skkn HOW TO TEACH WRITING IN TIENG ANH 12 EFFECTIVELY

But we, English teachers , should remember that the main point of teaching writing is teaching the students how to write , not to test their writing.. Today, I would like to discuss some

Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm:

HOW TO TEACH WRITING IN TIENG ANH 12

EFFECTIVELY?

I LÝ DO CHỌN ĐỀ TÀI:

* Phần giảng dạy này được đưa vào chương trình Anh văn 12 từ năm học 2008-2009

* Đề tài mang tính thiết thực phần nào giúp giáo viên giảng dạy các tiết viết hiệu quả hơn, giúp học sinh rèn luyện kĩ năng đọc viết tốt hơn

II.THỰC TRẠNG TRƯỚC KHI THỰC HIỆN CÁC GIẢI PHÁP CỦA ĐỀ TÀI:

1 Thuận lợi:

• Có hướng dẫn của Bộ trong “Tài liệu bồi dưỡng giáo viên” và trong sách giáo viên Tiếng Anh 12

• Được tham dự các lớp tập huấn thay sách năm 2008,2011

2 Khó khăn:

• Chương trình mới chỉ mới được áp dụng trong bốn năm học

• Giáo viên cần có kiến thức nhất định về CNTT và đầu tư nhiều công sức cho việc tra cứu tài liệu, hình ảnh minh họa để soạn giảng

3 Số liệu thống kê:

III NỘI DUNG ĐỀ TÀI:

1 Cơ sở lý luận:

Đề tài liên quan đến kỹ năng viết, là một trong 4 kỹ năng không thể thiếu trong quá trình học một ngôn ngữ

2 Nội dung, biện pháp thực hiện các giải pháp của đề tài:

Trình bày những kinh nghiệm soạn và dạy WRITING trong Tiếng Anh

12 một cách có hiệu quả :

- Những khó khăn và giải pháp giáo viên cần biết trong việc dạy và học tiếng anh thông qua kĩ năng Viết

- Những nguyên tắc giáo viên cần nắm vững khi dạy Writing

- Một số bài tập được thiết kế cho phần Warm-up trong các tiết dạy Writing (Tiếng Anh 12)

- Ví dụ về Lesson plan ở 1 tiết dạy Writing

- Ví dụ về 1 bài dạy Writing sử dụng CNTT kèm dĩa CD

HOW TO TEACH WRITING IN TIENG ANH 12 EFFECTIVELY?

I/ INTRODUCTION

English is a main subject in senior high school being taught in three or four periods a week Writing is one of the four skills that we have to acquire in the process of English learning To master a language in general and English in particular we must develop all four skills – listening , speaking, reading and writing However, how we can develop each of them successfully is a big problem for all concerned In the process of learning a language , especially English, writing is considered as the last language skill to be acquired.It is last but not least and I find it rather difficult to do it well because writing in one’s mother tongue is difficult but writing in a foreign language is far more difficult Besides, when teachers teach writing , they usually fall into teaching grammar structures and focus on correction On the whole they mainly provide students with sentence structures, sets of grammar rules, then then give them a task and ask them to complete the task As a result , the students become passive to get correct answers or to correct grammar errors But we, English teachers , should remember that the main point of teaching writing is teaching the students how to write , not to test their writing

Today, I would like to discuss some difficulties in teaching and learning English through writing and the solutions to them and some of my experience in teaching writing in TIENG ANH 12

II/ CONTENTS : How to teach Writing in Tieng Anh 12 effectively?

1/ The problems in teaching and learning English through Writing and the solutions to them

The problems:

a/The problems in getting students to write in the classroom

• Students don’t understand things what they will write about;

• They have nothing to write because they have lack of ideas and limited vocabulary to express their opinions and they are disabled to use structures ,style or language in English standards

• They don’t have enough time to write

• Some students don’t participate in group works

b/ The typical mistakes a teacher might get:

• Teacher doesn’t get students to think about the topic or situation; to collect all their idea, language focus (vocabulary, grammar) before writing about it (not perfectly)

• Teacher doesn’t set up a pre task;

• Teacher neither gives clear instructions nor checks them

• Teacher doesn’t give suitable framework or outline

• Sometimes teacher gives tasks without helpful cues

• Teacher doesn’t do a lot of assisting weaker students

c.Some writing tasks in textbook are not relevant

The solutions

As teachers of English, we should understand the role of the teacher in teaching writing: The teacher is a motivator, a resource and a feedback provider.

- Teacher motivates students, creating the right conditions for them to

generate their own ideas.Teacher gets students involved in creative writing activity so that students find it easier to generate ideas

- Teacher should provide information and language where necessary.Teacher

offers advice and suggestions in a constructive and tactful way.

- Teacher should give feedback on students’ writing tasks with special

care.Teacher should respond positively and encouragingly to the content of students’ written work.Teacher chooses kind of mistake to focus on when correcting their written work Overcorrection should be avoided

a/Things that a teacher does to improve the students’ problems and help them with free writing :

• To set up a pre – task (doesn’t talk about what the students must do, instead shows them what/ how to do by giving a demonstration with suitable framework/ outline/ helpful cues);

• To give clear instructions ( keep them short and simple) and check them;

• To care all students, especially, do a lot of assisting weaker students; to hold classroom in effective working

• To teach Ss: When they do not understand something, they should ask their teacher, they shouldn’t stay silent

There are two kinds of writing in grade 12 : controlled writing and free writing

Controlled writing consists of gap-filling , re-ordering sentences and

sentence-building

Free writing consists of letter writing, paragraph writing, report writing, giving

instructions and describing chart / book / a sporting event

Problem for free writing: When facing a free writing such as writing a

paragraph to describe their own town or village, many students would probably find it quite difficult and make many mistakes If so they would find the task frustrating and probably not learn very much from it Students would probably approach the task in different way and produce a wide variety of different paragraphs

Thus the only way to correct their work would be individually, book by book, this would be very time consuming for the teachers

Therefore, Teachers should help students progress beyond very controlled

writing to free writing by guiding their writing ( GUIDED WRITING)

+ Giving cues

+ Giving a short text as a model

+ Doing oral preparation for the writing

Modelling

- Reading a model and noticing certain grammatical features / vocabulary / useful expressions / text organisation / style…

- Putting different parts of the text onto a writing frame

- Sequencing a jumbled text

- Comparing and contrasting two forms of text of the same genre

Some examples of oral preparation for the writing

• discussing

• brainstorming

• observing and interpreting photos or artwork

• watching video clips

• using writing templates/ frames / cloze exercises

• mapping

• Brain writing

• Using matrix

b/Facilitating writing tasks: Tasks adaptation and implementation

* Making tasks easier:

- Breaking down tasks

- Scaffolding

- Lowering requirements

*Making tasks more challenging/more interesting

Ex:

UNIT 4 ( English 12)

rather difficult

• Provide the format

• Provide verbs to support

• Put students into groups (Each group will write about one thing)

UNIT 5 ( English 12)

• Provide a model letter

UNIT 14( English 12)

• Play a game to explain WWF, WHO and the UN by using their logos in Reading lesson

• Draw a table on the board

• Ask students which organization they would like to work for Then use reasons provided into correct column

• - Ask and answer in pairs about their choices

• - Report their choices or their partners’ choices

UNIT 15( English 12)

Difficult (especially the ways of writing)

• Explain the chart

• Provide more detailed information

• Ask and answer about questions in the textbook

• (Teachers need to prepare the complete set of answers for task 1)

• Put all answers on the board in random and ask them to work in group to reorder the sentences to make a passage

• Comment and highlight some verbs and phrases used to describe a chart

UNIT 16( English 12)

Give cues and outline

c/ Teachers should master the following writing techniques

Pre-writing Techniques

• Using a drill

• Using a listening text

• Using a reading text

• Using a survey

• Using picture dictation

While-writing Techniques

Transformation

- Substitution tables

- Substitution boxes

- Gap-fill

- Questions and answers

- Ordering

Post-writing Techniques

- Correction (Ss correct and re-draft their texts)

- Sharing and comparing (Sharing when they write texts based on different topics; comparing when they write texts based on the same topics)

- Exhibition (Ss share, compare, admire, pick a winner, copy others…)

2/ Teacher’s careful lesson plan, especially Warm-up( in PRE-WRITING)

Warm- up : warm-up is necessary to excite the atmosphere of the class and to

increase students’ motivation in the lesson In this case, I can use matching games , pictures, questions, songs…

These are some examples about “ warm-up” in my teaching Writing ( Tieng Anh 12):

UNIT 1 –ENGLISH 12 : HOME LIFE

D WRITING : Warm -up

- T gives Ss the question: “Make as many sensible sentences as you can by joining the elements in the following pattern table”

My parents

My mother

( not ) let ( not ) be allowed

come home late

do the housework

My father ( not ) have to

( not ) permit

use the motorbike talk on the phone with friends

- T has some Ss read their sentences in front of class

Suggested answers :

My parents don’t let me come home late I have to do the housework…

 Teacher leads to the new lesson : In each family there are some rules that

we must follow Let’s WRITE about our family rules

UNIT 3 – ENGLISH 12 :WAYS OF SOCIALISING

D.WRITING : Warm -up

- T shows the picture of two people talking to each other and presents the situation: + You meet your friend in the street You have talked to each other in a while And now you want to go home What will you say ?

+ But do you think you have said goodbye too suddently ? So before you say” Goodbye” what should you say? ( Ss can give out the Vietnamese saying )

- T : Today we’ll practise writing about ways to tell someone goodbye and

ways to apologize.

UNIT 4 – ENGLISH 12 :SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM

D WRITING : Warm -up

T has Ss work in pairs and make dialogues using the following questions:

1 When does a child start school in Vietnam?

2 How many levels of education are there in the school system of Vietnam?

3 How long does it take a student to complete each level?

4.How many grades are there in each level?

5.How many terms are there in a school year?

 Teacher leads to the new lesson

UNIT 5 – ENGLISH 12 :HIGHER EDUCATION

D WRITING : Warm –up

Game: Hangman

- T has students guess a word phrase corresponding to I 3 dashes.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

- T divides the class into 2 teams

- T tells Ss from each team to take turns to guess the individual letter of the word.

- If the letter appears in the word, the teacher writes it in the right position.

- Each time they get wrongly, a section is added to a simple picture of a hanging man If this picture is complete, the man “hangs” and the students have lost the game.

- Ss guess the individual letter of the word.

R e q u e s t l e t t e r

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

The words to guess: Request letter

 Teacher leads to the new lesson : Writing a request letter

UNIT 6 –ENGLISH 12 : FUTURE JOB

D WRITING : Warm –up

T leads to the new lesson: Write a letter of job application from an advertisment

UNIT 8 – ENGLISH 12 :LIFE IN THE FUTURE

D WRITING :

Warm -up

- Free talk about the life in the future

Questions: In the future

1 In which environment would you like to live?

2 What language would you like to study?

3 Where would you like to go picnic?

4 With what kind of people would you like to live?

Introduction: The world in which you would like to live in the year 2020

UNIT 10 – ENGLISH 12 :ENDANGERED SPECIES

D WRITING : Warm -up

9

7 2

1

T leads to the new lesson: “ Write a paragraph about measures for protecting

endangered animals”

UNIT 11 – ENGLISH 12 :BOOKS

D WRITING : Warm -up

T leads to the new lesson

UNIT 12 – ENGLISH 12 : WATER SPORTS

D WRITING: Warm -up

 Teacher leads to the new lesson

UNIT 13 – ENGLISH 12 :THE 22 nd SEA GAMES

D WRITING :Warm up

Clustering: Mapping out ideas

T leads to the new lesson : Describing a football match

UNIT 14 – ENGLISH 12 :INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

D WRITING :Warm up

Match: WWF (World Wildlife Fund) WHO (World Health Organization)

and the UN ( United Nations) with these pictures

Teacher leads to the new lesson :Writing a short description of an

international organization

UNIT 15 – ENGLISH 12 :WOMEN IN SOCIETY

D WRITING :

Warm up: Answer the following questions:

1, How many children does your mother have?

2, Who does more housework in your family?

3, How many hours does she spend on her housework per week?

 Teacher leads to the new lesson: Describing a chart illustrating the average

hours of housework per week done by married women in comparison with married men.

UNIT 16 – ENGLISH 12 :THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS

D WRITING :Warm up: Name the pictures below

 Teacher leads to the new lesson: “Write a letter to a pen pal recommending a

significant place you are familiar with”

*In this section, I would like to demonstrate an example of a lesson plan ( Unit

16 – Tieng Anh 12 : Writing) in which I apply the techniques above:

D WRITING

I Objectives:

1 Educational aim: By the end of the lesson , Students will be able to know how

to write a letter of recommendation

2 Knowledge:

- General knowledge:

Students learn how to write about the places they are familiar with

- Language: Words related to the topic

3 Skills: - Filling in each blank with the missing sentences

- Writing a letter of recommendation

II Method: Integrated, mainly communicative

III Teaching aids: letters of recommendation , posters

Time Teacher’s activities Students’activities Rationale Pre-writing: (13mn)

5ms

8ms

Warm-up

To draw the students’attention, the

teacher shows them some pictures

and asks them name the pictures

- T asks Ss to work in groups and

write the answers on the cardboards

as soon as possible ( The quickest

group with the correct answer will

be the winner).

- T calls others to give remarks then

give corrective feedback if

necessary

Teacher leads to the new lesson

Task1: Complete the letter of

recommendation with the missing

sentences in the box.

Teaching vocabulary :

- T teaches some new words and

phrases which appear in Task 1 so

that Ss can understand the lesson

more clearly

1.‘islet (n) = small island

2.‘grotto (n) = small cave

3 i’deal (adj.)for sth = perfect,

most suitable

4 ho’spitable (adj.) to/toward sb

= friendly and kind to visitors

T lets students read some new

words first in chorus and then read

individually

Students work in groups, discussing and writing the answers on the cardboards as soon as possible

Suggested answer :

1- Halong Bay 2- Trang Tien bridge 3- Da lat

4- Thien Mu pagoda 5- Van Mieu

6- Nha trang 7- Hung Kings temple 8- Tra Co beach 9- Vung tau

Ss listen, answer the teacher’s questions, read the new words and copy down

Motivation is done with pictures which will make Ss more involved and interested

in the lesson This also helps increase teacher-student and student-student interaction Encourage Ss

to express their knowledge of beautiful places

in Vietnam

-Explaining new words helps students understand the text easily -Help Ss pronounce the words correctly