Some motivational techniques for teaching phrasal verbs to 10th grade students at nhu xuan high school

In other words, to be successful in communicating as well as the GCSEexaminations, learners should master a considerate number of phrasal verbs.However, phrasal verbs are not one of stud

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 REASONS TO CHOOSE THE THEME

Phrasal verbs are considered an integral domain of linguistics in theEnglish language Native English speakers use phrasal verbs all the time.They are extremely prevalent in conversations and informal written language.Therefore, not only do English as a second language learners need to understandthe more common phrasal verbs, but they will also need to use them themselves

In other words, to be successful in communicating as well as the GCSEexaminations, learners should master a considerate number of phrasal verbs.However, phrasal verbs are not one of students’ favorite topic because they are

so complicate and difficult for them to memorize and use When teaching thestudents at Nhu Xuan high school, the writer found that most of them are notmotivated in learning phrasal verbs in lessons Hence, they are often weak inunderstanding phrasal verbs and have the tendency to avoid using them,especially in oral communication

Those above –mentioned reasons and my career passion motivate meapply some fun and motivative activities to teach students phrasal verbs and getsome satisfactory results in student’s target language acquirements Therefore, I

myself would like to write this experience initiative, “Some motivational techniques for teaching phrasal verbs to 10 th grade students at Nhu Xuan high school”, with the aim to share some of my opinions to make students more

engaged and enjoyable in achieving phrasal verbs

2 PURPOSES OF THE RESEARCH

The main purposes of the research are to:

- Motivate students to learn phrasal verbs in their reading and speakinglessons

- Help students get familiar with phrasal verbs and use them sound naturaland fluent in communication

- Enable students to earn marks from this difficult grammatical point inregular tests and the GCSE

- To contribute a small part to the improvement of teaching and learning atNhu Xuan high school

- Provide reference materials for teachers who intend to teach their studentsphrasal verbs more fun and effective

3 METHOD OF THE RESEARCH

- Gathering the information collected from reference books and the Internet

- Discussing for experiences from my colleagues

- Teaching one class using the research techniques and one class using thegiven tasks in the textbook Tieng Anh 10.

- Giving tests for assessment

- Gathering students’ results and evaluate

4 OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE RESEARCH

The objective of the study is to motivate my students learning phrasal verbsand use them correctly in suitable context

The activities are adapted from tasks in the textbook “Tieng Anh 10” andsome from teaching methodology books

The study was carried on students in two classes 10 A1 and 10 A2 at NhuXuan High School

PART II: CONTENT

1 THEORETIC BASIS OF THE PROBLEM

This project is based on three theories: Muti-Modal Teaching,Communicative Language Teaching and “text-context method” First, thetheory that supports this project is the multi model teaching theory, which aims

to teach a concept through visual, auditory, reading, writing, and kinaestheticmethods It is meant to improve the quality of teaching by matching contentdelivery with the best mode of learning from the student Since English learnerscome from different cultural backgrounds, multi-modal teaching can facilitatedifferent platforms to help students comprehend the language The use ofmultimodal resources has the potential to enhance language and literacylearning, and it could even affect students‘ identities The second theorymentioned above is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Nunan (1989)points out that language learning does not occur in the linear-additive fashionthat a synthetic syllabus presupposes and thus the focus of learning shouldalternatively be on language use rather than on the language itself Finally,Andrzej Cirocki, a proponent of the ‘text/ context method’, has a usefulapproach to teach phrasal verbs He states that if we aim at teaching a fewPhrasal Verbs to our students, we should present them in many different realcontexts so as to enable them to deduce their exact meaning and to see whetherthey are transitive or intransitive, separable or inseparable All these items can benoticed by the students if Phrasal Verbs are presented in authentic contexts(Cirocki, 2003)

2 PRACTICAL BASIS OF THE PROBLEM

I work in Nhu Xuan High school, which is located in a mountainousdistrict of Thanh Hoa province Most of my students are ethnic minoritychildren who are often disadvantaged in many aspects However, they are

PHRASAL VERBS

Intransitive

(no direct object)

Ex: I get up at 6 o’clock.

Transitive (have a direct object)

Inseparable Object Ex: I’ll look after

him

Separable Object Ex: Turn off the TV (or: Turn it off)

willing to change their lives by making every effort to acquire knowledge,especially English - the international language However, they mainly learnvocabulary and grammar points mechanically without meaningfulunderstanding They often claim that phrasal verbs present a difficult challengefor them They do not know how to deal with memorizing the forms and themeanings of a large number of phrasal verbs In addition, since the mostcommon phrasal verbs teaching method for students in Vietnam is explainationand recitation, the students are not engaged and motivated in the lessons.Working as a teacher for several years, I myself understand the nature of theproblem and do the research to find out some effective teaching techniques toapply in my classes to solve those problems

3 SOLUTIONS TO THE PROBLEM

3 1 Helping students recognize what a phrasal verb is

* Definition

“A phrasal verb is a verb that is made up of a main verb together with anadverb or a preposition, or both Typically, their meaning is not obvious fromthe meanings of the individual words themselves” (Oxford Dictionary)

For example: - She has always looked down on me.

- Don’t put me off I’m trying to concentrate.

* Classifying

3 2 Using some techniques for teaching phrasal verbs

3.2.1 Teaching phrasal verbs by topic

One of good ways to learn phrasal verbs is to organize them by subjects.When teacher group them in topics, students can see a link between the differentverbs They find phrasal verbs more relatable and interesting to learn Forexample: when students learn “get up” and “get dressed”, they should learn

them together with other verb phrases in the topic “daily activities” such as go towork, get home, have a shower, put on,…By this way, students find phrasalverbs easier to remember.

For this reason, when teacher covers a topic in a textbook, they arerecommended to teach some phrasal verbs with related vocabulary Teacher canuse one of the four skills such as reading, listening, speaking, and writing toteach new phrasal verbs

In English 10 text book, I chose some units that can be easily applieduseful phrasal verbs to demonstrate how to use this technique to teach them.Here are some demonstration:

Example Units Name of the

unit

Equivalent Topic

Reading, quizzes

Example 2 Unit 2 School talks School activities Reading, listening,

quizzes

Example 1: When finishing Unit 1 A day in the life of…(English 10),

teacher can design some exercises for students to practice the phrasal verbs theyhave just learnt Firstly, teacher indicates the topic to learn: “Morningactivities” Teacher may use some techniques to introduce some phrasal verbswhose meaning is about the same topic

stop working (a light), start

to ring (an alarm), explode(a bomb)

It makes a sudden loud noise whenthe alarm goes off

wake up no longer sleeping I am having an important meeting

tomorrow Will you wake me up at

turn off stop from operating We turned off the light beforeanyone could see us

get up be out of bed What time do you often get up inthe morning? put on Wear I put on a sweater and a jacket

get on enter (a bus, train) Passengers are not allowed to geton the bus with lots of luggage

get off leave (a bus, train) Every passenger must be carefulwhen getting off the train

go into to start to do sth He went into a long explanation ofthe affair.After teaching these phrasal verbs above, teacher checks students’understanding of the meaning of the phrases they have learned by giving them apiece of text (like the paragraph below: I’m a morning person) Students arerequired to read it and try to remember the bold phrases’ meaning This activity

is very important because it helps students memorize phrasal verbs in context

I’m a “morning person”

The alarm goes off at 7.00 I wake up and turn it off I get up quickly and godownstairs to have a shower I sing a song in the shower I love putting on myjacket every Tuesday While listening to my favorite English Time, I take a cup

of coffee Mmm Then I have some toast for breakfast I take my bag and run tocatch the bus I get on the bus and go for three or four stops, and get off I gointo work and say “GOOD MORNING” to my first class It’s 8.30

The final stage should include some multiple choice exercises This helpsstudent to get familiar to those in the International examination Teacher scorestudents’ paper to evaluate their progress

Exercise: Choose the best option

1 Yesterday I _ at 6 but I stayed in bed until my mom called me

2 You take the bus number 26 and _ at the last stop I live near there.

3 Please _ the light before you leave the office

4 The bus was full We couldn’t _

5 Grandmother tried to _, but the couch was too low, and she couldn’tmake it on her own

6 Grandmother tried to _, but the couch was too low, and she couldn’tmake it on her own

7 It’s very cold outside I quickly _ a coat and went out

8 I stop sleeping very early in the morning

9 I stop sleeping and get out of bed at 7 on weekday

10 She starts wearing her jacket as she goes out for a walk

Answer key:

Example 2: Unit 2: School talks (English 10)

Equivalent topic: School activities

List of phrasal verbs:

Come in enter Always be sure to show a friendly

smile when a customer comes in.Stand up be in an upright

position on your

He was sitting on a bench then

feet suddenly stood up.

Sit down to place on surface

of sth (ground,chair)

We sat down with George to discuss anew extended contract

Take out bring, get sth The thief who broke into the museum

last night took out a lot of preciouspaintings

Write down take a note, jot

down

Sorry, why do I have to write down

my name on every page of thisregistration form?

Pick up collect If you see a note on your way, do you

Look up discover, search I didn’t know the correct spelling so I

had to look it up in the dictionary?Miss out skip, omit sth Buy some now or we will miss out on

the best deal of the year

Turn over transfer, turn to

another side of sth

He didn’t wait to turn the page over;

he started to read it attentively

Teacher lets students read the text to memorize the phrasal verbs they havelearned

Our classroom “FaceSnaps”

I still remember my first day at school When my teacher, Mrs Smith, came

in, everybody stood up to bow We were allowed to sit down but sheimmediately asked us to take out a pen, and then write down our names,birthdays, phone numbers, home addresses and hobbies on a piece of paper.Then she picked up all of the paper to make up a book that we called

“FaceSnaps” From then on, by looking up our friends’ personal information inthat book frequently, we never missed out on a birthday party You wanna see

my FaceSnap? Turn over the first page and I’m still there!

Teacher plays the audio from the above text and asks students to do the tasks

M: Have you ….(1)… their phone number for me?

W: Yah And I remember …(2)…… somewhere in my notepad

Conversation 3:

W: Sorry I can’t find the list of the attendees anywhere

M: …(1)… my notepad and …(2)… the first 5 pages …(2), then you will seethe list on the left column But be sure not to add any more names to that list.W: OK I just want to …(3)… some names for my report

Conversation 4:

W: How did you spend your time when you were young?

M: I just loved …(1)…… on the sofa and watching TV

W: Well, I didn’t have a TV when I was young, so I think I ….(2)… on a lot

of fun

After reading and listening exercise, teacher gives one more exercise so thatstudents can consolidate the lesson

Task 2: Circle the correct answer for each blank

1 Fall clothes will be _ soon

2 How many teeth did the dentist _ out?

3 If you want to get the correct spelling, please _ them up in the dictionary

4 Please color one side blue, then _ the page to color the back side orange

A turn over B miss out C write down

5 If you see a toy on the floor, please _ and put in the toy box.

A pick up it B pick it up C pick them up

6 Alex was very furious He _ and got out of the room

Task 3: Matching: Which object does each phrasal verb go with?

Conversation 1: 1 Stand up 2 Comes in

Conversation 2: 1 Looked up 2 Writing it down

Conversation 3: 1 Take out 2 Turn …over 3 Pick up

Conversation 4: 1 Sitting down 2 Missed out

Exercise 2:

Exercise 3:

1 Take out a name 2 Write down a number

3 Miss out a party 4 Pick up a pen

5 Turn over a page 6 Make up an unreal story

7 Look up an English word

3.2.2 Teaching phrasal verbs using flashcards

There are many media in teaching vocabulary; one of them is by using

flashcard Flashcard is one of media which can help the teacher to teach phrasal verbs easily Flash cards in teaching the vocabulary are very simple visual aids and the teacher can make the students more active during the teaching learning process Teacher can also motivate students by holding some art competitions among 4 groups in a class Teacher gives the tasks of drawing some Flashcards

to demonstrate the meaning of some phrasal verbs These activities keep

students more engaged in the lesson and also fun Here are some examples of Flashcards to teach

3.2.3 Teaching phrasal verbs in groups

This way seems to be appropriate for logical students The only shortcoming

is that it can be boring and quite hard to remember Teacher can design moreactivities to help students memorize logically For example, teacher can collectthose cards and classify them into 2 groups based on verbs or particles:

+ Group 1: verbs ( get, fall, make,…)

+ Group 2: particles (off, up, against…)