SKKN some pre reading activities to enhance the grade 10 students’ critical thinking skill

ƯƠN SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO NGHỆ AN TRƯỜNG THPT ĐÔ LƯƠNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM TÊN ĐỀ TÀI: Some pre-reading activities to enhance the grade 10 students’ critical thinking skill Lĩnh vực: Tiếng Anh Tác giả: Nguyễn Thị Thu Nguyễn Thị Phượng Đơn vị: Trường THPT Đô lương Thời gian: 2020-2022 TABLE OF CONTENT CONTENTS PAGE PART I: INTRODUCTION I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC II AIMS, SCOPE, OBJECTS AND METHOD OF THE STUDY III SCOPE OF THE STUDY PART II: CONTENT I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Critical thinking 1.1 Definition of critical thinking 1.2 Importance of critical thinking skill 1.3 Characteristics of critical thinking Pre- reading activities 2.1 Definition of pre- reading activities 2.2 Benefits of using pre-reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills 2.3 Some principles to design pre-reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills II SITUATION ANALYSIS Situation of students’ critical thinking skills at my school Situation of teaching students’ critical thinking skills at our school Situation of teaching and learning reading skill and pre-reading stage in reading lessons at our school III SURVEY Survey and the result Findings from the survey IV SOLUTIONS AND IMPLEMENTATION Sample application (Unit 1: Family life) Sample application (Unit 2: Your body and you) 11 Sample application (Unit 3: Music) 14 Sample application (Unit 4: For a better community) 16 Sample application (Unit 5: Inventions) 19 Sample application (Unit 6: Gender equality) 21 Sample application (Unit 7: Cultural diversity ) 23 Sample application (Unit 8: New ways to learn) 25 Sample application ( Unit 9: Preserving the environment) 28 10 Sample application 10 (Unit 10: Ecotourism ) 30 V RESULTS AND COMMENTS 33 Results 33 Comments 34 PART III: CONCLUSION 35 REFERENCES 36 APPENDICES Appendix 1: BEFORE INTERVENTION SURVEY SURVEY Class:……………………………… Sex: male / female Years of learning English:……… Critical thinking is considered as an important skill to live in the 21th century It helps students to process information in the life reasonably and predict results accurately, so I have been trying to carry out effective activities with the aims of forming and enhancing students’ critical thinking in the reading lessons in Tieng anh 10 Please answer the following questions by circling the options you choose (A, B or C) to show your opinion about critical thinking and its effect on your life Question 1: Critical thinking is an important skill A Yes B No C Not sure Question 2: You have many difficulties in making decisions by yourself A Yes B No C Not sure Question 3: You are good at processing and evaluating information A Yes B No C Not sure Question 4: You always make questions immediately when you get information A Yes B No C Not sure Question 5: It is necessary to think about the explanations and assumptions for our choices A Yes B No C Not sure Question 6: English lessons have great influences on your ways of thinking A Yes B No C Not sure Question 7: The others’ thinking is important to you A Yes B No C Not sure Question 8: You are patient enough with the complexity A Yes B No C Not sure Thank you for your co-operation Appendix 2: AFTER INTERVENTION SURVEY SURVEY Class:……………………………… Sex: male / female Years of learning English:……… I have applied pre reading activities to form and enhance students’ critical thinking (Tieng Anh 10) To check how your opinion about critical thinking and its effect on their life have changed, please answer the following questions by circling the options you choose (A, B or C) Question 1: Critical thinking is an important skill A Yes B No C Not sure Question 2: You have many difficulties in making decisions by yourself A Yes B No C Not sure Question 3: You are good at processing and evaluating information A Yes B No C Not sure Question 4: You always make questions immediately when you get information A Yes B No C Not sure Question 5: It is necessary to think about the explanations and assumptions for our choices A Yes B No C Not sure Question 6: English lessons have great influences on your ways of thinking A Yes B No C Not sure Question 7: The others’ thinking is important to you A Yes B No C Not sure Question 8: You are patient enough with the complexity A Yes B No C Not sure Thank you for your co-operation PART 1: INTRODUCTION I REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC In the globalization era, with the swift development of science and technology, the information exploration has great influences on the life Beside its huge advantages, it is stated that easy access to the internet has made information about everything available unstructured and unorganized The mixture of valid and reliable information with hoax requires the man to categorize, select and examine it carefully This is difficult for the young to because they are not mature enough and lack of life experiences During the teaching career for more than ten years, observing our students’ progress, we have realized that most of them tend to live more independently, solve problems and make decisions by themselves However, they encounter many difficulties when doing those For examples, to choose jobs, the students often follow trends and believe in the advertisements without thinking about their abilities and potentials This leads to the consequence of high unemployment rate in the society Another common problem is that when they read some information in the internet, they not know whether it is true or false, official or not As a result, they lend the crimes a hand to bad things such as disturbance, reaction… In addition, most of the students are trustful and not good at processing the information Therefore, they often get cheated and provide hackers with their personal information to appropriate possessions Honestly, the main reason of these things is due to the students’ one-sided thinking Reflecting on this for a long time, we think the best way to solve it is encouraging students to read much and teaching them to think critically By this way, our students can get much knowledge of the life and have habits of considering everything multidimensionally Knowing that critical thinking is hard to teach and learn but is not unable It needs practicing daily and the students must read much to have good background knowledge However, the fact is that the reading texts in the textbook are rather long and have many new words and specialized words, which makes the students afraid of reading It is true that they are not as attractive as online entertainment games on the internet Therefore, to stimulate the students’ reading and to be better at critical thinking, the pre- reading stage plays a prior and important role in a reading lesson In fact, the pre- reading stage is often thought to activate students’ background and provide them some useful language However, at this stage, the students should also be boosted their curiousness to read and motivated their critical thinking It means that we have to design suitable and interesting activities to demand these requests With this solution, we hope our students will be excited about reading and become critical thinkers to achieve successes in the life For the reasons above, from the beginning of the school year 2020- 2021, we have carried out a study with the topic “Some pre-reading activities to enhance the grade 10 students’ critical thinking skills” II AIMS OF THE STUDY - To stimulate students’ reading, and to form and practice students’ critical thinking skills through pre-reading activities in reading lessons III SCOPE OF THE STUDY - Focus on pre-reading activities of the reading lessons in the textbook Tieng Anh 10 PART 2: CONTENT I THEORETICAL BACKGROUND Critical thinking 1.1 Definition of critical thinking Many experts have proposed definitions of critical thinking Ennis (2011) suggested that critical thinking is reasonable and reflective thinking focused on deciding what to believe or This is similar to Ruggiero (2012) who suggested that the main idea involved in critical thinking is evaluation Ruggiero claimed that critical thinking is a process by which we test claims and arguments and determine which have merit and which not Therefore, to think critically means to evaluate the correctness, the merit, and the validity of claims or arguments Critical thinking is used to pass judgment on any information, explain the reasons, and able to solve the problem of the unknown; so that each individual is able to understand any content or information on a particular thing Critical thinking includes skills in conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion According to Zane, 2013, the essence of critical thinking is the interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, self regulation In fact, the theory of critical thinking began primarily with the works of Bloom (1956), who identified six levels within the cognitive domain, each of which related to a different level of cognitive ability They are knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthetics, evaluation Knowledge focuses on remembering and reciting information Comprehension focuses on relating and organizing previously learned information Application focuses on applying information according to a rule or principle in a specific situation Analysis was defined as critical thinking focuses on parts and their functionality in the whole Synthesis focuses on putting parts together to form a new and original whole Evaluation focuses upon valuing and making judgments based on information Below are the Bloom’s taxonomy and its types of activities for each level 1.2 Importance of critical thinking skill Ownership of critical thinking skills is very essential to ones themselves whether in developing peaceful daily life or for continuing study at higher level It is one of the most important skills in the 21st century and the desirable objective of the overall general natural 2020 education program Today, we are living in a world of problems- social problems, economic problems, political problems, educational problems…etc To solve these minutest problems requires critical thinking skills One, who cannot think, may not be able to those We need to be a critical thinker for study at higher level Critical thinking helps the study in the higher level easier to accomplish We need to be a critical thinker to ensure that we don’t make wrong and misleading judgment in our community and live in a more peaceful situation in community To sum up, critical thinking is necessary in every area of life and is the key factor to make the life happier in the 21st century 1.3 Characteristics of critical thinking Critical thinkers are identified to be: - Honest with themselves They acknowledge what they don’t know, recognizing their limitations, and being watchful of their own errors - Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting and challenging - Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive, remain patient with complexity, and are ready to invest time to overcome confusion - Base judgments on evidence rather than personal preferences, deferring judgment whenever evidence is insufficient, and revise judgment when new evidence reveals error - Are interested in other people’s ideas and so are willing to read and listen attentively, even when they tend to disagree with the other person - Recognize that extreme views (whether conservative or liberal) are seldom correct, so they avoid them, practice fair-mindedness, and seek a balanced view - Practice restraint, controlling their feelings rather than being controlled by them, and thinking before acting Pre- reading activities 2.1 Definition of pre- reading activities Different researchers have provided definitions of pre reading activities Lazar defines pre-reading activities as activities that help students with cultural background, stimulate students’ interest in the story, and pre-teach vocabulary Chen and Grave point out pre-reading activities as devices for bridging the gap between the text’s content and the reader’s schemata Ringler and Weber (1984) call pre-reading activities enabling activities because they provide a reader with necessary background to organize activities and to comprehend the material Pre-reading activities are stated as tasks tending to focus exclusively on eliciting prior knowledge, building background and focusing attention 2.2 Benefits of using pre-reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills It was found that what is done before reading is very beneficial for understanding the text It helps students - To activate background knowledge and connect it to the new concept more meaningfully - To get useful language which may be used in the text - To motivate their reading Pre-reading activities create students’ need, and help them engage in a process of discovery and to feel authorized to engage with the form and content of the text - To increase their curiosity about the topic and the text - To orientate and specify the topic Pre-reading activities make the reading tasks easier 2.3 Some principles to design pre-reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills - The activities must connect the topic, the text to students’ background - The activities should keep all students involved and engaged - The activities should stimulate students’ curiousness about the topic - The content of the activities must be open so that students needn’t wonder whether they are right or wrong and feel self-confident - The activities should encourage students to apply many different aspects to solve problems - The activities should be suitable with the time limit of pre-reading II SITUATION ANALYSIS Situation of students’ critical thinking skills at my school Our school is located in a mountainous area of the district and most of the students come from low-income families Although they are allowed to go to school and given the best conditions to study, many of them have not tried their best and got good results There are some reasons for this Firstly, most of the students believe that even if they go to university, they are just workers in factories after graduating They cannot find their specialized jobs which they have studied Secondly, the fact is that in recent years, due to the objective reasons, the number of students applying for our school has been decreasing, which makes the enrolment seem to be easy for students As a result, many students neglect their 10 6.Summarize Try to The text is about answer ……… the question s  Students’ activity and product Sample application (Unit 7: Cultural diversity )  Aims:  Knowledge: - Extend some more knowledge about the topic “superstitions” - Memorize, extend and use the lexical items related the topic  Key competences and language skills - Reading for specific information about superstitions - Build and stimulate prediction, explanation and conservation skills - Collaborate and build and stimulate students’ critical thinking, problem solving skills through the activity “debating” - Build students’ imagination, creativity, collaboration and communication  Attitude: - Being active to broaden and percept the knowledge - Be aware of superstitions - Build the love for the Vietnamese culture - Encourage students to study hard - Collaborate and build enthusiasm and effectiveness in pair work and group work - Extend students serious learning attitudes, love learning English, participate in learning activities energetically and actively 28  Type of work: Group work, pair work  Technique: The debating activity  Preparation: Pictures  Procedure: Teacher’s and students’ activities Activity 1: Express the beliefs Content and products Activity 1: Express the beliefs  Step 1: Giving the task - T sets up the task: T gives pictures about Lunar new year in Vietnam, a couple on the wedding day and students at a temple and a table of two columns (one is a symbol of good luck and the other is the symbol of bad luck) T asks Ss to describe and guess about the Lunar new year in Vietnam: What they see in the picture? Why these things happen? Do you the same thing? Why? - T asks Sts to ask and answer about what they on these events which are supposed to be good luck or bad luck and explain their reasons in pairs  Step 2: Completing the task - Sts the task in pairs: ask and answer about the pictures, express their beliefs and reasons for minutes  Step 3: Reporting the result - T calls Sts to talk about their beliefs about the events and reasons - T writes some Sts’ sentences on the board  Step 4: Assessing the performance - T observes Sts’ performance and answers - Laying food on the altar and praying will get good lucks - Sweeping the floor on the first days of the year is sweeping out 29 Lead in the activity 2: To know your beliefs are referred in comparison with the text, let’s predict if the sentences are Yes/ No/ Not given - The first rich and happy person to visit the house on the first day of the year will give good lucks to your family wealth Choosing favorable dates to hold weddings will make couples happy - Bride mothers go with the brides to the grooms’ houses on the wedding day - Saying bad things on the first day of the year makes people unhappy throughout the year - Going to the - Crossing the path temples and of a woman gives praying will give students bad lucks students good lucks Activity 2: Predict Yes/ No/ Not Activity 2: Predict Yes/ No/ Not Given Given statements statements  Step 1: Giving the task The first rich and happy person to visit - T sets up the task: T divides the the house on the first day of the year will class into groups of and asks Sts to give good lucks to your family scan the text in minutes then predict Sweeping the floor on the first days of which sentences are Yes/ No/ Not the year is sweeping out wealth Given in the text Saying bad things on the first day of the year makes people unhappy throughout the - Sts the task in groups of 6, year  Step 2: Completing the task predict which sentences are Yes/ No/ Choosing favorable dates to hold Not Given and find out the evidences weddings will make couples happy in the text  Step 3: Reporting the result Bride mothers go with the brides to the grooms’ houses on the wedding day - Sts give their answers and evidence Crossing the path of a woman gives  Step 4: Assessing the performance students bad lucks - T observes Sts’ performance and Key answer: Yes answers No Yes NG NG Yes Sample application (Unit 8: New ways to learn) 30  Aims:  Knowledge: - Extend some more knowledge about new ways to learn English - Memorize, extend and use the lexical items related the topic  Key competences and language skills - Reading for general information about new ways to learn English - Build and stimulate prediction and conservation skills - Collaborate and build and stimulate students’ critical thinking, problem solving skills through “5W1H” strategy - Build students’ imagination, creativity, collaboration and communication  Attitude: - Being active to broaden and percept the knowledge - Be aware of responsibilities for themselves - Build the students' senses of learning - Encourage students to study hard - Collaborate and build enthusiasm and effectiveness in individual work and group work - Extend students serious learning attitudes, love for learning English, participating in learning activities energetically and actively  Type of work: Group work  Technique: 5W1H strategy  Preparation: Two pictures of learning with electronic devices and a poster of questions  Procedure: Teacher’s and students’ activities Activity 1: Talk about the pictures  Step 1: Giving the task Content and products Activity 1: Talk about the pictures * Questions for suggestion: - T divides the class groups of - Question 1: Who can you see in the pictures? students - Asking students to work in groups to Question 2: Where are they? discuss the questions Question 3: What are they using  Step 2: Completing the task: Question 4: Why are they using - Sts work in groups and discuss the electronic devices? 31 questions Question 5: When can you use electronic devices to learn? Question 6: How can we learn English with electronic devices?  Step 3: Reporting the result The representatives of the groups report their discussion  Step 4: Assessing the performance: - T asks other students give comments - T gives feedback Lead to the activity 2: You have discussed some ways to learn English with electronic devices Now please scan the text and determine what the text is about Activity 2: Choose the best title  Step 1: Giving the task Activity 2: Choose the best title A Advantaged Electronic devices B New Ways to Learn English - T introduces the task to St and asks Sts to read the text for minutes then C Software Programmes discuss to choose the best title in pairs Key answer: C  Step 2: Completing the task - Sts scan the text for minutes, then work in pairs to discuss to decide the answers  Step 3: Report the result - T calls some Sts to give the answer and explain the reasons  Step 4: Assessing the performance - T observes Sts’ performance and answer Sample application (Unit 9: Preserving the environment) 32  Aims:  Knowledge: - Extend some more knowledge about environmental pollution - Memorize, extend and use the lexical items related the topic  Key competences and language skills - Reading for general information about environmental pollution - Build and stimulate prediction and conservation skills - Collaborate and build and stimulate students’ critical thinking, problem solving skills through jigsaw activity - Build students’ imagination, creativity, collaboration and communication  Attitude: - Being active to broaden and percept the knowledge - Be aware of responsibilities for community - Build the students' senses of preserving the environment - Encourage students to study hard - Collaborate and build enthusiasm and effectiveness in pair work and group work - Extend students serious learning attitudes, love for learning English, participating in learning activities energetically and actively  Type of work: Group work  Technique: The combination of the “jigsaw” activity and fishbone diagram  Preparation: The pictures about environmental pollution and a poster of questions  Procedure: Teacher’s and students’ activities Content and products Activity 1: Discussing the causes and Activity 1: Discussing the causes effects of environmental pollution and effects of environmental pollution  Step 1: Giving the task - T divides the class into divide the class into ‘expert’ groups of or students Asking students to discuss causes and effects of types of environmental pollution and complete the fishbone 33 diagram Group 1& 2: Causes and effects of soil pollution Group 3& 4: Causes and effects of air pollution Group 5& 6: Causes and effects of water pollution Group 7& 8: Causes and effects of noise The products of expert groups: pollution  Step 2: Completing the task: Round 1: expert groups discuss Round 2: Every two students in each expert group join in one new group to make ‘jigsaw’ groups The ‘jigsaw’ groups work together to complete the task  Step 3: Reporting the result The representatives of the ‘jigsaw’ groups report their discussion The product of a jigsaw group  Step 4: Assessing the performance: - T asks other students give comments - T gives feedback Lead to the activity 2: Those are causes Activity 2: Choosing the best title and effects of types of environmental A Natural Resource Depletion pollution Now please scan the text and answer the question: what is the text B The Long-term Damage of Soil about? 34 Activity 2: Choosing the best title C Environmental Pollution  Step 1: Giving the task D The Destruction of Ecosystem - T introduces the task to St: T ask Sts to Key answer: C read the text for minutes, then discuss to choose the best title in pairs  Step 2: Completing the task - Sts scan the text for minutes, then work in pairs to discuss to decide the answers  Step 3: Report the result - T calls some Sts to give the answer and explain the reasons  Step 4: Assessing the performance - T observes Sts’ performance and answer 10 Sample application 10 (Unit 10: Ecotourism )  Aims:  Knowledge: - Extend some more knowledge about ecotourism - Memorize, extend and use the lexical items related the topic  Key competences and language skills - Reading for general information about ecotourism - Build and stimulate prediction and conservation skills - Collaborate and build and stimulate students’ critical thinking, problem solving skills - Build students’ imagination, creativity, collaboration and communication  Attitude: - Being active to broaden and percept the knowledge - Be aware of responsibilities for community - Build the students' senses of responsibility for preserving the environment - Encourage students to study hard - Collaborate and build enthusiasm and effectiveness in individual work and group work - Extend students serious learning attitudes, love for learning English, 35 participating in learning activities energetically and actively  Type of work: Group work  Technique: Mind map  Preparation: A video of an ecotourism destination- Costa Rica https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8rA0i6SFro and a poster of questions  Procedure: Teacher’s and students’ activities Content and products Activity 1: Watching video and answering the Activity 1: Watching video and questions answering the questions  Step 1: Giving the task - T divides the class groups of - students - Show students the video of an ecotourism destination-Costa Rica https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8rA0i6S Fro Some pictures cut from the clip: What destination can you see in the clip? Why does this destination attract tourists? How does ecotourism influence on the environment and the local inhabitants? * Suggested answer: It is Costa Rica Because Costa Rica is one of the best ecotourism destinations with exotic wildlife, rainforests, beautiful beaches and exciting volcanoes Ecotourism has both positive and negative affect on the environment and the local habitats - Asking students to watch the video and discuss the questions  Step 2: Completing the task: - The groups discuss and list the influences of ecotourism on the environment and the local inhabitants on the poster  Step 3: Reporting the result 36 The representatives of the groups report their discussion  Step 4: Assessing the performance: - T asks other students give comments - T gives feedback Lead to the activity 2: You have talked about an ecotourism destination- Costa Rica Now please scan the text and determine what the text is about Activity 2: Choosing the best title  Step 1: Giving the task Activity 2: Choosing the best - T introduces the task to St and asks Sts to title read the text for minutes then discuss to A Sustainable Ecotourism and choose the best title in pairs jobs  Step 2: Completing the task B Pros and Cons of - Sts scan the text for minutes, then work in Ecotourism pairs to discuss to decide the answers C Ecotourism- A solution to Environmental Problems  Step 3: Report the result - T calls some Sts to give the answer and explain the reasons  Step 4: Assessing the performance Key answer: B - T observes Sts’ performance and answer V RESULTS AND COMMENT Results We applied these pre-reading activities to teach our grade 10 students in the school year 2020-2021 In spite of some difficulties, we achieved considerable successes in students’ behaviors and competences, which are the results of enhancing their critical thinking skills We have carried out the second survey with the same statements on the same students from three classes at the end of the second semester (after using these activities) The survey was done to check how effective the activities have brought about The table below shows the results of the survey before and after using the activities with the aim of enhancing students’ critical thinking skills 37 Statements Options Before using the activities After using the activities 42% 76% B No 35% 11% C Not sure 23% 13% 77% 24% B No 15% 53% C Not sure 8% 23% 9% 42% B No 51% 31% C Not sure 40% 27% 32% 63% 45% 24% 23% 13% 41% 73% 45% 18% 4% 9% 12% 67% B No 34% 2% C Not sure 54% 21% 30% 72% B No 62% 13% C Not sure 8% 15% 7% 45% B No 61% 24% C Not sure 32% 31% Critical thinking is an important A Yes skill You have many difficulties in A Yes making decisions by yourself You are good at processing and A Yes evaluating information You always make questions A Yes immediately when you get B No information C Not sure It is necessary to think about the A Yes explanations and assumptions for our B No choices C Not sure English lessons have great A Yes influences on your ways of thinking The others’ thinking is important A Yes to you You are patient enough with the A Yes complexity 38 Comments The survey shows that after using the interventional activities, there has been much more differences from before using them After using the activities, we have found that the students have changed considerately their attitude, behaviors and competences First of all, they have known the importance of critical thinking; therefore, they have tried to practice it every day Secondly, they are better at processing information as well as making decisions For examples, they have already known how to make questions and what questions should be raised as soon as they get information to determine whether the information is true or not They also find it necessary to think about the explanations and assumptions for their choices Thirdly, our students have tended to respect others’ opinions whether they have the same opinions or not Moreover, they become patient enough with the complexity Last but not least, more students admit that English lessons have great influences on their ways of thinking, behaviors and competences In conclusion, after using these interventional activities, our students have made a great deal of progress in their critical thinking and problem solutions 39 PART 3: CONCLUSION The study was implemented at the beginning of the school year 2020-2021, when we were assigned to teach grade 10 students The fact that our students’ school entrance marks were low, especially the English subject means the students’ knowledge and competences are not good Consequently, in contrast with the continued advance of civilization, our students have had more and more difficulties in both study and life Hence, we have made great efforts to find solutions to help our students to improve their learning and achieve successes in the life With the pre-reading activities suggested in this study, students are engaged in their reading, curious about the texts and willing to discover more information More exactly, they find their motivation to read materials and develop their reading skill More importantly, they have had the habits of thinking critically to process information and solve problems in the life as soon as they are asked Practically, the students have the ability of making decisions about their study, jobs, life by themselves easier In addition, they can apply their knowledge into the real life although this is not always really flexible These are the good things we have achieved in our study Basing on the situation analysis and the survey, we have designed prereading activities in the reading lessons (Tieng Anh 10) which are interesting and suitable for our students These activities are completely adapted and follow the official letter 5512 of Education Ministry With our designed pre-reading activities, students build and develop their required behaviors and competences in teaching and learning foreign languages By using these activities, the pre-reading stage not only activates students’ knowledge, provides them with useful language but also builds and enhances their critical thinking Another success of our designed activities is helping students boost both their collaboration to solve problems in the life through pair work, group work and presentation skills Besides, the students’ creativity is dramatically increased Truthfully, sometimes, these activities are not completely effective because of the number of students in the class and the class facilities However, undeniably, these activities have had a lot of positive influences on our students’ behaviors and competences They have gradually changed their ways of beliefs, thinking and formed key behaviors and competences to meet the standards of a global citizen in the 21st century As can be seen from the survey, our students have significantly improved in their attitude and competences Therefore, we can also apply similar activities to develop grade 11 and grade 12 students’ critical thinking skills through prereading stage In fact, these are only some suggested activities other teachers can design different reasonable pre-reading activities providing that they boost their students’ critical thinking We hope that critical thinking skills should be taught and paid attention to in other subjects Our measures have been taken during the teaching process Thanks to the 40 development of information technology, we have searched for much useful information to carry out the study In addition, the study has been completed with the assistance of the foreign language experts, our school’s Board of Directors, our colleagues and students We would like to express our sincere acknowledgement of their support and cooperation We would be grateful if we receive the comments and good ideas from readers and other teachers so that the study is getting more and more effective and interesting 41 REFERENCES Bloom, B (1956) Taxonomy of educational objectives New York: David McKay Co Inc Anderson, L & Krathwohl, D (Eds.) (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching and assessing: a revision of Boom’s taxonomy of educational objectives New York: Longman Forrester, J (2008) Thinking creatively; thinking critically Asian Social Science, 4(5), 100-105 Kurfiss, J C (1988) Critical thinking: theory, research, practice, and possibilities ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No.2 Washington, D.C.: Association for the Study of Higher Education Paul, R., Elder, L., & Bartell, T (1997) California teaching preparation for instruction in critical thinking: research findings and policy recommendations Santa Rosa, CA: Foundation for Critical Thinking Brown, M.N & Kelley, S.M 1986 Asking the right questions: A guide to critical thinking, 7th ed Englewood, NJ: Prentice Hall Hoang Van Van, Tieng Anh 10 textbook (2012) http:// scholar.google.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tye99AWhRQc 10 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJg43fASYmwa-pLlMQITVnw 11 https://youtu.be/J1QhLbjmqXA 12 https://www.youtube.com/c/OUPELTGlobal 42 ... ? ?Some pre- reading activities to enhance the grade 10 students’ critical thinking skills” II AIMS OF THE STUDY - To stimulate students’ reading, and to form and practice students’ critical thinking. .. the students’ critical thinking skills 2.3 Some principles to design pre- reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills II SITUATION ANALYSIS Situation of students’ critical. .. principles to design pre- reading activities to enhance the students’ critical thinking skills - The activities must connect the topic, the text to students’ background - The activities should keep