(SKKN 2022) some experiences in attracting ethnic minority students to learn english

Part 1: INTRODUCTION I ASK THE PROBLEM In the current integration trend, equipping yourself with knowledge of foreign languages, especially English, is very important and necessary For each individual who is working or holding a position in society, it is necessary to know at least one foreign language to serve his or her professional work For students, knowing the importance and necessity of knowing and understanding a new language, especially English, right from the time they are in school is extremely necessary and considered as an advantage So if you know how to seize the opportunity to learn and develop With the development trend and needs of today's society, English is considered as the common language of the world, so every student from now on must equip themselves with knowledge and skills suitable to the conditions level, age and education level to lay the foundation for future development As a high school English teacher, I personally find that in my 16 years of working there are advantages but also certain difficulties when teaching For every teacher, in addition to professional knowledge, understanding of society, lifestyle, and inspiration, the innovation of teaching methods is an extremely important factor in attracting students' love love the subject as well as create interest in the students in learning the subject As a school in the mountainous, especially difficult area of Thuong Xuan district, Cam Ba Thuoc High School, where I am working, has a high percentage of ethnic minority students (over 51%), most of which are ethnic minority students Thai students, living in remote communes, have many difficulties in their roads, limited access to the internet, newspapers, and information technology, and many children from poor households about 30%) Besides, many students not have the sense of self-discipline to study in general subjects, especially English Some children have apathetic attitude, disregard the subject, learn a way to cope The learning environment, exposure to the Vietnamese language is still limited, so the English language will certainly face many obstacles Some children are not fluent in reading and writing, not yet fluent in Vietnamese, have not had the conditions, the environment of high exposure to Vietnamese leads to the visualization, learning and training of the English language encountering many difficulties and surprises English is a compulsory subject in the general education curriculum, but the majority of ethnic minority students have not yet identified their learning motivation, so the attraction of learning for all subjects in general and school subjects has not yet been determined English in particular still has many difficulties and obstacles The inadequacies in teaching practice above not completely meet the development needs of society in general and the development of education in particular in the new era Through the process of exchanging with colleagues, researching information channels: books, newspapers, the mass media, we found that no teachers have researched on this issue From practical teaching with enthusiasm, I always struggle to find a realistic plan, suitable for students in extremely difficult economic areas where I work How to attract ethnic minority students to learn this subject, to attract what measures and tricks are needed to create excitement, stimulate curiosity and creativity for them, from That improves the quality of teaching and learning in the subject and, importantly, develops skills for students in the future Stemming from the above reasons, along with the suggestions of colleagues, teachers and my own experience, I have concluded “Some experiences in attracting ethnic minority students to learn English” and obtained certain results in the process of teaching II RESEARCH PURPOSES The task of the topic focuses mainly on finding out solutions, researching solutions that are feasible and suitable to the level, psychophysiological characteristics of the age group and at the same time suitable to the characteristics of the locality in order to create an attraction for all students in general and ethnic minority students in particular in learning English at Cam Ba Thuoc high school, Thuong Xuan district, Thanh Hoa province The purpose of the topic is to create an attraction for students in general and ethnic minority students in particular in learning English, to help students feel excited when learning, and to avoid fear and shyness feel comfortable in the classroom In particular, the measures to attract students to learn English also help them feel interesting, excited to learn, arouse curiosity, stimulate the senses of hearing, sight, and movement for effective lessons right from the start initially and throughout the class period and improve self-discipline in learning Students feel love for the subject, naturally excited without being forced Since then, learning results are improved and enhanced through regular and periodic tests The most important thing is to interest and attract the learning of students, especially ethnic minority students, to help them develop themselves, have certain knowledge and skills to meet the development needs of the students society Part 2: PROBLEM SOLVING I THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE PROBLEM Definitions, concepts 1.1 English subject concept English is a compulsory subject in the general education program from grades to 12 As one of the instrumental subjects in high schools, English not only helps students form and develop communication skills communicate in English, but also contribute to the formation and development of common competencies, to live and work more effectively, to study well in other subjects as well as for lifelong learning 1.2 The concept of attraction To attract is to make a strong impression that others are interested and give all their attention Theoretical basis Creating attraction for ethnic minority students to learn English is important and necessary for subject teachers For the reasons mentioned above, it is required that teachers study, create, cultivate and develop their own capacity, love and give affection to students to create effective teaching in accordance with the current situation local context to meet the development needs of society Relevant legal and grounds Resolution No 29-NQ/TW dated November 4, 2013 of the 8th Central Committee, term XI "on fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the field of education and training." conditions of socialist-oriented market economy and international integration" Clause 2, Article 28 of the 2005 Law on Education of Vietnam stipulates that “The general education method must promote the students' positivity, self-discipline, initiative and creativity; suitable to the characteristics of each class or subject; foster self-study methods, practice skills to apply knowledge into practice; affect the emotions, bring joy and interest in learning to students” Brief history of research problem Through the fact that ethnographic students learn English at my school, together with exchanging ideas with colleagues, researching information channels, I realized that no teacher has researched the issue of how to attract students Ethnic minority students learn English So along with studying, researching, combined with practical teaching, I boldly apply solutions to attract ethnographic students to learn English from the 2020-2021 school year to the end of the 2021 school year- 2022 and achieved positive results II THE STATUS OF THE PROBLEM With the reality of the country being reformed, teaching foreign languages, especially English, has become increasingly important The application of the traditional teaching method, which takes the teacher's activities as the center, is no longer suitable for the development of education, does not meet the development needs of society, requires a new effective method The result, more modern, is that the teacher is the one who gives suggestions for a problem and discusses with the students, finding the crux of the problem as well as related issues This method takes the students' initiative, creativity, and thinking as the foundation, and teachers and tutors are only guides and clues In fact, the teaching of English at Cam Ba Thuoc high school still faces many difficulties and certain shortages Firstly, as a school in a remote area, the total number of students from ethnic minorities is high, most of them are from the Thai ethnic group Belonging to a remote and remote commune, the children's roads are very difficult The distance from home to school in the farthest village is up to sixty kilometers (60km) Try to walk or ride a bike Conditions of exposure to the internet, newspapers and technology are still limited The limitation of geographical distance and environment is the first obstacle in the path to academic success Second, Students from ethnic minorities and with difficult economic conditions, students from poor and near-poor households, and low and unstable income families Therefore, the family's attention and investment in time and effort for their children's learning in general and English learning in particular is still small In addition to studying, they also have to help their families like doing housework, raising livestock, going to the fields, and even working as hired labor to earn extra income, many of them have to be the breadwinners in the family Thirdly, Many students not have the sense of self-discipline to study in general subjects, especially in English Some children have apathetic attitude, disregard the subject, study for fun, learn to cope and not really love the subject Fourth, When it is difficult for ethnic minority students to enter different challenging stages such as learning environment, activities, and exposure to the Vietnamese language, the English language will certainly face a lot of difficulties trouble Some children are not fluent in reading and writing, not yet fluent in Vietnamese, have not had the conditions, the environment of high exposure to Vietnamese leads to the visualization, learning and training of the English language encountering many difficulties and surprises Fifth, English is a compulsory subject in the general education program from grade to grade 12 Students in favorable area schools have even taught English since grade The recent national high school exam also included English as one of the four compulsory subjects Thus, we see the importance of learning English in this day and age and it is an advantage for them to be familiar with English at a very early age Through the survey, summarizing the data of the 2019-2020 school year, the results of the 10th grade ethnic minority students in the English subject are as follows: Grade 10 English subject grading results - school year 2019 – 2020 Clas s Ethnic students Total G T L % 10A1 10 10A2 12 10A3 Total 26 0 % % % K TL T B TL Note Y TL 10% 50% 30 % 16.7 % 41.6 % 25 % 50% 50% 0% 19.2 % 12 46.2 % 23 % Ké m The TL 10% Before 16.7 % 0% applyin g the theme 11.6% results showed that, before the topic was applied, the percentage of ethnic minority students in the 2019-2020 school year in grade 10 with good and good academic performance accounted for a low rate of 19.2% The average student in the subject accounted for a high rate: 46.2%, still the state of weak students accounted for 23% The rate of poor students accounts for a high rate of 11.6% The results show that the students' academic performance is uneven and the quality in the subject is still low, partly due to economic conditions, so the family's interest and investment in their children's learning is in general and in general education English learning in particular is limited In addition, there are some students who show indifference to the subject because of the fact that people's lives are still poor and they are not aware of the importance of learning foreign languages, especially English small to the spirit of learning of the children The difficulty in communication is not only in English, but right after learning Vietnamese, ethnic minority students face many difficulties in language, psychology, and environment communicate From the above fact, I realize that in order to improve the learning quality of students in general and ethnic minority students in particular, the first thing a teacher must is to attract and make students interested desire to learn, create curiosity and want to know what they are about to learn Students need to be actively and actively involved in a diverse communication environment with interactive activities such as games, songs, story-telling, clubs, etc under the guidance of teachers to form skills language skills, creating a gentle, interesting and attractive learning space for learners III SOLUTIONS TO WORK TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM Solution 1: Approach the class, grasp the student object - Understand the circumstances and family characteristics of each student After I got the class list, got acquainted with the children's names, I briefly inquired about the family's living situation: how many children are from disadvantaged households? how many children have poor household book? What is the student's daily routine at home and how many brothers and sisters are there? In addition, I also discussed with the homeroom teacher of the previous year's class to better understand the family background as well as the academic performance of each student Then I gathered into a notebook to monitor and classify students, especially students with difficult circumstances to get closer and understand them better This helps me better understand each child's situation so that I can take appropriate educational measures - Studying carefully about their family background and study capacity over the previous school year, I researched the children's living environment and circumstances, because that is the cradle that nurtures and forms their personality right from the start early times Let them form their own best path - Find out through the information sheet (resumes survey): This information sheet is in addition to the basic information: Name of father and mother; address, living situation, family members, number of children, hobbies… - Find out the student's situation directly by: visiting their families, contacting their parents to know the specific circumstances of these students and exchange their learning status Find out their personality through friends in class, through subject teachers Find out through the village (through the village head) Capturing and categorizing students helps me understand the situation and learning ability as well as the personality of each child, thereby offering direct, close, comforting, encouraging and timely educational measures the results achieved, even the smallest advantages Solution 2: Always appear with an attitude that students love in every class - Create charisma and attraction right from the moment you enter the class This is extremely important to start a lecture and is crucial to its success Sometimes, in the process of checking old lessons, there are times when teachers are not satisfied with their students' learning, and teachers have feelings of frustration and discomfort brought along during the lesson; However, it is not because of those emotions that teachers lose their temper, instead, teachers always keep a good attitude on facial expressions, gestures, try to control emotions and not show through their faces to students can feel the tolerance, tolerance as well as the affection of teachers with the ultimate aim of achieving goodwill for students - Create fun, care and closeness for students in general and ethnic minority students in particular so that they can feel the love and care of teachers for their students Since then, the students have grown to love and respect their teachers, and gradually come to love the subject - Create a good attitude by equipping yourself, practicing skills in front of crowds on a regular basis, fully equipped with knowledge to be confident in all problems Solution 3: Exploiting students to help them develop their full potential and potential - In each lesson, teachers exploit the objects of students, capture the good students to help and accompany the weak students - Avoid criticizing, scolding, saying offensive words to the dignity and honor of the children Instead, it is encouragement, spiritual encouragement, and praise at the right place at the right time Solution 4: Design and prepare lessons suitable for ethnic minority students - With the textbook program and the goals of each lesson to be achieved, for general students they can achieve most of the goals However, for students from ethnic minorities, this is a difficulty, a barrier Therefore, choosing a topic that is familiar, close, and suitable for daily communication, along with the design of lessons suitable for students, is extremely important and necessary Avoid making it difficult and boring for students to approach the lesson Example: Grammar exercises English textbook 10 Unit 8: The story of my village Exercise Look at what Ha I hope will happen in the future Make sentences, using If , will (See what Ha Anh hopes will happen in the future Construct sentences, using If , will ) Conditional sentences Conditional sentences type are used to describe possible events in the present or future and their results Sub-clause Main clause If + S + V(present simple) S + will + V(future simple) Eg: • If you don't hurry, you will miss the bus • If I have time, I'll finish that letter • What will you if you miss the plane? 10 Actively discuss and debate in groups Club members can experience many positive, new and interesting learning activities; gradually formed a love for English more 17 18 Listen to songs and convert content into images Beautiful images of ethnic minority children in traditional costumes Students also have the opportunity to approach foreigners The foreign element helps them to be more confident and bold when practicing the language 19 20 - Create an environment to practice English communication for students As an area bordering Laos - a place with cultural traditions and tourism development, it attracts a large number of foreign tourists to this place With this favorable condition, the members of the English team advise the school's leadership to cooperate with the school's parents' association and the delegation to organize sightseeing, travel, and exchange experiences with foreigners In addition, native speakers in order to create a communication environment in English for students Solution 6: Innovating methods of testing, assessing and scoring students in line with the industry's innovation requirements and responding to social requirements - Assess students' ability through tasks and exercises in real situations and contexts according to the increasing difficulty of the task - Organize testing and assessment of students flexibly, in accordance with the actual conditions of regular testing and periodical testing For regular tests, not only are they assessed through paper tests, but students' abilities are assessed at all times of the learning process, focusing on assessment while learning, and increasing grading of products student learning project For periodical tests, follow the documents and guidance circulars of the department - Classify students to check and encourage their learning The teacher let the students choose the area to test This creates a comfortable learning spirit for the students, stimulating the curiosity of each student Assess students' ability through learning tasks For good students, depending on the difficulty of the assignment or task, the teacher gives an assessment score appropriate to the level of completion of the assignment or task For weak students, when checking old lessons, teachers combine with simple and concise games that contain the knowledge content to be tested or in the teaching process, evaluate students by answering individual questions individual, pair activities, group exercises on reading - comprehension, listening - understanding, writing exercises, 21 speaking practice, communication This is one of the ways to strengthen regular testing and assessment of learning on the internet students' classrooms, to stimulate student learning For example, with the vocabulary test of weak students, especially ethnic minority students, the teacher encourages them to write 10 words, they will get points, one more word then add point to the oral score, thus stimulating the children's curiosity; Or for weak students, teachers ask questions or easy tasks, students volunteer to speak and answer the question correctly once, they will get points, times correct answers continue to add point, similarly times get 10 points right With the innovation of testing, assessing and scoring students as above, students are proactive and like to be tested and evaluated in the learning process With the preparation of such students, the results achieved are extremely high Students develop vocabulary writing skills, they can choose areas of knowledge to test, and are tested objectively and fairly Since then, he has further developed his love not only for teachers but also for the subject Solution 7: Applying information technology, using subject classrooms in combination with a number of teaching aids, increases the effectiveness of teaching activities - Apply information technology to prepare and teach (power point software, lecture maker, violet), access the internet to collect images, videos, games or documents related to the topic of the lesson With this approach, students can access knowledge in an intuitive, vivid and exciting way in the learning process - Use subject classrooms such as audio-visual rooms to organize teaching activities Help them have an intuitive, vivid view, easy to visualize the meaning of the lesson - Using teaching aids such as pictures, projectors, calculators, speakers, magnets, auxiliary boards These are very active and popular supporting tools in teaching lessons, helping teachers save time writing on the board in class, actively supporting in audio-visual lessons 22 IV Newness of the solution Of the solutions mentioned above, the design and preparation of lessons suitable for ethnic minority students and the innovation of methods of testing, assessment and grading of students are in line with the innovation requirements of the industry and meet the needs of the community new and effective social requirements in teaching and teachers in remote areas can immediately apply Although it has been applied by some teachers in remote areas, the solution has not been intensively and thoroughly implemented, so the results have not been high V SCOPE OF APPLICATION The initiative is researched, studied and applied to ethnic minority students in grade 10 at Cam Ba Thuoc High School through the school years 2020-2021, 2021-2022 VI BECAUSE SPHERE OF INFLUENCE The initiative can be applied to many subjects not only for teachers and students of ethnic minorities in disadvantaged areas but also for all teachers and students in disadvantaged areas The application of the initiative brings practical benefits to teaching and improving the quality of English subject Effective for educational activities and the scope of influence can be district-wide VII EFFICIENCY OF US EXPERIENCE INITIALITY After conducting research and implementing the topic during school years: 2020 - 2021, 2021 2022, I have obtained certain learning outcomes of students and demonstrated through the results in the process as well like the results at the end of the school year Minority students have an interest in learning, they are more confident, excited, vibrant and have markedly changed in specific subjects as follows: Grade 10 English subject grading results - school year 2020 - 2021: 23 Ethnic students Class Note Total G TL K TL Tb TL Y TL 30% 45.5 % 50% 50% 0% Ké m 45.5% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 10A1 10 10% 10A2 11 9.1% 10A3 50% TL 0% After applying the Total 25 16% 10 40% 10 40% 4% 0% theme Grade 10 English subject grading results - school year 2021- 2022: Ethnic students Class Total 10A1 G TL K TL Tb 13 7.7% 53.8% 10A2 12 16.7% 10A3 60% Total 30 20% Note TL Y TL Kém 38.5% 0% 41.7% 41.7% 0% 40% 0% 0% 14 46.7% 10 33.3% 0% T L % % % % After applying the theme After applying the topic in the two school years 2020-2021, 2021-2022, the number of good and good students increased and there was no longer the status of weak students Specifically: from the 2020-2021 school year to the 2021-2022 school year, the number of excellent students increased from to students, an increase of 4% and an increase of 6% compared to the 20192020 school year from 10 to 14 students, an increase of 6.7%, an increase of 27.5% compared to the 2019 - 2020 school year The number of average students and weak and poor students 24 decreased markedly: the average student rate decreased from 40% to 40% 33.3%, down 9.6% compared to the school year 2019-2020 Part 3: CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION I CONCLUSION: Experience initiatives are drawn from teaching practice and bring real meaning and benefits in educational activities: creating attraction for ethnic minority students in learning English, helping them to learn English students avoid fear, inferiority, shyness; Create a sense of comfort during lessons; Help students feel interesting and excited about learning; Stimulate the spirit of learning in children Since then, the students feel love the subject, excited and the learning results are improved and enhanced They develop themselves, have knowledge and skills to meet the development needs of society The topic can be widely applied not only in remote schools but also in schools with favorable conditions In addition, the topic is highly feasible because of the suitability and diversity of application solutions From applying the experience initiative in the school year 2020 - 2021, 2021 - 2022, I myself have learned the lesson that I regularly improve professional knowledge, knowledge transfer skills, communication skills, behavior, skills of inspiration, affection, skills of applying information technology such as using software in teaching… to improve themselves I myself have applied a number of solutions to attract ethnic minority students to learn English and have achieved some positive results, however, there is no optimal solution, so I personally want the students to learn English Other colleagues find optimal solutions to jointly solve the above problem II REQUEST: 25 In order to ensure the improvement of teaching and learning quality, it is necessary to have the proper attention and support of agencies, departments and the whole society I have a few suggestions as follows: For teachers Invest more in the process of preparing lectures, spend a lot of time in studying lessons, regularly improve knowledge and skills, exchange experiences, explore, create, and apply many appropriate teaching methods to improve professional qualifications to meet the development needs of society Giving affection, love, and proper behavior to students helps them feel love in the educational environment For the school Pay attention and invest more money in the purchase of teaching equipment such as pictures, reference materials for the subject Strengthen the organization of experience and exchange activities so that students have more opportunities to interact, exchange and communicate in English with their school and with native speakers For the Department of Education We hope that the Department of Education will pay attention to the orientation and regular organization of annual subject topics, especially thematic topics on innovation of teaching methods for students in disadvantaged areas in general and ethnic minority students minorities in particular so that English teachers from favorable and disadvantaged areas can exchange experiences and learn Above are the small experiences that I have gathered during my work Please raise them to discuss with teachers and colleagues to help me improve in the future research 26 I sincerely thank! Thường xuân, ngày tháng năm 2022 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ tên) Lương Thị Thài NHẬN XÉT CỦA LÃNH ĐẠO NHÀ TRƯỜNG HIỆU TRƯỞNG NHẬN XÉT CỦA HỘI ĐỒNG CHẤM SKKN 27 CHỦ TỊCH HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG KẾN REFERENCES STT file name Source material (author, publisher ) Resolution No 29-NQ/TW dated November 4, 2013 of the 8th Central Committee, term XI "on fundamental and comprehensive renovation of education and training, meeting the requirements of industrialization and modernization in the field of education and training." conditions of socialist-oriented market economy and international integration" Vietnam Education Law 2005 28 29 30 31 ... province The purpose of the topic is to create an attraction for students in general and ethnic minority students in particular in learning English, to help students feel excited when learning,... - In order to have lessons suitable for ethnic minority students, teachers must be proactive in exploring, learning, putting in students' shoes, and predicting situations that occur in the learning... Experience initiatives are drawn from teaching practice and bring real meaning and benefits in educational activities: creating attraction for ethnic minority students in learning English, helping them