The importance of techniques in developing critical abilities of the learners in teaching English proverbs and sayings

One of the most common genres of oral folk art in any country are proverbs and sayings, the time of occurrence of which is not known, but the fact that this is the most fertile material for learning a foreign language remains an indisputable fact. Early sources describe the use of proverbs in England as one of the effective tools in teaching Latin. In proverbs and sayings a large part of human experience is formed. Owing to its generalized nature, proverbs and sayings can be used at all levels of foreign language teaching in teaching the art of allegory, the ability to illustrate one’s thought and summarize it in a short form. The use of proverbs and sayings in a foreign language lesson will certainly contribute to a better mastery of this subject, expanding knowledge of the language, vocabulary and the developing of critical thinking of the learners. The purpose of this work is to analyze and summarize the experience of working with proverbs and sayings in English lessons and its efficiency in elaboration of critical thinking.

The modern school, foreign teachers - practical workers are working on the problem of developing students' cognitive activity by introducing new teaching methods, ideas and approaches to the learning process, influencing the formation of students' motivation, increasing it by strengthening the communicative orientation of the educational process. This contributes to the creation of a favorable atmosphere in the classroom for students, an increase in student interest in the subject and the development of a desire for practical use of a foreign language. Learning content consists of knowledge, skills, abilities, competencies, the mastery of which provides the ability to use language as a means of communication, the formation and development of personality. In teaching a foreign language, expressive means play a huge role. There is a need to develop a child's linguistic intuition, which helps him to select language tools for figurative utterance. Fiction and folklore play an important role in learning a foreign language. In the process of learning English, proverbs and sayings are the expressive means that promote the development of linguistic intuition. The terms “proverb” and “saying” are always nearby. Longman Contemporary English Dictionary defines the ‘proverb’ as follows: “proverb –a short well known statement that contains advice about life in general”. Proverbs and sayings have common properties that make them irreplaceable in the learning process: exact rhyme, simple balanced form and conciseness. Proverbs and sayings are fertile material in teaching any aspect of any language. In this article, the author considered the possibility of using proverbs and sayings in developing critical thinking of the learners. It cannot be argued that it is possible to build critical thinking entirely on the material of proverbs and sayings, however, in order to increase the motivation to learn English, improve the degree of memorization and to develop the level of critical thinking of the learners it seems appropriate to use them. Proverbs and sayings can greatly increase the level of critical thinking, but it is important to choose appropriate techniques for teaching them. The meaning of proverbs and sayings does not lay just beneath the surface, which makes students think logically. In order to include proverbs into the English lesson it is beneficial to make posters with popular proverbs and sayings and hang them on the wall. Each lessson you may discuss one proverb with your pupils in order to reveal hidden meaning and relying on the experience of past generations to infuse children to distinguish bad from good. For instance, the proverb: ‘Measure thrice and cut once’ can teach pupils to take the time to make serious decisions and be responsible for their actions. The teacher may tell them the story from real life or from literature where injudicious actions lead to irreversible consequences and thereby consolidate the meaning of the proverb and develop the critical thinking of children. The teacher may also divide the class for several groups, give each group one proverb and ask them to role play the situation which will show the meaning of the proverb. It will develop not only the critical thinking of the learners but also there communicative and speaking skills. While role playing in front of their classmates shy learners may gain confidence in themselves and their abilities. For example you may give one group a proverb: "When in Rome, do as the Romans." This proverb will explain the learners that we should act the way that the people around you are acting. This phrase might come in handy for your pupils when they are traveling abroad and notice that people do things differently than used to. While working on organizing the role play for this proverb learners will improve there language skills and develop their critical thinking. They will also find out a lot of new facts about some customs and traditions not only of their own culture but the culture of target language, this will help the learners to avoid culture shock in future. Another effective technique of teaching proverbs is to give your pupils a list of different proverbs and ask them to create a story based on these proverbs. You may divide your class into pairs, groups or ask pupils to work individually. In order to include the proverbs into their story they should understand the meaning of each proverb and while analyzing them they will highly increase the level of critical thinking.

In conclusion we can see that the use of proverbs and sayings in the development of critical thinking of students is quite effective. This can help the teacher to create a friendly and comfortable atmosphere in the classroom and to rally all students. And also to develop in students such components of critical thinking as curiosity, desire for new knowledge, openness to new ideas, interest in the learning process, responsibility for their own education and to use acquired skills in everyday life. The modern world requires a person not only to master various knowledge and skills, but to be able to use them in life, not just to possess information, but to be able to analyze it and to distinguish truth from falsehood. Developing critical thinking will allow students to cope with difficulties, collaborate with people, discover something new and find their place in society.