skkn HOW TO HELP WEAK STUDENTS TO WRITE AN ESSAY EFFECTIVELY IN ENGLISH GRADE 11

In order that the students no longer fear and hate writing an essay, havesome techniques for writing and they feel easier to write, I, teacher of English athigh school, explain in a clea

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HOW TO HELP WEAK STUDENTS TO WRITE AN ESSAY EFFECTIVELY

IN ENGLISH GRADE 11

PART A.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH

English in grade 11 consists of reading, speaking, listening, writing andlanguage focus Writing skill contains many different types such as writing letters,describing information from a chart, writing biography, writing an essay and so on

When writing an essay with the given topic, our students are nervousbecause almost of them are weak and their vocabulary, grammar, structures orlanguage knowledge and writing techniques are limited They don’t know how tobegin, make an outline, provide evidence to support or develop the point.Therefore, they have many difficulties in writing

In order that the students no longer fear and hate writing an essay, havesome techniques for writing and they feel easier to write, I, teacher of English athigh school, explain in a clear and direct way to teach, help them identify cleareraims for writing and develop writing skill effectively at high school

In this assignment, I only focus on techniques that help me and other Englishteachers to teach and our students to learn how to write an essay effectively The

above reasons lead me to choose the topic “How to help weak students to write an essay effectively in English grade 11”

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SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

HOW TO HELP WEAK STUDENTS TO WRITE AN ESSAY EFFECTIVELY IN

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 Mô hình Phần mềm  Phim ảnh  Hiện vật khác

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SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC

I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN

1 Họ và tên: NGUYỄN THỊ THƠM

2 Ngày tháng năm sinh: 12- 09 -1981

8 Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Nguyễn Hữu Cảnh

II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO

- Học vị cao nhất: Đại học

- Năm nhận bằng: 2003

- Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Anh Văn

III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC

- Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: Giảng dạy

- Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 7

- Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm đã có trong 5 năm gần đây:

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HOW TO HELP WEAK STUDENTS TO WRITE AN ESSAY EFFECTIVELY

IN ENGLISH GRADE 11

PART A.

REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH

English in grade 11 consists of reading, speaking, listening, writing andlanguage focus Writing skill contains many different types such as writing letters,describing information from a chart, writing biography, writing an essay and so on

When writing an essay with the given topic, our students are nervousbecause almost of them are weak and their vocabulary, grammar, structures orlanguage knowledge and writing techniques are limited They don’t know how tobegin, make an outline, provide evidence to support or develop the point.Therefore, they have many difficulties in writing

In order that the students no longer fear and hate writing an essay, havesome techniques for writing and they feel easier to write, I, teacher of English athigh school, explain in a clear and direct way to teach, help them identify cleareraims for writing and develop writing skill effectively at high school

In this assignment, I only focus on techniques that help me and other Englishteachers to teach and our students to learn how to write an essay effectively The

above reasons lead me to choose the topic “How to help weak students to write an essay effectively in English grade 11”

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PART B REAL SITUATION

 Advantageous conditions

Most of students and their parents comprehend the importance of learning Englishlanguage at high school

Some students are very interested in learning English

Furthermore English is one of the subjects, which are compulsory in the finalexamination at high schools This will promote students to spend much timelearning and practicing English

 Difficulties

Some students are not very interested in learning English; do not concentrate

on the lessons, especially in writing lesson The first reason is that most of themare lack of basic knowledge, lack of language knowledge as such grammar,vocabulary and structures The other important reason is that they do not havewriting techniques They don’t know how to begin, make an outline, provideevidence to support or develop the point Therefore, they have many difficulties inwriting

The students’ above difficulties make teachers lack time to apply differentactivities in teaching so as to motivate students’ activity and interest

to help students to write an essay effectively

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To make my students know how to write an essay with the topic given intextbook effectively I adapt textbook to fit students’ low level by using manyactivities in Writing

If we don’t design activities in writing skill, our students will have manydifficulties in writing an essay and they will waste their time preparing ideas.Especially, textbook adaptation should be applied flexibly in each particular classsituation

Here are some activities I use in teaching writing so that our students canwrite an essay effectively such as:

1 At the pre-writing stage.

To prepare students for writing an essay effectively, I have some activities applied:

- In each writing lesson, I tell students the aim of writing and deliver one

focused topic based on textbook by writing the thesis statement of the topic

on the board This step makes sure that every student knows what they arewriting about One line of the thesis statement written on board remindsstudents that they should focus on this point but not others or can’t go off thetopic Therefore, the writing is good

- I give them more new structures and vocabulary This activity helps students

to have some words, phrases and structures for writing

- I give students a model essay.

From the model essay, I get students to read carefully, analyze it byanswering a series of questions and identify the task related to the topic Givingsample writing and some ideas for some topics can enable students to base on towrite effectively and remember the way to express language in writing From themodel essay, I guide students to identify a thesis statement or introduction, a topicsentence for each paragraph, supporting details for each topic statement, aconclusion, the evidence for the meaning

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2 At the while-writing

- Making the detailed outline

One of the most important activities which help students to write an essay

effectively is making an outline under teacher’s control, organization and resource.

An outline of an essay can be very helpful because it helps make their essaymore organized A careful plan will help their body paragraphs stay focused onthe ideas in their thesis statement and it saves time for students Preparing anoutline can take time, but when they are finished, they will be able to write therough draft of their essay more quickly than if they didn’t have an outline

 I ask students to work in groups or in pairs to give the detailed outline

This step encourages students to interact with each other by giving andgetting information about the thesis statement This is the best way to collect ideasfrom students under my control so that the students can’t go off the topic andreduce the stress in the classroom

 I call the leader of each group to present their opinions on the thesisstatement; I take note on the board in an outline form

When I take note on the board, the whole class can keep up with the flow

of ideas Besides, students can avoid mispronunciation from the group leaders inspeaking Strong, average and weak students can base on the outline and developthe essay

It is necessary that before writing, I get students to pay attention to clarity by

giving transition words, to punctuation and spelling I remind students to write all

the sentences begin with capital letters, punctuation marks such as periods at theend of each sentence

Furthermore, I explain to students that an essay is a combination ofparagraphs It will be easier to start writing with a paragraph

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- If possible, I get students to present their writing in speaking individually, in pairs

or in groups

PART D SOLVE THE PROBLEM

In this part, I give the practice in adapting materials in some units to makewriting an essay easier and more suitable for students’ low level at high school Ihave designed some units of the 11th form textbook such as unit 1, unit 8, unit 12and unit 13

Unit 1: FRIENDSHIP

D – WRIRING

Aim: By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to write about a friend, real or

imaginary, using the words and expressions that they have learned in previous lessons

I WARM UP: Expending sentence

I write the word “RFIDEN” on the blackboard then I ask students to reorder andexpand it by adding at the beginning or the end of what is already written to make

a meaningful sentence

“FRIEND”

I model: “I like a friend.”

Then I get some volunteers to expand the sentence in front of the whole class Iwrite on the blackboard The student reads the last sentence is the winner

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Suggested answer:

I like a friend who is friendly.

I like a friend who is friendly and helpful.

………

Then I have them guess the topic to write I introduce the topic that they are going

to write a friend, real or imaginary

II Pre-writing :

Activity 1: Comprehension questions

I give sample writing and ask students to read the passage describing aperson I get students to work in groups of four to analyze the passage byanswering some questions

*Sample:

Of all my classmates, I like Ha the best She is 16 She lives in Binh Son village I met her in a school holiday to Mui Ne when we were in secondary school She is a pretty girl with short hair She is tall She has an oval face Her eyes are black and clear She looks more beautiful in Ao Dai Ha is honest, sincere and helpful I learn honesty and helpfulness from her I like her because she teaches me a lot of things I feel safe to be with her I hope that we will be friends forever.

I give them some cues

Name: What’s her name?

Age: How old is she?

Home address: Where does she live?

Place to meet: When and where did you meet her?

Character: How is she?

Appearance: What does she look like? What’s she like?

What you learn from her: What do you learn from her?

Reason why you like her: Why do you like her?

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When students work in groups, I go around to help them if necessary Then I checktheir understanding by asking them to answer the above questions.

From the sample writing, I get the whole class to recognize the ways of expressingthe ideas; three parts of the essay: Introduction, Body and Conclusion; somenecessary structures and the tenses

III While- writing

Activity 1: Making an outline

I guide students to identify a thesis statement or introduction, a topicsentence for each paragraph, supporting details for each topic statement, aconclusion, the evidence for the meaning

Then I ask them to make an outline by completing the table below.

1 introduction - The topic sentence

2 body - name, age, sex:

- appearance:

- personalities:

- Reason why you like her:

3 conclusion - writer’s feelings

Suggested answer

1

introduction

- The topic sentence: Of all my classmates, I like Ha the best.

2 body - name, age, sex: Ha

- appearance: tall, short hair, oval face, black and clear eyes

- personalities: honest, sincere and helpful

- reason why you like her: because she teaches me a lot of things and I feel safe to be with her

3

conclusion

- writer’s feelings: I hope that we will be friends forever.

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Activity 2: Writing a description:

From the above outline, I can help students to describe a friend, real or imaginarywithout going off the topic

Some cues:

*Language:

My best friend is

She is 16.

She lives in

I met her in a school holiday to Mui Ne when we were in secondary school / We’ve studied in the same class since secondary school

She is a pretty girl She is tall

She is honest and helpful .

I like her because she

For good students, they can write themselves about their friends However, forweak students, I take some common images so that they can write in groups offour

I move around to control and give help with vocabulary

When they have finished, I collect their writing

IV Post-writing: peer correction

- I exchange their writing with another student for peer correction

- I go around and collect mistakes and errors

- I collect some writings for quick feedback

- I write students’ typical errors on the board and elicit self and peer correction Iprovide correction only when they are not able to correct the errors

- Finally, I provide general comments on the writings

After correcting mistakes, if I have the time, I add an activity called: “Listening: describing appearances and characteristics”

I give each student a sheet of paper Then I call one student to sit in front of theclass This one describes a person and the rest draw the person being described

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Once student has finished describing that person, he / she reveals that it is and eachstudent exchanges his/her drawing.

English 11 UNIT 8 CELEBRATIONS Part D writing

Aim: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to write some popular

I ask them: “Have you ever described a celebration in Vietnamese?”

(Yes: Tet, Teacher’s Day, Mid-Autumn Festival)

-I say: “Today you are going to describe a celebration in English.”

-I read the instruction and choose a subject

II BEFORE WRITING

Activity 1: Reading task

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I get students to read the passage about a festival and discuss the main pointsincluded in the passage in pairs At the same time, I tell them to write down whichsentence(s) belong (s) to which main point.

Sample:

In Vietnam, there is a big festival after Tet Holiday It is the mid-Autumn festival It comes on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month It’s the time when the moon looks the most beautiful so it is celebrated to admire the full moon (of the eighth lunar month) On this day, parents take their children out, carrying beautiful glowing lanterns There are also performances at the city center where large crowds gather to watch children sing and dance Adults sit outdoors, drinking tea and having moon cakes People can enjoy the dragon or lion dance performed by group of boys who come to each family to dance and receive some money as rewards.

I like this activity best because it’s so funny and full of joys.

- Then I ask them to read in groups and find the answers

* name of the festival: What festival is this?

* time of the festival: When does it usually occur?

* purpose /meaning of the festival: What do people celebrate it for? Why do

people celebrate it?

* main activities of the festival: What are some popular activities on this

festival?

* your feeling about the festival (like or dislike): How does the writer feel about

the festival?

Suggested answers:

* name of the festival: Mid – Autumn Festival

* time of the festival: On the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month

* purpose /meaning of the festival: Welcome the brightest full moon of the year.

* main activities of the festival:

- Children carry beautiful glowing lanterns, admire the full moon, sing and dance

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- Enjoy dragon or lion dance, have moon cakes

* your feeling about the festival (like or dislike): Like it because it’s so funny

and full of joys.

III WHILE-WRITING

Activity 1: Making the detailed outline.

I divide the class into three groups to make an outline about some popular festivals

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