skkn CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

Study background My study, Creating effective teaching and learning environments, offers applicable techniques helping improve the effectiveness in teaching in general and in teaching

DONG NAI EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

NAM HA HIGH SCHOOL

Code:

THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

DONG NAI EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

NAM HA HIGH SCHOOL

THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING

ENVIRONMENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Contents

II Contents of the study

1.4 Using technology in learning and teaching 16-18

Appendix

GENERAL INFORMATION

1 Name of the initiative experience:

CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS

2 Research field: English teaching method

3 Author:

- Full name: TRAN THI VAN ANH Male (Female): Female

- Diploma: Bachelor of teaching English

- Position, place of work: English teacher/ Nam Ha high school

- Telephone number: 0909.961.960 Email: vananhtran278@gmail.com

Contribution rate for the initiative experience (%): 100%

INTRODUCTION

1 Study background

My study, Creating effective teaching and learning environments,

offers applicable techniques helping improve the effectiveness in teaching in general and in teaching reading in particular as well as stimulating learning environments among students

2 Reason for choosing the study

Nowadays, teaching and learning are not giving and receiving knowledge any longer Instead, teachers give instructions and students are main characters of the class, which we call learner-centred learning In this situation, students choose what they will learn, how they will pace their learning, and how they will assess their own learning

Realizing the characteristics of new teaching and learning style, I always study and research the best methods to help teachers improve the quality of teaching and learning English I also learn from my colleagues at Nam Ha high school as well as other high schools through professional training courses Furthermore, I have done some experiments in which I applied various

teaching techniques to improve teaching and learning environments in my classes Last but not least, in order to finish this study, I have made statistic and considered the result which has been changed significantly since I started using these techniques

Following are my study, Creating effective teaching and learning

environments, which is drawn from all my eight-year teaching experience

3 Objects and scope of the study

The study focuses on students belonging to my three classes such as 10C4, 10C5, and 12C9 at Nam Ha high school; they are at the age from sixteen

to eighteen

About the time of this study, it is conducted during the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year (from the mid of September to the mid of December), and the activities are built according to the available tasks in the textbook

4 Purpose of the study

In an attempt to improve teaching and learning quality in reading lessons, I have had an idea and conducted some practical applications I feel quite optimistic about these techniques; hence, I write this paper aiming to share the skills to create effective teaching and learning environments, especially in reading lessons

CONTENTS

I Reality of the study

Nobody can disapprove of the fact that teaching and learning styles have changed significantly over the years In the twenty-first century classroom, it is students, not teachers, who play primarily “active” role Moreover, students are required to be more active and become responsible participants in their own learning and with their own pace of learning

In addition, teachers are facilitators of student learning and creators of productive classroom environments, in which students can develop the skills they might need at present or in future However, this will certainly force teachers both to be more creative, active and to make more efforts to improve their skills in teaching as well as class management

In fact, to find out the best solutions to the problems teachers often meet while applying new techniques in teaching English, all groups and departments related to education usually carry out the movements, the contests or the discussions which help teachers have opportunities to learn experiences from each other

II Contents of the study

1 Process of the study

In order to create effective teaching and learning environments in reading lessons, teachers are supposed to be more patient and flexible in teaching as well as making great efforts to design attractive learning activities

Moreover, the most important thing to better class environments is making students excited about learning activities, so that they will actively contribute to the lessons

Following are some techniques which I have applied to improve teaching and learning environments in reading lessons

1.1 Integrated activities

Integrated activities aim to focus on more than one skill or subject matter

develop not only reading skills but speaking skills, writing skills and listening skills as well As we know, the main reason for language learning is effective communication However, our current educational system is only focused on grammar and comprehensive reading, which is not good for students’

communicative skills in the future Many Vietnamese students graduating from

a university cannot communicate with foreigners Therefore, using integrated activities in teaching English is obligatory It is necessary for teachers to design activities in which students are supposed to use a combination of receptive

skills – reading and listening - and productive skills – speaking and writing There are also many interesting activities which teachers can use to engage their students Following are some activities to combine reading and writing or speaking which I have used in my reading lessons

paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph, the last paragraph, and so on

2 Ask students to work in groups to write down what they think the passage will be about or what they think will happen in the reading based on the information they got in step one Depending on the nature of the reading and the level of the class, students could write lists of words or phrases, or they could write a paragraph

3 Invite students to read what they have written Compare predictions

4 After reading the entire passage, students can compare their

predictions with the text

In this activity, students begin to pose questions about a text and make predictions about it before they read In this way, students become authors of the text and may understand the kinds of expectations that a writer has, which can be helpful for them in their own writing Students may also begin to see the role that previewing and predicting play in understanding what they read In addition, this kind of activity gives students a purpose for reading and

motivates them to orient themselves to the topics they want to discover

Sample lessons:

Grade 12 – Unit 8: LIFE IN THE FUTURE

The clue: the title of reading text and the first paragraph

“What will life be like in the future? Different people have different answers to this question; some are pessimistic while others optimistic.”

→ Students’ first prediction: “The passage will talk about life in the future

Some people think life will be better; while others think it will be worse.”

Teacher divides class into two groups and asks them to discuss some changes in specific fields, such as medical care, environment, transport, etc according to two different opinions “Life will be better” and “Life will be

worse” Then, each group will write their work in the wallchart and show it to the class

→ Students’second prediction:

LIFE WILL BE BETTER

LIFE WILL BE WORSE

Grade 10 – Unit 4: SPECIAL EDUCATION

The clue: the title of the passage and the vocabulary

“A TEACHER IN A SPECIAL CLASS”

→ Students’ prediction: “The passage will talk about the work of a teacher

in a special class The work may be very difficult, because the students may

be disabled For example:

- Students may be blind; teacher has to use books with Braille alphabet

- Rationale: After reading a passage, students are asked to recall as much

as they can of what they read Reconstructing a reading helps students clarify their understanding of the text and gives them practice in using the language they are learning

3 As a class, give some phrases or numbers which appear in the passage and ask students to use these cues to talk about the events mentioned in the passage

Consolidating is a valuable step in the reading process because it

becomes quite apparent whether students have understood the reading, thus allowing the teacher to discover and work with any misconceptions that might arise

Sample lessons:

Grade 12 – Unit 2: CULTURAL DIVERSITY

Instruction: Talk about the different ideas about love and marriage between Americans and Asians metioned in the passage, using the following phrases as cues:

“romantic” marriage “contractual" marriage

physical attractiveness confiding

partnership of equals trust built on love

→ Students’ work: “Americans believe in “romantic” marriage, while

Asians believe in “contractual” marriage…”

Grade 10 – Unit 14: THE WORLD CUP

Instruction: Talk about the events mentioned in the passage, using the

following figures as cues:

→ Students’ work: 1904 is the year when FIFA was held up…

1.1.3 Interviewing

- Rationale: The purpose of this activity is that students write about

experience relating to central ideas, themes or events in a passage that they have read

- Procedure:

1 After reading, give students a few minutes to review the text Elicit the main information of the passage from the whole class Make questions to ask about the information

2 Ask students to take turns with a classmate to ask and answer the questions, according to their own situation or experience

3 Have students act out their interview in front of the class Give

feedback

Through this activity, students discover what they already understand about the reading text When students form connections with a text by relating

it to their own concrete experience, they gain a deeper understanding of

characters and issues in the text

Sample lessons:

Grade 12 – Unit 1: HOME LIFE

Interview a partner about his/her family life

- Teacher elicits a list of questions about family life from students

Questions:

Who works in the family

Who does the household chores

Your responsibility in the family

The interest the family members share closely

The person you often share your secret with

The person you talk to before amking an important decision

- Students work in pairs to ask and answer questions about family life

- Teacher observes students working and gives assisstance if necessary

Grade 10 – Unit 5: TECHNOLOGY AND I

Task: Interview a classmate about advantages and disadvantages of the

computer in his/her own daily life

- Teacher elicits some ideas from whole class

Advantages of the computer

Learn foreign languages

Relax: listen to music, play games, watch movies

1.2 Mind mapping

Students of the 21st century are extremely different from students in the past They are more active; therefore, instead of having students sit at their desks doing worksheets all day, teachers ask them to keep their brains busy by engaging them in activities that promote cognitive stimulation, and keep their hands moving with activities that allow students to explore different senses and textures or projects that students can create, rather than just observe

The most activity I often use in my classes is mind mapping This is a highly effective way of getting information in and out of your brain Mind mapping is a creative and logical means of note-taking and note-making that literally "maps out" students’ ideas

Procedure:

- After students are explained about new vocabulary in the reading text, they are divided into groups

- They have to read the passage in textbook and work in groups to create

a mind map to sum up the reading passage

- Each group shows the work on the board and presents about it in front

of the class

Sample students’ works:

Grade 12 – Unit 4: School educational system (12C9)

Grade 10 – Unit 5: Technology and I (10C5)

Mind Maps provide a visual learning mechanism that will help students recognize relationships they may miss in a more linear type of activity The act

of mapping something out encourages the individual to create an internal

retelling of the story Through this activity, students can have a thorough

understanding about the reading text

1.3 Playing games

All of us know why reading is important Not only does reading teach our students grammar, word usage and idea expression, but it also enables them

to acquire new information about their second language’s culture

Additionally, reading helps students to see how English is communicated

through writing, which is why a good writer is also a good reader

But reading anything in a second language is never easy Students who are still juggling new vocabulary, grammar rules and even phonics may feel reading is not only tedious, but also too difficult for them to understand Therefore,

playing games as reading tasks is a great way to make reading a fun classroom

task for students

Sample lessons:

Grade 12 – Unit 2: Cultural diversity – Reading

Love and Marriage Gameshow

- Teacher introduces the game to students There are 6 questions about attitudes towards love and marriage that students have to answer

- Students work in 2 groups to choose the number and answer the

question behind that number

Grade 10 – Unit 3: People’s background – Reading

Guessing game: Who Is She?

- Teacher shows some pictures about a woman Students use these cues

to guess who the woman is

Picture 5:

Answer key: She is Marie Curie

1.4 Using technology in learning and teaching

Everyone acknowledges the power of technology over teaching I often use educational programmes such as Powerpoint, ActivInspire, MS Office, and

so on to design lessons and exercises One of my favorite apps is Kahoot, an educational tool With this app, we can create fun learning games for our class

in minutes, or choose from millions of existing games to introduce a topic, review and reinforce knowledge, and run formative assessment Following are some tasks I designed for my classes

Sample lesson:

Grade 10 – Unit 5: Technology and I

Grade 12 – Unit 1 – Language focus – Tenses revision

Students in this fourth industrial revolution are also excelent at using technology in learning, such as searching and sharing information on the

Internet, making report with Microsoft Word or PowerPoint, and so on I often have my students do some homework with their computers or laptops, which makes them more interested in learning than reading textbooks or doing paper homework so much Following are some of my students’ work