methods of teaching vocabulary for the 10th class students in nhu xuan high school

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HÓA TRƯỜNG TRUNG HỌC PHỔ THÔNG NHƯ XUÂN SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM “ METHODS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR THE 10th CLASS STUDENTS IN NHU XUAN HIGH SCHOOL” Người thực hiện: Nguyễn Văn Chuyên Chức vụ: Giáo Viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Như Xuân SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực: Tiếng Anh THANH HÓA NĂM 2016 CONTENTS Page Contents Cover/ bìa Contents Introduction Contents and researching procedure The teachniques for teaching vocabulary APPLICATION The way to teach vocabulary of some units in English 10 11 PRACTICAL RESULT 11 Practical result 14 CONCLUSION 15 REFERENCES Introduction + The reason to choose the topic English plays an important role in our life Nowadays In the information technology time and global integration, English is getting more and more important and is gradually becoming the main of the international communication It is used in all the fields such as science, technique, economy, culture, education It estimated that over 3000 people speak English as their mother-tongue and the same number use English as their second language Therefore English is a essential means to everybody with their practical aims It is said that “ Teaching is an art and teacher is an artist that creates that art”, so a teacher can only create that one when he is aware of their roles and the teaching environment In the class the teacher is not only an instructor but also a leader, an enalyst who guides the students the different situations to make the communicative activities more effective + Purpose to research Although learning English is very important, students have not been aware of its importance Especially learning English in mountainous and remote areas is much more difficult Because English is a compulsory subject, students have to study for their marks or for the examinations, they don’t study for their job or their daily communication Most students find learning English very boring To be honest our teaching method is not very good, teaching materials is not enough In English, Vocabulary is a very important problem How to teach vocabulary effectively? That requires teachers to find out new methods, choose appropriate words and teaching materials For those reasons I carry out the researching problem: “ METHODS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR THE 10th CLASS STUDENTS IN NHU XUAN HIGH SCHOOL” + The subjects to research: The 10th students in Nhu Xuan high school + the researching methods: Study the teaching materials on Internet, textbook, the demand and likes and mentality of students Contents and researching procedure: * theoretical background 2.1.The principles for teaching vocabulary There are many different ways to teach vocabulary, but some ways are more effective than others Below are several priciples for teaching words a.Provide a context for new words If we hear a new word in isolation, we are likely to misunderstand its meaning There are different kinds of contexts such as grammatical, semantic and discourse b.Don’t present too many word at once Teach a few words and allow students to practise and use them a lot Presentation will help students Pracitce will help them remember If the students forget what has been presented, it will not be useful to them in the future c.Practising words in context is more important than memorizing isolated words We can learn many new words without being able to use them in communication Students may be required to learn the meaning of words but they must also be given the opportunity to use them productively in speaking and writing d.Teach your students skills for guessing new words,especially when reading The meaning of words can be inferred from different types of contexts and from looking at the affixes ( parts) of the word e.Avoid translation as much as possible If students are always having words translated, they are really only communicating in their own language Not in English, also, students don’t ussually remember vocabulary that has been translated Only use translation as a last resort when it would otherwise take too to communicate in English f.Avoid using the dictionary as much as possible When reading or listening, students should first try to guess or ignore new words so that they can continue without stopping Also, using a dictionary when speaking or listening can be more beneficially because it helps students express themselves more clearly g.Remember that not all words are important In a sentence, some words are important because they are important because they are subject, verb, object etc…of the sentence wheareas the other are not important to understand the sentence h.If a word is neccesary for understand an activity or passage, teach it to the students beforehand If it is not so necessary or important, let the students first guess at the meaning while they are reading or listening.Teach the meaning later or not at all 2.2.The teachniques for teaching vocabulary a Kinds of vocabulary Vocabulary are divided into two kinds.Active vocabulary and passive vocabulary -Active vocabulary are words which students can both understand and use in communition They are especially useful for the productive skills of speaking and writing -Passive vocabulary are words which students can recognize but not necessarily use in speaking and writing If a student see a word in his/her passive vocabulary, she/he will understand what it means Passive vocabulary are especially useful for the receptive skills of reading and listening In short, a teacher should express his/her students to understand words in reading and listening before they can use those some words in speaking and writing When teaching, it is best to speaking words first Later the teacher will find the students can actively use those same words in comunication And some words can be active to some people but passive to others b.Teachniques for teaching vocabulary + Paraphrase or Define We can explain a word by using a different word or a definition Ex:Dawn is the time of day when light first appears A generator is a machine for producing electrical energy + Drawing On the black board, we can draw a picture of a motorbike, rose, or clock Some words that will quickly convey the meaning clock motorbike rose + Realia or Objects If we are teaching about nouns in semantic fields, we can bring a series of red objects to class Ex: We can use real tennis ball or hat … etc….to teach those words + Flash cards or charts On cards, we can have a picture on one side and the words on the other Ex: Cards with kinds of flowers on one side and the name of the flowers on the other Ex: A chart with body parts + Mine Especially for action, we can act out a word to demonstrate it’s meaning Ex: The teacher can smile to teach the words smile + Picture We use photographs, prints, or painting to teach new words Ex: If we want to teach the word field, we can use the picture of the field in Viet Nam to teach + Opposites If the students don’t know a new word but they know the opposites, we can give them antonym Ex: If we want to teach the word seldom, we can use the antonym often to teach + Synomyms We also use the synomyms to teach a new word Ex: If we want to teach the word hardly, we can use the synomym “almost not”to teach However, the synomyms must be closed at familiar to the students + Semantic field The means of many words can be guessed by reading some sentences or listening to something from the teacher Ex: 1.The students can guess the meaning of invent from sentences Faraday invented the generator James Watt invented the steam engine Alexander Graham invented the telephone 2.The teacher can give a context to teach the word infectious like this: Suppose that in our class, student A got flu Some days later, student B who sits next to student A also had flu So flu is an inflectious disease + Guessing from stems and affixes The meaning of some words can be understood through affixes Ex: 1.impracticable im practice able (not) (practice) (ability) musician music ian (music) (a person) + Translation In this technique, the teacher can translate a new word into the students’ first language.We can use this technique for this difficult, specified words Ex: foreign exchange : ngoại hối objective criteria: tiêu chuẩn khách quan + Using a dictionary If we need to save time or communicate about a difficult word, the dictionary might be the best option Ex:Compressor, neurosis… However , we shouldn’t apply this technique a lot because it is inconvenient for students to bring dictionaries to class c Some difficulties in teaching vocabulary + The selection of vocabulary There are many new words in a text, and most of them are important and essential to comprehension The teachers don’t know what words they should choose to teach the students + The selection of techniques for teaching vocabulary There are also a lot of various techniques for teaching vocabulary.They all are interesting, multiformed, and complex They require the teacher’s cleverness, creativeness, and intelligence to choose appropriately + The use of teaching aids in teaching vocabulary Teaching aids play an important role in teaching vacabulary.The way to use them effectively is a difficult task + The ability to provide a context Giving a context which helps the pupils understand clearly and guess the meaning of new words is difficult.The context must be appropriate and familiar to the students + The limination of time Vocabulary must be taught in a limited time (10-15 minutes).The duty of the teacher is to help the students understand new words clearly in a short time * APPLICATION The analysis of teaching vocabulary applied in the 10th form From the principles, the techniques and the difficulties in teaching vocabulay, I decide to design the way to teach vocabulary of some units in English 10, each from 10 to 15 minutes Each unit includes two parts: 1.The reasons to choose new words and The way to teach new words In the first part, I choose carefully the number of words to teach, from to words in each unit Some are active words, and the others are passive words These words may be unknown to the level of the pupils in the 10th form, related to the topic, essential to comprehension, repeated alots or can’t be guessed by the pupils In the second part, according to active or passive words I use different techniques mentioned in chaper II to teach the choosen words 2.The way to teach vocabulary of some units in English 10 UNIT 1: A DAY IN THE LIFE OF………… I-The reason to choose new words In this unit, I decide to choose the following new words to teach pupils: 1.plough 2.harrow 3.plot of land 4.fellow peasants 5.local tobacco 6.take a short rest 7.transpant 8.crop First of all, this new words are unknown to the level of students in the 10th form and related to the topic -plough and harrow are essential to teach because it appears in the text -plot of land is neceesary to teach because they can’t be guessed by pupils -fellow peasants is essential to teach -local tobacco is neceesary to teach -take a short rest is difficult structure and it appears in the text -transpant is essential to teach because it appears in the text -crop is neccesary to understand I divide the words abvove into two groups: Active word: plough, harrow, take a short rest, transpant, crop Passive word : plot of land, fellow peasants, local tobacco II-The ways to teach these words 1.plough: (use a picture) -Show students a picture about the famer ploughing and ask students: Teacher: What is he/she doing? Student: ông cày 2.harrow: (use a picture ) -Show students a picture about the famer harrowing and ask students: Teacher: What is he/she doing? Student: ông bừa He is harrowing 3.take a short rest : (explanation): have a rest for a short time 4.transpant : (use a picture) -Show students a picture about the famer transpanting and ask students: Teacher: What is she doing? Student: bà cấy 5.crop : (translation) : vụ mùa 6.plot of land: (translation) : miếng đất, mảnh ruộng 7.fellow peasants : (explanation): farmers working in the short time : Nghỉ giải lao ngắn 8.local tobacco: (translation) : thuốc sản xuất địa phương UNIT 2: SCHOOL TALK I-The reasons to choose new words In this unit, I decide to choose the following new words to teach pupils: 1.biography 2.maths 3.physics 4.chemistry 5.history 6.geography 7.literature Those words are neccesary to teach because they appear in the text and help students to understand the text II-The ways to teach these words Teacher use a game to teach these words Ask students to work in groups and match the subject in A with the information in B A B 1.Biography a Poem, novel, Nguyen Du 2.Maths b.Newton, Olm 3.Physics c.Chemicals, HCl 4.Chemistry d.Number, minus, pascal 5.History e.Climate, geology 6.Geography f.Animal, plants, DNA… 7.Literature g Revolution, The first World War… -Give the correct answer: 1.f 2.d 3.b 4.c 5.g 6.e -Give students the meaning 7.a UNIT 9: UNDERSEA WORLD I- The reasons to choose new words In this unit, I decide to choose the following new words to teach pupils 1.bay 2.mystery 3.beneath 4.submarine 5.marine life 6.fall into 7.water current 8.organism 9.at stake First of all, the new words are unknown to the level of the pupils in the 10th form and related to the topic Bay is essential to comprehension It appears in the text Mystery is neceesary to teach because they can’t be guessed by pupils Beneath is a strong word to students Submarine is essential to comprehension and can’t be guessed by pupils Marine life is essential to understand It also contribute to understand the text and related to the title “undersea world” Fall into is a difficult word Water current is also necessary to understand Organism appears in the text and is related to the content of the text At stake is necessary to understand I divide the words abvove into two groups: Active words: bay, beneath, fall into, organism, at stake Passive words: mystery, submarine, marine life, water current II-The way to teach these words 1.Bay: (example) : Ha Long bay Thai lan bay 2.Beneath : (explanation) : under sb/st 3.Fall into : (explanation): to be able to divided into sth : chia thành 4.Organism : (explanation) : a living being : sinh vật 5.At stake : (explanation) : at risk, to be in danger : bị đe dọa Mystery : (explanation) : a thing of which the cause or origin is unknown or impossible to explain : bí ẩn 7.Submarine : (traslation) : tàu ngầm 8.Marine life : life in the sea 9.Water current : (traslation): dòng nước 10 PRACTICAL RESULT After many years working as a teacher at Nhu Xuan high school, I had chances to apply their own ways of teaching new vocabularies and to observe the other teachers apply their own ways are, they have some difficulties when applying them to teach new words 1.Description of students’ needs Purposes of studying English Students at Nhu Xuan high school 1.To get high scores in the exam because English is a compulsory subject 2.To develop language skills 72/100 (72%) 20/100 (20%) 3.To apply for a job in the future 8/100 (8 %) Usually, before deciding which is the best way to teach, teachers often come to some conclusions what students’ need are when they learn English, the table above shows the results of the convey on the discription of students’need that the highest percentage falls on the needs of studying for the good grades, or for passing the exam, there is only a minority of students who study for applying ajob and developing skills 2.Practical result 2.1 Paraphrase or Define Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school uses Defining 7/7 (100%) Students are fond of Defining 20/100 (20%) 2.2 Drawing 11 Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school uses Drawing Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Drawing 7/7 (100%) 90/100 (90%) 2.3.Relia and Object Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use real objects Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of real objects 7/7 (100 %) 60/100 (60 %) 2.4 Flash cards or charts Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use flash cards Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of flash cards 5/7 (67 %) 72/100 (72 %) 2.5.Mime Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Mime Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Mime 5/7 (67 %) 48/100 (48 %) 2.6.Pictures Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Pictures Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Pictures 7/7 (100 %) 98/100 (98 %) 2.7.Opposites Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Opposites 5/7 ( 67 %) 12 Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Opposites 25/100 ( 25 %) 2.8.Synomyms Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Synomyms Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Synomyms 4/7 (57 %) 35/100 (35 %) 2.9.Semantic field Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Semantic field Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Semantic field 5/7 (67 %) 29/100 (29 %) 2.10.Guessing from stems and affixes Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Guessing from stems and affixes Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Guessing from stems and affixes 4/7 (57 %) 15/100 (15 %) 2.11.Translation Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use Translation Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of Translation 7/7 (100 %) 58/100 (58 %) 2.12.Using a dictionary Teachers at Nhu Xuan high school use a dictionary Students at Nhu Xuan are fond of a dictionary 7/7 (100 %) 39/100 (39 %) 13 CONCLUSION As mentioned above, teaching vocabulary is very important and necessary because it helps the learners understand and grasp the information easily and quickly.Moreover it also helps the learners feel more confident and pleasant in communication However, teaching vocabulary is a difficult task It requires the teachers many things such as cleverness, intelligence Also, the teachers spend much time choosing carefully the words they should teach, the techniques and teaching aids Pracically, many teachers feel confused and difficult when designing the way to teach vocabulary So as a teacher of English in the near future, I have to a research about The Way to Teach Vocabulary Applied at High School From the difficulties, I would like to give some suggestions for a better way of teaching vocabulary: +Combine different techniques at the same time to teach one new word.This will help the students understand and master the word more deeply and quickly +Apply the techniques as much as possible in a unit so that the students will not feel bored and dull when studying vocabulary: +Translate the new words that are too difficult and abstract to the pupils +Let the pupils practise by making sentences, filling in the gaps, answering the questions, so that they can remember the new words longer +Make a context clearly and easily understood by all the pupils in the class so that the pupils can guess the meaning of the words +Picture must be colorful and vivid, and languguage must be familiar and close to the pupils XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Thanh Hóa, ngày 09 tháng 04 năm 2015 Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác (Ký ghi rõ họ tên) Nguyễn Văn Chuyên 14 REFERENCES (TÀI LIỆU THAM KHẢO) Chuẩn kiến thức kỹ môn Tiếng Anh 10, 11, 12 – (Tái lần thứ nhất) NXB Giáo dục Việt Nam 2010 Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (7th edition) Thiết kế giảng Tiếng Anh 10, NXB Hà Nội 2009 Thiết kế hoạt động dạy học Tiếng Anh 10, tập II, NXB Giáo dục Hà Nội Tứ Anh – Phan Hà – May Vi Phương – Hồ Tấn, Sổ tay người dạy Tiếng Anh, NXB Giáo Dục 2004 http://www.teachingenglish.edu.vn http://www.violet.vn 15 ... and teaching materials For those reasons I carry out the researching problem: “ METHODS OF TEACHING VOCABULARY FOR THE 10th CLASS STUDENTS IN NHU XUAN HIGH SCHOOL? ?? + The subjects to research: The. .. The 10th students in Nhu Xuan high school + the researching methods: Study the teaching materials on Internet, textbook, the demand and likes and mentality of students Contents and researching... shows the results of the convey on the discription of students? ??need that the highest percentage falls on the needs of studying for the good grades, or for passing the exam, there is only a minority