Skkn applying some pre reading activities in some reading lessons to create excitement and motivate learning english for grade 12 students

TABLE OF CONTENT Introduction…………………………………………………………………2 1.1 Reason for choosing the study 1.2 The scope of the research 1.3 Objects of the study 1.4 Methods of the study 2 Content………………………………………………………………………3 2.1 Theoretical back ground 2.2 Real situation of teaching and learning English at Tho Xuan high school 2.3 Some pre-reading activities applied in teaching English 12 (basic) …… 2.3.1 Activity 1: MIND-MAPPING 2.3.2 Activity 2: MATCHING GAME .8 2.3.3 Activity 3: DISCUSSION 10 2.3.4 Activity 4: COMPETITION GAME – HANGMAN .11 2.3.5 Activity 5: GUESSING GAMES 12 2.3.6 Activity 6: WORD SORT 14 2.3.7 Activity 7: SPEED CHATTING 15 2.4 Result 16 Conclusion and suggestions………… ………………………………… 17 3.1 Conclusion 17 3.2 Suggestions .17 References…………………………………………………………………… 18 skkn Introduction 1.1 Reason for choosing the study Recently, teaching English has improved in method in the light of the communicative, learner-centered approach which is adaptable to require objectives and help students have many opportunities to communicate inEnglish However, at many high schools, many teachers still apply traditional teaching method: grammar- translation They spend much time explaining grammar rules Students receive knowledge passively and have less chance to practice as well as to develop language skills Especially, in reading class, it is common that teachers always play the centred roles and explain everything to students while students nothing As a result, they find no pleasure or interest in reading lessons The classtime is often very boring How to draw students’ attention and to engage them in reading lessons as well as give them as many opportunities as possible to take part in active activities in the classroom? Through out my teaching experience, studying materials as well as observing the other teachers' class, I realize that stimulating students to learning actively during English lesson majorly bases on designing teaching-learning activities of each teacher in each lesson plan And, pre-reading activities- the starting point of the lesson are very important for helping students to understand the background of the text and help students feel more interested in reading periods They can spark students’ curiosity and promote a comfortable atmosphere in the classroom As a result, students will get more involved in the lesson and a better learning process will take place Before you play a sport or some physical activities it is advisable to warm up and prepare your body for the upcoming task It is the same way with reading It is better for teachers to give students a chance to warm up and prepare their mind for reading so that they can perform well and increase their comprehension in reading lessons So in this writing, I present the study entitled: “Applying some pre- reading activities in some reading lessons to create excitement and motivate learning English for grade 12 students" 1.2 The scope of the research The application of these activities was carried out among a class of forty 12-graders at Tho Xuan High School in some lessons in both first and second semester of the school year 2021-2022 1.3 Objects of the study Among the four skills of learning English, reading is paid much attention to by the teachers at high schools, however the students feel uninterested in reading classes because they lack motivation from the beginning of the lessons The main objective of the research is to help students feel more interested in reading lessons by using Pre-reading activities 1.4 Methods of the study skkn Reading reference books, discussing with other teachers, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences Content 2.1 Theoretical back ground Reading is “by far the most important of the four macro skills, particularly in English as a second or a foreign language” (Carrell (1984, p.1) Reading is one important way to improve your general language skills in English for the following reasons: - Reading can improve your English vocabulary and communication skills - Reading can help you improve your writing vocabulary - Reading helps you expand your knowledge and make you smarter - Reading is a good way to enhance your critical and analytical thinking skills - Reading will also offer you a chance to travel and use your imagination in ways you have never imagined Sookchotirat (2005) suggests that reading skill is the most important skill as it is the basis of all the success in one’s life Good readers can gain more knowledge of any kind from reading Reading makes the reader more knowledgeable, and reading makes the reader have wider perspectives and vision Reading helps the reader get new ideas leading to cognitive development When the reader transfers what they read to apply with their own idea a new perspective or idea is created Harmer (1998: 68) also makes clear that reading is useful for many purposes Reading texts provides opportunities to study a language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts Reading texts also provides good models for English writing Lastly, good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and be the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons Despite its importance, for many years, teaching and learning reading have been undervalued and students usually feel tired and bored at the beginning of the lesson, they study passively and find no pleasure in the act of reading Some of them just try to struggle with the text (e.g.: unknown words and complicated grammar rules) to find the answers to comprehension questions It was also very surprising to find out that most of them did not understand the purpose of reading They spent nearly 80% of the time on translating the text word by word into Vietnamese, even a simple one Because they thought that they could only understand the text completely if they translated the text Besides, some of the students also translate comprehension questions about the text before giving answers to the teacher In order to teach second language learners how to read in the best way possible, some pre- reading activities are provided below, that can be applied to ESL and EFL classroom settings, together with suggestions for teachers who teach oral language skkn “Pre-reading” is the process of skimming a text to locate key ideas before carefully reading a text (or a chapter of a text) from start to finish Also called previewing or surveying Pre-reading activities play an important role in a reading lessons Every reading lessons should start with activities to activate background knowledge and a series of activities to prepare student for the reading Pre-reading activities help students prepare for the reading activity by activating the relevant schemata, and motivating them to read.Pre-reading activities can also help learners anticipate the topic, vocabulary and possibly important grammar structures in the texts Yeeding (2007) investigated the effects of pre-reading activities on learners’ motivation and reading comprehension ability Results showed that the activities subjects were highly motivated, enthusiastic to read After the experiment, they scored significantly higher "Pre-reading strategies allow students to think about what they already know about a given topic and predict what they will read or hear Before students read any text, teachers can direct their attention to how a text is organized, teach unfamiliar vocabulary or other concepts, search for the main idea, and provide students with a purpose for reading or listening Most importantly, teachers can use pre-reading strategies to increase students' interest in a text."(Brassell, Danny and Timothy Rasinski. Comprehension That Works. Shell Education, 2008.) "Pre-reading encompasses all of the things that you do, before you start reading, to increase your capacity to understand the material In many cases, taking just a few minutes to learn more about what you are about to read can dramatically increase your reading comprehension and retention "If you build the big picture before you start, you begin reading the text with a conceptual framework already in place Then, when you encounter a new detail or a new bit of evidence in your reading, your mind will know what to with it." (Austin, Michael. Reading the World: Ideas That Matter. W.W Norton, 2007) 2.2 Real situation of teaching and learning English at Tho Xuan high school From applying new English teaching methods, "pre-reading activites” have been become main activity in teachers' reading lesson plans Some teachers have paid attention and prepared careful activites They know how to make the class time pleasant and comfortable so they create excitement and motivate learning English for their students However, some others are not aware much about the importance of pre-reading activities in reading skill They still think that these activities for this part waste time and make class noisy Thus, instead of having better preparation for pre-reading activities, they often explain the new vocabulary and ask students to read the passage and then finds the answers This makes students stressful and the class time boring skkn Moreover, for students at Tho Xuan high school, they have approached new teaching methods, but they seem to be embarrassing when they take part in pre-reaidng activities To know exactly about this problem, I have investigated 80 students in classes 12A2 and 12A3 by asking them the following questions: Please tick your choice to answer the following questions: Do you like pre-reading activities in reading lessons? Very like Like Normal Dislike Why (don't) you like pre- reading activities in English lesson? And I get the bellow result: Total very like like No % No 80 students 10 12.5 15 Normal % No % 18.8 25 31,3 Dislike No % 30 37,4 As can be seen from the result that most of good students are interested in pre-reading activities while lower students are shy because they have no ability to take part in Student's level of understanding is unequal in a class to cause difficulty for teachers to choose activities which are suitable for whole class Many activities can be applied well in this period but they also are boring in the other ones Lots of activities make good students excited while bad students could not participate in And vice versa, some activities attract lower students but make good ones bored Besides, my school is located in half-plain and pure agricultural area so students `have less chance to communicate in foreign language in daily life They are so shy to speak as well as express ideas, so the lessons often end with chatting in mother tongue From those reasons, the study entitled ""Applying some pre-reading activities in some reading lessons to create excitement and motivate learning English for grade 12 students" has been conducted with the hope to make teachers and students have a good chance to practice reading skill as well as other skills 2.3 Some pre-reading activities applied in teaching English 12 (basic) 2.3.1 Activity 1: MIND-MAPPING Al-Jarf (2011) defines mind-mapping as “a graphic organizer in which the major categories radiate from a central idea and subcategories are represented as branches of larger branches” (p.4) He also asserts that, this visual tool can be used to assist learning because it helps students “to generate ideas, take notes, organize thinking and develop concepts”This activity is used to: - attract the students’ attention to the content of the new lesson - present concepts in the classroom skkn - deliver an overview of the topic without super - fluous information - give students a chance to review and widen their vocabulary *Procedure - T takes a key word in the reading passage and write on the board - T asks the students to suggest all the words which associate with it - Ss can work individually or in groups to think of the words - Ss gives words and T writes each suggestion on the board with a line joining it to the original word in a circle, so that you get a “sunray” effect *Applying Unit 1: HOME LIFE Teacher writes down the word FAMILY on the board and has students brainstorm all the words they can think of: FAMILY The word FAMILY may produce something like the sketch below: housework Mother respect Join hand Father FAMILY Close-knit famifamilr Take care of Responsible Secure skkn Unit 8: Life in the future Teacher asks students the question “what might happen in the future?” and has them brainstorm all the words they can think of: LIFE IN THE FUTURE The answers may produce something like the sketch below: Robot Economic depression terrorism Space shuttle LIFE IN THE FUTURE unpoluted Car driverless Micro technologyy Modern medical system *Variation: The teacher may use “compettion games” for this activitiy - T can divide the class into groups of four or five - T gives them some handouts with list of words - The groups will work together to identify from the given list as many words related to the word as possible in minutes skkn - After minutes, the teacher invites the representative of each group to come to the board and write their list One point is given for the correct answer The group gets the highest points wins the game * Example UNIT : FUTURE JOBS - T writes key word “ job interview” on the board - T gives Ss a list of words and asks them to findout words related to the key word *List of words: casual clothes, self- confident, letter of application, feeling nervous, letter of recommendation, subject, exam, vacancy, friend, holiday, dress neatly, enthusiasm, stressful, qualifications *Sugessted answer: self- confident, letter of application, letter of recommendation, vacancy, dress neatly, enthusiasm, qualifications 2.3.2 Activity 2: MATCHING GAME Matching games improve language, concentration and memory We can use this kind of activity to introduce the new lesson as well as draw students’ attention on the theme of the unit *Procedure -T prepares some pictures related to the topic of the lesson and some cards written name of each pictures - T lets Ss observe the picture and call out the name of them * Applying Unit 3: WAYS OF SOCIALIZING -T divides the class into two groups A & B - T sticks the pictures of some guestures on the board - T distributes the cards showing some meamings to the students: Hello!, Stop here!, I agree, I can’t hhear, I don’t know, Be quiet - T calls out the pictures in any order and the representatives of each group should run to the board and stick the meanings under the pictures - The group with more correct answers will be the winner.- T asks Ss answer the questions: “do you often use gesture to communicate?do other people understand you?’’ and introduce the new lesson * Sugessted pictures A B C D E F skkn * Suggested answers Picture A: I agree Picture D: I don’t know Picture B: Stop here Picture E: Hello! Picture C: Be quiet! Picture F: I can’t hear UNIT 10: ENDANGERED SPECIES - T sticks some picture of animals on the board - T gives Ss some card showing the name of animals: panda, tortoise, leopard, gorilla, rhinoceros, blue whale - T calls out the pictures in any order and the representatives of each group should run to the board and stick the meanings under the pictures - The group with more correct answers will be the winner - T asks Ss questions: What these animals have in common? ( they are becoming extinct) Why they become extinct? - T leads-in to the new lesson * Suggested pictures A B C D E D F E F skkn *Suggested answer: Picture A: leopard Picture D: rhinoceros Picture B: panda Picture E: toitose Picture C: gorilla Picture F: blue whale 2.3.3 Activity 3: DISCUSSION “Discussion” is a activity in which the teacher can create a discussion about the topic by giving students some questions related to the lesson We use “Discussion activities” to: - give students an opportunity to talk about the things they really care about - encourage students to think more critically and actively participate in the classroom - increase students’ interests and engagement in reading lessons - arouse students’ curiosity about a certain topic - help students process the information rather than simply receive - help develop students’ habits of collaborative learning * Procedure - The Teacher prepares some questions expressing the topic of the reading passage, then sticks them on the board - T divides Ss into groups of four of five to discuss the answer - Ss stand up and present their ideas * Applying Unit 11: BOOKS - The teacher has students work in groups of four and discuss some of the questions relating to the topic of the reading lesson - The teacher invites some students to report their ideas in front of the class, gives comments and then starts the new lesson * Questions for discussion: Do you like reading? Why or why not? Which is your favourite book? Do you usually read for leisure or for study purposes? What you think are the benefits of reading in general? Do you think there is a difference between reading habits in the past and in the present day? What kinds of books did you read when you were a child? Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far? What is the impact of e-books on reading habit? In your opinion, will paper book disappearcompletely in the future? Unit 15: WOMAN IN SOCIETY - Students are asked to work in groups of four and discuss some of the questions relating to the topic of the reading lesson 10 skkn - The teacher invites some students to report their ideas in front of the class, gives comments and then starts the new lesson * Questions for discussion: What are the roles of women? Do you agree that the main role of women is looking after the famiy? Is it good for the women to stay at home and housework and take care of the chidren?Why or Why not? What you think of the sucessful women at work? Should they go out to any jobs they want?why/ why not? If you are a woman , which will you prefer: staying at home or working outside? 2.3.4 Activity 4: COMPETITION GAME – HANGMAN As Hadfield (1998) points out that one of the strategies to teach English is by using games A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (2005) also agree that language learning is very hard and efforts are required over a long period of time Games help the teacher to create contexts in which language is useful and meaningful, therefore; they help and encourage students to sustain their interest and work The use of Hangman game really helps teachers to motivate students and create fun atmosphere in the classroom before the new lesson is presented In this activity students are shown a set of blank letters that match a word or phrase and they have to guess what these letters are reveal the hidden word * Procedure - The teacher divides the class into two groups A & B and draws each of them a gallows on the board Team A Team B - The teacher explains to students that they are going to play a “Hangman” game - The teacher explains the rules of the game: students are given a secret word and the groups will take turn to guess it by telling what letters they think there are in this word - If students choose a letter that appears one or more times in the secret word the letter(s) will be revealed from the blank letters and students can keep on guessing the next letter On the other hand, if students guess a letter that is not in the secret word, then a piece of the man being hanged will be added to the gallows and they will lose their turn 11 skkn - Students will get one point for each letter they can guess correctly When the game is over, teacher will count how many points each group has collected and the group with more points will win the game - Students will have fun playing this game, feel more excited to start the new lesson and also improve their English at the same time * Applying Unit 4: SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM In this lesson, the secret word is “EDUCATION” teacher draws the same number of dashes as the number of letters in this word For this word, teacher would need dashes like this: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 2.3.5 Activity 5: GUESSING GAMES Guessing game, game of prediction, is a part of communicative language teaching approach It is best understood as an approach, not a method It is based on the theory of the nature of language and of language learning and teaching It is a system for the expression of meaning The basic role of guessing games is very simple, one person knows something that another one wants to find out The thing to be guessed can differ greatly from game to game It can be a word, an object, an activity or many other things Guessing games are useful in helping students practice logical thinking and asking questions (Zu, 2012) In pre- reading activities, we can use guessing from words, pictures or sentences to help students predict the topic of the lesson * Procedure T can pick out some words, sentences or finds some pictures related to the topic of the reading passage and ask students guess Students brainstorm ideas and then the teacher confirms how close or far they were * Applying Unit 12 : WATER SPORT Activity: guessing from words Before students look at the text they are going to read, the teacher writes or words from the text on the board and asks the students to guess the topic Ss observe the words and try to give the right prediction T gives feedback and leads in the new lesson * Cue words: pool, ball, goalie, players, score,… * Expected answer: Water polo Unit 16: THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS Activity: guessing from pictures - T divides class into teams - T hangs on the picture hidden pieces of pictures and asks Ss to open each piece in turn by calling the name of the country in it 12 skkn - each team in turn chooses piece of paper and answer the question to see picture If the answer is correct, they will have mark and if it wrong, they will lose turn Which team finding out the hiden picture first, game will stop and they will be winner - T checks, declares the winner and asks Ss guess the topic of the lesson through out picture * Six pieces of pictures : Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Laos, Singapore, Myanmar * Hidden picture 2.3.6 Activity 6: WORD SORT The use of Word Sort is very helpful for all kinds of students It is an interactive activity providing students with oral language development opportunities and also arousing students’ interests in the new lesson * Procedure 13 skkn - The teacher has the class work in groups of - The teacher writes the headings on the board - The teacher asks the students to look at the words in the box and put each word under the correct heading - The teacher gives an A0 sheet of paper to each group to write the words on, and then stick these sheets of paper on the board - The group with the most correct words wins the game * Applying Unit 12: WATER SPORTS - The teacher writes the headings on the board (jobs, animals, water sports and kinds of books) - The teacher asks the students to look at the words in the box and put each word under the correct heading * Suggested words Teacher Dictionary Whale Historical Water Dentist novel Polo Scuba Diving Tiger Cookery book Bear Pilot Giraffe Designer Craft book Surfing Encyclopedia Swimming Fairytale Water Skiing Engineer Romance Synchronized Swimming Elephant Accountant Actress Science fiction Comic Canoeing Thriller Leopard Lion Encyclopedia Monkey Rhinoceros Sailing Fox * Sugested answer: Jobs Animals Water sports Kinds of books Dentist Leopard Surfing Comic Pilot Tiger Sailing Dictionary 14 skkn Engineer Lion Swimming Romance Designer Monkey Wind Surfing Thriller Accountan Giraffe Water Skiing Craft book Hairdresser Elephant Scuba Diving Fairytale Actress Rhinoceros Water Polo Science fiction Businessman Fox Canoeing Historical novel Carpenter Whale Synchronized Swimming Encyclopedia 2.3.7 Activity 7: SPEED CHATTING Speed chatting is a very dynamic activity and guarantees plenty of student talking time It is a great idea for warm-up students to the new lesson * Procedure Prepare one or two simple questions related to the topic of the reading Ask the class to make two rows facing each other Then, encourage your learners to ask each other the questions, but warn them that they only have 60 seconds to so Once the 60 seconds are up, one of the rows rotates so each learner has a new partner Repeat the process several times * Applying Unit : HIGHER EDUCATION - T divides class into four rows of ten students - T writes two questions on the board: what university would you like to apply for? what will you feel and want to most at university? - T lets Ss to ask the questions in the rows in 60 seconds - T can call some students to present the answer in front of the class - T leads in the new lesson 15 skkn 2.4 Result All above things are some pre-reading activities which I applied for grade 12 students at Tho Xuan high school After applying those activities, I see that students' learning English have been improved The table below expresses clearly the change in the students’ behavior in reading activities Total 80 students (12A2,12A3) very like No 20 like % No 25,0 38 normal % No 47,5 17 dislike % No 21,3 % 6,2 In fact, almost students seem to be more excitement as well as indulging in learning English Lots of shy students are more confident They begin speaking English together in the class time Especially, they are very interested in reading activities This makes them more active and more enthusiasm to take part in learning activities Imagines of my students when taking part in learning activities Therefore, their learning result has been clearly increased in comparison with the beginning semester Learning result in 2020-2021: (before applying project) Total excellent good fair bad 80 students No % No % No No No (12A2,12A3) 3,8 15 18,8 25 31,3 37 Learning result in 2021-2022: (after applying project) Total excellent good fair 80 students No % No % No % bad No % 46,1 % 16 skkn (12A2,12A3) 10 12,5 35 43,7 30 37,6 6,2 Conclusion and suggestions 3.1 Conclusion In conclusion I strongly believe that the above designed activities help teachers enable high school students feel more interested in and actively get involved in reading periods The interest may be, in my opinion, very useful for learning a foreign language in many ways Just at the beginning of the lesson, these activities more or less force students to take part in their lesson They have no fear and no longer consider reading lessons a burden These various activities can also make students feel more motivated to read, and the reading itself becomes more purposeful, because of the challenge of finding out whether they have got their answers right or not Probably at least some of their answers are in fact right I hope the feeling of enjoyment will be with them throughout the lesson, helping them grasp the meaning of the lesson more effectively.Like my colleagues, I expect my students not to fear of my lessons for any reason 3.2 Suggestions It can be said that teaching English by new methods at high school especially at schools which is located in pure agricultural area is very difficult However, teacher can apply new methods effectively if they really have love with teaching career and always study suitable teaching methods for each student, gradually solve difficulties of this subject Through this writing, I want to share my little experience about using some new speaking activities to stimulate students to learn English with the other teachers I really hope that it is a useful reference to help teacher have the most effective lessons ` XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh hoá, ngày 31 tháng 05 năm 2022 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết LÊ THỊ HOA 17 skkn REFERENCES Al-Jarf, R (2011) Teaching spelling skills with a mind-mapping software Asian EFL journal professional teaching articles, 53, doi: ISSN : 1738-1460 Allwright, R (1984) The importance of interaction in classroom language learning Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 156-171 Carrell, P (1984) The effects of rhetorical organization on ESL readers TESOL Quarterly, 18(3), 441- 469 Carrell, P L., Devine, J., and Eskey, D., E 1988 Interactive approaches to second language reading Cambridge: CPU English Book 12 Education Publishing House Hadfield, J (1998) Elementary Vocabulary Games Longman Harmer, J (1998) How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching England: Longman Sookchotirat , M (2005) Reading: Learning sooner, teaching well Nanmee, Bangkok, Thailand Yeeding, S (2007) “Using pre-reading activities to increase learners’ motivation in reading comprehension”: A case of 2nd year vocational students enrolled in the Electrical and Electronic Certificate Program at Industrial Technology College, King Mongkut Pranakorn Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M (2005) Games for language learning (3rd ed.) New York: Cambridge University 18 skkn 19 skkn 20 skkn ... " "Applying some pre- reading activities in some reading lessons to create excitement and motivate learning English for grade 12 students" has been conducted with the hope to make teachers and students. .. up and prepare their mind for reading so that they can perform well and increase their comprehension in reading lessons So in? ?this writing, I present the study entitled: ? ?Applying some pre- reading. .. important role in a reading lessons Every reading lessons should start with? ?activities to activate background knowledge? ?and a series of activities to prepare student for the reading Pre- reading activities