Motivating students to learn english through english songs at yen dinh 1 high school

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 1 SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH THROUGH ENGLISH SONGS AT YEN DINH 1 HIGH SCHOOL Người thực hiện: Trịnh

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA

TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 1

SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM

MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH

THROUGH ENGLISH SONGS

AT YEN DINH 1 HIGH SCHOOL

Người thực hiện: Trịnh Đình Lan Chức vụ: Giáo viên

SKKN thuộc lĩnh mực (môn): Tiếng Anh

THANH HÓA, NĂM 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1 1 Reasons for choosing topics 1

1 2 Aims and objectives 1

1 3 Scope and subject 1

1 4 Methodology of the experience initiative 1

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2

2 1 Theoretical basis of the experience initiative 2

2 1 1 Advantages of the use of songs in English classes 2

2 1 2 Definition of songs 2

2 1 3 Why were songs chosen to teach? 3

2 1 4 What kind of songs should be chosen in lessons? 3

2 2 Present situation of teaching and learning English 3

2 3 Some solutions 4

2 3 1 Using English songs to lead in new lessons 4

2 3 1 1 Unit 10 Conservation - Reading - English 10 4

2 3 1 2 Unit 12 Music - Speaking - English 10 .5

2 3 1 3 Unit 13 Films & Cinema - Writing - English 10 5

2 3 1 4 Unit 14 The world Cup - Reading - English 10 5

2 3 1 5 Unit 1 Friendship - Reading - English 11 6

2 3 1 6 Unit 8 Celebrations - Reading - English 11 6

2 3 1 7 Unit 6 Future job - Reading - English 12 6

2 3 1 8 Unit 13 Sea Games - Reading - English 12 7

2 3 1 9 Unit 15 Woman in Society - Reading - English 12 7

2 3 2 Songs used to practise using vocabulary 7

2 3 2 1 Exercise 1: Fill the gaps with the antonyms of the given words 9

2 3 2 2 Exercise 2 Fill the gaps with the missing words 9

2 3 2 3 Exercise 3 Choose the right words 9

2 3 3 Songs used to introduce related grammar points 10

2 3 3 1 Unit 8 Language focus - Conditional sentence type 1 English 10 10

2 3 3 2 Unit 1 Language focus - Infinitive with to - English 11 10

2 3 3 3 Unit 1: Language focus - Infinitive without to - English 11 10

2 3 3 4 Unit 7 Language focus - Conditional sentences - English 11 11

2 3 3 5 Unit 5 Language focus - Subjunctive - English 12 11

2 3 3 6 Unit 13 Language focus - Comparatives - English 12 12

2 3 3 7 Unit 2 Language focus - English 12 - Verb Tense Review 12

2 3 3 8 Unit 5 Language focus - Present Perfect - English 10 13

2 3 3 9 Unit 3: Language focus - English 11- Passive Infinitive 13

2 4 The effectiveness of the experience initiative 13

2 4 1 From the survey 13

2 4 2 From teaching process 14

2 4 3 Experimental lesson plan 15

PART 3: CONCLUSION 20

3 1 Conclusion 20

3 2 Recommendations 20 REFERENCES 21

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

1 1 Reasons for choosing topics

English has become a really important tool in order to succeedprofessionally in our society; it is the language for business, research, publicrelations and the Internet For this reason, teachers are looking for betterstrategies to teach this subject For language educators and practitioners, how toeffectively motivate students to learn has long been a crucial concern issue.Among all the factors that affect learning motivations, teaching styles andteaching materials might be regarded as the most essential elements to be takeninto consideration for achieving a more successful teaching and learning Theobjective of this study was to explore whether English songs can enhance schoolstudents’ motivation for learning English Songs in common, and English songs

in particular, play an important role in the development of students learning aforeign language Using English songs in the classroom is a very easy tool tomotivate students It works as an ice-breaker against the routine English songscould be an essential part of English teaching, because it makes the students feelmore receptive to the language Teachers may adopt songs in the EFL classroomfor many reasons and they mainly come from three different aspects: affective,cognitive and linguistic Due to the above mentioned reasons, I have chosen the

following topic: “Motivating students to learn English through English songs at

Yen Dinh 1 high school”

The reason why I have chosen this topic is to share my colleagues with afew experiences aimed at improving the effectiveness of learning English forstudents

1 2 Aims and objectives

The main concern of this study is to explore the use of songs as aninteresting teaching instrument in order to motivate students in learning English

I want to describe how influential music can be in language learning and howteachers can use songs in their lessons Another aim is to provide various ideas

of using songs in EFL classes and to list several activities as examples

The aims of the present study are hopefully able to:

- Find out whether English songs motivates students in learning English

- Examine if English songs in lessons improve students’ language skills andgrammar

1 3 Scope and subject

This experience initiative is focused only on:

 Motivating students to learn English through English songs

 123 Yen Dinh 1 high school students

With the above mentioned aims and due to limited time and size for anexperience initiative, I would like to deal with written exercises only Theexercises for students are taken out from books, textbooks, internet in English

1 4 Methodology of the experience initiative

In order to achieve the aims mentioned above, the experience initiativeuses the methods of observation, interview, questionnaire and summation ofteaching experience The data can be recorded formally and informally The

interview is used to record teachers’ information The survey by written testswith three classes of high school students will be conducted with questionnaire

to get information to support the experience initiative

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

2 1 Theoretical basis of the experience initiative

The author chooses this topic to address a number of requirements interms of science and practice as follows:

2 1 1 Advantages of the use of songs in English classes

In this experience initiative, music has been chosen as a teaching media toteach vocabulary and grammar to students Music changes brain waves andmakes the brain more active and receptive for leaning

Murphy (1992:15) takes into account teachers beginning by using songs in theirclasses and advises them to start by using songs slowly and trying what worksfor them and their classes He suggests using “background music at thebeginning or end of class or while students are doing a composition” or “using asong cloze exercise in the last five minutes” However, Griffee (1992)emphasizes that it is crucial to choose the right piece of music as the songshould not be distracting but its purpose should be rather stimulating andmotivating

According to Orlova (2003) these are some of the advantages for working inclass with songs:

• Practicing the rhythm, stress and the intonation patterns of the Englishlanguage

• Teaching vocabulary, especially in the vocabulary reinforcement stage

• Teaching grammar In this respect, songs are especially favored byteachers while investigating the use of the tenses

• Teaching speaking For this purpose, songs and mainly their lyrics areemployed as a stimulus for class discussions

• Teaching listening Music can be helpful for comprehension

• Developing writing skills For this purpose a song can be used in a variety

of ways; for example, speculation as to what could happen to the characters inthe future, writing a letter to the main character, etc

2 1 2 Definition of songs

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a song as “a short piece of musicwith words that are sung” and according to Oxford Paperback Dictionary andThesaurus, a song is a “set of words set to music” (2009:885) It is clear fromboth of these definitions that defining song without music is truly impossible.Both of these definitions also consider a song as a blend of music and words Asong is a short musical composition with word

A song is a relatively short musical composition for the human voice,possibly accompanied by other musical instrument which features words(lyrics)

It is typically for a solo singer, though may also be a duet, trio or morevoice (word with more than) one voice to a part, however, are considered choral.The words of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may

be religious verses of free prose song can be broadly divide into different manyforms depending on the criteria used, one division is between “art songs”,popular songs and folk songs

2 1 3 Why were songs chosen to teach?

Lyn Newton (2009) points out that “singing songs helps expose students

to various types of genres” and he also shows us the benefits of listening tosongs:

- Listening to songs is something people do in real life

- The language in songs is authentic/real

- They are interesting; they motivate learners

- Repetition is not boring if it is in a song

- Rhythm and stress are easy in a song

- New vocabulary is learnt in context

- Listening to songs is a good group activity

- We can all sing alone

What’s more songs not only make students relaxed but also help them improvetheir pronunciation, intonation and some grammar points I feel that songs aretherefore generally sources of authentic language used in the real world

2 1 4 What kind of songs should be chosen in lessons?

Teacher should choose songs carefully to have a desirable effect Whenchoosing an appropriate song, one should remember to especially consider thelevels of language proficiency of students Teacher should decide whether itshould be a rock song, a pop song or something else Besides, the content of thesongs must be clear and easy to understand The content of the songs related tothe topics of the lesson is the best choice for teacher to review the lesson Forexample, songs about friendship, family or love can be acceptable Teachersshould use songs that are interesting, humourous or something meaningful tolife

2 2 Present situation of teaching and learning English

Yen Dinh 1 high school is located in an economic area facing manydifficulties, the majority of students come from rural communes with lowlimited educational conditions, so they are not aware of the importance oflearning, (especially English) This leads to the fact that the quality of theschool's English in recent years is very low It must also be said that English is adifficult subject for rural students Although students have been studying Englishfor 4 years at lower secondary schools, many students, when entering 10thgrade, do not understand the basic knowledge of English

English is a compulsory test in the national examinations, but manystudents do not try their best to learn, or just learn to deal with their teachers aswell as their parents

Many students find English a difficult subject, so they are afraid ofstudying English, just learn in class, and do not spend extra-time studying at

home English subject requires learners to work hard, invest a lot of time, and bemethodical However, most students only focus on studying subjects foruniversity exams, but pay little attention to improving English

English teachers have made a lot of effort in applying new teachingmethods in the direction of positive students' activities Partly, some teachers areless willing to invest in the lessons, paying little attention to searching forsuitable teaching methods Many active teaching activities have only been usedformally but have not been invested, properly prepared and implemented in theright process As a result, the quality and effectiveness of the subject are notreally as good as expected

2 3 Some solutions

2 3 1 Using English songs to lead in new lessons.

I have tried out a few different ways to introduce a lesson So leading inthe new lesson by using song lyric is the best technique that is integrated skill

Pre-listening questions

Griffee (1992) suggests providing students with some pieces ofinformation about the song and the author and also providing them with somepictures Then students can discuss several questions:

- What type of music do you think this song will be? Rock, country, folk, etc

- Do you expect the singer will be man/woman; over thirty/under thirty; US, British, etc

- Will the song be fast, moderate or slow?

- What are some of the words you expect to hear?

- In one word or phrase, what is this song going to be about?

- Do you think you are going to like this song?”

Not only is this activity suitable to introduce the song to the students, butthanks to this activity, students become more motivated and interested in thesong The songs related to the topics of the lessons used to introduced the newlesson and vocabularies in Units that follow:

2 3 1 1 Unit 10 Conservation - Reading - English 10

Earth song – Michael Jackson

With this song, the teacher can

ask students the following

questions to lead in the new

lesson:

What is the song about?

How do you feel when you hear

And what are the sequences?

2 3 1 2 Unit 12 Music - Speaking - English 10

Pop music: As long as you love me – The Backstreet boys

Classical music: Nocturnes - Op 9, No 2

Rock n’ roll: Ra khoi – Pham Anh Khoa

Folk music: Con Duyen – Thuy Huong

Jazz: Gap nhau lam ngo – Nhac Jazz

The following questions can be made:

What kind of music is this song?

What is folk music/Pop/Jazz/Classical music?

Tell me some other songs of pop/Jazz/folk music?

What kind of music do you like? Why?

When do you often to music?

2 3 1 3 Unit 13 Films & Cinema - Writing - English 10

My heart will go on

- Celine Dion

What is the name of the song?

Which film is it played in?

Have you ever seen this film?

Who is/are the main

character(s)?

What is he/she like?

2 3 1 4 Unit 14 The world Cup - Reading - English 10

Hips don’t lie (Bamboo) - Shakira

The Cup of Life - Ricky

Martin

Wavin' Flag - K'naan.

La La La - Shakira feat.

Carlinhos Brown

Tell me the name of the song.

In what occasion were these

songs sung?

What world cup was the song

sung in?

What are these songs about?

How do you feel when you

hear these songs?

2 3 1 5 Unit 1 Friendship

-Reading - English 11

Seasons in the sun – Westlife

What is the song about?

How is the friendship in the song?

What do they often share with each other?

Do they have fun together?

Do you want to have a friendship like that?

2 3 1 6 Unit 8 Celebrations - Reading - English 11

Happy new year – ABBA

When do you often hear this

song?

What is the song about?

When is Tet holiday?

What do people often do at Tet?

Do you like watching fireworks

at Tet?

How do you feel when you hear

this song?

2 3 1 7 Unit 6 Future job - Reading - English 12

People song – English with Korean Subtitles.

I see a fire fighter fighting fire

I see a car mechanic changing

I see the people in my town

and I say "Hey brother! What's

going down?"

I see a postman with the mail.

I see the police putting folk in

jail

I see a life guard at the swimming pool.

I see the teacher in the local school

- Ask students to work in groups and write all the jobs they hear in the songs asmuch as possible on their extra board

2 3 1 8 Unit 13 Sea Games - Reading - English 12

For the world of tomorrow –

Nguyen Quang Vinh

What is the name of the

song?

What event was it?

Where do think the event

took place?

What is the logo of the event?

2 3 1 9 Unit 15 Woman in Society - Reading - English 12

Woman in love - Barbara

Joan Streisand

What is the name of the

song?

What is the song about?

What is the right of woman

in the song?

Do you think women

nowadays are as equal as

men? Why?

2 3 2 Songs used to practise using vocabulary

Songs are alternative way to increase English and give studentsopportunities especially on vocabulary Songs also give students the opportunity

to enrich vocabulary by vocalizing the language

Gap-fill exercise is probably the most popular, well-known, andcommonly used song activity all over the world Teachers hands out copies ofthe lyrics with several missing words It is always important when doing anexercise like this, to let students read the lyrics before listening to get a generalgist of the song and to have an opportunity to ask any questions Students alsohave time to look at the blanks trying to guess what words might fit there or atleast to guess what word class should fill the gap Teachers then plays the songand students should write the correct word into the gap according to what theyhear This activity can serve as a great practice of listening skills

The procedure is to write the target words on the board, replay thesentences containing them, and ask learners to work out their meaning.”

Before the listening, I will ask the students to go quickly through the text so thatthey have at least a rough idea what it is about While the listening, they will beasked to underline the correct words they hear will in the lyrics

Then followed the listening activity with the song aimed at focused listening Itold the students that they were going to listen to the song I handed out thecopies of the worksheet with the lyrics, telling the students to listen to the songand try to choose the correct word they would hear in the song By practisingvocabulary, teacher asks students to choose the words that have the samemeaning or opposite meaning with the given ones as exploited through thefollowing song:

2 3 2 1 Exercise 1: Fill the gaps with the antonyms of the given words:

Teacher plays the tape (the song), and asks students to listen to and completefilling the gaps with the antonyms of the given words.

1 The club isn't the ………… (worst) place to find a ………… (hater)

2 So the bar is where I ………… (come)

3 Me and my ………(enemies) at the table doing shots

4 Drinking ………… (slow) and then we talk ……… (fast)

5 …………(Go) over and ……….(end) up a conversation with just me

6 And ……… (distrust) me I'll give it a chance now

7 ………(Give) my hand, ………(start), put Van the Man on

the jukebox

8 And then we ……… (stop) to dance, and now I'm singing like.

Teacher gives feedback

Keys: 1, best; 2, go; 3, friends; 4, faster - slow; 5, come - start; 6, trust

7, Take - stop; 8, start

2 3 2 2 Exercise 2 Fill the gaps with the missing words:

Teacher plays the song again and asks students to listen to and completefilling the gaps with the missing words

1 I'm in ………… with the ………… of you

2 We ……… and ………… like a magnet do

3 Although my ……… is falling ……

4 I'm in love ………… your …………

5 And last ………… you ………… in my room

6 And ……… my bed sheets ……… like you

7 Every day ……… something brand new

8 I'm in love with your …………

Teacher gives feedback

Keys :

1, love - shape; 2, push - pull; 3, heart - too; 4, with - body

5, night were; 6, now - smell; 7, discovering; 8, body

2 3 2 3 Exercise 3 Choose the right words:

Once again, teacher plays the song and asks students choose the right words

1 One weak/week/wick in we led/left/let the story begin

2 We're/were/where going out on our first did/date/day

3 You and my/me/mine are thrifty, so go all you can need/it/eat.

4 Fill/feel/fear up your bed/bag/beg and I fill up a plait/plate/pleat.

5 We talk for ours/hours/auras and hours about the suit/sweet/seat

6 And the sore/sour/sure and whole/how/who your family is doing okay.

7 Live/leave/levee and get in a taxi, that/than/then kiss in the backseat.

8 that/then/tell the driver make the radio play, and I'm

thinking/sinking/singing like.

Teacher gives feedback

Keys:

1, week - let 2, We're - date

3, me - eat 4, Fill - bag - plate

5, hours - sweet 6, sour - how