Integrating the teaching of english with other subjects

However, not only do new curriculum and textbooks havehigher difficulties, many new or interesting topics such as Cultural Diversity,Nature in Danger, Water sports, International Organiz

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INTEGRATING THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH WITH

2.1.1 The Multidisciplinary Integration 4 2.1.2 Interdisciplinary Integration 4 2.1.3 Transdisciplinary Integration 4 2.2 The practical background

2.2.1 Summary of the lessons in the English textbook 12

55 2.2.2 Detailed description of the nature and content of the

solution

5

2.3 Applying the research to teaching 6 2.3.1.Integrated lesson plan with Physical Education 62.3.2 Integrated lesson plan with History and Geography 9

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic

1.1.1 Basis of theory :

It is well-known that language is the means by which we share our thoughtsand ideas with others: it is our primary source of communication.There arethousands of languages in the world, but it is impossible for a person to learnthem all so if people who speak different languages want to speak to each other,they need a language they both know.Here is where learning English becomes a

“must”, basically, because it has become the international language of educationand business, not to mention science and technology Read on to discover otherreasons why learning English is so important in today’s globalized world

Over the past years, the Ministry of Education and Training has directedthe compilation of many textbooks in the communication approach for students

at secondary level However, not only do new curriculum and textbooks havehigher difficulties, many new or interesting topics such as Cultural Diversity,Nature in Danger, Water sports, International Organization, Life in the future…,but they also have a lot of knowledge related to other cultural subjects such asHistory, Geography, Civic Education, Physics, Physical Education andLiterature If the teacher just only provides students with grammar andvocabulary related to the topic of the lessons without paying attention to theinterdisciplinary integration between the subjects, the lectures will alwaysbecome considerably boring and hard to absorb , students may always feel

scared, bored and tired after foreign language lessons[4] From the above

reasons, as an English teacher with over ten years’ experience, I havecontinuously been wondering and researching for the techniques to better thequality of teaching English and I am always anxious to find which method canmake my students feel inspired and have fun with English lessons so as toimprove the quality as well as the effectiveness of my English lectures Through

my years’ time of teaching English 12 as well as exchanging, referring to relatedmaterials and drawing experiences after each lecture, I have got an experience

initiative entitled " Integrating the teaching of English with other subjects " This

experience is drawn from my research and my real experimental teaching for

many years, especially in the academic years 2019 – 2020 and 2020 – 2021

school years With this initiative, I would like to help students to apply their

knowledge of History, Geography, Literature, Arts and Science to learn English, which makes the lessons more exciting and realistic Besides,

students are also able to use their knowledge of other subjects to broaden theirvocabulary and knowledge of English Consequently , they find that learningEnglish is always a process of continuous interaction among subjects

1.1.2 Basis of practice :

As can be seen, English is a rather difficult subject to students particularlythe rural ones In the high school English curriculum, there have existed a largenumber of inter - unitary lessons with different topics that students have studied

1

in some other subjects such as Geography, History, Physical Education,

Biology [5, 6,7,8,9,10, 12] Nevertheless, most of English teachers are usually

only concerned about giving explanations to vocabulary, instructions togrammatical structures for students and asking them to do the tasks in thetextbook without focussing on the use of integrated methods to teach Hence,this results in low teaching quality and few students with flying colours Tomake it worse, students increasingly lose their interests in learning English andfail to upgrade their communicative abilities

By talking and exchanging with colleagues as well as surveying 166students in classes 12C1, 12C2, 12C3, 12C4 of Yen Đinh 1 High school, Inoticed that the status of teaching and learning foreign languages is as follows :

In terms of teachers’ side, most of the teachers of the school are highlyqualified, enthusiastic in work, eager to learn However, some of them aretimid in innovated teaching methods, do not dare to change or redesigntextbooks, have not found many different methods to refresh the solution Inparticular, a small number of teachers also believe that foreign languageteaching is only teaching vocabulary, structures and guiding students how to dothe tasks and exercises so that students will achieve high results in the exams

In terms of students, Firstly, the 12th grade students have accessed tothree years of high school program education They are no wonder strange withthe forms of examination and evaluation that the teachers set Secondy, theyhave deep knowledge of natural resources, environment, society, and politicaleconomy issues both domestically and internationally through such subjects as

Geography, History…[5, 6,7,8,9,10, 12] Thirdly, in subjects such as Literature,

History, Geography they have learned about many subjects integrated in thelessons As a result, when it is necessary to combine knowledge of a particularsubject into Foreign Language to solve a problem in the unit, they will not feelsurprised

According to the survey at the beginning of the year, 65% of students saidthat English is a difficult subject, to study this subject well requires students tolearn not only vocabulary and structures but they have also to master othersubjects to integrate the knowledge into English

From the basis of theory and practice , I find that applying

Interdisciplinary Integration to teaching English will help students to develop their brainstorming, logical thinking and creativity in learning and practical application So for myself, in the past few years especially this school year 2017

– 2018, I have boldly applied a number of interdisciplinary integrated teaching

solutions to create interests as well as help students know how to use the

knowledge of other subjects such as History, Geography, Physical Education… to learn English more effectively.

1.2 Aims of the research

Studying the theoretical issues of integrated teaching and teachingpractice at secondary schools which will serve as a scientific basis for the

application of integrative teaching in foreign language to students in Yen Đinh 3High school This teaching method has not only enabled me to lull most ofstudents to take part in English lessons actively, enthusiatically and creativelybut also creat an exciting atmosphere, raise students’s love for English and other

subjects[2] This experience initiative has been applied in quite a long time of

my teaching English 12 and I have got considerably hopeful result Therefore, Idecisively exchange my experience initiative with my collagues

1.3 Objects of the research

This subject is concerned with ways of applying Interdisciplinary

Integration to teaching lessons of English 12

1.4 Methods of the research

- Using the text - book English 12 to apply to each lesson

- Reading reference books to improve

- Referring related knowledge from other subjects such as: History, Geography,Civil Education, Physics, Physical Education and Literature

- Using the soft ware POWERPOINT, pictures and other materials

- Discussing with other teachers

- Applying in teaching

- Observing and drawing out experiences

2 CONTENTS

2.1 Theoretical background

Integrative teaching is one of the important principles in teaching This isconsidered a modern teaching concept to promote the positiveness of students,

while improving the quality of education in the school [1] Interdisciplinary

integrated learning is a form of exploration of content, intersperse betweensubjects, common concepts and thoughts between subjects which are related to

each other [3] These parts maybe in different subjects but they support each

other to solve situations, phenomena in life Integration is possibly understood inthe following ways :

- Multidisciplinary Integration

- Interdisciplinary Integration

- Transdisciplinary Integration.[11].

2.1.1 The Multidisciplinary Integration :

Multi - disciplinary approaches focus primarily on subjects Relatedsubjects share a content orientation and teaching technique, but each has its owncurriculum Multidisciplinary integration is conducted in a way that organizesstandards from the subject area centering a topic, a theme, a project, creatingconditions for learners to synthesize the knowledge of the subjects concerned.There are many different ways to create an integral program of multi-disciplinary, and they differ in the degree of integration effort

2.1.2 Interdisciplinary Integration :

According to the interdisciplinary integration approach, teachersorganizes the learning activities around common learning content : topics,subjects, concepts and interdisciplinary skills / subjects They connect thecabinet in general academic content included in the courses to emphasize theconcepts and interdisciplinary skills Subjects can be identified, but they giveless importance than the multi-disciplinary approach Interdisciplinaryintegration is also understood as an option in which many subjects relatedlearning is bundled into a new course with a system certain topics go throughvarious grades For example, Geography, History, Biology, Society, CivicEducation, Chemistry, Physics, are integrated into " Social and EnvironmentalStudies " in the elementary education program in England, Australia, Singaporeand Thailand

2.1.3 Transdisciplinary Integration :

With an integrated, cross-curricular approach, teachers organizecurriculum that addresses students’ issues and concerns Students develop livingskills as they apply subjects and interdisciplinary skills to the real contexts oflife The two paths lead to the integration of 6 cross - disciplines: project - basedlearning and negotiating the curriculum From the above, we see integratedthinking rooted in the basis of science and life First of all, life is a greatencyclopedia, a great collection of knowledge, experience and method Everysituation in life is always an integrated situation It is not possible to solve aproblem and task of theory and practice without using the combined and

coordinated multi - disciplinary skills of many different fields Integrating in theschool will help students learn smartly and creatively apply knowledge, skillsand methods of a comprehensive, harmonious and sensible amount ofknowledge in solving various and new situations in modern life

2.2 The practical background.

2.2.1.Summary of the lessons in the English textbook 12 :

English textbook 12 has 16 units (currently reduced to 2 units - Unit 7 and Unit

9 ) Corresponding to 16 lessons is 16 topics Different topics are quite familiar

and close to other subjects ( eg : Unit 1 - Home life, Unit 2 - Culture diversity,

Unit 4 School Education System, Unit 5 Higher Eduction, Unit 11 Books… contain knowledge content close to Literature and Civic Education,

-the -theme of Unit 10 - Endangered species is related to Biology, -the topics of

Unit 12 - Water sports and Unit 13 - The 22 nd SEA Games have the same

background with Physical Education, and the topic of Unit 14 - International

Organizations shares the background knowledge with History and Geography[5].

2.2.2 Detailed description of the nature and content of the solution :

- A good design should consist of two components First, the system ofthe teaching situation is set out from the objective content of the unit,appropriate with the nature and level of acceptance of the students Second, thesystem of activities animated, manipulated correspond to the above situations bythe teachers’ logical arrangement so as to guide students step by step access andmaster the lessons in a positive and creative way

- The integrated instructional design lesson must be embedded in thecontent of knowledge of related subjects

- It is essential that teachers should ensure the specific content andstructure but not squeeze into a rigid patterns that creates open horizons forcreative exploration in the student's alternatives on the basis of ensuring thepurposes and general requirements of the school

- Integrated teaching should focus on designing scenarios integration andcorresponding activities are complex ones for students to use coordinate theknowledge and skills of the different disciplines into the process availablesituations in which students not only gain knowledge and skills of each subjectseparately but also master the knowledge and develop the integrated capacity ofthe related subjects

 The novelty of the solution versus the solution that has been implemented :

Bringing concrete integrated activities to each of the following types

The following integrated curriculum lessons are taught in 12 th grade in Yen Đinh 1 high school in the school years 2019 – 2020 and 2020 – 2021.

2.3 Applying the research to teaching2.3.1 Integrated lesson plan with Physical Education :

Period 68: Unit 12 : WATER SPORTS

A: READING

I OBJECTIVES

1 Knowledge:

- Vocabulary on the topic: water sports

- Information about water polo

- Further skill development: communication skills, reading skills, skills of

working in pairs and groups

2 Targted competences:

- Increasing students’ communication, self-study skills, critical thinking,

problem- solving and creativeness

- Applying the knowledge of Physical Education to learning English, especially comprehending the text through some types of exercises: interpreting

video clip to answer questions and gap-filling

- Being aware of the importance of the applying integrated knowledge of

different subjects in learning English effectively

3 Qualifications :

- Increasing students’ hard work, science awareness, self-study spirit,

enthusiasm, challenge acceptation, self-respecting, self-reliant, self-control and overcoming difficulties

II TEACHING AIDS

1 Equipments: computer, projector.

2 Learning materials: textbook, pictures, videos.

III TEACHING PROCESS

b) Content 1 Look at pictures and answer all the questions

(1) What kinds of sports are in the pictures?

(2) Where can people play these sports?

(3) Which sport do you think is more popular?

2 Look at these pictures and match with the

suitable sport (Water polo or Football).

c) Products - Answer the questions:

2 - Football : 1, 4, 6 - Water polo : 2, 3, 5

→ Applying Physical Education knowledge to watch video clip and analyze the scences to give the Vietnamese names for the words.

d)

Implementation

- Explaining, guiding and checking

ACTIVITY 2: KNOWLEDGE BUILDING a) Objectives - To teach some lexical items related to the topic In danger

of becoming extinct.

b) Content Look at pictures and guess meaning of 2 new words

c) Products * Reporting and discussing:

Water polo (n) : môn bóng nước

1 Assign tasks; explain

2 Monitor; help; tutorial

3 Review; Commendation Reported results

4 Conclusion; emphasize knowledge to remember

ACTIVITY 3: PRACTICE

a) Objectives - Guessing meaning in context, scanning for specific

information and passage comprehension

b) Content Task 1, 2, 3

c) Products - Guessing meaning from context

- Answer comprehension question

- Reading for specific information

2 white caps; blue caps; red caps with the number 1 in white

3 Their own goal lines

4 Holding or punching the ball

5 Five to eighty minutes

- Do independently first then work in pairs

- Present answers in front of the class and correct mistakes

Key Task 2:

1 People can play it in a pool

2 It is in the centre of the pool

3.The ball can be advanced by passing with one hand or swimming with the head above the water and the balol between the arm so it rides on the wave create by the swimming’s head

4 Only the goalie can hold/ is allowed to hold the ball with both hands

5 The player is ejected after committing five personal fouls.

d)

Implementation

- Step 1- Transfer the tasks (Chuyển giao nhiệm vụ)

State the requirements for each activity for the students Make sure the students have a clear understanding of the task for each activity before performing the task

- Step 2- Perform tasks

Students work individually, in pairs, or in groups in the process of performing tasks Teachers do general

observations and help if necessary

- Step 3- Report, discussion

Ask a few students or group representatives to present their answers Other groups comment Teacher general comments

- Step 4: Conclusion, judgment

Teacher presents specific learning products that the student must complete as required and clarify the problem to be resolved / explained; Learning tasks must be performed next

ACTIVITY 4: APPLICATION a) Objectives Make a comparison between football and water polo, using

the following suggestions

b) Content Work in groups Make a comparison between football and

water polo, using the following suggestions

c) Products - Maybe asks students some questions:

1 Would you like to try water polo? Why or why not?

2 Do you think it’s more or less dangerous than football or

other sports? Why?

d)

Implementation

(Tổ chức thực

hiện)

- Step 1- Transfer the tasks

State the requirements for each activity for the students Make sure the students have a clear understanding of the task for each activity before performing the task

- Step 2- Perform tasks (Thực hiện nhiệm vụ):

Students work individually, in pairs, or in groups in the process of performing tasks Teachers do general

observations and help if necessary

- Step 3- Report, discussion (Báo cáo, thảo luận )

Ask a few students or group representatives to present their answers Other groups comment Teacher general comments

- Step 4: Conclusion, judgment (Kết luận, nhận định):

Teacher presents specific learning products that the student must complete as required and clarify the problem to be resolved / explained; Learning tasks must be performed next

2.3.2 Integrated lesson plans with History and Geography :

Period 92 Unit 15: WOMEN IN SOCIETY

D- WRITING

I OBJECTIVES

- Increasing students’ communication, self-study skills, critical thinking,

problem- solving and creativeness

- Applying the knowledge of Geography to learning English, especially

analyzing the chart to answer questions and the write the report

- Being aware of the importance of the applying integrated knowledge of

different subjects in learning English effectively

3 Qualifications :

- Increasing students’ hard work, science awareness, self-study spirit,

enthusiasm, challenge acceptation, self-respecting, self-reliant, self-control and overcoming difficulties

II TEACHING AIDS

1 Equipments: computer, projector.

2 Learning materials: textbook, pictures, videos.

III TEACHING PROCESS

b) Content Question: Look at these pictures and tell me what they are.

They are charts (pie charts and bar charts)

d)

Implementation

Elicit students’answers Givefeedback Lead into newlesson

ACTIVITY 2: KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION