skkn TEACHING SAYING NUMBERS IN ENGLISH

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skkn TEACHING SAYING NUMBERS IN ENGLISH

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TEACHING SAYING NUMBERS IN ENGLISH PART A: INTRODUCTION I Rationale One of the tasks of English teaching is to help students to use their knowledge in real life situations Our everyday English lessons present new information about grammar or vocabulary which often has importance for students Such an approach makes English formal when students study some grammar and vocabulary in order to get a grade Is it possible to transform some parts of the lesson into situations which students can face in their life? I am writing this paper deriving from my teaching experience Any secondary students are certain to know well about numbers in written forms but when several of my students are asked to tell me their email addresses so that I give them information or exercises relating to my subject A few numbers in their addresses such as nguyennam_1995@gmail.com, thuy_77@gmail.com bluestar.94@yahoo.com, … are talked as the year they were born nineteen ninety five, double seven or ninety four… The similar situation is telling telephone numbers, serial numbers, or ID numbers… Every new school year I often ask the telephone numbers of some key students in case I need them for schoolwork A few of them separate the phone number freely The number is 059 3824380 in which 059 is known as the code of Gia Lai, but it is inattentively dictated “oh five, nine three, eight two, four three, eight oh” by some students Another notice of being unable to read a certain number I have taken when I am teaching Unit 13 (Sea Games) or Unit 14 (International Organizations) to Students Grade 12 Most of my students seem to get confused when saying “zero, nought, nothing, nil or love” for figure in football, tennis, and other games Also, several students unconsciously read seven April for the foundation day of United Nations instead of the seventh of April, and so on That numbers are differently talked in various contexts is taught in a short period of time Their usefulness, however, stays essential in long daily life Throughout my time teaching English, I have noticed that most Vietnamese students have been taught saying numbers since they began learning English at school I have read English textbooks Grades 6, 7, 8, for Vietnamese schools, I am convinced that a variety of lessons and skills relating to numbers written basically and repeatedly in each higher level, but why students cannot read the number language correctly while their period of learning is gradually rising Is it the memory no longer available? -what they learned on the previous day is replaced by today’s input Or because the memory is still stored in the memory system but, for some reason, it cannot be retrieved due to lack of consolidation Either of these, the classrom teacher has been willing to help students revisie or provide new language for them in the relevant lessons II Scope of the study Within the limited range of the next few pages, this paper attempts to present a snapshot of important features in the general area of numbers whose rules of reading high school students could not grasp Its central focus is on the use – where and when each form may be read or talked appropriately within the scope of the study on verbal communication Writing or listening forms of numbers are merely mentioned in the role of supporting students in their demand for reading numerals properly The data description is mainly taken into account of a number or symbol that expresses an amount or a quantity, a number used to identify something or communicate by telephone, fax, etc The material for research is, therefore, in the form of language used in different communicative contexts It is not concerned with such mathematical calculations, chemistry symbols, scientific numbers and so on - Objective of the study The main objective of the study is to support high schools students in their efforts to eliminate a potential source of misunderstandings and mistakes of saying certain numbers in English so that they are able to receive foreign information more easily Additionally, the study aims to help learners of English as a foreign language recognize some differences in written forms between Vietnamese and British English or between British English and American English Further, they can avoid unexpected errors in doing scientific research Moreover, the paper introduces a source of information and techniques revising or teaching saying numbers for secondary teachers who are concerned with III Methodology of the study For this study, the following approach has been carried out First, English textbooks for Grade are reviewed in order to get information on students’ syllabus for making a suitable plan of revising or teaching new language of numbers to upper secondary students Second, relevant literature, publications and studies are searched to access to in-depth knowledge of saying numbers The next step is checking again number language obtained from literature and other sources More importantly, what the study presents is arranged scientically and logically The styles and techqines of teaching, suggestions of practice are regarded as the final collection PART B: DEVELOPMENT This part describes the content of the study The way of teaching students to name numbers in English is not in fact teaching counting skills It is assumed that students have already known how to this in their native language It is also noted that they are literate in the Latin alphabet and "Arabic" numerals Therefore, the definition of numbers is neglected in teaching saying numbers which has merely been based on different practical uses: telling the time, giving dates, going shopping, doing arithmetic, paying bills, identifying something, or communicating by telephone, fax, etc In my own view, clear presentation will help students to acquire mastery of the English number system in the most economical way, that is with a minimum of effort in the shortest time I Refering to the forms of saying numbers Learning numbers in English can be confusing Is Valentine’s Day on February 14th , or February 14? Did the runner come in 1, or did he come in 1st in the race? This paper researches on how to pronounce numbers, including: ordinal numbers, fractions, decimals, dates, height, big numbers, telephone numbers, measurements and even the numbers that appear in the names of Kings and Queens It explains the grammar rules we use for saying numbers and sentences with numbers as well as highlighting some irregularities Cardinal and ordinal number: The numbers one, two, three, four etc., are called cardinal numbers whereas the numbers first, second, third, fourth etc., are called ordinal numbers Ordinal numbers are used before nouns After a noun, we use cardinal numbers the fourth chapter – chapter four the third act – Act Three I Ordinal Numbers Ordinal numbers are numbers used to referred the position of something, for example: 1st, 2nd, 3rd Most of them are formed by adding ‘th’ to the end of regular numbers, for example: fourth (four-th), sixth (six-th), seventh (seven-th) However, there are a few irregular ones: first (1st), second (2nd), third (3rd), fifth (5th), ninth (9th) and twelfth (12th) Here is a list of the ordinal numbers from 1st to 19th  1st – first*  2nd – second*  3rd – third*  4th – fourth  5th – fifth*  6th – sixth  7th – seventh  8th – eighth  9th – ninth*  10th – tenth  11th – eleventh  12th – twelfth*  13th – thirteenth … 19th – nineteenth For multiples of ten, the ‘y’ at end of the word changes to ‘ie’ and the suffix ‘eth’ is added For example, ‘twenty’ becomes ‘twentieth’ Here is a list of the multiples of ten from 20 to 90:  20th – twentieth …   90th – ninetieth Note: You say 100th as ‘one hundredth’ I Cardinal numbers If a number is in the range 21 to 99, and the second digit is not zero, we should write the number as two words separated by a hyphen:  25 twenty-five 57 fifty-seven 89 eighty-nine Numbers over 100 are generally written in figures However if you want to say them aloud or want to write them in words rather than figures you put 'and' in front of the number expressed by the last two figures For example:  203 two hundred and three (AmE: two hundred three)  622 six hundred and twenty-two (AmE: six hundred twenty-two) Numbers between 1000 and 1,000,000 is usually said or written in words as:  1,803 one thousand, eight hundred and three (AmE: one thousand, eight hundred three)  1,963 one thousand, nine hundred and sixty-three (AmE: one thousand, nine hundred sixty-three)  2,840 two thousand, eight hundred and forty (AmE: two thousand, eight hundred forty)  123,000 a hundred and twenty three thousand Four-figure numbers ending in 00 can also be said or written as a number of hundreds For example, 1800 can be said or written as "eighteen hundred" We not make hundreds, thousands and millions plural when the number in front is more than one For example:  200 – two hundred  1000 – one thousand  5,000 000 – five million However, when there is no number in front, we have to add an ‘s’ For example:  Hundreds of pounds  Thousands of eggs  Millions of dollars When the first figure is 1, we can say other ‘one’ or ‘a’ For example:  “He lived for a hundred years”  “You owe me one hundred dollars” When is a billion not a billion? In British English billion traditionally means a million million = 1,000,000,000,000 = 1012 In American English billion means a thousand million = 1,000,000,000 = 109 The American billion has become standard in technical and financial use However, to avoid confusion it is better to use the terms "thousand million" for 109 and "million million" for 1012 Milliard " is French for the number 109 It is not used in American English but is sometimes, but rarely, used in British English I Fractions, ratios and percentages In order to say a fraction, we say the top number (numerator) as a regular number and we say the bottom number (denominator) as an ordinal number For example, 1/8 is spoken as ‘one-eighth’ If the top number is more than 1, then we pronounce the ordinal number as a plural For example, 3/8 is spoken as ‘three-eighths Here are some examples:  ½ = one half 1/3 = one third ¼ = one quarter  1/8 = one eighth 7/12 – seven-twelfths 2/5 = two fifths  99/100 – ninety-nine one hundredths  1.5% = one point five percent  0.3% = nought / zero point three percent  2:1 = two to one  3/4 hour = three quarters of an hour More complex fractions are usually expressed by using the word over  218/576 = two hundred and eighteen over five hundred and seventy six There are two irregular fractions: half is used in place of second and quarter is used in place of fourth For example, ½ is not said as ‘one-second’, it is called ‘one-half’, ‘a half’ or just ‘half’ Likewise, ¼ is not spoken as ‘one-fourth’, it is called ‘one-quarter’ or ‘a quarter’  ½ – one and a half  ¼ – two and a quarter Decimals To pronounce decimals, we use the word ‘point’ for the dot and pronounce figure by figure For example:  0.5 - nought point five (British English) / zero point five (American English)  0.124 – nought point one two four (British English) / zero point one two four (American English)  4.25 – four point two five  0.67m – nought point six seven metres (or nought point six seven of a metre)  0.3L – nought point three litres (or nought point three of a litre)  1.8kg – one point eight kilograms I Telephone numbers, serial numbers, registration numbers, box numbers, E-numbers… These numbers are pronounced like poems Each figure is said separately There is usually a pause after groups of three or four figures If the same figure comes twice, three times British people usually say “double” or “triple”  657 4481 – six five seven, double four eight one (British)  255 7989 – two double five seven nine eight nine  657 4481 - six five seven, four four eight one (US) English speakers often say the letter "oh" for the number "zero" When "oh" is combined with some numbers, it is difficult to hear It is recommended to say "zero" and "double zero" Example: 237-0980 is usually said as two - three - seven, oh - nine - eight - oh Special Notes: When writing phone numbers, separate each group of digits with a hyphen (-): 520-447-9821 The area code is sometimes written inside parentheses ( ) and without a hyphen: (520) 447-9821 Extensions are part of many office phone numbers To show an extension number, the abbreviations Ex, Ext, or X are often used: 520-447-9821, Ex 213 (or Ext 213 or X 213) If extension numbers have three digits, they're usually said as single-digit numbers: X 517 = extension five - one - seven If extension numbers have two digits, they're said with single digits or like normal two-digit numbers: extension 15 = extension one - five OR extension fifteen by Dennis Oliver I Dates In English, we can say dates either with the day before the month, or the month before the day: For example: The first of January / January the first (1/1)  15th March – the fifteenth of March / March the fifteenth  12th September – the twelfth of September/ September the twelfth Remember to use ordinal numbers for dates in English (The first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the twenty-second, the thirty-first etc.) I Years We normally say a year in two parts In the case of years ending in "00", we say the second part in "hundred":  1058 - ten fifty-eight  1865 - eighteen sixty-five  1900 - nineteen hundred  1999 - nineteen ninety-nine If there is a in the ten position, we usually pronounce it ‘oh’ For example:  1908 – nineteen oh eight 1409 – fourteen oh nine For years after 2000, we usually pronounce the whole number:  2002 – two thousand and two  2010 – two thousand and ten (a more informal way is to say twenty ten) I Flight numbers We pronounce a flight number in two parts or digit-by-digit For example:  VN 7427 – VN seventy four twenty seven (or seven four two seven)  VN 1248 – VN twelve forty-eight  SYD 2503 – SYD twenty-five oh three  HKG 3050 - HKG three oh five oh (or 'three zero five zero', 'thirty fifty') I Height Height can be said in centimetres or feet If we write in feet, a comma comes after the number of feet and quotations come after the number of inches For example:  5’10 – five foot ten or (five feet ten inches)  6’3 – six foot three or (six feet three inches) Notice that you can say either ‘foot’ or ‘feet’ Here are some examples of height in centimetres:  163cm – one hundred and sixty-three centimetres  158cm – one hundred and fifty-eight centimetres I Ways of saying the number (Nought, zero, nil, love, nothing) = nil in football and other sports, for scores of (AmE: zero or nothing) = love in tennis = zero in temperatures to refer to freezing point (0° Celsius, 0° Fahrenheit) = nought in mathematics (AmE: zero) = oh for telephone numbers = oh (or zero) for flight numbers Depending on the context, we can pronounce zero in different ways: The figure is usually called nought in British English, and zero in American English - We use zero to express some numerical values such as temperatures, taxes, and interest rates in both British and American English - We can pronounce "oh" like the letter "o", when we are reading out numbers figure by figure such as telephone number, flight number, bus number, room number, credit card number, ID number, e-mail and Web addresses etc e g My phone number is ( 0914087833) oh nine one four oh eight seven eight three three  Room 101 = Room one oh one  Bus 602 = Bus six oh two  0C (temperature) = zero degrees  thuypk1995@gmail com = thuypk one nine nine five at gmail dot com Zero scores in team games are called nil In tennis and similar games, the word love is used for zero I 10 Time What's the time? There are two common ways of telling the time Formal but easier way Say the hours first and then the minutes  7:45 - seven forty five For minutes 01 through 09, you can pronounce the '0' as oh  11:06 - eleven (oh) six More popular way Say the minutes first and then the hours Use past and the preceding hour for minutes 01 through 30 Use to and the forthcoming hour for minutes 31 through 59, but  7.15 - fifteen minutes past seven  7.45 - fifteen minutes to eight Another possibility of saying '15 minutes past' is: a quarter past Another possibility of saying '15 minutes to' is: a quarter to Another possibility of saying '30 minutes past' is: half past  5:30 - half past five 10 * Rule 1: Spell out single-digit whole numbers Use numerals for numbers greater than nine Examples: I want five copies I want 10 copies * Rule 2: Be consistent within a category For example, if you choose numerals because one of the numbers is greater than nine, use numerals for all numbers in that category If you choose to spell out numbers because one of the numbers is a single digit, spell out all numbers in that category If you have numbers in different categories, use numerals for one category and spell out the other Correct: My 10 cats fought with their cats My ten cats fought with their two cats Given the budget constraints, if all 30 history students attend the four plays, then the math students will be able to attend only two plays (Students are represented with figures; plays are represented with words.) Incorrect: I asked for five pencils, not 50 * Rule 3: Always spell out simple fractions and use hyphens with them Examples: One-half of the pies have been eaten A two-thirds majority is required for that bill to pass in Congress *Rule 4: A mixed fraction can be expressed in figures unless it is the first word of a sentence Examples: We expect a 1/2 percent wage increase Five and one-half percent was the maximum allowable interest 16 *Rule 5: The simplest way to express large numbers is best Round numbers are usually spelled out Be careful to be consistent within a sentence Correct: You can earn from one million to five million dollars Incorrect: You can earn from one million to $5,000,000 Correct: You can earn from five hundred to five million dollars You can earn from $5 hundred to $5 million Incorrect: You can earn from $500 to $5 million You can earn from $500 to five million dollars *Rule 6: Write decimals in figures Put a zero in front of a decimal unless the decimal itself begins with a zero Examples: The plant grew 0.79 of a foot in one year The plant grew only 07 of a foot this year because of the drought *Rule 7: Use a full stop (.) to separate the main part of a number from the decimal part 3.062 means 'three point nought six two' Say point to refer to the full stop You can use a comma (,) in large numbers to separate the hundreds, thousands, and millions 3,062 means 'three thousand and sixty-two' If the number contains seven or more digits, continue placing commas after every three places Examples: $1,054.21 2,417,592 Remember: Speakers of some other languages use (,) and (.) in the opposite way - the commas for the decimals and the points for thousands, millions, etc Vietnamese language is an example The Vietnamese means 3.062 'three thousand and sixty-two' 17 *Rule 8: The following examples apply when using dates: Examples: The meeting is scheduled for June 30 The meeting is scheduled for the 30th of June We have had tricks played on us on April The 1st of April puts some people on edge *Rule 9: When expressing decades, you may spell them out and lowercase them Example: During the eighties and nineties, the U.S economy grew *Rule 10: If you wish to express decades using incomplete numerals, put an apostrophe before the incomplete numeral but not between the year and the s Correct: During the '80s and '90s, the U.S economy grew Incorrect: During the '80's and '90's, the U.S economy grew *Rule 11: You may also express decades in complete numerals Again, don't use an apostrophe between the year and the s Example: During the 1980s and 1990s, the U.S economy grew *Rule 12: Normally, spell out the time of day in text even with half and quarter hours With o'clock, the number is always spelled out Examples: She gets up at four thirty before the baby wakes up The baby wakes up at five o'clock in the morning 18 Rule 13: Use numerals with the time of day when exact times are being emphasized or when using A.M or P.M Examples: Monib's flight leaves at 6:22 A.M Please arrive by 12:30 sharp She had a 7:00 P.M deadline *Rule 14: Use noon and midnight rather than 12:00 P.M and 12:00 A.M *Rule 15: Hyphenate all compound numbers from twenty-one through ninety-nine Examples: Forty-three persons were injured in the train wreck Twenty-three of them were hospitalized *Rule 16: Write out a number if it begins a sentence Examples: Twenty-nine people won an award for helping their communities That 29 people won an award for helping their communities was fantastic! OR That twenty-nine people won an award for helping their communities was fantastic! (Chapter V- The Blue Book of grammar and punctuation by Jane Straus) III Techniques teaching / revising saying numbers The fact that school students have learned saying numbers in English very early They started getting familiar with numbers from Unit of English textbook Grade And they are upgraded this knowledge within the process of learning English There are no longer individual lessons on numbers in high school syllabus, therefore going over past lessons and past memory numbers can help learners remember what they have learned “long term” and assimilate it deeply into their consciousness, which is considerably very important From my practical experience, if we were to teach saying numbers over again, there would not be any time left to teach the new lesson Moreover, it is 19 not very interesting, either, to hear the same thing in the same way over again Younger children have no ideas, but secondary students or gifted students will quickly get bored with it and soon they want to stop learning They may get the idea that the teacher does not have anything new or interesting to teach them Over twenty years’ teaching experience, the two major principles for good review or teaching something new of saying numbers to high school students are: It should not take up too much time We should use a variety of games, stories, riddles or video clips for review to ensure that students not get tired of it A review games, stories, riddles or video clips can be done in as long as minutes each time The time of warm up, motivation or extension is appropriate to remind students what they used to learn Here are some alternative activities to use in English classroom (all preparations should be made as closed students’ life as possible.)  What’s number? This is an activity in which students try to guess the number with three cues given, If a student can have the answer when the first or the second cue is given, he / she is a winner o It is often used in Math o Its symbol is pronounced as a letter o It’s bigger than three (Answer: π /pi/ = 3.14159) Special note: π /pi/ = 3, 14159 (in Vietnamese)  Who is it? This is an activity in which students try to guess the person with the numbers relating to him / her The teacher prepares as many types of numbers as possible and supply students with the cues until they realize According to the classroom atmosphere, the hot or latest news everybody knows or students’ interest, we should find the interesting people such as singers, actors, hot boys, hot girls, popular football players or even the school headmaster 20 For example: Find the person whose relating numbers are February 1985 1.86 m (6 ft in) £80 million 1000th , 300th … Answer: He is Cristiano Ronaldo (football player) After finding the answer, students are asked to link all pieces of information and then make a speech about that character (Cristiano Ronaldo was born February 1985, he is 1.86 m tall, Ronaldo became the most expensive footballer in history after moving from Manchester United to Real Madrid in a transfer worth £80 million, He scored United's 1000th Premier League, In January 2013, he scored his 300th club goal.) We can apply this activity for teaching Unit - People’s background Grade 10, Unit 14 – The World Cup -Grade 10, Unit 12 – The Sea Games – Grade 11, Unit 13- The 22nd Sea games in warm-up or post-speaking time …  What these signs say? The aim of this activity is to help students pratice speaking in real context which they often deal with The way students make effort to express the signs in full speech confirm their successful communication beside the answer about the limit speed number  Facts of numbers The aim of this activity motivates students in learning Teachers should give a present to stimulate students to think the fact of number in more depth For example: How does the number 24/7 read? What does it mean? If students cannot answer , the teacher supply some suggestion such as this number is seen at many places such as in front of the mall, at petrol station … 21 Answer: twenty-four seven (24/7) means something available or active at all times - twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week Facts of 100 (Ask students put numbers in the following orally.) - There are 100 years in a century - There are 100 cents in a euro - In degrees Celsius, 100 is the boiling temperature of water at sea level - One hundred is more than 99 and one less than 101 - There are two 50s, four 25s and twenty 5s in 100 - One hundred is also 10 times 10 - A US 100-dollar note has a portrait of Benjamin Franklin on it - There are 100 tiles in a standard Scrabble set - In India and Israel, the police telephone number is 100 - In the UK, the number for the operator is 100 - The human heart beats over 100,000 times a day - Dogs can produce about 10 sounds; cats can make over 100 - A “jiffy” is the scientific name for 1/100th of a second - The book version of The Lord of the Rings has sold over 100 million copies - African Grey birds can learn more than 100 words - There are more than 100 million dogs and cats in the United States - One hundred cups of coffee over hours can kill the average human - Wolves can cover over 100 miles (about 160 kilometres) a day - On average, 100 people choke to death on ballpoint pens every year - By the time a child finishes elementary school, they will have seen about 100,000 acts of violence on television - Penny Marshall was the first female director to produce a film that generated more than $100 million at the box office The film was Big (1988) - Facts of days, months, years This pictures are used for practicing day numbers We can also use other pictures of Festivals or Sport Events 22 A collection of jokes or funny stories about numbers Teacher: “Who can tell me what times is?” Student: “It is 42!” Teacher: “Very good – And who can tell me what times is?” Same student: “It’s 24!” A visitor at the Royal Tyrell Museum asks a museum employee: "Can you tell me how old the skeleton of that T-Rex is?" "It is precisely 60 million and three years, two months, and eighteen days old." "How can you know that with such precision?!" "Well, when I started working here, one of the scientists told me that the skeleton was 60 million years old - and that was precisely three years, two months, and eighteen days ago " There was this man by the name of Mr Five His lucky number was, not surprisingly, He was 55 years old, ate times a day, always brought with him $55 in his wallet and always wore a shirt with pockets One day, he saw a horse by the name of Lucky Five was racing He bet $5555.55 on the horse After hours the results are out Sure enough the horse comes in fifth Students are required to something with each activity Video clips, audio, songs, materials including written and visual forms … are interesting teaching aid to contribute to teaching and learning saying numbers 23 They have been designed to meet the learners’ needs, i.e filling in the teaching gap and developing the learners’ linguistic and communicative competence What activitives or materials are used to teach students to say numbers depends on the teaching time, the class ability, try to create the context which impresses students most III The difference in saying pairs of numbers All the pairs of numbers below are pronounced in different ways and / or have different meanings Can you identify and explain the difference each time?  10.000 and 10,000  1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000  1.12 as a number and 1.12 as dollars  911 (the emergency telephone number) and 9/11 (the World Trade Center  attacks)  1600 (an engine size) and 1600 (the normal way of saying the number)  15-0 (a tennis score) and 15-0 (a very unlikely soccer score)  the short forms of 125 kilograms and 125 kilometres  5’ and 5’’  5/4/2010 written by a British person and 5/4/2010 written by an American person  0.5 in British English and 0.5 in American English  0.05 in British English and 0.05 in American English  1/4 and 1:4  90 minutes expressed as hours and 30 minutes expressed as hours  1/3 and 1/3 1/5h and 1/5 4th and 1/4 2/7 and 1/7  2/3 and 233/234  080 543 543 said by someone from the UK and the US  02 134 5892 and 021 345 892  4322 1105 as a telephone number and a credit card number  090 22555 and 090 22255  4:45 and 5:15 4:55 and 5:05 04:45 and 16:45 16:10 and 16:11  The meaning of “Jump out of the first floor window” when a British person 24  is speaking and when an American is speaking  the years 2006 and 1966 the years 1940 and 1904 Suggested explanation NB Americans don’t say “and” in large numbers, so that word can usually be taken out in the examples below  10.000 and 10,000 – The first is a decimal point, and so it is ten or ten point oh oh oh/ ten point zero zero zero  1,000,000 and 1,000,000,000 – A million/ a billion (or a thousand million)  1.12 as a number and 1.12 as dollars – Decimals are always given as individual numbers, so the first is one point one two (not one point twelve) The second is one dollar twelve (cents)  911 (the emergency telephone number) and 9/11 (the World Trade Center attacks) – Nine one one/ Nine eleven (or September eleven)  1600 (an engine size) and 1600 (the normal way of saying the number) – Sixteen hundred and one thousand six hundred (although sixteen hundred is fairly common in American English)  15-0 (a tennis score) and 15-0 (a very unlikely soccer score) – Fifteen love/ fifteen nil (or fifteen zero in American English)  the short forms of 125 kilograms and 125 kilometres – One hundred and twenty five kilos (or kg)/ one hundred and twenty five k (or km) “Kilo” is common, but “k” is idiomatic and the others are rare  5’ and 5’’ – Five feet/ Five inches  5/4/2010 written by a British person and 5/4/2010 written by an American person – British people write and say it day/ month/ year, so it’s the fifth of April 2010 Americans write and say it month/ day/ year, so it’s May (the) four(th) 2010  0.5 in British English and 0.5 in American English – British English speakers say “nought” for zero before a decimal point, so it’s nought point five In American English it is zero point five  0.05 in British and American EnglishIn the UK we usually say “oh” after a decimal point, so it’s nought point oh five/ zero point zero five The 25 British version is more difficult but makes it less vital to hear the word “point”  1/4 and 1:4 – A quarter (or a fourth)/ one in four  90 minutes expressed as hours and 30 minutes expressed as hours – An hour and a half / Half an hour  3rd and 1/3 – Third/ a third, so very similar  5th and 1/5 – Fifth / a fifth, so very similar  4th and 1/4 – Fourth/ A quarter, so different (unlike most fractions)  2/7 and 1/7 – Two sevenths / Two and a seventh, so easy to get confused in you miss the “s” in the former or the “and” and “a” in the latter  2/3 and 233/234 – Complicated fractions just use “out of”, so it’s two thirds (or - rarely - two out of three)/ two hundred and thirty three out of two hundred and thirty four  080 543 543 said by someone from the UK and the US – The British tend to say “oh” in telephone numbers, so it’s oh eight oh five four three five four three/ zero eight zero five four three five four three  02 134 5892 and 021 345 892 – The gap means a pause, so the pauses come in different positions depending on what part of the telephone number the area code is  4322 1105 as a telephone number and a credit card number – Telephone numbers can include “double”, so it is often four three double two double one oh five Four three two two one one oh five could be a telephone number or other numbers such as a credit card, bank account, membership number or ID card  090 22555 and 090 22255 – You can also use the word “treble” in telephone numbers, although it is quite rare, so it could be oh nine oh double two treble five/ oh nine oh treble two double five  4:45 and 5:15 – (A) quarter to five and (a) quarter past five  4:55 and 5:05 – Five to (or before) five and five past (or after) five 26  04:45 and 16:45 – The most common way is to say quarter to four in the morning/ quarter to four in the afternoon (or evening) Other possibilities include four forty five a.m./ four forty five p.m  16:10 and 16:11 – With times that are not divisible by five, you must add the word “minutes” when telling the time the long way, so it’s ten past four in the afternoon/ eleven minutes past four in the afternoon  The meaning of “Jump out of the first floor window” when a British person is speaking and “Jump out of the first floor window” when an American is speaking - British buildings start on the ground floor and then go first, second, third etc Therefore only the American one is at the level of the ground The British person is therefore much more likely to injure or kill themselves!  2006 and 1966 – Years with two zeros in the middle tend to be pronounced like numbers, so it’s two thousand and six/ nineteen sixty six  1940 and 1904 – Saying “oh” with a year ending in a single digit makes it easier to hear the difference, so it is nineteen forty/ nineteen oh four PART C: CONCLUSION This paper has attempted to show that secondary students’ ability of learning English in general and of reading English numbers in particular has increasingly caught the attention of language teachers and is widely recognized as an important notice of language teaching Being language teachers we prepare our learners to participate in real situation with people from a culture other than their own The school learners need to practice speaking from important topics to little numbers while learning a language so as not to be misunderstood when they are in a new environment It is the practice speaking in each parts of a unit that raises our awareness of how to achieve successful communication As far as teaching saying numbers is concerned, some knowledge about it needs learning by both teachers and learners Particularly, for American English and British English’ reading , many students get doubt when being taught to 27 read one hundred fifty five not “and” No individual student can answer the question how to read the tennis score 6-0 Teaching saying numbers does not take up much time or require special effort of the teacher And English learning is a long-process activity, the practice in the limited class time is far from enough In order to make full use of the class time, the language teacher should predict the difficulty and feasibility of the tasks to be carried out in the class He can not limit himself only to textbooks In the textbook only telephone numbers are focused on reading separately but the teacher should be in constant relation with the language by providing similar items for senior students The English teacher should fix flexible aims which could vary in every single case Instead of providing direct instruction, teachers should lead students through a series of questions and activities, helping learners discover and discuss the knowledge they have learned While aiming to teach students to read numbers in English , English teachers should also take care of its written forms The mark (,) and (.) in numbers of Vietnamese and English is an important notice They are completely dissimilar from each other, its wrong saying must lead to serious misunderstandings We cannot teach all types of reading or saying numbers in one or two class periods but it is alternatively practised in relevant parts of lessons From our discussion of the characteristics of reading / saying numbers, it has been clear that learners need to acquire a knowledge of numbers to be successful in communication Further research on this area is believed to be very beneficial for language teaching development Pleiku, 27 / 02 / 2013 Phạm Thị Mỹ Lệ 28 REFERENCES Books - Jane Straus , 2008 The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation - Santa Cruz, 2004 Engaging and Supporting Students in Learning The Professional Teaching Standards New Teacher Center at The University of California - Lee, W.K., 1991 'task-based approach to oral communication testing of English as a foreign language' Ph.D thesis Seoul: Hanshin Publishing Co - Nunan D (1999) Second Language Teaching and Learning Heinle &Heinle Publishers - Peregoy, S.F., & Boyle, O.F (2001) "Reading, writing, and learning in ESL." New York: Addison Wesley Longman Websites - Alex Case, American Educator , 2011 Using English.com (2785-8203-11107388-3333-9064) - http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org Journal of language teaching and research 2010- Academy publisher - http://www.youtube.com - Two video clips : How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson (Englishteachermelanie.com) Reading Numbers in English (by learnamericanenglish) (These youtube videos are enclosed) 29 30 ... definition of numbers is neglected in teaching saying numbers which has merely been based on different practical uses: telling the time, giving dates, going shopping, doing arithmetic, paying... Techniques teaching / revising saying numbers The fact that school students have learned saying numbers in English very early They started getting familiar with numbers from Unit of English textbook... economical way, that is with a minimum of effort in the shortest time I Refering to the forms of saying numbers Learning numbers in English can be confusing Is Valentine’s Day on February 14th ,

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  • I. 10 Time

  • What's the time?

  • Formal but easier way

  • More popular way

  • 

  • Note

  • American English

  • ~ k ~

  • ~ m ~

  • ~ bn ~

  • II. Writing Numbers

    • The aim of this activity is to help students pratice speaking in real context which they often deal with. The way students make effort to express the signs in full speech confirm their successful communication beside the answer about the limit speed number.

  • - Two video clips :

  • 1 . How to Say Different English Numbers - English Vocabulary & Pronunciation Lesson (Englishteachermelanie.com)

  • 2. Reading Numbers in English (by learnamericanenglish)

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