(SKKN HAY NHẤT) some suggestions for helping students at lang chanh high school develop speaking skills

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT LANG CHÁNH SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR HELPING STUDENTS AT LANG CHANH HIGH SCHOOL DEVELOP SPEAKING SKILLS Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Thị Xuân Chức vụ: Giáo viên SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực: Tiếng Anh THANH HOÁ, NĂM 2021 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 1.com PARTS I INTRODUCTION II CONTENTS IV CONCLUSION REFERENCES UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 2.com I INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the topic In the trend of global integration, English is considered as an international language It is the major language of intercommunication, international commerce, business, science, culture and so on In Vietnam, the economic opendoor policy pursued by the Government has increased the demand for using English Therefore, there has been a positive trend of teaching and learning English across the country English is also introduced to the educational curriculum from primary education (optional) to tertiary education (compulsory) In addition, teaching English always has many fluctuations and changes according to the general evolution of world civilization and culture - That is something that no one can deny Therefore, it is required that the instructors of this subject are always responsible and enthusiastic to convey knowledge effectively and meet the requirements of society Recognizing the importance of speaking skill ,the teachers of English in high schools have the responsibility to equip students with basic and solid knowledge so that they can study English well at their level Study higher or be able to communicate common sentences with foreigners We always try to improve our professional expertise, learn from the experience of the masters, consult and share experiences with our colleagues, as well as find out and learn creatively effective and attractive teaching methods to motivate students and continuously improve the quality of teaching In terms of theory, the teacher must be the one who teaches them to correctly understand and practice the knowledge in the curriculum through the following skills: Reading, Speaking, Listening, and Writing Since then, they take the initiative in communicating and using language for each of their own purposes such as translation, document writing, and interviewing So that, it’s easier for them to work in international or venture companies Through the years of applying innovative methods in teaching English in high schools with the new textbook program, there have been many experienced teachers who actively serve the teaching of English However, I realize that there are still problems that continue to arise in the practical teaching at our school, we are always pondering, thinking and finding solutions One of the issues is: how to effectively teach SPEAKING to improve students' communication skills, as well as improve the quality of teaching English at Lang Chanh high school In order to help the students build up motivation for speaking lessons, develop effectively communication habit outside classroom so that students can improve speaking skill and can response the goal of language learning in general is to be able to communicate fluently, I choose the topic of UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 3.com study: “Some suggestions for helping students at Lang Chanh high school develop speaking skills ” Aims of the study Some main purposes covering the study are summarized as follow: + To understand the theoretical background of speaking in communication in order to improve students’ English speaking skills + To investigate some active activities for speaking lessons + To help English teachers, especially teachers of English at upper secondary schools to find out the optimal methods applied when organizing activities to teach speaking skills effectively in class Scope of the study This study is only concerned with ways of organising activities in the class rather than with teaching techniques II CONTENTS Theoretical background: 1.1 The importance of English Language The English language has become an international language Among nations it serves as a lingua franca It is spoken, learnt and understood even in those countries where it is not a native’s language English is playing a major role in many sectors including medicine, engineering, education, advanced studies, business, technology, banking, computing, tourism etc All our software development today, the communication facilities available to us through internet, our access to a variety of websites, are all being carried out in English Most of the research works are conducted and compiled in English Anything written and recorded in this language is read and listened to, in wider circles As a result, English is being taught and learned around the world as a second language today (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Speaking_Skills) 1.2 The importance of developing English speaking skills First of all, money talks, English is the global language of business English is considered the global language of business, trade and commerce Due to massive (a lot of) growth in the last two centuries, America and the United Kingdom have emerged as leaders in the marketplace Because of this, English has become the key language for business Think global giants like Amazon, Apple and Disney, and you will find that they are all based in California in the United States.While things are slowly changing towards a more globalized world and, hopefully, a wider use of various languages, for the time being, English is still at the top of business This means that if you are wanting to work in a big company, move overseas or be an entrepreneur, English speaking is essential UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 4.com Secondly, It is helpful when traveling One of the key reasons that we choose to learn another language is to speak it in a native context And what better way to that than to travel to an English-speaking country? Take a look around the map, and you will see just how many different options are available to explore You can take your English speaking skills all around the world, explore unique and different places and, best of all, communicate with the locals! Moreover, It opens the doors to moving and working abroad If you are looking to immigrate to an English-speaking country, there may be certain requirements that must be fulfilled More often than not, this will include some type of English test Take a look at the US citizenship English test and some useful resources that will help you on your journey This will give you a basic idea of what level of English is required The British Government mandates (requires) an approved B1 level if you want a work visa Of course, once you are working in your new home, you will want to be able to communicate effectively and efficiently in the English language in all aspects of your life Nextly, You will be able to pass an English exam for work or school If you have read the previous paragraph and are confused by the significance of “B1 level,” we are going to look at it now It is an English level earned by taking an accredited English exam, such as the TOEFL speaking test, IELTS speaking test These exams have a number of uses, including being needed for visas, jobs, university admission and more Higher-level tests can even be specific to a particular industry For example, you may need to take a business English exam or a test to teach English Another importances of English speaking is that It will help you with public speaking and social events.Of course, one of the great reasons to learn English is so you can meet new people, explore different cultures and be able to speak English at social events with ease In this way, you can become the life of the party (somebody who is the center of attention and enjoying themselves) There are other benefits of speaking English in this context For example, you will be able to maintain a fluent and interesting conversation in a restaurant Once you continue learning and increase your English level, you can also become comfortable with English public speaking (giving speeches, presentations, etc.) One amazing way to sound natural in social situations is to use phrases native speakers use themselves FluentU’s English YouTube channel has this video on phrases American use all the time FluentU English has many more videos like this Subscribe to the channel and improve your speaking skills one engaging video at a time UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 5.com Last but not least, You can fulfill industry requirements Continuing our discussion regarding immigration and work, it is important to note that English is a required language for specific jobs For example, English is necessary for pilots and air traffic controllers Other industries that will require English skills include tourism, diplomacy and research positions This means that English may be vital (necessary) for your career (https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-speaking-2/) Practical background 2.1 Background of the study 2.1.1 Description of the English syllabus at high schools At upper secondary schools, there are three levels of English: English 10, 11 and English 12 In the past the textbooks used here are the three-year -course ones, the seven- year- course books have been used lately English is now a compulsory subject in schools Students have English lessons during the first term and second term of the school year The textbooks chosen are English 10, 11, 12 by Nha Xuat Ban Giao Duc Each consists of 16 lessons which have been covered through out the school year with mid-term and term tests in between Each lesson is divided into periods with the aim of giving the students basic knowledge of English and practice four skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing skill By using this textbook, we can develop our students’ communicative competence and our students can learn real things from daily life The textbooks also develop students’ reading and writing skill At the end of each term, students have an exam for four skills 2.1.2 Description of the students at high schools Most of students at high school have already learned English for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low level of English proficiency Another fact is that most of the students are from rural areas in diferent districts Consequently, individual differences in learning styles, identities, attitudes, motivation… etc are unavoidable and may cause the teachers some problems during their teaching In addition, their lack of awareness on the importance of English as well as motivation makes them not interested in learning English Although most of them have already learnt English for at least four years at lower secondary school, their knowledge of English is still poor and limited Some students can even hardly say a complete sentence in the target language 2.1.3 Description of the teachers at high schools In terms of methodology, the teachers in high schools usually employ the traditional methods of teaching especially Grammar-translation method They often apply this method in teaching English In other words, they focus on UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 6.com analyzing the grammar rules, not on the acquisition of language skills They spend most of the classroom time explaining new words, analyzing grammar structures and translating texts into Vietnamese Students often listen and take notes passively This leads to low motivation in students and creates very few chances for them to improve their communicative competence 2.1.4 Description of physical setting In most upper secondary schools, English teaching and learning activities are mostly carried out inside the classrooms which are designed for lecture lessons with the only classroom equipment: a blackboard, tables and a desk The only type of teaching aid that the English group has is some cassette recorders and pictures In term of class size, the number of students in an English class is quite large, from 40 to 50 This large number causes a great deal of difficulties for the teaching and learning activities The materials for reference and selfstudy are not available for teachers and students at schools In the school library, there are only some English books that are not really helpful for teachers and students 2.2 Students’ Lack of motivation The students are still deeply affected by the old and passive learning methods such as Translation or Audio-lingual Method and the learning environment at lower secondary school where speaking was not fully taken into consideration They only learn what the teacher supply in the classroom The information from the data collected clearly shows that students’ limitation of vocabulary and grammatical structures, their lack of vocabularies and their background knowledge are students’ main difficulties, which influence their motivation for speaking as well as their presentation Not only the students but also the teachers faced many problems when dealing with speaking lessons Students had very limited vocabulary, and were too dependent on teachers, peers dictionaries Moreover, students often have a fearful psychology, considering listening to foreign language is a challenge.They not believe in themselves and become worried when speaking.Therefore, their learning will be difficult to take effect It can be said that lack of confidence is also a major limitation affecting ability to make sense of their communication 2.3 The reality of quality of English at Lang Chanh High School Most of my students come from various villages in Lang Chanh district They have no opportunity to interact with foreigners directly Therefore, it will be difficult for them to understand linguistic phenomena such as linking, contracted forms, omitted words or sometimes speakers use incorrect grammar sentences…In addition, they also have few chances to contact with native speakers, the environment for communication in English is not available On the other hand, students are still influenced by the old ways of teaching and UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 7.com learning, not focusing on developing communication skills Therefore, they not have many opportunities to practice and develop speaking skills Moreover, at Lang Chanh high school, students only focus on grammar and vocabulary.They are hardly allowed to practice communication skill, and learning grammar is very merchanical, mainly reading, memorizing,and coppying, sometimes it is not highly effective Students in Lang Chanh high school not have conditions to practice skills such as listening and speaking because there is no room for practice The textbook knowledge is old and has not been modified The curriculum is too grammar-heavy, turning them into a "walking grammar book" With such learning conditions, even specialized language students also have difficulty in listening and pronouncing, much less are mountainous students However, the implementation of innovation of teaching method in Lang Chanh High school in general, in Foreign Language group particularly has initially gained encouraging results during the last ten years There are many active methods and technique applied on the topic of the lessons and the knowledge level of each group From what I have experienced in my teaching process, I have figured out that one of the most practical methods at Lang Chanh High School is getting students to work in groups and encourage them to communicate during the English lessons As a result, the quality of students' English learning at our school has been gradually improved They become more confident to talk Nevertheless, using active methods into speaking lesson effectively is not simple Therefore, in this study I really want to discuss about how to “Unit Celebration-Part B Speaking - English 11 Textbook" effectively Methods for implementation 3.1 Introduce the goals and ways to practice speaking skills with students Speaking can be practiced individually or in pairs or groups If practicing in pairs or groups, teachers must divide class into pairs and groups first, so that the students know whom they have to practice with When practicing in groups, the teachers need to know who the is the leader of each group and specify the practical task of the group at the same time The teachers must also ask for discipline when practicing 3.2 Speaking practice must be systematic, continuous, and followed the motto from easy to difficult This requires teachers to be creative, know how to redesign, and adjust the layout of each task (if necessary) to highlight the core contents and create opportunities for students to practice speaking Example 1: Unit 6- Future Jobs- Speaking (p 66) Task 1: Match a job in column A with at least two descriptions in B UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 8.com If the teachers not pay attention to the design of the teaching activity, they will lose the opportunity to practice speaking for the students because the task is only to match each career in column A with descriptions of that profession in column B be suitable Accordingly, the teachers will stop for students to complete the match such as: (A doctor is connected with the description “take of people’s health” + help save people's lives.) But in my opinion, we should design guiding students to understand the content of Task by asking some prompting questions: Now, Look at the table and tell me: How many jobs there are in column A? Ss: There are four How many descriptions there are in column B? Ss: there are eight So work in pairs Match a job in column A with at least two descriptions in B within one minute Teachers walk around the classroom to help students if needed When the minute is up, teachers leadstudents to a new activity by asking: Have you finished matching? (Ss: yes) T says: Let’s practice speaking (Teacher explains that )when students practice asking answering about the jobs, all of you have to listen and check their matching The teacher can give suggested sample Q&A (if they are students in a non-public school): St1: Could you tell me what a doctor often do? St2: A doctor is a person who takes of people’s health and helps save people’s lives At this time, when the students practice speaking, they also have matched the Task Note that when each pair of practice is finished, the teacher should ask the whole class or a student to comment the contents that pairs has just completed The teacher gives suggestion, then you should check the answers and give appropriate compliments to inspire students in the following tasks Example 2: Unit 1- HOME LIFE – Lesson Speaking (p15) The teachers can combine Task and into one and adjust the requirements of the task such as: Work with a different partner Ask and answer questions about family life to find out whether your friend’s family life is like yours Note down the answers in the table Who works in the family (Who works in your family?) Who does the household chores (Who does the household chores in your family?) Your friend’s responsibility in the family (What is your responsibility in the family ?) The interest the family members share closely UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 9.com UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 17.com Teacher’s activities B: Well, …………………(activities) A: Oh, that sounds interesting - The teacher calls members of each group to practice the dialogue - The teacher gives feedback and show the extra board to sum up the main contents when talking about the celebrations ACTIVITY POST-READING( 10 minutes) Aims: - Encouraging students to know more about the meaning of celebration; - Motivate students have more confidence to present their idea to the whole class Teaching methods: Group work Ways to organize activity: Presentation Teaching aids: Prepared pictures of students Teacher's activities - The teacher asks each group to present a random celebration by their posters ( the teacher asked each group works in group to make posters related holidays the previous lesson) - The teachers guides the ways to present (greetings, linking words, ) - The teacher gives feedback UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 18.com * Consolidation: (3 minutes) The teacher gives comments to students’ presentation The teacher asks students to keep in their mind that as a student,they should have more understandings about the meaning of traditional holidays/celebrations in Vietnam as well as the other countries in the world Therefore, they are able to spend these celebrations significantly The teacher asks students to prepare the next lesson 3.3 Students' work Some pictures below show what our students during the lesson Picture 1: Picture 2: Picture 3: UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 19.com Picture 4: Students work in pairs and groups to the tasks in the lesson 3.3 Result after applying the study in teaching When doing this study, I conducted experimental teaching in some classes 11A4, 11A8, 11A9 The results show that the quality of teaching lessons is higher, the number of students understanding, absorbing lessons and implementing communication skills has increased significantly Most of the students find that speaking skills are no longer stressful in class, they are not afraid of being wrong, and especially their confidence in communication increases a lot UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 20.com Class 11A8 Total numbers of students: 39 11A5 Total numbers of students:39 11A9 Total numbers of students:35 III CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION Summary of the study Although there are many efforts to read, explore, share experiences from colleagues, learn from practical teaching to draw some effective methods of teaching English speaking skills at high school, but I noticed that some of the issues raised in the topic were not in- depth, the illustrative examples were not much However, the problem in this topic is very common and real, leading great passion for students in English It can be said that this is a useful document for each teacher, helping teachers (especially for teachers who are new to the industry) to enrich their methods of imparting knowledge to students in class Over the past few years, the application of these techniques and strategies for improving speaking skill has been widely adopted Students now feel more confident to speaking English Their vocabulary, their background knowledge of communication have been improved.As a result they can communicate by english more successfully than before Recommendation Based on what I have coped with during my teaching process, I have some practical recommendations as following: 2.1 For teachers: - Continue to research and research references UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 21.com Always learn from the masters as well as share experiences with the colleagues Constantly self-study and regularly fostering through many different resources such as Internet, E-book,ect Actively invest in designing suitable activities that bring high results for learners 2.2 For educational managers - Investing facilities and synchronous teaching equipment - Encourage teachers to write experience ideas Create conditions for teachers to participate in professional seminars and improve professional skills Strengthen the organization of seminars in groups, provinces to expand opportunities to share learning experiences for all English teachers or representatives of each school attending, then apply pressure used in nest Develop a portal on resources for teaching materials such as: Award winning experiences, high availability should be widely applied in the whole province Despite such limitations, I strongly believe that my research is successful to some extent and I hope that teachers of English and students can get something useful from this document I would like to receive your sincere criticism and constructive comment to make it a better one for another time Any further researches that employ supplementary instruments such as experimental research or observations and carry out in a longer period of time on a large scale can help to prove the above results more strongly and persuasively and can also help to avoid the subjective assessments from the researcher of this study Nguyễn Thị Xuân UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 22.com REFERENCES Websites http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O999-speaking htm https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e3/Speaking_Skills https://www.fluentu.com/blog/english/english-speaking-2/ http:// how to design a lesson plan for teacher of English 2.The textbook Gross Davis, B (1993) Tools for Teaching San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers Text book 10, 11, 12 UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 23.com ... of UAN VAN CHAT LUONG download : add luanvanchat@agmail 3.com study: ? ?Some suggestions for helping students at Lang Chanh high school develop speaking skills ” Aims of the study Some main purposes... teach SPEAKING to improve students'' communication skills, as well as improve the quality of teaching English at Lang Chanh high school In order to help the students build up motivation for speaking. .. Description of the students at high schools Most of students at high school have already learned English for at least four years at lower secondary school but many of them are at the low level