Using games in teaching warm up activities for non major english students to improve their english language

According to some researchers Mr Numan, Mrs Bernard James., Mr Chistopher Brumfit, using games in the pre-teaching stage helps students and teachers complete their lesson in an effective

page

1 An overview of using games in teaching English 3

1.2 The advantages of using Games in teaching English 3 1.3 Major issues of the English teaching 4

2.2.1 The aim of the game:"If I " 5

2.3.1 The aim of the game Kim’s game 6

2.7 Compared to the amount of the initial survey 12 2.8 Effectiveness of the study for educational activities,

colleagues and the school

13

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Nowadays English has become an international language because it is widely used in many parts of the world In the tendency of integration of the global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools for everybody The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields of economics, politics, science, culture and education Especially, Vietnam’s official membership of WTO on 7th November 2006 opened a new door for integrating into the world economy, and more and more people want to learn English for communicating with foreign partners, tourism, study tours, etc In

VN, English is taught at school for students of different levels It is a fact that students usually have difficulty in mastering their English language, which forces teachers to find out different ways to better their English lesson

According to some researchers Mr Numan, Mrs Bernard James., Mr Chistopher Brumfit, using games in the pre-teaching stage helps students and teachers complete their lesson in an effective way So, the writers try to offer them such games as: chairs game, guessing game, Hangman, lucky numbers, Noughts and Crosses Rub out and remember, Slap Board, Square Word, Networks, game Kim )

When teaching non – major English students at Nhu Xuan High School, I found out that using games is very important in teaching English and it also has significant effects on the students’ skills If students do not have chances to apply games into English lessons, they can not understand them perfectly

2 Aims of the study

The major aims of the study are:

- to improve the quality of the lessons

- to help students understand themes and memorize new words, structures more easily

- To contribute a small part to the improvement of teaching and learning at Nhu Xuan high school

3 Research subjects

This subject will help students interested in accessing new words, structures to improve their little skills now

4 Method of study

- Research in the teaching of English at Nhu Xuan High School

- School year 2016 - 2017

- Grade 11A1, 11A8, 12B5, 12B7

- Using hangman game, If I game, lucky number game; using questions

to promote students’ answers

- Using comparison in percent before and after studying to assess the quality of teaching and study

5 Participants

The subjects chosen for the research include students in class 11A1, 11A8,12B5, 12B7 of Nhu Xuan High School with the survey questionnaires, and 7 teachers who are currently teaching English Their experience of teaching English varied from one year to 20 years The research was carried out during the first term of the academic year 2016 – 2017 at Nhu Xuan High School

PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT

1 An overview of using games in teaching english

1.1 What is a game?

(Internet sources)

First, we should know what exactly a language game is According to Toth (1995) “a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun There are two kinds of game: competitive games, in which players or teams to

be first to reach the goal, and co- operate games, in which players or teams work together toward a common goal The emphasis in the game is on successful communication rather than on correctness of language” [2] Obviously, language games help learners know how to use the language instead of just thinking about learning the correct forms ( Lee 1979)[]

1.2 The advantages of using Games in teaching English

Many experienced scholars have argued that games are not just time-filling activities but have a great educational value It is used to be thought that games are only used for warm- up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson Nevertheless, games can do more than that

Games have a lot of advantages “Firstly, I want to emphasize that games help students to reduce stress during their studying Games make them funny, happy, interesting and comfortable when they are played games, which will help students concentrate on the lesson and learn better Moreover, pupils will remember English words, structures according to games the most effectively

In addition, games help students to interact with other members in the class In fact, games create the opportunity for them to make friends with other members in the class They become friendly and have a close-knit relationship After playing games, they will learn experiences, share knowledge and exchange skills with their friends, which makes children learn well

Furthermore, when the students are played games they will have the chance to increase the cooperation They will cooperate with your friends to try their best to win the games In addition, at the end of game, the children have the opportunity to evaluate other groups, which rises the cognitive ability of children

To sum up, games are very effective in teaching English for non- major English Being an English teacher it is very necessary for you to use games in teaching English for students in the future”[1]

1.3 Major issues of the English teaching

Nhu Xuan district is a mountainous area It is considered a poor district

As the school has 1250 students, but the quality is not very high

Teachers used simple method, they often give new words, structures and ask students read and learned by heart at home

Results before using games in teaching

School year: 2015-2016

Class Number

of

students

Amoun

You can see the above table, good students accounted for zero percent for four classes in term of being interested in learning English, the weak students accounted for high percent ( from 13 to 25)

2 Applying games to teach

2.1 Game: Slap the Board

(Internet sources)

2.1.1 The aim of the game:

It helps students to understand and remember new words

2.1.2 The general steps:

For unit 1: Home Life – Language Focus ( English12)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Warm up: (5’)

Divide the whole class into two teams

Have Ss play a game called Slap the

board, Write down some words on the

board: looks, doors, knives, texts, kids,

flights, leftovers, rules, secrets, chores,

boys, parents, enjoys [4]

Read aloud the words

Introduce the way to distinguish the

pairs /s/ and /z/

Introduce the new lesson

Two teams of Ss from 2 sides go

to the board Play the game Listen

Listen and open the textbooks

2.2 Game: "If I "

2.2.1 The aim of the game:"If I "

It helps students understand condition one sentence easily

2.2.2 The general steps:

For unit 8: The story of my village ( English 10)

doors

knives

leftovers

flights

secrets

parent s rules

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Divide the class into two equal

teams, each team member will take

out a small piece of paper to write on

their dreams

The first team writes whole

sentences in English begin with the

words "If I "

The second one writes whole

sentences in English begin with the

letter "I will " Beneath each sentence

must enroll to vote or write a pair,

which means most funny, witty as well

as worst sentences

After writing, the paper will be put

in 2 hats, a section containing "If I "

and a section containing "I will "

Choose a best sentence that winner:

“If I am good at English, I will be an

English teacher”

Each team member will take out a small piece of paper to write on their dreams

Do the instruction

Team A

Student A: If I am good at English, Student B: If I am famous for singing contest, …

Team B

Student C: I will pass the exams Student D: I will be an English teacher

2.3 Game: Kim’s game

2.3.1 The aim of the game Kim’s game:

It helps students understand or realize exact jobs

2.3.2 The general steps:

For Unit 6: FURE JOBS – Speaking ( English 12)

(Internet sources)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Have Ss play the game called Kim’s

Game

Explain the rule of the game Post the

poster on the board containing some

jobs: Doctor, farmer, taxi-driver,

policeman, teacher, worker, footballer,

nurse, manager, waiter…

Put the poster down the table and

give Ss one minute to discuss the

answers Call on four members

from four groups to go to the board

and write their answers

Repost the poster to check the

answers Announce the winners,

comment and introduce the speaking

lesson

Listen to T’s instruction Look at the poster and try to remember

Discuss to write down as many songs

as possible Four representatives go to the board and write in limited time Look a the poster and check

Listen and open the textbooks

2.4 Game hangman

2.4.1 The aim of the game

It helps students easily to understand and remember the new word in the

reading lesson

2.4.2 General Steps

For unit 5: Computer - Reading English 10

(Internet sources)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Divide the class into two teams and

prepare for two different groups of 2

teams, which team has more than the

correct answer will win; or you can

divide the class into four teams, teams

and quiz each other buffet from (team 1

puzzle team 2, Team 2

word-puzzle Team 3, Team 4 word- word-puzzle

team 3, team 4 word- puzzle team 1)

Suggests letters of the words

Picture 1: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Picture 2: _ _ _ _ _

Picture 3: _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Picture 4: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Picture 5: _

Picture 6: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Picture7: D _ I_ S_C

Picture 8: _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Check groups’ answers

Expected answer:

Picture 1:

COMPUTER

Picture 2:

MOUSE

Picture 3:

PRINTER

Picture 4:

KEYBOARD

Picture 5:

CPU Picture 6:

PLOPPY DISK Picture 7:

DISC Picture 8:

SPEAKER

Work in teams

Look at the picture and try to guess all new words

Work in groups

Group A: guessing word for Picture7

C - false

Group B: guessing word for Picture7

D true I- true

S true

C true DISC: Group B won

2.5 Game: Number matching

(Internet sources)

2.5.1 The aim of the game

It helps students easily to remember the vocabulary, grammatical structures: because of, in spite of

2.5.2 General Steps

For unit 7: The mass media ( Language focus – English 10)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Divide the class into two teams: Team A

and team B

Ask each team to choose 5 couples

Ask couples in two teams to come the

black- board and stand on two sides

Number two teams: Team A:1- a, 2-b, 3-

c,4- d, 5- e

Team B: 1- a, 2- b, 3- c,

4- d, 5- e

Students in

numbers

Students in letters

1 Because the cold

weather

In spite of the cold

weather

2.Because of the

a We could not see what was going on

b We had to cancel

appointment

c We kept the

Work in teams Choose 5 couples Come to the board to do this exercise

Expected answer:

1- c, d 2- a 3- g 4- h

large crowds

In spite of the large

crowds

3 Because of the

meat shortage

In spite of the meat

shortage

4 Because of his

illness

In spite of his

illness

fire burning all day

d We all wore shorts

e They enjoy living there

f The council demolished it

g We have managed to get some beef

h He kept fire burning all day

I We managed to

go to class

2.6 Game: Lucky number

(Internet sources)

2.6.1 The aim of the game is helped students to understand the new word

in reading lesson easily

2.6.2 General Steps

+ For unit 1: Daily routine - Reading - English 10

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Explain the rule: In eight of the 8 box,

I will have one or two cells are

fortunate not to answer questions that

still reward (bonus, gift or applause is

due to teachers)

The remaining cells are students

selected questions are then answered

any questions (questions related to the

lesson)

Elicit from Ss what kind of question

used to talk about your A day in the life

of

• What time do you often get up?

• What time do you go to school?

• What time do you have

breakfast?

• What time do you have a bath?

• What time do you go to bed?

• Lucky number

• What do you often do in the

evening?

• What do you often do in the

afternoon?

• Lucky number

• What time do you usually go to

bed?

Listen to the rule

Answer the questions

Expected answer:

• I often get up at 5.30

• I usually have breakfast at 6.00

• I have breakfast at home with

my family

• I usually have lunch at 11.30

• I usually have dinner at 6.30

• I often have breakfast and go to school

• I often learn my lesson and play football with my friends

• I often have dinner and watch news or films

• A present

• I usually go to bed at 11.00

+ For unit 9: Undersea World – Reading- English 10

(Internet sources)

Teacher’s activities & content Students’ activities

Explain the rule: In eight of the 8 box,

I will have one or two cells are

fortunate not to answer questions that

still reward (bonus, gift or applause is

due to teachers) The remaining cells

are students selected questions are then

answered any questions (questions

related to the lesson)

Elicit students to look at the map and

give the Vietnamese names for the

oceans on the map

• What does the Pacific Ocean

mean?

• What does the Atlantic Ocean

mean?

• What does the Indian Ocean

mean?

• What does the Artic Ocean

mean?

• What does the Antarctic Ocean

mean?

• Lucky number

Pay attention to the rule

Look at the map and give the Vietnamese names

Expected answer:

• Pacific Ocean: Thái Bình Dương (Đại dương lớn nhất thế giới)

• Atlantic Ocean: Đại Tây Dương (Đại dương lớn thứ nhì trên thế giới)

• Indian Ocean: Ấn Độ Dương (Đại dương phía đông Phi châu

và phía Nam châu Á)

• Artic Ocean: Biển Bắc Cực

• Antarctic Ocean(Southern Ocean): Vùng biển quanh Nam cực và Antarctica

2.7 Compared to the amount of the initial survey

Result before applying games to teach

School year: 2015-2016

Class Number

of

students

Amoun

0

22 55

0

10 25.0

7

24 63

2

5 13.2

3

22 57

9

6 15.8