Topic Using game to warm up in teaching vocabulary for starter learners in Bao Vinh English Center

Vocabulary is the important role in studying English. Vocabulary provides English learners with enough words to communicate with other people because it is also the foundation and the motivation for new learners to study English. Studying through playing games is one of the most efficient ways for young learners to study. This research is used to survey the topic “using games to warm up in teaching vocabulary for starter learners”. The result of the survey was very positive in helping learners to studying the basic words and making them feel interest at the same time. However, there were some problems which were time consuming and the levels of the students were not the same. The young Vietnamese students in Bao Vinh English Center are my expiration to complete this research. In order to get the good results, the teacher must give students the comfortable and interesting environment in studying. From my study process, I recognized the positive attendance from my students when I applied games into the lessons. Game is not only make them fun but also an effective method for teacher to raise the interest for students.

Ho Chi Minh City 2019

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THESIS REPORT

Major

English Language

Topic: Using game to warm up in teaching vocabulary for starter learners in Bao Vinh English Center

Instructor: Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy, MA

Student: Vo Minh Quan

Student ID: 97011501054

DECLARATION

I, Vo Minh Quan declare that this Graduation Thesis and the work presented in it are my own and has been generated be me

The research about “Using game to warm up in teaching vocabulary for students in Family and Friends 1 in Bao Vinh English Center.” I declare that the information is cited from books and internet with specific sources This study does not copy from other works

Name: Vo Minh Quan

Students ID: 97011501054

Course: 8 – Class: 15DTA

Major: English Language

The Saigon International University

Date submitted: ………

Signed: …………

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In order to complete this research, I received a lot of support and guidance

First of all, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my instructor Nguyen Thi Bich Thuy - MA who always followed and instructed me clearly and

enthusiastically She provided for me the best knowledge and willing motivated me from the beginning to the end of this research Furthermore, she always answered

my questions although she was very busy

Next, I greatly appreciate the Saigon International University for giving the

professional study environment with highly facilities and all lecturers in the

university for giving me the specialist knowledge and the motivation that help me complete this research Finally, I would like to send my deepest thanks to Bao Vinh English Center for giving a chance for working and doing this research Many thanks to Mr Tran Cao Vinh – Director, Ms Vo Thuy Van – Manager of Academic Department, Ms Nguyen Ngoc Ha – Teacher and Mr Ha Tan Cong – Teacher, who help me to observe the classroom to make the survey Last but not least, thanks to all the students in Bao Vinh English Center played all the warm up games and did the questionnaire survey In addition, because of my lacked experience so the mistakes which hardly avoided I strongly believe that the positive advice from the lecturers will help my research more perfect

Best regard,

Vo Minh Quan

INSTRUCTOR’S COMMENTS

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Contents

Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 2

1.2 Research goals 3

1.3 Research questions 3

1.4 The scope of the research 4

1.4.1 Scope 4

1.4.2 Place of investigation 4

1.4.3 Course book 5

1.5 Participants 5

1.6 Significance of the research 5

Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Definitions of key terms 7

2.1.1 Definition of game 7

2.1.2 Warm-ups 7

2.1.3 Definition of vocabulary 8

2.1.4 Young learners at starter level 8

a Definitions of young learners at starter level 8

b Characteristics of young learners 9

2.2 Review of previous works 10

2.2.1 The goal of the game 12

2.2.2 Kinds of games which are used in teaching vocabulary 12

2.2.3 Famous games are used in teaching vocabulary 13

2.2.4 The advantages of using games in teaching English 16

2.2.5 The disadvantages of using games in teaching English 17

2.2.6 What are the best ways to introduce new vocabulary? 17

Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY 20

3.1 Place of investigation 21

3.2 Research methodology and research methods 22

3.2.1 Research methodology 22

3.2.2 Research methods 22

3.3 Participants 23

3.4 Procedures 24

3.5 Data analysis 24

Chapter 4: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 26

4.1 Class observation 27

4.1.1 Little Bees LB1A.01 27

4.1.2 Little Bees LB1C.03 28

4.2 Trial teaching 29

4.3 Questionnaire 35

4.3.1 How the learners feel when they can play games before studying English? 36

4.4 Interview 39

4.5 What games are suitable for teaching vocabulary? 43

4.6 The advantages of using games in teaching English 44

4.7 The disadvantages of using games in teaching English 44

Chapter 5: CONCLUSION 46

5.1 Summary of the study 47

5.2 Conclusion 47

5.3 Recommendation 48

REFERENCE 49

APPENDICES 52

ABSTRACT

Vocabulary is the important role in studying English Vocabulary provides English learners with enough words to communicate with other people because it is also the foundation and the motivation for new learners to study English Studying through playing games is one of the most efficient ways for young learners to study This research is used to survey the topic “using games to warm up in teaching vocabulary for starter learners” The result of the survey was very positive in

helping learners to studying the basic words and making them feel interest at the same time However, there were some problems which were time consuming and the levels of the students were not the same The young Vietnamese students in Bao Vinh English Center are my expiration to complete this research In order to get the good results, the teacher must give students the comfortable and interesting

environment in studying From my study process, I recognized the positive

attendance from my students when I applied games into the lessons Game is not only make them fun but also an effective method for teacher to raise the interest for students

Key terms: vocabulary, young learners, warm up, games for warm up

Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Rationale

Nowadays, teaching English become increasingly popular in Vietnam In Vietnam, English is taught begin at primary school Vietnamese children can accept English language easily but they will get bored if the teachers keep using the old conventional methods and techniques to teach them Teachers have to find out interesting and attractive method to teach and motivate their students According to Harmer (2008), teachers of young learners should spend plenty of time examining and understanding how their students operate and think Teaching English for young learners is very difficult than teaching teenagers or adults because young learners get distracted very fast Children love playing and having fun, so teachers should choose suitable teaching methods that cater to children’s nature

Games can also be used as a method to avoid the boredom during the lesson Games have an important role in foreign language teaching When games can be included during the class time, both teachers and leaners will benefit Furthermore, teachers may achieve all the educational result through using games to warm up in teaching vocabulary for young learners Although language structure is considered

“the skeleton of the language,” it agreed that vocabulary is “the vital organs and flesh” (Harmer, 1991) Vocabulary is not only considered a foundation and a basic part to learn English but also a key element for leaners to approach a new language Using games to warm up in teaching vocabulary has become crucially important for English language learners because they sustain enjoyment and interest in learning and encourage using the language in a fearless and creative manner

1.2 Research goals

English is the language of the most important for the present-day in

Vietnam English is considered the second language because of its

importance Because of the benefits of an international Therefore, English is one of the compulsory subjects in schools First of all, the purposes of this research are to find the importance and the motivation of using games to warm up for young

learners at Bao Vinh English Center Next, I would like to mention about some famous games for warming up After that, I clarified the question that “What are the advantages and disadvantages of using games to warm up in teaching vocabulary for young learners?”

Although games play important role in teaching vocabulary and have been using

in many countries, they have not been using as a good method in Bao Vinh Center Finally, I made this research to identify how learners feel after teachers applying games in teaching English

1.3 Research questions

I would like to expound this problem with the questions below:

1 What games are suitable for teaching vocabulary?

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using games in teaching

vocabulary for young learners?

1.4 The scope of the research

1.4.1 Scope

I have worked at Bao Vinh English Center for six months as a part time teacher I realized that young learners in this center were very active and they did not want to study by the traditional way They wanted fun activities in their lessons and games made them feel more excited in learning “Nearly seventy percent of students learn best actively and visually” (McLester, 2005) Because of this, I believed that playing games in warm up will give us the benefits in teaching young learners

The way which I mentioned in this research is using game to warm-up before going to the vocabulary lessons For all of us not only the children, the vocabulary will make us worry about because a variety of words are difficult to study and remember Therefore, I firmly believe that this research will bring us to the following solutions are helpful that students interested in study vocabulay For example, a teacher walks into the classroom and announces that we will play a little game I am sure that this will make the class eagerly awaited new lessons not as the regular English lessons Besides, the heating lesson before

learning also helps teachers can review the vocabularies related to the topic of the new lesson This is very important for further study and new lessons

1.4.2 Place of investigation

Place: Bao Vinh English Center

Address: 951/5 Tinh lo 10 Street, Tan Tao Ward, Binh Tan District, Ho Chi Minh City

Office phone: (028) 6676 3854

Facebook: facebook.com/anhngubaovinh

1.4.3 Course book

Family and Friends 1- 2nd edition by Naomi Simmons

First published in 2014

This book is included 15 Units and I have been teaching from Unit 1 to Unit 10 From the beginning of the young leaners, “Family and Friends” is the suitable curriculum for starters level This book includes some of the basic topics: family, school, friends, etc Through that, young leaners have a strong foundation to reach the next levels

1.4 Participants

This surveys were about 5 classes in Bao Vinh English Center and the total number was 50 students from 6 to 10 years old

1.5 Significance of the research

This research helped me to improve my teaching experience a lot Not only the students in Bao Vinh English Center can get the benefits, but it also helps readers know more about many types of game for young leaners

Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of key terms

2.1.1 Definition of game

Jones (1980) stated that the players have to follow the rules of the games and games one more players to against with each other or co-operate Rogers (1981) said that gaming is goal-defined, rule-governed and competitive that has a closure and engage the students Gibbs (1981) defined games as an activity carried out by cooperating or competing decision-makers who want to achieve their objectives following a set of rules Games are closed activities that have a beginning and an end with a winner who defines the end of the game (Rixon, 1981)

While playing, young learners need to use the language and repeat patterns which will help in developing and improving their skills Players could

communicate with words, mime, use body movements, and gestures among many which guarantee fun and unpredictability (Rixon, 1981)

2.1.2 Warm-ups

According to Tony (2018) stated that warm-ups are used to describe the

preparation, warm up before playing sports or heated before entering the new

lessons Warm-up definition is no longer strange to all of us It is not only be ready before the new post, but also can be used to review the article, the vocabulary

learning

2.1.3 Definition of vocabulary

The basic unit in learning language is word or vocabulary Knowing

vocabulary has big influence in learning English There are some definitions of vocabularies Penny Ur (1996) defined that vocabulary as the words that are taught

in foreign language A new item of vocabulary may be more than a single word which are made up of two or three words but express a single idea According to Hornby (1995) in the Oxford advanced learner’s dictionary of current English, it is stated that vocabulary is the total number of words in a language, all words known

to a person or used in a particular book, subject, etc

According to Margaret 2007) there were some basic topic for young learners, these were the foundation for leaners for the first approach to English:

+ Family and Friends: talk about family and friends, family members

+ Favorites: talk about hobbies with basic structure “I like ”, and “ What is your favorite”

+ Food and colors

+ School things: study about the objects that the learners can see in the

school easily

2.1.4 Young learners at starter level

a Definitions of young learners at starter level

There are many statements about the meaning of young learners According

to Purwaningsih, (2011), “Young Learners are learners in Elementary School aging

9 – 10 years old who are learning English as foreign language” Base on that

statement, we know that young learners are in primary school Linguistically, Linse (2005) stated that, “young learners are defined as children between the age of five and twelve” (Linse, 2005:2) Another statement which is taken

from http://www.goliath.ecnext.com also says, “Young Learners are convinced as students of English between age of 7 and 15” The last statement according to Etty Maryati Hoesein (2008),” Young Learners are the students of Elementary School who are at grade four up to grade six Their ages range from ten to twelve years of age They have learned English for about one up to four years” From those

statements, we may conclude that young learners are students who are studying in Elementary school aging 7-15 and they are studying English as a second language for about one up to four years However, I only focused on young learners from seven to ten years old

b Characteristics of young learners

Most primary level learners will share these characteristics Those opinions give the researcher some important notes about children’s special characteristics in

learning the language They are as the following:

1 Children respond the language well through concrete things (visual things) rather than abstract things

2 Children want physical movements and real activities to stimulate their thinking

3 Children will be enthusiastic if they have been teaching by fun activities