000028718 SOME SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO HELP VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLCHILDREN LEARN ENGLISH MỘT SỐ GỢI Ý VỀ CÁCH GIÚP ĐỠ NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM TRẺ EM TIỂU HỌC HỌC TIẾNG ANH

000028718 SOME SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO HELP VIETNAMESE PRIMARY SCHOOLCHILDREN LEARN ENGLISH MỘT SỐ GỢI Ý VỀ CÁCH GIÚP ĐỠ NGƯỜI VIỆT NAM TRẺ EM TIỂU HỌC HỌC TIẾNG ANH

H a n o i u / v / v e r s / t y o f f o r e i g n s t u d i e s

P o s t - g r a d u a t e d e p a r t m e n t

SOME SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO HELP VIETNAMESE

PRIM ARY SCHOOLCHILDREN LEARN ENGLISH

By ir a m rm d a m p h u o n g

r m B T i M

~ wtotmrmiiH

A Field Study Report Su mm itted in Partial FulHilnient o f the Requirements for the

De gr ee Master o f Arts ( T E S O L ) at Hanoi University o f Foreign Studies

CERTIFICATE OF OIIIGINALI1Y OF FIEU) STUDY REPORT

I certify my authorship o f the Field Study Report submitted today entitled

SOME SUGGESTIONS ABOUT HOW TO HELP VIETNAMESE PRIMARYSCHOOLCHILDREN LEARN ENGLISH.

in terms o f the Statement o f Requirement o f Theses and Field Study Report in

M as te rs ' P r o g ra m m e s issued by the Higher Degree Com mittee

RETENTION AND USE OF THESES AND FIELD STUDY IN IESOL REPORTS

1 hereby state that I Tran thi Dan Phuong being a candidate for the Degree o f Master

3f Arts ( T E S O L ) ac cep t the requirements o f Hanoi University o f Foreign Studies

■elating to the retention and use o f Master's Theses and Field Study Reports deposited

,

§n the library

In terms o f these conditions, I agree that the original o f m y Th eses / Field Study Report deposited in the Library should be accessible for the purposes o f study and research, in ac cor dan ce with the normal conditions established by the Librarian for the care, loan or reprodu ction o f Theses

ACKNO W LEDGEM ENTS

A ck n o w l e d g e m e n ts can never be made to all who have nourished one's intellectual life

A m o n g the previous teachers and the lecturers at Hanoi Universities o f Foreign Studies wh o have helped me to acquire the knowledge throughout the study

1 ca n n o t fail to ment io n Dr N gu yen Kim Ninh, Dean o f Postgraduate Department,

Dr N g u y e n N go c Hung, Dr Christa Knopper,Mr Gillis Hauston, Mr Paul Zetter lor various aspects and for general support

I a m particularly grateful to Mr Iran Q uan g Huy, M.A, m y supervisor, whose co m m en ts, criticisms and directions are o f great assistance to me in carrying out this study

I gratefully ack n ow led g e m y deep indebtedness to D anang Post and

T e le co m m u ni ca tio n Training School 11 for providing me with a helpful en vi ro nm en t

in which to fullfil the study, especially to Mr Phi Dac Hai, Head o f the School for his best support

Finally, 1 w o ul d like to express my sincere thanks for the encour age men ts from my colleagues, friends, students and family

Al tho ug h English is not compulsory in the school curriculum, some primary schools have beep t e ac b' n g English To help awareness o f the necessity o f good learning and the present problems associated with teaching English, this report:

a points out the importance o f teaching English to Vi etnamese primary schoolchildren

b gives an ov er vi ew o f English teaching in general and the way to teach Eng lish at pr im ar y schools

To improve the English teaching at primary school, this report:

c points out the importance the teacher's role in helping schoolchildren learn English

d proposes material for teaching English at primary schoolchildren in

V i et na m , bearing in the context o f the Vietnamese teaching and learning situation

It is hoped that this report will be practical use for teachers, parents who are eag er to help their children learn English

111 1.2.1 Pro blems in learning to listen to English 29III 1.2.2 The acquisition o f listening skills in chi ldhood 3 1III 1.2.3 Lis tening skill in children learning English 32III.2 Te ach in g s p e a k i n g and writing 34

111.2.1 l e a c h i n g s p e a k i n g 34111.2.2 T e a c h i n g writing 40

Chapter fo u r : Teacher's role a n d classroom m anagem ent 43

IV I The role o f the tea ch er 43

IV.3 Increase children talkin g time 49IV.4 Using non verbal langua ge in class 51

Chapter Jive A view on E nglish teaching m aterials f o r children 53

V I An ov e r v i e w o f te ac h in g English to primary sc hoo lch ild re n 53

C onclusion

Bibliography

Child re n ente r prima ry school at the age o f 6 All-around education is the most i m po rta nt m ea n s to develop the personality o f primarysch oo lchild re n and on the basis o f this activity to foster in their demands, interests and go od habits in collective activities ancj learning.

After finis hi ng pr im ar y education, children can have good skills in listening, reading, s p e a k i n g and writing the m ot h er to ngue and arithmatics They can have initial k n o w l e d g e o f nature, society and man Their imagination and go od habits in learning and scientific thin kin g are developing, the b e g i n n i n g o f a scientific world ou tloo k is nurturing The y can possess the habit o f d o i n g physical exercises and ke epi ng clean Primary

schoolchildren can participate in public work, in s e lf service and in doing some handicraft work T he y are taught to have the love to the native-land and beauty appreciation.

At the p rim ar y level, children are initially introduced and briefly told about so me local p o p ul ar handicrafts so that they can begin to develop feelings and a sense o f responsibility for their country in the future by doing

s om et h in g useful At the primary level, the great impo rtan ce is also attached

to di sc ov e rin g and train ing gifted children, particularly in sports and arts

The primary ed u ca ti o n level is also defined as the level o f universal education We are trying to achieve universal primary education by the year 2,000 in a c co r da nc e with the Law on U PE ( Universal Primary Education)

adop ted by the National A s se m b ly on Augus t 12, 1991

N o w a d a y s , the net wor k o f primary schools has reached most

c o m m u n e s and even hamlets to facilitate children go in g to class All primary schools are public

N e w cur ricula and n e w textbooks have been dev eloped for primary education within the fr am ew or k o f the Education Reform since 1981 We have been using three curricula at the primary level: the 165-week curriculum

is a standard one app lied th roughout the country; the 120-week cur riculum is

used for minority children in highland and remote areas; the 100-week curriculum is used for older children and disadvantaged children.

T he subject teachin g pr og ram me is implemented as shown:

Subject and activities

(**) Each day is equivalent to 6 periods and 3 days are equivalent to I 8 periods

3

At the end o f grade 5 all pupils must take a primary graduation

ex am in ati on and those who pass this exam receive certificates

1.2 L E A R N IN G A C T IV IT Y O F P R IM A R Y S C H O O L C H IL D R E N

1.2.1 Lea rning activity o f human beings o cc u r w h en we were born, we learn ho w to walk, h o w to eat , h ow to learn Before entering primary

school, preschool child re n at kindergarten have learnt through playin g and

th rough other activities

Children's lear nin g activity psychologically formed at the age o f 6

Th e y go to school and there they are taught many useful things This activity

m ak es a ch an g e in childr en themselves As children g r ow in g up, their minds,

their souls, their e m o t i o n s are greatly developed th rough learning activity

Lea rning activity is the m aj or activity o f primary sc ho olchildren ( aged

from 6 to 11,12) So far, interested psychologists who have done research on

children app ro ve d that the d ev el op m en t o f psychological stage corresponds

to learning activity It has specific features:

* Learnin g activity first appears in primary schoolchildren, this is an activity that has direct objective, met hod ol ogy and separately organized

* Learning activity creates psychological deve lo pm ent This is the development o f psychological process and children's behaviour The most

attentive point at this stage is the dev elopment in children's minds

Learning activity is an idea o f modern psychology It has specific direct

objective and is sh o w n in the content That is "general scientific system" ( this

system is not as strictly required as the upper level one Intellectual scientific

system is s h o w n in the subjects o f Vietnamese, arithmatics, biology,

geography Th e content selected is based on logical science and school

principles to ob tain certain goals

Children master the content through learning activity and other

elements such as the motivation o f learning, responsibility o f learning and

the act o f learning

Different ideas about motivation and learning motivation are

psychological It, however, can be understood like this: Learning motivation

in children is what they have learnt, is what motivated them learning

Learning activity has many motivations They learn to satisfy their knowing,

to get good marks T he y learn because they are afraid o f the teacher's

punishment or they want to be awarded These motivations have their own

rank that can be alternated Each child at certain time has his or her own

privileged motivation Lea rning motivation o f primary schoolchildren can be arranged as follows:

*Social m ot iv at io n ( Study well in order to make the best contribution

to country)

* Personal mo ti vat io n (Study well in order to have a good position)

* Internal m o ti va ti o n ( originated from the learning itself, both content and learning method T he y learn because they wan t to get the knowledge)

* External m ot iv ati on ( Study because they want to get good marks; or they are forced to learn )

Ha v in g good m ot ivation, i.e motivation o f learning originating from the learning itself, childr en will get fruitful result They thus love learning, find learning interesting Motivation o f learning creates learning push, the crucial el em en t in learning activity

Re sponsibility o f learning is the form o f the content in accordance with the children age and their grade Children, under the guidance and direct organization from teachers, m a k in g a process o f learning to give them the new learning product, livery learning activity gives the children new ability in

6

psychology It is not simply the accumulation, it is not the addition to

existing experience

Respon sibility o f learning is different from oth er responsibilities such

as labo ur responsibility This kind o f responsibility does not create new

ability Responsibility o f leaning, however, focus on creating n e w ability, the

result o f learning It depe nds on the sitige o f thr learning d e v e l o p m e n t and it

leads to different result

PR /M A R Y SC H O O L C H I L D R E N

Psyc ho logica l d eve lo pm ent in general and mental de v el o p m en t in

par ticular o f primary schoolchildren depends on school teaching School

tea ch in g here can be understood as a level o f civilization in a certain period

In history o f dev el op m en t, school teaching is a traditional one It is a long-

exis ti ng m ethod It is a method o f teaching and learning, and the key point is

"T ea ch er leaches, pupil mem ori ze s " In late o f 20th centu ry n e w teaching

metho d b eg an to form It was the method o f learning activity

Th e traditional school teaching is not n o w a suitable for today's

children, since it does not provide the learning needs to children and the

ability o f ps ychological development

In the middle o f the twentieth century, some o f specialists have realized

the historical limits o f traditional school teaching M a n y o f them have been

concentrating on d o i n g : research to find out other methods Researchers distinguish two main orientations:

* Firstly, they co nce nt ra te on renovation o f teaching content

* Secondly, they focus on im proving teaching method

Some i m p r o v e m e n t s and renovations o f tea chi ng content have discovered the ability o f mental deve lop men t o f pr imary schoolchildren Hence, they can learn better than they used to do with traditional method The

i m p ro v em en ts and renov ation in teaching met ho d actively influence on children learning L.D D a n c o b ( Russian) has stated that without chang in g the con ten t but i m p r o v e m e n t s in teaching method ca n shorten the time of

primary level In late sixties and in early seventies, tim e could be shortened from 4 years to 3 years Th e cur riculum and the quality o f learning remained constant, ev en better H o w ev er , the results o f s o m e research have been presenting the i m p r o v e m e n t and renovation o f tea chi ng method to meet the learning needs and the ability o f psychological d e v e l o p m e n t o f children today

Th r o u g h learning activity, the pupils can get the m i n i m u m knowledge

to work and more than that, they can obtain ne w t h in k in g in mental labour Primary learning activity can be divided into two levels:

* The first stage: from grade 1 to grade 3

* The seco nd stage: from grade 4 to grade 5

I'he first stage o f primary level generally begins at the gr ade 1 and form step by step at grade 3 At this stage, the learning activity has developed scientifically un der the guidance o f teachers, the pupils k n o w the w ay to learn Thus, they obtain the m in im u m kn owl edg e and basic learning

The secon d stage is the de v el o p m en t in creating n e w ability in learning, obtai nin g the system o f knowled ge and sim ultaneously they k n o w h o w to behave G r ad u at in g primary school, if children do not have o pp o rt u n it y to go

on learning, they normally can live in society, and i f possible they can move

up to higher level ( secondary school)

9

H u m an are born with an innate predisposition to acquire language It is clear that they are not born with the ability to produ ce utterances in a specific language H um an infants, g r o w in g up in isolation produce no instinctive

language Cultural tra ns m iss io n o f a specific language is crucial in the h um an acquisition process.

A child has biological cap acity to cope with disting uis hin g certain aspects o f linguistic input at different stages in the early years o f life They acquire a language by w o r k i n g out the regularities in wha t is heard and then applying those regularities in wha t they say N o a m C h o m s k y ( 1 9 8 3 ) has proposed that lan gu ag e d e v e l o p m e n t could be described as "language growth" because the "l ang uag e organ" s im pl y grows like any other body organs It is assumed that the child is being "taught" the language The child acquires the language simply thr o ug h a process o f imitating One o f crucial factor in the child's acq uisition pr ocess is the actual use o f sound and word co m bi nat ion The ability o f children to form c o m p l e x rules and construct the gr am m a rs o f the languages used ar ou nd them in relatively short time is indeed phe nom enal The similarity o f the langu age acquisition stages across diverse peoples and languages su pports the v i e w that children seem to be equip ped with special abilities to k n o w that gene ra lizat ion to look for and wha t to ignore and ho w

to discover the regularities o f language Children learn language the way they learn to walk T h e y are not taught to walk, but all normal children begin to do

so at around the sa m e age " Learning to walk or learning language " is different from " lea rn ing to read or learning to ride a bicycle " Man y people never learn to read b eca us e there are large groups o f people that do not have written language H o w e v e r , they all have language Despite the fact that the child is still re q ui rin g aspe cts o f his or her native language through the later

years o f childh ood , it is normally assumed that, by the age o f 6 with an operating voca bul ar y o f more than 2,000 words, the child has com pleted the greater part o f the basic language acquisition process, the child is in good condition to start lear ning a s ec on d (or foreign ) language At present, more and more pr imary s c h o ol c h ild r en are being introduced foreign language The question which a lw ay s arises is: if first language acquisition isstraightforward, is learning a second language easy or difficult for children?

Pupils starting to learn a foreign language are often highly motivated

We can help children ma in tai n their initial motivation by e nc ou r ag in g th em to become more actively and per sonally involved in their o w n learning, and by helping them build up their co nf id en ce and to perceive progress

The y o u n g e r y o u are, the easier it seems to be to learn a language Youn g children who are e x p o s e d to more than one langu age before the age o f puberty seem to acquir e all the languages equally well Som eti m es one language is the first learned, but i f the child is expos ed to additional languages

at an early age, they will also be learned

Learning a s ec on d langua ge differs qualitatively from learning the first language Psychological, physical and sociological factors are considered in addition to the linguistic structure o f second language and h o w it differs from

the first language Individuals w ho are sell' cons cio us about maki ng mistakes often find learning s ec on d language difficult Children are unconcerned or u naw ar e that they are making mistakes With the teachers' help, children can learn from their mistakes to be better.

It is clear that children acquire their first language without explicit learning A second langua ge is usually learned but to s o m e degree may also

be acquired or d e p e n d i n g on the en v i r o n m e n t setting and the input received

IWhile it is true that m an y y o u n g children w h o s e parents speak different languages can acquire a secon d language in cir cum sta nce s similar to those o f first language acquisition, the vast majority o f people are not exposed to a second langu age until m u c h later For most people, the ability to use their first language is rarely m at che d by a co m pa ra b le ability in the second language alter learning m an y years There is s o m e t h i n g o f enigm a here, since there is no other learning met ho d wh ich one can learn better at you n g age A number o f reasons have been put forward to ac co u nt for this enigma, and a number o f pr op osa ls have been ma ue which enable learners to becom e as proficient in the se co nd l ang uag e as they are in the first language

The term "acquisition" w h e n used o f language refers to the gradual development o f ability in a langua ge by using it naturally in com mu nica tive situations Th e term "learning" , however, applies to a process o f accumulating k n o w l e d g e o f vo cabular y and g r a m m a r o f a language Activities

associated with learning have been used in language tea chi ng at schools and have the result in kn o w le d g e about the language studied Activities associated with acquisition are those ex p er ien ced by the y o u n g child and by those who use the target l an gua ge ev er yd ay in social interaction in an ot her country Stephen Krashen( 1982) has p ro po se d " a distinction bet we en acquisition - the process by which childr en u n c o n s c i o u s acquire their native language - and learning by wh ich childr en u nc ons cio usl y acquire their native language,

k n o w in g the rules, b e i n g aware o f th em and being able to talk about them

Al th ou gh neur ol ing ui st ics is still in its infancy, o u r un der sta nd in g has progressed since the day in S e p te m b e r 1848 A construction fo reman named Phineas.P G a g e was in ch ar g e o f a construction crew, blasting aw ay rocks to lay a new stretch o f railw ay line As Phineas pushed an iron tam pi ng rod into the blasting hole in a rock, so m e g u n p o w d e r s ud den ly exploded, and sent the three and h a lf foot long t a m p i n g rod up through Phineas' upper left che ek and mil from the top o f his forehead The rod landed about 50 yards away Phineas

suffered from the injury It was assu med that he could hardly recover However, a mont h later he maintained the ability to speak and understand and retained w hat eve r intellectual abilities he had prior to the injury It was clear that language ability is located in the brain, but it is not situated at the front.

Since then, we have learned a lot about the brain, the important and complicated organ o f the body It lies under the skull an d consists o f appropriately 10 billion nerve cells (neurons) and billions o f fibres that interconnect these cells acc ording to specific and highly selective patterns

T he neurons or grey matter from the surface o f the brain, w h i c h is called the cortex Under the cortex is the white matter, which consists primarily o f the

co nnecting fibres, as well as a variety o f subcortical grey m at te r centres The cerebral cortex is the decision mak ing organ o f the body It receives mes sa ges from all the sensory organs and it initiates all voluntary actions It is " the seat

o f all which is exclusively h u m an in the m i n d " It is the sto re h ou se o f

memory " as well

Hence, what is m em o ry ? M em o ry is psychological proce ss reflecting human experiences by remembering, preserving and recalling what people have had

It is ob vi ous that m em o ry reflects all o f human exp er ien ces including the images people have perceived, the em ot io ns people have exper ienc ed, the

thoughts people have hatl and the work people have done In other words , all o f the ex pe ri en ce s have rem ain ed in memory I'he items created in one's

m em ory is called the sy mb ol o f m em o ry

S y m b ol is the image This im age is still in ou r minds w hen there is no direct reflection to o u r senses A g oo d m em ory d e p e n d s on the con tent o f the material that needs to be r em em be re d It also d ep en d s on the activeness o f

r e m e m b e r i n g activity Th e material which is related to personal needs,

e m o ti o ns , interests could fully be kept in mind Thus, in teaching and

e d u c a t i n g prima ry s c h o olc h ild r en learn English, teachers not only choose

m ean in gf ul material with g o o d co n te nt but also help th em keep good memory

M e m o r y plays a crucial role in every hu m an activity Learning activity need to be r em em b er ed Wi th o ut m e m o ry one can not learn normally The

pr operty o f m e m o ry is formed and devel op ed parallel with the d e ve lo pm en t

o f personality in certain life span Preschool children have a l r e a d y \ h a d unintentional m e m o ry Enter ing primary school, their m e m o r y is built basically on learning process M e m o r y is one useful conditions in learning anti s im ul ta neo us ly it is a result o f learning process

Due to learning, the m e m o r y o f primary sc ho olchildren has developed

in two ways:

* increase logical and meaningful memory

* children have ability to control their o w n mem ories as well as to adjust intentionally recall.

Ch il d re n at the first stage o f primary level ( grade 1 to grade 3) tend to

remember mostly what they are taught They can learn by heart every word,

every sentence exactly T a k in g ad van tag e o f this, children can learn English

by rem emb eri ng

How eve r, at this stage, children do not k n o w h o w to re m e m b e r thoughtfully, do not k n o w w ha t to base on to remember Gr adually with the learning process, child re n at the second stage o f primary level ( grade 4 to gradeS) thoughtful m e m o r y is formed and developed, they can steadily understand the m e a n i n g o f the material thoroughly Te a c h e r stimulates the develo pm ent o f m e m o ry in any way, push them grasp the m e an in g o f the material and hel p th em r e m e m b e r better

Second langu age learning o f primary school at this stage has many advantages A c q u i r in g the words, the sentences at the first step, n o w they can understand, can get the idea o f the word m ea ni ng and sentence meaning, o f course, se nte nce s mu st be sim pl e ones This can help them improve the ability

o f learning a second language

11.3 IM ITATIO N

One o f the m ain characteristics o f the h um an bei ng is the ability to convey messages to others A man pos sessing the normal h um an faculties achieves this e x ch an ge o f in formation mainly by m ea n s o f two types o f sensory stimulation, audi tor y and visual The child will learn from a very early age to respond to the s ou nds and tunes which his elders use in talking to him and from a need to c o m m u n i c a te , he will h i m s e l f begin to imitate the recurrent sound patterns with wh ich he has b ec o m e familiar He begins to make use o f sp eech an d rapidly acqui re s the f ram ew o rk o f his spoken language

Language starts with the ear W h e n a baby starts to talk, he d oes it by hearing the sounds from his elders and imitating them If a baby is born d e a f

he can not hear these s o u n d s and therefore cannot imitate th em and will not speak But normal babies can hear and can imitate The y are outstanding imitators and this gift o f imitation wh ich gives us the gift o f speech lasts for

a num ber o f years It is o b v i o us that a child acquires the first language through a process o f imitation, he can learn the secon d language through imitation, too A child o f six years old and more can learn any language perfectly But after this age, the ability to imitate b ec om es less and we all know too well that adults have great difficulty in m as ter in g the pronunciation is well as other parts o f foreign languages Som e less likely reasons include

that suggestion that adults ' to n g u es 'get stiff from p r o n ou n ci ng one type o f language ( e.g English) and j u st can not cope with the n ew sounds o f another language ( e.g French or Russian) Som e are more talented than others, but they n ev er find th em easy Why should this gift that we all have as children disa pp ea r in later life? It is because our native language won't let us

By the time we are gr o w n up the habits o f our o w n language are so strong that they are very difficult to break Th os e who learn the pronunciation o f a foreign language will find so m e s ou nd s or c o m b in at io n s o f sounds o f the language quite easy, others rather difficult This is becaus e the learner is so familiar with the so u n d structure o f his own language that he can pronounce only the s oun ds in the l ang uag e to be learned that exist in his native language However, it is ex tr e m e l y difficult for him to learn the n e w soun ds since every language has a different n u m b e r o f sounds The main pr oblem o f English pronunciation is to build a n e w set o f sounds co rr es p o n d in g to the soun ds o f English and to break d o w n the a r ra n g em en t o f s oun ds which habits o f our native langua ge have so strongly built up We do this by establishing new ways o f hearing, ne w w ay s o f using ou r speech organs, n e w speech habits

This ma y soun d easy, but it is not It is never easy to establish good habits We will need to do a great deal o f hard work to build ourselves a set o f English s o u n d s which are nearly as firm as those o f ou r ow n language

Here are the difficulties o f English pronu ncia tion wh en we are grown

ip Why don't we make use o f children's imitation to help them learn English before it is too late?

a child's d ev elo pm ent Not only must children develop a facility in the use o f language for various purposes, they must become increasing cons ciou s o f what they are doing.

Tea chi ng children how to read, introduction to words sho uld proceed from the known to the unk no wn, from the familiar to the unfamiliar, from words o f simple structure to those that are more complex Let the children recognize the words and s h o w them the printed form that can be associated with the spoken word If possible, teacher helps them recognize the words that can be matched with the objects or pictures such as toys and possessions, for

example: Bill, ball or hat and add to them: bounce the ball, hug Bill, red hat

and make up some short se ntences a r o un d them

Between six or nine years o f age is a crucial time in children's reading development H e lp in g th em to read in English is not an easy w or k as English

is written in one way a n d is read in the o t h e r They can be confused with their mother tongue, V ie tn am es e Thus, w h e n e v e r a child is reading aloud he always has a typist's note pad by the teacher Write d o w n for the child any word that causes difficulties, e m p h a s iz i n g the s eg m e nts o f syllabuses or letter strings: /br/, /ed/; /bre/, /d/; T h e n p r o no u n ce it no rma lly as /bred/ (bread), indicate that the child has to look for units within words /k/ /<*/ /t/ is manageable, it can be d e m o n st r a t e d in this way, but there are words presented by letters s,l,i,g,h,t,l,y is confusing, so sl,ight,ly is the option and

the child must seek out the appr opr iate clusters as well as devi sing a means o f blending the e l em en ts together

Tell them to read alo ud and en co ur age them to think about wha t and how they read

Another thing that the teac her should k n o w in helping a child to read ihat is letter form ation English alp habets are not the same as Vietnamese,

some letters do not exist in V ie tn am es e alphabets First, s h o w them how to form a letter and o v er w rit e it Undou bted ly, it is eas ier for the children in printed form

During the earlier stage o f tea chi ng reading, teachers do not require children to pick up the bo ok and read it to you unpracticed Get them to read it over silently first so that they can have idea about the content o f the text Encourage them to note w or ds that they cannot recognize and the te acher tells the meaning o f the word and its p r o n u n c i a t i o n before they begin reading aloud Reading aloud to the teac her should be regarded as a learning activity, not as a test o f per for m anc e.

As children progress, try to get them to read in pairs o f words and then

in phrase For e x am p le , My / m o t h e r / gives / me / a / beautiful / doll; then reread: My mot her/ gives m e / a beautiful doll and as progress is made My mother gives me/ a beautiful doll T e ac h er alway s encour age s rhythmic reading with variations in pace, tone and pitch, read in meaningful segments Expression not only helps readers to process meaningful ideas more effectively because the searc h for expr essio n entails a search for m e a n i n g ( 1‘erera, 1989)

It is important to r e m e m b e r that children onl y concentrate when interested and i n v o lv ed -C h il d re n are curious and this in itself is motivating

At the same time their span o f attention or concentration is less than that o f an adult So keep e v e r y th i n g short and need frequent c ha ng es o f activity: they need activities which are ex ci ti n g and stimulate their curiosity, they need to

be involved in s o m e t h i n g active and they need to be appreciated by the

.jj teacher, the best figure for them It is unlikely that they will have any

j motivation outside these co ns id e ra ti on s and almost eve ry th in g for them will

j depend on the attitude and b eh a v io u r o f the teacher

i In teaching reading, teacher sh oul d re m e m b e r the value o f repetition, revision and the resu lting re in fo rc em en t o f children's learning Encourage them practice as m u c h as possible T i m e allowed for forgetting can be as influential to the results as time given to teaching

The teacher's role is that o f an instructor who transmits the knowledge,

or who teaches and drills activities rather than d r a w i n g on and ext ending children's abilities Th e e m p h a s is tends to be exclus ively on what is to be taught, rather than also c o n s id e ri n g h o w learning takes place Barly reading skills are the pe rfo rm an ce on certain kinds o f skills, the ability to discriminate shapes patterns and word r eco gn it ion skills It is often associated with the so called " look and say" m eth od, inv ol vi ng the ability to name whole words, whether presented in a textual or situational context

Reading helps ch il dre n wi den their knowledge Read ing is a dynamic process in which the text e l em en ts interact with ot her factors outside the text Any mode o f language, w h e t h e r it is listening, speaking, reading or writing may he used to serve im m e d i a te needs, to learn from or to give us pleasure in language for its o w n sake A n important feature which reading also shares with other modes o f l ang uag e use is its role in social interaction

^ A

I :, j Children not only read the text with fluency and good pronunciation but also understand the m ean in g o f the text There must be variety o f exercises This is an important factor and it is important to r e m e m b e r that many texts are meant to be read and enjoyed, that many exercises m ight spoil the pleasure o f reading A balance should be given between leaving the children without any help on the one hand and sq ueezing the text carefully on the o t h e r

A reading lesson begins pro mpt 'y Te a c h e r writes a br ie f outline on the board, listing the four activities which will continue the lesson and let the children know what activities they are g oi ng to take part in

Activity I: Read ing for understanding

Children are instructed to form pairs and w or k on pictures As the activity progresses, teacher checks h o w the children are d o in g and an sw er the questions they may have

Activity2: Read ing for fluency

This involves the use o f pictures the children have silent reading and then followed by detailed co m pr ehe nsi on questions T h e goal is for them to li) and increase their reading speed by an s w er in g the questions within a time limit

Activity 3: Vocab ular y exercises

Teacher ch ec k s the children's an sw ers by having them read out his oi­lier‘answer Rather than co n f ir m w h e th e r the answer is correct, teacher asks the other to give their opinion T h e exercise could be comp let ed individually.

Activity 4:

The last activity o f the lesson is an extensive reading activity Read ing speed is especially imp orta nt for childr en with lots o f out-of-class reading to

do The heart o f r ea din g in mos t s cho ols is reading com prehension

Clearly the mo st o bv i o u s reasons for giving pupils reading material is

to encourage th em to be better readers It is clear that the more reading we give them, the better they will b e c o m e at reading

III 1.2 T E A C H I N G L I S T E N I N G

It is taken for gr anted that people can listen in their mo th er tongue with little or no effort C hi ld r en are able to understand w h at is said to them This ability is a result o f a n u m b e r o f factors, including language, kno wl ed g e topic and so on We s o m e t i m e s have p r o b le m s related to different accent or bad conditions for listening

The overall proce ss has three distinct stages At the first stage the sounds go into a se ns or y store, and are organized into meaningful units according to the k n o w l e d g e o f the language the listener already has, but the

sounds arc kept in sensory store for a very short time, about a second If the listener listens to a foreign language, he may make errors as organizing the sounds into m ea n in g fu l units The second stage is the processing o f the information by the short term memory This stage lasts a little longer than first one, about a few seconds At this points, words or group o f words are checked and c o m p a r e d with information already held in the long-term memory and the m e a n i n g is extracted from them T h e listener can grasp the meaning but may forget the actual words The third stage is transferring the information to the long term memo ry when the listener has already constructed a m e a n i n g from the sounds The listener stores the message in the long term m e m o ry in a reduced form The evidence for this is the fact that when recalling s o m e t h i n g from the long term m em or y, people usually only remember the gist o f what has been heard, rather than the exact words spoken.

The context is o f great importance in listening Th e listener can place what he hears in a context, even if this context has to be provided by the listener himself As listening, a listener can predict w ha t the com pleti on o f an individual utterance is or only part o f it or can co m pl et e a speaker's utterance before the spea ker gets the words out For example, w h e n a m o th er told her son in late ev e n in g "It's ten o'clock It's time to Her son might predict that

" go to bed" will be the end o f the utterance Simon Garrod stales that this umiext" has to be taken into account at all stages o f compr ehe nsio n" This means that the act o f co m pr eh en si o n requires listeners to place the words in

context as they pr o d u c e the utterances When listening to spoken foreign language, the listener lacks certain bac kground k n o w l ed g e or the speaker's knowledge or the speaker's intentions he may not be able to provide a suitable context, he then may resort to trying to derive m e a n i n g from syntactic and semantic c o m p o n e n t s o f the utterances and the m an ne r in which it is spoken The listener is able to listen successfully if he uses more than the knowledge o f the language structure- its syntax, its ph onol ogy, etc The listener needs to app ly his kno wl edg e o f language usage (i.e the language system) and the k n o w l ed g e o f wh at he refers to as "language use" (i.e the appropriate use the language to c o m m u ni ca te with oth er people.

re ac hi ng listening, hence, we want the learners to attend to what they hear, to process it, to understand it, to interpret it, to evaluate it, to respond to

it We want to b ec o m e involved and active listeners

Many learners o f English have different situations and purposes to listen to English And the reasons for listening are varied dep en d in g on what the> need There are live main reasons for listening

a to engage in social rituals

b to e x c h an ge information

c to exert control

d to share feelings

e to enjoy y o u r s e l f