Using role – playing games to improve the 11th graders’ english speaking skills at nhu thanh high school

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL INNOVATION IN TEACHING USING ROLE – PLAYING GAMES TO IMPROVE AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL The writer: Le Thi Ngo

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL

INNOVATION IN TEACHING

USING ROLE – PLAYING GAMES TO IMPROVE

AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL

The writer: Le Thi Ngoc The post: The teacher Innovation of subject: English

THANH HOA, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENT

CONTENT PAGE

I Overview of role – playing games 3

II Some principles of using and managing role – playing games 4III The steps in carrying the role playing games in class 5

I The infrastructure of teaching and learning English speaking skill

at Nhu Thanh high school

III Some practical role – playing games used at Nhu Thanh high school 8

PART ONE : INTRODUCTION

of the global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools foreverybody The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields

of economics, politics, science, culture and education Especially, Vietnam’sofficial membership of WTO on 7th November 2006 opened a new door forintegrating into the world economy Hence, more and more people want to learnEnglish to communicate with foreign partners, tourists, study tours; or gettinggood position in the work force

Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English which is stated by theMOET, English lessons are taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening,and writing) in one unit Moreover, there exist three stages - Pre - While - Post -teaching in one lesson This really helps students improve their skills beside thegrammar exercises to pass the exams

As We know that Nowadays English has become an international languagebecause it is widely used in many parts of the world In the tendency ofintegration of the global economy, English is one of the effectivecommunicative tools for everybody The role of English is considered to be veryimportant in the fields of economics, politics, science, culture and education.Being aware of the importance of English so the society is becoming more andmore interested in teaching and learning English at schools, the curriculumsand the methods of teaching English are innovated to better the needs oflearners Teachers have to use these skills and activities to promote positive,proactive students and create optimal conditions for students to train, developand enhance skills to use language for purposes of communication So we have

to create the environment for students to communicate in the classroom,especially, in Speaking lessons and this raises for teachers is to organizevarious activities to improve the efficiency of the speaking lessons and makestudents feel easily with the subject However, the majority of students are stillfeeling embarrassed and shy when speaking in front of the class To help

students overcome these problems, I boldly give the subject “ Using role – playing games to improve the 11 th graders’ English speaking skills at Nhu Thanh High School ”

II AIMS OF THE STUDY

I do the research to know about the fact of teaching and learning communicationskills in Nhu Thanh High School more clearly This study also investigates

whether some role – playing games can have positive impact on process among

students and can develop their speaking skills or not Bearing in mind, I decide

the research with title “Using role – playing games to improve the 11 th

graders’ English speaking skills at Nhu Thanh High School ”

III RESEARCH QUESTIONS

This study aims at finding answer to the following research question:

How can some kinesthetic activities help the students at Nhu Thanh High Schoolimprove their communication skill?

The question has been addressed to two of the classes (11A8, 11A10) that I havebeen teaching in Nhu Thanh High School with the aim to examine how somerole - playing games affect the process of speaking here

IV SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study does not aim to teach any skill in a systematic way, because it isexperience not for teaching but for practice The study investigates giving somesome role - playing games to help students practice so that they can improvetheir communication and speaking skill

V METHODS OF THE STUDY

In this study, I use some research tools to collect and analyze the needed dataRecording is used to record the process of giving some role play activities

The second tool used in this study is interviews with students at the end of theresearch to study whether using role play is really suitable for them or not

Surveying through the answer sheets is used to know the practical situation ofteaching and learning English communication skill

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

I OVERVIEW OF ROLE - PLAYING GAMES.

The history of role-playing games begins with an earlier tradition of playing, which combined with the rulesets of fantasy wargames in the 1970s togive rise to the modern role-playing game A role-playing game (RPG) is a type

role-of game in which the participants assume the roles of characters andcollaboratively create stories Participants determine the actions of theircharacters based on their characterization, and the actions succeed or failaccording to a system of rules and guidelines Within the rules, theymay improvise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of thegames

Role-playing games are substantially different from competitive games such

as ball games and card games This has led to confusion among some players about the nature of fantasy gaming The game Dungeons & Dragons was a subject of controversy in the 1980s when well-publicizedopponents claimed it caused negative spiritual and psychological effects.Academic research has discredited these claims.Some educators support role-playing games as a healthy way to hone reading and arithmetic skills Thoughrole-playing has been accepted by some,a few religious organizations continue

non-to object

Media attention both increased sales and stigmatized certain games In thirtyyears the genre has grown from a few hobbyists and boutique publishers to aneconomically significant part of the games industry, though grass-roots andsmall business involvement remains substantial Games industry

company Hasbro purchased fantasy game publisher Wizards of the Coast in

1998 for an estimated $325 million

II SOME PRINCILPES OF USING AND MANAGING ROLE –

Preparation is very important to success Give students 'personality cards' whichsketch out their personal characteristics or scenario Divide students into groupsand give them time to sketch out various scenarios, and go over extra or specialvocabulary, ask them to discuss how they will act, think about the character andplan what they will say For example, what are possible responses/replies for theangry neighbor?

The teacher, as facilitator of the role-play must support students in their role, i.e.they 'are' in the backyard arguing over the fence Don't do anything to interruptthe pretend environment Leave grammar correction to the end Correctingstudents in the middle of an argument interrupts the pretend environment Makenotes and do a debriefing after

Exaggeration is good! Encourage students to exaggerate their actions, opinionsand movements Exaggeration helps students immerse themselves in the role Stage a rehearsal first Have students practice their role in small groups withcoaching from the other students

While the role-play or debate is in progress, have other students suggestvocabulary first, and act as backup if they do not know

Role-plays are unpredictable which makes them both a valuable learning tooland at the same time difficult to manage Sketch out the various routes the role-play can take from the initial scenario This will give you some idea what toexpect and avoid any surprises

Role-plays can range from 30 minutes to one hour

III STEPS IN CARRYING ROLE – PLAYING GAMES:

1 Outside the classroom:

Choosing the topic, based on the topic of the lesson or the main grammar point

of that lesson

Preparing materials, especially role-play cards (Teachers can make up the cardsthemselves, or search for them on the Internet)

2 Inside the classroom:

Providing students with enough language to be used in their role-plays

Setting up the scene for role-plays

CHAPTER 2: PRACTICAL SITUATIONS

I THE INFRASTRUCTURE OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILLS AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL

Nhu Thanh high school’s board of managers always deeply care about theEnglish teaching condition of the teachers and students The school has beenequipped with full conditions about facilities for study like languagelaboratory, books, tapes, and radios However, after many years teachingEnglish in this mountainous school, I have noticed the fact that the majority ofstudents in this high school are afraid of learning English Moreover, theyconstantly have a heavy feeling in the English lesson, especially in a listeninglesson In addition, there is a deep seated belief in their mind that they can notevenly listening any thing These are a truly barrier for the quality of students’listening skill

Bearing in mind, I really indeed want to make students have a real enthusiasmabout learning a foreign language, namely English subject and make studentslook forward to and hope for this subject without feeling bored Or, how tohelp students be able to understand when listening to a foreigner? Therefore, Istart on this study to try to find out the effect of some practical listeningtechniques to help my students integrate to the new world

II THE PRACTICAL SITUATION OF TEACHERS AND STUDENTS

1 The advantages of teaching speaking lesson:

1.1 For students:

Most students in Nhu Thanh high school have studied English since they were

in secondary school and the knowledge they are provided at this level ofeducation is relatively high on grammar, vocabulary and communicationskills Most students are obedient and aware of studying

Students themselves and their parents have realized the importance of learningEnglish so they have had the interest and considerable investment in manyaspects to this subject, and it is no longer considered a subordinate subject.The school has been equipped with full conditions about facilities for studylike language laboratory, books, tapes, and radios

2 The disadvantages of teaching speaking lesson:

2.1 For students:

There are so many different students in class and the quality of each student isuneven

Many students haven’t determined the importance of English in the currentperiod, so they aren’t aware of their own learning.

Some students have a limited vocabulary so they can’t know how to speak acorrect sentence

Classrooms are crowded, and the activities of speaking lesson often practise inpairs or in groups so the classrooms are easily noise

2.2 For teachers:

There are still some teachers who have difficulty in teaching speaking skillsand choosing suitable skills for each lesson

Teachers don’t assign the tasks to students clearly

Teachers don’t create the environment to encourage students to speak Englisheffectively

2.3 Specific survey in classes 11A8, 11A10

From the survey, we can see that even though speaking skill is considered to bevery necessary, its importance has not been paid much attention in Nhu Thanhhigh school

Basing on the Experimental English Curriculum of the National Foreign

Languages 2020 Project, I really want to help students to improve English

communication which will certainly bring them variety of chances in the work

force Then I decide to work on this research

Therefore, I am going to give “ Using role – playing games to improve the 11 th

graders’ English speaking skills at Nhu Thanh High School ”

II PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

1 General requirements:

We know that speaking skill plays a very important role in mastering a foreignlanguage According to David Nunan (1991) the author of language teachingmethodology book: "Success is measured by the ability to conduct a dialogue inthe language they are learning." To do this successfully, teachers must makestudents understand and gain the ability to use the language as much as possiblebecause the needs of learners are very diverse Besides, teachers shouldn’t createunfortunate misunderstanding in the communication process

Speaking skills of students are practised with other skills through a learningprocess in English language environment In addition to learning in classroom,students must learn themselves and practise speaking exercises through differentforms and methods because the aim of speaking exercises is to help learnersspeak exactly and fluently

The selection of teaching speaking techniques must be determined on the basis

of the lesson content to build the activities for study

Through research process and practice in different classrooms I offer somesolutions to guide students to develop communication skills

2 The main solutions:

Students often think that the ability to speak a language is the product oflanguage learning, but speaking is also a crucial part of the language learningprocess To guide students to develop communication skills in English, teacherscan teach students speaking strategies such as providing a dialogue, spokenword actions, using minimal respones, practising grammar structures andapplying groupwork or pairwork in speaking skills and games.In this writing, Iwould like to recommend a more practical way of teaching speaking in highschool classrooms; that is using role-plays and simulations Role-plays, orsimulations are one of the ways ESL instructors can ease students' transition intousing English in real world situations A simulation is where students act out areal-life situation, for example checking into at a hotel, but do not act out adifferent personality Role-plays are where students take on differentpersonalities In a role-play, for example, one student may be asked to take onthe role of "an angry neighbor" which is out of character for the student

The purpose of role playing is to give the students an opportunity to work withothers in determining how an individual or group might behave in response to aparticular situation Role playing is often used primarily to promote classroomdiscussion The use of role playing as a cooperative learning model alsoincludes class discussion as a vital step, but in this approach the entire class isinvolved in preparing and presenting role plays through group activity

III SOME PRACTICAL ROLE – PLAYING GAME ACTIVITIES USED

AT NHU THANH HIGH SHOOL

Sample lesson plans number 1:

Unit 1: Friendship (English 11)

Finding a Perfect Roommate/Flatmate Role-play

1 Materials:

 Ranking Roommates: Vocabulary Warm-up

 Room Ads: Listening Reading Comprehension Warm-up

 Rooms for Rent Role Cards

 Friends Looking for Rooms Role Cards

 Students with Rooms for Rent Activity Sheet

 Students with Friends Needing Rooms Activity Sheet

2 Purpose and Audience:

The purpose of these materials is to get the students to practice talking about the qualities of good and bad roommates

3 Target Language:

Describing people and their habits

4 Warm up:

a) Group Discussion

 Where do you live?

 Do you live in a dormitory or with your family?

 Who do you live with?

 Are you happy where you live? Why or why not?

b) Pros and Cons Brainstorm

 What do you think about shared accommodation?

 What are the pros and cons of shared accommodation?

2 groups divided into Pros and Cons

then pair up Pro and Con to discuss

c) Which would you choose?

In groups of 3, put Shared Accommodation Ads in pile face down Students turn

1 up and explain to the group

This accommodation is in (area)

It’s a (flat/house/townhouse)

There are (number) people living there

It costs $ a week

(other information)

Would you like to live there? Why or why not? – Discuss

After going through all six ads, choose the best one for you and explain why

The Perfect Flatmate

What kind of person is good to live with? Why?