(SKKN 2022) HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY EFFECTIVELY FOR YOUNG TUDENTS IN CLASS 4e, 4g AT BAC SON PRIMARY SCHOOL IN SAM SON CITY

EXPERIMENTAL INITIATIVEHOW TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY EFFECTIVELY FOR YOUNG STUDENTS IN CLASS 4E, 4G AT BAC SON PRIMARY SCHOOL IN SAM SON CITY The implementer: Pham Thi Yen Position:

EXPERIMENTAL INITIATIVE

HOW TO TEACH ENGLISH VOCABULARY EFFECTIVELY FOR YOUNG STUDENTS

IN CLASS 4E, 4G AT BAC SON PRIMARY SCHOOL

IN SAM SON CITY

The implementer: Pham Thi Yen

Position: Teacher School: Bac Son Primary School Subject: English

THANH HOA, YEAR 2022

2.2 Real state before applying the experimental initiative 3

2.3.1 The importance of techniques of teaching vocabulary 5

2.4 The effectiveness of the experimentalinitiative 17

References

Nowadays, the trend of international integration in many areas includingthe field of education has brought English up a very important position English

as a means of communication is the key to the treasure of humanity On theother hand, the wide application of information technology has made learningEnglish become urgent and indispensable So learning English of ElementarySchool students are particularly concerned by students, parents, all the teachers

of education in our country English has become one of the main subjects in thecurriculum of students

The learning and use of English require a diligent process of creativepractice of both learners and teachers Especially in the situation of educationreform as currently, teaching English in view of communication methods iswidely supported According to this method, students have many opportunities

to communicate, to practise language and to participate in practical situations:Learning coupled with practice

English is the most common language spoken everywhere Combiningwith the application of information technology, learning English has becomeurgent and indispensable more than ever In our country, responding todeveloping trends and requirements of the society, the government has had thepractical educational policies of teaching and learning English in the school,especially for primary schools English is gradually being introduced evenearlier into the curriculum in many schools

The English educational program is reformed, the communicative method

is internationally recognized best practice in English language teaching

English is a compulsory subject from grade 3 in all regions across thecountry The prominent feature of the innovation in the content according to theprogram of Ministry of Education and Training provides students in general andelementary students particularly with more interest in learning English

Students have more chance to practice English in four skills as listening,speaking, reading and writing

Learning vocabulary is an important and basic foundation of skilldevelopment in the process of learning English language But primary studentsalmost have no interest because they think that English is too difficult for them

choose the topic “How to teach English vocabulary effectively for young

students in Class 4E, 4G at Bac Son Primary School in Sam Son”.

1.2 The purpose of research

As a direct teacher to teach English for students in grade 4, who are new

to the system of vocabularies and structures not known in grade 3, I alwaysthink of how to make learning vocabulary is the most exciting thing my students

do at school, help them not feel tired of learning English

During both teaching and observing students learning vocabulary, I found thatstudents often learn the new words unconsciously

They do not pay much attention to practice pronouncing words Most ofthem sit in silence, only a small number of students get interest in enjoyingactivities in the class

How to increase students’ concern and help them to memorize and usevocabulary easily? I wish all of my students could catch all the words

1.3 The objects of research

The pupils in Class 4E, 4G at Bac Son Primary School

The vocabulary in the text book Tieng Anh 4 (Macmillan –The Ministry

of Training and education publisher)

In order to complete this study, I finished the survey for pupils at Bac SonPrimary School in school years 2021 – 2022 with the help of 70 pupils in Class4E and 4G

I found out the pupils’ attitude towards learning vocabulary

Combining with the research methods to build the theoretical basis, thestatistic methods and data processing and drawing on findings obtained in theteaching process, I found a number of effective vocabulary teaching methods.Several current databases, together with my personal experience as a teacher

directly teaching grade 4, I boldly go into a problem “How to teach English

vocabulary effectively for young students in Class 4E, 4G at Bac Son Primary School in Sam Son”.

1.4 The method of research

- Studying reasoning

- Analyzing the real situation

- Collecting data and analyzing data

- Observation

- Experimenting the TPR method

- Reporting the results and drawing the conclusion

world One cannot learn a language without learning vocabulary Therefore, thestudy of vocabulary has occupied the central place in teaching learningactivities Thornbury opines (2002):

If you spend most of your time studying grammar, your English will not improve very much You will see most improvement, if you learn more words and expressions You can say very little with grammar, but you can say almost anything with words[1]

Even, Wilkins rightly says, “Without grammar very little can be conveyed….but without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” [2] (p.111, quotes in Lewis,

2000) Vocabulary is a very important means to express our thoughts andfeeling, either in spoken or written form Indeed, neither literature nor languageexists without vocabulary

Vocabulary is needed for expressing meaning and in using the receptive(listening and reading) and the productive (speaking and writing) skills Itshould be considered as an internal part of learning a foreign language since itleads the way to communication Nation and Waring (1997), aptly mentioned,

“Such as writingand reading, vocabulary knowledge is one of the components of language skills”[3]

The study of vocabulary is at the center while learning a new language English being a second language or foreign language, one needs to learn vocabulary in the systematic way As a result, teaching vocabulary effectivelytakes an important role in teaching English

2.2 Really state before applying the experimental initiative.

- Current status of the school

Bac Son Primary School is in the center of Sam Son City The school has

a teaching staff who are young, fit, enthusiastic, capable of teaching and alwayslove their job Qualifications and standards are on 100% In the field ofeducation, my school is always interested, focused on teaching and learning,always enabling teachers and pupils to fulfill the duties and assigned targets.And the school has always received the active support of the local government

so many years, the school was rewarded as the advanced school in the city Butbeside that the school has faced many difficulties in education The total number

of classes and pupils are overcrowded, but narrow campus, not enough playingand learning space for students, infrastructure is poor Visual media, pictures,furniture for teaching and learning English are lacking

- About students and parents

Due to a commune in the coastal areas, people live mainly on fishing butbecause of over population, their living standard are low and strenuous Themajority of parents are not really interested in their child's learning Adding tothat, learning self-discipline of students is poor Everyday communication skills

of maritime students compared with students in urban areas is limited.Therefore, learning and communication in English, a second language of thechildren are more difficult Pronunciation of their native language also lead to

more errorsin listening, teaching English and make English more difficult Most

of them are very timid, shy, yet bold communication, language delay thinkingleads to low self-esteem, inferiority

In the class, students are forced to learn many words and have to spendmuch time to get used to using language, as word meaning, word stress,sentence stress, intonation that are different and difficult for them to understandand memorize.English communication environment is limited so they have toolittle chance to practise their knowledge In addition, the native language alsoleads to the difficulty in English pronunciation

- For teachers.

I have been teaching English at primary school for many years Irecognized that my pupils in Class 4E, 4G in particular and pupils in ourelementary schools generally are too small to be aware of learning English Theyhave few opportunities of applying English in their lives, are bored withcommunicating in English with others because of limited vocabulary Therefore,they cannot improve the skills of listening and speaking as well as reading andwriting

According to the innovation of teaching methods, pupils practice Englishproactively But English is a difficult subject, time for each lesson is too shortfor teachers to organize activities effectively Sometimes there are too manywords in a unit so that the teachers just give the meaning of the word, pupilscopy and memorize mechanically to save time, focus on grammar practice It isessential for teachers to find out suitable and effective ways of teachingvocabulary to take advantage of pupils’learning spirit as well as update teachingquality How to help pupils be more confident and proficient In learning andusing vocabulary, especially for pupils in Class 4E, 4G at Bac Son PrimarySchool I carried out a survey pupils in Class 4E, 4G at Bac Son Primary School

at the beginning of the school year 2021-2022 The purpose of this study is how

to improve the teaching and learning English vocabulary at Bac Son PrimarySchool in particular and other Primary School in general My survey wascompleted by 70 pupils of Class 4E, 4G to check pupils’ memorizingvocabulary I prepared an exercise for pupils as follow:

I Choose the word different from the others

1 A cycling B skipping C cloudy D skating

2 A rabbits B parrots C cat D dogs

3 A plane B trucks C ship D car

4 A library B classroom C music room D pond

5 A book B pen C cook D pencil

II Circle A, B or C

1 Where is the …… ? It’s there.

A ball B cook C near

2 What pets do you like? I like………

A cats B sunny C trucks

3 Tom is playing ………

A TV B badminton C window

4 Whois that? It’s my………

A ball B red C friend

5 How many………are there? There are ten

A a robot B robots C robot

2.3 The solutions were used.

2.3.1 The importance of techniques of teaching vocabulary.

- Techniques of teaching vocabulary are being applied during the process

of learning and teaching English From introducing new words, practisingspeaking and writing, to training and consolidating as well as warming-up are tomake an effervescent lesson at the beginning

-The purpose of using the techniques of teaching vocabulary in theprocess of teaching English is to provide students with sufficent vocabularywhich supplied for learning English, catch the meaning and the use ofvocabulary in communication

- The different techniques give students interest in English, memorizevocabulary with the communicative context, enhance self-learning, will enrichtheir vocabulary themselves and self-check their use of words They will gain

initiative in communicative situations as well as the acquisition of newknowledge.

2.3.2.How to teach vocabularyeffectively.

2.3.2.1 Pre-teach vocabulary.

- Presentation seems to be the most important stage in the process ofteaching vocabulary The purpose of this activity is to make pupils will feelmore attracted into our lecture

- Choosing words to teach correctly is very important It is the decisivefactor focusing students’ attention to the content of lesson.When teachingvocabulary teachers need to distinguish and consider two kinds of vocabularywords to help teachers focus systematically and save time needed

+ Active (active vocabulary): are words necessary for students tounderstand, recognize and use in oral and written communication In the process

of this, teachers need to inspire, take for example, checking to make surestudents understand and recognize how to use them

+ Passive (passive vocabulary): are the words that students need tounderstand and recognize when listening and reading With this kind of teachers

do not need to invest a lot of time on the active application, just a quickpresentation with a simple example

- Elicit the meaning of words from students by using attached techniquesinstead of give directly the meaning This promote students to the creativeness

of learning language

- After presenting the meaning of the new words, teachers have studentsrepeat the words in 2 times in chorally then in groups or individually severaltimes By repeating words, students will get acquainted with intonation, wordstress and phonics that are very important to supply them useful things tolistening and speaking skills

During teaching a word, as having students pronounce, teachers cancombine techniques with the intonation following expression of feelings toattract students’ interest

Example: when teaching “listen to music”, teachers both use gesture,putting hands on ears and pronounce the phrase with different intonations such

as angry, funny or sad

Students repeat excitedly the word It makes them feel the learning

It is more convenient and effective for pupils when learning a new word

by knowing how to say and how to write

*Some common techniques in introducing the meaning of words

Each lesson has a variety of words, it may be easy to learn but may bedifficult And the condition of the classroom, time for leaning vocabulary as well

as the level and interest of students are also the factors leading to decide whattechnique should be used Giving the meaning of words is the most importantpart of teaching There are many techniques very useful to introducing themeaning of words such as, define, drawing, using real objects, pictures, mime( gesture ), synonym – antonym, translation, guessing, explanation,….And theseare effective techniques I used to teach in my lessons

Defining

Definitions in the target language may be very handy if they are expressed

in terms that are better known or more easily guessed than the word that isdefined I use a different word, words or a definition in order to explain a word Examples: Lemonade is a kind of drink made of lemon (Unit 13- grade 4)

Children’s day is a festival for children on the first of June (Unit 15- grade 4)

Drawing.

When I run into difficult vocabulary to explain, I draw a picture of somewords on the blackboard It help my pupils understand the meaning of wordsquickly

Examples:To express the actions such as, ride, skip, sing, swim

(Unit 5- grade 4) I use color chalk to draw these actions

Using real objects

It is a very useful technique to teach vocabulary to elementary students.The names of many things can be taught by showing actual objects It gives realexperience and sense to them Real objects or models of real objects are veryeffective and meaningful in showing meanings but in handling of real objects, ateacher must be practical and should not be superfluous

This is the simplest way to achieve understanding Many new words which teachers may be difficult to explain

Example: bread, milk, tea, coffee (Unit 13- grade 4)

Shoes, sandals, blouse, skirt (Unit 17- grade 4)

Using pictures

It is easy for teachers to teach vocabulary when using photographs orpaintings teachers can indicate many kinds of words They can be used todevelop students’ understanding of a particular concept of word This can also

be a good way to introduce blocks of related words, which is often utilized inforeign language classes, such as nouns and verbs related to the classroom or thehouse Pictures can also be used in printable worksheets and flashcards, wherepictures are matched to the word they represent

Examples: sea, sandcastle, hotel (Unit 20- grade 4)

Firework display, decorate (Unit 15- grade 4)

Miming (gesture)

Teachers can perform some words It can be fun and frolic It makes theclass student-centered Teachers can act and students try to imitate it It can win

the favor of the students as learners like dramatizations and can easily learnthrough them Many situations can be dramatized or demonstrated This workswell with students as practice in communicating This technique lends itselfparticularly well to action verbs and it can be fun and memorable.

Examples: swimming, playing badminton (Unit - grade 4)

Sing, skip, dance (Unit 5 - grade 4)

Using synonym and antonym

A synonym may be used to help the student to understand the differentshades of meaning if the synonym is better known than the word being taught.Synonyms help to enrich a student's vocabulary bank and provide alternativewords instantly

When one member of a pair of opposites is understood, the meaning ofthe other can be easily comprehended This helps the student to understand thedifferent shades of meanings of a word

Examples: Unit 14- What does he look like?

Students knew the words: old, short and small at grade 3 so teacherscan ask:

“What is the opposite of old?”

young - old

tall - short

big - small

thin - fat

Example 1: Unit 3: What day is it today? Lesson 1 (Grade 4)

Vocabularies include 8 words:

In presenting new words, I use techniques as explanation and pictures

“today” is an abstract noun, so explanation is the best way to help studentsunderstand the meaning of word

I ask “What do we call the day after yesterday?” Students answer

“hôm nay”

I say “We call ‘’hôm nay ‘’ is “today” in English.”

To introduce 7 days of the week, I show in turn the pictures of 7 calendardays, which are closed to students and ask What day is it today? Students answerone by one about 7 days Then I give the words in English

By using pictures to infer the meaning of words, students are eager to starttheir ideas, do not feel shy any more, so they are easier to understand andmemorize.

Example 2: Unit 5: Can you swim? Lesson 2 (grade 4)

Vocabulary:

play the piano play the guitar

play volleyball play table tennis play chess

To introduce “play” I give a picture of boys playing in the garden and ask:Are the boys cooking in the garden?

I show the model of guitar, point to each one and ask “What is this inVietnamese?”

Students answer “đàn ghi ta”

Do the same with “piano”

Guitar and piano are two things students often see in their life, so it is tooeasy for them to give the meaning of words

I describe the action when playing volleyball and asks students: Whatsport is this? And similar to introducing “table tennis / chess”

Putting the new words into a defining context, and questioning allowsteachers to find out more about the respondent, attract students’ attention tolearning vocabulary

Example 3: Unit 9: What are they doing? Lesson 1 (grade 4)