USING SONGS, GAMES AND COMMUNICATIVE TASKS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI Đơn vị: Trường THPT Thống Nhất A Mã số: SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM USING SONGS, GAMES AND COMMUNICATIVE TASKS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS  Người thực hiện: NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: PHƯƠNG PHÁP DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN Có đính kèm: đĩa CD Năm học: 2011 – 2012 SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC _ I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN Họ tên: NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH Ngày tháng năm sinh: 20/ 02 / 1976 Nam, nữ: Nữ Địa chỉ: 1442 - Quảng Biên - Quảng Tiến - Trảng Bom - Đồng Nai Điện thoại: 061 3866239 (CQ) – 061 3676295 (NR) ĐTDĐ: 01202569897 Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Thống Nhất A II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO Trình độ chuyên môn: cử nhân ngoại ngữ Năm nhận bằng: 2000 Chuyên ngành đào tạo: Anh văn III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: Giảng dạy Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 12 năm BM03-TMSKKN Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: USING SONGS, GAMES AND COMMUNICATIVE TASKS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS I THE REASONS FOR THE TOPIC BEING CHOSEN English is a structure based language which has sets of grammar rules To be successful in examinations as well as communication, learners should master those structures and grammar rules Students are supposed to acquire structures and grammar rules in language focus lessons with a considerate amount of time However, students often find language focus lessons boring, dry and stressful They also find it daunting to remember so many rules Why don’t we try teaching structures and grammar rules in more interesting ways and in context Only by doing so can students find it easier to remember English grammar rules and be able to use the grammatical points they have learnt to the tests as well as to express their thoughts, opinions and feelings effectively II REAL SITUATION BEFORE THESE SOLUTIONS ARE CARRIED OUT Advantageous conditions The portion of grammar points in a test is about half Mastering grammar means getting higher scores in the tests This encourages students to learn grammar Senior high school students are asked to most of the revision in grammar lessons They already studied these grammatical points in junior high school Difficulties High school students are not as motivated as learners in language centres Learners in those centres study English partly because they love it and because they have a clear target to study it Therefore, they try their best in learning Meanwhile, high school students learn English simply because it is a subject at school Most of my students not like English out of 10 classes in my school major in natural science subjects They don’t like social science subjects English is not their favourite Teenagers like something funny However, some teachers think that students must be serious in studying grammar Therefore, they like to conduct structure based, formal rather than structure-discourse match activities in grammar teaching English language has so many grammar rules to remember And the speaker must stick on these grammar rules to produce good English This is so challenging Statistics Grade Number of 10 12 Total students 45 120 165 Mark and over total rate Under mark total rate 16 50 66 29 70 99 35.5% 41.6% 40%% 64.5% 58.4% 60 % III CONTENT Underlying Principles Most of us, human beings, prefer playing to working When we play a game, we feel happy and we engage in the activity totally We enjoy it and we keep the memory of it for a long time The same goes for the studying of students When they find something interesting, their learning becomes more enjoyable and their motivation increases If they “enjoy” their lesson, they will learn it the easy way and they will remember what they have learnt for ages Solutions Let’s have a look at the national curriculum High school students are required to the revision in most of the language focus lessons, which is a favorable condition to exploit songs, games and communicative tasks In order to make a grammar lesson effective, beneficial, and interesting a teacher should use some well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom We can employ the use of songs, games, and communicative tasks to make grammar lessons interesting, memorable, motivating and meaningful There are many advantages of using songs in the classroom Through using popular songs, which are already familiar to teenagers, the teacher can meet the challenges of the teenage needs in the classroom Since the meaning is an important device in teaching grammar, it is important to contextualize any grammar points Songs are one of the most enchanting and culturally rich resources that can easily be used in language classrooms Songs offer a change from routine classroom activities As stated by Lo and Fai Li (1998:8), learning English through songs also provides a non-threatening atmosphere for students, who usually are tense when learning English in a formal classroom setting Since they provide authentic texts, they are motivating In consequence, if selected properly and adopted carefully, a teacher should benefit from songs in all phases of teaching grammar Songs may be used for the presentation or the practice phase of the grammar lesson, to review or introduce grammar points Songs can be used with several techniques Some examples of these techniques are: • Gap fills or cloze texts • Focus questions • True-false statements • Put these lines into the correct sequence • Dictation • Add a final verse • Circle the antonyms/synonyms of the given words • Discuss Working with grammar can be frustrating for students and teachers Concepts of grammar, such as tenses, sentence structure, types of sentences and word composition can be difficult for students to understand Playing grammar games in the classroom provides valuable practice while keeping the atmosphere fun and engaging While playing games, the learners’ attention is on the message, not on the language In a way, students acquire language unconsciously since their whole attention is engaged by the activity The use of games is a more effective way to teach grammar than structured formal lessons According to Arif Saricoban and Esen Metin, they help students learn how to apply the knowledge they've learned Grammar games increase motivation and excitement, cooperation and competition in the classroom The latest concern of the foreign language teachers is to make the students use the language communicatively Games and problem-solving activities, which are taskbased and have a purpose beyond the production of correct speech, are the examples of the most preferable communicative activities Such activities highlight not only the competence but also the performance of the learner They are the indispensable parts of a grammar lesson, since they reinforce a form-discourse match In such activities the attention is on the discourse context In short, the use of songs, games and communicative tasks in language classrooms provides many advantages They entertain and relax the learners while they are learning or practicing a structure, and they often eliminate the students’ negative attitude towards learning Through providing authenticity and context they make the grammar points more understandable and easy As language teachers, we can benefit from using songs, games and communicative tasks since our concern is to motivate the students and draw their utmost attention on the subject during teaching Syllabus overview Unit ENGLISH 10 - The present simple ENGLISH 11 - Infinitive with to - Adverbs of frequency - Infinitive without to ENGLISH 12 Tense revision - The past simple - Wh- questions - Present simple Tense revision - Gerund and to infinitive indicating past time - Tense revision: past simple, past progressive and past - The past perfect perfect - Infinitive and gerund - The past perfect vs the - Passive infinitive and past simple - The + adjective gerund - Gerund and present - Used to + infinitive participle - Which as a connector - Perfect gerund and - The present perfect perfect participle (omitted) Reported speech Passive voice Conditional sentences - The present perfect passive - Who, which, that - The present progressive - Reported speech with with a future meaning gerund - Be going to - The present perfect - Conditional types - Because of and in spite and of - Conditional type Relative clauses (omitted) - Conditional in - Reported speech: reported speech - Pronouns one(s), statements someone, anyone, no - Conditional sentence one, everyone type - Should - Defining relative Prepositions and articles (omitted) 10 11 - Conditional sentence clauses (revision) type - Non-defining relative - The passive voice clauses (revision) Relative pronouns with Modal verbs: may, might, - Conditional sentence prepositions Relative clauses must, mustn’t, needn’t Modals in the passive type replaced by participles voice and to infinitives 12 13 14 - To infinitive to talk (revision) - Relative clauses Transitive and intransitive about purposes (revision) verbs - Wh-questions - Omission of relative - Attitudinal adjectives pronouns - Cleft sentences - Comparative + and + - It is/was not until… comparative that - The + comparative, the + - A/an and the - Will vs be going to (omitted) comparative Phrasal verbs - Will: making offers (omitted) - Could/ be able to Phrasal verbs - Comparatives and - Tag questions - It is said that… Adverbial clause of time superlatives - People say that… - Will: making predictions 15 16 Illustrations 3.1 Tenses a Exploiting songs - Past tense: Teacher can jumble the verses and ask student to rearrange them after listening to the song After that teacher can ask students to underline all the verbs in simple past tense and state the uses of the simple past This exercise can be done in presentation stage "Yesterday" by The Beatles Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it looks as though they're here to stay Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say Oh, I believe in yesterday Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be Oh, I believe in yesterday There's a shadow hanging over me I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play Now I need a place to hide away Oh, I yesterday came suddenly Why she had to go I don't know she wouldn't say Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday Now I need a place to hide away Oh, I believe in yesterday Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm The correct answer: Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it looks as though they're here to stay Oh, I believe in yesterday Suddenly, I'm not half the man I used to be There's a shadow hanging over me Oh, I yesterday came suddenly 10 but there is something left in my head You're the one who set it up now you're the one to make it stop I'm the one who's feeling lost right now Now you want me to forget every little thing you said but there is something left in my head [Chorus] I won't forget the way you're kissing The feeling's so strong were lasting for so long But I'm not the man your heart is missing That's why you go away I know You were never satisfied no matter how I tried Now you wanna say goodbye to me Love is one big illusion I should try to forget but there is something left in my head [Chorus] Sitting here all alone in the middle of nowhere Don't know which way to go There ain't so much to say now between us There ain't so much for you There ain't so much for me anymore [Chorus] 3.4 Gerund and infinitive a Songs Teacher can use this song at the presentation stage to explain when to use to infinitive and gerund “Say You Will” by Tokyo Square Say you will, say you will be mine I just keep missing you tonight 20 I feel so unsure, I feel so alone I just don't dare to open my eyes Into deep, going in too deep I can't get you out of my mind Baby no matter just how hard I try I don't want to be alone tonight Won't you be my guilding light Lead the way to be by your side Won't you be my star tonight I need more than a neon light Say you will… Another song can be used for gerund, to infinitive and bare infinitive is “Proud Of You” - Fiona Fung Love in your eyes Sitting silent by my side Going on holding hands Walking through the nights Hold me up hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with heart Helping me open my mind I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine 21 The heaven in the sky Stars in the sky Wishing once upon a time Give me love make me smile Till the end of life Hold me up hold me tight Lift me up to touch the sky Teaching me to love with heart Helping me open my mind I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm proud that I can fly To give the best of me The heaven in the sky Can't you believe that you light up my way No matter how that ease my path I'll never lose my faith See my fly I'm proud to fly of high Show you the best of mine Till the end of the time Believe me I can fly I'm singing in the sky Show you the best of mine The heaven in the sky 22 Nothing can stop me Spread my wings So wide 3.5 Passive voice Communicative task Teacher can ask student to peer work Student A speaks out a sentence Student B listens and changes it into passive voice if possible After sentences, they will change the role Eg: Student A: Thomas Eve Edison invented the bulb Student B: The bulb was invented by Thomas Eve Edison Student A: Lisa is sitting at the table Student B: no passive 3.6 Comparison Game: Teacher forms class into groups and conduct a “general knowledge quiz”, using comparison Students listen and decide true or false The quickest with the most correct answers is the winner Eg: The pacific is larger than the Atlantic T (63,750,000/ 31,830,000 sq miles) The river Nile is the longest river in the world T (4000 miles) The Amazon is longer than the Mekong T (3,900 / 2,600 miles) The Trường Sơn is the highest mountain in Vietnam F (Hoàng Liên Sơn) Everest is the highest mount in the world T (29,002 feet) Sahara is the smallest desert in the world F (the largest) Angel water fall (Venezuela) is as high as Cam Ly water fall F(Angel is the highest water fall in the world with 979 m) Greenland island is bigger than Madagascar T 23 Mercury is nearer the sun than the earth is T 10 The blue whale is smaller than the dolphin F( the blue whale is the biggest animal on the earth.) 3.7 Reported speech Game: Teacher divides students into groups of three and chooses one leader (student A) for each group Only the leader of each group looks at the hand-out given to her/him Student A: (whispers to student C): What you like? Student B: (asks student C): What did student A want to know/ ask you/ say? Student C: (responds aloud): He/ She asked me what I like More resources from the Internet Teacher can create some board games, using the templates below These templates can be used for practice and reproduction of any grammar points a Talking Football How to play Prepare a list of Main Texts to be practiced For example, if the simple past tense is in focus, teacher chooses a number of verbs as Main Text (For example, read, eat, go, dance, visit etc.) then type the Main Text in the spaces Teacher also prepares a set of Cue Text Cue Texts combine with main texts to build sentences For example in practising simple past tense the Main Texts could be the verbs and the Time adverbials the Cue Text For example Verb = watched, Time adverbial = Yesterday The student should combine both words in a sentence as such: Yesterday I watched a football match Students are expected to combine the Main Texts with the Cue Texts at the side to make sentences The two teams or players would toss a coin to decide who starts first, or Rocks, Paper and Scissors The winner starts combining a cue word and a key Cue Text Cue Text word to make sentences For example Last summer + visit => Last summer I visited my grandma Main Main Text Text 24 The other team or player must listen carefully to spot the mistakes If there is any mistake, that player gets one yellow card and move back one step Then the other team takes it in turn to combine the cue words and the key words to make sentences Both teams (players) keep advancing until they meet on their way in the same space When they meet they ROCKS, PAPER and SCISSORS The team that loses the ROCKS, PAPER & SCISSORS duel gets one red card and goes back to restart from his or her end The winning side continues until they meet again Every time they meet, they rocks, paper, and scissors to see who wins The team that gets to the other team’s goal first wins When players get to the centre, it is a FREE space so they can create any sentence they like 25 Main Text Cue Text Cue Text Main Text Main Text Main Text Main Text Cue Text FreeFre e Title Here Cue Text Cue Text Cue Text Main Text Cue Text Main Text Cue Text Main Text Cue Text Cue Text Main Text Main Text Main Text Cue Text Cue Text Main Text 26 b Q and A Board Game Question? 33 Answer 36 34 35 Start again 32 31 Finish 30 29 Go back spaces 25 26 27 23 22 28 Go forward spaces 24 21 Start again 17 18 19 16 15 14 20 13 Go forward spaces 10 11 12 Start again Go back spaces Start 27 c Monkey and Crocodile board game (Roll the dice and move the chip according to the number on the dice.) Jump to Start 10 7 14 15 Start Again 11 12 13 Jump to 17 20 end 19 Start Again 18 17 16 28 91 92 93 watc h it play 95 96 slee p 98 she 100 run 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 71 72 73 74 75 d Snake and Ladder 61 62 63 we he 77 78 79 65 66 67 68 How to play 52 53 54 55 56 write 70 I 59 drink I we the Place the counters next to square one Each student takes it in turn to role the dice The y highest role goes first The order of play continues in a clockwise direction If a student 41 42 43 44 45 listen 47 49 50 lands at the foot of a ladder or the head of a snake, he or she musteat make a sentence using the key words at the top and bottom of the snake or the ladder If he or she makes jump a mistake then he or she should miss a go Remember players goclimb up ladders and down 31 33 34 35 36 37 39 40 snakes! The first player to reach square 100 is the winner swim cook Target language 22 24 25 27 28 I you fly The aim of the game is to practice gerunds and in particular the auxiliary verb when we 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 forming the present progressive She I fall you & fight Snakes and ladders I 10 29 30 IV RESULT These songs, games and communicative tasks have been used some years now and positive effects have been recognized Since learning with laughter, my students develop a love for English grammar They enjoy their language focus lessons more and they can get high marks in the tests 31 Below is the encouraging result after songs, games and communicative tasks were used to arouse students’ interest in learning grammar and to help them memorize grammar rules Grade Number of 10 12 Total students 45 120 165 Mark and over total rate Under mark total rate 31 100 131 29 20 49 68.9% 83.4% 79.4% 31.1% 16.6% 29.6 % V SUGGESTIONS For the sake of our students, teachers should take students’ interest, needs and behaviors into consideration when designing grammar lessons VI CONCLUSION As clarified above, songs, games and communicative tasks support the teaching of grammar in many ways They not only provide a relaxing atmosphere but also motivate students Such activities are student centered Using these activities, we give students a chance to express themselves, enjoy themselves while learning grammar We can both teach grammar in an interesting way and elicit what they have known, hence, enhance their memory VII REFERENCES • Celce-Murcia, M & Hilles, S (1988) Techniques and resources in teaching grammar Oxford: Oxford University Press • Cross, D (1992) A practical handbook of language teaching G.B.: Prentice Hall • Lo, R & Fai Li,H.C (1998) Songs enhance learner involvement English Teaching FORUM, 36/3:8-11 * Betty Schrampfer azar (2001) Understanding and using English grammar By 32 NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH BM04-NXĐGSKKN SỞ GD&ĐT ĐỒNG NAI CỘNG HÒA XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM TRƯỜNG THPT Độc lập – Tự – Hạnh phúc THỐNG NHẤT A Trảng Bom, ngày 10 /05 /2012 PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT, ĐÁNH GIÁ SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Năm học 2011-2012 Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: USING SONGS, GAMES AND COMMUNICATIVE TASKS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS Họ tên tác giả: NGUYỄN THỊ PHƯƠNG ANH Đơn vị (tổ): Ngoại ngữ Lĩnh vực: Quản lý giáo dục  Phương pháp dạy học môn:  Phương pháp giáo dục  Lĩnh vực khác: ……………….……  Tính mới: - Có giải pháp hòan toàn  - Có giải pháp cải tiến, đổi từ giải pháp có  Hiệu - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng toàn ngành có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng tòan ngành có hiệu cao  33 - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu  Khả áp dụng: - Cung cấp luận khoa học cho việc hoạch định đường lối, sách: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đưa giải pháp khuyến nghị có khả ứng dụng thực tiễn, dễ thực dễ vào sống: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đã áp dụng thực tế đạt hiệu có khả áp dụng đạt hiệu phạm vi rộng: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  XÁC NHẬN CỦA TỔ CHUYÊN MÔN THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ (Ký tên ghi rõ họ tên) (ký tên, ghi rõ họ tên đóng dấu) 34 ... well-developed and fascinating techniques in the classroom We can employ the use of songs, games, and communicative tasks to make grammar lessons interesting, memorable, motivating and meaningful There... KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC Lĩnh vực chuyên môn có kinh nghiệm: Giảng dạy Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 12 năm BM03-TMSKKN Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: USING SONGS, GAMES AND COMMUNICATIVE TASKS IN GRAMMAR LESSONS. .. learning Through providing authenticity and context they make the grammar points more understandable and easy As language teachers, we can benefit from using songs, games and communicative tasks