NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ NHỮNG KHÓ KHĂN CỦA HỌC SINH TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG KHI HỌC NÓI TIẾNG ANH THỰC TRẠNG VÀ GIẢI PHÁP 1 DAKLAK DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BUON MA THUOT HIGH SCHOOL o0o TEACHING INITIAT[.]
DAKLAK DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING BUON MA THUOT HIGH SCHOOL -o0o - TEACHING INITIATIVE Title: TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS THROUGH ENGLISH SONGS AT BUON MA THUOT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL Institution: Buon Ma Thuot High School Teacher : Huynh Anh Hong Subject : English BUON MA THUOT, 2015 skkn TABLE OF CONTENTS I RATIONALE ………………………………………………………… …….1 II CONTENTS OF THE TEACHING INITIATIVE ………………… …….3 Theoretical Background ………………………………………… …… Research Method and Data Collection ………………………… …… Realities……………… ………………………………………… …… Procedures and Findings ……………………………………… ……… a Procedures …………………………………………………… …… b Findings ………………………………………………………… 12 Solutions………………… ………………………………………………13 a Commonly used phrasal verbs ………………………………… … 13 b Kinds of Exercises .20 Gap-filling …………………………………………….……….20 Multiple Choice ………………………………………… … 22 Sentence Completion ………………………………….………22 Synonyms ……………………………………………….…… 23 Matching ………………………………………………….… 24 Sentence Transformation ………………………… ……… 25 III CONCLUSION …………………………………………………………… 25 APPENDIX …………………………………………………………………27 REFERENCE BOOKS …………………………………………………… 28 skkn TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS THROUGH ENGLISH SONGS AT BUON MA THUOT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL I RATIONALE Special attention is always paid to education by the Communist Party of Vietnam and the Vietnamese government because education can give us a chance to get access to the civilizations of human races and the understanding of the world In addition, it helps improve the quality of life and brings various benefits to individuals, collectives and the society Via many sessions, the Communist Party of Vietnam stated: “We need to continue enhancing the total quality of education, innovating the contents and methods of teaching and learning, renewing the system of schools and classes and the system of educational management; implementing the standardization, modernization and socialization.” With the tendency of globalization and world integration, English is regarded as an extremely important means of communication to make all the people throughout the world get closer and understand one another regardless of geographical distances, politics, religions and races It plays an indispensable part in almost every aspect of the society: politics, commerce, diplomacy, tourism, economy, culture and education What’s more, the year 2015 is the first year when the general certificate of secondary education examination and the university entrance examination are combined and mixed into the national general certificate of secondary education examination (GCSE Examination) English is picked out as one of the three compulsory subjects for the provinces which meet the requirements of learning and teaching English in a good condition It is these changes that have made a wide range of notable challenges to high schools, especially teaching staff in equipping the learners with the language skills in order to meet the higher and higher demands of the society Hence, the teachers of foreign languages in general and the teachers of English in particular can’t cease improving their qualifications, innovating the methods of teaching and applying more modern teaching method of foreign languages in the communicative approach with a view to improving the language proficiency and communicative skkn competence of students In order to meet the tendency and needs of the society, the teachers of English are required to come up with creative and impressive teaching methods Since then, the students can understand the lessons deeply and apply them into their real-life conversations naturally The Ministry of Education and Training has had many sets of textbooks composed in the communicative approach so that the learners can improve and develop their language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing Of the four language skills, each skill is of a specific and equivalent importance The four skills have a close and reciprocal relationship and they help learners master their target language Thus, if the learner is not good at any skill, he/she will have to cope with some obstacles in the process of using the language After many years of teaching English, I realize that the students find it very difficult to remember English phrasal verbs They often ask me to show some ways to remember the phrasal verbs in different contexts More interestingly, the phrasal verbs often have quite distinct meanings when they are combined with different prepositions e,g: look up, look after, look for, look into, look at Such difficult questions raised by the students make me think of the topic: “Teaching phrasal verbs through English songs at Buon Ma Thuot upper secondary school” One of the most striking trends of the students nowadays, especially students at Buon Ma Thuot high school is that they are absorbed in listening to music very much Let me illustrate an example extracted from a song to help students understand the meanings of the phrasal verbs “Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it looks as though they’re here to stay Oh I believe in yesterday Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be There’s a shadow hanging over me …… Why she had to go I don’t know, she wouldn’t say I said something wrong now I long for yesterday skkn Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away Oh I believe in yesterday …… (extracted from the song YESTERDAY by the Beatles) Thanks to music, they can remember the meanings of the phrasal verbs included in the lyrics From the reality, it is very hard for students to remember and apply the phrasal verbs into real-life conversations; therefore, I decided to write this teaching initiative with the purpose of not only stimulating the students’ learning English but also improving their vocabulary Additionally, students can use these phrasal verbs flexibly in different contexts and situations and , more importantly, they can written tests well II CONTENTS OF THE TEACHING INITIATIVE Theoretical Background There exist a variety of definitions of phrasal verbs which are given in different sources as follows: A phrasal verb is the combination of a standard verb such as make or put with one or two particles In some cases the particle is an adverb such as away, together; in others it is a preposition such as through, in Here are a few examples of the many hundreds of English phrasal verbs: pass away, pull together, fall through, make with, put down to A phrasal verb is a phrase (as take off or look down on) that combines a verb with a preposition or adverb or both and that functions as a verb whose meaning is different from the combined meanings of the individual words A phrasal verb is a verb followed by a preposition or an adverb; the combination creates a meaning different from the original verb alone Example : To get = to obtain To get together = to meet I need to get a new battery for my camera Why don’t we all get together for lunch one day? Phrasal verbs are part of a large group of verbs called “multi-part” or "multiword” verbs The preposition or adverb that follows the verb is sometimes called a particle skkn Phrasal verbs and other multi-word verbs are an important part of the English language However, they are mainly used in spoken English and informal texts They should be avoided in academic writing where it is preferable to use a formal verb such as “to postpone” rather than “to put off” Since the Ministry of Education and Training brought out the English textbook sets written in the communicative approach, many English teachers have made several investigations and some teaching initiatives into the difficulties and solutions in teaching and learning this subject so that students can understand the lessons better and improve their abilities Meanwhile, they hope that their creative methods of teaching can motivate and arouse learners’ enthusiasm and passion for English in particular as well as for foreign languages in general Besides the changes from traditional methods of teaching into learner-centered methods of teaching, the experienced teachers are required to find out the difficulties of the learners so that the learners will feel more absorbed in the subject and overcome their difficulties in the process of study After nearly fifteen years of teaching English, I have partly known the interests and psychology of high school students It seems to me that what makes them really excited can help them remember for so long A survey has been conducted to get to know what they often in their free time Most of the students reply that they like listening to music when they have spare time and they add that music helps relieve their stress and take it easy after hard days of study Being fully aware of the role music can play in entering the mind of the students, I make full use of the most effective way to aid the memory of the students by accompanying some phrasal verbs with the song It can be denied that phrasal verbs are really a big obstacle for high school students Students often have difficulty in making up their mind which answer is the best one when they multiple-choice tests Therefore, I have come up with a new idea as to how to help students remember the meanings of phrasal verbs easily and deeply I have chosen the English songs which contain phrasal verbs skkn When I play the songs, I put a stop to the sentences with the phrasal verbs and then ask them to guess their meanings in the contexts Moreover, in the curriculum of the twelfth grade textbooks, phrasal verbs are in Language Focus of Units 14 and 15 E.g: Remember to ……… your shoes when you are in a Japanese house A take out B take after C take off D take over It proves that phrasal verbs play an extremely important part in English language Once students know how to use them effectively and flexibly, their writing style can move to a higher level of writing In recent years, it is obvious that most of the written tests contain a variety of phrasal verbs in various exercise forms This has made the learners, especially those who are going to take part in the important exams fall into trouble Up to now many English teachers have written a big circle of research papers which are mainly related to the language practice skills In few research papers is the method of teaching phrasal verbs via English songs employed This initiative is expected to create a more interesting and more impressive learning atmosphere It is this teaching method that gives students a great pleasure and helps them memorize as many phrasal verbs as possible Research Method and Data Collection Two research methods applied to conduct this study are quantitative and qualitative The objects for this research are the twelfth graders at Buon Ma Thuot high school because phrasal verbs are included in Language Focus of Units 14 and 15 and their needs are getting greater and greater when they have to take the national GCSE examination Let me illustrate the steps of this research paper Firstly, I have read hundreds of English songs, categorized and picked up the songs containing phrasal verbs skkn Secondly, I have had these English songs recorded in the high quality disk and played the tape recorder for the students Finally, the sentences with phrasal verbs are picked out and analysed the meanings of the phrasal verbs in pragmatic contexts In addition, some kinds of exercises and tests are suitably designed in order to check whether they understand and remember the meanings of these phrasal verbs or not Different sorts of questions including information and yes/no questions related to the contents of the topic have been delivered to more than 100 twelfth graders so as to find out how effective this teaching method is Since then, more efforts need to be made to improve it Realities Based on several sources of information such as test results and feedback from students, it is a fact that students often cope with too much difficulty in doing the tests with phrasal verbs They say that phrasal verbs are confusing and they can’t distinguish their meanings What are phrasal verbs? Why are phrasal verbs one of the most difficult aspects for the learners of the English language? It is the thought-provoking questions that make English teachers think a lot to find out more creative and more effective teaching methods Phrasal verbs are difficult for learners of the English language for the following reasons: The first reason is that in many cases the meaning of the phrasal verb can’t be deduced from their elements It means that is used idiomatically; therefore, learners have difficulty in understanding the sentence Let me show an example Ex: The teacher ticked off the student for being late, in which the phrasal verb to tick off means to reprimand or to express disapproval The second reason is that many phrasal verbs are polysemous; i.e., they have more than one meaning The phrasal verb to put down has the literal meaning of putting something down on the table or floor But it also has the idiomatic meanings: skkn o to make someone feel small, to criticize and humiliate them o to kill as in the sentence I had to have my cat put down o to stop, quash, put an end to as in the sentence The police put down the riots with unnecessary brutality In order to meet the requirements of the current English teaching and learning, teachers of English have to find out the most effective teaching methods to apply them into the lessons and lectures flexibly and creatively so that their students can understand the contents of the lessons profoundly As the communicative goal is presently an integral part of teaching and learning foreign languages at school, it is very necessary for the students in general and for the twelfth graders in particular to master both grammatical points and language competence in different contexts and situations From the realities and the difficulties of the students in general and the twelfth students in particular when they are on the point of facing plenty of important exams in their life, something should be done to help them overcome these difficulties A survey has been conducted to collect more reliable and veridical information from the students After a list of questions has been distributed to more than 100 twelfth students, the results are sorted and analysed to get to know the reasons why they have chosen wrong answers when doing multiple choice tests containing phrasal verbs Procedures and Findings a Procedures More than one hundred English songs which contain phrasal verbs are selected and then analyzed to give suitable meanings for each phrasal verb according to pragmatic contexts and situations I would really like to illustrate how to teach phrasal verbs through the five English songs: Yesterday Once More, Last Thing On My Mind, If We Hold On Together, We Are The World and Papa skkn To begin with, the song Yesterday Once More written by the Carpenters is played twice and the teacher asks his/her students to identify which phrasal verbs are used in this song When I was young, I’d listen to the radio Waiting for my favourite songs When they played I’d sing along, it made me smile Those were such happy times and not so long ago How I wondered where they’d gone But they’re back again just like a long lost friend All the songs, I love well ………… Looking back on how it was in years gone by And the times that I had Make today seem rather sad, so much has changed It was the songs of love that I would sing to them … As they melt the years away …… All my best memories come back clearly to me … From the song, we can see some phrasal verbs such as listen to, wait for, look back on, go by, melt away, come back to The teacher provides students with the meanings and the usage of these phrasal verbs In addition, the teacher also asks the students to make sentences with these phrasal verbs Listen to sth/sb = try to hear sth/ sb; pay attention Ex: You are not listening to what I am saying! Wait for sth/sb = stay where one is, delay acting, etc for a specified time or until sb or sth comes or until sth happens Ex: We are waiting for the rain to stop skkn PHRASAL VERB MEANING EXAMPLE SENTENCE death break up end a relationship My boyfriend and I broke up before I moved to America break up start laughing (informal) The kids just broke up as soon as the clown started talking break out escape The prisoners broke out of jail when the guards weren't looking break out in something develop a skin condition I broke out in a rash after our camping trip bring someone down make unhappy This sad music is bringing me down bring someone up raise a child My grandparents brought me up after my parents died bring something up start talking about a subject My mother walks out of the room when my father brings up sports bring something up vomit He drank so much that he brought his dinner up in the toilet call around phone many different places/people We called around but we weren't able to find the car part we needed call someone back return a phone call I called the company back but the offices were closed for the weekend call something off cancel Jason called the wedding off because he wasn't in love with his fiancé call on someone ask for an answer or opinion The professor called on me for question call on someone visit someone We called on you last night but you weren't home call someone up phone Give me your phone number and I will call you up when we are in town calm down relax after being angry You are still mad You need to calm down before you drive the car not care for someone/something not like (formal) I don't care for his behaviour catch up get to the same point as someone else You'll have to run faster than that if you want to catch up with Marty check in arrive and register at a hotel or airport We will get the hotel keys when we check in check out leave a hotel You have to check out of the hotel before 11:00 AM check someone/something out look at carefully, investigate The company checks out all new employees check out someone/something look at (informal) Check out the crazy hair on that guy! cheer up become happier She cheered up when she heard the good news cheer someone up make happier I brought you some flowers to cheer you up chip in help If everyone chips in we can get the kitchen painted by noon clean something up tidy, clean Please clean up your bedroom before you go outside come across something find unexpectedly I came across these old photos when I was tidying the closet come apart separate The top and bottom come apart if you pull hard enough come down with something become sick My nephew came down with chicken pox this weekend come forward volunteer for a task or to give evidence The woman came forward with her husband's finger prints 14 skkn PHRASAL VERB come from somewhere MEANING EXAMPLE SENTENCE originate in The art of origami comes from Asia count on someone/something rely on I am counting on you to make dinner while I am out cross something out draw a line through Please cross out your old address and write your new one cut back on something consume less My doctor wants me to cut back on sweets and fatty foods cut something down make something fall to the ground We had to cut the old tree in our yard down after the storm cut in interrupt Your father cut in while I was dancing with your uncle cut in pull in too closely in front of another vehicle The bus driver got angry when that car cut in cut in start operating (of an engine or electrical device) The air conditioner cuts in when the temperature gets to 22°C cut something off remove with something sharp The doctors cut off his leg because it was severely injured cut something off stop providing The phone company cut off our phone because we didn't pay the bill cut someone off take out of a will My grandparents cut my father off when he remarried cut something out remove part of something (usually I cut this ad out of the newspaper with scissors and paper) someone/something over beat up, ransack (BrE, informal) He's lucky to be alive His shop was done over by a street gang something over again (AmE) My teacher wants me to my essay over because she doesn't like my topic away with something discard It's time to away with all of these old tax records something up fasten, close Do your coat up before you go outside It's snowing! dress up wear nice clothing It's a fancy restaurant so we have to dress up drop back move back in a position/group Andrea dropped back to third place when she fell off her bike drop in/by/over come without an appointment I might drop in/by/over for tea sometime this week drop someone/something off take someone/something I have to drop my sister off at work before I come over somewhere and leave them/it there drop out quit a class, school etc I dropped out of Science because it was too difficult eat out eat at a restaurant I don't feel like cooking tonight Let's eat out end up eventually reach/do/decide We ended up renting a movie instead of going to the theatre fall apart break into pieces My new dress fell apart in the washing machine fall down fall to the ground The picture that you up last night fell down this morning fall out separate from an interior The money must have fallen out of my pocket fall out (of hair, teeth) become loose and unattached His hair started to fall out when he was only 35 figure something out understand, find the answer I need to figure out how to fit the piano and the bookshelf in this room fill something in to write information in blanks, as on a form (BrE) Please fill in the form with your name, address, and phone number fill something out to write information in blanks, as on a form (AmE) The form must be filled out in capital letters 15 skkn PHRASAL VERB MEANING EXAMPLE SENTENCE fill something up fill to the top I always fill the water jug up when it is empty find out discover We don't know where he lives How can we find out? find something out discover We tried to keep the time of the party a secret, but Samantha found it out get something across/over communicate, make understandable I tried to get my point across/over to the judge but she wouldn't listen get along/on like each other I was surprised how well my new girlfriend and my sister got along/on get around have mobility My grandfather can get around fine in his new wheelchair get away go on a vacation We worked so hard this year that we had to get away for a week get away with something without being noticed or punished Jason always gets away with cheating in his maths tests get back return We got back from our vacation last week get something back receive something you had before Liz finally got her Science notes back from my roommate get back at someone retaliate, take revenge My sister got back at me for stealing her shoes She stole my favourite hat get back into something become interested in something again I finally got back into my novel and finished it get on something step onto a vehicle We're going to freeze out here if you don't let us get on the bus get over something recover from an illness, loss, difficulty I just got over the flu and now my sister has it get over something overcome a problem The company will have to close if it can't get over the new regulations get round to something finally find time to (AmE: get around to something) I don't know when I am going to get round to writing the thank you cards get together meet (usually for social reasons) Let's get together for a BBQ this weekend get up get out of bed I got up early today to study for my exam get up stand You should get up and give the elderly man your seat give someone away reveal hidden information about someone His wife gave him away to the police give someone away take the bride to the altar My father gave me away at my wedding give something away ruin a secret My little sister gave the surprise party away by accident give something away give something to someone for free The library was giving away old books on Friday give something back return a borrowed item I have to give these skates back to Franz before his hockey game give in reluctantly stop fighting or arguing My boyfriend didn't want to go to the ballet, but he finally gave in give something out give to many people (usually at no They were giving out free perfume samples at the cost) department store give something up quit a habit I am giving up smoking as of January 1st give up stop trying My maths homework was too difficult so I gave up go after someone follow someone My brother tried to go after the thief in his car 16 skkn PHRASAL VERB MEANING EXAMPLE SENTENCE go after something try to achieve something I went after my dream and now I am a published writer go against someone compete, oppose We are going against the best soccer team in the city tonight go ahead start, proceed Please go ahead and eat before the food gets cold go back return to a place I have to go back home and get my lunch go out leave home to go on a social event We're going out for dinner tonight go out with someone date Jesse has been going out with Luke since they met last winter go over something review Please go over your answers before you submit your test go over visit someone nearby I haven't seen Tina for a long time I think I'll go over for an hour or two go without something suffer lack or deprivation When I was young, we went without winter boots grow apart stop being friends over time My best friend and I grew apart after she changed schools grow back regrow My roses grew back this summer grow up become an adult When Jack grows up he wants to be a fireman grow out of something get too big for Elizabeth needs a new pair of shoes because she has grown out of her old ones grow into something grow big enough to fit This bike is too big for him now, but he should grow into it by next year hand something down give something used to someone else I handed my old comic books down to my little cousin hand something in submit I have to hand in my essay by Friday hand something out to distribute to a group of people We will hand out the invitations at the door hand something over give (usually unwillingly) The police asked the man to hand over his wallet and his weapons hang in stay positive (informal) Hang in there I'm sure you'll find a job very soon hang on wait a short time (informal) Hang on while I grab my coat and shoes! hang out spend time relaxing (informal) Instead of going to the party we are just going to hang out at my place hang up end a phone call He didn't say goodbye before he up hold someone/something back prevent from doing/going I had to hold my dog back because there was a cat in the park hold something back hide an emotion Jamie held back his tears at his grandfather's funeral hold on wait a short time Please hold on while I transfer you to the Sales Department hold onto someone/something hold firmly using your hands or arms Hold onto your hat because it's very windy outside hold someone/somethingup rob A man in a black mask held the bank up this morning keep on doing something continue doing Keep on stirring until the liquid comes to a boil keep something from someone not tell We kept our relationship from our parents for two years keep someone/something out stop from entering Try to keep the wet dog out of the living room keep something up If you keep those results up you will get into a great college continue at the same rate 17 skkn PHRASAL VERB MEANING EXAMPLE SENTENCE let someone down fail to support or help, disappoint I need you to be on time Don't let me down this time let someone in allow to enter Can you let the cat in before you go to school? log in (or on) sign in (to a website, database etc) I can't log in to Facebook because I've forgotten my password log out (or off) sign out (of a website, database etc) If you don't log off somebody could get into your account look after someone/something take care of I have to look after my sick grandmother look down on someone think less of, consider inferior Ever since we stole that chocolate bar your dad has looked down on me look for someone/something try to find I'm looking for a red dress for the wedding look forward to something be excited about the future I'm looking forward to the Christmas break look into something investigate We are going to look into the price of snowboards today look out be careful, vigilant, and take notice Look out! That car's going to hit you! look out for someone/something be especially vigilant for Don't forget to look out for snakes on the hiking trail look something over check, examine Can you look over my essay for spelling mistakes? look something up search and find information in a reference book or database We can look her phone number up on the Internet look up to someone have a lot of respect for My little sister has always looked up to me make something up invent, lie about something Josie made up a story about why we were late make up forgive each other We were angry last night, but we made up at breakfast make someone up apply cosmetics to My sisters made me up for my graduation party mix something up confuse two or more things I mixed up the twins' names again! pass away die His uncle passed away last night after a long illness pass out faint It was so hot in the church that an elderly lady passed out pass something out give the same thing to many people The professor passed the textbooks out before class pass something up decline (usually something good) I passed up the job because I am afraid of change pay someone back return owed money Thanks for buying my ticket I'll pay you back on Friday pay for something be punished for doing something bad That bully will pay for being mean to my little brother pick something out choose I picked out three sweaters for you to try on point someone/something out indicate with your finger I'll point my boyfriend out when he runs by put something down put what you are holding on a surface or floor You can put the groceries down on the kitchen counter put someone down insult, make someone feel stupid The students put the substitute teacher down because his pants were too short put something off postpone We are putting off our trip until January because of the hurricane put something out extinguish The neighbours put the fire out before the firemen arrived put something together assemble I have to put the crib together before the baby arrives put up with tolerate I don't think I can put up with three small children in 18 skkn ... …………………………………………………… 28 skkn TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS THROUGH ENGLISH SONGS AT BUON MA THUOT UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL I RATIONALE Special attention is always paid to education by the Communist Party... difficult questions raised by the students make me think of the topic: ? ?Teaching phrasal verbs through English songs at Buon Ma Thuot upper secondary school? ?? One of the most striking trends of... to realize that they become interested in learning phrasal verbs by listening to the English songs They say that the more songs with phrasal verbs they listen to, the more phrasal verbs they can