USING ROLE PLAYS IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH FOR NON MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS IN GRADE 11

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁTRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 1 SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM USING ROLE-PLAYS IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH FOR NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS IN GRADE 11 Người thực hiện: Đỗ

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ

TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 1

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

USING ROLE-PLAYS IN TEACHING SPEAKING ENGLISH FOR NON-MAJOR ENGLISH STUDENTS

IN GRADE 11

Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Lan Chức vụ: Giáo viên

SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Ngoại ngữ

THANH HOÁ NĂM 2020

page PART I: INTRODUCTION

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

1 An overview of using role-plays in teaching speaking English 2

1.2 The advantages of using role-plays in teaching speaking

English in grade 11

2

1.3 Major issues of the speaking English teaching in grade 11 3

2.The games are used to apply to teach speaking part in grade 11 4

PART III: CONCLUSION

4.Limitations and suggestions for further research 17

PART I : INTRODUCTION

1 RATIONALE

Speaking is one of the four language basic skills that occur in everysituation.Learners of a second language should develop effectivecommunication skill in daily situations as well as in conflict situation CarolynDuffy (2003) provides a good suggestion for the English language learner todevelop the communicative competence, it is important to develop effectivecommunication skills in order to carry out positive interactions in every daysocial situations as well as in conflict situations According to Pachler andRedondo (2007,p66)’ speaking is a language skill which some people believeeither you are good at or you are not, a skill that in some ways is down topersonality factors such as confidence or extroversion”

One of the goals of teaching speaking is to develop fluency in languageuse Fluency is natural language use occurring when a speaker engages inmeaningful interaction and maintains comprehensible and ongoingcommunication despite limitations in his or her communicative competence.Prof Kev Nair’s in (www.fluentzy.com) stated that fluency means the skill ofspeaking English smoothly and continuously without hesitation preventing youfrom speaking on the skill of speaking about things clearly and easily in Englishthat is natural, appropriate and easy to understand without struggling for breath

or for words In second and foreign language teaching, they further explainedthat fluency is the ability to communicate ideas effectively

In Yen Dinh 1 High School, the students had many problems in speaking.They still did not know to speak English well The problems were: first, theystill had poor vocabulary Second, they were not interested in the material aboutEnglish that was given Third, they rarely practiced English And the last theywere not confident and felt shy to speak in front of the class

In this writing, I would like to recommend a more practical way ofteaching speaking English in grade 11; that is using role-plays or simulations.Role-plays, or simulations are one of the ways ESL instructors can ease students'transition into using English in real world situations So, the writers try to offerthem such role-plays as: Roommate Role-play, I need to mail this letter toMexico, Being famous person, Going green, Planning Debate……

When teaching non – major English students at Yen Dinh 1 High School,

I found out that using role-plays or simulation is very important in teachingspeaking English and it also has significant effects on the students’ skills Ifstudents do not have chances to apply it into English lessons, they can notunderstand them perfectly

2 Aims of the study

The major aims of the study are:

- to improve the quality of the lessons and promote classroom discussion

- to help students understand themes and memorize new words, structures moreeasily

- to contribute a small part to the improvement of teaching and learning English

at Yen Dinh 1 High School

3 Research Subjects

This subject will help students interested in accessing new words, structures toimprove their little skills now

4 Method of study

- Research in the teaching speaking English at Yen Dinh 1 High School

- School year 2019-2020, Grade 11A1,11A4,11A7,11A8

- Using Roommate Role-play, I need to mail this letter to Mexico, Being famousperson, Going green, Planning Debate

- Using comparison in percent before and after studying to assess the quality ofteaching and study

5 Participants

The subjects chosen for the research include students in class 11A1,11A4, 11A7,11A8 of Yen Dinh 1 High School with the survey questionnaires,and 7 teachers who are currently teaching English Their experience of teachingEnglish varied from five year to 20 years The research was carried out duringthe academic year 2018-2019 at Yen Dinh 1 High School

PART II: DEVELOPMENT

1.An overview of using role-plays in teaching speaking English:

1.1 What is a role-play?

First, we should know what exactly a role-play is According to Dr.RachelTustin – a PhD in Education , a Master in English: “Role playing is a funtheatrical exercise that is a cross between improvisation and performing in aplay It blends creativity with structure to help actors hone their craft and is animportant skill for an actor to develop.” Role - play allows a student to step intothe shoes of a character This may sound easy, but it isn't necessarily a naturalprocess It's a skill that requires a lot of practice before a student can do itcomfortably and well

Role playing takes place in small groups, where each student is given aspecific character or role to take on for the assigned period Within the role play

- aside from assigning characters such as mother, friend, and classmate - there'salso a prescribed situation within which the various characters will interact Thesituation provides the boundaries and guides how the characters should behavewithin the role play

1.2.The advantages of using Role-plays in teaching speaking English in grade 11

Many experienced scholars have argued that role-plays are not just filling activities but have a great educational value It is used to be thought thatrole-plays are only used for warm- up activities or when there is some time left

time-at the end of a lesson Nevertheless,role-play games can do more than thtime-at

Role-plays have a lot of advantages Firstly, I want to emphasize thatrole-plays help students to reduce tension during their studying Role-play

games make them funny, happy and comfortable when they are played games,which will help students concentrate on the lesson and learn better Moreover,students will remember English words, structures according to games the mosteffectively

In addition,the purpose of role playing is to give the students an opportunity

to work with others in determining how an individual or group might behave inresponse to a particular situation.Role playing is often used primarily to promoteclassroom discussion.The use of role playing as a cooperative learning modelalso includes class discussion as a vital step, but in this approach the entire class

is involved in preparing and presenting role plays through group activity

Furthermore,a role- play is where students act out a real-life situation, forexample checking into at a hotel, but do not act out a different personality Role-plays are where students take on different personalities In a role-play, forexample, one student may be asked to take on the role of "an angry neighbor"which is out of character for the student

To sum up, role-plays are very effective in teaching speaking English fornon- major English students in grade 11 Being an English teacher it is verynecessary for you to use them in teaching speaking English for students in thefuture

1.3.Major issues of the speaking English teaching in grade 11

Yen Dinh district is far from the center It is considered a rather poor district

As the school has 2114 students, but the quality is not very high, especiallystudents in grade 11

Teachers used simple method, they often give new words, structures and askstudents read and learned by heart at home

Results before using role-plays in teaching speaking

School year: 2018-2019

Class

Number

of students

Amount (%) Amount (%) Amount (%) Amount (%)

1.4 Role Play Procedure in the Classroom

Role play in this distance learning class allows the objectives of thecourse to be met in the limited time, through an integrated approach whichallows the practice of language skills, content and interaction skills andstrategies.The teacher's role in giving clear instructions was equally important

The learners were asked to get into groups and choose a leader for each group.All the reports were given to the leaders who assigned individual roles to eachgroup member They were asked to improvise the message in the reports whichwere not too structured and to find a structure that fits into a real lifesituation.Apart from that, the learners were asked to jot down in a diary, journal

or log book, their feelings, comments, thoughts and perceptions about aparticular learning experience related to the role play Such entries could provideopportunities to the learners for self-reflection and self-observation

There are six major steps in the procedure (Huang: 2008):

1-Decide on the Teaching Materials The teacher must decide which teachingmaterials will be used for role play activities The teacher can take teachingmaterials from textbooks or non-textbook teaching materials such as picturebooks, storybooks, readers, play-scripts, comic strips, movies, cartoons, andpictures The teacher selects the material ahead of time The teacher can alsocreate his or her own authentic teaching materials for role play activities Theteaching materials should be decided based on students' level and interests,teaching objectives and appropriateness for teaching

2- Select situations and create dialogs, then a situation or situations to be roleplayed should be select For every role plays situation, should be providing (bythe teaching materials or by the teacher) or created by the students themselves.3- Teach the Dialogs for Role Plays, the teacher needs to teach the vocabulary,sentences, and dialogs necessary for the role play situations The teacher needs

to make sure the students know how to use the vocabulary, sentences, anddialogs prior to doing the role play activities, otherwise, the teacher shouldallow students to ask how to say the words they want to say

4- Have Students Practice the Role Plays, students can practice in pairs or insmall groups After they have played their own roles a few times, have themexchange roles That way, students can play different roles and practice all ofthe lines in the role play When students are confident enough to demonstrate

or perform in front of the class, the teacher can ask them to do so for theirclassmates

5- Have Students Modified the Situations and Dialogs, once students havefinished and become familiar with an original role play situation, they canmodify the situations and/or dialogs to create a variation of the original roleplay

6- Evaluate and check students' comprehension, the teacher shall evaluate theeffectiveness of the role play activities and check if students have successfullycomprehended the meanings of the vocabulary, sentences and dialogs

2 The games are used to apply to teach speaking part in grade 11

2.1 Roommate Role-play

2.1.1 The aim of the game:

It helps students to understand and remember new words, structures to talkabout a person

2.1.2 The general steps:

For unit 1: Friendship – Speaking (English 11)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Task 3: Role-play: Talking to find

out a compatible roommate

-Asking whole class: “How are you as

a roommate? How many of the ideal

qualities do you have?”

-Dividing class into 4 groups of 10 and

requiring the students in their group

find out who is the most compatible

roommate for them:

When trying to find a compatible roommate,

what qualities are the most important for

you? Circle the qualities of your ideal

roommate Finally, in groups, rank them

below (1 being the most important and 10

being least important)

messy (is a slob)

2.2 I Need to Mail This Letter to Mexico

2.2.1 The aim of the game:

This role-play is intended for false beginners who are working in the

postal industry or need some survival travel English skills The

role-play includes the language for talking about delivering letters, parcels,

packages, and postcards

2.2.2 The general steps:

For unit 9: The Post Office –Speaking (English 11)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Task 3: (Change the content of the task in textbook)

Role-play: “I Need to Mail This Letter to Mexico”

Materials:

 Post Office Customer Activity Sheet

 Post Office Clerk Activity Sheet

 Post Office Rate Sheet

 Customer Errands Sheets

-The students are divided into customers doing errands at the post

office and post office clerks The customers need a customer activity

sheet and and errand list Post office clerks need a post office clerk

activity sheet and a complete schedule of postal rates

-Role playing

Customers go from post office to post office mailing one item on their

errand list at a time While doing this, they should record the prices

and delivery times on the customer activity sheet Post office clerks

wait for customers to come into their post offices The clerks then give

the customers the required information and fill out their postal clerk

Parcels $12.50 4-6

weeks

$18.00

10-12days

$29.50 4-6

days

daysChile

A: You have to go to the post office to

mail some letters, parcels and

postcards Here is a list of errands

you have to run:

(1) A business letter: You need it

delivered to Argentina ASAP

(2) Your friend’s birthday presents

(parcel) which is in 6 days She lives

in Chile

B: You have to go to the post office

to mail some letters, parcels and postcards Here is a list of errands you have to run:

(1) A business letter: You need it

delivered to Chile ASAP

(2) Your friend’s birthday presents

(parcel) which is in 6 days She lives

in China

(3) A letter to your Aunt She lives in

China

(4) A postcard to your friends who

are in Costa Rica

(5) Your cousin’s graduation present

(parcel), which is in two months He

is studying in Indonesia

(6) A postcard to your old teacher

who moved to Poland

(7) A letter to your friend who is

going on a very long trip around the

world He leaves in two weeks He

lives in Portugal

(8) A gift (parcel) for your friend

who is in the hospital and is very sick

She is in South Africa

(3) A letter to your Aunt She lives

in Costa Rica

(4) A postcard to your friends who

are in Indonesia

(5) Your cousin’s graduation present

(parcel), which is in two months He

is studying in Poland

(6) A postcard to your old teacher

who moved to Portugal

(7) A letter to your friend who is

going on a very long trip around the world He leaves in two weeks He lives in South Africa

(8) A gift (parcel) for your friend

who is in the hospital and is very sick She is in Argentina

C: You have to go to the post office to

mail some letters, parcels and

postcards Here is a list of errands

you have to run:

(1) A business letter: You need it

delivered to China ASAP

(2) Your friend’s birthday presents

(parcel) which is in 6 days She lives

(5) Your cousin’s graduation present

(parcel), which is in two months He

is studying in Portugal

(6) A postcard to your old teacher

who moved to South Africa

(7) A letter to your friend who is

going on a very long trip around the

world He leaves in two weeks He

lives in Argentina

(8) A gift (parcel) for your friend

who is in the hospital and is very sick

She is in Chile

D: You have to go to the post office

to mail some letters, parcels and postcards Here is a list of errands you have to run:

(1) A business letter: You need it

delivered to Costa Rica ASAP

(2) Your friend’s birthday presents

(parcel) which is in 6 days She lives

(5) Your cousin’s graduation present

(parcel), which is in two months He

is studying in South Africa

(6) A postcard to your old teacher

who moved to Argentina

(7) A letter to your friend who is

going on a very long trip around the world He leaves in two weeks He lives in Chile

(8) A gift (parcel) for your friend

who is in the hospital and is very sick She is in China