Lecture 1: General problems of Foreign Language teaching

The translation method may be applied in its two variants:
1. Common (proper) translation:
to sleep — спать
flower — цветок
joy — радость
2. Translation — interpretation:
to go — ехать, iдтi, лететь (двiженiе от говорящего)
to come — ехать, iдтi, лететь (двiженiе к говорящему)
to drive — вестi (что?) машiну, поезд, автобус, трамвай
education. — воспiтанiе, образованiе afternoon;— время с 12 ч. дня до 6 ч. вечера
in the afternoon — днем
The translation method is efficient for presenting new words: it is economical from the point of view of time, it ensures the exact comprehension of the meaning of the words presented. As far as the stages of instruction are concerned, the methods of conveying the meaning of unfamiliar words should be used as follows:

• 
  visual presentation prevails in junior forms;
  
• 
  verbal means prevail in intermediate and senior forms;
  
• 
  translation in all the forms, especially in senior forms.
  

Difficulties pupils experience in assimilating vocabulary
It’s generally known that school leavers’ vocabulary is poor. They have trouble with hearing, speaking, reading, and writing. One of the reasons is poor teaching of vocabulary.
The teacher should bear in mind that a word is considered to be learned when: (1) it’s spontaneously recognized while auding and reading; (2) it’s correctly used in speech, i.e., the right word in the right place.
Learning the words of a foreign language isn’t an easy business since every word has its form, meaning, and usage and each of these aspects of the word may have its difficulties. Indeed, some words are difficult in form (daughter, busy, bury, woman, women) and easy in usage; other words are easy in form (enter, get, happen) and difficult in usage. Consequently, words may be classified according to the difficulties pupils find in assimilation. In methodology some attempts have been made to approach the problem.
The analysis of the words within the foreign language allows us to distinguish the following groups of words: concrete, abstract, and structural.
Words denoting concrete things (book, street, sky), actions (walk, dance, read), and qualities (long, big, good) are easier to learn than words denoting abstract notions (world, home, believe, promise, honest); Structural words are the most diffi­cult for Russian-speaking pupils.
In teaching pupils a foreign language the teacher should bear this in mind when preparing for the vocabulary work during the lesson.
The selection of vocabulary although important is not the teacher’s chief concern. It’s only the “what” of teaching and is usually prescribed for him by textbooks and study-guides he uses. The teacher’s concern is “how” to get his pupils assimilate the vocabulary prescribed. This is a difficult problem and it’s still in the process of being solved.
Constant use of a new word is the best way of learn­ing it.
For this purpose it is necessary to organize pupils’ work in a way permitting them to approach the new words from many different sides, in many different ways, by means of many different forms of work. The teacher can ensure lasting reten­tion of words for his pupils provided he relies upon pupils' sensory perception and thinking, upon their auditory, visual, and kinesthetic analysers so that pupils can easily recognize the words while hearing or reading, and use them while speak­ing or writing whenever they need. To use a word the pupil should, first, search-for it in his memory, choose the very word he needs, and then insert the word in a sentence, i. е., use it properly to express his thought. Thus correct usage of words means the correct choice and insertion of the words in speech.
For this reason two groups of exercises may be recommended for, vocabulary assimilation: