Effective strategies applied to teach english to grade 12 students in mixed ability classes

Many teachers of English have reformed the methods of teaching so far, but these methods are for good students so they are unsuccessful because they haven’t known how to organize the cla

First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the leaders of Thanh Hoa Education and Training Department for organizing this seminar and for giving me the precious chance to do it

Secondly, I am very grateful to all the teachers of English at Leviettao Upper Secondary School for offering me useful advice in realizing my ideas

Last but not least, I would like to thank you very much for your presence and observation Your comments and advice would be highly appreciated all in all

Thank you very much!

1 PREFACE

1.1 REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE THEME

It’s the common knowledge that the more developed the society becomes, the stronger demands to widen international relations there are; therefore, it is

indispensable for us to learn one foreign language Since English is not easy to learn, students usually need to be taught with new methods Many teachers of English have reformed the methods of teaching so far, but these methods are for good students so they are unsuccessful because they haven’t known how to organize the class and to plan the lessons so that they are suitable for each student

in the mixed-ability classes As a result, good students are getting more and more bored and weak students are becoming lazier and lazier They are passive and afraid of learning English To teach English more and more interestingly, effectively, communicatively and equally, every teacher must do their best, master their professional abilities, study without cease and apply active and suitable teaching methods, especially facilitate lessons

Throughout years’ time of teaching English in the period of general education renovation, I have myself thought that it is necessary to reform methods

of organizing activities in teaching to motivate students I have positively realized

that only by motivating students can we interest them in English lessons There

are many ways to motivate students to learn but what a teacher should do is to plan the lessons and organize the activities so that they are suitable for students’ levels, ages, spirits and psychology All that we should do is to equalize students in activities so we can unexpectedly happen to realize students’ talents because these activities are equal to students, easy to do, suitable for the whole class even weak students The sense of equality, atmosphere of excitement, feeling of the assistance

in students’ reach, spirit of solidarity, the factors of which help students to ignore their shyness which prevents them from speaking freely and actively This has a great influence on teaching results Students have chances to use their vocabulary, grammatical structures… Moreover, they feel satisfied when they know they can

do as well as others

English is a language and it is a foreign language so it is too difficult for students, especially Grade 12 rural students to learn although they have been learning for several years I have been thinking of how to change the methods but whatever new methods teachers may use, lazy and weak students will become bored, passive and inactive if teachers don’t interest them effectively When we take on a class of different levels, it is difficult to find a common activity for the whole class This will be unfeasible if we organize games or set students difficult exercises because they are too easy for this group but they are too difficult for the other ones So, should we always follow each student or each group to give them private lessons?

It is the reasons above that have been urging me to choose the theme:

“Effective strategies applied to teach English to Grade 12 students in mixed-ability classes” for my own Seminar on methodology without cease

1.2 AIMS OF RESEARCH

From the matter of fact, as a teacher, I have endlessly been considering and researching for the methods to improve the quality of teaching English Knowing that the students’ psychophysiology is doing what they enjoy, liking new things, indulging in pleasures rather than study, I give them a new method of learning in

which they can work for both study and pleasure; realizing that students in a class

have their different levels, both advanced and weak, I carefully plan suitable lessons in order to make these lesson easier for students and organize the class so that good students can help weak ones Thanks to these ways, students are naturally

absorbed in the lessons. Proper organization and suitable planned lessons highly motivate students and make their levels in a class equivalent Throughout years’ time of teaching English for different students, especially students of the former Semi-state school where there are far more weak students than advanced ones, I would personally like to present Effective strategies applied to teach English to

Grade 12 students in mixed-ability classes Also, I would like to exchange my

own experienced initiatives and methods of teaching for the colleagues so that we can find out new and interesting methods in the education socialization period by our Party and State

1.3 OBJECTS OF RESEARCH

-Teachers at between junior and senior high schools

-Undergraduates and advanced students

-Period of teaching English in Grade 12 at high schools

-Strategies applied to teach English to Grade 12 students in mixed-ability classes

1.4 METHODS OF RESEARCH

-Using the text-book to apply to each lesson and section

-Using references to prove

-Pictures and other materials

-Investigating, surveying situations

2 CONTENTS

2.1 Basis of theory:

It’s the common knowledge that the more developed the society becomes, the stronger demands to widen international relations there are; therefore, it is indispensable for us to learn one foreign language For this reason, English has been regarded as a main and compulsory subject at schools since 2009 and it has greatly direct influences on students’ results of General Certificate of Secondary Education, Entrance exams and future jobs In order to get good jobs, to integrate into the world and to communicate with other people, the young must be proficient

at using English Learning English well at school will help students to get further success in their own career afterwards as well as to contribute to the industrialization and modernization of our country Therefore, it is essential for a teacher to have his own strategies, techniques, enthusiasm and passion so as to find the best teaching methods in improving students’ study However, it is not easy for

an English teacher to choose what strategies and techniques to teach English for his multi-level class where there are both advanced and hardworking students and weak and lazy ones As we know, English is too difficult for most students to learn, especially, weak rural students find it more difficult The Former Deputy Prime Minister, Mr Nguyen Thien Nhan said, “Up to now, we have only awarded advanced and talented students but we have forgotten weak students who make much progress in study Besides, we must take the measures for improving weak students” He focused “We must regard motivation as being the most important

factor to reform our education and each teacher always has his own motivation to teach; each student to learn…”

2.2 Basis of practice

2.2.1 Achievements

Thanh Hoa Education and Training Department has focused on teaching and learning English for recent years We have organized many English advanced exams for teachers and students Annually, we have a lot of conferences and workshops to reform teaching methods We usually have discussions about professional knowledge We have been trying to apply new methods to teaching flexibly and skillfully In the last few years, we have carried out reduced curriculum of Ministry of Education and Training Students are more hard-working, interested in English Therefore, teaching and learning English has been enhanced effectively

2.2.2 Some reasons for the disadvantages of teaching and learning English at high schools

English is one of the most important subjects at schools but it is not easy enough for any students to learn Some students, especially the students who have

no sense, no mood and no patience in learning can’t keep up with the new methods

of learning They have their puzzle in understanding and applying their knowledge

to practice Many students haven’t understood the significances of English in the International integration age Some students learn English for their curiosity but when they have difficulties, they let things run Some students lack their basic knowledge from the junior high schools Therefore, students have no sense, no mood, no motivation to learn English effectively and actively

2.2.3 For teachers

Being a teacher of the foreign language, realizing a new method of teaching

is a big problem Personally, I see that many teachers haven’t given students any chances to practice vocabulary, grammar , if there, they just mechanically check one or two students before the lesson, which makes students bored and passive On the other hand, when teaching, teachers haven’t made full use of the students’ activities and creativeness so the lessons are usually uninteresting Some teachers spend no time on the lesson plans, they don’t think much and plan the lesson carefully Some teachers don’t encourage, award weak students who make much progress in study Some just teach the lessons so that they are finished because they don’t organize any activities, therefore, the lessons are usually dull and the classrooms are boringly quiet

2.2.4 For students

Since education reform, students have loved learning English but mainly advanced students And weak students who understand the lesson slowly learn passively They wait for the teacher’s or other students’ answers Many of them have no opportunities or they don’t dare to practice speaking English in class They

are afraid they speak incorrectly Many can not read, speak, listen and write, even

they ignore paying attention to the lessons or taking any notes or doing any homework In fact, we can see these students have no love for English…Therefore, the teaching qualities of English do not live up to our expectations Following is

the convey on the quality of English of 4 classes: 11B, 11C, 11D, 11E at the end of the second term in school year 2016-2017

(* Note: Q : Quantity )

As can be seen from the tables of the statistics above, the rates of the students who didn’t master the knowledge and those who applied all the skills weakly are rather high It has shown that students didn’t master the methods of

learning English and they weren’t hard-working, active and creative in applying the knowledge the teacher guided them to communicate. These data have proved that the number of students in a class is not equivalent and has dissimilar levels

2.3 Strategies applied to solve the situation

2.3.1 Some notions:

- What is a mixed-ability class?

In Vietnamese context, a mixed-ability class is the one in which the students are on dissimilar levels with different abilities Some students are fairly proficient

in the language, some are of average proficiency level, and others are weak

- What are learner differences?

Generally, students in a mixed-ability class can be categorized into 3 groups:

HEP (High English Proficiency) , SEP (Some English Proficiency), LEP (Low

English Proficiency)

2.3.2 What strategies to teach?

From the point of view, I have been thinking of many methods and applying

a lot of strategies to effectively teach English to 12th Graders in multi-level classes

As a matter of fact, I have been using the following strategies:

1 Planning lessons carefully especially warm-up stage to attract students’ attention

at the beginning of the class

2 Asking students to learn vocabulary by heart in class

Classes

Number of students

Well mastered and applied

Badly mastered and applied

Well mastered and Applied

Badly mastered and applied

Q % Q % Q % Q % 11B 40 17 42.5 23 57.5 19 47.5 21 52.5 11C 41 17 42.5 24 57.5 19 47.5 22 52.5 11D 38 18 52.6 20 47.4 20 52.6 18 47.4 11E 42 19 46.5 23 53.5 20 46.5 22 53.5 Total 161 71 47.1 90 52.8 78 48.7 83 51.2

classes

Number of students

Speaking Language focus writing

Well mastered and applied

Badly mastered and applied

Well mastered and applied

Badly mastered and applied

Well mastered and applied

Badly mastered and applied

Q % Q % Q % Q % Q % Q % 11B 40 15 37.5 25 62.5 18 45.0 22 55.0 17 42.5 23 57.5 11C 41 15 37.5 26 62.5 18 45.0 23 55.0 17 42.5 24 57.5 11D 38 17 50.0 21 50.0 18 57.9 20 42.1 19 50.0 19 50.0 11E 42 18 41.9 24 58.1 20 46.5 22 53.5 18 41.9 24 58.1 Total 161 65 42.9 96 48.7 74 49.5 87 50.4 71 44.6 90 55.3

3 Making tasks easy for students to do.

4 Encouraging students to speak English in class by giving them high marks

5 Using projectors to teach

6 Making proper plans to give weak students extra-class help

7 Organizing extracurricular activities (Based on “ring the golden bell” or “who is the millionaire” game shows

8 Discussing then electing the pairs who help each other in study for improvement

in each month

2.3.3 How to use the strategies in details?

2.3.3.1 Planning lessons carefully especially the warm-up stage to attract students’ attention at the beginning of the class.

Planning lessons carefully is one of the most important factors to the successful lessons And planning the warm-up stage has the same importance This

is the first important stage to help students avoid being confused, be in a good mood and curious about the new lesson Teachers should spend between 3 and 5 minutes each lesson on Warm-up stage by playing language games When they play games, they all feel equal because games are equivalent, suitable for the whole class even weak students This has a great influence on teaching results Following are some new language games I have used for Grade 12 lessons

Using Games in Warm-up stage to check, revise vocabulary or grammatical structures or lead students to the new lessons:

Game 1: Number matching

* For example: English 12( Basic curriculum) ( page 145,146,147)

Unit 13: The 22 nd SEA Games - Lesson 5: Language focus ( Exercise 1)

-Aims: To lead students to the new lesson in pre-teaching Grammar stage: Double comparison for “ comparative + and + comparative”

-Time allowed: 7 minutes

-Material preparation: I prepare a table of phrases and clauses (exercise 1)in advance and stick it on the board

-Steps:

+I divide the class into 2 teams: Team A and Team B and ask each team to choose

6 couples( for 6 sentences)

+I ask couples in the 2 teams to come to the board and stand on 2 sides

+I number each member of 2 teams: Team A: 1-a,2-b,3-c,4-d,5-e,6-f

Team B: 1-a,2-b,3-c,4-d,5-e,6-f

Students in Numbers Students in Letters

2.As I waited for my interview, I became b bigger and bigger

3.That hole in your pullover is getting c more and more talkative

4.As the conversation went on, he became d more and more expensive

6.Her English is improving; it’s getting f heavier and heavier as I carried it upstairs

+I show couples in the 2 teams the pairs of phrases and clauses:

+I ask couples to find and match each other in their own team.

+The couple who have the perfect match will score one point for their team

+I translate the meaning of the words, phrases or clauses each couple matched +I correct the answers

+I sum up: The team having more points will win the game

 Students in 1 go with d, 2 with a, 3 with b, 4 with c, 5 with f, 6 with e

 After students understand the meanings of the sentences above, we can ask them to give the form of Double comparison “ comparative + and + comparative”

* (Note: We can do the same in Exercise 3_Unit 13_Language focus, page 147;

in Exercise 1_Unit 16_Language focus, page 182.)

* For example: English 12 (Basic curriculum) ( page 49)

Unit 4: School education system - Lesson 4 : Writing

-Aims: To present the suggestions for ideas, grammar, structures…in Pre-writing

stage (before students do the task 1).

-Time allowed: 6 minutes

-Material preparation: I prepare 5 pieces of paper in the large size

-Steps:

+I prepare 5 sentences I need to suggest for the Writing lesson about Education system in Vietnam and write each jumped word on the pieces of the paper and stick them on the board (as shown)

+I divide the class into 2 teams: Team A and Team B

+I call 5 students in each team to come to the board

+I jump the words in each sentence Then give each student one jumped sentence +Within limited time (for example, 45 seconds), these students finish putting the correct orders of the words in each sentence so that these sentences are perfect +I correct and sum up: The team having fast, correct sentences will win the games

1 The children in Vietnam start going to primary education at the age of 6

2 Compulsory education lasts during 9 years from primary to lower secondary

3 The academic year in Vietnam lasts during 9 months from Sept to May

4 A school year in Vietnam is divided into 2 terms

1 The children/at the/going/of/primary education/age/to/in Vietnam/start/6.

2 during/Compulsory/years/lasts/9/education /from primary to lower

secondary.

3 in Vietnam/9/from Sept to May/The academic year/lasts/months/during

4 terms/A school year/into/2/divided/is/in Vietnam.

5 in Vietnam/at the/finish/of/The children/17/upper secondary/age.

5 The children in Vietnam finish upper secondary at the age of 17.

After students finish playing the Game, we can use these answers as the suggestions for ideas and grammatical structures to write a paragraph on the formal school education system in Vietnam.

Note: (We can do the same in Unit 10_Writing, page 113 ; Unit11_Writing, page 124,125; Unit 12_Writing, page 134,135; Unit 13_Writing, page 143,144,145 ; Unit 15_Writing, page 168,169).

Games 3: Relay

* For example: English 12 (Basic curriculum) (page 159,160,161)

Unit 14: International Organizations - Lesson 5 : Language focus

-Aims: To check and practice phrasal verbs in Production-stage (after students do the exercises) in Language focus lessons

-Time allowed: 6 minutes

-Material preparation:

+I draw 2 tables of words on the board Each table is divided into 2 columns The table A, which includes 10 verbs is for team A; the table B, which includes 10 prepositions is for team B

-Steps:

+I divide the class into 2 teams: Team A and Team B

+I call the representatives of 2 teams to come to the board These students are asked to stand in 2 rows

+I give the instructions that I will say a word or phrase in Vietnamese, and in turn, each student in 2 teams will write the words on the right column as required

Team A Team B

+After finishing writing a word on the right column, this student quickly hands the chalk over to the next student in the team and, in turn, finishing all the words given One point for the correct answer

-I correct and sum up: The team having more points will win the game

“chăm sóc”: Team A should write: look after; Team B should write: look after.

“mặc vào”: Team A should write: put on; Team B should write: put on.

“cởi ra”: Team A should write: take off; Team B should write: take off.

“từ bỏ”: Team A should write: give up; Team B should write: give up.

“nổ, ôi thiu”: Team A should write: go off; Team B should write: go off.

in over off after back out on off up

“thử, kiểm tra”:Team A should write: try out; Team B should write: try out.

“bình phục”: Team A should write: get over;Team B should write: get over.

“quay lại”: Team A should write: turn back;Team B should write: turn back.

“điền vào”: Team A should write: fill in; Team B should write: fill in.

“khẩn trương”: Team A should write: hurry up;Team B should write: hurry up.

After students finish playing the Games, they can practice and revise the structures of some phrasal verbs they have learnt.

(Note: This game can be used in Warm-up stage or Grammar Presentation-stage in Language focus lessons to practice or revise the grammatical structures)

* (Note: We can do the same in Unit 1_Language focus, page18,19;

Unit 2_Language focus, page 27,28,29; Unit 3_Language focus, page 38,39,40; Unit 4_Language focus, page 49,50,51 ; Unit 5_Language focus, page 58,59,60,61; Unit 8_Language focus, page 90,91; Unit 11_Language focus, page 126,127 ; Unit 13_Language focus, page 145,146,147; Unit 15_Language focus, page 169,170,171).

2.3.3.2 Asking students to learn vocabulary by heart in class.

In each lesson, I just chose to teach between 5 and 8 new words which are used much in our life or necessary for students to do the tasks and then I asked my students to learn them by heart during the lesson in class

I usually checked students’ vocabulary memorization just after I had taught the new words or after the lesson, in the consolidation stage in some following ways:

* I asked students to give the new words and their meanings on the blackboard (I sometimes gave them the “brainstorm/ matching/ rub and remember” activities)

* I read Vietnamese and asked them to write English

(I sometimes gave them the “Slap the board” game)

* I read English and asked them to write Vietnamese

(I sometimes give them the “Slap the board” game)

* I told pairs to ask a riddle for new words

(I sometimes gave them the “Face to face” game show)

* I asked them to write the new words on papers and hand them

(I sometimes gave them the “Bingo” game)

2.3.3.3 Making tasks easy for students to do.

There are a lot of difficult tasks in the Tieng Anh 12 notebook which are unsuitable for weak students especially rural Semi-state school so we should plan the lesson carefully and make tasks easy for students to do

* Material preparation: Handouts, extra board, projector

2.3.3.3.a I usually change Tasks 1 in the Reading lessons “ Give the Vietnamese equivalents to the following words and phrases” into “Match the words or phrases in

A with the equivalent meanings in B (in Vietnamese)”

* For example: English 12 (Basic curriculum) (page 31, 32)

Unit 3: Ways of socializing - Lesson 1: Reading – Task 1

Match A with B

A B

-1 verbal -a thô lỗ -2 non-verbal -b một cái gật đầu nhẹ là đủ -3 attract someone’s attention -c bằng lời

-4 impolite -d không trang trọng

-6 informality -f đến gần, tiếp cận

-7 approach -g thu hút sự chú ý của ai đó -8 a slight nod will do -h bất lịch sự

Answer: 1d-2e-3g-4h-5a-6d-7f-8b

* (Note: We can do the same in the Task Unit 2_Reading, page 21, 22; Task 1-Unit 4_Reading, page 45, 46; Task 1-1-Unit 5_Reading, page 53, 54; Task 1-1-Unit 6_Reading, page 63, 64; Task 1-Unit 8_Reading, page 85, 86; Task 1-Unit 10_Reading, page 107, 108; Task 1-Unit 11_Reading, page 119, 120; Task 1-Unit 16_Reading, page 173, 174)

* We can do the tasks 1 above after we teach vocabulary

2.3.3.3.b I often change Tasks 2 or 3 in the Reading lessons “Answer the questions” into “Choose the best answer”

* For example: English 12 (Basic curriculum) (page 45, 46)

Unit 2: Cultural diversity - Lesson 1 : Reading – Task 2 (handouts)

Read the passage and choose the best answer

1 What are the key values in the survey?

A physical attractiveness

B physical attractiveness and confiding

C physical attractiveness, confiding and partnership of equals

D physical attractiveness, confiding, partnership of equals and trust built on love

2 Who are much more concerned with physical attractiveness when choosing a wife or a husband?

A The young Americans B The young Asians

C The young Europeans D The young Africans

3 What are the Indian students’ attitudes on a partnership of equals?

A wives or husbands share all thoughts

B A wife should maintain her beauty

C A woman has to sacrifice more in marriage than a man

D The Asian wife can demand a record of her husband’s activities

4 The American wife trusts her husband to do the right thing because………

A she confides in him B he has to love her

C he loves her D he loves her not because he has to

5 The main finding of the survey is…………

A contractual marriage

B love and marriage

C young Asians aren’t as romantic as their Americans counterparts