(SKKN 2022) methods to teach language focus lesson effectively in high school english program

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION & TRAINING ETHNIC MINORITY BOARDING HIGH SCHOOL ……………………… EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE TOPIC: METHODS OF TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON EFFECTIVELY IN HIGH SCHOOL ENGLISH PROGRAM (STANDARD PROGRAM) Full name: LUONG THI THANH NGA Position: Teacher School: Ethnic Minority Boarding High school SUBJECT: ENGLISH THANH HÓA NĂM 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE THANH HÓA NĂM 2022 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE I INTRODUCTION .1 1.1 REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC .1 1.2 RESEARCH PURPOSES .2 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTS 1.4 RESEARCH METHOD 1.5 THE NOVELTY OF EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE The novelty: II CONTENT 2.1 BASIC IN REALITY .3 2.2 CURRENT STATUS OF RESEARCH ISSUE 2.3 ISSUE SOLUTION 2.3.1 IMPLEMENTATION SOLUTION .4 2.3.2 METHODS OF TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON EFFECTIVELY 2.3.3 INTRODUCTION OF FORM AND MEANING OF STRUCTURE .5 2.3.4 WAY TO IMPLEMENT TECHNIQUES OF PRACTISING SENTENCE .8 2.3.5 TIPS OF STRENGTHENING AND CHECKING AFTER PRACTICE .11 2.4 RESEARCH RESULTS 15 III CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS .16 3.1 CONCLUSION 16 3.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 16 3.2.1 FOR PROFESSIONAL TEAM 16 3.2.2 FOR THE SCHOOL 17 3.2.3 FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION 17 REFERENCE BOOKS……………………………………………………… I INTRODUCTION 1.1 REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC Teaching foreign language is always fluctuating and changing according to the general pace of evolution of civilization and world culture No one can deny that Therefore, people who teach this subject must always be responsible and enthusiastic to impart knowledge effectively, meet the social requirements Over the years of application of innovative methods in teaching English at high school with the program of replacing books, many teachers had experiences and ideas to serve actively the teaching of English However, I still realize that there are still problems in teaching at my school, as a teacher of this subject, always think, find direction to resolve One of the issues is how to teach the LANGUAGE FOCUS lesson effectively to improve the quality of the test as well as improve the quality of teaching English in reality at my school with the existing teaching facilities At present, the teaching of grammar according to the method of communication is not the way of analysing part of speech and analysing sentences as the old method Most of the time is for grammar exercises combining with listening – speaking - reading - writing skills in a variety of forms and lessons are reinforced with games Teaching of grammar is through exercises combined with teaching many language skills, methodological skills, practical skills, To teach effectively grammar, teacher needs to be flexible in selecting methods and techniques to meet the requirements of the lesson In addition, teacher must explain to students the importance of learning grammar From that, students can use language meaningfully and express what they want to communicate The most important issue is that students understand the form and meaning of the grammar points they are learning so that they can use it in the form of listening – speaking – reading - writing At the same time, they show their language knowledge through tests and can achieve good results With such issue, since September 2021 I have studied and found direction to resolve and implement in the academic year 2021- 2022 with the research subject as grade 10 that I directly teach in Thanh Hoa Ethnic Minority Boarding High School With the framework of this article, I would like to share with colleagues the experience of applying the method of teaching Language Focus lesson effectively in English 10, also what I learned through specialized training courses, courses of training replacement of the textbooks as well as in the process that I teach in reality For the above reasons, I chose the topic: "Methods to teach Language Focus lesson effectively in high school English program" 1.2 RESEARCH PURPOSES Within the scope of this writing I would like to share experiences with colleagues teaching methods of Language Focus Of Standard English Program in High School 1.3 RESEARCH OBJECTS Students of Thanh Hoa Ethnic Minority Boarding High School 1.4 RESEARCH METHOD * Taking a survey before applying the topic in reality * Exchanging the experience with colleagues to find out the most effective method for language focus in high school * Studying the syllabus of teaching method 1.5 THE NOVELTY OF EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE The novelty: The topic is to build thematic English keyword groups with the levels of thinking capacity according to each group of subjects through teaching activities, there by selecting the process of using keywords effectively contributing to improving the quality of teaching, fostering and developing students' language skills The scientific aspect: The initiative is based on theoretical foundations, based on the current practical situation of the schools with a view to taking measures to improve the quality teaching and developing competences and qualities for learning high school students The effectiveness: Scope of application: Topics that apply in the field ethnic minority boarding High School in particular and in High school in general Application audience: Maybe the application is given schools and social sciences Application results: Developing language proficiency for high school students II CONTENT 2.1 BASIC IN REALITY In the process of teaching English textbooks in grade 10 and 11, I realize that there are still some inadequacies such as the number of new words in each lesson is too much while the teaching of vocabulary is only a part (maximum ¼) of the duration of a lesson, so teachers not have enough time to provide all, if you try to provide the full amount of new words in the lesson, you will not have enough time to perform other activities In addition, content of lesson’s topic is difficult and abstract that also makes teaching words harder Some teachers still provide passive and inefficient new words by using mother language to translate, therefore students are not interested in studying That leads to the fact that the majority of students rarely remember new words Chapter is an overview of the research topic and chapter shows the specific research contents The conclusion part shows contribution of the topic and makes some suggestions 2.2 CURRENT STATUS OF RESEARCH ISSUE There are now many reference books as well as refresher course supporting actively the teaching according to innovative method of the teachers teaching foreign languages In addition, every year, the Department of Education also organizes professional training courses for teachers, organizes professional activities, organizes lectures and reports on special issues … to help teachers who teach foreign languages approach, use the most effective new method However, teachers in schools can’t apply stereotypes to all practical conditions of the teaching, teachers must select to perform according to the level of students, student’s age, material facilities of the school and class In some LANGUAGE FOCUS lessons, teachers heavily teach grammar and always worry that students will not be able to well in grammar exercises (exercises are often in exercise books bought in market) That makes students not have time to practice the skills through the exercises in the textbooks Or teachers don’t select techniques and teaching activities in accordance with exercises, with the requirement of training the skills of the exercise that makes lecture ineffective Even the abusing or branching out into some game activities can also cause the lessons not meet the requirements Therefore, the classification and selection of activities and teaching techniques to apply appropriately in each exercise is an important activity that decides the success and effectiveness of the lesson In addition, the design of reasonable teaching plan for each lesson will help teachers control time in class, be flexible in teaching activities, as well as guide students to combine appropriately between the studying at home as well as one in class, so that time funds are utilized the most reasonably, the most effectively 2.3 ISSUE SOLUTION 2.3.1 IMPLEMENTATION SOLUTION Grammar is a very important and necessary part in the communication process It is like four skills of listening-speaking-reading-writing For it is not It isn’t simple to teach and learn this grammar highly effectively especially for the high school student it requires perseverance and scientific methods, measures Based on the physiological characteristics of the students, they are more interested and more active in the development of reading and writing skills but they are also very easily bored in the practice of developing complex skills such as skill of accessing and using grammar because many new words and structures are abstract and difficult to guess meaning and difficult to apply as well as it is difficult to practice proficiently those new structures To form skill of accessing and practicing grammar for the students, we need a long-term course, but with a 45-minute session, in order to have grammar lesson which reaches high result, we must apply and combine steps, methods of teaching the grammar flexibly, and at the same time we must allocate time appropriately for each step In general, the teaching of grammar is usually conducted in three stages: => Introduce form and meaning of structure => Practice => Strengthen with exercises and activities or games after step of practicing Each stage has its own specific requirement and type of exercise I think that in order to achieve the effect of lesson, when planning teaching, teachers have to study carefully the format of the exercises, identify properly to select the appropriate technology in the teaching condition and circumstances in reality To solve this problem, I carry out as follows: 2.3.2 METHODS OF TEACHING LANGUAGE FOCUS LESSON EFFECTIVELY 2.3.3 INTRODUCTION OF FORM AND MEANING OF STRUCTURE Before practice, teacher introduces the form and meaning of grammatical structure by words and handwriting on the board To introduce the meaning, I often choose to use techniques that are appropriate for each different lesson so that techniques change in the possible conditions without being boring, for example: 2.3.3.1.Eyesight: => Use real objects, drawings or pictures, can combine expressions, gestures to illustrate meaning Example: “Unit 10”: Section L.F / P.89 Teachers can use the real thing as a gift box to review “modals: may/might” T: This is a present Do you know what it is? S: No T: However, you can guess What may it be? S: - It may be a book It might be a box of chocolates / cookies (etc.) After students use the verb “may” (or might) to guess, teacher helps students review these two verbs by formula and ways of using them: Form: may / might + bare infinitive Use: may / might is used to talk about present or future possibility Might is normally a little less sure than May => Teacher can introduce the form and meaning of the present perfect tense through the image of the pigeons: (English 10 - unit 5: language forcus) Teacher can teach on PowerPoint for more vivid images Firstly, teacher selects the effect for the birds that fly into the screen (students can see), then teacher selects the effect for the birds that fly out of the screen and ask the students what has just happened Students will give the answer: “The birds have flown away” From that, teacher can ask students to answer how to use and recall the structure of the present perfect tense without spending much time explaining => Use staple and some papers to explain a specific grammatical situation with the name: staple and relative clauses Step 1: Firstly, you write two sentences with relative pronouns on the board: Example, sentence 1: “The man that I saw was crying.” And sentence 2: “The man that cried was taken to the police station.” As we can see, the first sentence has two pronouns: "that" and "I" while the second sentence has only one pronoun "that" Step (Interpret sentence 1) Now, you take papers, each paper represents a single sentence before they are joined together by relative pronoun You raise two separate papers for the whole class to see, then staple them together twice (symbolize for the case in the sentence 1) You remember to explain the meaning of each paper to the students and the action you staple them together to make sure that your students can understand and remember the situation Step (Interpret sentence 2) Then you continue to take two another papers, put them up for the whole class to see and then staple them together, but only staple once (symbolize for the case in the sentence 2) Step (Explain grammatical elements in sentence 1) Then, you take two stapled papers twice in case and raise them for the whole class to see In front of the whole class, you remove one staple and show it to the whole class, two papers still stick together So in case 1, relative pronoun "that" is not necessary, it can be removed, but the sentence still keeps linkage Step (Explain grammatical elements in sentence 2) You continue to explain the second case, you remove staple from two papers, at that time, whole class will see that two papers don’t now completely stick together So, students can see clearly in case 2, relative pronoun "that" here cannot be removed Explanation above helps students understand clearly the nature of why in some sentences there are relative pronouns, we can remove relative pronoun but still retain the link in the sentence, while there are sentences there are relative pronoun but we can’t remove 2.3.3.2 Comparison of grammatical structures When you have to introduce 2, grammar structures at the same time, for students to see difference in these structures, I use the way that students will compare the sentences and show the differences between the structures Example: Unit 7: section L.F 3/P.64 T : Now I give you some examples to show the differences between the suggestions, using “ I suggest ……’’ Listen : I suggest collecting some money / I suggest that we should collecting some money Tell me the differences between these two sentences S : Sentence :… suggest + V – ing, sentence :….suggest + that – clause T : That’s right Then the teacher closes the idea and helps the student grasp the purpose of use and structure of the suggested sentence before entering the training stage Some structures teacher can translate from Vietnamese into English or vice versa Example: Unit 8: section L.F 4/P.72 T: Ha Thu is not satisfied with her preparations for Tet Ha Thu has decorated her house and made plenty of cakes Combine two sentences above into one by using a connective – EVEN THOUGH S: Ha Thu is not satisfied with her preparations for Tet, even though she has decorated her house and made plenty of cakes T: Vietnamese? S: Ha Thu is not satisfied with her preparations for Tet, even though she has decorated her house and made plenty of cakes 2.3.4 WAY TO IMPLEMENT TECHNIQUES OF PRACTISING SENTENCE Exercises to practice sentence have been compiled in textbook in a variety of ways to practice skills for the students through knowledge about language However, those exercises are just the tools for teachers to guide the students to use in order to complete the goal of learning of the subject Here are some techniques that I have used in the process of guiding students to practice sentence: 2.3.4.1 Repeat exercises When practicing the grammatical structure, I am interested in the difference in the nature of the mechanical or communicative exercise A mechanical exercise takes place when students don’t need to understand the meaning of the structure but they can exercises Teacher needs to know how to develop the advantage of this form, students will be familiar with the system of stress, rhythm and intonation of English, through which the meaning of the sentence is expressed Besides, students can get familiar with the English sound system through listening speaking At the same time teacher shouldn’t abuse this exercise due to mechanical, imposing nature and because it is easy to cause boring and students can’t develop thinking About skill of the teacher, we notice to set up some gestures to control the class without saying more For example, we wave for students to repeat instead of always saying "Repeat after me / Repeat" 2.3.4.2 Practice by repeating on the basis of illustrations For this practice, teacher must prepare from to pictures or images with learned content Teacher reviews once the vocabulary of the students and notes new words that arise during the practice to the students Teacher raises a picture or image and example Then, teacher asks whole class to repeat and asks some individuals in the class to repeat Teacher: I have got a pen Student: I have got a pen Teacher does the same with picture For the third picture and more, teacher will suggest and guide students to find out the corresponding sentence structure for the pictures This practice helps students form reflex whenever there is a command: "Listen and repeat" by teacher At the same time, this is also form of helping the teacher check and correct the pronunciation of students 2.3.4.3 Practice by repeat on the basis of the suggestion Instead of using illustrations like the one above, teacher can help students practice with suggested words The practice process is exactly the same as way of the practice above, but the practice of using the suggestion word helps the learner create the correct sentence, which means learner must make sentences by their ability The practice by suggestion words can also be used to substitute practice through illustrations for objects we feel difficult to draw Example: Teacher prepares phrases as: • Eager/learn French • Glad/pass the exam Then, teacher requires students to make right sentence Teacher Eager/learn French Glad/pass the exam Student I am eager to learn French I am glad to pass the exam 2.3.4.4 Practice by replacement way In this form of practice, teacher reads a sentence with a new grammatical structure Then teacher shows word which student must replace in the sample sentence Teacher Mi uses her motorbike everyday Rides Washes Student Mi uses her motorbike everyday Mi rides her motorbike everyday Mi washes her motorbike everyday Sometimes teacher isn’t very interested in this form of exercise because it isn’t common in tests However, with the principle from simple to complex and at the same time, focusing on all skills, especially skill of using language for communication purpose is essential 2.3.4.5 Practice by asking question Teacher will prepare questions with new structure and require students to answer In this practice, students must mobilize knowledge learned in advance to answer question in the direction of the teacher Teacher Can you play the guitar? Can you dance? Student Yes, I can No, I can’t 2.3.4.6 Practice by repeating the correct information In this practice, teacher will read a sample sentence containing the new structure If that information is right in reality, students will repeat If that information is wrong, students keep silence Teacher Are you going to travel to London Student Keep silence tomorrow? Is it going to rain tonight? Are you going to visit National Park Keep silence Are you going to visit National Park next week? next week? 2.3.4.7 Practice by changing sentence In this form, teacher indicates a specific situation Students will listen and move to another sentence that uses the new structure Teacher Student 10 I want some milk I want some meat Is there any supermarket’s near here? Is there any butcher’s near here? Above are forms of practicing new structure for the students Teacher can combine practices to achieve the highest teaching efficiency 2.3.5 TIPS OF STRENGTHENING AND CHECKING AFTER PRACTICE Most of the grammar knowledge in English 10 is to review, revise, reinforce the knowledge learned from secondary school grade So most of the exercise in LANGUAGE FOCUS lesson is for the purpose of reinforcing, checking grammar knowledge learned To help students acquire well knowledge and practice skills, in addition to instructing them to assignments, I think we also need to bring them a sense of excitement for them to actively participate in lessons as well as acquire knowledge The best way is that teacher applies appropriate tips and form of the game that will have a positive effect in stimulating the excitement for the students I am interested in the use of effective and reasonable Language Games tips, of course, on the basis of the preparation of detailed lesson plans to have active time and not too abuse leading to "uncompleted lesson plans" This tip includes games as: Chain game, Noughts & crosses,Word Bingo, Letter Scramble, Pelmanism, Guessing game, Rub out and remember, Lucky numbers, Who wants to be a millionaire?, hangman, shark attack, chalkboard Acronym … All the tips are designed on the PowerPoint, so operation is fast, convenient, image is extremely vivid that attracts the maximum attention of students Here are some examples of using reinforcement tips in the language focus lesson: (design on PowerPoint)  Lucky numbers, stars, jobs, animals, books … 11 H1-E12, Unit 10: Endangered H2-E12, Unit 13: 22nd sea H3-E12, Unit 11: Books H4-E12, Unit 6: Future jobs Unit 5: section L.F4/P.46  Chain game (Time: 10’) S1: My father likes watching sports but my mother doesn’t She loves listening to music 12 S2: My father likes watching sports, my mother loves listening to music but my sister doesn’t She enjoys playing games S3: My father likes watching sports, my mother loves listening to music, my sister enjoys playing games but my brother doesn’t He likes watching advertisement etc E10 Unit 3: exercise  Noughts and Crosses (Group work – Time: 10’) - Divide the class into two teams (A and B) Team A is Nought () and Team B is Cross (X) Students select a sentence of the sentences and answer that one If the correct answer is or X in a straight line, team will win This game is used to solidify and review the grammar structure of the previous section => Brainstorming (Individual work – Time 5’) But because Connective s So or and however Therefore Moreover 13 - Ask Ss to think of connectives that they have learnt - Have Ss write down the connectives - Give feedback - Ask Ss to give Vietnamese meaning - Ask Ss have to complete the sentences by using correct connectives E 10 – Unit 5: section L.F => Quiz show: (Group work – Time 7-10’) This tip helps students reinforce the use of Relative pronouns WHICH or WHO, THAT - Divide the class into two teams - Call out the questions and Ss have to answer as quickly as possible The team having the right answers get good marks The team which has more marks wins the game - Question: Which country won the 1998 Tiger Cup? (Singapore) Which animal has or horns on its snout? (rhinoceros) Which explorer discovered America? (Christopher Columbus) Which planet is closest to the earth? (Venus) Which animal was chosen to be the logo of Sea games 2003? (Buffalo) Which ASEAN country is divided into two regions by the sea? (Malaysia) Which food can you chew but can’t swallow? (Chewing gum) Which thing can you swallow but can’t chew? (water) (After that ask Ss to answer the questions, using the Relative pronouns WHICH or WHO) E10-Unit 8,9: Language Focus  Matching Game (Stage: Production – Group work – Time: 5-8’) - Divided the class into two team (A & B) - Each student from team A writes one if clause (of the conditional sentences type 2) on a small piece of paper) 14 - Each student from B writes one main clause - Take pieces of paper from teams to have a complete conditional sentence Call on some students to pick up pieces of paper from two teams and all out the sentences - Above I would like to mention some small ideas about measures to teach Language Focus lesson effectively for students in teaching foreign languages through teaching practice 2.4 RESEARCH RESULTS In order to understand the ability and development level about student’s skills of practicing Language Focus course in English 10, in the course of teaching English 10 according to standard program, I constantly apply and innovate methods and measures to help them master the ability, skills of approaching and implementing effectively Language Focus exercises Over the time of implementation as above, "LANGUAGE FOCUS" lessons in my classes always create excitement and participate actively from students, and at the same time I carry out practice of the grammar according to communication method Therefore, students master the language knowledge and improve the ability of application Therefore, the quality of the course always maintain at a high level: average over 90% meeting the requirements, specifically the results after the application of new measures: Total number of students 82 Access well and Difficulty in know how to Access and not accessing and apply the apply the applying the knowledge in the knowledge in the knowledge in the Language Focus Language Focus Language Focus to to all the to exercises exercises exercises 55 students = 67% 20 students = 24,4% students = 8,6% 15 III CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 CONCLUSION In short, the objective of what I have done is not to teach English successfully using the present textbook's communication technique The issue is that with a high emphasis on grammar practice, if the instructor is not astute, he or she will revert to the traditional method: analysis of part speech, analysis of phrase, teacher guides and students complete tasks in the textbook This obviates the purpose of assisting students in improving their capacity to communicate in English by obviating the ability to practice listening – speaking – reading – writing Additionally, I am interested in learning about each sort of exercise in order to select an effective strategy for conducting teaching and learning activities in the classroom We strive for adaptability, sensitivity to changing tips, appropriate activity selection, and reasonable time allocation in order to stimulate students' enthusiasm for learning I achieved the required result after a lengthy period of conducting research on the subject Throughout the implementation phase, I received assistance from the professional team, as well as consent and construction remarks from colleagues Simultaneously, while developing the topic, I experienced several obstacles That is, abusing the student's book of "guidelines for effective study " and so causing students to become lazy in their thinking; that is, the restricted facilities: rooms, furniture, etc., resulting in team and group activities being conducted in a very confined space, etc However, my heart and sense of responsibility are the driving forces that motivate me to seek out positive solutions to problems 3.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 3.2.1 FOR PROFESSIONAL TEAM Create a report based on the study I conducted in order to continue promoting positive teaching in LANGUAGE FOCUS On that basis, I will be in a position to advance the research topic, complete it, and broaden its scope of application 16 3.2.2 FOR THE SCHOOL One class should not exceed 35 students, as the limited space will impact the organization of class activities 3.2.3 FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Increased attention to English as well as movement of students learning English; continued investment in audio-visual facilities such as bands, radios, projectors, and pictures and reference materials for both teacher and student XÁC NHẬN CỦA Thanh Hóa, ngày tháng5 năm 2022 THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép người khác Người viết SKKN Lương Thị Thanh Nga 17 REFERENCE BOOKS Jeremy Harmer: How to teach English – Oxford University Press – 2002 Adrian Doff: Teach English – Cambridge University Press – 1997 Nguyen Bang, Bui Lan Chi: English language teachinh methodology – Hanoi National University Press – 2003 Nguyen Hanh Dung: Method of teachinh English in the high school – Education publisher – 1999 Hoang Van Van: English 10 - Education publisher – 2006 Hoang Van Van: English 11 - Education publisher – 2006 Hoang Van Van: English 12 - Education publisher – 2006 Teacher’s book, textbooks written by the Ministry of Education James H Mc Millan.2001, Classroom Assessement, Principles for Effective Instruction A Pearson Education Company, Copyright 2001,1997 by Allyn&Bacon 10 John M Owen, Patricia J.Roggers, Program Evaluation : Form and Approaches, SAGE Publications, April,1999 18 DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO HUYỆN, TỈNH VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN Họ tên tác giả: Lương Thị Thanh Nga Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT – DTNT Tỉnh TT Tên đề tài SKKN Kết đánh giá xếp loại Năm học đánh giá xếp loại (Ngành GD cấp huyện/tỉnh; Tỉnh ) (A, B, C) Sở GD & ĐT Thanh Hóa B 2012 – 2013 B 2017 – 2018 Một số thủ thuật nhằm nâng cao kỹ nghe cho Cấp đánh giá xếp loại học sinh khối 10 THPT Một số kỹ thuật dạy từ vựng “ Tiếng Anh lớp 10,11” , nhằm nâng cao hiệu dạy học Sở GD & ĐT Thanh Hóa ngoại ngữ trường THPT ... combining with listening – speaking - reading - writing skills in a variety of forms and lessons are reinforced with games Teaching of grammar is through exercises combined with teaching many language. .. skills of practicing Language Focus course in English 10, in the course of teaching English 10 according to standard program, I constantly apply and innovate methods and measures to help them master... assisting students in improving their capacity to communicate in English by obviating the ability to practice listening – speaking – reading – writing Additionally, I am interested in learning