Some stimulating activities to improve english speaking skills for the 10th form students at Quảng X...

Some stimulating activities to improve english speaking skills for the 10th form students at Quảng Xương 1 upper secondary school Së gd&®t thanh hãa Tr­êng THPT Qu¶ng X­¬ng I EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE SOME STIMULATING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE 10th FORM STUDENTS AT QUẢNG XƯƠNG 1 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL ( Một số hoạt động khích lệ để nâng cao kỹ năng nói Tiếng Anh cho học sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Quảng Xương 1) Teacher Nguyễn Thúy Hằng Group Foreign Language Thanh Hoa, May 2[.]

Sở gd&đt thanh hóa

Trường THPT Quảng Xương I

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS FOR THE 10 th FORM

( Một số hoạt động khớch lệ để nõng cao kỹ năng núi Tiếng Anh cho học

sinh lớp 10 trường THPT Quảng Xương 1)

Teacher: Nguyễn Thỳy Hằng

Group: Foreign Language

Thanh Hoa, May 2018

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Reasons for choosing the topic

As a teacher of English at Quang Xuong 1 Upper Secondary School in Thanh Hoa, I also

have the same difficulties I find the new textbooks more effective than the old ones that were

used years ago However, my teaching seems to encounter a significant problem:

The first reason, which is a basic one for every high school student, is the motivation

for studying It is undeniable that passing examinations is one of the most important

motivations in studying However, according to the policy from MOET, the semester and

final examinations only focus on reading skills through the multiple-choice format The

graduating student often has five other subjects in the examination, therefore they only pay

attention to practising reading skills and grammatical points as well as vocabularies and

structures Teachers of English themselves take advantage of the little time they have to

provide reading practice and help with solving problems in grammar exercises in order to

achieve the short-term goal of passing the final examination

The lack of background knowledge is also a basic reason for students having poor

speaking skills Most students at my school received their primary and secondary education

from different communities of Quang Xuong district and few students came from Thanh Hoa

city Therefore, the learning conditions are poor and they are deprived of chances to speak

English While most urban students start learning English in primary schools, my students do

not start until secondary schools and then they learn in difficult conditions In addition,

outside class time, the communicative environment in English is limited An annual survey in

my school of English speaking skills for the 10th graders has given a low result: more than

60% of students have difficulties when answering simple questions about their names,

addresses, age or their hobbies As a result, they feel scared of speaking English, of making

mistakes, and of not conveying their sentiments to listeners It indicates that my students have

limited vocabulary They often use mother tongue Hence, most of the students are not

confident to use English in speaking class For instance, when I asks them to come

forward to have a conversation with their friends, they refuse it They are shy to perform

English conversation in front of their friends Thus, most speaking classes are monotonous

and unsuccessful Sometimes, in speaking classes, I have to guide the ideas in Vietnamese,

and then help the students translate the ideas into English In reality, these classes are the most

ineffective ones

Against the problems above, some stimulating activities should be used to overcome them I

am interested in applying these activities to improve the speaking skills of Quang Xuong 1

Upper Secondary school students in English classes based on the syllabus of MOET so that I

will conduct the research entitled “Some stimulating activities to improve 10th form students’

English speaking skills” My objective is to find the most effective ways of helping them to

overcome the barrier of low self confidence when studying speaking skills I want to help

them become familiar with English and to enjoy learning it more and more Furthermore,

training cadres for suburdareas is the aim of Quang Xuong 1 Upper Secondary School in

Thanh Hoa province, so being good at English will be a gateway leading to opportunities to

work with international projects for developing economics or cultures

2 Aims of the study

The aims of the study are:

- To study the use of three stimulating activities: games, video and role play to intensify

students’ participation in speaking activities at Quang Xuong 1 Upper Secondary School in

Thanh Hoa province

- To suggest some recommendations on how to use three stimulating activities: games, video,

role play to enhance their learners in speaking skills and develop communicative skills

3 Scope of the study

- The study only focuses on using three stimulating activities: games, video, role play to

improve English speaking skills for 10th form students at Quang Xuong 1 Upper Secondary

School in Thanh Hoa province

+ The students are not experiencing final examination pressures;

+ The topics in Tieng Anh 10 are still basic and simple;

+ The students have time to master speaking skills step by step and consider speaking

as an essential skill in an English learning

4 Method of study

To conduct the study, a lot of methods are used However, the main ones are descriptive

statistics, observation and analytical method

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

1 Theoretical background

1.1.Factors affecting English speaking abilities

There are many factors that influence the success or failure in learning English speaking

However, the three most important factors are motivation, attitude and learning strategies

Motivation is the first important factor affecting a language learner According to

Gardner (2001), motivation refers to the driving force in any situation In the

socio-educational model, motivation to learn the second language is viewed as requiring three

elements First, the motivated individual expends effort to learn the language That is, there is

a persistent and consistent attempt to learn the material by doing homework, by seeking out

opportunities to learn more, by doing extra work and so on Second, the motivated individual

wants to achieve the goal Such an individual will express the desire to succeed, and will

strive to achieve success Third, the motivated individual will enjoy the task of learning the

language Such an individual will say that it is fun, challenging, and enjoyable, even though

at times enthusiasm may be less than at other times

1.2 Stimulating activities

According to Jeremy Harmer (2001), students need frequent changes of activities: they need

activities that are exciting and stimulating their curiosity: they need to be involved in

something active The span of concentration of our students is less Thus, we have to assign

some interesting activities to draw their attention.The students become comfortable to speak

everything and get opportunity to develop their communicative competence more freely In

other words, stimulating activities can be considered effective tools that teachers should

benefit from to stimulate their students to raise much more voice in class That is the new

setting of a modern language classroom where students are the center of attention in class

1.3 Role play

According to Stephen D Hattings (1993:165) based on his observation in the conversation

class, the role play would seem to be the ideal activity in which students could use their

English creatively and it aims to stimulate a conversation situation in which students might

find themselves and give them an opportunity to practice and develop their

communication skill

For others, simulations stimulate student (Joan Andorfer, 2008) Burns & Gentry (1998) state

that the teacher must take on some additional responsibilities in role playing/ simulation In

particular, the teacher must keep learners motivated by stimulating their curiosity and keeping

the material relevant, creating a "tension to learn"

1.4 Games

According to Carrier (1980:6) “Games stimulate students’ participation and give them

confidence.” This is when students free themselves in order to participate to get the best score

or even to be the best in the class They usually feel much more confident with their

performance and this makes them learn and practice new structures, learn from their mistakes,

and fulfill the goals of the class, indeed

1.6 Video

It is universally recognized that videos as visual aids have a lot to contribute to the process of

language learning and teaching, combining education and entertainment Supporters agree

that videos stimulate student interest to acquire the target culture, as well as language (e.g.,

Stempleski, 1992; Tomalin, 1992) Video is supposed to communicate meaning better than

any other media (Tomalin, 1992) Here it will be useful to look at the advantages of video in

language classes from different perspectives

1.7.Three most stimulating activities used in speaking class

There is a variety of stimulating activities to use in the teaching and learning process Each

stimulating activity has its own advantages and using the right activities in the right way to

teach, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the

English language classroom a fun and dynamic place In this study, in reality of my teaching

and talking with my students the researcher suggests using some kinds of stimulating

activities to intensify students’ participation in speaking activities

1.8.Games

A structure—that— has rules, goals and agreement of players on the surface, and wonderful

hidden processes underneath (Turtledove, 1996: 3)

An activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun (Hadfield, 1990: 5)

An agreeable way of getting a class to use its initiative in English and as it is gently

competitive, it increases motivation It is also a contrast to periods of intensive study

(Haycraft, 1978: 94)

1.9.Videos /DVDs in language teaching and learning

Learners are extremely excited about the programs which combine foreign language

learning with entertainment By listening to English songs, watching films or cartoons, it

stimulates students to practice English effectively, getting themselves involves in the foreign

language environment naturally At the same time, they have a lot of fun, they start finding

out that learning English is far from boring but very easy and interesting with video programs

which are specially designed for language learning purposes

1.9.1.Role play

It has been mentioned before that role play is one of the activities to promote speaking

Through role play activities the students learn how to express ideas, opinions, or feeling to

others by using words or sounds of articulation

Larsen Freeman (1986) explained that role plays are important in the communicative

approach because they give learners an opportunity to practice communicating in different

social contexts and different social roles

1.2 Some stimulating activities help the 10 th form students at Quang xuong 1 Upper

secondary school in Thanh Hoa.

By using stimulating activities (games, video and role play) in teaching speaking, the students

had a chance to be active and cooperative in speaking activity Stimulating activities (games,

video and role play) was a different method that can be effective to teach the students in a big

class Finally, speaking skill of 10T5,10T6 students were improved This result had

answered the second research question that the use of stimulating activities (games, video and

role play) in teaching speaking was quite effective

The use of stimulating activities (games, video and role play) made the speaking and learning

activity more enjoyable and interesting It was because games, video and role play helped

students felt relax and interested Most of the students were actively participated in the games,

video and role play In addition, it was fun and most students would agree that enjoyment led

to better learning

Example 1: Unit 12: MUSIC Part B: SPEAKING

Objective: Helping students to ask and answer about music

Activity: Some following activities

Using Hangman game to warm-up the lesson

R: Do you like to play a game?

Ss: Yes

R: I give you a game “Hangman game” This game is Shack Attack You choose a letter from

letter A to letter Z If you guess right, you’ll get a present If you have a wrong answer, the

Shack will attack you Ok?

Ss: Yes

R: Now, the first letter Can you guess?

S1: (raised their hands) Letter M

R: Shack will attack letter M

Ss: No

R: It has letter M ……

 Using games and video

R: Do you want to play a game?

Ss: Yes

R: Now, divide our class into two groups You listen to these songs and you choose a number

from number 1 to number 8 And you tell the kinds of music based on video clips on the

slides You have 1 point for each correct answer, the group has more mark will be the

winners

………

R: Which number do you choose, group Tom

Tom: (raised their hands) number 1

R: Look at number 1 and tell me what kind of music do you know? Tom group, can you

guess?

Tom: listen and raised their hands to give the answer: pop music

R: very good, 1 point for group Tom How about you, group Jerry? ……

Using role play

ACTIVITY 2: Asking and answering about music taste

R: Now, I give you some handouts and you look at the first column If you want to ask about

your favourite kind of music, what questions can you ask? …… (See Appendix 3)

R: Now, you work in group of 3 and one of Ss will be a journalist who wants to interview

high-school Ss about their music taste The journalist has to ask two Ss some questions to get

information to complete the table below for his/ her article Now, journalist-what does it

mean?

 Group 1 (raised their hands)

Hanh: Good afternoon, 10T5 student My name is Hanh I am a journalist for MTV

magazine I want to interview you about their music taste

Dung: Good afternoon, Mrs Hanh Welcome to our class ………

 Using shack attack game

WARM-UP

R: Do you like to play a game?

Ss: Yes

R: I give you a game “Hangman game” This game is Shack Attack You choose a letter from

letter A to letter Z If you guess right, you’ll get a present If you have a wrong answer, the

Shack will attack you Ok?

Ss: Yes

R: Now, the first letter Can you guess?

S1: (raised their hands) Letter M

R: Shack will attack letter M

Ss: No

R: It has letter M

S2: (raised their hands) Letter A

R: Can Shack attack letter A

Ss: (in chorus)Yes

R: No letter A here-Another person?

S3: (raised their hands) letter U

R: letter U, now look at Yes, it has letter U- And what else?

S4: (raised their hands) letter S

R: Yes, it has letter S- And what else?

S5: (raised their hands) letter I

R: Yes, letter I very good And the last, you, please?

S6: (raised their hands) letter C

R: letter C Yes, very good Congratulation!

R: (raised their hands) Now, who can tell me what kind of music do you know?

S1: (raised their hands) Pop

R: And what else?

S2: (raised their hands) Jazz

S3: (raised their hands) classical music

S4: (raised their hands) pop music

S6: (raised their hands) Folk music

R: very good

 Using games and video

R: Do you want to play a game?

Ss: (in chorus) Yes

R: Now, divide our class into two groups You listen to these songs and you choose a number

from number 1 to number 8 And you tell the kinds of music based on video clips on the

slides You have 1 point for each correct answer, the group has more mark will be the

winners

R: Your group, give me a name

Ss: Tom

R: And your group, give me a name

Ss: Jerry

R: which group will play first?

Ss: Tom

R: Which number do you choose, group Tom

Tom: number 1

R: Look at number 1 and tell me what kind of music do you know? Tom group, can you

guess?

Tom: listen and give the answer: pop music

R: very good, 1 point for group Tom How about you, group Jerry?

Jerry: number 8

R: What kind of music?

Jerry: listen and give the answer: jazz

R: Now, let me check Yes, very good-1 point for Jerry

R: Now, group Tom

Tom: Number 4

R: ask Tom group to listen