APPLYING GAMES TO AN ENGLISH CLASS

This is always a big question for teachers before each teaching period and for students when studying a foreign language especially English.. However, students are still under pressure,

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

DONG NAI EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

NAM HA HIGH SCHOOL

Code : THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE APPLYING GAMES TO AN ENGLISH CLASS Teacher : DUONG LE THANH THUY Research field : Education management : ………

Teaching method : English ………

Methodology : ………

Other fields : ………

Attachments :  Object  Software  Film  Other things

School year: 2011 - 2012

CURRICULUM VITAE

I PERSONAL INFORMATION:

1 Full name: DUONG LE THANH THUY

2 Date of birth: February 20th, 1977

8 Place of work: Nam Ha high school

II Training standard

- Diploma: Bachelor

- Graduation year: 1998

- Major in: Teaching

III Scientific Experience

- Major in: teaching

- The length of service: 13 years

- The initiative experience:

1 Combination of various skills in teaching “Word study” (2006 – 2007)

2 Teaching Speaking in a Reading period (2007 -2008)

3 How to check the previous lesson effectively (2008 – 2009)

4 Raising the effect of using English (2009 – 2010)

5 Developing students’ listening skill by varifying exercises (2010 -2011)

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

Index

I The purpose of the chosen subject

A The purpose of the subject chosen

B The foundation from the fact

II Advantages and Disadvantages

A Advantages

B Disadvantages

C Objects and Researching methods

III The content of the subject

IV The sample of teaching lesson

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

A The purpose of the subject chosen

Nowadays teaching as well as learning English is compulsory for all grades (from the

primary school to the university or especially after the university) because it plays an important role

in communicating, updating the information or doing researches

To teachers, how to teach effectively, applicably and attractively?

To students, how to learn the lessons by heart fast and easily as well as use them correctly? This is always a big question for teachers before each teaching period and for students when studying a foreign language (especially English) Basically, there have been many changes in

content and the methods of teaching foreign languages (in general), English (in particular)

The purpose of curriculums and books is helping students obtain the main knowledge of the modern practical English and know how to use English as a means of communication However, students are still under pressure, students aren’t really active and creative because in Vietnam, teaching and studying a foreign language (especially English) at the high schools as well as at other grades mainly focus on grammar, that’s why an English class becomes boring and passive To break the silence in class and how to find out the solutions to this hot topic It’s still a problem for

teachers of foreign language at the professional work-shops

In fact, to find out the best solutions to the problems teachers often meet while teaching and studying foreign languages, all groups and departments related to education usually carry out the movements, the contests or the discussions which help teachers have opportunities to gather, talk to and learn experiences with each other

Thanks to the annual plan for writing the creative teaching experience of Nam Ha high school and Dong Nai Education and Training Department, I think of the way to make an English class more interesting and students feel relaxed while studying With the 13-year teaching

experience, I have had an idea and applied it to the fact That idea is named:

“ Applying games to an English class.”

B The foundation from the fact:

- To enable English classes more interesting and more fascinating

- To help students feel relaxed from the beginning to the ending of a learning period

- To help students get not only the knowledge but also the studying methods after each class

ADVANTAGES AND

DISADVANTAGES

DURING MY PREPARATION

OF THE SUBJECT

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

- The head-staff board always suports and helps teachers during the teaching period

- There are many experienced teachers in the Foreign language group

- In school, many teachers who are good at the I.T help us design games

- More students are interrested in learning English

- Teachers are always enthusiastic and creative in teaching

B Disadvantages:

- Students’ capacity is much limited and at different levels Some of them are quite deficient

in the base of learning English

- Some students pronounce habitally wrongly and the teachers feel in vain in correction Moreover, they transcribe English into Vietnamese without using the International Phonetic Alphabet This wrong study leads their lack of English knowledge The teachers must face this problem – A great difficulty in our teaching

- The majority of students have lack of self-confidence in listening to teachers’ expanation in English

- Most students, for the sake of the university entrance examinations, consider some other subjects, such as: maths, physics, chemistry, even biology more important than English As the result, they learn English with a rather ignorant attitude

- Time for a teaching period is relatively short

- In Bien Hoa city, there aren’t many opportunities for students to communicate in English

- Students fail to study properly and don’t have enough time to take part in the English

speaking clubs

C Objects and the methods of doing the research:

- Objects: students at Nam Ha high school (class 11A1 – A2 – A3 – C2)

- The methods of doing the research:

+ Read books as well as other documents

+ Learn experience from the colleagues

+ Do some experiments – make statistics – consider the results

CONTENT

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

With the following games, we can apply them to all the skills as well as the steps of teaching and learning foreign languages ( particularly English) To make a teaching period more effective and fantastic, teachers must be flexible in choosing the proper games for each lesson or each skill.

1 BRAINSTORMING/ NETWORKS

Eg : English 10 Unit 6 (Listening and Speaking)

Requirement : In this game, students can do it individually to show their feelings, thoughts and

ideas based on teacher’s given questions

Performance : teacher makes questions – students answer

Example:

1 Do you like traveling?

2 When do you often go?

3 Where do you like to go?

4 What do you often prepare for your trip or picnic?

9

1

8

210

3

56

clothes

7

Aim : This game can be used to introduce or enforce a lesson, such as “ Listening” or “Reading”

Its purpose is helping students guess the subject and the information about the lesson Moreover students can review the previous knowledge and learn the new words by heart at the same time

2 RUB OUT AND REMEMBER

Requirement : In this game, students can do it individually, in pairs or groups.

Eg: English 12 Unit 14 (Reading)

Performance :

- Teacher gives a short passage or some sentences with the missing information

- Students read and fill in the gaps with the words they have just learnt (Note : teacher asks students to close all books and notebooks while doing the game.)

WORLD CUP, the international football

tournament , is held every four years It is considered the most popular sporting event in the world The

World Cup is followed with passionate interest around the globe- the final game of the 2002 World Cup

tournament attracted more than one billion viewers

Aim : This game is for the consolidaion of a lesson, such as “ Listening” or “Reading” It helps

students review the words they have just learnt Besides, this game is vey useful for the lesson having many difficult words because of its data and logicality

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

3 CROSSWORD

Requirement : A class is divided into four groups in this game

Performance :

- Teacher gives the topic and some suggestions (the initial letters and pictures)

- Students guess and write the answers

- When time is up, a representative of each group writes the answers on the board The winner

is the group having more right answers Teacher should give the winner a present to

stimulate their enthusiasm in the next class

Eg: English 12 Unit 10 (Listening)

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

In another form, the teacher can give the questions

Eg : English 11 Unit 3

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 My mother often makes a………… for my bithday 2 On your birthday, you often receive a lot of ………

3 The day when you were born is called………

4 A piece of paper which you often write best wishes on for your friends on New Year or Christmas Day It’s a ………

5 ……… is on December 24 th 6 January 1 st is the day of ………

Aim : This game is used in “ Listening” or “Speaking” Especially, we can use it to introduce or

conclude the lesson because students can guess the topic of the lesson or list the words and then learn them by heart

4 NOUGHTS AND CROSSES

This game is like “ ca ro” in Vietnamese It can be done at the end of the lesson

Requirement : A class is divided into two groups

Performance :

- Teacher forms a frame with a signal for each group “ Nought” (O) for this group and

“ Cross” (X) for the other (colors instead)

- Each group does the game in turn If the group has the correct answer, its signal or color will appear on the screen When time is up, the turn will be exchanged if that group has no answer If all two groups don’t have the answers, teacher will erase the signal or color When the group has three signals in one line, that group will be the winner On the contrary, when no group has enough signals as required, the winner will be based on the number of the right answers

Aim : we can use it to consolidate the lesson

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

Eg: English 12 Unit 12 (Listening)

time

5 LUCKY NUMBERS/ STARS/ FLOWERS

Requirement : A class is divided into two groups

Performance : This game is like “ The Road to Olympia Mount”

- Teacher forms a frame with numbers

- Each group does as required with the chosen numbers In this game, if they choose the lucky number, they will be able to get a prize

Lucky numbers

Very good

7

1 6

Eg : English 10 Unit 13 (Writing)

In this game teacher can give some questions related to the beneath picture

1 What vehicles are used in the sea ?

2 What works were written by Walter Lord?

3 Which film made Leonardio Dicapro, an actor, become famous?

4 In which film did Leonardo Dicarpro act with Kate Winslet?

5 What is Kate Winslet’s nationality?

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

6 DESCRIPTION

Requirement : Students can play this game in pairs or groups

Eg : English 11 Unit 1 (Speaking)

Performance: Teacher can give not only pictures but also suggestions and then make an

example

- This is a baby girl

- She is wearing a sleeveless dress with flowers and having some bubbles in hand

- She looks very beautiful because she has white complexion,round black eyes, full lips, a straight nose and short black hair

- She looks very happy

Aim : This game is often used in “ Speaking” period or “ More exercise” because it can help

students to recall and use the words they have learnt in “Reading” period effectively and correctly

7 QUIZ

Requirement : Students can play this game in pairs or groups

Performance: Like “Ring the gold bell” game on VTV3, class should be divided into four

groups

Then, teacher makes questions and students write answers on the boards (each group has a small board)

Next, teacher will give one point for the group having the right answer

At the end of the game, the winner is the group having the most points They will be given

a prize and a special prize for the group having the right answer for the difficult question

Aim : this game not only provides students with the basic knowlegde but also reminds them

of the applied vocabularies It’s very useful for “Test yourself” period

1 What mouse can go on 2 feet ?

(Mickey)

2 What mouse can’t go ?

(computer mouse)

3 Please tell the name of the national cities in China

( Benjing, Shanghai, Trung Khanh and Tianjin)

4 What is the highest Mount in the world ?

(Mount Everest)

………

8 MATCHING

Requirement : Students can play this game individually, in pairs or groups

Performance: Like “Olympic English” program which is conducted by The National

Education and Training Department Thanks to the information technology, we can let two lines of words run about three times for students to observe, remember and match them with each other correctly

Year Ending Claus Chrismas A song

Aim : this game helps students to react fast It can be used in “ Listening” or “Reading” period.

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

The example lesson: Unit 3 - “Reading” - Grade 11

I Warm up

BRAINSTORMING :

- Teacher gives students a game with some questions to discuss within 5 minutes

- Students guess the answers

- Teacher checks students’ answers and give some presents for the pairs or the groups having more right answers to increase the excitement before beginning the lesson

Example:

1 Do you like going camping?

2 Who do you go camping with?

3 Where do you often go camping?

4 What do you often prepare when you go camping?

A birthday cake food

Friends /guests

7

STRONG POINTS

Students can guess the content and the vocabularies of the lesson in advance or

learn the words they have just learnt by heart

It can ease the Reading comprehesion lesson for students

All students at any levels can take part in this game

II Pre- reading

VOCABULARY:

- Teacher can give students some keywords to

guess the kinds of words as well as their

meanings (students can do the preparation at

 (n) cột mốc, mốc lịch sử  (n) kỉ niệm đám cưới bạc

 (n) kỉ niệm đám cưới vàng Students learn these provided words visually within 5 minutes before beginning the new game

MATCHING

anniversary silver

anniversary

golden anniversary

celebrate milestone

cột mốc, mốc

lịch sử

ngày, lễ kỉ niệm

kỉ niệm đám cưới bạc

kỉ niệm đám cưới vàng

làm lễ kỉ niệm

School year: 2011 – 2012 written by: DUONG LE THANH THUY

Using the information technology to let 2 lines of words run in parallel for about 3 times for students to match the words meaningfully The winner is the group having the most right answers.

III While- reading

READING COMPREHENSION

- Let students read- comprehend the

lesson individually, in pairs or

Students can learn the vocabularies by heart at the class

It enables students to learn vocabularies in groups

All students at any levels can take part in this game