Some techniques to help 12th graders in trieu son 3 high school achieve good results for the general certificate of secondary education

However, in this research, I do not mention acquiring four basic skills of this language, but refuting thegrammar test of 12th grade students in the high school graduation exam.. Through

A INTRODUCTION

I The reason of selecting the topic

Unlike other subjects, English is not only a subject but also a language.Therefore, it has become a fairly big problem that most Vietnamese students ingeneral and local students in particular are facing However, in this research, I

do not mention acquiring four basic skills of this language, but refuting thegrammar test of 12th grade students in the high school graduation exam

Through high school graduation examinations, especially in the last fiveyears, I find that the average score of students in English still has been low andthere is not much shifting over the years.The students in my school tried theirbest to review and prepare for the exams carefully, they still don't reach theirown goals Moreover, the content of knowledge in the graduation exam issuitable for the knowledge they have been studying and reviewing Therefore, Iwonder what makes students often get low scores This has inspired me to learnand research for many years in 12th grade and today I am brave to share someways to help 12th graders overcome the subject's challenges and achieve theirgoals In this situation, I choose students in grade 12 and tests to make my

experience initiative “SOME TECHNIQUES TO HELP 12 TH GRADERS IN TRIEU SON 3 HIGH SCHOOL ACHIEVE GOOD RESULTS FOR THE GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION” in order to

gain the best lesson, reduce their pressure and help students improve their score

in the national examination

II Objectives of research, research tasks, research methodology and scope

of research

1 Objectives of research

a For the students

In this topic, I mainly focus on the actual subjects of basic class 12 and

introduce students know how to learn and gain good results for the generalcertificate of secondary education, through some steps in learning procedure,students not only get knowledge in each unit, but also gain futher purposes

b For the Teachers:

Find out the most effective methods to improve students’ goals and knowhow to stimulate students to tests in effective ways Besides, teachers also drawout valuable experiments in making suitable lesson plans for different learners

in each period

2 Research tasks

The purpose of research is to discover answer to questions through the

application of scientific procedures The main aim of research is to find out thetruth which is hid and which has not been discovered as yet Through thisresearch I mention to two main tasks:

- Find out the actual situation of students’ attention to lesson and helpstudents gain quality of knowledge in effective ways

- Apply my research to teaching procedure, then compare, contrast theimplementation of a topic Finally, Teacher evaluates and concludes theeffectiveness of topic.

3 Research methodology

- It’s a way to systematically solve the research problem It may be

understood as a science of studying how research is done scientifically In this Istudy the behavior and instruments I use in performing research operations such

as making observations, recording data, techniques of processing data andothers Research methods refer to the information used in selecting andconstructing research technique such as analysis of documents, questionaires,focused and group interview, survey, comparison and evaluation All thosemethods which are used during the course of studying my research problem aretermed as research methods Since the object of research, particularly theapplied research, a solution for a given problem, the available data and theunknown aspects of the problem, I have decided to focus on:

+/ I concern with the collection of data which is available without beingsufficient to arrive at the required solution;

+/ I use statistical techniques which are used for establishing relationshipbetween the data and the unknown

+/ I also apply the methods which are used to compare and evaluate theaccuracy of the results obtained

4 Scope of research

The scope of study for a research paper is usually one of the first sections

to the project It sets out the scope of my work and limitations, so I mainlyfocus on two aspects:

+/ It’s about effective methods to help students 12 get basic and advancedknowledge and pass the exam effectively

+ I apply my search to students in grade 12 such 12 C5 and 12 E3 inTrieu Son 3 high school

B Content

I The reasoning basis of the theme

According to experts such as MC Gee (1977), Thornis (1980), Havernson

& Haynes (1982) English teachers need to focus on effective factors ofsuccessful lessons such as: students’ attention to the lesson, ability of, acting on

a knowledge of grammar and vocabulary and ability of working individually, inpairs or in group However, fast or slow results depend on students’understanding in mother tongue, health, and acumen in audiovisual capability.Moreover, a number of impacts other elements come to learner’s unevenedapprehension leveling Therefore, teachers need to find teaching methods thatare appropriate for their students Avoid boring or overly lessons with theirlevel of awareness

In short, to gain a high result in attracting students to each unit andrevising tests, teachers need flexibly not only classify students properly and findout effective methods, but also make up different situations which help weak

students and stimulate strong ones in each lesson Teacher should combineother skills or delete some unnecessary parts in each lesson in order to makelesson become attractive, interesting and have good results in the final exams.

II The real situation of the matter.

1 The real state

GCSEs were introduced in 1986 to reflect the comprehensive schoolingsystem to assess the entire ability range In addition, coursework and practicalwork of various kinds were introduced into the GCSE examinations at theirinception in an attempt to assess skills that went beyond the strictures whatcould be assessed in an examination hall (Secondary Examinations Council,

1985, 1986) GCSE has been chosen as the case because virtually all pupils inEngland sit these examinations and they are high-stakes assess-ments High-stakes testing is defined as an assessment which has important conse-quences(e.g promotion, salary, job retention) for students, teachers, administrators orschools

Although English becomes one of the official subjects at school,

promoting its benefits has not been much interested, partly because the facilitiesare not high and don’t attract students’ passion for learning increasingly Someteachers complain that most students do not concentrate on practising Englishtests That is the reason why students have not carefully revised their lessonsand they have done them in a coping format The tests have a lot of knowledgethat are not in the textbook while the teacher does not integrate the othercombined knowledge This leads to the truth that students are often shocked topractice with a full English test if the teacher does not fully explain the test Inaddition, students do not understand the lesson and are bored with learning.When having a difficult problem, students are afraid to think and chooseindifferently The most favourite way student often do multiple choice test ismaking a random cut and seeking luck

Teachers play an important role in improving this status They canfollow some stages and strategies when teaching units because these strategiesare considered as the mental operations involved when teachers approach a texteffectively and make sense of what they read However, some teachers have notapplied flexibly theory into practice; have not integrated properly skills together

in lesson, and innovative methods which are not suitable for the students That’swhy the quality of the lesson is not effective and reduces

During my teaching process in Trieu Son 3 high school, I must look atactual issues in the average score of students in previous surveys and lastexaminations were still low Students aren’t interested in this subject As youcan see in this convey in classes 12 such as 12C5, 12 D4 and 12 E3

Disadvantaged factors Percentage (? / 100%)

1 Textbook: - The topics are suitable

for students' age, but the knowledge in

the lesson is monotonous and the

knowledge is spread

70 %

2 Tasks and activities: - They are 55%

often suitable with students’

knowledge Some are too difficult and

strange, and others are shortage of

realistic

3 Words and structures: - Students

are in trouble with a lot of new and

complex words or structures in one

text

80 %

4 Students’ habit in practicing

skills: - Only answer questions in the

task and be lazy in creation of the

communication skill

- Students also try to write without

speaking

90%

5 Students’ belief: - Most students

are lazy to think, passive, afraid of

new words and are still apathetic

subjects

77 %

6 Teaching aids: - Most classes lack

of teaching aids

- Teachers aren’t interested in teaching

aids of each period

43 %

Moreover, there are some disadvantages in applying unsuitable methods,skills to each lesson If it happens in a long time, it will affect to students’ability in a language class and make them passive, lack flexibility, afraid tomake a conversation and make them unable to improve their average scores

For example, in Unit 5 – Part A Reading in Tiếng Anh 12;

Teacher and students’

activities

Teacher: - Ask students to

give their opinions?

Students: - Give opinions

Teacher: Give answer

Students: - Listen and copy

down their notebook

Teacher: - Give some new

words in the passage

-Ask students to copy in

2 What uiversity wouldyou like to apply for and

- Time- consuming

-Students arepassive

- time-consuming-It is only suitablefor students inbelow grades

Teacher: - Ask students to

read cleared words on the

-Students: Go to the board

and write down the answer

Teacher: -Ask students to

say something in a

university

-Compare with three

persons in the passage

b Checking vocabulary

- Rub out and remember

2 While you read

1 Task 1: Complete thefollowing sentences, usingthe right forms of thewords in the box

2 Task 2: Find out who

3 Task 3: Answer thefollowing questions

3 After you read

-Talk about something in auniversity you have everheard or imagined

- Students feelbored and lazy

-Task only suitssome students inthe class

- This task asks students to understand new words and choose correct word

- The atmosphere

of the class isserene

- Only giftstudents are eager

to speak English

- This task doesn’thelp studentsimprove theirreading skill indoing test

-It only helps students improve their speaking skill

-It isn’t useful for GCSE

Through my votes in the invesigation and table of early year (2017 -2018) inclass 12C5 and school year (2018 -2019) in class 12 D4, the percentage of basicstudents’ result in ending the reading lesson of unit 5 as follow:

2 From this consequence, we can see that:

From results of the current situation, I give some effective methods tohelp students have gained good results in GCSE through lessons in Tiếng Anh

12 I also supply more exercises to help students familiarize with the types ofhomework not covered in textbooks will not be under pressure of studying And

I realized good results in basic classes I apply my new methods in school year2017- 2018 Students gradually know how to solve tests, performing andapplying to other tests coming from diferents high schools Each period,students discover new things for them In each period, students feel confidentand comfortable in giving ideas, creation and apply it to practical situations inthe life

III Measure implementation

1 Adjust the content in the textbook so that it is appropriate for the student and the knowledge in the test.

I adapt the content of lesson in the textbook to fit for different students in aclass and help students know how to apply to the final examination

a Way to perform:

Each unit, I adapt four basic skills and adjust the format found in the highschool graduation exam for students to have knowledge and apply it to practice.This method both encourages students to take part in the lesson and providesthem with central knowledge, avoiding ambiguity about the content andconfusion in testing

a1 Part A- READING

As we know, in the high school graduation exam, the reading sectionconsists of three parts with a total of eighteen sentences This indicates thatpracticing reading comprehension skills is very important to students Theymust try their best to cope with the difference between tasks in the textbook andreading questions in the test There are many new words in the textbook and thepractice sections are not aligned with the test, which often leads to studentsbeing afraid of reading skills and losing a lot of points in this part Therefore, Idecide to adjust the context of part A in the textbook to make it morereasonable

For example, I apply this method to unit 2: Cultural diversity in Tieng Anh 12.

Firstly, I adjust the first lesson – A reading in order to be suitable for readings

in the final test students in grade 12 must overcome at the end of school year

I merged Task 1 and Task 2 into a complete exercise shaped like the one on thegraduation exam

Task 1 and task 2 in textbook (Tieng anh12)- page 22

I change these two tasks into one multiple choice task

the correct answer to each of the questions.

Question 1: What does the passage mainly discuss?

A The different ideas of Americans and Asians about love and marriage

B The different ideas of Americans and Asians about four key values

C The different ideas of Americans and Asians about keeping happiness

D A comparison of different ideas between Amaricans and Asians in the life

Question 2: The word “obliged” in the passage is closest in meaning to .

A determine B sacrifice C compel D liberalize

Question 3: According to the passage, Many Indian students agree that a

woman has to

A maintain her beauty and appearance after marriage

B sacrifice more in a marriage than a man

C trust her husband to do the right thing

D confide in their husband

Question 4: What are the Indian students’ attitudes on physical attractiveness?

A They pay attention to their wives’ appearance

B They ignore their wives’ appearance after marriage

C I don’t put a strong idea on maintaining wive’s beauty and appearance aftermarriage

D They ask their wives not to concern about the appearnce because it isunnecessary.

Question 5: It can be inferred from the main finding of the survey that _.

A Young Asians are more romantic than their American counterparts

B Young Asians are as romantic as their American counterparts

C Young Asians are not as romantic as their American counterparts

D Young Asians are as prosaic as their American counterparts

a2 Part B- SPEAKING

Speaking is the second skill in the process of the textbook This skillhelps students practise situations and use words and phrase words tocommunicate fluently and naturally Speaking skill helps children express theirideas and thoughts in themselves However, in the high school graduation exam,students only need to solve two questions of communication function

Therefore, I dare adjust the content of this speaking part in the textbook so that

students can both have practical communication situations and do well in twoquestions of communication skill in the exam

For example, I apply this method to unit 12: WATER SPORTS in Tieng

Anh 12 I adjust the second lesson – B speaking so as to be suitable forquestions of communication skill in the high school graduation exam and helpstudents practise practical situations in their daily lives

- In task 1, I changed this task to make it suitable for the test by giving asituation and complete a short talk

1 Task 1: Mark A, B, C or D to indicate the sentence that best completeseach of the following exchanges

Question: Nam and Hung are talking about water sports

- Nam: “Learning how to play water sports is not difficult.”

- Hung: “ ”

A You must be kidding It’s not easy

B I couldn’t agree more It is not easy at all

C But I don’t I failed it last year

D I do, too I learned it last year

Key: A

2 Task 2: (textbook 131)

I realised that this task didn’t encourage studentents to the lesson and it madestudents passive in thinking because students can make a sentense basing on abelow example That’s why I adapt it as follow:

Task 2: Work in work of five One leader asks members in the group forpreferences about water sports, and writes down on his/her paper Then he/shereport this before class

Leader: Which sports would you prefer playing or participating in?

A member of group: I prefer Scuba-diving.

Leader: Can you let me know the reason?

A member of group: oh, simply, because I want to overcome challenge of

depth and discover something under sea thanks to some equipment such as: airtank, regulator, masks, wet suit and fins

*** After finishing interview members of his/her group, the leader reportedmembers’ opinions before class

Leader: Firstly, I mention to Mr Nam He prefers scuba-diving because he

wants to overcome challenges of the depth and discover something under seathanks to some equipment such as: air tank, regulator, masks, wet suit and fins

(APPENDIX 1)

a3 Part C- LISTENING

Listening is the third skill in the process of the textbook This skill helpsstudents accurately receive and interpret messages in the communicationprocess However, it doesn’t exist in the high school graduation exam It is alsounneccesary for students to focus on in this period Therefore, I dare adjust thecontent of this listening part in the textbook so that students can both practisethis skill and have time to review some knowledge which may be in the finaltest

For example, I apply this method to unit 15: WOMEN IN SOCIETY in

Tieng Anh 12 I adjust the third lesson – C Listening so as to be suitable forquestions in the high school graduation exam and help students improvelistening skill

1 Task 1 and task 2(textbook 167,168)

- I changed these two tasks to make them suitable for the test by asking students

to arrange paragraphs in a full passage, and using this paragraph to answerquestions This will help students both practice listening and reading skill

Task 1: Arrange below paragraphs in a full passage, and then choose the

best answer basing on it

1 In parts of Africa, this is a typical day for a village woman At 4.45 am Shegets up, washes, and eats It lakes her half an hour to walk to the fields, and sheworks there until 3.00 pm She collects firewood until 4.00 pm then comes backhome She spends the next hour and a half preparing food to cook Then shecollects water for another hour From 6.30 to 8.30 she cooks Alter dinner, shespends an hour washing the dishes She goes to bed at 9.30 pm

2 Women hold up half the sky This is an old Chinese saying However,research shows that perhaps women do more than the share of “holding up thesky.”

3 Fifty percent of the world’s population is women, but in nearly two-thirds ofall working hours, the work is done by women They do most of the domesticwork, for example, cooking and washing clothes Millions also work outside thehome Women hold forty percent of the world’s jobs For this work, they earnonly 40 to 60 percent as much as men, and of course they earn nothing for theirdomestic work

4 In developing countries, where three-fourths of the world’s population lives,women produce more than half of the food In Africa, 80 percent of allagricultural work is done by Women

Key: A full paragraph: 2 – 3 – 4 – 1

Task 2: Read the passage and choose the best answer

Women hold up half the sky This is an old Chinese saying However, researchshows that perhaps women do more than the share of “holding up the sky.”Fifty percent of the world’s population is women, but in nearly two-thirds of all

working hours, the work is done by women They do most of the domestic

work, for example, cooking and washing clothes Millions also work outside thehome Women hold forty percent of the world’s jobs For this work, they earnonly 40 to 60 percent as much as men, and of course they earn nothing for theirdomestic work

In developing countries, where three-fourths of the world’s population lives,women produce more than half of the food In Africa, 80 percent of allagricultural work is done by Women

In parts of Africa, this is a typical day for a village woman At 4.45 am Shegets up, washes, and eats It lakes her half an hour to walk to the fields, and sheworks there until 3.00 pm She collects firewood until 4.00 pm then comes backhome She spends the next hour and a half preparing food to cook Then shecollects water for another hour From 6.30 to 8.30 she cooks After dinner, shespends an hour washing the dishes She goes to bed at 9.30 pm

1 According to the passage, what percentage of all the world's jobs do womenhold?

A It’s 30 percent B It’s 40 percent C It’s 50 percent D It’s 60 percent

2 What do they earn for doing their domestic work?

A. They earn nothing for their domestic work

B They earn a lot of money from their domestic work.