(SKKN 2022) Experience in organizing English club activities to improve English learning efficiency of students at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGNGOC LAC ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INNOVATION EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZING ENGLISH CLUB ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH LEARNING E

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NGOC LAC ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INNOVATION

EXPERIENCE IN ORGANIZING ENGLISH CLUB ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE

ENGLISH LEARNING EFFICIENCY OF STUDENTS

AT NGOC LAC ETHNIC BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL

Writer: Mai Thị Nhung Position: Teacher

Topic in the fields of: English

THANH HOA, 2022

INDEX

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons to choose the theme

English, the international language, is increasingly asserting its importantrole as a communication bridge in the globalization trend In case of Vietnam, acountry being in the process of international integration, learning English isbecoming more and more crucial

Being aware of this, in recent years, the Ministry of Education andTraining has constantly paid attention to innovating teaching methods with aview to improving the quality of teaching and learning foreign languages ingeneral and English in particular, which has bought about some certain results.However, the difference in language proficiency between regions is still quitelarge Improving the effectiveness of English learning in mountainous, remoteand isolated areas is still a difficult problem for many high schools

Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High School has come into operation since

2017 with the mission of educating students from 11 western mountainousdistricts of Thanh Hoa province Most of them are from ethnic minorities withdifficult socio-economic conditions, which partly results in their limited access

to English at lower education levels English entry scores are generally low anduneven Therefore, the implementation of learning programs for most studentsstill faces many difficulties Many students have limited vocabulary, incorrectpronunciation, and unscientific learning methods Some children feel bored withstudying, lose confidence in their abilities and lack cooperation with teachers.Realizing that situation, I myself, over the years of working with mountainousstudents, have researched and applied a number of solutions to encourage theirspirit of learning English One of the solutions that has been successfully appliedand brought about positive effects is to improve the effectiveness of Englishlearning through club activities With the above reasons, I have decided to put

forward the research named: "Experience in organizing English Club

activities to improve English learning efficiency of students at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High School".

1.2 Aims of the research

This study was carried out with the aim of:

Building a language environment that helps students to practice languageskills in a natural way and exchange experiences of learning English

Creating opportunities for students’ creativity, enhance their interest, andencourage self-study and Relieve stress after regular class hours

Building a healthy, vibrant and rewarding playground to improve theefficiency of using English in practice

1.3 Subjective of the research

In this study, I would like to introduce some measures to organize theEnglish club’s activities at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding high school with a view

to improving English learning efficiency of students The number of participantssurveyed included six classes of grade 10 with a total of 180 students and mainlyfocused on those who are the members of the club

1

1.4 Methodology of the research

To make my solutions effectively, I have used some following methods:Firstly, I always get advices from colleagues through co-working

Secondly, I usually study the documents dealing with the theme (mainlythe information on the Google)

Thirdly, I use the methods of analysis, generalization and synthesis aftercollecting the data from survey through answer sheet

Finally, I study some ways to organize the extra-curricular activities

According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Club_(organization)

“A club is an association of people united by a common interest or goal.

A service club, for example, exists for voluntary or charitable activities Thereare clubs devoted to hobbies and sports, social activities clubs, political andreligious clubs, and so forth

Historically, clubs occurred in all ancient states of which we have detailedknowledge Once people started living together in larger groups, there was needfor people with a common interest to be able to associate despite having no ties

of kinship Organizations of the sort have existed for many years, as evidenced

by Ancient Greek clubs and associations in Ancient Rome.” [2]

2.1.2 School clubs and their roles in developing students’ abilities

When it comes to school clubs, we refer to the “activities performed bystudents that fall outside the realm of classes Such clubs may fall outside thenormal curriculum of school or university education or, as in the case of subjectmatter clubs (e.g student chapters of professional societies), may supplementthe curriculum through informal meetings and professional mentoring” [2]

A school club consists of students with similar interests and talents in acertain field to voluntarily participate in learning, fun and entertainmentactivities which are suitable for their interest Up to now, school clubs are nolonger a strange thing for many people Football Club, Arts Club, Music Club,Poetry Club, Dance Club… Many clubs are places to give wings to futuretalents The benefits of clubs are enormous, creating conditions for students tofeel happy in an environment they love, helping them to gain confidence inthemselves and get along with their friends, contributing to their success andhelping them develop holistically

History has shown and proved that humans have known to organizecommunity activities for a long time In present time, when science andtechnology is developing more and more, the requirement of teamwork is morenecessary than ever Reality shows that group collaboration brings productivityand efficiency many times higher When working in groups, each member willhave the opportunity to learn from other members' experiences when listening totheir presentations as well as learning to critique their own ideas

On December 8, 2018 during the seminar on "Solutions to improve thequality of teaching and learning foreign languages - especially English in thenational education system" [3], former Minister of Education and TrainingPhung Xuan Nha emphasized the importance of “building an English-speakingcommunity, arousing an environment where people like to speak English, like to

read English, a learning society, forming a far-reaching movement, peopleknowing much teaches those who know little…”[3]

From the above bases, I think that the establishment and maintenance ofactivities of the English Club at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Boarding High School is verynecessary It is considered as an important tool in supporting foreign languageteaching and learning, is a practical activity to help students practice theircommunication skills in English, practice morality, and develop life skills Andthe idea of learning by playing, playing and learning in the Club was formed

2.2 Reality of the issue

2.2.1 Advantages

In order to successfully organize its activities, the English Club hasreceived a lot of attention and direction from the School Board of Directors; thehelp of the form teachers, the companionship of the other teachers, and theenthusiastic response from the students

Most of the English teachers are young, enthusiastic and dedicated toteaching the language to students

School facilities are relatively adequate to support foreign languagelearning In addition to the reading library, the school is also equipped with anelectronic reading room, two computer classrooms, an audio-visual room and alanguage classroom These are really effective tools to help them improve theirEnglish vocabulary, pronunciation and general knowledge

An image of students participating in learning in the language classroom

The learning environment has many advantages to develop students'teamwork skills Being in a boarding school, they have more time to live andstudy together than students in other high schools The implementation of groupactivities is therefore also easier

2.2.2 Disadvantages

2.2.2.1 For teachers

The time for club activities is limited because teachers, in addition toteaching in class, also participate in a number of other tasks such as form

teachers, a member of the School Trade Union, a member of the Youth Union.Therefore, the maintenance of the club's activities is sometimes not regular.

Club activities are a form of extra-curricular activities, so it requires theteachers in charge to be experienced This is a fundamental limitation forEnglish teachers, who have long been used to standing on the platform As aresult, the organization of some activities is not smooth, scientific, and lackscreativity

2.2.2.2 For students

English is a completely "difficult" subject for students Especially most ofthe children are from ethnic minorities, their family background is still verydifficult, so investment in their children's education is still limited The studentsonly have access to English through textbooks under the guidance of theirteachers, but have not had much further research

Many students are not aware of the importance of the subject, so theyhave not invested enough time and built effective learning methods Somechildren only see English as a conditional subject, so they often neglect andfocus on studying other subjects, relying on other subjects to pull up English.Some students have tried but cannot find out the appropriate learning method sothey are not able to apply knowledge into communicative practice

The number of students who study English well is very low Among thestudents who are good learners, most of them only do well in the exercises ongrammar and vocabulary Very few students are capable of practicing the fourskills fluently, especially speaking skills

The identification of subject goal is not appropriate Most of the studentsstudy English for their exams, not for communication, even for fairly goodstudents Moreover, the fear of speaking, expressing opinions, and makingmistakes makes studying the language become stiff and unattractive Students feelburdened, anxious with learning tasks related to speaking skills When presentingthe results of the lessons, always only the good students do on behalf of the wholegroup

All of the above factors lead to a common fact that students learn Englishmostly not because they love it, so their learning results are not high Iconducted a survey about the interest in English and participation in the EnglishClub of grade 10 students at the beginning of the school year 2021-2022 andobtained the following results:

Easy Normal Difficul

)

118(65,6%)

140(77,8%

)

22(12,2%

)

18(10%)

48(26,7%

)

132(73,3%)

Obviously, the majority of students think that English is an extremelydifficult subject, which leads to a fear of learning, reluctance to receiveknowledge, and not trying hard in learning Out of 180 students surveyed, only

48 volunteered to join the club This partly explains the difficulty inimplementing language teaching as well as improving the learning quality ofstudents

2.3 Solutions

2.3.1 Strengthening the Club's Board of Directors each year and assigning specific tasks to each member

English Club at Ngoc Lac Ethnic Minority High School was established

in October 2017 with an initial total of only 40/180 students and 2 teachers.After its establishment, the Club held an opening ceremony to receive duties infront of the School Board of Directors with the witness of all students

Images of the English Club's opening ceremony

Every school year, the Club gradually consolidates the Board of Directorsand assigned specific tasks to each member of the Board

Chairman: Head of the professional group, responsible for the overall

direction of the development of the overall plan and program of activities for thewhole year

Vice Chairman: The teachers directly teach English in the school,

responsible for developing the content of the specific activity program for eachmonth, managing the members of the Club under his/her charge andcoordination They also take part in organizing club activities according to planand take main responsibility for maintaining activities

Members: the leaders of the groups that are divided according to the

number of participants of each year These are typical students, who are good atEnglish and with a high sense of discipline and prestige with their peers in thelearning process, capable of helping the rest of the group The group leader isresponsible to the Club's Board of Directors for the number of members in thegroup, reports on changes in the number of members, assigns tasks to eachmember of their group in each activity

2.3.2 Developing a general plan and principles of the Club for the whole school year

Developing an action plan throughout the school year and basing on thetopic of each month to conduct activities that create practical effects for studentsand close to the surrounding life.

The program must be appropriate for the age group, excite and stimulatethe creativity and initiative of the students, without repetition or stereotype thatcauses a feeling of boredom

The operation principle of the Club must be based on the voluntaryparticipation of its members The club operates under the organization andadministration of the club president and is under the management andsupervision of the School Board of Directors The Club Board of Directors isresponsible to the Principal for all activities of the Club

Below is the program for the English Club’s activities at Ngoc Lac EthnicBoarding high school in the school year 2021-2022

Đinh Van Thien Youth Union

11/2021 My school Trinh Thi Dao

12/2021 Christmas Trieu Thi Dao Dance Club

01/2022 Holidays Dinh Van Thien Youth Union

03/2022 Happy International

Women’s Day

Mai Thi Nhung Youth Union

04/2022 Youth aspirations Mai Thi Nhung Sport Club

activitiesDrawing experience

Directors

2.3.3 Coordinating with form teachers, other clubs, organizations and individuals inside and outside the school when organizing specific activities for each month

In order to create the influence as well as success in organizing theactivities of the English Club, the Board of Directors needs to coordinate withother clubs, organizations and individuals inside and outside the school Bydoing this can the Club mobilize additional human, intellectual and financialsupport to maintain its activities on a regular basis

When developing a specific activity plan for each month, the Board ofDirectors should have a clear assignment of responsibilities of each member toavoid overlap, save time, and increase efficiency

After each meeting, members of the club need to exchange experiences in

a timely manner about the issues that have been done well and have not beendone, errors to comment as well as to supplement and renew the activities of theclub in the next time

The example below is the detailed plan for the March program - HappyInternational Women's Day under the direction of the Executive Committee ofthe Youth Union

ĐOÀN TRƯỜNG THPT DTNT NGỌC LẶC

CÂU LẠC BỘ TIẾNG ANH

Số: 05 – KH/CLBTA

Ngọc Lặc, ngày 26 tháng 02 năm 2022

KẾ HOẠCH

Tổ chức ngoại khóa Tiếng Anh với chủ đề “Happy Women’s Day”

Căn cứ kế hoạch công tác Đoàn và phong trào thanh niên của BCH Đoàntrường THPT DTNT Ngọc Lặc năm học 2021-2022;

Căn cứ kế hoạch hoạt động của Câu lạc bộ Tiếng Anh Trường THPT DTNTNgọc Lặc năm học 2012-2022;

Ban chủ nhiệm Câu lạc bộ Tiếng Anh xây dựng Kế hoạch tổ chức hoạtđộng ngoại khoá tiếng Anh tháng 3 năm học 2021-2022 như sau:

- Các tiết mục tham gia phải được chuẩn bị chu đáo, chất lượng

II THỜI GIAN VÀ ĐỊA ĐIỂM

1 Thời gian: 19h30 ngày 05/03/2022

2 Địa điểm: Hội trường Trường THPT DTNT Ngọc Lặc

III THÀNH PHẦN

1 Thành phần khách mời:

- BGH nhà trường

- Tổ trưởng/Nhóm trưởng các Tổ/Nhóm chuyên môn

2 Đối tượng tham gia:

- Thành viên Câu lạc bộ Tiếng Anh

- Toàn thể học sinh trong trường có niềm đam mê với bộ môn Tiếng Anh

IV CHỦ ĐỀ, NỘI DUNG, HÌNH THỨC TỔ CHỨC