The reasons for choosing topics Relative clauses are important English grammatical structures of thehigh school English program in general as well as the English program 10, 11, 12 basic
Trang 12 Real situation before applying the experience idea :
3 Some skills to do exercises on passive voice (for weak
6 Effectiveness of teaching experience initiatives for
educational activities , with myself, my colleagues and
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THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
TRIEU SON 4 HIGH SCHOOL
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2.3 Some tips to help students do exercises on relative clauses
2.3.1 Defining relative clauses
2.3.1.1 Definition
2.3.1.2 Usage
2.3.2 Relative pronouns
2.3.2.1 Relative pronoun: Who
2.3.2.2 Relative pronoun: Whom
2.3.2.3 Relative pronoun: Whose
2.3.2.4 Relative pronoun: Which
2.3.2.5 Relative pronoun: That
2.3.2.6 No relative pronoun
2.3.2.7 Relative pronouns and their forms
2.3.3 Non – defining relative clauses
2.3.3.1 Definition
2.3.3.2 Usage
2.3.3.3 Relative pronouns used in non-relative clauses and
their forms
2.3.4 Connective relative clauses
2.3.4.1 Definition and usage
2.3.5 Practice
2.3.5.1 Type 1: Filling in the gaps
2.3.5.2 Type 2: Combine two clauses by using an appropriate
relative pronoun
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2.3.5.4 Type 4: Finding error
2.4 Effectiveness of teaching experience initiatives for
educational activities , with myself, my colleagues and my
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1 The opening
1.1 The reasons for choosing topics
Relative clauses are important English grammatical structures of thehigh school English program in general as well as the English program 10, 11,
12 (basic curriculum)
This grammar section was taught at secondary education ( Grade 8 ) InEnglish 10, 11 and 12 programs Relative clauses continue to be taught at thebasic level in Unit 4, 5 and 15 (Tieng Anh 10), Unit 9, 10, 11, 12 (Tieng Anh 11)and Unit 6 (Tieng Anh 12) This grammar points are fully taught fromintermediate level to advanced one with various type of exercises
In the GCSE examination, college entrance examination and, Passivevoice is available whereas the majority of students at high school in thecountryside in general and especially students at Trieu Son 4 high schools Theyhave not mastered basic knowledge of grammar points because of the followingreasons :
- Firstly, it is difficult grammar section, English studying environment isnot good in the countryside
- Secondly, student’s input is not high, most of students are lazy inlearning English Their studying purpose is to get a certificate for uppersecondary education
- Third, If the teachers do not classify different types of exercises, lack
of teaching experience, students often confuse to use passive voice in order torewrite sentences as well as to give correct form of the verbs in passive Theyhave difficulties in doing this sort of exercise If the teachers give speech to thisgrammar section ineffectively, it may be difficult for students to use passivevoice in other skills such as listening or speaking
Actually, teaching and learning passive voice at our school is limitedthis leads to the majority of students have difficulties in using passive voice to
do exercises, tests as well as expressing their thoughts in speech or writing
For these reasons, I have chosen the theme "Some skills to do exercises
on passive voice in Tieng Anh 10, 12" to conduct research and apply forteaching and learning passive voice more effectively This innovative teachingexperience is based partly on my own previous one on teaching conditional
1.2 Research objectives
With the successful research, this topic will help teachers and students atTrieu Son 6 high school get the following results in teaching and learning:
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- How well organized and efficient for students to learn and do exercises
on relative clauses in unit 5 and 10 in Tieng Anh 10, and unit 4, 11 and 12 inTieng Anh 12
- Guiding students to learn and practice so that they get skills to do sometypes of exercises on relative clauses better in general They can also do wellthese sort of exercise in high school exams as well as the college entrance exam.Morever, students know to use relative clauses effectively in communication
1.4.2 Survey methods: Teacher examines the students in the classes where theyare are teaching with skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing
1.4.3 Statistical Methods: Teacher counts the results of the students in the class
he is teaching through regular and periodic tests
2 Content
2.1 Background theory
Nowadays, with the development of science and technology as well aseconomic integration requirements in the world, English is considered as thelanguage of globalization
The teaching and learning English in schools becomes extremelyimportant English is a means to give students access to new scientificachievements Morever, English helps to expand their knowledge about thecountry and cultures of many countries in the world Especially, English is a toolfor communication, cooperation and economic development, so learning English
at school is now focused and demanded So how to teach English at schoolseffectivly?
Exploring new teaching methods and improving teaching and learningeffectivly is essential and important not only for those working in educationmanagement but also for teachers of English
In high school English program, relative clauses are important parts ofknowledge that always appear in the GCSE exam and university entrance exam
To do well types of exercises on relative clauses, students must master the basicissues related to the passive voice, and the type of exercise variations of relative
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clauses in English Particularly, for weak students who are not good at Englishneed a simple way to learn If they do not understand the use of the passivevoice, and all kinds of exercises on passive voice they will have difficulties inperiodic exams Therefore, mastering the use of relative clauses, doing exercisesrelated to passive voice is an essential and important issue to students at highschool
Moreover, according to the traditional teaching methods: teachers givespeech, students listen and record passively what teachers say Therefore,grammar lessons become very stressful, students lack creativity and thinkingduring lesson Whereas, current text book requires learner central Teachers andstudents need to be more active in teaching and learning So how to developstudents’ thought, creativity, teachers need to improve their lesson plans withvarious methods, improve their pedagogic abilities
From exists above together with my experience in the process ofteaching , I chose the subject to perform When performing this subject I try tointroduce and analyse two main types of exercises in the to help studentsespecially weak student understand and do homework at the same time, helpthem to overcome the weaknesses of relative clauses
2.2 Real situation before applying the experienced idea
In basic English program textbooks, relative clauses are widelydistributed via the lesson of Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing, andespecially the Language Focus of unit 4 and 15 (Tieng Anh 10), Unit 9 and 10(Tieng Anh 11) and unit 6 (Tieng Anh 12)
For students in our school, most of them find it difficult to learn English.Students are farmer’s children living in rural areas, english learning environment
is poor Student’s input is rather low In addition, actual teaching and learningfacilities of the school are limited Foreign language teachers are sometimes notadvanced in teaching experience, time for practising this grammar point in thetextbook is not much, which leads to the most students find it hard to apply fordoing exercises, improving their other skills as well as exams
With the existence of the above difficulties and limitations So theresults achieving in the process of teaching and learning is not high That isevidenced by the results survey test on grammar problems before applyinginnovative experiences in teaching with the following statistics :
Trang 7( Attachment: Appendix 1 students’ test before applying teaching experience )
To troubleshoot and resolve the above situation I have studied, explored,and found out a number of measures in order to share with my colleagues theexperiences of teaching relative clauses I hope to improve and enhance thequality of teaching and learning the grammar, to create dynamic grammarlessons, I also have specific instructions and details for the students to do variousforms of exercises, which is easy for students to understand, they can apply fortheir tests, exams and especially use for four skills: listening - speaking - reading
- writing Here are some specific measures
2.3 Some tips to help students do exercises on relative clauses
There are two main kind of sentences in English :
- Simple sentence consists of one clause (icluding a subject and a verb)
- Complex sentence is a kind of sentence having at least two clauses (main clause and sub - clause) The sub – clause may be an adverbial clause of time, a clause of concession, a clause of result ….In this topic I would like to mention relative clause Relative clause in English is divided into three sorts
+ Defining relative clause
+ Non-defining relative clause
+ Connective relative clause
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In basic English curriculum students have learnt all of these three above kinds
of relative clauses However, in this theme I hope to provide students with somekowledge of relative clauses so that they could find it easy and interesting to doexercises on relative clauses as well as to improve their skills in using English as
a second language Therefore, students have to acquire some of the followingmain points:
2.3.1 Defining relative clauses
2.3.1.1 Definition
Defining relative clauses are used to give essential information about someone or something – information that we need in order to understand what orwho is being referred to A defining relative clause usually comes immediately after the noun it describes
We usually use a relative pronoun (e.g who, that, which,
whose and whom) to introduce a defining relative clause
Ex: The man who is standing overthere is my brother.
“who is standing overthere” is a relative clause
Ex: Here are some cells which have been affected.
“which have been affected” is a relative clause
2.3.1.2 Usage
Defining relative clauses are used after:
+The + Noun
+ A/AN + Noun
+ The + countable plural nouns
+ Pronouns ( all, none, anybody, those….)
Ex: The book is about a girl who falls in love
The house which was built 20 years ago is in bad condition
2.3.2 Relative pronouns
2.3.2.1 Relative pronoun: Who
We use who in relative clauses to refer to people, and sometimes to pet animals Who can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause Who can
be replaced by that in emphasizing structures.
Ex1: The man is friendly He lives next door
-> The man who lives next door is friendly (referring to the man)
Ex2: We know a lot of people They live in London
-> We know a lot of people who live in London (referring to people) Ex3: That’s the dog He doesn’t like me
->That’s the dog who doesn’t like me (referring to a pet animal)
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Attention:
- Who doesn’t attribute plural nouns preceded Therefore, we have to consider
the noun standing before who to know whether it replaces a singular noun or a
plural one
- Who acts as the object is often used in informal speech.
Ex: The woman was away on holiday I wanted to see the woman
-> The woman who I wanted to see was away on holiday.
2.3.2.2 Relative pronoun: Whom
We use whom in formal styles or in writing to refer to people when theperson is the object of the verb in the relative clause It is much more common inwriting than in speaking
Ex: The man whom I saw told me to come back today.
Or The man I saw told me to come back today
Ex: The woman is a doctor I am living with her
-> The woman with whom I am living is a doctor
Ex: The boy is my son You see him at the door
->The boy whom you see at the door is my soon.
Attention: - The most common use of whom is with a preposition We can
use whom as the complement of a preposition We put the preposition
before whom (formal speech)
Ex1: There was only one person to whom the old man spoke.(formal)
There was only one person who the old man spoke to.(informal)
2.3.2.3 Relative pronoun: Whose
We usually use whose as a relative pronoun to indicate possession by
people and animals In more formal styles we can also use it for things
We use whose before nouns instead of a possessive expression (my, your,
his, her, its, our, their, x’s) in defining and non-defining clauses:
Ex1: We saw some people.Their car had broken down
->We saw some people whose car had broken.
Ex2: A widow is a woman Her husband is dead
->A widow is a woman whose husband is dead.
Ex 3: What’s the name of the man? His car you borrowed
->What’s the name of the man whose car you borrowed?
Ex: She has bought a novel Its cover is made of leather
-> She has bought a novel whose cover is made of leather
Attention: of which is also used to indicate possession by thing However, it is
common to use whose istead.
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Ex 1: I have the chair The leg of it was broken
-> I have the chair the leg of which was broken
Ex 2: The book is mine The cover of it were torn
-> The book is mine the cover of which were torn
2.3.2.4 Relative pronoun: Which
We use which in relative clauses to refer to animals and to things We use it to introduce defining and non-defining relative clauses Which can act as the
subject or the object of the relative clause
Ex1: Tom bought a house It has a bedroom and a kitchen
->Tom bought a house which has bedroom and a kitchen.
Ex 2: Can you see my pen? It’s lying on that table
->Can you see my pen which is lying on that table?
Ex 3: The book is mine You see it on the table
->The book which you see on the table is mine.
Ex 4: The book is very interesting You are talking about it
->The book about which you are talking is very interesting.
->The book which you are talking about is very interesting.
2.3.2.5 Relative pronoun: That
We use that instead of who, whom or which in relative clauses to refer to
people, animals and things We use it to introduce defining clauses
only That can act as the subject or the object of the relative clause That is more informal than who, whom or which.
That is used after: - emphasizing structures and phrases
- superlative structures
- indefinite pronouns
- nouns enumerating both person and thing or animal
Ex 1: It is the pronunciation of English It makes me puzzle
-> It is the pronunciation of English that makes me puzzle
Ex 2: It was the woman She helped me yesterday
-> It was the woman that helped me yesterday
Ex 3: This is the most interesting book I have ever read it
-> This is the most interesting book that I have ever read
Ex 4: She bought everything She needs them for her party
-> She bought everything that She needs for her party
Ex 5: Jane will bring all the books She reads them during her holiday
-> Jane will bring all the books that she reads during her holiday.
E 6: She talked about the people and places she had visited them
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-> She talked about the people and places that she had visited.
Attention:- That can refer to the complement of a preposition but we can’t use
that with the preposition immediately before it
Ex: He is the most famous writer I have ever talked to him
-> He is the most famous writer that I have ever talked to
-> He is the most famous writer to that I have ever talked (wrong)
2.3.2.6 No relative pronoun
In informal styles, we often leave out the relative pronoun We only dothis in defining relative clauses, and when the relative pronoun is the object ofthe verb We don’t leave out the relative pronoun when it is the subject of theverb nor in non-defining relative clauses
In defining relative clauses, we can also leave out the relative pronoun when it is the complement of a preposition When we do this, we always put the preposition at the end of the relative clause
Ex 1: This is the man whom I met at the party yesterday
-> This is the man I met at the party yesterday
Ex 2: Do you remember the book which I borrow ?
-> Do you remember the book I borrow ?
Ex 3: The picture about which you are talking is beautiful (if we omit which, we have to put about after talking)
2.3.2.7 Relative pronouns and their forms
Person or
animal pet
WhoThat
Who/ WhomThat
Whose
Thing or animal Which
That
WhichThat
We always use a relative pronoun (who, which, whose or whom) to introduce a
non-defining relative clause
Attention: In writing, we use commas around non-defining relative clauses In
speaking, we often pause at the beginning and end of the clause