HOW TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK EFFECTIVELY IN TEACHING ENGLISH FOR 10th GRADE STUDENTS AT HAM RONG HI

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁTRƯỜNG THPT HÀM RỒNG INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE HOW TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK GRADE STUDENTS AT HAM RONG HIGH SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Phạm Thị

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT HÀM RỒNG

INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

HOW TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK

GRADE STUDENTS AT HAM RONG HIGH SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Phạm Thị Ngọc Yến

Chức vụ: Giáo viên SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực môn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2019

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT HÀM RỒNG

INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

HOW TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK

GRADE STUDENTS AT HAM RONG HIGH SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Phạm Thị Ngọc Yến Chức vụ: Giáo viên

SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực môn: Tiếng Anh

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2019

I INTRODUCTION

1 Reason for choosing the topic

As we know, in traditional classroom, the teacher controls the class with authority, there is no active role of students during teaching- learning process Therefore, the introduction of a new English textbook at high school in the last few years has created some difficulties for teacher This innovation demands a move in the direction of a more learner- centered approach to teaching The main objective of teaching English is to have a communicative lesson

However, in fact, the teacher- student interaction is very limited in the classroom Many teachers have troubles adapting their teaching and the new textbook to their own students’ learning needs These difficulties include the use

of group work and pair work

As a teacher of English at high school, I myself always desire to find out and apply the new methods of teaching in order to meet the educational goals I have been a teacher of English at high school for 26 years From my own experiences,

I find that using pair work and group work is one of the teaching strategies of collaborative language teaching which provides chances for communication and interaction among students and between students and teacher Language classroom is the place where teacher and learners come together for interaction and can learn in natural settings The effective use of pair work and group work

in language class can provide a value experience to students and give them the opportunity to practically experience the ideas presented and strengthen their learning

I have applied pair work and group work activities in teaching English at high school, especially for 10th grade students of Ham Rong High School and got satisfactory results I, therefore, in this research, would like to share my own experience in how to use and organize pair work and group work effectively in teaching English procedure

2 Aim of the study.

- To introduce pair work and group work and show the advantages and disadvantages of working in pairs and groups

- To suggest how to organize pair and group work effectively and how to deal with initial problems that may arise

- To show how pair work and group work can be used for various classroom activities

- To help teachers be confident in using pair and group work themselves

3 Scope and research methodology

- Scope: Researching in the process of teaching English to 10th grade students at

Ham Rong high school

- Research methodology: making survey, reading reference books, applying in

teaching, observing and drawing out experiences

II MAIN CONTENT

1 Theoretical background

Language teaching came into its own as a profession in the last century Since the 1960s, there has been an increasing attempt in research on teaching and learning and types and quantities of the relative amount of participation by the teacher and students

Group work and pair work started getting attention of educationists in the 1970s During the 1980s and 1990s, the development of communicative language teaching brought an important change in the role of students Working together is worthwhile as “pair work and group work immediately increase the amount of students’ talking time” ( Harmer, 1991)

Researchers are convinced that the students who take the initiative in learning learn more things and learn better than those who sit and passively wait

to be taught They also claim that a teacher’s dominance in class makes it dull and it kills the students’ interests

I am myself of the view that students are more motivated to engage in further communication when they have more opportunities to speak Using pair work and group work stimulates the learners’ experience of various types of interaction and helps to generate a more relaxed and cooperative classroom atmosphere It is during group and pair work that a lot of real learning takes place since the students can use language really to communicate with one another

2 Practical background

2.1 Definition of pair work

Pair work is learners working together in pairs One of the main motivations to

encourage pair work in the English language classroom is to increase the opportunities for learners to use English in the class

2.2 Definition of group work

Group work is defined as more than one person working together to complete a task or assignment In the classroom, group work can take many forms, however, the goal remains the same get students to interact with each other and collaborate to complete a unified task By doing so, we are getting students to work with people they may never have chosen to work with This concept teaches diversity, communication, and compromise

There is a tendency of teacher- dominated lesson and students usually get bored with teacher- centered presentation Teachers at high schools are in the period of getting used to new English textbook Pair work and group work didn’t use to be organized in class, so a lot of us – teachers of English at high school – get stuck in organizing pair work and group work effectively Some teachers haven’t been clearly aware of the roles of pair work and group work in teaching and learning a foreign language A few teacher reject the possibility of success

of pair and group work They give different reasons for their belief, some of the reasons are lack of resources, students use mother tongue during pair and group work , discipline problem due to noise generated during pair and group work activities and so on

As a result, despite being an important part of collaborative teaching and learning, pair and group work generally neglected in teaching English at high school

3 Solutions and methods for implementation

3.1 Solutions

Teacher should know well about what pair work and group work are, their both advantages and disadvantages as well as solutions to these problems

Moreover, they should find the ways to organize pair work and group work

activities effectively so that we can make use of their benefits and limit their problems In order to organize pair and group work well, teacher will need to do the followings:

1 Select the activity

2 Presentation

3 Prepare any physical materials for group work ahead of time.

4 Anticipate the size and the selection of groups

5 Anticipate how students will be organized within the groups (tasks and roles)

6 Control the class well

7 Consider the timing of the group work

8 Give feedback

Teachers should give some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities and suggestions for some popular kinds of practice

2 Method for implementation

Teacher should know well about what pair work and group work are, their both advantages and disadvantages as well as solutions to their problems

2.1 What are pair work and group work?

2.1.1 Pair work

The teacher divides the whole class into pairs Every student works with his

or her partner and all the pairs work at the same time The teacher walks around, listens and intervenes little if necessary

2.1.2 Group work

Students work in small groups (of four or five) on tasks that entail interaction conveying information, for example, or group decision making All the groups work at the same time The teacher walks around listening, intervenes little if at all

3 Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems.

For certain types of activity, pair work and group work have a number of advantages over working with the whole class together Teachers should think

what the main advantages are, and also what problems might be involved in pair work, group work and the solutions for these

Here are some main advantages and problems:

- More language practice

- More speaking time

- Students are more involved

- Students feel secure, confident

- Students help one another

- Give students the sense of achievement when

reaching a team goal

- Noise arrangements

- Students make mistakes

- Lose control of the class

………

………

………

3.1 Advantages

3.1.1 More language practice

Pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak English For example, students are given an exercise of making sentences (question & answer), working in pair, each student makes as many sentences as they can If the exercise were done ‘round the class’, students would only say one sentence each , and in a large class many students would say nothing at all

3.1.2 More speaking time

Learners in a class that is divided into 9 groups of 5 or 22 pairs get six times

or fifteen times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization –

3.1.3 Student are more involved

Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and others would lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class together Working

in pairs or groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate

on the task

3.1.4 Students feel confident

Students feel less anxiety when they are working privately than when they are on show in front of the whole class Pair work and group work can help shy students who would never say anything in a whole class activity

3.1.5 Students help each other:

Pair work and group work encourage students to share ideas and knowledge

In a reading activity, students can help each other to explore the meaning of a text; in a discussion activity, students can give each other new ideas

3.2 Disadvantages

3.2.1 Noise arrangements

Obviously pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy, and this cannot be helped But usually the students themselves are not disturbed by the noise; it is more noticeable to the teacher standing at the side or to someone in the next room The noise created by pair work and group work is usually

“good” noise “ Group work , by its nature, is designed to generate noise” ( Nunan and Lamb p.14, 1996) Students use English or engage in a learning task Teacher should stop the activity when most groups or pairs have finished or prepare a “reserve” task to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected

3.2.2 Students make mistakes

During a pair or group activity, the teacher cannot control all the language used, and should not try to do so When doing controlled language practice in pairs or groups, the number of mistakes can be reduced by giving enough preparation, the activity can be done with the whole class first, and pair work used for final stage Checking afterwards is also important The teacher can ask some pairs or groups what they said , and then correct mistakes if necessary

3.2.3 Difficult to control class

The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and group work than in normal class To stop activities getting out control, it is important to give clear instructions about when to start, what to do and when to stop Give them clearly defined tasks which do not continue for too long Teacher should set up a routine so that students accept the idea of working in pairs or groups, and know exactly what to do

3.3 Steps used to organize pair work and group work activities effectively

in the classroom:

3.3.1 Select the activity

An activity that is best suited for group work may meet the following criteria such as the activity which has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the

participation of all individuals within a group The activity involves problem solving and discussion and examples of activities that may be suited for group work are investigations of materials (newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas or arguments

3.3.2 Presentation.

It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of dividing the class into groups; and a preliminary rehearsal or ‘dry run’ of a sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things If your students have already done similar activities, you will be able to shorten the process, giving only brief guide lines; It is mainly the first time of doing something with a class that such care needs to be invested in instructing

Try to foresee what language will be needed, and have a preliminary quick review of appropriate grammar or vocabulary Finally before giving the sign to start tell the class what the arrangements are for stopping: If there is a time limit,

or a set signal for stopping, say what it is; if the groups simply stop when they have finished, then tell them what they will have to do next It is wise to have a reserve task planned to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected

3.3.3 Preparation of materials

The teacher will need to personally collect, or organize students to collect, physical specimens for investigation For example, if the teacher anticipates doing a lesson on the role of the media, she or he might ask the students to bring into class examples of newspapers and magazines There should be materials sufficient for each group

3.3.4 Size and selection of group.

Group size normally ranges between 3-5 students Group size can sometimes

go larger, although groups larger than 8 do not ensure that everyone will participate Since groups often report their work back to the whole class, teachers also take into account the total number of groups within the class

Group membership can be determined in different ways A random selection might be done by "counting off" with students (go around the room systematically having students count 1, 2, 3, etc., with each numbers representing a group) or selecting groups on the basis of birth date

In a nonrandom selection, groups will be selected based on the teachers' prior knowledge Usually, groups are selected to maximize diversity within the group, since diversity enhances learning Such groups often have a balance of girls and boys, and students with differing ability levels Teachers can also use their best judgment about personality mixes that would enhance the work of the group Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity Other times, teachers use the same small groups for a series of activities, so that students get used to working with one another

If the tables and chairs cannot be moved for group work, then students can form groups by turning around in seats to face the children behind

3.3.5 Organize students within the group.

A laissez-faire approach to group work would be that the teacher give a general assignment to the group like organize a research project on 'qualities

of good leaders' and the students are left to organize themselves

A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific role to each group member Depending upon the task, the roles might include 'materials handler', 'scribe', 'reporter to the large group' and so on A semi-structured approach might be that the teacher recommend certain roles, but leaves it to the group to assign roles

A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a group, is often used with younger children A less structured approach can be used with students with experience in group work or for simple tasks that do not require that students take on different roles

3.3.6 Control the class during students’ working time

Teacher goes from group to group, pair to pair, monitor, and either contribute

or keep out of the way whichever is likely to be more helpful If you do decide

to intervene, your contribution may take the form of providing general approval and support; helping students who are having difficultly; keeping the students using the target language (in many cases your mere presence will ensure this) Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where you find some students are over dominant and others silent

3.3.7 Time the group work.

The teacher should anticipate student questions about timing, the task