(SKKN 2022) stimulating online learning motivation for students through warm up activities at trieu son 1 high school

Thanh Hoa Department of Education and TrainingTrieu Son 1 High School STIMULATING ONLINE LEARNING MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS THROUGH WARM UP ACTIVITIES AT TRIEU SON 1 HIGH SCHOOL... Because

Thanh Hoa Department of Education and Training

Trieu Son 1 High School

STIMULATING ONLINE LEARNING MOTIVATION FOR STUDENTS

THROUGH WARM UP ACTIVITIES

AT TRIEU SON 1 HIGH SCHOOL

Thanh Hoa, 18 th May 2022

PART I: STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM 1

PART II: SOLUTIONS OF THE PROBLEM 2

1 The real situation and the reason to choose this research 2

2 Solutions to improve online teaching equality 3

2.1 Solution 1:……… …………3

2.2 Solution 2:……… ………5

3 Practical application 10

3.1 Describing how the solutions are applied at my school ……… ……….10

3.2 The results achieved……… ……11

3.3 Adjustment, supplement applying the solutions……… … 11

PART III: CONCLUSION 1 Conclusion 12

2 Proposals and suggestions 13

REFERENCES

APPENDIX

COMMITMENT

1 CLT Communicative Language

Teaching2

3

4

5

6

PART I: STATEMENT OF RESEARCH PROBLEM

It is undeniable that English language plays a crucial role in our lives as it helps incommunication It is supposed to be the main language for studying any subject all overthe world English is essential for students as it broadens their minds, develops emotionalskills, improve the quality of life by providing job opportunities

Moreover, the use of English as an International language is growing with timebecause it is the only medium for communication in many countries English is also usedwidely in the literature and media section to publish books, most of the writers write in theEnglish language due to most readers know only the English language and they candescribe their ideas best in the English language Therefore, learning and teaching English

as a second language is paid more and more attention It is believed that it will not be asuccessful class if the students do not feel interested at the very beginning of a class.Hence, a teacher should try to start a lesson in a way which keeps his or her studentsengaged An interesting way of starting a lesson could be using activities called warm-upactivities or ice breakers Accordingly, different types of warm-up activities such as songs,games and discussion questions can be used to get students’ attention in class Manyresearchers state that to improve students’ learning and to get the best from them, it is amust to start a class with a good warm-up session

Many school children complain that they feel bored doing same thing again andagain from the beginning to end of a class As they do not feel interested in class, theycannot progress much in learning a language Unluckily, many teachers do not payattention whether students feel interested and motivated to work with the activities theyprovide in classes It is needed to find out how to keep students’ interest in learning Usingwarm up activities can be one way to bring variation in class activity and to make thestudents curious, focus their attention, provide them purpose and motivation This helps tocreate positivity around the lesson, motivate students with their participation and creating apositive attitude towards learning Games can also create a positive memory andexperience of learning for students in the classroom Moreover, due to the outbreak ofCovid -19, most of schools in Vietnam must organize online teaching Therefore, it iscrucial to enhance students’ learning motivation by holding some warm up activities at thebeginning of the lessons

Because of all the reasons above, I have decided to conduct research on

“Stimulating online learning motivation for students through warm up activities at

Trieu son 1 high school” Hopefully, the research may result in some benefits for English

learners as well as English teachers

This study has been carried out with an aim to raise both teachers and students’awareness of the importance of warm up activities It is hoped that the findings from thisstudy could arouse learners’ interest and enable them to select and use games for warmupswhich are suitable for them

The researcher is interested to know whether and how often warm up activity isused in high schools Also, the study attempts to find out how effectively warm up is used

in the online classes

The study is conducted on 12th grade students at Trieu Son 1 high school in theschool year 2021 - 2022

PART II: SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM

1 The real situation and the reason to choose this research

1.1 The situation of teaching English at Trieu Son 1 High School

 Advantages

An outstanding advantage of online education is that it allows students to attendclasses from any location of their choice It also allows schools to reach out to a moreextensive network of students, instead of being restricted by geographical boundaries.Additionally, online lectures can be recorded, archived, and shared for future reference.This allows students to access the learning material at a time of their comfort Thus, onlinelearning offers students the accessibility of time and place in education

 Disadvantages

In general, the Vietnamese students’ ability to use English is still weak; most studentscan study English at university, but the ability to speak it with foreigners seems impossiblefor most students if they are not majoring in the English language

The English level of graduates has not met the needs of the job Most students canread and understand some documents, but many of them cannot communicate, write, andspeak well The English proficiency of the majority of students does not meet therequirements The testing forms are somewhat different but reflect the general picture ofineffective teaching and learning of English in the education system in Vietnam Theseproblems have resulted from the following reasons:

First and foremost, in Vietnam, the results of teaching and studying English areevaluated in grammar and reading comprehension Therefore, the whole education systemhas not really invested effectively to teach this language focusing on important skills, such

as listening, speaking, and writing Besides, teachers of English seem only to take the test,

so they do not invest in other skills, especially listening and speaking Even, many teachers

in the schools cannot speak fluently with foreigners in English These causes also influencethe quality of English teachers which may affect learners’ abilities Also, class sizes inVietnam are large (often over 40 students per class), and there is no assistive technology,

so it is difficult to teach language skills effectively Passive students mainly learn to getpoints for passing English subjects, not to use practical language skills Thus, teachers donot have the motivation to improve their qualifications and teaching methods

In regarding to teachers, some of them believe that warm up is useful and needed forlearning to be fun They basically use it in the first class of a new course to give thestudents a chance to be familiar with each other They ignore the other benefits of using awarm up activity in classroom For example: it can motivate the students to participate inclass activities, activate the students’ background knowledge, help the teachers introduce anew topic in interesting way or help get the students’ attention However, teachers usecommon techniques such as questioning, reviewing materials from the previous class,chatting with students as warm up activity whereas they can use jokes, songs, funnyvideos, games, stories, or pictures to make the class more interesting

Specifically, most of the students at Trieu Son 1 High School are quite bad at English.They often feel bored during lesson, and they are not motivated to acquire language.Consequently, the results of English tests are not highly expected As a result, teachers aresupposed to give some strategies to stimulate the students’ interest, and warm up by usinggames is among the most effective ways Moreover, some students can’t afford to access tonecessary facilities for learning online such as: computers, smart phones, Internet… This,

as a result, causes a disadvantage for teachers to cover the knowledge for all their students

1.2 The reason to choose this research

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered new ways of learning All around theworld, educational institutions are looking toward online learning platforms to continuewith the process of educating students The new normal now is a transformed concept ofeducation with online learning at the core of this transformation Today, digital learninghas emerged as a necessary resource for students and schools all over the world For manyeducational institutes, this is an entirely new way of education that they have had to adopt.Online learning is now applicable not just to learn academics, but it also extends tolearning extracurricular activities for students as well In recent months, the demand foronline learning has risen significantly, and it will continue doing so in the future

As with most teaching methods, online learning also has its own set of positivesand negatives Decoding and understanding these positives and negatives will helpinstitutes in creating strategies for more efficiently delivering the lessons, ensuring anuninterrupted learning journey for students Hence, with the conduct of this research,hopefully, it can bring back some effects to most of teachers and students as well

2 Some solutions to improve online teaching equality

For the success of a language lesson, teachers need to select warm up strategiesaccording to appropriate methodologies which should be students centered promotinginteraction as Communicative Language Teaching and the Cooperative Learning Approachdo; Through the CLT, the students are able to confidently express themselves in a naturalway to get and give information, and thanks to the Cooperate Learning Approach, learnersare capable to work in teams to negotiate topics in order to get agreements and to developthe interpersonal intelligence supporting each other

Warm up activities are the key to success in the teaching learning process of theEnglish language because through them it is possible to achieve the goals and coversstudents’ learning needs To establish appropriate methods, techniques and activities in alesson could determine the success of it They create a pleasant, fun and positiveenvironment in the classroom, and they foster students’ production Bearing in mind theimportance of warm up strategies and how useful they are to engage students, it is stronglyadvisable to organize and plan these strategies within the lesson in order to involve andmotivate high schools’ students, so the English classes become in an unforgettableexperience Teachers can apply a wide range of following activities to warm up thestudents

2.1 Solution 1: Using videos

Using videos in the digital classroom is a heavily researched topic that hasdemonstrated high benefits for many different types of students With the relatively recentavailability of free, high-quality video online, it also makes a perfect addition to blendedlearning environments Students, parents, and teachers all agree on the effectiveness ofusing video as a teaching tool

English 12 Unit 1 Home life

To help students be familiar with the topic, I show a video for them to watch and get toknow some vocabulary related to household chores and then organize Kim’s game asfollow:

Final movie Mr Bean doing housework

https://youtu be/gMlHi_R4y2A

KIM’S GAME

Teachers can divide the class into 4 groups, students will discuss about the activities in the video and present them on the board through Jamboard tool

+ Students will discuss in groups and write on the Jam boards integrated on google meetthat the teacher has prepared and within 2 minutes, the team that writes the most activities

is the winner

+ Then, teachers will lead to the lesson

+ The meaning of the activity: students can learn more about some household chores inEnglish, students also focus on the topic of Unit1: Home life

2.2 Solution 2: Using some games

Some games I often use in the "Warm up" activity to create excitement for students

at the beginning of the lesson:

2.2 1 Networks (brainstorming)

At the beginning of the lesson, students can be asked to brainstorm and make a list

of vocabulary related to the topic This is a very interesting way for teachers to warm up

their classroom

English 12 Unit 3: ways of socializing

To help students be familiar with the topic

Next, the teacher uses Jam boards, and divides the students into 2 groups Within 1 minute,

how many words the students can write on the Jam boards platform At the end of 1

minute, the teacher checks which team can write the most words correctly is the winning

team

2.2 2 Matching with pictures

- To review the previous lesson, teachers can show some pictures and then ask students to

match them with the suitable words or phrases

Unit 5: Higher education

A high school / upper

secondary school B primary school C kindergadern D lower secondary school

Unit 6: Future jobs

- To start the new lesson with topic “ future job” teachers can show a picture with differentkind of job and then ask students to match them with the suitable name

Cook air-hostess policeman nurse doctor fireman worker

2.2.3 Using some games created by online platforms

Using Quizziz for students to play some games or quiz show before starting thelesson is a great choice for most of teachers Quizziz is an online tool that allows teachers

to conduct student-paced formative assessments in a fun and engaging way for students ofall ages Teachers incorporate Quizizz into instruction, review, and evaluation to supportstudents

It's super simple to learn and completely free to use! After providing students with

a unique access code, a quiz can be recorded live as a timed competition or used ashomework with a specific deadline After the quizzes have been completed, students canreview their answers

Furthermore, the resulting data is compiled into a spreadsheet to give the instructor

a clear visual of the students’ performance in order to analyze trends in which areas mightneed the most focus in the future This immediate feedback can be used by teachers torevise future learning activities and alter the concentration of material by putting a moresignificant emphasis on concepts that students are struggling with

To play a game on Quizizz, you can either choose from a library of millions ofpublic quizzes, or you can decide to create your own quiz! Once you have picked a quiz,you can conduct it in the classroom with Quizizz live mode or assign it as a homework

game for students to practice at their own time Students can use any device with a browser

to join the game, and you get all the data both for individual students or the class as awhole!

How to Use Quizizz

 Go to www.quizizz.com and hit “GET STARTED”

 If you want to use an existing quiz, you can use the “Search for quizzes” box andbrowse If you want to create your own quiz, select the “Create” panel, then the

“Sign Up” panel and fill in the form

 Enter a name for the quiz and an image if you like You can also select its languageand make it either public or private

For example, Unit 12: Water sport

- When I use key word “Unit 12 Water sport” in Quizzes, I can find a lot of suitable games

about this topic to use in this lesson Many of them are used not only in warm-up activitybut also in revising the lesson That helps teacher stimulate students to learn English in theeffective way

In Unit 13: The 22 nd Sea Games, teacher used Game in Quizzes for students to

warm up a quiz show about knowledge of The 22nd Sea Games It allows you to createinteractive games made from a series of multiple choices questions Students can use anyweb-enabled device to connect to the game using a unique code Students get to choose

their own screen names After each question a leaderboard is presented that shows thecurrent standings.

The game I used for Unit 13: The 22 nd Sea Games - reading

In unit 10: Endanger species , I used the game word search and matching to warm

up the students

3 Practical application

3.1 Describing how the solutions are applied at my school

* Purpose: to test the effectiveness and feasibility of using Warm up activities and

online applications to inspire students in online teaching The results will demonstrate theeffectiveness and feasibility of the measure

* Experimental subjects: 2 grades 12B4 and 12B6 – in the school year 2021-2022.

Their average levels of English are low

* Experimental time: the 2021-2022 school years since the covid-19 outbreak,

students must leave school and study online for over 7 months of the year

* Experimental content: use warm up activities and online applications to inspire

students to learn in online teaching

* Steps to implement

Step 1: Choose the experimental and the proof classes

+ For research, I selected 02 classes with the same number of students and cognitive levels:grade 12B4 (42 students), grade 12B6 (41 students) Grade 12B4 (Experimental Class),Grade 12B6 (Proof Class)

Step 2: Conducting the experiment

- Create 01 quality survey and a questionnaire surveying students' attitudes in 02 grades12B4 and 12B6 towards the subject before starting the online lessons seriously

+ For grade 12B6: before starting the new lesson, the teacher of class 12B4 only explainedthe lesson, and used some simple questions that did not combine Warm up activities withonline applications

+ For grade 12B4: before starting the new lessons, I used warm up games and online tools

to create excitement for students in online lessons

Step 3: Conducting a test after doing the method

After conducting the method, I gave a test for students in both classes Thequestions are divided according to the level: recognition, understanding, application andhigh application

3.2 The results achieved

Starting a class with an interesting activity helps the students set a positive moodfor learning and to keep them engaged in class Hence, it is clear that using warm upactivity can be an effective way

The results of the survey of the attitude and quality of learning of students in 2 classes before the experiment

Experimental class

12B4 42 0 0% 14 33,3% 28 66,6%Comparative class

12B6 41 0 0% 12 28,5% 29 70,7%

* Quality of studying

Good marks (9 - 10)

Credit marks (7 - 8)

Passing marks (5 - 6)

Unarchiving marks (<5)

Total Percent% Total Percent% total Percent% Total Percent%Experimental

class 12B4 42 0 0 % 8 19,04% 12 28,57% 22 52.39%Comparative

* Quality of studying

Good marks (9 - 10)

Credit marks (7 - 8)

Passing marks (5 - 6)

Unarchiving marks (<5)

Total Percent% Total Percent% total percent% Total Percent%Experimental class

12B4 42 6 14,3% 12 28,6% 16 38,1% 8 19%Comparative class

12B6 41 2 4,9% 8 19.5% 14 34,1% 17 41,5%The study result has presented that in a language classroom warm up activity can beused for many reasons One of the reasons of using warm up is to establish a goodrelationship between students and teachers and to set a positive learning environment for