学的感觉，完全是在和朋友聊天，非常放松，身心愉悦。她们也很喜欢这种方式，中间休息时间，我去要了一杯美式咖啡，回来后一位高兴地说：“老师，我们就跟您学了”。教学是一种艺术，是一种“法无定法”的与人沟通的艺术。如果在教学过程中能让信息自然地流动、让语言不仅成为知识的载体，同时也在教与学之间营造一种温馨和默契，即让语言流成为知识流、能量流和情感流，那么这种教学就是一种成功的教学。
There are numerous videos of and lectures on Family Album USA online. What all of these lack is interaction. A famous saying in education field goes: There is no education without interaction. Follow the principle, I told one of them to listen carefully while the other read. I would first correct possible mistakes in pronunciation, then asked the listener some questions about the read part, followed by those raised by the reader. To make the part a finish, the reader was asked to retell the general idea in her own words. Then they swapped the roles and did the next part. I proceed with simplest questions like What does Richard Steward do? What are his photos for? to stimulate them to think in English. Little by little, more questions were raised by themselves. Once in the zone, they behaved quite confidently. The whole process went more smoothly. Two hours passed withough being noticed. It was more like shooting the breeze with pals than stiff teaching. All went in a pleasant and relaxing way. The two ladies seemed to be fond of this, for when I got back with two cups of coffee during the intermission, one of them, sort of happily, said, :"Sir, we'll learn from you from now on. " Teaching is an art, an art of communication with no dogmatic ways of implementation. The teaching process is successful if the information flows naturally during the teaching, communicates knowledge and creates a feeling of warmth and harmony. Simply put, language flow should be the flows of knowledge, energy and emotion ---three in one.
结束后，她们先离开。我在里面又坐了一会，发现人们大多都在品着咖啡聊天。也有的什么都没要，一个人安逸地坐着，还有一些在里面用本本上网，不时的可以看到老外。我忽然觉得星巴克是个不错的英语学习场所，至少英语氛围比较好。聊天式的学习完全淹没在周围的环境中，没有人会关注你在做什么，少了教室里的拘谨，多了放松状态下思维的灵动和现实的情景体验。
Time was over and they left. While sitting there alone, I got a chance to look around, finding most customers chatting over a cup of coffee, some secluding themselves in a corner with nothing to drink, and others surfing the internet via laptop. There were also foreigners here and there. It suddenly struck me that Starbucks wasn't a bad place to teach English, at least it boasts a fashionable social atmosphere. The teaching & learning process is completely in harmony with the surroundings, so participants will not be embarrassed by becoming the focus of attention, with only active thinking in a relaxed state and situational experience and no constraint in a classroom.
在星巴克的第一次课感觉还不错，也许我会喜欢上这个“教室”，不过如果哪天发现自己的店里到处都是学英语的人，不知道星巴克会做何感想，你说呢？
The first attempt, as I see it, can be labelled as a success. I think I start to take to teaching in Starbucks. But I'm wondering if one day Starbuck finds its outlets alive with English learners, what will it have to say to this. What do you think, buddy?
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