No matter how big your class, you must try and get to know your students as people and not just as numbers in a register.. This happens even if students do not know the words being elici
Trang 1HOW TO AROUSE STUDENTS’
INTEREST IN LEARNING ENGLISH
I Introduction
II Why do we have to arouse students’ interest
in learning English?
III Some activities to arouse students’ interest
in learning English
1 Eliciting
2 Using visual aids
3 Teaching English through games
4 Role play
5 Using Language Lab
6 Using PowerPoint presentations
7 The teacher’s attitude
IV Conclusion
Trang 2HOW TO AROUSE STUDENTS’ INTEREST
IN LEARNING ENGLISH
I Introduction
“My students are very lazy and stubborn When I explain the lessons, they don’t pay attention and let their mind wander When I ask them to do the homework, they just ask other people for help When I ask them to learn the lessons, they ignore it or just spend little time doing that I don’t know what to do now.”, a teacher of English complained This is a common case in many classes of English What’s the solution to that problem? We cannot use the rod to force our students to learn Nor can we split their heads to put the knowledge into them What can we do? The better way is to arouse students’ interest in learning English Once students have interest in learning English, they themselves will try their best
to learn it
II Why do we have to arouse students’ interest in learning English?
Many teachers wrongly see students as machines to be programmed (“ I’ve taught them the present tense They must know it”) But students are people People think but they also have feelings Students may be learning about machines, but they still learn as human beings Learning, particularly the learning of a language, is an emotional experience The feelings that the learning process evokes will determine the success of the learning Whatever technical virtues a teacher possesses, however good at the language the teacher is, without interest the students will never learn
If the students are bored, they will not pay attention And the result is that they won’t learn Moreover, if they are not interested in learning, they will be easily distracted Then they will get up to mischief and prevent others from learning That’s why we have to arouse students’ interest in learning English
The teacher must provide interest through:
-identifying and catering to the students’ interests in terms of topics, e.g themselves (the most interesting topic of all), their hobbies, ambition, dreams;
- variety of language points., skills practiced, interaction TS, ST, SS, pair/ group activities;
-humour (in visual aids e.g cartoons, anecdotes and jokes as reading or listening passages, mime);
-inherently interesting tasks, e.g problem solving
Remember that students are more likely to be interested in you and what you are doing if you show an interest in them No matter how big your class, you must try and get to know your students as people and not just as numbers in a register
Do not regard time in class spent on learning about your students as wasted time
On the contrary, the extra motivation generated through this will more than compensate
Trang 3III Some activities to arouse students’ interest in learning English
There are various activities in a classroom to arouse students’ interest in learning English In this limited unit, I would like to suggest some common and useful ones
1 Eliciting
In many classes, it is the teacher that talks while the students listen If the students speak at all, it is usually to repeat what the teacher says, or to answer a set question This way of teaching will obviously make the students feel bored and frustrated Instead of simply giving words, sentences, or structures, the teacher should involve the students more by drawing them from the students He should ask them for their ideas and suggestions, getting them to contribute what they know already, and encouraging them to guess new words This is called eliciting
Eliciting involves the class by focusing student’s attention and making them think This happens even if students do not know the words being elicited; so elicitation can be used for presenting new language as well as reviewing what was taught earlier Furthermore, eliciting encourages students to draw on what they already know or partly know So it is a useful technique for mixed ability classes or classes of students from different learning backgrounds, where different students know different things In addition, eliciting gives teachers a chance to see what students know and what they do not know, and so adapt the presentation to the level of the class Of course, eliciting takes more time than straightforward presentation
of new language However, it will catch students’ attention and they will remember the lesson more
Some ways of eliciting:
a Eliciting from pictures Using pictures to elicit is the easiest way to introduce a new topic
or new vocabulary When eliciting from pictures, it is often best to ask fairly general questions that allow a variety of responses This encourages more students to respond and leads them to say more For example, to elicit from the picture in unit 1 of the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 10” (on page 12), the teacher can ask, “What is the man’s job? Why do you know that?” Students could answer “He is a farmer because he is in the field/ he is with a buffalo/ he is ploughing/ he is harrowing, etc.”
Sometimes the students cannot answer the questions because they don’t know the vocabulary In this case the teacher should present it The advantage of trying to elicit it first is that students’ attention will now be focused on the word and they should be listening with greater interest
b Getting students to guess Because language follows rules, it is often possible to guess things which we have never actually been taught, and an important part of
Trang 4learning a language is developing this ability to make guesses Eliciting is one way of encouraging students to guess and to work out rules for themselves Learning through this way will fill students with enthusiasm
EX: I don’t mind waiting
Would you mind closing the window?
She doesn’t mind ? (do) the housework
The students will know the answer is “doing:”
When getting students to guess, the teacher should pay attention to these points:
- The teacher should pause after asking each question, to give students time
to think
- The teacher should vary his or her questioning technique according to the difficulty of the question, letting good students answer difficult questions and directing easier questions at weaker students In this way the whole class will be involved
- The teacher should try to elicit “onto the blackboard’, building up a set of examples as students respond
c Getting students to imagine
A textbook often include only questions that would be to elicit key vocabulary or structures, or to establish a situation or topic Therefore, the teacher should take every opportunity to ask questions that require students
to interpret what is in a picture or a text ((EX: To get students to interpret the picture in unit 1 of the textbook “TIẾNG ANH 10” (on page 12) the teacher can ask “Why is the man in the field?”), or to imagine things beyond a picture or a text (EX: What will happen next?) There are no single “right” answers to these questions but a wide range of possible answers Students are encouraged to express their own ideas and feelings Questions of this kind encourage students to give a more imaginative, personal response If
we ask questions like that, we can involve the class in discussion and can stimulate freer use of language
2 Using visual aids
There are various kinds of visual aids that we can use to teach English such
as the blackboard, real objects, flashcards, charts, the teachers ourselves, flannel board, slides, coloured rods, etc
Using visual aids has a lot of advantages:
- Showing visuals focuses attention on meaning, and helps to make the language used in the class more real and alive
-Having something to look at keeps the students’ attention, and makes the class more interesting
-Visuals can be used at any stage of the lesson- to help in presenting new language or introducing a topic, as part of language practice, and when reviewing language that has been presented earlier Good visual aids are not just used once, but again and again, and can be shared by different teachers
In this part, I would like to study some familiar visual aids used in a classroom
Trang 5a The blackboard: The teacher or students can use it to draw pictures, diagrams, maps, etc simple pictures drawn on the blackboard can help to increase the interest of a lesson, and are often a good way of showing meaning and conveying situations to the class Blackboard drawings should
be as simple as possible, showing only the most important details It is not necessary to be a good artist to draw successfully on the blackboard- a lot of information can be conveyed by means of very simple line drawings and
“stick figures”, which are easy to draw It is important to draw quickly so as
to keep the interest of the class Teachers should also talk as they draw: in this way the class will be more involves, and will understand the picture on the board both from seeing it and from listening to the teacher
b Real objects: (sometimes called “realia”): They can be the things that are already in the classroom such as fan, desk, table, wall, clothes, etc We can also bring them into the classroom.-food, clothes, household objects, containers, etc Real objects are in many ways the easiest kind of visual aid
to use in class, as they need no special preparation or materials Simple objects can be used not only for teaching vocabulary but also as prompts to practice structures and develop situations
EX: The teacher can show a cell phone
-to teach the word “cell phone”
-to practice the structure “What …for?”( What is a cell phone used for?- It is used to talk to people when you are away from home.)
-to develop an imaginative dialogue:
Student 1: Could you lend me your cell phone?
Student 2: Yes, of course What do you want it for?
Student 2: My sister has been to Hanoi I’d like to phone her
c Charts: They are large sheets of card or paper with writing, pictures or diagrams, used for more extended presentation or practice They would usually be displayed on the wall or blackboard, or the teacher can hold up for the class to see
EX: To teach the word “erosion”, the teacher can show this picture
Trang 6Using charts is convenient because of the following reasons
-The teacher does not have to spend time in the lesson drawing or writing on the blackboard
-As the chart is prepared in advance, it is possible to draw the pictures or tables more carefully, and also to make them more attractive (e.g by using colour)
-The chart can be kept and used again with the same class (e.g for review,
or to practice a different tense), or used with other classes and by other teachers
-The textbooks we are using now are up-to-date and have good illustrations There may be no need for teachers to make charts However, it may still be worthwhile to copy some visual material from the books onto charts, so that the teacher can introduce the lesson in a more interesting way, or review earlier lessons, or simply to make a change of activity
d Flashcards: They are cards with single pictures which can be held up by the teacher They can be used for presenting and practising new words and structures, and for revision The teacher can draw a picture on the flashcard,
or stick on a picture from a magazine; flashcards can also be used to show words or numbers We can make good flashcards by paying attention to these points:
-They should be large enough – at least 20 x 14 cm (half a piece of typing paper)
-Pictures can be drawn, using a thick pen so that they are clear, or they can
be cut from a magazine; pictures from magazines are often more interesting
to look at, but it is difficult to find pictures which are the right size and which are simple enough
-If possible, flashcards should be made on pieces of white card – then they can be kept and used again
e The teachers ourselves: The teacher can use gestures, facial expressions, and actions to help show the meaning of words and to illustrate situations The teacher can swing their arms to teach the word “swing” He can mime someone sneezing to teach the word “sneeze” Most action verbs (sit, stand, write, etc) and some adjectives (happy, worried, etc) could be taught in this way
3 Teaching English through games
Students are greatly keen on participating in games So teaching English through games is the most effective way to make students learn From my personal experience and from some reference books, I would like to introduce some common games
a Guessing game
+ Students write a word or a sentence on a piece of paper
+ The teacher has a student go to the front of the class Other students ask
yes-no questions to guess the word or the sentence
+ The student who can guess the word or the sentence will replace the other student and continue the game
Trang 7+ The teacher can also divide students in groups Each group will think of a word or a sentence and the representative of each group will go to the front of the class in turn The group who can guess the word or the sentence will get three marks The group with more marks will be the winner
b Lucky numbers
+ Have students form groups (It is up to the number of the students in class) + Write on board some numbers
+ There are some lucky numbers (e.g 2, 5, 9) The group who choose the lucky number will get 2 marks without doing anything
+ The other numbers will show a question or an order If the group can answer the question or perform the order well, that group will get 2 marks If that group cannot answer the question or cannot perform the order, the other groups will have the right to do them
+ When all the numbers have been chosen, the group with more marks will be the winner
c Jumbled letters
EX: Rearrange these letters to make a meaningful word: sweta
? (Key: waste)
d Word square
+ The teacher shows a word square on the board and form 2 or 4 groups of students The teacher gives the topic related to the words and the number of words that need to find The representative of each group will go to the board and circle the words The group with more correct words will be the winner EX: Find the new words in the reading text of unit 4 (English 11)
Key:
P L A W N K E
T E J M C T S
Y B R A O N U
M O W M U T F
O T E V F S F
Q R R K N D E
L C O Z L X R
P L A W N K E
T E J M C T S
Y B R A O N U
M O W M U T F
O T E V F S F
Q R R K N D E
L C O Z L X R
Trang 8e Word forks
+ The teacher writes on the board the word forks
EX:
+ Have students work individually or in groups to find the information to fill in the word forks
+ The first student or the first group that can complete the task correctly will be the winner
f Word nets
+ The teacher writes on the board the word nets
EX:
+ Have students work individually or in groups to find the information to fill in the word nets
+ The first student or the first group that can complete the task correctly will be the winner
g What and where
+ Draw circles on the board corresponding to the number of the words that have just been taught
+ Write the words onto the circles
+ Have students read the words
+ Rub out the words in turn and have students read aloud the word that has just been rubbed out
+ Have students write the words again onto the correct circles
h Kim’s game
make
a bed
a cake
a decision
an error
a mess
…
…
…
HOBBIES
travelling listening to music
watching television
reading books swimming
? rock
in the river
? abroad
cartoon documentary
? comic
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
Trang 9+ Divide the class into groups.
+ Show students some objects or pictures
+ Hide the objects or pictures
+ Call on the representative of each group to go to the board to write the names
of the objects or pictures The groups with more correct names will be the winner
i Slap the board
+ Write new words or stick pictures onto the board
+ Call on two groups to go to the board (Each group has four or five students) + Have each group stand in the same distance
+ Say aloud the words in Vietnamese if the words on the board are in English and vice versa (Say the words in English if using the pictures)
+ The students of the two groups will go to the board and slap the word said aloud
+ Give marks to the group that can slap the word more correctly and quickly + The groups with more marks will be the winner
j Find someone who
+ Write the table on the board Have students write it on their notebooks
Name
Speak French
Cook
Play the guitar
swim
+ Have students make yes-no questions for the words in the left (e.g Can you use a computer?)
+ Give model with a student Ask a question (e.g Can you use a computer?) If the student answer “Yes”, write his name on the column “Name”
+ Have students go around the class and ask other students to find the names to fill in the table The names must be different The student who can fill all the blanks first is the winner
k Simon says
+Say aloud orders Students just perform the teacher’s orders if the teacher begins with, “Simon says”
+If the teacher says, “Simon says: stand up”, the students will stand up
+ If the teacher says, “stand up”, the students will not stand up
+ The students who make mistakes will be punished in some funny way
l Pelmanism
+ Prepare some cards Write the content that need to be practised on one side
of each card (e.g the content is to practise the verbs of the present and past tense Write 10 verbs of the present tense on ten cards and stick them on the left
of the board Write the past tense of the verbs on other ten cards and stick them
on the right of the board The side of each card which is blank must be shown.) + Divide the class into 2 groups Have each group choose 2 cards in turn
Trang 10+ Turn up the chosen cards If they belong to the same verb (e.g eat – ate), that group will get marks If not, turn down the cards and stick them on the same position Continue the game until all the cards are turned up
+ The groups with more marks will be the winner
m Noughts and crosses
+ Draw a table of nine squares Each square contains a word or a picture
EX:
Supermarket
Souvenir shop school Post office Bookstore Village
Hotel street School
+ Divide the class into 2 groups: one is “Noughts” (O) and the other is
“Crosses” (X)
+ Have the groups choose the words in the squares and make sentence with that word (e.g There is a post office near my house)
+ The group with the correct sentence will receive a “O” or a “ X”
+ The group with three “O” or “ X” in the same vertical line, diagonal line or horizontal line will be the winner
n Crossword puzzles
Find the word which means:
1 say one is sorry, esp for having done sth wrong
2 give money so that sth will happen
3 finish
4 happening or done once every year
5 encourage or make sth more active
6 give sth to sb as a prize
7 without problems or difficulties
2
1
5
3 4
6 7 8
9 10