Applying some language games effectively renew warm up activity of lessons english 10 (basic)

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT THỌ XUÂN EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE APPLYING SOME LANGUAGE GAMES EFFECTIVELY TO RENEW WARM-UP ACTIVITY OF READING LESSONS - ENGLISH 10 (BASIC) - Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Sen Chức vụ: Giáo viên SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh THANH HOÁ NĂM 2017 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research Nowadays, English assumes as a more and more important part as a means of international communication than ever It is also a "useful tool" and a "master- key" to discover the world of science, technology, education, culture, business and diplomacy With such a trend of development, therefore, improving the quality of education in general and quality of the subject English in particular is one of the concerns leading the current educational policy Specially, in some recent years, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills in order to respond to the Students’ needs for effective communication However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning in particular does not come up to the study aims In spite of teachers’ efforts to provide students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills, how to teach and learn speaking effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students at many high schools in Vietnam At Tho Xuan high school, most students are not aware of the importance of reading skill It has been proved that some students got into a habit of learning “mute English” which obviously harmful to a language learner Therefore, it is necessary to find a supplementary technique used in teaching reading Games can help teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful Games bring a relaxed atmosphere and create more opportunities for students to practice so they are highly motivating, competitive and fun With games, students will enjoy themselves, be stimulated and get involved in speaking As a result, they can learn new lexical items faster and remember better With so many advantages, games seem to be an effective way in teaching and learning a foreign language All the above – mentioned reasons and factors have inspired me to conduct a research titled “Applying some language games effectively to renew warm-up activity of reading lessons – English 10 (basic)” 1.2 Aims of the research The aims of the research are: - To investigate the situation of teaching reading skill to the 10 th graders in classroom - To investigate the effectiveness of using games in teaching reading skill to the 10 th graders at Tho Xuan high school - To provide some suggestions and implications for the improvement of teaching at Tho Xuan high school by using games in addition to other techniques 1.3 Object of the research The research focuses specifically on using games in warm up activity in teaching reading skill to the 10th graders at Tho Xuan high school, namely, classes 10A1 and 10A7 1.4 Methods of the research In the process of carrying out this research, the survey questionnaire is used to collect data The survey questionnaire including pre-task and post-task survey questionnaire is for 80 10th form students from classes 10A1 and 10A7 at Tho Xuan high school CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical background Warm up activities A warm up activity is a short and fun game which a teacher or trainer can use with students The purpose of a warm up is to encourage the students and prepare them to learn by stimulating their minds and/or their bodies Motivation Motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to describe the willingness of a person to expand to reach a particular goal For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal In linguistic, sociolinguistic and second language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been postulated Oxford and Shearin (1996) points out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learnt (the target language), how well they on curriculum-related tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills after language study is over…” Language games Language games mean games related to language Hadfield (1987) classifies language games into may categories as follow: + Sorting, ordering, or arranging games + Information gap games + Guessing games + Search games + Matching games + Labeling games + Exchanging games + Board games + Role play games 2.2 The reality of the problem The research was carried out at Tho Xuan high school with the participation of 80 the 10th form students All of the surveyed students have learned English for years However, most of them have difficulties in mastering four language skills Of the four skills, as many of them revealed, they find reading especially important yet challenging one That was the reason why most of the students feel bored and unmotivated in classes English 10 textbook consists of 16 units for two terms Lessons are under the tendency theme-based approaches In general, the textbook provides students with a variety of topics and activities with the aim of helping students improve their skills However, there are some topics that are far unfamiliar with the students’ background knowledge such as people’s background (unit 3), special education (unit 4), technology and you (unit 5), undersea world (unit 9), conservation (unit 10) and historical places (unit 16) The survey questionnaire used for 80 students from classes 10A1 and 10A7 at Tho Xuan high school Table 1: Students’ attitudes and perspectives towards reading lessons Options A B C D Questions (%) (%) (%) (%) Question 1: How are reading lessons important to you? 17 25 50 A Very important B Important C Normal D Not important at all Question 2: How you find reading topics introduced in 10 21 23 46 English 10 textbook? A Very interesting B Interesting C Normal D Boring Question 3: How you find reading activities introduced in 62 27 11 English 10 textbook? A Very difficult B Difficult C Normal D Easy Question 4: Are you willing to speak in classes? 28 71 A Yes, I like speaking very much B Yes, sometimes C No, I’m never willing to speak As can be seen clearly from the table 1, a lot of the surveyed students think that reading skill is the most difficult skill meanwhile there are only % consider it very important More specifically, 46 % find topics introduced in English 10 textbook boring and 62% find activities introduced in English 10 textbook very difficult Moreover, there are so many students who are never willing to speak in classes (71%) In summary, the students are losing their interest during the lesson Therefore, an effective technique should be exploited to motivate students in reading lessons 2.3 Measure implementation To stimulate the students’ minds before studying a reading lesson, a short and fun game should be used for warm up activity The following are some sample games for each unit in English 10 textbook: Unit 1: A day in the life of…… Type of games: Describing pictures Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Hang on some pictures in turn and ask sts to say out what they can see - Ask sts to guess the content of the lesson Unit 2: School talks Type of games: Slap the board Classroom management: Group work Materials: Stick cards Time: minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into groups - Ask each group to send presentatives and set in a queue - Provide each group of sts stick cards & give instruction - Read aloud sentence by sentence - Give feedback - Declare the winner * Suggested sentences: + I often play ………online when I have free time + After the school year, I’ ll go on a summer…… + Soccer and badminton are my favourite……… + Do you usually watch…….at 6p.m everyday? + What is the ……….like today? + Students have to………hard for the exam + My ………….is collecting stamps Keys : games/ holiday/ sports/ film/ weather/ study/ hobby Unit 3: People’ s background Type of games: Guessing game: Who am I? ( persons) Classroom management: Group work Materials: Pictures, some pieces of paper Time : minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into teams - Give instruction - Read aloud the clues for person in turn - Declare the winner • Who am I? + I was born in Nghe An + I am the greatest leader of Vietnam + My birthday is May 19th 1890  UNCLE HO • Who am I? + I live in America + My name begins with letter B + I am the boss of the company Microft  BILL GATES • Who am I? + I am a famous female scientist + I was born in Germany + My name begins with letter M  MARIE CURIE Unit 4: Special education Type of games: Questionnaire Classroom management: Class work Materials: none Time: minutes Procedure: - Give questions and ask sts to answer: + Can all of you hear/ speak/ see? + What are people who can’t hear/ speak/ see called? THE DISABLED + Is it easy or difficult to teach the disabled? + May they have normal education? - Lead in the lesson : SPECIAL EDUCATION Unit 5: Technology and you Type of games: Matching words and pictures (names of hardware) Classroom management: Group work Materials: Pictures, stick cards Time: minutes Procedure: - Devide the class into teams and give instruction - Hang pictures on the board - Call on the representative of each group to stick cards with the right words on the pictures - Declare the winner Unit 6: An excursion Type of games: Word square Classroom management: Group work Materials: Papers Time: minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into groups of four or five students - Give each group a paper containing a word square - Ask them to find out the names of some places (Thien Mu pagoda, Ha Long Bay, One- pillar pagoda and Da Lat) in the square The words may go across, down, up, backwards or at an angle - Which group finishes first and has the correct answers will be the winner 10 11 I O W A X C H O V E H Y H R A O P F N A T D A E D R D A D E S I R D N V A B C D P E O A O U J A L X R I E P C G T X T L A E L A O S A T Z H O T T L I X I P E O I N S G A K F D U W Y M G N D R L G E 10 M G P A T Y C P E S S 11 N H G L H N F A Q U D 12 E B H A L O N G B A Y 13 I K C S E P S O N E A 14 H M P R K J Y D M H B 15 T S I U Q F V A D I L Unit 7: The mass media Type of games: Kim’s game Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures on the power point Time: minutes Procedure: - Hang pictures on the board - Ask sts to look at the pictures and try to remember their names - Call sts to name all of them in minute (television, internet, books, newspapers, radio, cell phone) - Lead in the lesson: THE MASS MEDIA Unit 8: The story of my village Type of games: Questionnaire Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Hang pictures on the board - Ask sts to look at the pictures and answer the questions Who are they? They are farmers 10 What is the name of this animal? Buffalo Where is this? In a field What are they doing? They are transplanting - Lead in the lesson: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE Unit 9: Undersea world Type of games: Matching Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Hang the pictures of sea animals on and give their names - Ask sts to match the pictures with their names - Ask sts the question: “Where these animals live?” - Lead in the lesson: UNDERSEA WORLD Shark Dolphin Seal Jellyfish Turtle 11 Unit 10: Conservation Type of games: Observing pictures and answering questions Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Asks sts to observe the pictures and answer the questions: What you think about these pictures? Unit 11: National parks Type of games: Hang man Classroom management: Class work Materials: Black board and chalks Time: minutes Procedure: - Ask sts to close their books - Give instruction of the game “hang man” - Give the clue “It is a noun phrase that has 12 letters It is a place in use for conservation purposes” 12 It is a noun phrase that has 12 letters It is a place in use for conservation purposes N A T I O N A L P A R K - Declare the winner Unit 12: Music Type of games: Brain storming Classroom management: Group work Materials: Black board and chalks Time: -5 minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into teams - Ask each group to send a representative and list kinds of music - Declare the winner Jaz z Kinds of music Pop Folk 13 Unit 13: Films and Cinema Type of games: Matching Classroom management: Class work Materials: Extra-board Time: minutes Procedure: - Ask sts to match the titles of these films with their Vietnamese translation Gone with the wind A Hồn ma The thorn birds B Nhật ký tiểu thư Jones C Xác ướp trở lại D Cuốn theo chiều gió E Tiếng chim hót bụi mận gai Love Actually Lion King Hero Bridget Jone’s Diary Mummy return Ghost Pearl Habour 10 American beauty F Yêu thật G Anh hùng H Vua sư tử I Vẻ đẹp Mỹ J Trân Châu Cảng - Give the keys * Keys: 1.D E F H G B 7.C A J 10 I Unit 14: The world cup Type of games: Labeling games Classroom management: Group work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Divide the class into teams - Ask each group to name the football teams - Declare the winner 14 BRAZIL GERMANY SPAIN ITALY ENGLAND FRANCE Unit 16: Historical places Type of games: Matching Classroom management: Class work Materials: Pictures Time: minutes Procedure: - Hang the pictures of some places on and give their names - Ask sts to match the pictures with their names Harbor Cathedral Mausoleum Citadel 15 - Ask sts the question: “What are they?” - Lead in the lesson: HISTORICAL PLACES 2.4 Results After applying the above language games in warm up activities in reading lessons for the 10th graders, I realized that there have been some considerable changes such as: + The atmosphere of the class became more ebullient; the students were eager to practicing speaking and active to contribute their ideas to the lesson + The students were more confident and less afraid of making mistakes The progress of the students can be seen through the following tables comparing the data collected from the survey questionnaire before and after applying this experience initiative: Table 2: Questions Question 1: How are reading lessons important to you? A Very important B Important C Normal D Not important at all Question 2: How you find reading topics introduced in English 10 textbook? A Very interesting B Interesting C Normal D Boring Options A (%) B (%) C (%) D (%) Before 17 25 50 After 53 29 11 Before 10 21 23 46 After 21 45 26 16 Question 3: How you find activities introduced in English 10 textbook? A Very difficult B Difficult C Normal D Easy Question 4: Are you willing to speak in classes? A Yes, I like speaking very much B Yes, sometimes C No, I’m never willing to speak Before 62 27 11 After 24 19 45 12 Before 28 71 After 13 62 25 17 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1 Conclusion This research is done with the purpose of seeking one effective teaching technique to improve students’ reading skill And as there are many teaching techniques exploited by the teachers to teach skills, the study limits itself to use language games to motivate students to speak The literature review has been made in the hope of demonstrating the scope of the research theoretically in terms of skills and language games The findings from the data analysis show that many students have low motivation towards English classes They find activities either challenging or boring Thus they show their unwillingness to raise their voice Language games are used for warm up activities to motivate students in reading lessons and are applicable as a motivator It is hoped that the research will prove worthwhile to those who want to motivate students in English classes and who are concerned about the problem 3.2 Suggestions Although the research has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, it can not avoid some limitations Due to the time is short; limit of knowledge and the scope of the research, the research can not cover all the uses of language games in four skills and language elements Therefore, further study can focus on the use of language games as a motivator in reading classes, speaking classes, writing classes, listening classes and language games as an effective technique to teach vocabulary and grammar Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated Xác nhận hiệu trưởng Thọ Xuân, ngày 20 tháng 05 năm 2017 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết SKKN Đỗ Thị Sen 18 REFERENCES Hoàng Văn Vân (2007), Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Giáo dục Nguyễn Thủy Minh – Lương Quỳnh Trang (2009), Thiết kế giảng tiếng Anh 10, Tập Tập 2, NXB Hà Nội Vũ Thị Lợi (chủ biên) (2006), Giới thiệu giáo án tiếng Anh 10, NXB Hà Nội Lưu Qúy Khương (2006), A practical course for teaching English as a foreign language Bygate (1997), Speaking, Oxford University Press Wright, A; Betteridge, D&Buckly, M (1983), Games for language learning, Cambridge University Press Rixon, S.(1981), How to use games in language teaching, London, Macmillan Publishers http://www.call.org/resources/digest/gallow01.html http://www.languagegames.org/ 10.http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ 19 TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………… 1.1 Reasons for choosing the research……………………………………… 1.2 Aims of the research…………………………………………………… 1.3 Object of the research…………………………………………………… 1.4 Methods of the research………………………………………………… CONTENT…………………………………………………………………… 2.1 Theoretical background………………………………………………… 2.2 The reality of the problem………………………………………… … 2.3 Measure implementation………………………………………………… Unit 1: A day in the life of … Type of games: Describing pictures Unit 2: School talks - Type of games: Slap the board Unit 3: People’s background - Type of games: Guessing (Who am I?) Unit 4: Special education - Type of games: Questionnaire Unit 5: Technology and you - Type of games: Matching Unit 6: An excursion - Type of games: Word square Unit 7: The mass media - Type of games: Kim’s game Unit 8: The story of my village - Type of games: Questionnaire Unit 9: Undersea world - Type of games: Matching Unit 10: Conservation - Type of games: Observing pictures and answering questions Unit 11: National parks - Type of games: Hang man Unit 12: Music - Type of games: Brainstorming Unit 13: Films and Cinema - Type of games: Matching Unit 14: The World Cup - Type of games: Labeling Unit 16: Historical places - Type of games: Matching 2.4 Result…………………………………………………………………… CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS………………………………… 3.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………………… 3.2 Suggestions……………………………………………………………… Page 1 2 3 5 7 10 11 11 12 13 13 14 14 17 17 17 20 DANH MỤC SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO HUYỆN, TỈNH VÀ CÁC CẤP CAO HƠN XẾP LOẠI TỪ C TRỞ LÊN _ Họ tên tác giả: ĐỖ THỊ SEN Chức vụ đơn vị công tác: Giáo viên - Trường THPT Thọ Xuân TT Tên đề tài SKKN Cấp đánh giá xếp loại Using some language games in warm up activity Ngành GD cấp effectively to motivate the tỉnh; tỉnh 11th graders at Tho Xuan Thanh Hóa high school in English speaking classes Kết đánh giá xếp loại C Năm học đánh giá xếp loại 2015 - 2016 21 ... some language games effectively to renew warm- up activity of reading lessons – English 10 (basic)? ?? 1.2 Aims of the research The aims of the research are: - To investigate the situation of teaching... media - Type of games: Kim’s game Unit 8: The story of my village - Type of games: Questionnaire Unit 9: Undersea world - Type of games: Matching Unit 10: Conservation - Type of games: Observing... After applying the above language games in warm up activities in reading lessons for the 10th graders, I realized that there have been some considerable changes such as: + The atmosphere of the