(SKKN 2022) SOME SOLUTIONS TO CONSOLIDATE ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE FOR GRADE 5 STUDENTS AT QUANG TIEN 2 PRIMARY SCHOOL

SAM SON CITY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING QUANG TIEN PRIMARY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE SOME SOLUTIONS TO CONSOLIDATE ENGLISH KNOWLEDGE FOR GRADE STUDENTS AT QUANG TIEN PRIMARY SCHOOL Writer: Nguyễn Quỳnh Lê Position: Teacher Place of work: Quang Tien primary school Initiative field: English SAM SON, 2022 TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic Page 1 1.2 Objectives of the research 1.3 Research object 1.4 Research methodology 1.5 New points of the experience initiative 2 Content 2.1 The theoretical background knowledge 2.2 Current situation before applying the initiative 2.2.1 Advantages 2.2.2 Disadvantages 2.3 The solutions applied to solve the problems 2.3.1 Consolidating English knowledge through games 2.3.2 Consolidating English knowledge through worksheets 10 2.3.3 Consolidating English knowledge through educational applications and websites 12 2.4 The efficiency of the research 15 Conclusion and recommendations 16 3.1 Conclusion 16 3.2 Recommendations 16 Reference Introduction 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic Grade is considered the most important point because students are about to finish their primary learning process and move to secondary level Accordingly, they have been provided with difficult knowledge from many subjects in general and English in particular Longer and more difficult vocabulary and sentence patterns are introduced which give students a lot of challenges in their learning process If student cannot absorb this knowledge, they definitely cannot build up their four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing As a result, together with supplying students with new knowledge, it is highly recommended that teachers should spend the certain amount of time on consolidation activities to check students’ ability after each lesson Consolidate learning could mean asking students to test out the new skills, language or knowledge they have gained through the course of the lesson or overall topic Consolidate learning is an excellent way of enforcing the information learned during a lesson and making sure none of your students are left uncertain As a teacher, this gives the chance to clarify aspects of the lesson, answer any questions and revisit the lesson objectives Consolidating activities not only help teachers evaluate the level of students acquiring knowledge to give proper adjustments but also help students assert themselves However, consolidating knowledge has been carried out in the traditional way such as asking and answering for a long time This approach somehow produces some certain effects; yet it is no longer appropriate in the current requirements of teaching method innovation, especially for students in Grade Accordingly, it requires teachers to change the old ways of consolidating knowledge into attractive and effective ones in order to attract students to actively participate in To primary students especially, they will memorize knowledge faster and more deeply if they have chance to study and participate in activities as well This also creates a comfortable spirit in studying which make students more passionate and interested in English Personally, I always spend a certain amount of time each lesson to reinforce students’ knowledge in new ways to not only help students in Grade to deepen their knowledge but also create fun and comfortable learning atmosphere Through the implementation process, it brings about a lot of appreciate effects as the students show their interests in English generally and consolidation activities particularly In the scope of this report, I would also like share some activities that I myself have implemented for Grade students at Quang Tien Primary School - Sam Son City 1.2 Objectives of the research The paper focuses on studying several creative activities to help Grade students at Quang Tien Primary School to consolidate their own knowledge after each lesson through the use of games, handouts and applications Accordingly, suggest some recommendations to improve the learning environment in an active and effective way In details: - Through some suggested games, students will have a chance to review how they absorb the knowledge as well as have fun times together after each lesson - Through quick handouts, it is a good opportunity for students to not only recall the knowledge through well-designed questions but also have better assessment of their own ability of mastering knowledge afterwards 4 - Through PowerPoint, students have a chance to review the knowledge in a visual way with helps of illustrations - Through the website www.liveworksheets.com, students are hoped to have an efficient method of consolidating English language at home with the assistant of the Internet This is also a good opportunity for them to get acquainted to technological approach, especially when they have to be at home because of Covid-19 pandemic 1.3 Research object Examine the present situation of teaching English at primary school and suggesting some solutions to help students consolidate English knowledge well (focusing mainly on vocabulary and model sentences) Research time: School year 2021-2022 Research location: Quang Tien Primary School Research Object: Some solutions to help Grade students (5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E) at Quang Tien primary school consolidate English knowledge 1.4 Research Methodology There are some methods that have been used in the paper, namely: - Investigative method - Experimental method - Studying language teaching theory method 1.5 New points of the experience initiative Instead of using “Quizziz” as an useful tool of consolidating English knowledge online, www.liveworksheets.com has been suggested as the other effective tools of learning in the period of Covid-19 pandemic This representative website consists of various kinds of worksheets that are welldesign and uploaded With the help of the Internet, students can easily access to those worksheets using smart phones or computer Content 2.1 The theoretical background knowledge Primary education is considered as a single-phase where programmes are typically designed to provide fundamental skills in reading, writing and mathematics and to establish a solid foundation for learning This is an important period in which students are going to be supplied with necessary knowledge and skill for a better upcoming educational level Due to the unique characteristics of the early age, good teaching methods are highly recommended as N.X.Leytex has demonstrated that “Primary age is the period when children start their knowledge absorption in a natural way” Primary students have a great tendency of easy remembering or easy forgetting or easy getting tired of the lesson at the point of time Proper methods together with interesting activities can be considered as the key to solve this problem, especially in English lessons It is undeniable that consolidation plays an important part after each lesson in way it is always presented in each lesson plan As for N.M.IACOPLEP, “Consolidation is an important pace of teaching It expresses the integrity of the lesson and teacher can emphasize the knowledge through consolidating activities” Consolidation can be compared with revision, which takes place at a later time and serves to remind learners Consequently, taking the time to have students summarize and synthesize is the key to teaching for transfer It is definitely true that using games in a lesson as part of teaching and learning helps to create positivity around the lesson, motivating students with their participation and creating a positive attitude towards learning Games can also create a positive memory and experience of learning for students in the classroom Using games in teaching English is always a good approach as “playing is a child’s natural way of learning” (Genevieve Roth) Games are a great tool to use in the classroom to consolidate new knowledge After teaching new content to the class, provide students with a game that will consolidate their understanding and make connections with what they already know Accordingly, it not only becomes a good tool of assessment but also creates friendly and happy learning atmosphere in the last minutes In addition, as an assessment tool, worksheets can be used by teachers to understand students' previous knowledge, outcome of learning, and the process of learning; at the same time, they can be used to enable students to monitor the progress of their own learning According to Cindy Wyels, “Worksheets are an effective tool in ongoing efforts encouraging our students to engage their brains during class” A well set out and informative worksheet is one that allows students to move towards understanding, applying and The best kind of worksheets really push students to evaluate and give them the opportunity to create Good worksheets work for teachers as well They provide teachers with inspiration and direction on how to teach a new subject and give experienced teachers a refreshing outlook on how to structure content to learners' needs They also provide valuable feedback to teachers and parents as a moderation tool Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program, created by Robert Gaskins and Dennis Austin at a software company named Forethought, Inc PowerPoint presentations can be used in many ways in the ESL classroom as well as in other classrooms Presentations can be used for initial teaching, for practice and drilling, for games, for reviews, and for tests As PowerPoint presentations are easy to obtain, modify, and create; they are versatile and a great asset to any classroom PowerPoint presentations can be used right after each lesson for consolidating English knowledge in a quick and convenient way Together with some typical educational applications, online learning through websites has been developed these days, especially through the Covid19 pandemic This kind of learning gives hands to help students keep track to the knowledge they have learnt The website www.liveworksheets.com is the representative example for this case in which exercises are well-designed and upload through the base of online learning Therefore, students can easily approach the worksheets through smart phones, computers or tablets with the help of Internet The result from each worksheet is also displayed for students to find how good they are when they doing 6 2.2 The current situation before applying the initiative 2.2.1 Advantages: + About the School Managing Board: The School Managing Board always support as well as give the best conditions for me to teach English for Grade students at Quang Tien primary school Accordingly, teaching materials and teaching aids are very supportive thanks to the concern of the School Managing Board + About the teachers: I myself have a high awareness of trying harder and harder to improve my teaching career in order to bring about the best teaching results In spite of my short time being as a primary teacher, I still look for valuable materials relating to primary age as well as teaching methods with aims to have remarkable improvements Moreover, I frequently let myself get updated to technological achievements as well as apply them into my lessons properly to have better lessons In addition, it would be very supportive because I have received a lot of assistance from my colleagues at school This definitely is a great help which gives me a good opportunity to understand my students more and have appropriate teaching methods basing on each individual as well +About the parents: Most of the parents show their consideration on their children’s studying process They usually spend time discussing with the teacher in order to find the best direction to help their children in studying + About the students: Students have chance to get acquaintance to English from the early age when English has been taught as the optional choice in Grade and Some students have shown their interest and attention on the lessons They also get addicted to the activities and become very active and cooperative in class In order to understand their learning situation, at the beginning of the school year, I conducted a survey to assess the learning ability of English for Grade students The results are as follows: Survey results Total students of Grade 170 Good Average Poor Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 56 32,9% 99 58,3% 15 8,8% 2.2.2 Disadvantages + About the teachers: As I mentioned above, my short experience as an English teacher in a primary school somehow challenges me in my own teaching career + About the students: It is until in Grade when most students study English in a serious way This definitely challenges them in way they master the new language Also, there are a lot of students having bad ability of mastering knowledge; hence, it affects their learning process a lot Some students have bad living conditions in which they not receive enough care from their parents + About the parents: A lot of students were born in families in which their parents not have a lot of time caring about their learning Some of them not receive enough family education because they have to live with grandparents when their parents have to work far from home In other cases, parents cannot assist their own kids in learning English because they are not good at it 2.3 The solutions applied to solve the problems 2.3.1 Consolidating English knowledge through games Frankly speaking, teaching through games a lot of benefits to any classes in general and to English lessons in particular The teacher can use games to warm the lesson up or to consolidate English vocabulary and sentence patterns in a different and exciting way Using games to reinforce English knowledge for students is an extremely useful method which brings positive effects in helping students consolidate their knowledge as well as creating a comfortable and dynamic learning atmosphere Teachers need to be flexible enough to turn the-new-in-knowledge into effective educational activities Personally, when applying them for Grade students at Quang Tien Primary School - Sam Son City, I focus on reinforcing vocabulary and sentence patterns that I have just taught to design some simple consolidating activities Accordingly, students both play and study in the most effective way The key point for carrying out any games in English class is that the teacher has to make students get involved in the activity to give them a good chance to express themselves Moreover, rules must be set directly and clearly to make sure things go right when games are being played to avoided mistakes and noises Some games to consolidate English vocabulary can be carried on as follows: a Changing pictures Objective: Help students to recognize and remember words and phrases they have studied Teaching aids: Flashcards Form: Individually Time: minutes Rules: Teacher call out – students to hold pictures while asking other students to remember each student’s picture Then ask students to turn the pictures as their friends cannot see them at all, then ask the class to recall the vocabulary Questions can be used as “Where is ……?” or “Who has … ?” 8 The game can be more interesting when the position of students is changed or teacher can assign some representatives to be the host of the game Example: Grade - Unit 3: Where did you go on holiday? I have used pictures relating to countries such as Ho Chi Minh City, Ha Noi City, Hoi An Ancient Town, Hue Imperial City, Phu Quoc Island to be applied in this changing picture game Students are fully involved in the game as they not only remember words but also practice structures by answering “Where did …go on holiday?” Some photos have been taken when I applied this game to Grade at Quang Tien II Primary school as follows b Matching eggs Objective: Help students to recognize and remember long phrases Teaching aids: Separated egg pieces Form: Individually Time: minutes Rules: Teacher prepares separated egg pieces with separated words in a phrase Students have to match the right pieces correctly and quickly Teacher can ask students to read the phrases again together with give feedback and compliments in a proper way Example: Grade - Unit 2: I always get up early How about you? I have prepared separated egg pieces showing phrases in Unit such as: study/ with a partner, go/shopping, talk/ with friends online, surf/the Internet, ride/a bicycle, listen/to music I called out students who were given pieces They had to quickly match the correct pieces of eggs to make correct phrases The student with the most correct answer in the shortest time will be the winner 9 c Missing pictures Objective: Help students to recognize and remember words and phrases they have studied Teaching aids: Pictures and magnets Form: Individually Time: minutes Rules: Teacher stick 8-10 pictures relating to words students have learnt Then ask them to close their eyes while teacher quickly take out a random one Students then open their eyes and raise their hands to recognize which picture has been taken out Teacher can assign students to be the host of the game to make it more interesting To make it more challenging for students, the teacher can ask students to retell the missing word and write that word again as well in order to get the point for their team Example: I have sticked pictures relating to Unit 4: Did you go to the party? (go on a picnic, enjoy the party, join the funfair, watch TV, go to the zoo, play hide-and-seek, have nice food and drink, study with a partner, go fishing) Then I took out one picture in each turn while students were closing their eyes Students then had to guess which picture has been taken Here are some pictures when this game has been carried on 10 d Stars and A Help students and phrases G learnt It can be students have units or to L knowledge classes Q B D E F H I J K M N O P R S T U Flowers Objective: to write words they have used after learnt some recall the from the lower Teaching letters Boys versus aids: Board of Form: V V W X Y Girls Time: minutes Rules: Teacher shows the class the Board of letters Each team will choose a letter and then write down the words they have learnt starting with the letter they choose They then choose the around letters in order the make a threeblock line vertically, horizontally or diagonally The icon star (✮) and flower (✿) are given to Boys and Girls team in order to mark on the letter board Example: The following board of letters is the illustration for game 11 Some games to consolidate English sentence patterns can be carried on as follows: a Magic pencil Objective: Help students to recognize and remember words and phrases they have studied Teaching aids: Pictures and the rolling pencil Form: Pair work Time: minutes Rule: Put students into pairs and call them to roll the pencil which show the picture Then students ask and answer in pairs while other students listen and give comments Teacher may design some special items such as “Miss turn” or “Challenge” to make this game more interesting Example: Grade – Unit 3: Where did you go on holiday? I have sticked on the board pictures relating to Hoi An Ancient Town, HCM city, Hue Imperial City, Phu Quoc Island, train, plane, underground, motorbike, … Students will roll the pencil and using the sentence patterns “Where did you go on holiday?” and “How did you get (to) …?” to ask and answer b Picture guessing Objective: Help students to practice Yes – No questions Teaching aids: Pictures and stickers Form: Individually Time: minutes Rule: Call out one student to choose the picture Other students have to guess the picture by making Yes-No questions The student holding the picture will choose friends in each turn to guess The one who guess the right picture will be given stickers as a gift Example: Grade – Unit 4: Did you go to the party? I called out one student in each turn to choose a picture when other students have to make questions relating to phrases they have learnt Questions have to start with “Did you….?” and be answered with Yes, I did or No, I didn’t 2.3.2 Consolidating English knowledge through worksheets Using worksheet is a useful teaching aid in way it promotes students' positive learning creativeness It is a tool that allows the personalization of learning and at the same time it is an effective tool in collecting and processing 12 students’ learning information It is definitely a good way for teachers to consolidate English knowledge Students themselves can also evaluate how much they absorb what they have been taught through dealing with tasks given in worksheets Worksheets can be delivered as individual, pair or group work basing on the aims of the lessons They can also be assigned in class right after students are provided with any new knowledge Time limit is necessary to reinforce students to keep trying in order to make better learning progress To my own experience, there are some criteria that teachers need to pay attention when designing any kinds of worksheets - Firstly, they must cover knowledge students have been taught - Secondly, they have to be well-designed with illustrations or drawings Students at primary age seem to be addicted to these points - Thirdly, the length of tasks in the worksheet needs to be suitable for the consolidation time at class or at home To give more details, here are some kinds of worksheets that I have designed and applied in my classes to consolidate English knowledge a Worksheets These are kinds of worksheets which includes tasks relating to vocabulary and sentence patterns students have studied Teacher can design short and quick handouts which can be delivered to students to finish This kind of approach can be carried out after students are provided with any new knowledge or after they have completed one unit Teacher should give students chances to have peer check to not only save time but also to create a competitive perspective among students Here are some illustrations of quick handouts that I myself designed and applied into my own classes * UNIT 11: WHAT’S THE MATTER WITH YOU? Look, read and circle the best option A He has an earache B He has a toothache C He has a fever A She should go to the dentist B She should listen to music C She should take a rest A He has a stomach ache B He has a sore throat C He has a headache A He shouldn’t climb the tree B He shouldn’t carry heavy things C He shouldn’t eat sweets A She has a cough B She has a sore throat C She has a fever He has a sore eye A He shouldn’t watch TV B He shouldn’t eat sweets C He shouldn’t carry heavy 13 * The theatre is _ thethings stadium The cinema is _ the theatre and the supermarket The stadium is _ of the street Bus stop is _ Bus stop The post office is _ Bus stop UNIT 16: WHERE’S THE POST OFFICE? Look, read and complete using between, opposite, next to, on the corner b Word search Objective: Help students to recognize and remember words and phrases they have studied Form: Individually Time: minutes Example: Grade – Unit 5: Where will you be this weekend? I have designed a word search in which students have to find words relating to the topic Weekend (countryside, beach, sea, mountains, island, explore, picnic, train, motorbike) in minutes Then check students’ paper and give feedback as well as compliments 14 2.3.3 Consolidating English knowledge through educational applications and websites a PowerPoint It is undeniable that PowerPoint plays an important role in giving teacher a lot of considerable assistance in teaching This is the most popular and useful that teachers can use in any lessons to help provide students with any new knowledge Moreover, it also can be an effective means of consolidating English knowledge in way it can be transferred into games or quizzes thanks to PowerPoint The learning atmosphere will definitely become more active and exciting The students will also get more engaged in the lessons because they can take part in the activities in a visual and interesting way In the scope of this paper, I would like to introduce two ways of using PowerPoint to consolidate English knowledge by designing games and quizzes as follows Example: Unit 11: What’s the matter with you? Name of the game: Can you guess? Objective: Help students to make sentences using words and phrases they have learnt Form: Boys versus Girls Time: minutes Rule: Divide class into teams, boys and girls On each slide, students look at the two pictures and read the question Then they play rocks, scissors, paper to decide the team who get the chance to answer the question first Then, a picture disappears in which the team with the existing picture will be the winner Here are some slides to illustrate this game 15 b Live worksheets This is an useful website that can help to consolidate students’ English knowledge after the direct approach in class It is an advantage that students in Grade at Quang Tien primary school have had chances to learn IT from Grade Consequently, they somehow not have challenges accessing the application through a smart phone or computer All they have to is to log on the link that is assigned by teachers and finish all the taks They can be multiple choices, gap-filling or tick and the time will be set basing on how difficult the question is Although students not directly finish the question in class, the teacher can still access how they master the knowledge basing on the how well they the quiz This method is truly helpful when students have to be off from school because of Covid-19 pandemic It only helps students to keep track to the knowledge they have learnt but also give them a chance to apply IT techniques Some worksheets can be easily found in the website or they can be designed by the teacher and then uploaded into it 16 Here is an example of the tasks from www.liveworksheets.com that helps students to consolidate the knowledge of Unit 17: What would you like to eat? 2.4 The effects of the thesis to teaching activities, individual, colleagues and schools A lot of encouraging effectiveness have been achieved after I have applied some active activities as mentioned above into my teaching at Grade at Quang Tien primary school 17 First of all, it can be considered as the most efficient way to help teachers evaluate students’ understanding of vocabulary and sentence patterns Accordingly, teachers can give more emphasis or produce effective changes in their teaching process which help improve the quality of teaching in the future Secondly, students have chances to show their own ability of mastering English vocabulary and sentence patterns They then have better vision of their own learning process Students have become more active in learning and contributing after participating in consolidation activities The class atmosphere then became more relaxed and friendly The most important result is the way students improved basing on the rechecking test They got better marks that showed their better learning ability It was summarized through the following table The results are as follows: Survey results Total students of Grade 170 Good Average Poor Number Percentage Number Percentage Number Percentage 71 41,7 99 58,3% 0 It also shows the positive change in learning English at Quang Tien primary school in general Teaching aids such as projectors and flashcards have been supplied more by the school to assist teachers in their teaching career Conclusions and recommendations 3.1 Conclusion To meet the requirement of teaching innovation, there lives a need of changing the way of consolidating English vocabulary and sentence patterns into an interesting and active way Kinds of games, worksheets or educational applications will be the vital solutions to the problems In this case, it is necessary for teachers to be creative enough to turn the knowledge in each unit into a true active activity for students to take part in Moreover, teacher have to spend time designing activities which really need to be patient and enthusiastic With a lot of encouraging results, I myself will continue applying these approaches in my teaching process generally and in consolidating activities particularly to help students improve in learning English 3.2 Recommendations In order to maximize the results of teaching and learning English in elementary school, I have some suggestions as follows: It would be a good idea that Sam Son city Division of Education and Training give teachers of English in primary school more chances to attend training programmes with the instructions of experts of English and teaching methods 18 Modern tools such as projector, TV, speakers and laptops should be installed more in each English lesson in order to get the better results It would be greater if there are a media room which is used only for learning English Parents are advised to give more consideration to their students’ learning as well as have more cooperation in helping students have better improvement in learning generally and learning English particularly These are only issues that I subjectively recommend in the scope of the paper It definitely contains a lot of limitations that need to be perfected by superiors for better enhancement I look forward to receiving any suggestions and comments in the time coming XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Hiệu trưởng Sầm Sơn, ngày 15 tháng 04 năm 2022 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Lê Văn Hưng Nguyễn Quỳnh Lê 19 REFERENCE [1] N.X.Leytex, Các khả trí tuệ lứa tuổi, NXB Giáo dục, 1971 [2] Iacoplep, N.M, Phương pháp kỹ thuật lên lớp trường phổ thông, NXB Giáo dục, 1978 [3] Genevieve Roth, Teaching very young children, Richmond Publishing, 1999 [4] Cindy Wyels, Engaging Students via In-Class Worksheets, 2010 [5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Industrial_Revolution [6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_PowerPoint [7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quizizz [8] Tiếng Anh 5, Sách học sinh, NXB Giáo dục ... Grade students (5A, 5B, 5C, 5D, 5E) at Quang Tien primary school consolidate English knowledge 1.4 Research Methodology There are some methods that have been used in the paper, namely: - Investigative... initiative 2 Content 2. 1 The theoretical background knowledge 2. 2 Current situation before applying the initiative 2. 2.1 Advantages 2. 2 .2 Disadvantages 2. 3 The solutions applied to solve the problems 2. 3.1... English knowledge well (focusing mainly on vocabulary and model sentences) Research time: School year 20 21 -20 22 Research location: Quang Tien Primary School Research Object: Some solutions to help Grade