Using the short news and songs in english to practise listening skills for 11th grade

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAININGTHANH CHUONG 3 HIGH SCHOOL =====  ===== TEACHING EXPERIENCE USING THE SHORT NEWS AND SONGS IN ENGLISH TO PRACTISE LISTENING SKILLS FOR 11TH G

NGHE AN DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

THANH CHUONG 3 HIGH SCHOOL

=====  =====

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

USING THE SHORT NEWS AND SONGS IN ENGLISH

TO PRACTISE LISTENING SKILLS FOR

11TH GRADE STUDENTS.

Teacher: Hoàng Thị Hằng Group: English

School year: 2020 - 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 5: Some images were taken in classes which were

applied this teaching method

29

5.1 Images of 4 classes 11A3, 11 B, 11D2, 11D5 in listening lessons 295.2 Images of group works of these classes in listening parts 30

5.4 Images of the interview and talk about gardening in lesson 5 335.5 Image of presentation about their favourite singers 34

I INTRODUCTION

1 Reason for teaching experience

How to teach and study English effectively is always a big question to bothteachers and students Moreover, learning a language is a complex and longprocess as anyone who has tried will agree The knowledge introduced in thetextbook is what all students have to exploit and receive However, if teacherteaches directly the lessons, students will feel passive and bored They cannotdefine what they are going to study because the fact that English is too difficult forthem, especially in listening skills

As we known, “ Listening is ability to identify and understand what others

are saying This involves understanding a speaker’s accent and pronunciation, his

grammar and vocabulary, and grasping his meaning” (Howatt and Dakin 1974).

However, in almost mountainous areas the students have little chance to practicelistening and speaking with native speakers They encounter many problems withlistening skills, so they feel bored with the subject

Furthermore, it can be undeniable that English has played a vital role in theperiod of modernization and industrialization It is not only the official language inmany fields of society but also the compulsory subject of many countries.Companies are becoming more international, and English is listed as an essentialskill for more and more jobs Therefore, being good at English is everyone’s desirebecause they can easily find a good job in job markets However, the effectiveness

of teaching and studying Listening Skills is not really as what we want

Despite their good grammar and vocabulary, Listening skills in Englishcause students a lot of trouble They can not communicate well because of poorlistening Therefore, to contribute to solving the problem, I have made every effort

to find out the ways to improve and develop students’ listening skills, not only inlistening lessons but also other ones

In my teaching experience, I would like to recommend this method to helpimprove listening skill for 11th graders:“Using the short news and songs in English to practise listening skills for 11 th grade”.

2 Purposes of teaching experience

The purposes of the study is to investigate some useful listening activities toimprove and develop students’ listening skills through short news and songs inEnglish

3 Innovation of teaching experience

Listening is a basic skill in first language acquisition and is crucial inEnglish as Second/Foreign Language (ESL/EFL) learning According to Wolvin(2012) listening has been identified as one of the most used and one of the most

important communication skills in personal, academic, and professional settingsalike The vital role of listening in communication begins with the recognition thatlistening is the first language skill to be acquired Given the concepts related tolistening, it is essential for language teachers to help their students becomeeffective listeners It is not only for communicative goal of language teaching butalso when they use the language outside the classroom as well.

Besides that, using authentic songs and news is a new way in teachinglistening skills We can access a great deal of materials which is updated everyminute on the internet Students do not feel bored with the repetition of oldinformation in the text books Moreover, the authentic songs and news can be usedfor a number of purposes and there are many reasons why songs and news can beconsidered a valuable pedagogical tool Teachers should take songs and news to ateaching context First of all, music and news have to do with social context Thesecond, they may change students' mood Next, they provide stimulation andentertainment as well as challenge and pleasure Furthermore, music and newsmaybe associated with happiness because it brings people's remembrances anddreams Finally, most teachers agree that music and authentic news are powerfultools to learn English

4 Methods of teaching experience

To complete my study, I draw experience from my own teaching, especially

in teaching for gifted students I also consult a lot of documents and my colleaguesabout their teaching experiences Moreover, I carry out surveys among grade 11students I also use comparative methods (Compare the differences between mycolleagues’ periods and mine, compare the differences of the periods before andafter application)

5 Background of teaching experience

I applied techniques to teach students in 11A3, 11B, 11D2 and 11D5 atThanh Chuong 3 High School (a mountainous school with low level in English) inschool year 2020 -2021, and some of them for gifted students

The following statistics at my classes when I did not apply these techniques:

11A3

( 39 students)

(inapplicable)

The table shows the statistics of classes 11A3, 11B, 11D2, 11D5 and some

of gifted students about listening results when I have not applied the techniques

As can be seen, a lot of students in these classes can not listen to English well Thegood students who can listen to English make up below 10 % On the other hand,the number of normal and low level students account for more than 50 % in theseclasses In reality, they are lack of capability in listening skills, and usually getbored with the subject So, using songs and news is a new way to motivate studentsand help them pay more attention to the subject

of music and associated song lyrics with students Various teaching methods areused to teach ESL learners and, according to research, music is the most importantmethod to enhance the learning of ESL (Horn, 2007, p.7)

It is said that songs play roles as authentic materials When designinglessons and teaching materials to further develop listening comprehension skills,students need to be motivated and stay motivated According to Hornby (1990), asong is a piece of music with words that is sung Song is also a great languagepackage that bundles culture, vocabulary, listening, grammar and a host of otherlanguage skills in just a few rhymes Songs can also provide a relaxed lesson.They can also form the basis for many lessons (Futonge, 2005).

An other way of teaching listening is using news to provide authenticmaterials for learners By listening to the news (on TV, the internet or radio)students are expected to be able to comprehend spoken language and it willimprove their ability in listening comprehension So, by listening to the authenticnews, the students are trained to listen to the listening material from differentsources, topics, and accents, of the news readers These activities also train them tounderstand the spoken language in limited time, because the news presenterscommonly deliver the news faster

Therefore, songs and news are authentic materials to improve students’listening abilities By doing this task regularly, the students will know the widerange of vocabulary, pronunciation of unfamiliar words, and accents of the newsreaders When this activity is done continuously it will improve their listeningcomprehension

1.2 Practical background

Through teaching, my colleagues and I have experienced some obstacles

in teaching listening parts in the classroom The followings are the mostcommon ones:

- The content of listening parts in the text book is too challenging andgeneral Some of them are not updated every day Therefore, students find it hard

to engage in the lessons

- Because the exams usually examine students in grammar, reading andwriting skills, teachers at high school seldom pay attention to communicative skillslike listening section

- Some teachers remain the same requirement, do not adapt the task, do notprepare the activities beforehand This leads to boredom and overload amongstudents

- The most important thing is the students at Thanh Chuong 3 High Schoolare mainly from mountainous area, some of them are ethnic minority They have alot of difficulties in learning foreign language, particularly the chance to accessinternet to get materials is too little As a result, they are not motivated in learningEnglish (especially in listening section) and they lose their passion for the subject.Consequently, they usually get bad marks in the exams and feel bored withlearning English

- To solve the problem, I decided to conduct a classroom action researchwhich focus on improving my students’ listening by applying authentic Englishsongs and news These songs and news bring positive changes to my students So,finding effective solution is main duty of this teaching experience

CHAPTER 2 THE TECHNIQUES

To help students improve their listening skills, these authentic tasks andactivities have been organized in the classroom and some of them carried out asstudents’ homework (I ask Students to use PORTFOLIO to collect Students’ newsand song notes as a regular work, which was done every week)

2.1 PRE – LISTENING TASKS:

o True or False statements Teacher asks the Students to guess the answers before listening.

o Synonym matching – Students guess and try to match the synonyms in two columns.

o Sentence matching – Provide sentences that have been cut in half Students try to match the beginning to the end of the sentence.

o Vocabulary and some grammar points relate to the topics

2.2 WHILE – LISTENING TASKS

o Gap-filling (with options)

o Gap-filling (without options)

o Multiple-choice questions

o Reorder the sentences

o And many others, but make sure tasks are more targeted towards listening comprehension and not entirely open-ended.

2.3 POST – LISTENING TASKS

o Open-ended questions: why, what, where, who, how, etc…

CHAPTER 3 THE ILLUSTRATION

3.1 Sample 1

LESSON 1 (I adapt some tasks of listening section of Unit 10 English 11 – Basic

level) (I also use this task for my gifted students)

LISTENING TO THE NEWS Headline: Cases in the U.S have decreased in recent weeks, but new

virus variants are bringing new threats.

 Objectives: Help students practice listening for specific information,inferring meaning, and discussing about problems of Covid-19

 Level: Intermediate

 Activity type: Note taking

 Grammar focus: Passive Voice

 Vocabulary: infection, mutation, trajectory, pandemic, clinical trials,legislation

 Preparation: design the worksheet and copy for every students in the class

- Expected answer:

1.b, 2a, 3f, 4b, 5e, 6d

- T calls some students to giveanswers and ask them to giveVietnamese meaning ifnecessary

- T asks SS to read the wordschorally and individually

- Work in pairs andmatch the words withsynonyms

- Give answers andVietnamese meaning

- Read the words chorallyand individualy

While –

listening

- T asks SS to read through thetasks

- T asks Ss to guess what kind

- Read through the news onworksheet and guess the kind

of missing words

20 minutes of words that are missing.

- T plays the audio/video forstudents to listen and take notethe missing words

- T asks Ss to work in pairs andexchange the answers

- T calls some Ss to write themissing words on the board

- T plays the audio/video for Ss

to listen again and check theanswers

- T gives feedback and answerkey

- T calls some leaders of thegroups to express theirdiscussion

- Work in groups and discussabout Covid -19

- Make presentation in front

of the class

THE WORKSHEET 1

S

ome people took part in clinical trials

Listen to the news and do the tasks that follow

- Underline the passive voice in the news.

III Listen to the news and fill in the blank with missing words.

Cases in the U.S have decreased in recent weeks, but new virus variants arebringing new threats

Reports of new COVID-19 infections are leveling off But the CDC says it's

no time to relax - because of (1)……… from new mutations of the virus.There are more than 28 million (2) ………… and 510,000 deaths in theU.S now, with the past week showing a 29 percent decrease in daily infectionscompared to two weeks earlier

But the head of the CDC said Friday there's a concerning new shift inCOVID-19's trajectory That's because highly (3) ……… new variants ofthe virus are forming and spreading

"We may be done with the virus but clearly the virus is not done with us,"

said CDC director Dr Rochelle Walensky We cannot get comfortable or give in to

a false sense of (4) ……… that the worst of the pandemic is behind us.Not now, not when mass (5) ……… is so very close."

More than 70 million vaccine doses have been administered in the U.S., and

President Biden (6)……… 100 million shots by April 30 - his 100th day inoffice

And a third vaccine would help in that mission Health officials say 3.9million doses of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine could be available soon - enough toincrease vaccinations in states by 25 percent

And still another pending vaccine, from AstraZeneca, could be a major

weapon because it's been modified to tackle emerging COVID-19 (7)………… The vaccine is now being distributed internationally But it is still undergoing American clinical trials, which must be completed before it can get emergency

use approval in the U.S

And another step in the pandemic - President Biden's (8)………relief package passed in the House Saturday, and now it's off to the Senate Buteven with the progress on legislation - and vaccinations - the commander in chiefisn't celebrating yet

"This is not a victory lap Everything’s not fixed We’ve got a long way togo."

IV Discussion

1 How does the Covid -19 pandemic affect to the human race, environment,

economy, education, and so on?

2 What do we have to do to keep away that virus?

This image of class 11A3 when I apply some techniques

This image is about students’ listening effect when I use this teaching method in class

In the image, the students of class 11B usually feel bored with Englishsubject However, when I apply this technique, they pay more attention to thelesson, and do the task eagerly.

news

3.2 Sample 2

LESSON 2 (I adapt the listening skill of Unit 2- English 11 Basic level)

LISTENING TO THE SONG Song: I NEVER LOVE AGAIN – LADY GAGA

- Objectives: after the lesson, students will be able to arrange the information,

correct the mistakes and make the role play as a singer

- Level: Pre – Intermediate

- Activity type: Note taking, reordering, and correcting

- Grammar focus: Future form, shorten form, and command form

- Vocabulary: break my heart, stranger, pretend, sunlight, touch

- Preparation: design the worksheet and copy for every students in the class

- T calls some pairs to giveanswers

- Work in pairs and talk aboutthe favourite singers

- Give answers

- T provides to students somevocabularies and asks Ss togive Vietnamese meaning.

- T asks Ss to read the wordschorrally and individually

- T asks Ss to guess what kind

of words that are missing

- T plays the audio/video forstudents to listen and take notethe missing words

- T asks Ss to work in pairsand exchange the answers

- T calls some Ss to write themissing words on the board

- T plays the audio/video for

Ss to listen again and checkthe answers

- T gives feedback and answerkey

Expected answers:

Could/ goodbye/ wanted/

cried/ knew/ last/ broke/ two/

save.

Task 2: Reorder the

- Read through the worksheetand guess the kind of missingwords

- Listen to the audio/videoand fill the missing words

- Go to the board and writethe answers

- Take note the right answers

on the worksheet

- T asks Ss to listen to the song

again and rearrange the task

- T plays the audio/video twice

-T calls some Ss to give

answers

- T plays the tape again, gives

feedback and answer key

Task 3 Correct the mistakes

- T asks Ss to listen to the song

to find and correct the

mistakes

- T plays the tape twice

- T calls some Ss to give

answers

- T plays the tape again , gives

feedback and answer key

- Expected answers:

When we first met

I never thought that I would

fall

I never thought that I’d find

myself

Lying in your arms, mm, mm

And I wanna pretend that it’s

Oh, baby, that you’re gone

‘Cause my world keeps turnin’, and turnin’, and turnin’

And I’m not movin’ on

T provides students thetapecript

Post – Listening

15 minutes

- T asks Ss to work in groupsand make the role play “I’m asinger”

- T calls some students tomake role play

- Work in groups and makerole play

- Make role play and singsome favourite Englishsongs

WORKSHEET 2

Audio/video source:

https://tinyurl.com/ncrcz34d

1 Fill in the blank

Wish I ……… , I could’ve said ………

I would’ve said what I ……… to

Maybe even ………… for you

If I ………… It would be the last time

I would’ve ………… My heart in ………

Tryna ……… A part of you

2 ****CHORUS****

Reorder the sentences

…. Don’t wanna start another fire

… Don’t wanna feel another touch

… Don’t wanna know another kiss

… No other name fallin’ off my lips

3 Correct the mistakes

When we last met

I never thought that I water fall

I never thought that I’d see myself

Lying in your arms, mm, mm

And I want to see that it’s not true

Oh, honey, that you’re far

‘Cause my head keeps changing, and changing, and changing

And I’m not movin’ on

Image of student’s listening note when I use some techniques

3.3 Sample 3

LESSON 3 (I adapt the listening skill of Unit 8- English 11 Basic level)

LISTENING TO THE NEWS News: Italian Fashion

 Objectives: help student improve the matching, and filling gap (with options)

 Level: intermediate

 Activity type: matching

 Grammar focus: tenses revision

 Vocabulary: featuring, runway, collaborate, solidarity, artisans,

exhibition, ridiculous.

 Preparation: design the worksheet and copy for every students in the class.

- T asks SS to read the new

individually

- Work in pairs andbrainstorm ideas aboutfashion

- T asks Ss to guess what kind

of words that are missing (withoptions provided)

- T plays the audio/video forstudents to listen and choose theright words

- T asks Ss to work in pairs andexchange the answers

- T calls some Ss to giveanswers

- T plays the audio/video for Ss

to listen again and check theanswers

- T gives feedback and answerkey

- Listen to the audio/videoand choose the missingwords

- Give the correct answers

- Take note the rightanswers on the worksheet

- T plays the tape twice

- T calls some Ss to giveanswers

- T plays the tape again, givefeedback and answer key

- T calls some leaders of thegroups to present in front ofclass

- Work in groups and talkabout Italian Fashion

- Make presentation in front

of the class

WORKSHEET 3 Audio/video source https://tinyurl.com/ncrcz34d ITALIAN FASHION TASK 1: Listen and choose the right option.

Designer Stella Jean joins the band Soul Voices at the end of her fashion show in Milan, Italy, Sunday, September 24, 2017 (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Stella Jean is a Haitian-Italian clothes (1) (model/ designer) ……….who is trying to change the Italian fashion (2)(economy/industry) ……… by

working with African designers She is showing her designs during Milan Fashion

Week, a seasonal event in Italy’s northern (3)(culture/ agriculture)

……….center of Milan The current show lasts until March 4 Jean is the

only Black (4)(member/ leader) ……….of the Italian National Fashion

Chamber, a non-profit group that supports Italian fashion She credits the group

with “a lot of goodwill” in (5)(cooperating/ organising) ………with five

young designers The effort included financing and business partnerships withItalian suppliers

Task 2: Listen and match

1 Jean’s work became

popular after…

2 Edward Buchanan and

Michelle Ngomo are two

Black fashion designers

working in Milan…

3 The Italian fashion group is

continuing its efforts by…

4 Jean also wants the world

fashion system to value

c They collaborated with Jean demanding fashion

companies show their solidarity with the Black

Lives Matter Movement through action

d So she created an event to build relationships between Italian fashion companies and

Your answers: 1…., 2… , 3… ,4…

 Presentation about Italian Fashion Look at the pictures and talk about Italian Fashion

Italian Women’s Fashion

Italian Men’fashion

Image of student’s listening note when I use some techniques

3.4 Sample 4

LESSON 4 (I adapt the listening skill of Unit 9- English 11 Basic level)

LISTENING TO THE SONG SONG: WRITING’S ON THE WALL- Sam Smith

 Objectives: help students improve the listening skills by numbering the lines, filling the words, choosing the best options.

 Level: Pre-intermediate

 Activity type: filling, choosing, numbering,ect…

 Vocabulary: hit the floor, shoot to miss, suffocate, shards of glass, haunt

 Preparation: design the worksheet and copy for every students in the class

- T calls some pairs to giveanswers

- T provides to students somevocabularies and asks Ss togive vietnamese meaning

- T asks Ss to read the wordschorrally and individually

- T plays the audio twice

- T calls some Ss to give answer

- T plays the audio/video for

Ss to listen again and check the

- Listen and choose the rightword

- Give answer

Task 2: Fill in the words

-T asks Ss to listen and fill the

missing words

- T plays the tape

- T calls Ss to give answers

- T plays the audio/video for

Ss to listen again and check the

- T asks Ss to guess the order

- Listen again and check

- Listen and fill the missingword

- Give answer

- Listen again and check

- Read through the task andguess the order of a piece ofsong

- Listen to the audio/videoand number the sentences

- Go to the board and writethe answers