Ken Singleton
  曾於日本教授幼兒美語,出版過許多為成人及兒童編寫的書。其英語教學相關著作有BBC English、
BBC Beginner’s English等數十種。

 

  《文法樂翻天》作者專訪
《文法樂翻天》甫上市不久,即獲得許多老師的好評,所以出版部特別透過電子郵件專訪作者,請ken Singleton聊聊他的創作靈感,以及給予台灣的英語老師一些教學建議

 
     
 
Q:It's very unique and interesting to show grammar through visual stories. How did you come up with this great idea?
A: I've been interested in English grammar for a long time and I love writing and producing material for kids. (I write lots of puzzles and games for my own 9-year-old daughter.)
So it was natural to combine English grammar + kids. I can't say I can remember exactly 'how' or even 'when' I had the idea. The idea sort of grew over a period of time. The first 'stories' I did were the Robot stories (Book 1, 11 A, B and C) and the idea developed from there.
I started to think about the subjects that kids are interested in. These can be pretty weird, of course. So with the traditional subjects like ANIMALS and SPORT I wanted to include subjects like KARATE, VAMPIRES (drinking blood that looks like fruit juice), BATS, GIANTS, MONSTERS and ALIENS. And then I threw in a few witches, wizards and trolls for luck.
After that I worked out a 'syllabus'. That is, what 'grammar' did I want to put in the books? This had to be very tightly controlled. And I only wanted to use one very small piece of grammar for each story.
 
     
 
Q:透過故事來呈現文法是非常獨特而有趣的點子,請問您是在什麼樣的情況下產生這樣的創意呢?
A: 我一直對英文文法很有興趣,同時也很喜愛幫兒童撰寫教材。所以,自然而然地希望把文法和小朋友喜歡的領域相結合。這個想法在我腦中日漸成型,因而產生了這本書。
第一個想到的故事是Robot,之後創意也就源源不絕地湧現,我想了許多小朋友感興趣的東西,除了比較常見的動物和運動之外,也有很多比較特別的內容,例如:空手道、吸血鬼、蝙蝠、巨人、怪獸、外星人等。
同時我也設計了一個篇目大綱,評估要將哪些文法放入書中才適當,而最後我決定每個故事只能包含一點基礎的文法,以免造成小朋友過大的負擔。
 
     
 
Q:The characters in the books are so cute and so lively. How did you work with the illustrator on the characters?
A: The illustrator and I worked together on the main pairs of characters in the books (Emma & Sam in Book 1; Kim and Dan in Book 2: Lily and Max in Books 3).
For the other characters, I sometimes had a clear idea of what he/she should look like. For example, in Book 2, 7A, B, C, I wanted the witch to be in hair curlers and a dressing gown. I wanted her to have 'manic eyes' (see the last picture of 7C). For other pictures I just asked for 'tall thin alien with two antenae on head and short fat alien with one antenae' (see Book 1, 8A), 'sad clown' (see Book 1, 15A), 'big friendly giant' (Book 3, 6A), etc.
It seems to me that kids 'see' more detail than adults. So I like to put really small details in the pictures. But above all, the illustrator and I wanted the books to look like the story books that Taiwanese children will have in their own language. That is, we didn't want the children to pick up the books and think 'work', we wanted them to think 'fun'!
 
     
 
Q:書中的角色都非常可愛而且活靈活現,請問您是如何創作出這些人物呢?
A: 我和插畫家合作想出書中幾個主要人物,例如第一本的Emma和 Sam、第二本的Kim 和 Dan、第三本的 Lily 和 Max。至於其他的角色,有些是我一邊創作時,腦海中就會出現一個很具體的形象,例如:第二本中的7A, B, C,我想像一個穿長袍的捲髮巫婆,有一雙狂熱的眼睛,就直接傳達出來;有些角色則是描述該角色特性,讓插畫家自由創作。
我認為小朋友看圖像時,所能看到的東西比大人還要豐富許多,因此我在圖片中都會加入一些精心設計的小細節,讓小朋友在閱讀時充滿驚喜,同時盡量讓本書維持故事書的感覺,讓台灣的小朋友能夠快樂地閱讀,沉浸在想像的世界。
 
     
 
Q:Could you give English teachers in Taiwan some advice or suggestions on teaching grammar?
A: From a child's point of view 'meaning' is the most important part of language: its grammar (and vocabulary) are simply tools for communication. That is, they 'process' the vocabulary and grammar to get to what the language actually means.
ENGLISH GRAMMAR FUN is a collection of comic strip 'stories' that use very simple and well-controlled 'grammar' complemented by detailed and intriguing pictures (very similar to the kind of stories that Taiwanese children enjoy in their first language). Stories are a familiar and enjoyable part of a child's world and are an ideal vehicle for learning a new language. Children are able to enjoy stories even if they don't understand every word, and the power of a story can be such that children can understand a story which uses language far above their supposed language level. As teachers we can make good use of the motivating effect of stories to 'teach' grammar.
Teachers shouldn't be afraid to use Chinese in their classes. In fact, it's very important that they should. And don't forget that the children at this age are only 'processing' language. They shouldn't be expected to reproduce every word and structure in their books. What we are doing is providing a rich source of comprehensible language which gives the children the raw materials from which they will eventually produce language of their own.
 
     
 
Q:關於如何教授文法,可否請您給予台灣的英語老師一些建議?
A: 從兒童的觀點來看,「理解」是學習語言最重要的一部份,文法(和字彙)就是溝通的一個簡單工具,透過文法(和字彙)的運用可表達語言的真正意義。
《文法樂翻天》包含許多漫畫故事,其中運用了簡單易懂的文法,以及引人入勝的圖畫(就如同台灣小朋友所喜歡的母語故事一樣),而說故事對小朋友來說,是最親切又有趣的,也是學習新語言的理想媒介。就算他們不認識故事中的每個單字,也能輕易的理解故事內容。故事就是有這麼神奇的力量,可以跨越語言程度的限制。身為老師,我們應該充分利用故事的特色來教小朋友學習文法,如此將會有事半功倍之效。
老師在必要的時候使用母語是很重要的,因為這個年紀的小朋友尚在摸索新語言的階段,我們還不能期望他們對於每個單字、句型皆能運用自如,我們所能做的就是提供豐富的語言,給予小朋友最真實自然的語料,好讓他們自然地去理解新語言,最後他們便能靈活運用所學的語言。
 
     
   
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