skkn AROUSING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN READING

Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị : Trường THPT NGÔ QUYỀN _ Mã số: ………………… SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM AROUSING STUDENTS’ INTEREST IN READING Người thực hiện: BÙI PHÚ XUÂN Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: Quản lý giáo dục Phương pháp dạy học môn Phương pháp giáo dục Lĩnh vực khác: Có đính kèm: Mô hình Phim ảnh Phần mềm Năm học: 2012-2013 *** Hiện vật khác Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN Họ tên: BÙI PHÚ XUÂN Ngày tháng năm sinh : Nam/Nữ: 02 / 09 / 1976 Nam Địa chỉ: 103/71 Đường 30/4 Phường Trung Dũng Thành Phố Biên Hòa - Tỉnh Đồng Nai Điện thoại: Cơ quan: 061.3829029 Fax: Nhà riêng: 061.3819495 E-mail: bphuxuan2205@yahoo.com Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT NGÔ QUYỀN II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO - Học vị (hoặc trình độ chuyên môn, nghiệp vụ) cao nhất: Thạc Sỹ - Năm nhận bằng: 2007 - Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Giảng Dạy Tiếng Anh III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC: - Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: Giảng dạy môn Tiếng Anh - Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 14 năm - Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm có năm gần đây: + How to help students read more effectively + Five-minute activities + Pre-Listening activities + Strategies for Developing Reading Skills Skimming and Scanning Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan TOPIC: Arousing Students’ Interest in Reading *** I Introduction: T oday English is considered as an international language Many people in Vietnam, as well as in other countries, need to use it as a communicative tool at work, and in business Despite the growing need for communicative English skills suited to employment in the fast developing context of Vietnam and government policies stating the will to upgrade delivery of English language within the education system, traditional grammar translation teaching methods still prevail In order to become proficient in communicative English, students should be encouraged to strongly participate in classroom activities using communicative approaches in which teachers and students use the target language and students’ activities are the focus rather than the teachers As Littlewood (1984) stated, it is students who need to take more active roles in the classroom in order to achieve communicative competence Students need to be led by appropriate teacher’s instruction on what and how to communicative classroom activities Students should forget the idea that “silence is golden” which although it may be correct in other situations, it is not in language learning Students should aim to use English in communication without any hesitation related to fearing mistakes They should try their best to adapt to these new approaches quickly so that they can co-operate with their teachers to conduct learning and teaching effectively As Lewis (2002, p.47) points out, teachers are the main factor affecting the effectiveness of students‟ learning because they “manage students and the environment to make the most of opportunities for learning and practicing language” Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan Lewis (2002, p.47) also explains that when implementing communicative approaches to language learning, teachers “manage students and the environment to make the most of opportunities for learning and practising the target language” It is generally considered (e.g Jacobs and Hall, 2002; Lewis, 2002; Richards and Renandya, 2002; Richards and Rodgers 2001) that one way to maximize such opportunities is through the use of collaborative or cooperative learning activities in the classroom Richards and Rodgers (2001, p.192) describe collaborative learning as an approach in which learners use cooperative activities such as working in pairs or small groups of learners, in order, as Jacobs and Hall (2002, p.52-53) explain, to provide students with opportunities to share their ideas, express their opinions and debate with each other They remind us that the benefits of incorporating cooperative learning activities into language teaching include less teacher talk, increased student talk, more negotiation of meaning, a greater amount of comprehensible input, a more relaxed classroom atmosphere, and greater motivation for learning (p.53) II The importance of reading: Reading is one important way to improve your general language skills in English for the following reasons: - Reading helps you raise your knowledge and general culture - Reading helps you learn a bunch of things that are often useful in school and works of all kind - Reading will also make you travel and use your imagination in ways you never imagined - Reading is a good way to transport yourself to the other side of the world or to a fantastic universe full of strange people - Reading is a nice way to relax and to experience lots of emotions Harmer ( 1998: 68) also makes clear that reading is useful for many purposes Reading texts provide opportunities to study language: vocabulary, grammar, punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraph and the texts Reading texts also provide good models for English writing Lastly, good reading texts can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative responses and be the springboard for wellrounded, fascinating lessons Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan III Aim of the topic:  Help teachers arouse students’ interest in reading IV Content of the topic: As mentioned above, I find it essential to think of how each reading outcome could be extended and what follow-up activities should be included in the reading class in order to hold my students’ interest as well as enable them to practise and develop the mental, affective and social processes necessary for everyday reading To show you how you can develop lessons from simple reading comprehension tasks, this paper will focus on the following:  Pre-reading activities  Post-reading activities (English Book 12 was used to illustrate the types of the activities) A Type of Pre-reading Activities: Brainstorming : students call out words or phrases to be put on the board or OHP (whole class) Write a single word in the centre of the board, and ask students to brainstorm all the words they can think of that are connected with it Every term that is suggested is written up on the board with a line connecting it to the original word, so that the end result is a “sun-ray” effect Let’s take Unit 1: HOME LIFE (English 12) as an example: Teacher writes down the word FAMILY on the board and has students brainstorm all the words they can think of: HOMELIFE Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan The word FAMILY may produce something like the sketch below cooking look after children mother obedient supportive HOME LIFE share responsibility dominate happy Game: HOT SEAT Example: Unit 2: CUKTURAL DIVERSITY Preparation Prepare a list of five to seven words (e.g house/love/money/job/health/fame/children) Draw a scoring table on the board, like this: Team A Team B How it works  Ask your students to form two teams and have them move their chairs forward to form two groups facing the board After explaining the game and modeling the roles if necessary, ask for one player from each team to move his or her chair forward again and turn it to face his or her group These players then sit in their chairs (now 'hot seats') with their backs to the board  Write the first word on the board, making sure the players in the 'hot seats' can't see it After you say 'Go!', the members of each team try to explain, describe, or define the word in any ways so that their team mates in the “hot seat” can speak out the word The team whose 'hot seat' player first says the target word wins a point  The two players in the 'hot seats' then swap seats with another member of their respective teams After writing the second word on the board, say 'Go!' again, and so on Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan The game continues until all the words have been used, with the team having the most points at the end of the game winning After finishing the activity, the teacher asks the students to discuss the question: “Which of the above factors is the most important for a happy life? Why ?” Game: Picture guessing Example: Unit 5: Higher Education  Divide the class into two teams A and B  Show students a picture of Cambridge University covered with a piece of paper  Read clues, one by one about the picture and ask students to guess what the picture is about  The first group to give the name of the picture exactly wins the game These are the clues: a It’s one of the most famous universities in the world b It is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world c It is a public research university located in Cambridge, England, United Kingdom d Its name begins with letter C Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan  After finishing the activity, the teacher may ask the students to give some more information about the University Game: What’s my job? Example: Unit 6: Future Jobs  Divide the class into two groups  Read sentences describing the jobs  Ask the students to listen and guess the jobs  The first group to speak out the name of a job gets one point  The group with more point is the winner Suggested sentences: a I serve and take care of passengers on an aircraft b I take care of sick or injured people, usually in a hospital c I help people who are hungry, I make things, and I wear a white uniform d I repair machines, especially the engines of vehicles e I examine people’s eyes and recommend and sell glasses f I serve customers at the tables in a restaurant g I prepare medicines and sell or give them to the public in a shop/store or in a hospital h I work for another person, deal with letters and telephone calls, type, keep records, arrange meetings with people, etc KEY: a Flight attendant\ b Nurse c Cook d Mechanic e Optician f Waiter g Pharmacist h Secretary Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan Sort out the words: Example: Unit 10: Endangered Species  Divide the class into groups  Write the headings on the board (amphibians and reptiles/wild mammals/birds/insects)  Ask the students to look at the words in the box and put each word under the correct heading  Give 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 frog tortoise monkey ant whale leopard butterfly peacock penguin parrot tiger crocodile mosquito bee elephant spider chicken whale dolphin rhinoceros snake ostrich lion Suggested answers: amphibians and wild mammals birds insects reptiles tortoise leopard chicken mosquito frog tiger parrot bee snake lion penguin butterfly crocodile monkey peacock ant elephant ostrich spider rhinoceros whale dolphin Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan B Type of Post-reading Activities: Post-reading activities encourage students to reflect upon what they have read For the information to stay with the students, they need to go beyond simply reading it to using it As you realize, and as you will need to explicitly teach your students, the process of actively engaging with a text does not end once you have completed the reading To truly foster the active reading and writing skills that will carry your students to academic achievement in all content areas, you must guide students as they process the information they have read and help them to systematically exercise their ability to clarify, connect, summarize, and evaluate Discussion: For example in Unit 1, after reading and finishing the tasks, students are asked to work in groups of four and discuss some of the questions relating to the topic they’ve learnt a How many people are there in your family? b What are their jobs? c Do all your family members live together? d Who does household chores? e What is your responsibility in the family? f How you think your family would change if your Mom went on vacation? Or how you think your family would change if your parent's roles were reversed, for example if Mom went to work instead of your Dad? Unit 3: Ways of Socializing I have my students work in groups of to discuss the different meanings of whistling and hand-clapping in Vietnamese culture Then I invite some students to report their ideas in front of the class and give comments (e.g: In Viet Nam people whistle when they are excited about something; they want to draw someone’s attention in very informal situations People clap their hands when they want to encourage someone; they want to attract people’s attention, etc.) 10 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan Unit 11: Books I have my students work in groups of four to discuss some of the questions relating to the topic they’ve learnt Then I invite some students to report their ideas in front of the class and give comments a What was your favourite book or story when you were a child? b What influence did the book have on you? c How many books did you read last year? d Which is your favourite book? e Do you usually read for leisure or for work purposes? f Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once? g Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far? h Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of? i Is there a book that you have read more than five times? j Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending? Summary: In some units I ask my students to write a summary of what they remember after reading For example in Unit 10: Endangered Species I encourage the students to work in groups of four or five to summarize the reading passage by writing one topic sentence for each paragraph At the end of the lesson I invite some groups at random to the front of the class to read aloud their sentences and then I give feedback and comments Role–play: In Unit 6: Future Jobs I have my students work in pairs Student A plays the role of an interviewer and student B is a job applicant Student A interviews student B After minutes I invite some pairs of the students at random to present their conversation in front of the class Suggested questions: - What are your strengths? - What are your weaknesses? 11 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan - Why you want this job? - What's your ideal company? - What attracted you to this company? - What can you for us that other candidates can't? - What you know about our company? - What kind of personality you work best with and why? - How many languages can you speak? - What are your salary expectations? Writing: Take Unit 15: Women in Society as an example  Divide the class into groups of four  Give an A0 sheet of paper to each group and ask them to write a short paragraph about the typical life of a Vietnamese woman and then stick these sheets of paper on the board Suggested ideas:  Getting up  Shopping  Preparing meals  Doing housework  Looking after children  Teaching children  Taking children to school  Leaving for school  Reading books or surfing the internet to improve knowledge Game: crossword puzzle Sometimes I use crossword puzzle not only as a task to consolidate what students have studied but also as a game to arouse students’ interest after a long reading period Let’s take Unit 13: THE 22nd SEA GAMES as an example I have my students work in pairs and use the clues to solve the puzzle and find the key word 12 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan a game played by two teams of five men or six women who score points by throwing a large ball through an open net hanging from a metal ring: a game in which two teams use their hands to hit a large ball backwards and forwards over a high net without allowing the ball to touch the ground: _ The two athletes are competing for the gold having or involving a lot of energy a number of people who something together as a group: to try to be more successful than someone or something else : a game played between two or four people on a special playing area which involves hitting a small ball across a central net using a racket: the noun of “successful”  _ 13 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan KEY: B A S K E T B A L L V O L L E Y B A L L M E D A E N E R G L E T T E A M C O M P E T E T E N N S U C C E S 14 S I C I S Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan V Conclusion: In conclusion, I strongly believe that the designing of some of the tasks for prereading and post-reading (e.g brainstorming, games, sorting out the words, discussion, summary, role–play, writing, crossword puzzle etc.) can enable the teacher to arouse students’ interest as well as encourage them to use their background knowledge to facilitate comprehension The interest may be, in my opinion, very useful for learning a foreign language in many ways Just at the beginning of the lesson, the above-mentioned activities more or less force them to take part in their lesson, reminding them of their individual roles in the class They no longer consider their English learning a burden I hope this relieved feeling will be comfortable with them throughout the lesson, helping them grasp the meaning of the lesson more effectively *** 15 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan REFERENCES _ English Book 12 Education Publishing House Harmer, J 1998 How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching England: Longman Lewis, M (2002) Classroom management In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice New York: Cambridge Unversity Press Littlewood, W (1984) Foreign and second language learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Jacobs, G M., & Hall, S (2002) Implementing cooperative learning In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (p 52-53) New York: Cambridge University Press Richards, J C., & Renandya, A W (2002) Technologies in the classroom In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (p 361) New York: Cambridge University Press Richards, J C., & Rodgers, T S (2001) Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis New York, USA: Cambridge University Press 16 [...]... Getting up  Shopping  Preparing meals  Doing housework  Looking after children  Teaching children  Taking children to school  Leaving for school  Reading books or surfing the internet to improve knowledge 5 Game: crossword puzzle Sometimes I use crossword puzzle not only as a task to consolidate what students have studied but also as a game to arouse students’ interest after a long reading. .. Conclusion: In conclusion, I strongly believe that the designing of some of the tasks for prereading and post -reading (e.g brainstorming, games, sorting out the words, discussion, summary, role–play, writing, crossword puzzle etc.) can enable the teacher to arouse students’ interest as well as encourage them to use their background knowledge to facilitate comprehension The interest may be, in my opinion,... useful for learning a foreign language in many ways Just at the beginning of the lesson, the above-mentioned activities more or less force them to take part in their lesson, reminding them of their individual roles in the class They no longer consider their English learning a burden I hope this relieved feeling will be comfortable with them throughout the lesson, helping them grasp the meaning of the lesson... ground: _ 3 The two athletes are competing for the gold 4 having or involving a lot of energy 5 a number of people who do something together as a group: 6 to try to be more successful than someone or something else : 7 a game played between two or four people on a special playing area which involves hitting a small ball across a central net using a racket: 8 the noun of “successful”... Press Jacobs, G M., & Hall, S (2002) Implementing cooperative learning In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (p 52-53) New York: Cambridge University Press Richards, J C., & Renandya, A W (2002) Technologies in the classroom In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (p 361)... once? g Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far? h Have you ever read a book that you got really scared of? i Is there a book that you have read more than five times? j Do you ever browse through to the last pages in order find out the ending? 2 Summary: In some units I ask my students to write a summary of what they remember after reading For example in Unit 10: Endangered Species I... students work in pairs and use the clues to solve the puzzle and find the key word 12 Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan 1 a game played by two teams of five men or six women who score points by throwing a large ball through an open net hanging from a metal ring: 2 a game in which two teams use their hands to hit a large ball backwards and forwards over a high net without allowing the ball to... the students to work in groups of four or five to summarize the reading passage by writing one topic sentence for each paragraph At the end of the lesson I invite some groups at random to the front of the class to read aloud their sentences and then I give feedback and comments 3 Role–play: In Unit 6: Future Jobs I have my students work in pairs Student A plays the role of an interviewer and student... Book 12 Education Publishing House Harmer, J 1998 How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching England: Longman Lewis, M (2002) Classroom management In J C Richards, & A W Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice New York: Cambridge Unversity Press Littlewood, W (1984) Foreign and second language learning Cambridge: Cambridge...Ngo Quyen High School Bui Phu Xuan Unit 11: Books I have my students work in groups of four to discuss some of the questions relating to the topic they’ve learnt Then I invite some students to report their ideas in front of the class and give comments a What was your favourite book or story when you were a child? b What influence did the book have on you? c How many books did you read last year?