Guiding the 10th and 12th form students how to use articles in english

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGDANG THAI MAI HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE GUIDING THE 10TH AND 12TH FORM STUDENTS HOW TO USE ARTICLES IN ENGLISH Teacher : Pham Thi Th

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

DANG THAI MAI HIGH SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

GUIDING THE 10TH AND 12TH FORM STUDENTS HOW TO

USE ARTICLES IN ENGLISH

Teacher : Pham Thi Thuy English Teacher

Experience initiative English

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 Introduction 1

1.1 Reasons of choosing the topic 1

1.2 Aim of the Study 1

1.3 Scope of the Study 1

1.4 Method of the Study 1

2 Contents 2

2.1 Theoretical background 2

2.2 Practical basis of the problem 2

2.3 Solutions to the problem 2

2.4 Result after applying the research in teaching 2

PART A : THEORY OF ARTICLES 3

1 The Definition of Articles 3

2 The basic rules for using Indefinite Articles 5

3 Some exceptions in using Indefinite Articles - A/An 6

4 The basic rules for using Definite Articles 7

5 The cases we do not use Articles ( no Articles- X) 8

PART B: PRACTICE ON ARTICLES 9

1 Exercises for the 10th form students 9

2 Exercises for the 12th form students 10

PART C: DO THE TEST 10

1 Test for the 10th form students 10

2 Test for the 12th form students 11

2.5 Applying the research in teaching 12

2.5.1.English 10 th 12

2.5.2 English 12 th 15

2.6 Result of the research 17

2.6.1 Before applying experience 17

2.6.2 After applying experience 18

2.6.3 The effectiveness of the study in comparison with the previous

methods 18

3 Conclusions and recommendations 18

3.1 General overview and enhancement of the study 18

3.2 Suggestions for further studies 19

1 Introduction

1.1 Reasons of choosing the topic

Today more and more people are learning English because it is not only aninternational language but also widely available worldwide Like other countries

in the world, many schools in Viet Nam decide to learn English as a foreignlanguage in their school syllabus

English plays a very important role in the globe development Therefore, the

teaching of English has been improved in method of communication Theimportance of English is acknowledged by the Vietnamese government As aresult English is introduced at the beginning of all educational levels Englishlanguage programme are made compulsory of all the knowledge appearing insecondary education, articles appear in both English 10th and English 12th

Articles are the important knowledge in English and perform many differentfunctions at all levels These are really difficult topic show to use articlesappropriately but interestingly if we take deep investigation into them Not onlystudents but also many teachers are challenged by the uses of articles Theyappear in part E of Unit 13 of the textbook in English 10 and part E of Unit 8 ofthe textbook in English 12-basic curriculum When teaching these points, Imyself find it confusing to get students to memorize their usages The only way

to keep them in our minds is to learn by heart and to practise regularly

It is enthusiasm and career passion that motivate me to write this experienceinnovation with the aims to share some of my opinions on topics related to articlesfor grade10th,12th students as well as help both my colleagues and my studentspractically remove the difficulties when teaching related lessons For this reason, I

choose the theme: “Guiding the 10 th and 12 th form students how to use articles

in English”.

1.2 Aim of the Study

The main aims of the research are:

- To provide teachers and students with full theory of “Articles” in English

- To provide students opportunity to practise using articles efficiently

- To hope to provide reference materials for teachers or students who intend tomaster the language of English

1.3 Scope of the Study

The objective of the study is articles that are often used articles exercises,including choose the correct articles to complete sentences, fill in blanks witharticles, do the tests about articles These exercises are collected from a variety

of kinds of material sources The study was carried on students in classes 10A3,10A6, 12A5 and 12A6 at Dang Thai Mai high school

1.4 Method of the Study

- Gather the information from the internet and reference books

- Teach some classes based on the experience as the result of the reality of thelong time process of my daily teaching at school

- Asking for experiences from my colleagues

- Gather students’results and evaluate

2 Contents

2.1 Theoretical back ground

As mentioned, articles play a vital role in learning English Anyone who doesnot know them well are not considered as advanced learners Articles mainlyoccur around the textbook of English 10th,12th and are the main contents of part

E - Language Focus in English 10 in unit 13 and English 12 in unit 8 The onlyway to master them is to learn by heart the uses of articles and to practise themmany times This research hopes to be a good material for both teachers andstudents in their teaching and learning

2.2 Practical basis of the problem

Dang Thai Mai high school is one of the high schools in Thanh Hoa province.People here are mainly farmers with average and low standards As a result,students have not had much good chance of studying and using English untilrecently Students (and even their teachers) do not have an English environment

to practise Learning English here has not still been really important to studentsand people here Like other high schools in Vietnam, the students in this schoolhave to take English as a compulsory subject in the curriculum and study it threeperiods a week for 35 weeks a year Therefore, the English teachers have somany difficulties in teaching English

Working as a teacher for more than ten years, I myself understand the nature ofthe problem and usually find it necessary to find out the ways to improve thesituation I try my best to do this research with a view to getting my students andother teachers to benefit from it by giving them more opportunities to practiseand to better their English

2.3 Solutions to the problem

After studying the content of the textbooks in English 10 and 12, especially thepart E - Language Focus of units 13 and 8, and taking deep investigation intothis problem, I have found out some useful measures to deal with this problem Based on the reality of the issue, I would strongly suggest some solution tothe problems :

- For students who have not mastered grammar, school leaders or teachersneed to increase more periods out of the curriculum in school

- Teachers need more than an illustration which is accurate, concise andvivid for each grammar trait

- For homework, besides asking students to do exercises in textbooks,teachers should have available amount of tests related to language focus

- Teachers should promote the use of teaching utensils combining with newteaching methods to improve the quality of learning English

2.4 Result after applying the research in teaching

The following data is the result of the second term - after applying the research

I divide the theme into three main parts:

Part A: Theory of articles

Part B: Practising exercises with articles

Part C: Doing the tests about articles

- Part A consists of the definition of articles- definite and indefinite articles, thebasic rules for using indefinite articles, the basic rules for using definite articlesand the cases we do not use articles

- Part B gives students a chance to practise some exercises with articles at alllevels

- Part C tests the understanding of students about articles

PART A : THEORY OF ARTICLES

1 The Definition of Articles

of nouns: definite and indefinite articles

1.2 Definite Article

Definite article is the word 'the,' and it refers directly to a specific noun or

groups of nouns

Ex:

 the freckles on my face

 the alligator in the pond

 the breakfast burrito on my plate

Each noun or group of nouns being referred to - in these cases freckles, alligator,and breakfast burrito - is direct and specific

Ex: After the long day, the cup of tea tasted particularly good.

By using the article “the”, we’ve shown that it was one specific day that was

long and one specific cup of tea that tasted good

1.3 Indefinite Articles

Indefinite articles are the words 'a' and 'an.' Each of these articles is used to

refer to a noun, but the noun being referred to is not a specific person, place,object, or idea It can be any noun from a group of nouns

Ex: After a long day, a cup of tea tastes particularly good

By using the article “a”, we’ve created a general statement, implying that any

cup of tea would taste good after any long day

2 The basic rules for using Indefinite Articles

2.1 We use “a/ an” with a word that is singular Never use “a” or “an” with a

word that is plural (e.g books, trees) or uncountable (e.g water, advice)

Ex: I have a book.

2.2 Note that we use “a” in front of words that start with a consonant sound (a

horse, a carrot) and “an” in front of words with a vowel sound: a, e, i, o (an apple, an elephant).

Ex: I often eat an apple and a banana every day

2.3 We use “a/an” to introduce a reason or thing for the first time This shows

that the listener or reader doesn’t know what we are referring to After this first

reference, we use “the”.

Ex: He was talking to a man The man was laughing.

She gave him a present The present was very expensive.

2.4 We often use “a/ an” before nouns of Jobs and professions

Ex: There are three people in my family My mother is a teacher, my fatherworks as an engineer and I’m a student

2.5 When we talk about things in general by using a singular now as anexample with noun (meaning “any” or “every”)

Ex: A baby deer can stand as soon as it is born

2.6.We use a/an in front of two nouns that are seen as a single unit.

Ex: a knife and fork, …

2.7 We use a/an when we mean “any one of particular type of thing”.

Ex: a cup of coffee, a paper clip,…

2.8 We use a/an with a unit of measurement (weight, quantity, time) or in

number and quantity expressions

- a great many of,

2.9.We use a/an instead of “one” in pattern a … of … with possessive or before

some number

Ex: a friend of mine, a huge number of …

2.10.We use a/an when following the words “many, such,…” and in

exclamations

Ex: Many a man has come to an end; I don’t like such a girl; What a lovelyday!

2.11 We use a/an following an adjective when is mentioned by the words “so,

as, too, how”

Ex: She is not so big a fool as she looks He’s as intelligent a boy as you are

2.12 We use a/an before somebody’s name to show that the speaker does not

know the person

Ex: There’s a Mrs Green to see you

2.13.We use a/ an with a noun like house, engineer, girl, name refers to a whole

class of people or things We use a/ an with a noun to talk about just onemember of that class.(A/an means “one”)

Ex: a nice big house, an engineer, a girl,…

2.14 We use a/an in front of proper nouns (names spelt with a capital letter) for:

Members of a family

Ex: He’s a Forstyle (= a member of the Forstyle family)

Literature and art: It’s a Dickens novel It’s a Brencht play Sometimes we canuse the name on it owns We can say “It’s a Rembrandt painting” or “It’s aRembrandt”

2.15 We use a/ an with illnesses.

Ex: a cold, a headache, a sore throat,…

3 Some exceptions in using Indefinite Articles - A/An

- a uniform - an honorable man

- a university - an hour

- a one- eyed man - a universal

- a useful way - a unit

4 The basic rules for using Definite Articles

THE DEFINITE “THE”: Used to refer nouns which are definited We use

“ the” in the following cases:

4.1 Nouns which were mentioned (= this, these, that, those) or have alreadymentioned:

Ex: A boy and a girl were sitting on a bench The boy was smiling but the girllooked angry

4.2 Nouns which are definited by the situation

Ex: Please take these letters to the post office

4.3 Used when a noun before a phrase limiting the meaning of it

Ex: the center of the city;…

4.4 Used to say or explain person or thing you mean

Ex: You are the third person ask me

4.5 Used with adjectives to build a collective noun

Ex: the rich, the poor,…

4.6 Used with adjectives to build an abstract noun

Ex: the beautiful(=beauty)

4.7 Used to refer a whole family or a married couple

Ex: Don’t forget to invite the Jordans

4.8 Used when we know that there is only one of a particular thing

Ex: the sun, the world, the travel industry,…

4.9 Used to refer to the things in a general way

Ex: the weather, the sky, the wind,…

4.10 Used to say that somebody or something is unique

Ex: Sydney is the capital city of New South Wales.

4.11 Used to give a person’s job title, or their unique position

Ex: Dr Simons has taken on the position of Head of Department

4.12 Used before a superlative adjectives followed by a noun or defining phraseEx: the biggest, the most expensive,

4.13 Used with a unit of measurement to mean “every”

Ex: These apples are eight to the pound

4.14 Used with a singular countable noun in generalizations (but not with plural

or uncountable nouns) This is common with the names of scientific instrumentsand inventions, and musical instruments: the violon, the piano,

Ex: The telephone is a most useful invention; The horse is an animal

4.15 These common expressions have a general meaning and before parts of theday: the town, the country,……; in the evening;………

4.16 Used to refer to things that are unique:

Ex:

- Organizations: the United Nations

- Ships: the Titanic

- Documents: the Constitution

- Public bodies: the police, the Government

- Titles of books and films: the Odyssey

- Climates: the President

- The people of the country: The French,The Dutch

- Political parties: the Labour Party

- Beliefs: the gods

4.17 Used in front of the names of public places

Ex: The cinema, the zoo, the park, the station, the post office, the airport…4.18 Used in front of the names of three countries: The USA, The UK, ThePhilippines

5 The cases we do not use Articles ( no Articles- X)

5.1 Nouns refer to subjects

Ex: To me, English is much more interesting than any other subjects

5.2 Nouns refer to the name of sports

Ex: The boys are playing football in the park

5.3 Before the indefinite plural nouns

Ex: I do not like cats

5.4 Before uncountable nouns

Ex: I often drink milk in the morning

5.5 Before means of transportation, but after “by”

Ex: Although my father has a car, he often goes to work by bus

5.6 Nouns refer to color

Ex: Red is not my favourite color

5.7 After possessive adjectives

Ex: My friend is very friendly

Ex: My mother always gets up early to make sure that we have had breakfastbefore going to school.

5.9 Before dates, months, years, seasons.( if they are indefinites)

5.10 Before the names of nations, continents, mountains, lakes, streets

Ex: - China is the country which has the largest population in the world

- I wish to travel around Europe for a month

PART B: PRACTICE ON ARTICLES

1 Exercises for the 10 th form students

Exercise 1:Choose the best answer

1.The Atlantic is

A a canal B a sea C an ocean D a lake

2 youngest boy has just started going _ school

A the / x B a /x C x / the D an /x

3. _ eldest boy is at _ college

A The / the B An / the C The / x D A / the

4.She lives in top floor of an old house

A An / the B A / x C A / the D A / any

7 You ‘ll get shock if you touch live wire with that screw driver

A a/ a B an / a C an / the D the / the

8 Mr Smith is _ old customer and honest man

A the / an B an / the C an / an D the / the

9 Do you go to _ prison to visit him ?

1 I’m sorry I didn’t mean to do that It was _ mistake

2 There were no chairs, so we had to sit on _ floor

3 Lucy has just gotten _ job in _ bank in Chicago

4 There’s _ bookstore on _ corner near my house

5 It’s very cold in here Can you close _ window, please?

6 If you go past _ post office, can you get me some stamps?

7 It was _ very hot day It was _ hottest day of _ year

C