II. An Overview of the Stick Figure
2.1 The Features of the Stick Figure
(1) Conciseness
The stick figure is a simple general and vivid kind of drawing which utilizes points, lines, and other simple geometric figure to reveal objects’ basic characteristic. The teacher can use a simple line to draw all kinds of gestures of the characters, various forms of animals, flowers and kinds of articles for daily use and so on. The teacher uses a piece of chalk, a blackboard and it will soon be completed, saving time, efforts, and material (Li 195).
(2) Being Lively and Interesting
Interest is the best teacher. To do all activities well, interest is an intrinsic power. Only to be interested in the subject that you have learned can you have the motivation to learn devotedly and seriously it well and overcome the difficulties in the learning process. The stick figure can be sketched out a few vivid pen pictures, which are often able to attract the attention of students, so that English class will be full of fun and life. On the other hand, the stick figure is very vivid. When students see the lifelike stick figure images appear on the blackboard, they often make a big voice (Zhu & Zhang 56). At this moment, students’ various senses come to the best state, and the teaching effectiveness is self-evident.
(3) Being Imaginative
Teaching English with the stick figure fits youth psychological health. It can arouse students’ learning motivation, interest and strong emotional infection. The stick figure can appeal students’ attention. It is beneficial to developing students’ intelligence and making students’ thinking, listening and speaking activities more dynamic. Using the stick figure can also refrain teachers from long-time speaking in class, which makes students’ learning process from passive to active. And it not only makes the classroom atmosphere dynamic but also brings more chances for students to speak English and develops their thinking. This kind of learning method trains students’ thought and imagination ability to get a better learning effect.
(4) Being Flexible and Controllable
Compared with the flip chart or multimedia courseware, the stick figure seems more flexible and controllable, and its advantage is that it is not limited to time, space or other factors. Teachers can draw when they are speaking, while the stick figure’s information capacity can be based on student feedback and flexible control, in order to better interact with students. The teacher can speak while he is drawing, and it can adjust the classroom teaching and make the classroom atmosphere active. Psychological research shows that moving and changing stimulants dry more attention compared with the motionless and unchanging ones.
2.2 The Function of the Stick Figure
(1) Creation of Visual Context for Language Teaching
Classroom teaching is to train and strengthen students’ ability of using the English for the purpose. Whether teachers teach words, sentence pattern or the text, all of these can’t be deviated from amount of drills. If the practice activities leave the language scene, it will become quite boring and have no effect, but if the teacher uses the stick figure to teach words and sentences, the practice will be more funny (Xiao 87).The stick figure can change the abstract materials into vivid and easily acceptable visual scenes. For example, when the teacher teaches some words about weather like sunny, rainy, cloudy, windy, snowy and so on, he could imitates the drawing of the weather forecast in TV and draw the corresponding the stick figure, and the characteristic of object will be clearly displayed on the blackboard. Pupils are curious about new things, and it can attract students’ attention, increase motivation and deepen the memory.
(2) Making the Classroom Atmosphere Active 浅析简笔画在小学英语教学中的应用(2):http://www.youerw.com/yingyu/lunwen_32069.html