(SKKN 2022) Improve speaking skill for students through English club activities at Xi Mang secondary school

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR STUDENTS THROUGH ENGLISH CLUB ACTIVITIES AT XI MANG SECONDARY SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Lê Thị Hạnh... I have tried many ways to help my

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR STUDENTS

THROUGH ENGLISH CLUB ACTIVITIES

AT XI MANG SECONDARY SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Lê Thị Hạnh

Nowadays, English is not only an international language but also acompulsory subject at schools As a result, students always try their best to learnEnglish as well as possible Most of them are good at English grammar and theyoften get good marks for their written tests In fact, their listening and speakingskills are not very good That is because they do not have much time to practicethese skills during English lessons Most students want to learn English well andthey do wish to be good at all the four skills They need more chances topractice and use English in daily life, not only in classrooms

I have tried many ways to help my students to improve their languageskills and I think that English Speaking Club is one of these ways There aremany excellent reasons for holding an English Speaking Club for Englishlearners and helping students practice their conversation skills outside theclassroom

Classroom learning is a wonderful thing, but with foreign languages,outside practice is essential for reinforcement of language concepts, especiallyspoken language In an English Speaking Club, students get a chance to practicetheir language skills in real situations in which students can participate in games

or play roles They don’t have to follow any teaching plans or do any writtentests Therefore, they become more self-confident and active Free activities helpthem to be more creative

From the real requirements and my teaching experiments at schools formany years, I have gained some methods to develop speaking skill for studentsand help students to use English more effectively in living communication and I

decided to choose the topic: “IMPROVE SPEAKING SKILL FOR

STUDENTS THROUGH ENGLISH CLUB ACTIVITIES AT XI MANG SECONDARY SCHOOL”.

2 PURPOSE

In recent years, most schools in Thanh Hoa City have organized Englishspeaking clubs and they have got some success in teaching and learning English.The study aims to:

- Improve communication skills for students

- Help students have more chances to practice and use English in dailylife, not only in classrooms

- Develop language mentality for students not only in English but alsoother activities in everyday life

3 STUDENTS FOR RESEARCHING

The statistic result at the beginning of this school year through directlyinterviewing students at grade 6, 8 and 9 at Xi Mang Secondary School - BimSon town - Thanh Hoa Province

Total No of

students

Good Quite good Medium Weak

44 (grade 6) 2 4.5 8 18.2 26 59.1 8 18.2

49 (grade 8) 2 4.1 8 16.3 27 55.1 12 24.5

44 (grade 9) 2 4.5 8 18.2 26 59.1 8 18.2With the result above, from early school year, I always try to find the bestmethods to design interesting lectures inspiring students so that they could turnwhat they have learned into productive language via oral communication,integrate with the developing tendency of foreign language subject: learning aforeign language is learn how to communicate but not focusing on grammar as

in the past

4 METHODOLOGY

In this topic, I have to use the following research methods:

1-Method of theoretical study

Reading of some books, references, find all documents related Internet,use games in English in the lesson

2-Method of investigation observations:

To study the subject in depth security, I have investigated the status ofteaching and learning English in secondary school, excitement of students inEnglish Interviewed and attended English teacher organization, combined withprofessional groups and school administrators

3-Experimental teaching method:

I was conducted to teach English using all information related to contentgame lesson

4-Method of summarizing lessons learned:

After each lesson using forms of teaching in the subject, I usuallysummarize, draw each more personal experience; continue to have the changes,accordingly innovation in the next lesson After each stage I always compare,draw summary for general experience

do in some class activities

2 STATE OF THE MATTER RESEARCH

According to the regulation of Ministry of Education and Training, everychild is permitted to study two lessons with 45 minutes per lesson Schools

could have three English lessons per week Hence, the period for students to getaccess to English is obviously short in comparison with the total communicatinghours every week Moreover, English environment is restricted in classroomhours and students use Vietnamese when lessons end Children don’t actuallyneed to use English except for the requirement of studying and examination Allthe requirements using English are practical and there isn’t other natural Englishenvironment for children

Children are unable to concentrate on what teachers are delivering in along period Consequently, they should be engaged in different activities, toperform various tasks by themselves with exercise types always changed anddiversified communication situations

Children often obtain and imitate knowledge quickly and also forget whathave learned quickly They are naturally curious, dynamic and creative.Children always demand to discover outside environment and interact withothers It cannot be denied that they are interested and creative in games

Students’ communication is not fluently due to fears of making mistakes Their ability to form a completed sentence is not still good They still confuse with the position of word class (verbs, preposition, adjectives, nouns and

questioning words, etc.)

3 PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS

3.1 Helping the students improve grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation

Teachers and students should prepare the content of the club well so thatstudents will have full knowledge of grammatical structures and vocabularyrelated to the topic

- Help students have many benefits from joining an English-Speakingclub by gaining problem solving, presenting ideas and presenting skills

- Help students have more knowledges, have more new vocabularies,improve their grammars, so on…

3.2 Setting up the plans for the English clubs.

 Choose the content of the club This is the most important thing thatorganizes the club successfully It must attract many members to

Xi Mang secondary school

participate and promote the learning and teamwork movement of clubmembers.

 Encourage members' new ideas The students have many good ideas thatcan make the club more interesting

 Set the time for club (Every month/every period….)

 Divide the duty for each member

3.3 Building the rules of the club

Club members are students who love English, volunteering make anapplication to join the Club, with the opinion of the student's parents

The club operates under the organization and administration of theinstructors but is under the management and supervision of the principal.Instructors and club administrators are responsible for all club activities

Club activities must be built according to the plan

The members participate fully in Club activities

Teacher can set up the costumes for the members They are very happywhen they have a uniform for the club

3.4 Building the content for the club

a The club's program of activities must be suitable for the ability of students in each grade level.

The topic of speech activities must close to the surrounding life, must berealistic and stick to the program mainstream study Focus on the topic in thetextbook 6-9 to give for English club

b we can combine many subjects such as English, music, painting,

Xi Mang secondary school

activities Teachers must know how to combine many subjects such as English,music, painting, literature, history….

- I have combined with the music teacher practice English songs or othercultural performances for students and members, practice folk dance, aerobics,rhythm etc

- The content and form of activities must change or renew continuouslyevery month., every term or every year

3.5 Organizing the forms for the club.

Based on the requirements and purposes of the club, survey the situation,get the students’ opinion After determining the content for the activity there aremany forms of club activities

To welcome the new school year on September the students can show off theirtalents by singing English songs or dancing, playing music in English

Xi Mang secondary school

Regarding to the contents about environment, students protect the environment from making the plastic things, collecting old objects that are no longer used to create new products Then they will bring their products to the club, make a showroom, and introduce their products.

Integrating with the literature when students roleplay some famous works.Debating about the suggested topics

Students debate issues related to youth, maybe that is an interesting film,

a good book, the love……

Xi Mang secondary school

Xi Mang secondary school

Xi Mang secondary school

It is interesting that there are “small markets” where studentscan buy, sell the things in their neighbor or the products they make That is a wonderful occasion for all members use daily language.

On special occasions such as Halloween, New Year, … We can organize the small parties, where members can relax and practice cross- culture

3.6 Where should we hold our English Club?

a At an English School

The easiest place to hold an English Club is in a spare classroom at anEnglish school After classroom hours, most schools remain open for an hour ortwo so that teachers can prepare for their classes This is also a convenientlocation because some or all of the members will already be in the school andwill have no excuses for missing a club meeting You will also have access tomaterials and television equipment

To practice speaking (the new words, the sentences or the dialogues) inpairs, the students stand face - to - face in four lines

Xi Mang secondary school

After the first practice speaking, the teacher says: “the first and the thirdlines move two steps to the left, the students standing at the back move to thenext line and continue to practice speaking in new pairs for the next times

Xi Mang secondary school

b At a cafe, a restaurant

To change the atmosphere, a cafe, a restaurant is a good option for a smallconversation club This makes students more excited

3.7 Some activities during COVID – 19 pandemic

During the last two years, due to the outbreak of virus, all the members ofthe English club can’t hold face to face meetings Hence, all the teachers at myschool have used different platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet to organize thesmall discussions monthly Each month, the teachers can think of some topicsfor students to write essays about and then they can express their ideas after that

It is clear that the English club helps to connect the students together andmaintain their practice of skills as well as promote their passion for languagelearning

+ In October, the teachers gave out the topic: Discuss about the effect ofCOVID- 19 on our daily life All the members contribute to the topiceffectively Here are the ideas from the members of the club:

Presently the impacts of COVID-19 in daily life are extensive and have farreaching consequences These can be divided into various categories:

a Healthcare

• Challenges in the diagnosis, quarantine and treatment of suspected orconfirmed cases

• High burden of the functioning of the existing medical system

• Patients with other disease and health problems are getting neglected

• Overload on doctors and other healthcare professionals, who are at a very highrisk

• Overloading of medical shops

• Requirement for high protection

• Disruption of medical supply chain

Xi Mang secondary school

b Economic

• Slowing of the manufacturing of essential goods

• Disrupt the supply chain of products

• Losses in national and international business

• Poor cash flow in the market

• Significant slowing down in the revenue growth

c Social

• Service sector is not being able to provide their proper service

• Cancellation or postponement of large-scale sports and tournaments

• Avoiding the national and international travelling and cancellation of services

• Disruption of celebration of cultural, religious and festive events

• Undue stress among the population

• Social distancing with our peers and family members

• Closure of the hotels, restaurants and religious places

• Closure of places for entertainment such as movie and play theatres, sportsclubs, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and so on

• Postponement of examinations

+ In November, we organized a competition to celebrate Teacher’s Day.Each member could make a presentation about their favourite teachers andschool They would make impression on the judge by drawings, pictures, songs

or poems

- Teachers in my eyes

- Read poems and sing

Xi Mang secondary school

- In December, we organized a competition named MasterChef Eachcompetitor would make a video about how to cook a delicious food Then, theymade a presentation on the meaning of that food Whoever made moreimpression on the judge would be the winner

3.8 Evaluating and having experiments.

Each month after organizing the club, teachers and club members willevaluate the advantages and disadvantages Students self-evaluate and evaluateother friends to learn and do better

The teacher gives the feedback The feedback should be motivated andconstructive

Members who have made many positive contributions to the club duringtheir participation in activities will be rewarded

3.9 Creating attraction from the beginning of the lessons:

- Brain gym exercise

Starting the lessons with a brain gym exercise is really beneficial forteachers and students because it will power up our brain and help us processinformation much faster and more efficiently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEY_7AIdveQ&t=10s

Xi Mang secondary school

- Choosing songs, chants to promote language learning

Children love song, games… By joining the actions in the songs, games,stories They will be confident to join in with the English lessons even thoughthey might not feel confident enough to speak Actions can also help themremember words and phrases they have studied

Xi Mang secondary school

Xi Mang secondary school

Team teaching is an active method in which, the number of students isdivided into groups in certain ways In each group, students have chances toboost listening and speaking skill and learn from one another They will be moreconfident in communicating in a foreign language

Learning is also best facilitated when children are in a happy state ofmind This state of mind can best be achieved through play or game-likeactivities

3.10 Organizing games flexibly in communicating activities

A new teaching method could create an amount of inspiration andcreativities for teachers Each teacher has his own unique creativities duringteaching process If teachers repeat the same method in every lesson, studentswill get bored and even feel that lessons come as normally without inspirationand expectation

Games are also considered to be an important entertainment form In fact,they could be used to consolidate material languages as shown above by themethod attracting students In all every form, games could perform functions ofexercises of practicing skills because we can review and introduce materiallanguages in funny and well-organized ways through games The method of skillpracticing section often goes with repeating with teacher-centered The methodtakes effects when students learn new words and sentence structures On thecontrary, games are often open-ended and student-centered

There are various types of games Several ones focus on vocabularies orsentence structures And there are games promoting both vocabularies and

Xi Mang secondary school