Some vocational guidance based activities applied in unit 5, unit 6 and unit 8 (tieng anh 12)

REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC As a high school teacher, I have ever been asked for counsel by my students many times with some questions such as: “Should I apply for university or enrol

PART I: INTRODUCTION

I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC

As a high school teacher, I have ever been asked for counsel by my students

many times with some questions such as: “Should I apply for university or enroll

in a vocational school?”; “What tertiary institution should I apply for?”; “What college major is suitable for me?”; “Should I take an undergraduate course abroad with the aim of labor export?”; “What job is potential in the future?” and

the similar questions related to choosing a job in the future It can be seen that ourstudents meet a lot of difficulties in choosing a career path Therefore, what theyneed at the end of school education system is not only the perfect preparation forthe coming exams but also the clear vocational guidance In this situation, it isimpossible for us to give them a direct answer that what is the best for them What

we can do is providing them with some guidance so that our students can realizewhich option is the most suitable for them It can be said that vocational guidanceplays an important role in assisting students, especially grade 12 students, to bewell-prepared for their future career

Vocational guidance, which is considered as the responsibility of both familiesand schools, is advised to be conducted as soon as possible Vocational guidanceactivities can be organized in many different ways in which giving vocational

guidance through school subjects is highly appreciated As a teacher of English in

a high school, I always desire to contribute to guiding my students to choose rightfuture jobs A question raised is how to provide students with vocational guidancethrough English lessons which focus on language skills Whereas, my students are

at the grade 12 when the GCSE exam is coming soon and the teachers try to teachthe knowledge that helps students to get good marks in their tests and exams Itmeans I have to give them vocational guidance through teaching knowledge andlanguage skills

Finding that Unit 5: Higher education, Unit 6: Future jobs and Unit 8: Life in the future in textbook Tieng Anh 12 are the units containing the topics which relate

closely to students’ career path, I would like to make full use of teaching theseunits to provide my students with some vocational guidance With this solution, Ihope my students can obtain some necessary knowledge of future employment sothat they can make right decision on their future jobs

For the reasons above, from the beginning of the school year 2018-2019, I have

carried out a study with topic “Some vocational guidance - based activities applied in Unit 5, Unit 6 and Unit 8 (Tieng Anh 12)” Hoping that the study can

contribute to assisting our students to prepare well for their future career.Furthermore, with the activities suggested in the study, the ways of organizingwarm-up and post-stages may become more flexible and creative

II AIMS, SCOPE, OBJECTS AND METHOD OF THE STUDY

1 Aims of the study

As mentioned above, the aim of the study is to contribute to assisting students

in making the best choice for their future jobs by designing activities that focus on fulfilling students’ knowledge of future employment through practicing language skills The study also helps me to improve my teaching method and my students' English skills as well

2 Scope of the study

The study focuses on the warm-up, post- reading and post- listening stages of

the lessons in Unit 5, Unit 6 and Unit 8 (Tieng Anh 12).

3 Objects of the study

The objects of the study are the 144 students from the classes: K51A1, K51B2, K51B4 and K51B8 at my Upper Secondary School

4 Method of the study

- Sharing learning goals with students

- Carrying out the surveys to find out the effect of the activities

- Helping students know and recognize the standards to aim for

- Studying the documents dealing with the theme (mainly from the Internet,books, newspapers)

- Using analytic methods

- Observing and asking colleagues for ideas and experiences

- Practicing the application of the study

- Providing feedback that helps students to identify how to improve

- Believing that every student can improve in comparison with previousachievement

- Both the teacher and students review and reflect on students’ performance andprogress

- Students learn self-assessment techniques to discover areas they need toimprove

PART II: CONTENT

I THEORITICAL BACKGROUND

1 Vocational guidance

1.1 Definition of vocational guidance

Every young man requires advice as to what kind of work will be most suitablefor him keeping in view his abilities and aptitudes When such an advice is given,

it is known as vocational guidance The following are some definitions ofvocational guidance:

According to The National Vocational Guidance Association of America 1937,

“The vocational guidance is the process of assisting the individuals to choose anoccupation, prepare for it, enter upon and progress in it It is concerned primarilywith helping individuals make decision and choices involved in planning a future,and building a career decision, and choices necessary in affecting satisfactoryvocational adjustment”

“Vocational guidance is a facilitative process, a service rendered to the

individual to aid him in choosing and adjusting to an occupation.” (John D Crites)

“Vocational guidance refers to the inevitable direction given to the care of newemployees in the selection process and in their assignment to particular types of

work.” (Dale Yoder)

“Vocational guidance is the assistance rendered by an individual to another inthe latter’s solving of problems related to his progress and vocational selectionkeeping in mind the individual’s peculiarities or special abilities and their relations

with his occupational opportunity”( International Labour Organisation.)

“Vocational guidance is fundamentally an effort to conserve the priceless nativecapacities of youth and costly training provided for youth in the school It assiststhe individual to invest and use his capacities in those vocations which will bring

greatest satisfaction and success to himself and greatest benefit to society.”

-Myers (1941)

“Vocational guidance is the process of helping a person to develop and accept

an integrated and adequate picture of himself and of his role in the world of work,

to test this concept against reality and to convert it in to a reality with satisfaction

to himself and benefit to society.” — Super (1957)

1.2 Aims and objectives of vocational guidance

1.2.1 Aims of vocational guidance

- To assist the student to acquire such knowledge of the characteristics andfunctions, the duties and rewards of the group of occupation within which his

choice will probably lie as he may need for intelligent choice.

- To enable him to find what general and specific abilities, skills, etc., are requiredfor the group of occupations under considerations and what are the qualifications

of age, preparation, sex, etc., for entering them

- To give opportunity for experiences in school (try out courses) and out of school(after school and vacation jobs) that will give such information about conditions ofwork as will assist the individual to discover his own abilities and help in thedevelopment of wider interests

- To help the individual develop the point of view that all honest labour is worthyand that the most important bases for choice of an occupation are:

The peculiar service that the individual can render to society,

Personal satisfaction in the occupation,

Aptitude for the work required

- To assist the individual to acquire a technique of analysis of occupationalinformation and to develop the habit of analyzing such information before making

to them, the length of training offered, and the cost of attendance

- To help the workers to adjust himself to the occupation in which he is engaged ;

to assist him to understand, his relationships to workers in his own and relatedoccupations and to society as a whole

1.2.2 Objectives of vocational guidance

- To enable students to gain knowledge of the features, functions, scope, natureand duty requirement of employment in which they want to be engaged

- To assist students to receive up-to-date and useful information about abilitiesand skill as they possess in the context of related qualifications and competenciesrequired to accept a preferable job

- To help students to know their potentials, abilities and interests related toidentify vocation which they want to secure

- To enable students to develop capacities for analysing available vocationalinformation’s to have a better choice in relation to available information’s in thisregard

- To help students to avail information regarding scope and prospectus of various

educational training, apprenticeship schemes and different vocational training.

- To assist students to choose the right type of employment according to theirliking and satisfaction

- To enable students to develop entrepreneurship abilities within them for keepingfeet in the kingdom of self employment

- To assist students to develop abilities and skills for achieving successfulprogress and satisfactory performance in the occupation

- To enable students to gain maximum satisfaction out of his world of works

2 Vocational guidance-based activities

Vocational guidance - based activities are the activities that focus on:

- Assisting a student to acquire knowledge of the functions, duties,responsibilities, and rewards of occupations that lie within the range of his choice

- Assisting students to discover his own abilities and skills and to fit them in tothe general requirements of the occupations under consideration

- Assisting the student to evaluate his own capacities and interests with regard totheir greatest worth to him and to society

- Helping the individual to develop an attitude towards work that will dignifywhatever type of occupation he may wish to enter The important bases for choiceshould be personally achieved satisfactions and the service that can be rendered

- Giving exploratory opportunities in different areas of school learning andvocational exploration that will enable the learner to get the feel of several types ofactivities

- Assisting the individual to think critically about various types of occupationsand to learn a technique for analysing information about vocations

- Instilling in the student a confidence in the teachers and other guidancepersonnel that will encourage him when he confers with them on personal andvocational problems

- Assisting the student to secure the necessary information about the facilitiesoffered by various educational institutions engaging in vocational training

- Providing information for the learner about admission requirements, the length

of training, and the cost of attending and institution of higher learning to which hemay wish to go after graduation from high school in order to continue hisvocational preparation

- Giving assistance during school years so that the individual will be able to adjust

on the job to work conditions and to other workers

- Assisting each student to appreciate his rightful place in a group of workers and

to become a functional member of the team.

- Alerting the student to the long range training needed to become proficient inmost lines of endeavor

- Cautioning each learner concerning fads and pseudo scientific short cuts tovocational competency

- Helping the learner to realize that the success is purchased at the price of effort,and that satisfaction on the job derives from doing his work conscientiously andcompetently

3 Benefits of applying vocational guidance - based activities in teaching

English

- Attracting students’ more interests to the English lessons

- Students can be provided with some vocational guidance through practisinglanguage skills

- Students recycle what they have obtained from the texts

- Students go beyond the text and enter the real world, equipped with the

newly-obtained information

- Updating the problems that are closed to the students' real life and future jobs

- Students can prepare well for the future job.

- From the activities, the students are developing themselves to achieve

automaticity, meaningful learning, autonomy, willingness to communicate,interlanguage, and communicative competence

- An economical way to organize vocational guidance activities.

II SITUATION ANALYSIS

1 Situation of vocational guidance at my school.

It is considered that both families and schools take main responsibility forguiding vocation for students Annually, at the beginning of the school year, myschool’s Board of Directors always sets plan for vocational guidance Thevocational guidance is high appreciated by both teachers and students and carriedout during every school year However, the vocational guidance activities are stillquite formalistic They are often organised by gathering the students of the wholeschool or a grade at the school yard with the oral presentation of a teacher Thisway of organizing are not really effective because vocational guidance is a widesubject while the lectures are often in general and the number of students is toolarge, it is difficult for them to pay attention, and they seem to take no notice ofwhat the teacher is saying That is why although our school and teachers havemade every effort, vocational guidance at my school has not brought about

as specific as possible so that our students can recognize which career path is thebest for them.

2 Situation of teaching and learning English at my school.

As far as I know, the students’ living conditions have a big effect on the waystudents study Many of them learn English with the only aim to pass the nationalGCSE exam, so they mostly focus on studying pronunciation, vocabulary andgrammar They even feel it hard to remember all the required knowledge fordifferent exams

This way of thinking among students leads the teachers of English at myschool to nearly the same way of teaching the language We always try to fulfillthe knowledge in textbooks to our students Especially, the teachers who teach the

12th grade students often try to provide as many practice exercises related to theGCSE exam as possible With the help of modern technology, many lecturesdesigned by PowerPoint have been given to students The teachers also useinteresting activities such as games, quiz, and role -play…to stimulate students.They have been trying to apply new teaching methods to help students improvetheir language skills consist of reading, listening, speaking and writing The quality

of the lectures has been considerably raised and it plays an important role in theresults of the students in the exams

3 The English Language syllabus

The textbook Tieng Anh 12, as well as Tieng Anh 10 and Tieng Anh 11 is

traditional textbook structured with a priority towards theme-based or topic-basedlearning models The textbook has desirable aim of providing students with afoundational knowledge of numerous fields, a favorable attitude towards theEnglish Language, and the four skills generally recognized as building proficiency

in language study: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing In order to achievethese objectives, the content of the book is designed to utilize themes with whichall students will be familiar Included are topics related to the student’s social lives,

to sports, to work, and to leisure activities universal experiences For each topic,related vocabulary and word studies are presented communicatively The textbookcontains sixteen units, with each unit presenting five lessons with four differentskills and a language focus Reading is the first unit in each lesson, guidingstudents to key words and phrases of the related topic which then become

“building blocks” that enable them to learn additional skills

The book Tieng Anh 12 contains the topics which are familiar with the students Especially, there are some topics related to career path such as higher education, future jobs, life in the future …but the activities designed are not focus

on vocational guidance Therefore, although vocational guidance is necessary, it isnot compulsory

III SURVEY

1 Survey and the results

At the beginning of the school year 2018-2019, I have carried out the surveycontaining 5 multiple choice questions for 144 students from four classes 12A1,12B2, 12B4 and 12B8 of my school The survey was done twice One was at thefirst semester of the twelfth form (before teaching Unit 5, Unit 6 and Unit 8 withvocational guidance – based activities) and the other was at the end of the firstsemester (after using these activities) The table below shows the result of thesurvey for first time

the activities

1 How important do you think about

vocational guidance is?

B Important 43%

C Very important 52%

2 Do you find it necessary to be given

vocational guidance in the class?

A Unnecessary 6%

B Necessary 53%

C Very necessary 41%

3 How much vocational guidance do

you get through your English lessons?

5 How do you feel about making

decision on your future jobs?

C Difficult 54%

2 Findings from the survey.

The survey shows that before using the adapted activities, most of studentsfind it very difficult to decide what majors and what jobs they should apply forafter leaving high school Even though they know it is high time they gavedecision what to do in the future, they are not ready to decide Most of themconsider that they should be given vocational guidance in the class However,every English lesson they learn often mainly focuses on knowledge and language

skills As a result, little do they get about vocational guidance through Englishlessons.

IV SOLUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION

From the analysis above, it can be said that our students' understanding offuture employment is still limited However, teaching in general and teachingEnglish in particular at my school is mainly focused on knowledge and languageskills It is high time for us to provide our students' vocational guidance throughEnglish lessons

Warm-up and post- stage are the best choice for the solution because it is a goodchance for the students to connect English lessons with their real life withoutchanging the tasks designed in textbook and their standards of knowledge andskills Furthermore, based on the topics of the units we can create many differentactivities to discuss different problems in vocation guidance In addition, we alsocan apply many different activities for each lesson depending on what vocationalproblem we want our students to solve In short, warm-up and post- stage are thepotential stages to create and apply the activities which help provide our studentswith vocational guidance

The topics of the three Units: 5, 6 and 8 in textbook Tieng Anh 12 are very

close to the students’ career path, so it will be a waste if we do not make use ofthem to apply vocational guidance - based activities as the solution to the problem

I have chosen warm-up and post- stages to carry out the following activities Theseare some suggested activities which I have applied to guide vocation for mystudents

1 Suggested activities applied in Unit 5: Higher education

1.1 Sample application 1: A- Reading ( Warm-up)

 Aim: Help students recognize the career options after leaving high school

 Suggested activity: Brainstorming: List the career options you can select after

leaving high school

 Time limit: 5 minutes

 Preparation: - Students: Prepare posters and pens for group work; find out

career options

- Teacher: Prepare a poster of expected answers

 Procedure:

- Divide class into groups of six or eight

- Ask students to list what they can do after finishing high school and write onthe posters

- After 3 minutes, the representative of each group shows their poster

- Which group has more right options will get higher points

These are the imagines of students’ activities

 Expected answer:

 Transition:

You may have a lot of choices after you finish high school If you decide to apply for a tertiary institution, it means you will continue with higher education

And the topic of Unit 5 is Higher education

1.2 Sample application 2: A- Reading (Post-reading)

 Aim: Guide students to consider seriously whether they should apply for a

university or enroll in a vocational school after they finish high school

 Suggested activity: Discussion: Make a comparison between academic

education and vocational education

 Time limit: 10 minutes

Applying for a tertiary

institution

Finding a jobStarting up

CAREER OPTIONS

Going abroad for

undergraduatecourse abroadEnrolling in vocation

schools

- Divide the class into groups of 6 or 8

- Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages of academic education and vocational education and make them in comparison

- After 5 minutes, call on the representatives of the groups to report their groups' answers

The imagines are about students’ activities

- Ask other groups to give comments

- Teacher gives feedback and shows the expected answers

different careers.

Limited scope of learning - your area of expertise may be restricted Vocational courses tend to be focused on one type of career If you decide to change career paths, you may need additional education.

Employ

chances

- Many employers still give

preference to job applicants with a university degree.

-It is not easy to find a job

suitable for your field of study

You can get specialised training

in your industry So, rather than graduate with an academic degree and then have to get employment training, you are ready to start work immediately.

on learning, so graduates often lack the technical or practical skills needed in the current job market So, you can leave with a lot of theory but very few employment skills.

Develop mainly the technical and practical skills.

university with debts because the high cost of university

The shorter time to graduate with

a diploma also means that vocational learning is cheaper.

1.3 Sample application 3: B- Speaking (Warm-up)

 Aims: - Help students acquire a few information about some tertiary institutions

in Vietnam

 Suggested activity: Game: What am I?

 Time limit: 5 minutes

 Preparation: - Students: Look for information about some tertiary institutions

before class

- Teachers: Prepare the pictures of 6 tertiary institutions

 Procedure:

- Divide the class into two teams

- Each team chooses a leader

- The leader of each team takes turn to choose the pictures (each team has 3turns)

- The leader has to explain the institution so that their member can guess whatuniversity/ college it is (The explanation mustn’t mention any words in itsname)

- Ask the other members if there is anything else they know about the institution

- Which team has more correct answers will be the winner

Example: The leader: “I am located in the city of Nghe An I train nurses,

doctors… What am I?”

Other members: “ Vinh Medical University”

for training teachers What am I?”

Other members: “ Hanoi National University of Education”

Picture 2: The leader: “I am one of the top universities in Vietnam I’m famous for training doctors, nurses What am I?”

Other members: “Hanoi Medical University”.

Picture 3: The leader: “I am located in the city of Nghe An I train teachers, engineers, accountants …What am I?”

Other member: “Vinh University”

Picture 4: The leader: “I am located in the capital city of our country I’m the first choice for the students who want to become a policeman What am I?”

Other members: “People’s Security Academy”

Picture 5: The leader: “I am located in the biggest city of our country You should apply to me if you dream of becoming an actor/actress or a film maker What am I?”

Other members: “Ho Chi Minh Academy of Cinema”

Picture 6: The leader: “I am located in the most peaceful city of our country You should apply to me if you are interested in business, marketing, accounting… What am I?”

Other members: “ Hue College of Economics”

The pictures above illustrate students’ activities

 Transition:

You have explored a number of tertiary institutions in Vietnam If you are attempting to win a place in any tertiary institutions you should care about how to

apply to it In the lesson today - Unit 5: Speaking, you will have chance to talk

about the process of applying to tertiary institutions.

1.4 Sample application 4: C- Listening (Warm-up)

 Aim: Help students realise the chances and challenges of studying abroad so

that they can make a right decision on taking an undergraduate course abroad

or in their country

 Suggested activity: Guessing: The suggestions below are about the chances

and challenges of an education path Read the suggestions and try to guesswhat it is

 Time limit: 5 minutes

 Preparation:

- Students: Think about the chances and challenges of studying abroad

- Teacher: Prepare a poster of suggestions

- Good educational methods

- Foreign language fluency

- Exposure to the latest trends in technology

- Overall better lifestyle.

- Impress future employers

- Improve communication skills

- Explore a new culture

- Better networking skills

- Divide class into two teams

- Give students the suggestions

- Ask students to read the suggestions and try to guess what the education path

is Which team has the correct answer first will be the winner

- Teacher gives feedback

 Suggested answer: Studying abroad

 Transition: Studying abroad is a choice of many students these days However

studying overseas is not really easy Let’s listen to some difficulties and some

useful advice from an experienced student in the lesson today Unit 5: C-Listening.

The picture below describes the students’ participation in the activity

1.5 Sample application 5: C- Listening (Post-listening)

 Aim: Guide students to consider studying abroad with the aim of labour export

seriously

 Suggested activity: Discussion: Nowadays, studying abroad for labour export

is becoming polpular Discuss the benefits, difficulties and what they shouldconsider before making a choice

 Time limit: 10 minutes

 Preparation: - Students: Search for the benefits and difficulties of studying

abroad with the aim of labour export and what they have to consider beforemaking decision

- Teacher: Prepare a poster of expected answer

 Procedure:

- Divide the class into groups of 6 or 8

- Students discuss to find out the benefits and difficulties of studying abroad as away of labour exports and what they should consider before making a decision

- After 5 minutes, call on the representatives of the groups to report their groups'answers

Students work in groups and then report their working

- Ask other groups to give comments

- Teacher gives feedback and shows the suggested answers

 Expected answer :

- A legal way to work

in a developed

country

- Have chance to get a

high - paid job after

finishing university

- Very expensive

- Learners may be

under a lot ofpressure

- Language and culture

barrier

-Nations, regions -Family’s financial ability -Admission requirements -Fee, expenses

-One’s health, attempt and

ability

-One’s aims and objectives -Possible risks

1.6 Sample application 6: D - Writing (Warm-up)

 Aim: Help students to identify what information they need to find out before

making a decision on which tertiary institution to apply for

 Suggested activity: Discussion: What information do you need to explore

before choosing a tertiary institution to apply for?

 Time limit: 5 minutes

 Preparation: - Students: Prepare posters, pens for group work; think about the

necessary information of the tertiary institution they want to apply to

- Teacher: Prepare a poster of expected answer

 Procedure:

- Divide class into groups of 6 or 8.

- Ask students to work in groups and discuss

- Ask the representatives of some groups to give the answer

The imagines of students’ activities

- Teacher gives feedback

 Expected answer: Necessary information about a tertiary institution

lesson: Unit 5: D- Writing.

1.7 Sample application 7: E: Language focus (Warm-up)

 Aim: Guide students to choose right college majors base on one’s ability,

interest and aptitude

 Suggested activity: Game: Where is my half? (Find out the left half to make a