Applying tactics to teach idioms effectively in English 12 atTinh Gia 1 upper-secondary school

Presenting English idioms with rich illustrations...8 3.Tactics 3: Presenting English idioms by using games …………...9 4.. Especially, idioms, quotation, colllocations are more and morepop

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A INTRODUCTION:………2

I The reasons for choosing this theme: ……….2

II The purpose of the research:………3

III The scope of the research:……… …… … 3

IV Methods of the research: ……… 3

B CONTENT……… 4

I Theorical foundation of this theme: ……… 4

II The current situation of the issue ……… 5

III The solutions and the implementation ……… …5

1 Tactic 1 Presenting English Idioms with mind maps…… 6

2 Tactics 2 Presenting English idioms with rich illustrations 8

3.Tactics 3: Presenting English idioms by using games ………… 9

4 Tactics 4: Presenting English idioms in their contexts of use… 11

5 Tactics 5: Presenting English idioms by matching……… 14

6 Some useful types of exercises to master English idioms……….15

VI Results after applying……… ……… 20

C CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION……… ….…20

I Conclusion:……… ……….… 20

II Recommendation:……… ….…… .21

1 For teachers: ……….…….21

2 For students:……… … 21

3 For school management committee:……… …….… 21

REFERENCE BOOKS……….… ……….23

PART A THE INTRODUCTION

I The reasons for choosing this theme.

The 21st century skills such as critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and collaboration demand teachers to increase learner effectivenessand efficiency as well as learner engagement and satisfaction (Kim, 2011).Consequently, they must create a stimulating and effective learning environmentwhich brings about more positive student attitudes toward learning This kind ofinnovative teaching becomes necessity when teaching English idiomaticexpressions Idiomatic expressions are phrases that carry different meaningsthan the literal definition of their component words In Vietnam, English idiom

is considered one of the most difficult aspects when learning this language,because it is not only various but also very confusing The implied meaning ofeach idiom is not conveyed in its content itself but is infered in a far differentway That’s why some language learners are afraid of using them duringcommunication process and they usually use some normal words to express theirideas instead Especially, idioms, quotation, colllocations are more and morepopular in English tests and examinations, we can not find out a missing word if

we actually don’t know the correct idiom

For example, I show him how to use this cellphone serveral times but he even doesn’t know how to turn it on, it’s like water off the duck’s………

If we have never seen this idiom, we will not have an acurate answer forthis question even when we apply our mother tongue to finish it, because nooptions are suitable in this case Moreover the teachers of English themselveshave to face English test which includes numerous idioms and specialexpressions Those are B2 level for the teachers of secondary shools and C1level for the teachers of high shools In these examination, both oral test andwritten test will be apreciated if it consists of idioms Mastering these elementsand using them perfectly will increase the possibility of success in these examsand enables examinees to get highest score The only solution is learning theidioms as an integral part of our lesson The more phrases we know, the easier

we can deal with troubles when using them So we should use it day by day, litle

by litle and one these days, we will have a certain number of idioms in ourEnlish vocabulary In this way, our new words will be widened through time andour fear will gradually go From above reasons, I have made up my mind to

choose the theme “Applying tactics to teach idioms effectively in English 12 at Tinh Gia 1 upper-secondary school” to study I hope that this initiative will

contribute to reducing difficulty for the students at Tinh Gia 1 school as well as

in the other ones and help them learn English effectively Furthermore, teachers

of English also have a meaningful document for their lectures This can do somehelp for them to innovate their lectures

II The purpose of this theme

When choosing this theme, I want to share my slight experience inteaching process and researching to contribute to improve the ways of teachingEnglish idioms systematically and logically Besides that, I want to give students

an useful method to master and remember English idioms, turn learning theminto way of relaxing Simultaneously, I want to prove students that English isalso as various and challenging as Vietnamese, this language also have asspecial expressions as our mother tongue And that, it is an interesting to studyand find out, too

III Scope of the research

1 The setting of the study

The study was conducted in Tinh Gia 1 high school located in Nghi Sơntown, Thanh Hóa province This is a public school where students officially stayhalf day and spend another half day at home Their overall English level isintermediate but English idioms are quite low in comparison with the otherskills Tinh Gia 1 high school is well-known for yielding well-behaved and well-oriented learners From some above detailed context, it was guaranteed that mystudents would enthusiastically support my study Consequently, I could achievevaluable findings

2 The respondents of the study

The main participants of the study were the students from class 12A2, 12A8with 90 members I chose these class as the main respondents of my study as I

am their teacher of English and take charge of their overall activities includingacademic and moral aspects These integrated roles would enable me to have aweekly meeting class beside the allotted teaching time Thus, the study wasclosely observed and the study results would be reliably analyzed

IV Methods of the research

During the conduction of the research, I made use of the following methods:

1 Studying reference books and other sources on the Internet

2 Applying the idioms on the class

3 Observing other teacher s’ classes, discuss and drawing out experiences

4 Using tests and ways of assessments

5 Especially through investigation the learning method of students in reallessons

PART B THE CONTENT

I.Theorical foundation of this theme

English idiom is not very easy to remember and apply in the real life.Moreover, they are various and available in different sources such as referencebooks, English websites etc The more we search, the more idioms we found.They appear to be endless for learners, which make English learners feel tiredand confused when they face it This also create a lot of difficulties for students

to learn, do exercises and especially communicate If we supply students withnumerous English idioms so that they learn by heart and finish grammaticalexercises, they will be unable to remember all of idiomatic expressions Becausethis is over their head Besides that, if we ask them to do a large number ofexercises without specific orientation, they can only spontaniously make choiceand therefore cannot understand the root of the problem and never master thispoint This may demotivate them to learn foreign language

Moreover, the majority of students do not understand the importance oflearning idioms so they are lazy or just learn quickly and then do not use it.Learning outcomes of the students toward English subject of grade 12 at TinhGia 1 high school were not high

* At the beginning of the academic year 2021 - 2022 at Tinh Gia 1 uppersecondary school, I deliver handouts related to idioms for students in class12A2, 12A8 and ask them to do within 5 minutes

Mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the following questions

1 When you do something, you should

A get through to B turn over a new leaf

C weigh up the prosand cons D go down well with

2 The weather is going to change soon; I feel it in my

3 As it was very hot in summer, sales of bottles of water went the roof.

4 She is the black of her family

5 She comes to see me once in a moon.

4

Correctanswer

3

Correctanswer

2

Correctanswer

1

Correctanswer

0

On these reasons, I make a decision to study this theme because of belowprimary basis:

II The current situation of the issue

Nowadays, it’s esential to have a good command of English and fluentlycommunicate with English speakers in over the world Ability to use Englishbecomes the first and foremost criterion of all occupations and jobs especiallyforeign companies A great deal of English idiom textbooks are printed, variety

of English websites are set up, and long distance English courses are available

on the mass However, which is the best for learners? It’s the availability of thismaterial source that makes English learners confused because they don’t knowwhich program they should follow and which one is suitable for them It will bemuch more challenging for learners coming from mountainous areas like NghiSon high school students For these such learners, simplified methods are reallyneeded Because it will not only encourage them to learn English but also givethem excitement when learning a new language which is far different from theirmother tongue Because of comtemporary stituation, I always try to find out thebest mode to help my students overcome their difficulty and contribute todecreasing the existing trouble With my limited experience I presume to givesome solutions to reduce hardship of teaching English idioms I hope that I canshare meaningful information with the teachers of English to teach this subjecteffectively

III The solutions and the implementation

Instead of listing all the idioms and asking students to learn by heart, Icatergorise English idioms and divide them into small group according to thespecific subjects and I also use different tactics to introduce these idioms tostudents in forms of a mindmap, rich illustrations, games, contexts of use orusing matching idioms to explain their meanings clearly so that students can beeasier to master However, because of the limit scale of an initiative, I onlymention to idioms related to familiar topics which are easy to understand andremmember, and which are usully applied in official English tests in Vietnam.Also, I will provide some applied exercises as reference source for students aswell as teachers of English This both help students communicate well andreduce obstacle when dealing with English idioms as well as enourage theirpleasure to discover new ones during leanring process Because, the more theyknow about it, the less difficulties they have when grammatical exercises onidioms Furthermore, student’s vocabulary will improve day by day, which givethem the sense of acomplishment The number of idioms in each lesson shouldnot be over ten every week Memorising ten member per week is not a difficulttask for students However, on the other side the volum of idioms will regularlyincrease year in year out Therefore, instead of giving up learning foreignlanguage because of difficulty, they are excited to learn new ones I myselfbelieve that, English idioms is also a good way to relax and broaden your mind

First of all, we need to know the definition of an idiom, “what is anidiom?” The question has many answers.

According to Dictionary of English idioms 1976: “An idiom is a fixedgroup of words with a special different meaning from the meanings of severalwords” For instance, “let the cat out of the bag” means to reveal a secretcarelessly or by mistake

The Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics(1985: 270) defines “idioms as expressions which function as single units andwhose meanings cannot be worked out from their separate parts”

In Oxford English Dictionary, idiom is defined as a peculiarity ofphraseology approved by the usage of language and often having a significationother than its grammatical or logical one

Seidle and Mordie, in their English Idioms (1978: 13) also define:

“Idioms as a number of words taken together, mean something different fromthe individual words of the idioms when they stand alone” For example, thephrase: “writing an idiom is a piece of cake” does not mean that writing anidiom is a literal ‘piece of cake’ that you can eat Instead, ‘piece of cake’ is afigurative expression for saying that something is easy to do

As can be seen from the above definitions, idioms have been definedvariously but all of them share the same view on the matter Most linguists agreethat idioms are phrases where the whole phrase means something different fromthe meanings of several words Therefore, it can be said that idiom is a speechform or an expression of a given language that cannot be understood from theindividual meanings of its elements Effectively learning idioms needs somefollowing crucial steps:

Firstly, students have to take note them on small group and subject such

as: animal, color, parts of body, work, book… It is necessary to write downcarefully and sytematically because it will save time and be convenient forlooking up later

Secondly, students need to identify the usage of each idiom and give an

example with it to understand clearly about it They should find out differentways to express an idea through idioms and avoid using ancient idioms becausethey are so confusing that we can’t make sense their meaning

Thirdly, They must try to find out the relationship between English

idioms with Vietnamese ones to have an easy way to memorise In this way,students not only enjoy learning but they also improve their translating andcomparing abilities

Taking notes day by day is an obvious way to witness your improvement

in term of English idioms because the more idioms you write down on yournotebook, the more you know and understand them These are some idioms withspecific tactics that have been applied in class 12A2, 12A8

Tactic 1 Presenting English Idioms with mind maps

Using fluently the mind map in teaching will help students have usefullearning methods , increases the independence, initiative , creativity anddeveloping thinking Mind map- help students learn actively some findingssuggest that the human brain will understand deep, dark print and long

remember the main reason that I think, write, draw in your language so using

mind map help students learn actively, maximum mobilization potential of thebrain That is why I use mind map as one of the most effective method to master

idioms

For example: Presenting English idioms about colours

For example: Presenting English idioms about animals

2 Tactics 2 Presenting English idioms with rich illustrations

According to the effect of illustrations on reading, I collected English idioms inone sentence context English idioms were presented with pictures to one class

of 45 students while without pictures to the other class of 45 students Theywere told that those phrases were English idioms first and then they were asked

to translate them into Vietnamese I found that English idioms with illustrationscould increase students’ idiom understanding better Thus, it is effective topresent English idioms accompanied by visual stimuli that clearly illustrates theidioms being taught

For example: introducing idioms about fruits and sports

3 Tactics 3: Presenting English idioms by using games

It is always fun to teach vocabulary through games, especially idioms Ifyou have already gone through the meanings on your idiom list, playing a gamehelps to reinforce what students have learned It also makes the learningexperience more enjoyable Since idioms are comprised of multiple words, itmakes games like Pictionary or charades more challenging, especially forhigher-level learners These activities work well as warm-ups or even energizersafter a long day Do a practice round as an example, so that your students have aclearer idea of how to participate In order to help students have fun and learnEnglish idioms effectively, I introduce them the Idiom Bluffs and Charade games

3.1 Idiom Bluffs games In this funny game, students create false definitionsfor idioms and then play a game where they guess which definition for an idiom

is correct In teams, students begin by creating a second false definition for eachidiom on their worksheet The idiom and correct answer are shown in bold.Teams then take it in turns to read their idioms and three definitions to anotherteam who guesses which definition is correct If they successfully guess thecorrect definition, the other team puts a tick next to the idiom The gamecontinues until all the idioms and definitions have been read out and guessed.The team with the most correct guesses wins the game

For example: introducing idioms about animals

Divide the class into 2 teams Give each group a card including idioms

The card for team A:

Create a third false definitions for each idiom The idioms and correct answer are showwn in bold.

1 Wow! It's raining cats and dogs today! I wish I'd brought my umbrella to

school!

a ………

b It's raining heavily.

c Cats and dogs are falling from the sky

2 When I told my mom I would be home around 2 am, she had a cow!

a My mom bought a baby cow

b ………

c My mom was really upset.

3 Jean: How did you know it was my birthday today?

Susan: Oh, a little bird told me!

a Jean told Susan it was her birthday

b An unnamed person told Susan about Jean's birthday.

c ………

4 Frank: Why didn't your brother ride the roller coaster with us?

Sam: Oh, he's such a scaredy cat! He won't get on any fast ride.

a Sam's brother is afraid to ride the roller coaster

b ………

c Sam's brother didn't go to the roller coaster

5 When the telephone salesman told me I could buy some concert tickets for

only $10.00 if I gave him my credit card number, it seemed a little fishy to me,

so I hung up the phone

a ………

b I thought the phone salesman was a dangerous fish and he scared me

c I thought the phone salesman was dishonest and I felt suspicious of him.

Now, take it in turn to read your idioms and three definitions to the other teams Put a tick for each definitions they guess corectly The team with the most correct guesses wins

The card for team B:

Create a third false definitions for each idiom The idioms and correct answer are showwn in bold.

1 I never learned how to use a computer, so I lost my job to a new

employee It's a dog-eat-dog world.

a Only the strong or the best survive

b ………

c Dogs like to eat dog for lunch

2 He does not really go around with many people because he's a bit of a lone

wolf.

a single person

b lonely person

c ………

3 I would advise you to do that as well and in that way you will kill two birds with one stone.

a ………

b get something done two times

c get two things done at the same time

4 He will be all right soon because any criticism is usually like water off a duck’s back to him.

a of no importance

b of some importance

c ………

5 No one mentions him because he is regarded as the black sheep of the family.

a the one with the sense of humor

b the one with a bad reputation

c ………

Now, take it in turn to read your idioms and three definitions to the other teams Put a tick for each definitions they guess corectly The team with the most correct guesses wins

3.2 Charade games

Charades’s objective is that it is a guessing game in which players give clueswith actions and gestures It’s a great game for all level students, who are not yetconfident or skilled enough to product descriptions The focus of these gamesfor teaching English is simply on recognition and learning vocabulary It is anexercise you can include during the main class to impress the knowledge

For example: introducing idioms about part of the body

Divide the class into 2 teams Give each group a card including 7 idioms

Each team sends different representatives to stand up and act in front of the classand enact the word or phrase in each turn The limited time is 5 minutes Theteam that guesses maximum correct in minimum team wins

1 Apple of your eye - Something or, more often, someone that is very special

to you is the 'apple of your eye’

2 Break a leg - This idiom is a way of wishing someone good luck

3 Cat got your tongue - If someone asks if the cat has got your tongue, they

want to know why you are not speaking when they think you should

4 Eyes bigger than your stomach - If someone's eyes are bigger than their

stomach, they are greedy and take on more than they can consume or manage

5 Put your foot in your mouth - If you put your foot in your mouth, you say

something stupid or embarrassing

6 somebody’s heart is in their mouth- If somebody’s heart is in their mouth ,

somebody feels nervous or frightened about something

7 lend an ear- If you lend a ear, you listen in a patient and kind way to

somebody

4 Tactics 4: Presenting English idioms in their contexts of use