在生活中，你是否也察觉到这样的现象：树上的果实熟了会自己掉到地上；氢气球会自己飞向天空；天冷的时候可以通过搓搓手取暖……这些都是存在于我们生活中的“力”，虽然看不见摸不着，但却能让我们真真正正的感受到。1687年，英国著名物理学家牛顿因为一颗掉落的苹果发现了万有引力。在距他三百多年后的今天，我们的孩子们也纷纷在外教课上化身小小科学家，在纯英文课堂中学习和探究生活中的“力”，双管齐下，成为一个个科学与英语兼顾的小达人。

在探究生活中的“力”的课堂中，外教Colin和Mike在英语教授了孩子们一些力学的理论知识后，还进行了各种各样的实践活动来辅助孩子们的英语科学学习。在学习用测力计测量不同物体的重力时，外教引导孩子们用课堂所学的关键词汇来描述自己的实验过程。当Colin提问孩子们“一个苹果重多少牛顿？”时，他们争先恐后地回答着“我的苹果重3牛！”“我的苹果是2.5牛顿！”。学习浮力时，孩子们轮流尝试了将气球按压在水中。当孩子们感受到水向上顶住他们的手时，他们脱口而出地道的英语：“我感受到水中的浮力了！”学习摩擦力时，我们用小车滑下斜坡的实验带孩子们测量了小车分别在地板、毛巾、和砂纸上能行驶的距离，Mike将本节课的关键词“pattern（花纹）”、“rough（粗糙的）”、和“smooth（光滑的）”等都和实验过程紧密结合在了一起，让孩子们在做实验的同时反复练习这些关键词汇。实验结束后，孩子们结合课堂所学内容向Mike展示了他们自己设计的适合踢足球的运动鞋，让我们欣喜的是，孩子们都能独立又流利地用课堂所学关键词和句型来介绍自己的小“发明”了。

 为了让孩子们更好地记住有关“力”的知识点，Colin还自己写词谱曲了“重力英文歌”。一节节探究生活中的“力”的课堂都在孩子们嘹亮的歌声和纯真的笑脸中结束，但是，结束的仅仅是课堂，孩子们渴望探索科学的热情以及用英语表达自我的自信将陪伴他们走出课堂，走向今后美好的时光！

 Have you ever noticed some phenomena in our daily life? An apple will fall down to the ground when it is ripe. A Helium balloon will fly to the sky if there is nothing holding it. Rubbing hands help us keep warm in winter. These are all things that happen when forces act on us. We can’t see force, but we can feel it. Isaac Newton, a famous British Physicist, found gravity in 1687 AD because of a falling apple. Three hundred years after his discovery, our foreign courses, which provide children a chance to explore and learn forces in a pure English environment, equip our children with both science and English knowledge.

 Besides instructing basic theories of forces in English, Colin and Mike prepared kinds of experiments as a supplement in students’ study. When studying gravity, we used a force meter to measure the weight of different objects. Meanwhile, we encouraged our students in using key words to describe their experiment procedures. When Colin asked them “What is the weight of an apple?”, they were all answering him full of passion “My apple weighs 3 newtons!” “Mine is 2.5 newtons!” As studying upthrust, children could feel the force when they were pushing a balloon into the water. They got very excited feeling upthrust and kept repeating “I can feel upthrust in water!” in class. We also did a fair test of a car running from a ramp on different surfaces, including floor, towel, and sandpaper in order to show students about different frictions. Mike combined many key words (pattern, rough, smooth etc.) into the fair test which would offer our students a more impressed memory of the key points. After the experiment, students shared principles of their new invention of shoes for playing football. It was such a big surprise for us that the students could introduce their inventions in English independently and fluently using the key words they just learned from class.

 Teacher Colin also wrote a song about gravity to help our children memorize the knowledge that they learned from class. Every class of forces ended up with children’s resonant singing and smiling faces, but their enthusiasm about exploring science and learning English would not end. Their passion to scientific sensibility and confidence in English expression will be brought out of the classroom, and lead them to a bright future.

（供稿：小学高端英语项目组 毛悦）