In order to make his English lessons more effective, the teacher himself must find out the ways of teaching suitable for his students.. What I have realized is that a large number of stu
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Nowadays, English is playing a very important role in the global development
Therefore, the teaching of English has been improved in method in the light of the communicative, learner-centered approach which is adaptable to give students many opportunities to communicate in English However, at many junior high schools in Viet nam, the teaching of English has not really developed students’ ability, activeness and motivation
In order to make his English lessons more effective, the teacher himself must find out the ways of teaching suitable for his students I think that in a good English period, the students play active roles and the teacher acts as both a guider and an organiser
1.2 Rationale of practice:
I have been working as a teacher of English at several junior high schools for over ten years I realize the fact that a rather big number of students are not interested in learning English and they do not usually get desired results for this subject They think English is a difficult subject at school As a teacher, I have been spending plenty of time thinking about this problem
In fact, students should be aware of importance of the language in their study and in their future life so that they can be active in learning this foreign language Besides, their teachers of this subject must give interesting and suitable teaching methods to their lessons There have been many teaching activities which help arouse students’ motivation in each language lesson such as teaching English through games and music, eliciting,…… In this limited unit, I would like to suggest some common and useful ones
1.3 Urgency:
Now I am teaching English at a junior high school near my house I used to
teach English at two other junior high schools in my district What I have realized
is that a large number of students are afraid of learning English and say that it is difficult for them to be good at English and there is not a real language
environment for them to do their practice every day Their awareness of
importance of this language for their life is not made clear Moreover, some
teachers of English do not still manage to put real interest in their lessons
Another reason is because of the lack of necessary equipment for teaching English
at many schools in Viet Nam In deed, the school where I am working as a teacher
of English has been famous for its good quality in education for years Most
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students of my school are well brought up by their parents and they identify a good motivation in their studying, which leads to better study results for English
as well as other subjects at school
1.4 My ability:
Necessarily, among the teachers of my school I should work harder and harder
so as to master the language and always give my students good lessons, which means that my students’interest in learning English is aroused That is the matter I have been absorbed in and that is the reason for my theme
2 Purpose of study:
I would like to give out some of my own experience in arousing students’
interest in learning English
3 Researched knowledge:
Ways to make students more excited about their English language lessons so that
they should get better knowledge of English from their English lessons It means
that their level of the language should be developed
4 Researched participants:
Students of my junior high school
5 Ways to conduct the theme:
- My real teaching in classes
- Surveys
6 Time and place for conducting the theme:
- Time: School year 2013- 2014; School year 2014- 2015
- Place: At my junior high school
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II PROBLEM SOLUTION:
1 Logical basis:
In deed, English has been a newer subject than the other subjects taught in
junior high schools in Viet Nam Teachers of English in Viet Nam should manage
to learn a large amount of teaching experience from foreign teachers of the language The most important points are the number of teaching techniques which help develop students’ motivation in learning the language and ways teachers use
to apply these teaching techniques in their classes
2 Practical basis:
Many methodological materials present a great number of interesting classroom activities However, some teachers may not have the good chance to be familiar with most of these activities or some may be afraid of spending a lot of time thinking about their best activities for their lessons or some may know those teaching activities half-way Consequently, many Vietnamese pupils has very little interest in learning English
3 Some activities to arouse students’ interest in learning English:
There are various activities in a classroom to arouse students’interest in learning English The following may be extremely helpful:
3.1 Eliciting:
In many classes, it is the teacher that talks while the students listen If the students take speaking tasks, it is usually to repeat what the teacher says, or to answer a set of questions This way of teaching will obviously make the students feel bored and frustrated Instead of simply giving words, sentences, or structures directly, the teacher should involve the students more by eliciting them from the students He should ask them for their ideas and suggestions, get them to contribute what they already know, and encourage them to guess new words This
is called eliciting
Eliciting involves the class by focusing students’ attention and making them do some thinking activities This happens even if students do not know the words which are being elicited, so elicitation can be used for presenting a new language item as well as reviewing what was taught earlier Furthermore, eliciting encourages students to draw on what they already know or partly know or do not know So it is a useful technique for mixed ability classes or classes of students from different learning backgrounds, from which different students know different things In addition, eliciting gives teachers a chance to see what students know and what they do not know, so teachers can adapt the presentation to the level of the class Of course, an eliciting presentation takes more time than a straightforward presentation of a new thing However, eliciting will catch
students’ attention and they will remember the new knowledge better
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How to arouse students’ interest in learning English
Some ways of eliciting:
3.1.1 Eliciting from pictures:
- Using pictures to elicit is the easiest way to introduce a new topic or new vocabulary When students are elicited from pictures, they should be asked fairly general questions that allow a variety of responses This encourages more students
to respond and leads them to say more For example, to elicit from the pictures in unit 12 of the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 7”, section A1 (on pages 114 and 115), I can ask my students to look at the picture and answer the question: “Where are the people?” and then I say: “ You can answer the question in Vietnamese.” and my students can answer my question in Vietnamese like this: “Họ đang ở tại quầy bán hoa quả” Then I give out the answer in English, “ They are at a fruit stall.” As a result, I have succeeded in presenting the word “ fruit stall” to my students
Where are the people?
They are at a fruit stall.
This picture is shown as the illustration
Then I can ask my pupils to look at the following picture and ask them to answer my question,“where are they?” and without any of my further explanation,
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my pupils can answer the question in English, “They are at a meat stall.” The result is that the word “meat stall” is presented in an interesting and easy way
The following picture can be the example of illustration extracted from my
powerpoint lesson plan – (“TIẾNG ANH 7”/ Unit 12-A1)
Where are they?
They are at a meat stall
And the same elicitation is used to introduce the word “vegetable stall”
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How to arouse students’ interest in learning English Where are they?
They are at a vegetable stall
The pictures below can be the examples of illustration extracted from my
powerpoint lesson plan – (“TIẾNG ANH 7”/ Unit 12-A1) when the words such as
“cucumber”, “spinach”…… are presented
What are they?
(in Vietnamese)
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What kind of vegetable is it?
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(in Vietnamese)
They are ripe
Of course, different questions (as above- illustrated) are designed in order to make my presentation of the new vocabulary more interesting
- In fact, sometimes students may not answer one or two of teachers’ eliciting questions because they may have very little knowledge about that field In this case, teachers should give out this presentation The advantage of trying to do some eliciting first is that students’ attention will now be focused on the word/words and they should be learning it/them with their greater interest
3.1.2 Getting students to guess:
- Because the language follows rules, it is often possible to guess things which students have never actually been taught, and an important part of learning a language is developing this ability to make guesses Eliciting is one way of encouraging students to make guesses and to work out rules for themselves Learning through this way will fill students with enthusiasm
- For instance, to elicit the topic of Unit 12 of the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 7”, I let my students play Kim’s game with some nouns showing food and encourages them to guess the topic of the unit by circling the three choices The following slide from my powerpoint lesson plan is shown as the illustration
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usually do at recess?”, they try to guess the answers by completing a network
Recess activities in American Schools
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+ The teacher should vary his or her questioning techniques according to the difficulty of the questions, letting good students answer difficult questions and directing easier questions at weaker ones In this way, the whole class will be involved
+ The teacher should try to elicit “onto the blackboard’, building up a set of examples as students respond
3.1.3 Getting students to imagine:
- A textbook often includes only questions that will elicit key vocabulary or structures, or to establish a situation or a topic Therefore, the teacher should take every opportunity to ask questions that require students to interpret what is in a picture or a text (EX: To get students to interpret the picture in Unit 10 (B1) of the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 7”, I can ask my pupils to look at the picture and imagine
“What is happening to Minh?”), or to imagine things beyond a picture or a text (EX: What will Minh do ?/ How will he feel when he sees the dentist?/…… )
- There may be no single “right” answers to these questions but a wide range of possible answers Students are encouraged to express their own ideas and feelings Questions of this kind encourage students to give a more imaginative, personal response If we ask questions like that, we can involve the class in discussion and can stimulate freer use of language
3.2 Using visual aids:
- There are various kinds of visual aids that teachers can use to teach English
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such as the blackboard, real objects, flashcards, charts, teachers themselves, etc
- Using visual aids has a lot of benefits:
+ Showing visuals focuses attention on meaning, and helps to make the language used in the class real and alive
+ Having something to look at keeps students’ attention, and makes the lesson more interesting
+ Visuals can be used at any stage of a lesson Visual aids are used to present a new language, to introduce a topic, as a part of language practice, and to review the language that has been presented earlier Good visual aids are not just used once, but again and again, and can be shared by different teachers
In this part, I would like to study some familiar visual aids used in a classroom
* The blackboard: The teacher or students can use it to note the important points of the language, to draw pictures, diagrams, maps, etc Simple pictures drawn on the blackboard can help to increase the interest of a lesson, and are often
a good way of showing meaning and conveying situations to the class Blackboard drawings should be as simple as possible, showing only the most important details It is not necessary for teachers to be good artists to create their drawings successfully on the blackboard A lot of information can be conveyed by means of very simple line drawings and “stick figures”, which are easy and not time-consuming for teachers to draw It is important for these drawings to be drawn as quickly as possible so as not to lose the interest of the class Teachers should also talk while drawing In this way, the class will be more involved and will understand the picture on the board both from seeing it and from listening to the teacher The following photos were taken from one of my lessons - (Unit 6/B2- TIẾNG ANH 7) at my classes (school year: 2014- 2015) The fact is that the whole class involed the lesson with interest
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This game was used to warm up the lesson at the beginning of the lesson
The technique was used for the “Post- reading” activity of the lesson
The photo below was taken from my lesson taught at my classes Unit 7 (A2,3) – “TIẾNG ANH 7”
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The technique was used here as an exercise for the “While- reading”
* Real objects: (sometimes called “realia”):
They can be the things that are already in the classroom such as fans, desks, tables, walls, clothes, etc Teachers can also bring real things into the classroom like foods, clothes, household objects, containers, etc Real objects are in many ways the easiest kind of visual aids to be used in class as teachers need no special preparation Simple objects can be used not only for teaching vocabulary but also
as prompts to practice structures and develop situations Realia can be used in many lessons in TIẾNG ANH 6, 7
Example: The teacher can show a ruler
** to teach the word “ruler”
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** to practice the structure “What is this/that/it?”- It is a ruler
* Charts:
They are large sheets of card or paper with writing, pictures or diagrams, used for more extended presentation or practice They can usually be displayed on the wall or on the blackboard, or the teacher can hold them up for the class to see
Using charts is convenient because of the following reasons:
** The teacher does not have to spend time in the lesson drawing or writing on the blackboard
** As the chart is prepared in advance, it is possible for teachers to draw pictures or tables more carefully and also to make them more attractive (e.g
* Flashcards:
They are cards with single pictures which can be held up by the teacher They can be used for presenting and practising new words and structures and for revision Teachers can draw a picture on the flashcard, or stick on a picture from a magazine; flashcards can also be used to show words or numbers Good flashcards can be made by paying attention to these points:
** They should be large enough – at least 20 x 14 cm (half a piece of typing paper)
** Pictures can be drawn with a thick pen so that they are clear, or they can be cut from a magazine Pictures from magazines are often more interesting for students to look at, but it is difficult to find pictures which are in the right size and which are simple enough
** If possible, flashcards should be made on pieces of white card Then they can be kept and used again
* The teacher herself:
The teacher can use gestures, facial expressions, and actions to help show the meaning of words and to illustrate situations The teacher can smile before the
class to teach the word “smile”- (TIẾNG ANH 7) The teacher can mime someone sneezing to teach the word “sneeze”- (TIẾNG ANH 7) Most action verbs (sit, stand, write, etc) - (TIẾNG ANH 6) and some adjectives (happy, worried, etc)- (TIẾNG ANH 7) could be taught in this way
3.3 Teaching English through games:
- Students are greatly keen on participating in games So teaching English through games is the most effective way to make students interested in learning English From my personal experience and from some reference books, I would
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like to introduce some common games
+ The student who can guess the word or the sentence will replace this student and continue the game
+ The teacher can also divide students in groups Each group will think of a word or a sentence and the representative of each group will go to the front of the class in turn The group who can guess the word or the sentence will get three marks The group with more marks will be the winner
Or
as dogs, cats, cereal boxes, baseballs, pencils, school bags, and so on, to use them
as objects
+The teacher cuts out the selected photos and pastes them on 3x5 index cards +The teacher places the cards in a large box and jumbles them up
+ Students take turns to pick up a card from the box
+The student will have to use words that describe the object on the card He/ She has to make sure that he/she does not speak out the name of the object
+The others seated have to guess the name of the object
+The one who guesses it right takes the next turn
3.3.2 Lucky numbers:
This game is usually designed as a way to check students’ answers to a series
of reading comprehension questions so that students will feel more excited about their lesson The game is played as follows:
+ Have students form groups (It is up to the number of the students in class) + Write some numbers on the board
+ There are some lucky numbers (e.g 2, 5, 9) The group who choose the
lucky number will get 2 marks without doing anything
+ The other numbers each will show a question or an order If the group can answer the question or perform the order well, that group will get 2 marks If that group cannot answer the question or cannot perform the order, the other groups will have the right to do that
+ When all the numbers have been chosen, the group with more marks will be the winner
Lucky stars and Lucky animals are very similar to Lucky numbers The only difference is that the numbers (1,2,3,……….) are replaced by the stars or animals that are numbered 1,2,3,…………
3.3.3 Jumbled words:
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This example (including the answer keys in red) is taken from my lesson
(Unit 6: Places/ A1- « TIẾNG ANH 6 ») I hold the game to check my students’
dray retes trees
yard vrier wfleros
E.g: A Word square with its answer keys
lake
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about the weather and seasons
w i
n t
e r
h
m r
a w
z o
r
l x
r p
t h
e
o m
m l
p g
m
o d
l o
c n
m
c a
j w
n e
u
f g
n i
r p
s Word square
Warm-up stage of Unit 13 (A3) – Tiếng Anh 6
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+ Students work individually or in groups to find the information to fill in the network
+ The first student or the first group that can complete the task correctly will
be the winner
The technique was used for the “Post- reading” activity of the lesson
3.3.7 What and where:
The game is often played after the vocabulary is presented This teaching
technique helps students remember the new words better in an exciting way The teacher conducts the game in the following steps:
+ Draw circles on the board, corresponding to the number of the words that have just been taught
+ Write the words onto the circles
+ Have students read the words
+ Rub out the words in turn and have students read aloud the word that has just been rubbed out
+ Have students write the words again onto the correct circles
3.3.8 Kim’s game:
This game is designed to help develop students’ ability of memory The
teacher can follow these steps:
+ Divide the class into groups
+ Show students some objects or pictures
+ Hide the objects or pictures
+ Call on the representative(s) of each group to go to the board to write the names of the objects or pictures The groups with more correct names will be the winner The following is an illustration extracted from my powerpoint lesson
- (Unit 12/A1- TIẾNG ANH 7)
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KIM’S GAME
This is the answer key of the above game
3.3.9 Slap the board:
The teacher can organize the game after presenting the new words so as to help students remember the new words better in a ralaxing way
+ The teacher writes the new words or sticks the prepared pictures onto the board
+ He calls on two groups to go to the board (Each group has four or five students)
+ Each group stands in the same distance