Developing activities to improve english speaking skill for 5 6 year old children at âm center

HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES VU THI LINH GRADUATION THESIS DEVELOPING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR - YEAR-OLD CHILDREN AT AMA CENTER THANH HOA, MAY 2021 HONG DUC UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION THESIS DEVELOPING ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR + YEAR-OLD - CHILDREN AT AMA CENTER Student : Vu Thi Linh Class : K20B – FFL – HDU Course : 2017 - 2021 Supervisor : Trinh Thi Thu Ha, M.A THANH HOA, MAY 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Right from the first days when I studied in the Faculty of Foreign Languages, I was just like an ingenuity child with little knowledge of language skills and social issues During the 4-year university journey, thank all the teachers for sharing knowledge and experiences to help us improve ourselves First of all, I would like to express my gratitude thanks to Mrs Trinh Thi Thu Ha for her encouragement and enthusiastic guidance me complete the graduation My graduation would not be complete without her support My sincere thanks also go to all the teachers in Foreign Language Department of Hong Duc University for their empathy, enthusiasm and tremendous asistance I would like to thanks Hong Duc University for providing us professional learning environment and facilities Finally , I extend my regards and blessings to my family and all my friends who supported me in any aspects during the completetion of the graduation paper Thanh Hoa, May 2021 Student Vu Thi Linh i ABSTRACT The proficiency of speaking becomes one of the five skills that should be acquired by every child in this 21 century era Communicating and collaborating and language boundaries become a necessity in diverse and multinational communities Therefore, modern teaching approaches and innovations in this area As a result, there is a great amount of interest and studies on how to teach and leam English speakıng skill well to students expecially young learner This study was carrmied out to investigate the reality of learning and teaching English speaking skill of students 5-6 year- old students at AMA English center The data used and analyzed in this study was collected through multiple choice questionnaire from teacher and interview questions from them Through surveys and interviews, the author found out students' interest in learning English in general and speakıng skill in particular, methods used during the process of teaching and learning speaking lessons and difficulties students encountered when leamıng such the speaking skill From the real situation of teaching and learning speaking skill for young students, some solutions, especially activities, have been proposed in order to help students learn better and improve their speaking skill ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT i ABSTRACT ii PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Aims of the study Methods of study The scope of the study Design of the study PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of Speaking skill 1.2 The importance of speaking skill 1.3 Characteristics for young learner 1.4 Strategies and methodology in teaching speaking skill to young learner 1.5 The importance of using activities 11 1.6 Major types of activities 12 1.6.1 Audial activities 13 1.6.1 Using songs 14 1.6.1.2 Using shadowing 15 6.1.2 Visual activities 17 1.6.2.1 The story telling 18 1.6.3 Kinesthetic activities 21 1.6.3.1 Using language game 22 1.6.3.2 The role play games 23 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 25 2.1 Background information of AMA English center 25 2.1.1 Teaching staff 25 2.1.2 The students 26 2.2 English teaching and learning condition at AMA center 26 iii 2.3 The survey questionnaire 27 2.3.1 The purpose of the questionnaire 27 2.3.2 The design of the survey questionnaire 27 2.4 Interviewing 28 2.5 Observation 28 2.6 The data analysis 28 CHAPTER 3: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 29 3.1 Findings from questionaires 29 3.2 Findings from interviewing 36 3.3 Findings from observation 38 PART III: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 40 Conclusion 40 Some suggestions to improve english speaking skill 41 2.1 Using pictures in learning to speak English 41 2.2 Applycability of internet in studying speaking 43 2.3 Learning speaking English through funny games 44 2.3.1 Samon say 44 3.2 Where are My Glasses? (Wright et al.,1984) 45 2.4 Using story telling 46 2.5 Learning through songs 47 REFERENCES 49 APPENDIX……………………………………………………………………50 iv PART 1: INTRODUCTION Rationale Nowadays, in the development of international relations between countries, English, especially spoken English, is an effective means to travel, work or communicate English is the passport to people’s success and a deeper understanding of our rapidly changing world Therefore, the teaching and learning of English is very important and necessary Proficiency in English is the best and shortest way for us to have countless opportunities to succeed in life English is increasingly popularized to young ages, especially preschool students with the age from to However Vietnamese preschool students, face many difficulties in learning and practicing English speaking skills Due to the age too small and lack of time to learn They are not interested in learning English speaking skills and are often confused when speaking English Besides, the passive environment with the same and boring lessons without interesting additional activities makes them unable to learn, practice and improve their skills That is the main reason why they are not so effective at learning to speak English For the above reason, the author have researched some effective English learning methods with the desire to help preschool students in AMA English Center learn better English speaking skills in the near future And one of my suggested methods is to teach and practice speaking English through additional activities That is why I decided to choose the study with the title “developing activities to improve English speaking for 5, years old kids at AMA center Aims of the study My study aims to help preschool and year old students at AMA improve their speaking skills through extra activities Summarized above, My study is aimed at: - finding out the current situation of teaching and learning English for pre-school students of 5,6 years old at AMA English center - Suggesting some additional activities for 5,6 year olds to apply in speaking skill lessons Methods of study To conduct this study, a mixed method, including both quantitative and qualitative methods, was used - studying on reference books and websites, previous research - Observing some English speaking periods at AMA English Center - Interviewing and conducting survey questionnaires with teachers at AMA to find out their views and attitudes towards problems and difficulties they encounter in the teaching process The scope of the study There are so many different resources and researchers, it required a lot of time and efficiency while the author’s own experience was limited Therefore, this study can only focus on studying some effective techniques in learning English speaking skills, especially through activities for students of 5,6 years old at AMA Center This study is considered a good reference for English speaking teachers Design of the study A table of contents with pages numbers in which they are presented with help readers have a clear overview of the research proposal It also helps readers find the parts they need more easily and quickly The study contains of three parts Part I The introduction includes rationale, aims, scope, methods and the design of the study Part II The development presents four chapters -Chapter A literature review will provide readers theoretical basis of speaking skills and tearning English speakıng skills through activities -Chapter Methodology and Procedure present the overview of learning and teaching English speaking skills for pre-school students of 5,6 years old at AMA English center.The subjects of study, tools of data collection, procedures and data collection are also shown -Chapter Focuses on findings and discussion from questionnaires of teacher at AMA English center Part III The conclusion and suggestions which summanzes all the presented information of the study Some suggestions to improve English speaking skill for pre-school students of 5,6 years old at AMA English center PART 2: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Definition of Speaking skill Speaking is defined as an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing, receiving and processing information Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, the participants, and the purposes of speaking (Burns & Joyce, 1997) In the book "Developing speaking skill" of David Scheter, published on 1999, there is a definition that: Speakıng is to utter words or articulate sounds as human beings to express thoughts by words, as the organs may be so obstructed that a man may not be able to speak" Meanwhile in the book "Collins Cobuild English for advanced learner 4h edition", published in 2007, Speaking is defined as "the activities of giving speech and talks, to indicate the opinion you are giving" "Speaking is also understood is the productive skill in the oral mode It, like the oral skills, is more complicated than it seems at first and involves more than just pronouncing words" According to Chaney (1998), speaking is the process of making and sharing meaning by using verbal and non-verbal symbols in different contexts Brown (1994) and Burns and Joyce (1997) defined speaking as an interactive process of making meaning that includes producing, receiving, and processing information This top down view regards the spoken texts as the collaboration between two or more people in the shared time and the shared context In short speaking can be as the way to carry out feeling through words, even conversations with other It means that human use words and phrases in interactive process of constructing meaning of speaking According to Richard (2008) states that in speaking people tend to be getting something done, exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or simply being together If the students can speak English fluently that can help them to easy communicate and also explore their idea Speaking English also 3.3 Findings from observation During the time as a teaching assistant of classes at the AMA English Center, the author had a period of time (1 year) to observe students' progress in applying activities to teaching speaking skills Teachers skillfully integrate activities into the teaching process audial and visual activities such as using songs, telling stories, using flashcards, are applied in the process of teaching new knowledge This helps to attract students' attention because the use of sounds and images stimulates their curiosity Teachers apply kinestic activities to review knowledge This keeps students interested in the activity and helps the teacher check the knowledge that the students have received Through the application of a variety of activities, the author reliez that students learn English very naturally, they accept English as a second language Through this observation process, the author realizes the importance of English speaking skills According to Cameron (2011) and Brown (2004), there are three important points within this definition of speaking skills Firstly, by productive skill, it means the ability of a person to actively produce the language by coordinating of speech such as the lips, tongue, teeth, vocal cords, larynx, pharynx, etc Secondly, to express meaning means that the purpose of producing language in verbal communication is to deliver ideas and experiences so that the speaker can convey meaning to the listener and others Finally, being able to be directly and empirically observed means that the implementation of speaking can be directly heard or seen and empirically measured in the speaking process by looking at the correctness and effectiveness of the speaker 3.4 Discussion The survey, which was responded by teachers at the AMA center, may be somewhat helpful to give some suggestions on the use of certain techniques in learning English speaking skills Most of the participants agreed that they enjoyed using activities when teaching English This means that the activity will have many advantages in teaching Moreover, learning English through activities helps students acquire knowledge faster and more interestingly This is 38 also a good opportunity for them to apply the activity to a small number of students who are not interested in the current method of teaching English, therefore the participants want a new creative method of teaching English In short, teaching English speaking through activities for students is an effective way This is a fun and very useful method for teachers to demonstrate speaking skills The use of fun activities in teaching speaking skills is essential and building a system of techniques to teach English skills through activities for students is very important Based on a survey of the current situation of English teaching and learning at AMA, the author would like to offer some useful suggestions to support teachers Hopefully, this research paper will contribute some effective techniques to teach English in general and English speaking skills in particular 39 PART III: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION Conclusion Speaking is an important skill because it connects people with each other It is often the primary means of communicating and presenting ideas Therefore, 5- year- old students are very interested in developing speaking skills However, most of their difficulties are lack of confidence and timidity when approaching a new language In this graduation paper, the author consulted many English books and websites to find out if teaching speaking is effective for – year-olds Main speech patterns and auxiliary activities Next, 32 students scored high in the final exam at the AMA English Center An itemized questionnaire was used to find out teachers' attitudes towards the speaking lesson and their hopes for new teaching methods in the speaking lesson Besides, there are the results of interviews with two foreign teachers and the author's observation process when working as a teaching assistant at the center Descriptive statistics and principal component analysis were performed in chapter II and these results show that the participants found this activity an interesting method, helping them to supplement and improve their speaking skills Besides, surveys have shown that young students love kinesic and visual activities Therefore, teachers should apply them a lot in the process of teaching speaking skills On the basis of research results, the article outlines pedagogical significance for learning speaking skills as well as some good techniques to improve speaking skills for first-year English majors in Chapter II This is an interesting method that is very useful for teachers in teaching speaking skills Teaching speaking skills is very important and it is very important to build a technical system to teach English skills through activities to students Based on a survey on current English teaching and learning at the AMA center of 5- year - old students, the author has conducted a number of studies on their attitudes towards learning to speak English In the process of completing the research paper, the author would like to give some useful suggestions to support the progress of learning to speak English with the hope 40 that this study will contribute some effective techniques in learning and teaching English speaking skill In particular, this chapter is the basis for researchers to find suitable techniques to carry out this research paper, studying English speaking skills in particular Thus, this chapter is the basis for researchers to find suitable techniques to carry out this research Some suggestions to improve english speaking skill Speaking is one of the most important skills (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing) that everyone knows Knowing a foreign language can bring us great opportunities in life Exspecially speaking skill not only create opportunities for us to develop our careers, but also are useful means for us to interact with people around the world As a global language, English is the most important and valid language in the world, so we not only understand, write or read, but also need to speak it fluently The survey results show the important role of speaking skills in the process of learning English Teachers completely agree with the development of activities to teach speaking skills However, teachers still face many difficulties when applying activities in teaching speaking skills to children such as improving concentration in class, lack of confidence when performing a song, a story indivisually, etc To overcome the above difficulties and at the same time promote the benefits of organizing speaking activities, the author makes the following suggestions: 2.1 Using pictures in learning to speak English Almost every day, we can encounter paintings almost everywhere such as on the road, on the street, at work, at home They become a very vivid part of life Paintings with many colors and shapes always capture the attention of everyone, especially children Sometimes, when we look at the picture, we can imagine many interesting things with real emotions This is very important because images give a sense of enjoyment to most people, especially children They are very interesting, they set the scene for the contexts And of course, they are one of the most effective and useful visual aids in learning English 41 speaking skills Images always bring an impression to help students remember knowledge Surely their English speaking ability will be greatly expanded Children are very innociet, active but also lack confidence, vocabulary to use English Therefore, the color of the picture must be bright and impressive The image must be meaningful easily understood In fact using picture games can develop students' imagination which means that when students look at the picture, they can express the picture according to their own thoughts Thus, parents or teachers can help students self-study by collecting pictures to practice every day Parents can stick pictures related to topics such as animals, food, fruits etc around the wall In class, teachers can hang similar pictures on the board, on the wall so that students can see them at all times It is important that parents and teachers always ask students interactive questions about the pictures In particular, this activity will be used by the teacher during the teacher's review of the last lesson This activity helps students increase the concentration of the teacher's question Teachers use questions to help students self-assess each other, increasing the interaction between students 42 eg: Teacher ask a question “Alice, point to the pig?” After Alice finished answering this question, the teacher asked the other students to comment on Alice's answer, if the answer is wrong, the other students will gain the right to answer If the answer is correct, the teacher praises, the whole class applauds Teacher give another question “What is this Lisa?” (point to the pizza) or ask questions that tap into student ideas such as Anna show me your favorite food? Students can express their interests and opinions This helps to increase the cohesion and interaction of parents and teachers with students Parents, teachers communicate with children also become natural, closer as friends Therefore, students can speak English better, more fluently and naturally Importantly, color seems to be the key to success in learning speaking Procedures  Choosing the topic of the lesson  Finding some pictures on this topic  Looking at the pictures and attending to the special things in each picture  Interacting with students every day 2.2 Applycability of internet in studying speaking These days, the Internet has a great influence on our lives When helping children can learn directly through online websites that teach English, especially speaking skills It is very convenient for children to learn new words and pronunciation through interesting topics Through the internet, students can learn more new knowledge, play games to test their level Besides the Internet includes a huge store of English materials, children can learn from songs, poems It is found in a website https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org This is British Council's English learning software for kids and it's free Their speaking will improve faster and their vocabulary will also increase a lot In addition, short stories always have subtitles and sentences emphasized along with the speed of reading in the video This helps children recognize letters and memorize them naturally When they watch these stories daily, it will become a 43 good habit of students to accumulate knowledge With poems and songs, parents or teachers let children listen and sing every day, which is very helpful for children's pronunciation and memorization 2.3 Learning speaking English through funny games 2.3.1 Samon say Teacher will be Simon, Simon will get in front of the room and call out commands If Simon begins the sentence by saying “Simon says…” then everyone is required to the action If he does not begin with “Simon says…” then the players are not allowed to the action For example, if Simon calls out, “Simon says, touch your toes!” then all players must touch their toes If a player doesn’t obey, they are out and are eliminated from the game If Simon instead calls out “Touch your toes!” (without starting by saying “Simon says ”) then players are NOT supposed to touch their toes If anyone touches their toes, they are also eliminated from the game This game is an excellent way for a child to practice improving his or her body awareness Younger learner will have the opportunity to see a demonstrated body movement or sustained position, then he or she can replicate this action Children with poor proprioceptive processing may struggle with imitating body movements This game is a fun way to practice improving body 44 awareness, while also incorporating other motor skills, including balance (e.g “Simon says stand on one foot” or “Simon says 10 jumping jacks”), bilateral coordination, and other gross motor tasks 2.3.2 Where are My Glasses? (Wright et al.,1984) "Where are my glasses?" is one kind of pictures games Here, the pictures hold the main role in conducting the games and pictures can cue responses to questions or cue substitution through controlled practice • Procedures: Teacher copies the set of pictures for each group Teacher divides the students into group of three or four Teacher gives out the pictures Teacher tells the students that they belong to a very untidy family, and are always losing things The pictures consist of the large and small pictures The large shows the pictures of their family livingroom and small pictures show things that they have lost Teacher then asks each player of the group to find out from other where these things are and draw them in his/her picture One player should begin by asking "Where is/are my .?" and naming one of the lost object, then the other player answers and if it is right s/he will get points and gets the next turm 45 2.4 Using story telling Before the teacher introduces the story, the teacher can tell the quizzes, jokes To make it easier for students to practice telling stories, teachers can suggest using stories with pictures to support The teacher tells the story while pointing to the picture to describe this to help the students remember how the story unfolded Talk to students about their listening experience after the story To practicing the teacher breaks down the parts of the story and gives the students practice Teacher hangs the picture of the story on the board or on the wall Teachers always review the story through class sessions After students have memorized the plot and key lines, the teacher organizes a role-playing activity Besides, the teacher asks students in front of the class to summarize the story through pictures, students can choose the story they like to tell To avoid students not paying attention when other student are telling stories, teachers can use reminders board to increase young students'concentration (distracted students mark red, focused students mark green) students see that they will selfregulate their behavior, focus more on not being ticked red ) Procedures  Choose a simple story which the plot is clear, with few characters  Memorize only choruses or phrases used for special effects  Listen to the tape a few times  Teachers interact with students every day 46 2.5 Learning through songs The songs are authentic and accessible examples of spoken English The rhymes in the song provide the listener with repetition of similar sounds Students often choose to listen to songs over and over, indirectly exposing them to these sounds The words in the song match the music, helping learners to associate the number of tables and stress in these words with the memorable melody The relaxed atmosphere the song creates can expose students to this difficult area of pronunciation without realizing that the song contains countless examples of weak syllables, simple sentence structures that help teachers guide students how to pronounce English, how to make sentences Songs can attract students and draw them into English class Songs and rhymes also help develop phonics - an important song that can help you speak successfully "Poems, rhymes and rhymes are used to create a sense of rhyme in spoken language Many well-known rhymes use iambic pentameter, Liez's natural rhythm 1999,9) Most skills The students' speech is very funny and very effective, especially the students' fluency Students can listen to Song sing English with your friends and then memorize the English language" (Stracter song can improve We all know that English pronunciation is extremely difficult and when students read words, they say words that are difficult to hear from native speakers of that language) English together can help students hear the pronunciation of words, teachers can teach students how to put intonation for certain words, and songs can also improve students' vocabulary Singing in English with English subtitles can help students remember and recognize new words used in songs and help them absorb new vocabulary and expressions Parents and teachers choose songs from reputable channels for children such as: "Kids TV - Nursery Rhymes And Baby Songs, Cocomelon - Nursery Rhymes, Pinkfong! Kids 'Songs & Stories" parents can install youtube Kids to prevent their children from watching harmful videos 47 Procedures  Choose a song to introduce to your child  Play each song and turn on the subtitles of the song  Repeat songs every day  Teachers interact with students every day 48 REFERENCES Alexander, L G (1995) For and against NXB Tre Barry S (1997) How to teach English Oxford University Press Bygate, M (2000) Speaking Oxford University Press Chan, W (2006) English fun with ABC- uper case activity EPH publishing SDN BHD Burns and Joyce (1997) Defined speaking National Centre for English Language Teaching and Research, 1997 Chan, W (2006) Think and answer the questions EPH publishing SDN BHD Darkin, J (1991) Songs and Rhyme Longman David R (2001) Teaching English as a foreign laguage Oxford University Press AlexClapson (1920) VAK learning style model 10 Cameron (2011) and Brown (2004) Important of speaking Oxford Oxford University Press 11 Wittgenstein (2006) Language game Britain Person Education Limited 49 APPENDIX SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS Question : What you think is the importance of learning English speaking skill? ◻ Very important ◻ Important ◻ Unimportant ◻ Very unimportant ◻ Normal Question 2: Which style you think students like the most in learning English speaking in your lessons? ◻ Audial activity ◻ Visual activity ◻ Knestic activity Question 3: Do you feel students excited about using activities in English speaking lessons? ◻ Very excited ◻ Not very excited ◻ Some what excited ◻ Neutral ◻ Not at all excited Question 4: Studying English speaking through activities is an effective way and creating a pleasant atmosphere in class? ◻ Strongly agree ◻ Agree ◻ Disagree ◻ Strongly disagree ◻ Neutral Question 5: learning English speaking through activities an effective way to attract students' attention? ◻ Strongly agree ◻ Agree ◻ Disagree ◻ Strongly disagree ◻ Neutral Question 6: Learning English speaking through activities is a good way for students to help students pronounce more fluently? ◻ Strongly agree ◻ Agree ◻ Disagree ◻ Strongly disagree ◻ Neutral Question 7: Learning English speaking through activities a good way to help students remember vocabulary better? ◻ Strongly agree ◻ Agree ◻ Disagree ◻ Strongly disagree 50 ◻ Neutral Question 8: How often you hold activities in teaching speaking English? ◻ Very often ◻ Often ◻ Rarely ◻ Never ◻ Sometimes Question 9: Do you want to have a new creative English teaching speaking method? ◻ Strongly agree ◻ Agree ◻ Neutral ◻ Disagree ◻ Strongly disagree Question 10: Do you want to have many activities be held in speaking lesson? ◻ Strongly desirable ◻ Desirable ◻ Undesirable ◻ Strongly undesirable 51 ◻ Neutral INTERVIEWING TWO FOREIGN TEACHERS Question 1: How long have you been teaching Englısh? Question 2: What you think about the speaking lesson? Question 3: How often you hold the activities in teaching speaking ? Question 4: What is the best way to hold the activities in teaching speaking skill? Question 5: What you find the most difficult in teaching English to children? Question 6: You want to have a new creatrve English teaching method? Your comments : Thank you for your co-operation! 52