(SKKN 2022) The ways to motivate students in practicing rpeaking English 6

Therefore, helping students to speak English fluently in class is important.. It results from lack of speaking practice, but students, especially mountainous students tend to be reluctan

Orde

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11 a Help students overcome their shyness and nervousness 5

13 c Pay much attention to warm –up activities 7

16 2.4 The results in researching the reality 11

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Reasons for choosing the study.

Our country is now a developing one Its economy is undergoing rapid change as its moves from non-market socialism to a market economy with a socialist orientation Therefore, communicating with people from other countries

is necessary English has become an important communication tool for us to easily integrate into the world The teaching of English has been improved in method of the communicative, leaner –centered approach which is adaptable to give students many opportunities to communicate in English In fact, at many schools in Viet Nam, the teaching of English has not really developed students’ ability, activeness and motivation Therefore, helping students to speak English

fluently in class is important I choose the theme “The ways to motivate students in practicing speaking English 6 ” to present my personal experience.

1.2 The aims of study:

English has been learned everywhere recently But how do the students learn English and use English as a means of communication? There is also the concern of industry and education of all teachers to teach English

All four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are concerned and have been incorporated into the exercises and classroom activities

In the four skills, speaking is usually the poorest for the students of learning English in Viet Nam It results from lack of speaking practice, but students, especially mountainous students tend to be reluctant to speaking English

in class as well as after class It is important for teachers to encourage and motivate them to speak English, especially in class

In fact, to get good speaking skills, the language learning process must be practiced regularly with the different form and content… From my experience, I

have chosen the theme: "The ways to motivate students in practicing speaking English 6 ”.

1.3 The subjects of study.

After twenty - three teaching years, what I have realized is that a large number of students are afraid of learning to speak English and say that it is difficult for them to be good at this skill Moreover, there is not a real language environment for them to practice it every day In addition to this, speaking skill is not always included in the exam They only learn for the exam, not for the communication Some teachers also lack of putting real interest in their lessons According to a recent survey, more than 70% of the students reported that they are worried about their speaking skill They said that they could hardly make a simple conversation in English or express what they thought Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not any opportunities to speak in the classroom, they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning Because

of these above situations, my theme tends to deal with how to improve the

efficiency of teaching speaking skill for students in my secondary school through some personal experiences

1.4 The methods of study.

- My real teaching at my school

- Surveys

-Document research

- Discussion

2 THE CONTENT

2.1Rationale of theory

Nowadays, English is playing an essential role in developing society as well as economy of the world People use it in work, study, and entertainment According to statistics from December 24th, 2013 of the General Statistics Office, there are more than 7.5 million foreign people who visited and worked in Viet Nam Teaching English is not only a tendency but also a responsibility of each teacher of English Students learn English by communicating approach which has been popular, therefore, motivating students to practice speaking English is one

of the most necessary parts of teaching English

2.2.The reality of the study

Now I am teaching at a secondary school in my district It is one of the best schools, however, most of the students said that they are not confident in speaking English Many of them have gone to English speaking club, but the results are not as good as they expected Students lack of language environment, they can’t practice what they have learnt In addition to this, my district is a mountainous region, the economic conditions are poor, so the students do not have many chances to get access to the world Another factor is that many parents

do not really care about their sons’ or daughters’ English learning They are believed that students do need to study well enough for their written exam They also said that learning speaking English is really necessary at university

I made a survey to find out the ability to speak English in class 6D1, 6D2 According to the survey, I gained the following results:

class

Number

of

students

2.3 Problem solutions

a Help students overcome their shyness and nervousness.

During the years of my teaching English in a secondary school, I have tried

to build a language speaking environment, adopt many ways and encourage students to open their mouths to speak and they made a lot of progress in speaking English

Generally speaking, there are two factors to affect students' speaking English in class One is they fail to find suitable words to express themselves and the other is they are afraid of making mistakes Sometimes they make mistakes when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous Therefore a good environment helps the students to speak actively and correctly On the one hand, I try to ease my students and remove their nervousness, fear and anxiety with encouraging words and on the other I have tried these ways to build a free and lighted-hearted environment

1 I try to arrange the seats of my classroom in a circle or in groups with the students facing each other not in rows and lines

2 Let the students speak English sitting in their seats not standing They will not feel uneasy this way

3 At first stage, I allow the students to play their tape recording they have prepared for a certain topic beforehand

4 Let students talk in the sound lab or on telephone without seeing each other

5 Try to divide the students into pairs and groups according to the different topics, if you can and also you can let them prepare their "opinion", and then have a group spokesman deliver the opinion

6 Set a day for no native language spoken Students prepare a certain number of cards and they can write down those words or expressions, which they cannot convey in English if they have Later on we discuss those words and expressions

in class

7 Let the class have 5-10 minutes free talk at the beginning of every class Students can talk about any interesting events, news or stories they have read, listened and watched recently

8 Let students have an English class out of classroom with such activities as a class barbecue, picnic and party

9 Build an English corner at the school and let students talk freely with those who are interested in learning English

It is essential to try to build an atmosphere where the students no longer feel shy, where they will voluntarily raise their hands to ask a question and where they will freely voice their own opinions

The teachers should remember to help students have confidence in speaking despite the fact that they are making mistakes However, feedbacks and corrections are necessary The teachers shouldn’t interrupt the flow of communication They can take notes while pairs or groups, then correct or ask other students to correct The teachers also need to help students have positive attitude toward the friends’ errors The students should be encouraged even if they make mistakes while speaking

b Clear goals and instructions.

Students need to know exactly HOW an activity is done, otherwise they will be out of control when the activity starts If necessary, write the instructions

on the board Or model the activity with one of your best students so everyone can see what they need to do

For instance, for period 66 (Unit 7 Movies -English 6 P.56), when being asked

to talk about the movies which the students have ever seen, I provided them some suggested ideas:

+ Type of film

+ Actors/Actress

+ The plot (story)

+ Review

Besides, I also gave the students some questions to ask about the film

+ What kind of film is it?

+Who does it star?

+What is it about?

+ What have critics said about it?

With these instructions, students know how to write the film, prepare the information before talking in front of the class

Students also need to know WHY an activity is being done Without understanding WHY, many students think an activity is not important and give up

or practice half- heartedly Be sure to include goals and instructions That way help students remember to do them

c Pay much attention to warm –up activities.

Warm-up plays an important part in the success of the lesson Teachers

should vary warm-up activities to attract students' attention and interest because

if they feel excited about their lessons from the beginning, they will make a good contribution to it In order to give students exciting readiness for their speaking lesson, teachers can do different things to arouse students’ interest by using various teaching techniques such as brainstorming, word web, chatting, etc Before a new lesson I often motivate my students by chatting to them about the topic of interest, giving them preparation tasks or quick warm-up to get them in the right mood for the new lesson Brainstorming is one of the simplest teaching techniques, but it is one of the most effective kinds of motivation because it takes

a short time I can write key words on the blackboard and the class is encouraged

to think of ideas, words, phrases associated with them

I have taught my grade 6 students English as a selective subject since the beginning of this school year The following slide was designed on my power

point lesson plan for one speaking lesson (Grade 6 selective subject )

My students were divided into two teams The first team tried to put as many

means of transport as they could around the key word “MEANS OF TRANSPORT” and the second team tried to find traffic problems with the key word “TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ” When the time allowed was over, the team

with more correct words was the winner After that, the class was required to predict the topic of the speaking lesson

The fact is that they were really interested in their speaking topic “TRAFFIC

PROBLEMS IN YOUR BEN SUNG TOWN”

The possible answer key for the warm-up activity

For Period 44 , I divided the class into three teams The first team tried to put as

many kinds of clothing as they could around the key word “CLOTHING” and the second team tried to find color of clothing with the key word “COLORS”, the third team tried to find size of clothing with the key word “ SIZE” When the time allowed was over, the team with more correct words was the winner After that, the class was required to predict the topic of the speaking lesson

When the time allowed was over, the team with more correct words was the winner After that, the class was required to predict the topic of the speaking lesson

The fact is that they were really interested in their speaking topic “ SCHOOL

UNIFORM ”

Students can look at the pictures and work in pairs about kinds of the houses

in the future ( Unit 9)

d Reduce levels of difficulty.

Students already have less confidence when it comes down to a difficult topic There are too much challenging task, the learners feel too much pressure and tense Perhaps, they do not want to be cooperative Therefore, the teachers reduce the levels slightly at the beginning, the students will feel less pressure and they will be more motivated to speak

The teacher can reduce the levels of difficulty by making easy questions for students to understand it For example, when asking students talk about the topic “ your home village”, the teacher should give them some suggested questions:

+ Where is your home village?

+ How far is it from your house to the city?

+ How do you get there?

+How do people do for their living?

The teacher guides students the way to answer Basing on the questions, students can write about their home village on their own words, and then present in front of the class

Moreover, if we teach weak students, we should ask them short and easy questions as much as possible to be sure that they also understanding what they have learnt Therefore, they are confident to talk about the topics they are asked

For period 4 ( Unit 1: home) I ask students to work in pairs I explain that If you see tick “ V” in the picture, You will answer “ YES” and You will answer “ NO”

if you see “x” in the picture Them , I do first

S:Yes, I do

After that , I underlined “an apartment ” and ask students to replace

Or period 7 ( UNIT 1) I ask the students to survey about the housework that the members of the family do The class is divided into three groups They tick ( V) in the table After aking and anwering the following the model:

T: What housework does your mother?

S: My mother does the laundry

do the

dishes

do the shopping

clean the kitchen

make dinner/

lunch/

breakfast

Do the laundry

Do you do anything alse?

My

family

’s

family

’s

family

e Find relevant topics:

Students will be more motivated to speak about something that they care about Tap into students’ passion by having classroom debates and discussing current topics so that students have a lot to say Did something important happen

in the world this week? Then talk about it in English Is there a new song or movie that everyone is talking about?

The teacher also asks students to write down a few themes that they would

be interested in speaking about and then build an activity based on those When students have something important to say, they find a way to say it in any language

For Period 27 ( Unit 3), I used the technique “word web” in order to warm

up the speaking lesson This activity could help my students revise the describing characters preparation they had learned and could help them get ready for the new lesson with more interest

The possible answer key for the warm-up activity

Next, these pictures were shown so as to elicit the topic of the speaking lesson and my students could easily find out that the speaking topic was “Food

and Drink”