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

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGNHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL ---***---INNOVATION IN TEACHING USING ROLE – PLAYING GAMES TO IMPROVE SKILL AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL The writer: Le T

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL

-*** -INNOVATION IN TEACHING

USING ROLE – PLAYING GAMES TO IMPROVE

SKILL AT NHU THANH HIGH SCHOOL

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

THANH HOA, 2019

TABLE OF CONTENT

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 6

at Nhu Thanh high school

II The practical situation of teachers and students 6

TO IMPROVE THE STUDENTS’S ENGLISH SPEAKING

SKILLS

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 ofeconomics, 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 curriculums andthe methods of teaching English are innovated to better the needs of learners.Teachers have to use these skills and activities to promote positive, proactivestudents and create optimal conditions for students to train, develop and enhanceskills to use language for purposes of communication So we have to create theenvironment for students to communicate in the classroom, especially, inSpeaking lessons and this raises for teachers is to organize various activities toimprove the efficiency of the speaking lessons and make students feel easilywith the subject However, the majority of students are still feeling embarrassedand 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 investigateswhether some role – playing games can have positive impact on process among

students and can develop their speaking skills or not Bearing in mind, I decidethe research with title

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 HighSchool improve 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

“Using role – playing games to improve the 11 th

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, they mayimprovise freely; their choices shape the direction and outcome of the games

Role-playing games are substantially different from competitive games such asball games and card games This has led to confusion among some non-playersabout the nature of fantasy gaming The game Dungeons & Dragons was asubject of controversy in the 1980s when well-publicized opponents claimed itcaused negative spiritual and psychological effects Academic research hasdiscredited these claims.Some educators support role-playing games as a healthyway to hone reading and arithmetic skills Though role-playing has beenaccepted by some, a few religious organizations continue 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

– PLAYING GAMES:

The more engaging the better The value of role-plays come from students

immersing themselves in the material

Choose a 'hot' topic and stage a debate Assign students positions on the topic(for/against) This will get students out of their personality and into the rolewhere they do not have the same inhibitions

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, opinions and movements Exaggeration helps students immerse themselves in the role Stage a rehearsal first Have students practice their role in small groups with coaching from the other students

While the role-play or debate is in progress, have other students suggest

vocabulary 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 cards themselves, 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 the English teaching condition of the teachers and students The school has been equipped with full conditions about facilities for study like language laboratory, books, tapes, and radios However, after many years teaching English in this

mountainous school, I have noticed the fact that the majority of students in this high school are afraid of learning English Moreover, they constantly have a heavy feeling in the English lesson, especially in a listening lesson In addition, there is a deep seated belief in their mind that they can not evenly 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 to helpstudents be able to understand when listening to a foreigner? Therefore, I start

on this study to try to find out the effect of some practical listening techniques tohelp 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 communication skills 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 study like 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 is uneven

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

2.3 Specific survey in classes 11A8, 11A10

Class Students Excellent-good Average Weak (bad)

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 workforce 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 also includesclass discussion as a vital step, but in this approach the entire class is involved inpreparing 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 thequalities 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?