Applying some pre listening activities in each unit of english 11 to motivate students in listening comprehension lesson

Activity 2: Teacher can give the students a table then asks them to work in pairs asking and answering to complete the table: How long you her/him Activity 3: Using projector Teacher ma

TABLE OF CONTENT

2 I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale to the study

2 Scope of the study

3 II SOME FACTS AND FIGURES

1 The teaching context

2 The School and classroom Culture

2 Data collection instruments

3 An overview of the pre- listening stage

3 The pre- listening stage

4 Some useful pre- listening activities implemented in each unit

V DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

1 The results of the term tests

2 Interviews with the teachers

Listening is one of the four basic skills in language acquisition It plays anintegral part in daily communication and educational process With thedevelopment of technology, many teachers all over the world have been applying anumber of different ways to stimulate students’ listening comprehension.Therefore, this writing is to describe a case of innovation on teaching listeningcomprehension by applying a large number of different kinds of pre- listeningactivities in pre – listening stage The fundamental purpose of the innovation is tohelp Sam Son High School students enhance their listening comprehensioncompetence and find out how these activities work in each listening lesson ofEnglish 11 After the school years 2020- 2021 implementing the innovation maininvolving 48 students from class 11 A3 at Sam Son High School, some changeshave been made effectively Not only have pre- listening activities had a positiveimpact on students’ listening comprehension, but I and my colleagues can alsolearn something from this

I INTRODUCTION

The past two decades have witnessed a shift of emphasis in foreignlanguage teaching and learning from Grammar – Translation Approach toCommunicative Approach since quality- oriented education is gradually valued bysociety in recent years In order to acquire the language, students are taught fourskills: Speaking, Listening, Reading and Writing skills Of all skills, listening skillseems to be the most difficult and become central concern of both teachers andstudents The attention has resulted in an increased number of listening activities instudents’ textbooks (Rubin, 1994) However, listening still receives little attention

in language teaching and learning as well as out of proportion in many kinds oftests such as 45- minute tests, term tests and final examination In order to improvestudents’ listening comprehension and get them interested in listening, I suggestmany effective pre- listening activities for teachers and students in each unit inEnglish for grade 11th student and so as to see how they affect my students’listening comprehension

1 Rationale to the study

Once I played the recording of a dialogue between a boy and a girl askingabout the way to Sam Son Post Office to my students in optional period Beforethey listened, I had given them a map and asked them to draw the way from A(Sam Son high school) to the Post Office The tape was played three times andstudents had one more minute to complete the map The result was not good as Iexpected The number of the students that failed made up 87% I asked one boywhy he had given the right direction, he said he had gone there before so where T-junction or cross road was still in his mind This shows that if there were not anypre- listening activities, students could hardly do the tasks in while- listening stageeven it is a familiar topic And I strongly agree with Rees, G (2003) as he statesthat in real life it is unusual for people to listen to something without having someidea of what they are going to hear Therefore, simply asking the students to listen

to something and answer some questions is a little unfair, and makes developinglistening skills much harder Elkhafaifi, H (2005) points out that pre- listeningactivities have positive effect on students’ scores on tests of listeningcomprehension In addition, many studies show that learners comprehend more of atext if they are familiar with the text from experience or they have knownsomething about the topic before or they know in advance what the listeningpassage concerns

Considering the importance and the necessary of pre- listening activities, Iwould like to make use of these to generate students’ interest, build theirconfidence and to facilitate their listening comprehension

2 Scope of the study

I have paid attention to the role of pre- listening activities in listeningteaching process and their effects on students’ listening comprehension Besidesthat I suggested some effective activities should be used in pre- listening stage

This study was carried out from September, 2020 to May, 2021 of theschool year 2020- 2021 Forty eight students from class 11A3 as well as eightyeight other ones from class 11 A4 and 11 A8 at Sam Son High School participated

in the study

3 Research aims.

As depicted in many books, not only can pre listening activities helplisteners remove some of the linguistic hindrances such as unfamiliar structures,new vocabulary or strange topics but also help them overcome the feeling ofinsecurity or anxiety and as a result help them succeed in listening comprehension

In order to avoid doing the same pre- listening activities presented in thetextbook of English 11 that students already know, I would like to introduce somemore kinds of pre- listening activities used in pre listening stage to create students’motivation and curiosity about what they are going to listen to And I also value thereal effect of these activities on students’ listening comprehension by observing,testing, interviewing and questionnaire

II SOME FACTS AND FIGURES

1 The teaching context

In our school we are on the way of the transition from Grammar TranslationApproach to teach students What we have for teaching listening skill is a textbook,

a radio and a tape The teacher plays the tape and the students listen to it severaltimes to do the tasks Most of the materials are well – prepared and well- taperecorded for grammatical and pedagogical purpose All students have to do is tofinish the tasks by listening to audio - only tape The language learning in theclassroom is different from the real life as they usually listen to mono talks ordialogues with the standard voice and slow speech Consequently, many studentshave difficulty in understanding speech spoken by English speakers at normal rateoutside the classroom Furthermore, some students feel frightened or strange whenthey hear English language spoken on TV, radio or in real situations in whichspeech is quick and nothing is repeated The worst thing about teaching listening isthat the students do not see the need for listening although it is thought to be one ofthe basic elements in communication The final examination does not includelistening part and “if it isn’t tested, teacher won’t pay attention to it”(Richards,J.,2002, p.40) as well as students However, the Ministry of Educationand Training (MOET) encourages testing grade 10 and 11 students four skills Thismeans that the examination was designed to test the students’ four skills: reading,listening, speaking and writing The students had to do the written test with manykinds of exercises At that time the result of listening skill was the lowest among

four skills The table below shows the result of the first term-ending test of thestudents in class 10A3 of which the researcher was taking in charge during theschool year 2019-2020

Among 48 students taking part in the test, 27 students got under-five marks(made up 56,25%), 19 students got five, two students got six and nobody gotmarks in the range of 7 and 10 Disappointingly, feedbacks from other classes’first-term ending test results were almost the same The score in listening skill wasthe lowest among four skills This was obviously a proof for students’ poor Englishknowledge and poor listening ability

This problem was worrying all the concerned As a teacher of English,having to cope with these problems day by day, I have to help students see the needfor learning listening skill by adding listening part in the first and second semesterexamination And applying various ways in pre-listening stage is one of the mosteffective ways to enhance students’ listening comprehension

2 The School and classroom Culture.

As a teacher, I am under control of the headmaster in Sam Son High School

in particular and Thanh Hoa education and training in general The syllabus given

to us is fixed However, they let us some freedom to change something in order tosuit with our students’ qualification We can add some materials or redesign sometasks to make the content clearer and understandable We have to design thecontent of all the exams except for the final test We are given some modernequipment such as computers, projectors, and all classrooms are equipped with thelights and fans

In Vietnam from Primary school to Secondary school, English is considered

as basic compulsory subject It is one of three fixed subjects in the final exams.Students have three main periods and one optional period per week Each periodlasts 45 minutes In three main periods, students are taught reading, speaking,

listening, writing skill and language focus In optional one teacher consolidate orimprove their weak skills or teach some new grammar items

Since 2005, we have been using a new kind of textbook which is designedfor teaching with various types of tasks Using this new kind of textbook whichfocuses on student-centered-learning, “the teacher could becomes facilitatorresource person and student becomes active” (O’Neill, G and McMahon, T.,2005,p.28) Actually, some topics of the textbook seem to be out of date and the examemphasizes much on grammar translation As the view of Nunan, D and Lamb, C.(1996), they state that “teachers become central and active, they control thedirection and pace” (pp 14-15) And the teacher- centered approach and grammartranslation are still considered as the main teaching method in Sam Son high school

Most of students at Sam Son high school were born in Sam Son city.

They became students at my school after graduating from sencondary school andtaking part an entrain exam Therefore, they had learned English at least for fouryears Because students came from different regions in my province, so they haddifferences of levels, ages and background knowledge Students in the cities ortowns were more dynamic and better at English than those, who came fromcountryside However, while some students had good attitude to learn English,many others are reserved and passive They only talk when they feel safe They areafraid of making mistakes and losing faces so they keep quiet all time except forbeing called by the teacher When teachers ask them for their agreement ordisagreement, they have no idea and still keep quiet When being asked to work in

a small group, they have a small talk, they are not used to speaking in front of manypeople This problem will be solved in the next section

III PLAN OF IMPLEMENTATION

1 The participants.

132 students 70 males and 66 females from three classes 11A3, 11A4 and 11A8 of Sam Son high school take part in the innovation They are from 16 to 17years old I myself teach class 11A3 with 48 students and 2 others are taught by

my 2 colleagues Mr Khanh (in charge of class 11A4 with 44 students) and MrsTuyet (in charge of class 11A8 with 40 students) from the foreign language group

of Sam Son High School The two teachers Mirs Tuyet and Mr Khanh are selected

to carry out the innovation with the researcher because of their willingness

2 Data collection instruments.

2.1 Classroom observation: three classes 11A3, 11A4, 11A8 were observed twice

every 18 weeks by three observers: Mr Khanh, Mrs Tuyet, and the researcher Weobserved the classes alternatively This means when I taught my students class11A3, Mr Manh and Mss Tam observed my class When they taught, I and anotherteacher observed We had two observers for one class After that, we had a meeting

to discuss what we had gained, what materials had been added and what should bedone after that

I always kept journal during implementation At the end of every listeninglesson, I spent some time giving marks to each student to show how they contribute

to the lesson whether they could do the tasks or not I also pointed out the studentsthat need some more help in the following periods I thought about the ways to helpthem

2.2 Tests

At the end of each term, students have to do the term tests in which four

skills are examined (See appendix 1 and 2 for the test)

2.3 Interview with the teachers

After having finished the each term lasting 4.5 months, a meeting of theforeign language group was held to assess what we had done effectively andineffectively Then I had short interviews with the 2 colleagues, who were incharge of the two left experimental classes: Mr Khanh and Mrs Tuyet, asking themfor their comments on this program

3 An overview of pre-listening activities in the pre-listening stage.

Pre-listening activities are anything that teachers do before the actual listening

is carried out to facilitate the students’ listening comprehension For example, if thetopic of the listening is strange to the listeners, teachers can give them a readingtext before listening The listening that has many speakers and especially withdifferent accents can be dealt with by giving the students some time listening tosome other oral pieces, which display such unfamiliar zed accents When listeners

cope with problems such as the speaker on the tape swallows words, pronounces

differently or speaks too fast, teachers can do the same so that listeners will have achance to get accustomed to Once listeners have difficulty in listening because ofnew vocabulary, teachers may provide them with some reading

In fact, there are a good number of pre-listening activities, which have beensuggested by pedagogical researchers or methodologists to help learners of Englishovercome difficulties to gain success in listening The list of pre-listening activitiesmay include:

(1) Looking at pictures before listening,

(2) Looking at a list of items/ thoughts before listening,

(3) Making lists of possibilities/ ideas/ suggestions,

(4) Reading a text before listening,

(5) Reading through questions (to be answered while listening),

English is considered as foreign language in Vietnam Vietnamese students

do not have English speaking environment So bringing real life into classroom isnecessary for students to get acquainted with natural English in everyday situations.Choosing practical, workable and suitable pre-listening activities not only attractsstudents’ interest but also meets enhances students’ listening comprehension which

is a good criterion for this program Understanding classroom culture, I find that

my students are not confident enough to talk anything in front of many people.They are afraid of listening and making mistakes is inevitable in learning processand it is normal I often create a friendly atmosphere, greet them warmly to helpthem feel safe and self confident, which motivates them to learn Secondly, I spend

a lot of time on the pre-listening activities either giving them cues or allowing them

to read what they were going to hear And I think that preparation such as adiscussion about anything relating to the subject is the most important thing in anylistening task I also spend some time providing them with some vocabulary and

structures

2 Class Procedure.

Each period lasts 45 minutes and in teaching listening period there are 5basic stages: warm-up, pre-listening, while-listening, post-listening and summaryand homework (See the last part for a sample plan of teaching listening lesson-appendix 3)

In the first stage, I often have few activities such as: raising questions todiscuss or ask them some questions about what is going to be taught relating to thetopic they are going to This stage lasts from 1-3 minutes

Then I start to teach the listening passage with pre-listening exercises Thatmeans: discussion about some pictures of photos, or illustrations on the screen,raising some questions to discuss, answering multiple choice questions aboutgeneral knowledge or matching definitions with vocabulary items and so on, thenpre-teach new words impeding their listening process and introduce some newstructures appearing in the listening passage It is from 5-7 minutes in length If thisstage is well-prepared the next stage will be successful Before moving to the thirdstage - while-listening, students have been told about how to do the tasks and whatthey listen for and all the worksheets have been delivered and explained to thestudents Then the teacher plays the tape through once the first time for orientation

Then the teacher plays it the second time pausing at specific points to let thelearners have time to process the information They have just heard in order to dothe tasks The teacher plays the listening passage again and again if necessary to letthe learner correct or check their answers After each task, the teacher asks students

to raise their hands if they can do the task correctly This is one of evidences forobservers and teachers to keep in dairy

After that the teacher lets students have time to compare individual results inpairs or groups or gives their comments

And a final playback is needed for cheek through and reinforcement Afterthey have been listening, in this stage, post- listening, there are some kinds ofexercises such as gap filling in the summary, retelling the stories, films or news torecall deeply the information they have heard or help them to think about other realsituations or their own experiences relating to the topic Finally, summarizing themain point of the lesson and assign tasks for preparing the following period isneeded for the last stage

3 The pre-listening stage.

Pre-listening stage is aimed at preparing students to listen and think aboutwhat they are about to hear Teachers often do some activities and these are calledpre-listening activities to facilitate the students’ listening comprehension Duringthis stage, teachers may give their students something to read before They mayalso provide listeners with some oral language items Besides, teachers may alsoeither do the so-called class discussion or open predictions, etc specificallyspeaking, the goal of this stage is to create a reason for listening, build up students’expectation, call up students’ background knowledge, and arouse listener’scuriosity about the listening

Hence it may be concluded that the pre-listening is a way to prepare thelisteners to overcome linguistic difficulties in the listening passage, which mayotherwise barrier their comprehension, or to set up expectations about the content

of the listening text Thus, it is hopeful that the students will feel secure, relaxedand unthreatened by the listening and, of course, reduces anxiety And if we couldjust take another look at the above-mentioned factors that bar the listener’scomprehension and display them on a certain scale, we can easily come to aconclusion that pre-listening really can make a better change

4 Some useful pre-listening activities implemented in each unit of English 11

In the curriculum of the MOET, there are 16 units, each unit contains 5lessons: Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing and Language focus However,according to the reducing the burden of knowledge for grade 11 students, it isallowed to omit some units Here are some workable pre-listening activities applied

in 12 units of English 11 Pre-listening stage often lasts from 5-7 minutes so weusually choose one of these activities alternatively in each unit The activities in

“Before you listen” in the textbook, I will not mention, I only refer some otheractivities that we can apply for a change.

4.1 Unit 1: Friendship

Activity 1: Teacher tells a story about his/her friend It can be true or

imaginary, then asks students some questions:

- What is the name of my best friend?

- When did I first meet him/her?

- Do we have a lot of things in common?

- How long have we known each other?

Activity 2: Teacher can give the students a table then asks them to work in

pairs asking and answering to complete the table:

How long you

her/him

Activity 3: ( Using projector) Teacher may show the image of a famous

person such as: Xuan Dieu, Luu Binh, Mac and Angel… or can take a photograph

of a pair of close friend in his/her class then show some questions on the screen forthem to discuss:

- Who is his/her best friend?

- Can you guess how long they have known each other?

- What qualities do you think he/she admires his/her best friend?

4.2 Unit 2: Personal Experience

Activity 1: Teacher shows some pictures of the unforgettable events such as:

September 11 Attacks or the Fire in Keangnam Landmark Tower……then dividesthe students into 2 groups to write as many words as possible in 2 minutes todescribe the picture or write the adjectives to show their feelings

Activity 2: Teacher can show some questions on the board or on the screen

for students to discuss then ask some of them to answer in front of class:

- Have you been in difficult situations? (Such as: getting bad mark, dawning,being caught red handed…)

- When and where did it happen?

- Is it your most unforgettable experience?

Activity 3: Teacher uses the picture in the textbook and facilitates them by

raising some questions:

- What is happening?

- How many people are there? Who are they?

- What are they doing?

- What would you do if you saw a fire?

4 3 Unit 3: A party

Activity 1: The teacher shows a picture of a birthday party then divides

students into groups of 7 or 8 students The groups should generate as many wordsrelated to birthday party as possible in 3 minutes When the time is up, the teachercan call some leaders of the groups to write their list on the board or read aloud andthe whole class count Each right word gets one point Which group has morepoints will win the game And teacher gives them feedback and congratulations forthe winner

Activity 2: Teacher shows some pictures to dedicate activities that often

happen at a birthday party, and then asks them to guess what they are going tolisten about Next, teacher points at each picture and asks:

- Where are they?

- What are they doing?

Activity 3: Teacher plays a “Happy birthday song” and asks students:

- When do you sing this song? (Before blowing out the candles or after?)

- What else do you often do in a birthday party?

Activity 4: Teacher may ask students some questions:

- Have you ever had a birthday party? Or have you ever attended a birthdayparty?

- What activities do you often have at your birthday party? Or what activities

do they often have at the party?

- What foods or drinks are often served at your/ their party?

4.4 Unit 4: Volunteer Work

Activity 1: Teacher asks students some questions:

- Have you ever watched a performance of the disabled?

- What do you think about?

- What have you done to help them?

Activity 2: Teacher shows some images about some kinds of volunteer work

and asks them to work in pairs, asking and answering the following questions:

- Have you done any volunteer work?

- If you were the authority, what would you do to help the disadvantagedchildren?

Activity 3: Teacher presents some pictures about the listening passage and

asks them to guess what we are going to listen about

4.5 Unit 6: Competitions

Activity 1: Teacher gets students to involve in the lesson by raising some

questions:

- Do you know anything about the history of marathon?

- Why do people take part in the marathon race?

- The marathon race held in Vietnam is called “Cuoc thi chay Viet da”, do youknow what it is called in America?

Activity 2: Teacher shows the pictures in the textbook and gives students the

following handout:

Tick the best answers to the questions:

1 Where was the Boston Marathon held?

A In England B In Egypt C In America D In Vietnam

2 Who can take part in the Boston race?

A Only men B Only women C The young D Men and women

3 How long is the Marathon race?

4 Can you guess how long it takes a male champion to finish a marathon race?

A nearly three hours B about four hours C Nearly 150 minutes D.Over three hours

Activity 3: Teacher asks students to read the statements in Task 1 first then

gets students to guess whether they are true or false and then tells them: you need

to listen attentively to check if you guess are confirmed

4.6 Unit 8: Celebration

Activity 1: Teacher (T) asks students (Ss) to guess which of the following

activities, the Japanese often do on their New Year’s Day by putting a tick in the right column

1 going to the pagoda

2 wearing kimonos or special dress

3 giving/ receiving lucky money

4 visiting friends

5 decorating their houses with kumquat trees

6 exchanging gifts and cards

Activity 2: Teacher plays a video with non-caption to illustrate some

activities that Japanese people often do on their New Year’s Days then asks them toput a tick on the right column in the table above

Activity 3: Teacher shows an image of the Japanese girl wearing their

traditional clothes then asks Ss the questions:

- What is she wearing?

- When do Japanese people wear it?

- Have you ever seen the Japanese celebrate their New Year’s Days? Next, T leads in the lesson

4.7 Unit 9: The Post office

Activity 1: Teacher asks some Ss if they have a cell phone, then write the

mind map on the board like this:

Next teacher divides Ss into 2 groups, one group discusses about the disadvantagesand the other discusses about the advantages of

cell phone in 3 minutes then writes them on the board

After that teacher gives feedback

Activity 2: Teacher raises some questions and asks Ss to ask and answer:

1 Have you got a cell phone?

2 What make is it?

3 What is your telephone number?

4 Do you think there is an increase in the number of telephones?

5 Have the fixed telephone number been changed? (Open question)

Activity 3: Teacher divides Ss into 2 groups then asks them to name the

telephone producers as many as possible Which group has more correct answerswill be the winner

4.8 Unit 10: Nature in danger

Activity 1: Teacher asks Ss some questions:

1 Names some National Parks in Vietnam and in the world you know?

2 Where are they?

3 What are the purposes of National Parks?

Then teacher gives the feedback and leads in the new lesson

Activity 2: Teacher distributes the handout and asks students to work in

groups to finish it

Handout:

Match the parks in column A with suitable province in column B.

1 Cuc Phuong National Park Quang Nam

2.Phong Nha- Ke Bang National Park Ba Ria- Vung Tau

3 Con Dao National Park Ninh Binh, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa

5 Cat Tien National Park Quang Binh

6 Cu Lao Tram National Reserve Dong Nai

7 Muong Nhe National Reserve Bac Can

Then teacher calls some Ss from the groups to give their ideas, givesfeedback and leads in the new lesson

Activity 3: Teacher writes these questions on the board or presents them on the

screen

1 Can you name some National Parks in US?

2 What purposes do National Parks serve?

3 What are the problems that national parks might be facing at the moment?

4 What can we do to protect national parks?

Teacher gets Ss to guess what topic they are going to listen about

4.9 Unit 11: Sources of energy

Activity 1: Teacher asks Ss not to open the textbook.

- Gives the situation: Pick the odd one out from the following words and explain why.

The air, the sun, the land, the ocean, the house.

- Calls on a pupil to give the answer in front of the class.

Answer:

The house: the other words can be sources of energy.

- Raises the question: What kind of energy can be taken from each of these resources?

The air  wind power

The sun  solar energy

The land  geothermal heat

The ocean  water power

_ Leads in the lesson

Activity 2: Teacher delivers the handouts to the Ss, gets them to read

through the song and explains new words, plays the song for Ss to complete theblanks Then teachers checks with the class and gives the correct answers Lastly,teacher asks what the song is about and introduces the topic of the lesson

Handout: Listen to the song and write in the missing words SOLAR ENERGY

Oh, the sun is a star

It’s our closest star

It’s just … 1……… million miles away

It gives us heat and light

It makes the world just right

We’re getting… 2………energy every day

Solar power heats our water and homes And it makes electricity

Solar power is a….3……… resource When we convert its energy

Oh, the sun is a star

Its light can travel far

Hot gases burn at 10,000 degrees

As it shines its light, Plants can grow just right,

So the ……4………is great for you and me

Solar power heats our water and homes And it makes electricity

Solar power is a natural resource When we convert its….5………

Oh, the sun is a star

It’s our closest star

It’s just 93 million miles away

Activity 3: Teacher shows the question on the board or on the screen:

1 Name some sources of energy

2 Which ones are limited and which ones are unlimited?

Then teacher asks them to discuss in groups of 3 or 4 in 3 minutes and then givesthem feedback and leads in the new lesson

4.10 Unit 12: The Asian Games

Activity 1: Teacher shows the pictures of some sport events on the screen

and asks Ss some questions:

1 Can you name the sport in each picture?

2 Do you know who won the gold medal in this sport in the 2010 AsianGames?

3 Which sport(s) do you like best?

Teacher may elicit Ss to answer the 1st question by providing the first letter:

a H_ _ _ J_ _ _

b S_ _ _ _ _ _ _

c G _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

d L _ _ _ J _ _ _

Activity 2: Teacher divides Ss into 2 groups, lets them think 1 minute about

the names of the sports, then each member of the group write one name of the sport

on the board in turn in 3minutes The group has more correct words will becomethe winner

Activity 3: Teacher distributes the handout to the Ss and gets them to solve

the crossword puzzle about the names of the sports as quickly as they can Thenteacher gives them feedback

4 11 Unit 13: Hobbies

Activity 1: Teacher divides the class into 2 groups, draws each of them a

gallows on the board, then explains to them that we are going to play a “Hangman” Ss have to guess the secrete word containing 7 letters: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Whichgroup has more correct words will be the winner After that, teacher givesfeedback The secret word is READING Then teacher raises the question:

- What are the benefits of reading?

and leads in the lesson

Activity 2: Teacher presents some questions on the board or on the screen

then asks Ss to work in pairs asking and answering the questions:

- What are your hobbies?

- Do you like reading?

- Can you tell me the benefits of reading books?

Activity 3: Teacher tells about his hobbies and reading is one of his hobbies,

asks Ss:

- Can you guess why he likes reading books?

4.12 Unit 16: The wonders of the world

Activity 1: Teacher gives Ss a game namely matching to complete the

picture

How To Play: Single click (do not drag) the square horizontally or vertically

adjacent to the empty square to move the pieces till you get the following image:

After that teacher gets Ss to work in pairs to answer the questions on page

182 in thetextbook

Reading books

Activity 2: Teacher gives Ss handouts and asks them to match the wonders

with the places they are located, and then leads in the lesson: Today we are going

to listen about one of these wonders Listen to its information then you can you guess which one we are going to listen about.

- It is very long

- It is considered one of the greatest man- made wonders in the world

- It belongs to our neighboring country

Handout: Match the wonders with the places they are located.

1. Hanging Gardens of Babylon A Iraq

2. The Great Barrier Reef B China

Activity 3: Teacher shows the pictures of the wonders of the world and asks Ss to

match them with their names:

17

A Hanging Gardens of Babylon

B Great Wall of China

C Stonehenge

3

Next, teacher gives the feedback and leads in the lesson by asking: Can you guess which wonder we are going to listen about?, then raises some questions for

Ss to discuss:

- How long is it?

- How high is it?

- When was it built?

After having applied one of the activities in each unit alternatively, I move topre- teach vocabulary- the new words appearing in the listening passage If there is

a little time left, I simply read aloud these words first then ask Ss to repeat inchorus and individually later, and then explain their meaning If there is much timeleft, I often apply one of these activities:

Activity 1: I divide students into 2 groups then show the words in “Listen

and repeat” part on the screen and let them have a look in 30 seconds After thateach member in each group has right to write one of these word on the board Theywrite in turn in 2 minutes Which group has more correct words and finish earlierwill win the game So that Ss can learn the new words by heart Then I help them topronounce these words and understand their meanings

Activity 2: I ask Ss to match the words in “Listen and repeat” part with their

definitions then I help them to pronounce these words correctly

V DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS

1 The results of the term tests.

1.1 The first term test

R. 0 st 0 st 0 sts 1 st 12

sts

10sts

9 sts 9 sts 3 sts 1 sts 0 st

S. 0 st 0 sts 2 sts 4 sts 5 sts 9 sts 11

sts

11sts

5 st 1 st 0 st

L. 0 st 0 st 3 sts 6 st 8 sts 15

sts

10sts

6 sts 0 st 0 st 0 st

W. 0 st 0 st 2 sts 4 sts 15

sts

16sts

9 sts 2 st 0 st 0 st 0 st

* (M stands for Mark ; R stands for Reading part: S stands for Speaking part; L stands for Listening part; W stands for Writing; st for student ; sts for students) The result of the first term-ending test of class 11A3 (school year: 2020-2021)

As can be seen, there was a gradual rise in the number of standard students inlistening part Among 48 students in class 11A3 taking part in the test, only 17students got under-five marks (accounted for 35,4%), 22 students (made up 64,5%)got marks in the range of 5 and 7 Surprisingly, the 2 other classes got almost thesame results This was an obvious evident for students’ progress in their listeningability