(SKKN 2022) methods of teaching phonics for primary students

Nowadays, English has become a global language, the official language of more than 53 countries and territories, the second language of nearly 100countries and a common language of more

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale for choosing the topic.

Nowadays, English has become a global language, the official language

of more than 53 countries and territories, the second language of nearly 100countries and a common language of more than 400 million people in the world.Teaching and learning English in schools in general and in primary education inparticular is a practice for students to be able to communicate through four skillssuch as Listening - Speaking - Reading and Writing From that actual request,English has been included in the main curriculum of all levels in our country.The last goal of teaching and learning English is that students can communicate

in English The ability to communicate on two aspects: receive reading) and produce (speaking - writing) language However, in order toachieve the final goal, the first of the students need to master is phonics

Phonetics is considered one of the basic elements of all the languages ofthe world If the pronunciation is correct, all skills such as listening, speaking,reading will become much easier On the contrary, if the pronunciation is wrong

or unclear, it will make the listeners misunderstand or even not understand thespeaker's meaning The language skills are closely related to each other; skills tosupport other skills Correct pronunciation, therefore, is not only good for oralskills, but also to understand better for listening However, the pronunciation is adifficult skill; without the guidance and regular exercise, positive, the progresswill be virtually impossible Besides, there are so many different factors related

to teaching Learning methods, the influence of the mother tongue or conditionsinteract with native English speakers also do not much affect the progress oflearners Identifying that importance, the teaching and learning of phonics hasbeen included in the primary school English curriculum However, moststudents are still surprised and have many difficulties in pronouncing andmemorizing the learned sounds, while exploitation and use of materials forteachers' teaching and student’s learning are limited

From the years when I directly taught English in Primary school, inaddition to the phonics teaching methods I received from training sessions,attending classes of good teachers, and workshops, I always struggling to findout how to teach in a way that is suitable for their students, helping them nolonger feel difficult and heavy when pronouncing English I researched andexperimented in my teaching class and got the desired results Therefore, Iboldly offer my experience on "Methods of teaching Phonics for PrimaryStudents" for reference by friends and colleagues

1.2 Objectives of the study.

From this fact, I have constantly studied, researched and experimentedwith some tips of teaching Phonics for the purpose of finding the most effectiveteaching methods and suitable in Primary School to promote students’ activenessand creativity and help students learn English well and can communicate inEnglish Language learners communicate not only correctly but also selfconfidently in lessons This is more excited than they are willing to learn inorder to improve their English pronunciation

1.3 Objects of the study.

With this research I focused on the Primary students at Quang Van Primaryschool, especially the students of grade 2

1.4 Methodology of the study:

To carry out my measures effectively, I combine the use of the followingmeasures:

- Theoretical research method

I read the conducting material issues related to my research needs

- Learning experience from my colleagues

Attend the colleagues' lesson to follow their good method

- Experimental matching method

- Observation method

- Use the Internet regularly to keep up date on the latest news

2 CONTENT OF INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

2.1 Theoretical basis of experience initiative

2.1.1 What is Phonics?

Phonics is a method for teaching children to read by linking togethersounds (phonemes) and the symbols we use to represent those (graphemes) [1].Phonetics in English includes the elements: phonology, stress, rhythm andintonation

According to phonetic research [2], for the most successfulcommunication process, four criteria should be achieved: Good pronunciation,natural speech, natural rhythm and natural intonation Achieving these fourstandard criteria is the ambition of all learners of English Although we cannotspeak English like native speakers, we can practice to speak acceptable English:Clear pronunciation means that when we pronounce it, the listener understandsand distinguishes it from other sounds

2.1.2 Why is Phonics important for Primary students?

Phonics has been taught in schools now for over two decades and it’sproven to be a very successful method for teaching early reading in children.Teaching phonics to help students create atmosphere language learning correctpronunciation of words in lessons Much purpose of teaching phonics in alanguage class is not intended to make students capable pronounced similar tothe native because it is not practical, unless the school has a special talent andhighly motivated The goal is to teach phonics to help students gain an ability topronounce correctly at a certain level to be able to communicate what they want

to talk with other people Phonics is a teaching method used to help childrenlearn to read Phonics breaks down words into individual sounds and syllablesand shows children how each sound fits together to make up a word Childrentaught with phonics must learn the different vowel sounds, consonants andregular rules of English grammar Due to the learner's native language affects thepronunciation teaching English to people who need to have a certain

understanding of the sound system of the learner's mother tongue to first guessthe difficulties and advantages of learner's pronunciation Phonics helps yourchild learn to read and spell Without this ability, your child cannot be fullyliterate Words are like codes and phonics teaches children how to crack thereading code Phonics is therefore an important part of any reading developmentprogram That is the reason Ministry of Education put on phonics lessons toPrimary English.

With the development of modern technology and Internet, it is not difficult forteachers to create a fun learning atmosphere in phonics lessons by using videos

on the Internet or TV For example, we can search a lot of videos related phonics

on Google or Youtube like this:

2.2 Current status of the problem before applying experience initiatives

English Primary level in general and grade 2 in particular, is an electivebut still difficult subject, not all young learners are gifted to absorb it easily.There are still many weak learners, they do not have a firm knowledge, do nothave suitable learning methods, passively study, they always wait for the results

of their friends and follow exactly Many of them are afraid of practicing outaloud in front of the class, afraid of saying because they think that it will bewrong They do not even take notes in class, do not do homework This factshows that these students have not liked the subject yet

Some students, especially weak students, lack of sense of learning, lack

of patience in learning, have not kept up with new learning methods, they arestill confused in acquiring and applying knowledge, practice skills Some onlystudy out of curiosity, so when it's difficult to learn, the students will let them

go Therefore, they are not really serious and try their best in learning

I have been teaching English in a primary school in the countryside, sothe difficulties above are the facts that I have to face every day However, Mystudents love English, they have only a little of time and opportunity to hearnative speakers’ voice in real life or through CD player, TV and so on As aresult, my students often have difficulty in pronouncing an English wordcorrectly and they have great fear of vocabulary checking from the teacher

Many students encounter new words they do not know how to pronounce.

Often teachers must International Phonetic form and read to students.Sometimes the students forget how to pronounce it late In practically, teaching

at my school, I notice that some of them have the ability to read and pronouncevery well Besides, there are some children who have difficulty in pronunciation.They are afraid of the wrong director, afraid of friend's laugh, resultingly theyare shy saying, less communicates and read the words As well as studentsmispronounce, this leads to make a marked accent and intonation wrong So tohave methods of teaching reading - speaking - pronunciation well, I haveconducted a survey earlier this year to classify students The following table isthe result of students in English in grade 2 at Quang Van primary at thebeginning of the school year for 2021-2022 school year:

RESULT BEFORE APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING

2A (33sts) 10 (30,3%) 11 (33,3 %) 12 (36,4%)2B (34sts) 9 (26,5%) 10 (29,5%) 15 (44%)2C (32sts) 8 (25%) 8 (25%) 16 (50%)

Based on the survey results I see that most students are not good atlearning English because of the specificity of the subject and because theycannot learn at home, outside of school Moreover , this is a new subject, thefresh students have accessed to and become familiar with a new language Thestudents think that learning English is very difficult so they are not passionateabout learning a new language They don’t find very interesting when studyingthis subject.

2.3 The solutions are used to solve the problem

According to the present situation in English classes at my school,pronouncing wrong still exists in all grades To improve this situation, I wouldlike to present some methods of teaching phonics and elicit the stages ofteaching phonics for primary student which I have researched and applied quitesuccessfully at my school

2.3.1 The process of phonics lesson

A phonics lesson will be really effective if the teacher follows a clearteaching process, specifically making the syllables easily receptive for students.Therefore, a phonics lesson should be divided into 3 parts: Presentation –Practice - Produce

- Play video or audio a few times to students listen and repeat

- Teacher reads aloud some words that contain that sound

- Stick flashcards of these words on the board

- Play video or audio a few times to students listen and repeat

For example:

Unit 1 – Lesson 2 (I learn Smart Start 2) (Page 12)

- Teacher show flashcard and introduce letter Nn by pointing from one to three

- Teacher describes how to pronounce its sound

To create the 'n sound' /n/, the air is blocked from leaving the mouth bypressing the tip against the tooth ridge and the sides of the front of the tongueagainst the side teeth The soft palate drops, allowing air to pass out through thenose The sound is voiced, so the vocal cords vibrate while producing it.

- Teacher plays video to students listen and repeat a few times

-Teacher reads aloud some words contain that sound

- Students practice reading phrases containing the sound they are studying.

- Students practice reading sentences (in sentences there are many wordscontaining the sound they are studying)

- Students look, listen and repeat according to the teacher or on video/audio

a short conversation in which there are many words containing the soundbeing studied These conversations are often found in textbooks

- Students present the dialogue (or sentences) in pairs (after readingfluently, if there is time, students can add a few words containing thesound they are studying to the dialogue, but the words must match themeaning of the lesson)

- In the process of students practicing, the teacher monitors and correctsmistakes

For example :

Unit 5 – Lesson 2 (I learn Smart Start – Page 36)

-Teacher reads aloud two words and asks students to identify /t/ sound

Tiger Top

-Then the whole class repeats these words in groups and individually

-Teacher asks students to look, listen and repeat phrases containing the soundthey are studying

- Students work in pair to practice these sentences and demonstrate in front ofclass

-Teacher observes and corrects the mistakes if necessary

2.3.1.3 Production

2.3.1.3.1 Teaching phonics through songs, poems

No one can deny the important influence of the music and poetry ofhuman life Most everyone loves music It's always with people whether thatperson happy or sad It appears everywhere, all the time to share joy or sadnessrelieve when we need to Furthermore, poetry music can increase concentration,enhance memory, makes people closer together, creating motivation and joy inlearning, makes people relax when they are depressed or stress,

Because of the tremendous value that brings poetry to music, it has beenused as educators useful tool in teaching And now the use of songs, poetry as atool to support the learning of foreign languages is quite common Just a fewtunes of the song, students can learn the culture of authentic language,vocabulary, grammar, listening skills, and a variety of other skills

Using song and poem in class can make the classroom atmospherebecomes fun and dynamic Students will not feel stressed, even scared like tospeak English in class solemn atmosphere It is this will make them feel reallyexcited and voluntary participation in classroom activities

The songs, poems not only create excitement for student learning, butalso contains elements of very rich language including pronunciation,vocabulary, grammar

The songs, poetry can help students to learn about pronunciation Forlearners of English in general and in particular primary school students, there'resome sound that are very difficult to imitate because our mother tongue does nothave this sound such as: / ð /, / θ /, / æ / , Therefore, you must learn how topronounce inflexibly that can still not pronounce

The wrong pronunciation can change the meaning of the phrase; will notlead to communication results, because listeners misinterpreted the transmission

of information Songs, poems can help them overcome this The melody of thesong, the rhythm of the poem often repeated a similar sound When they heardmany times, they will indirectly be told how to pronounce the sound that makesyou remember them and eventually the correct pronunciation

For example:

Unit 8 – Lesson 3 (I learn Smart Start 2 – Page 55)

_ Have students look at the lyrics and identify the letter “Y” and correctly

pronounce the sound of its - “/j/”

_ Ask students read the lyrics aloud and do actions following them

_ Play audio and have students listen and do the actions

_ Divide the class into three groups

_ Have each group make a new verse with the word "yogurt"

- Have each group read aloud their sentences in front of the class

2.3.1.3.2 Teaching phonics through phonics games

One of the best ways for young children to begin learning phonics isthrough playing phonics games that make the learning process fun and engaging.Below are some simple ideas on how you can carry out phonics games at school

2.3.1.3.2.1 Letter Races

This phonics game requires a magnetic board, magnetic letters and a lot

of space! Set up the magnetic board on one side of the room and place themagnetic letters in a basket or bowl on the other side Call out a sound, or aword starting or ending in a particular sound Then ask your child (with a ready,set, go!) to pick out the correct magnetic letters and run over as fast as they can

to stick it on the board

2.3.1.3.2.2 I Spy the sound

'I Spy the Sound' is a fun way to build phonics skills and phonemicawareness In this variation of the classic game, 'I Spy', ask your child to spywords that begin with a certain sound, rather than a letter

For example:

Teacher : “I spy with my little eye, something beginning with mmm.”

Students : Mmm mum, mmm moon

hat, cat, sat, rat, mat pin, tin, fin, win, run, fun, sun, bun