USING SOME WARM UP ACTIVITIES TO TEACH READING SKILL FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT LONG CHAU SA HIGH SCHOOL. ( Sử dụng một số hoạt động khởi động để dạy kỹ năng đọc cho học sinh lớp 10 trường Trung học phổ thông Long Châu Sa)

USING SOME WARM UP ACTIVITIES TO TEACH READING SKILL FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT LONG CHAU SA HIGH SCHOOL. ( Sử dụng một số hoạt động khởi động để dạy kỹ năng đọc cho học sinh lớp 10 trường Trung học phổ thông Long Châu Sa) In today’s modern world, English language has become a part of every existing field. It has been an international language of communication, business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on. Many countries have English as their native languages. English has experienced its popularity in teaching and learning in Vietnam over the last few decades. Demand for learning English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its international relations. According to Chastain, K (1987): “English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turns out to be a key to open the door into the bustling world”. In any walk of life in Vietnam, you can find people use English; from the big cities to mountainous areas; from the international conferences to daily conversations, or just few pidgin words with the foreign tourists. People learn and use English with different purposes, but there is a fact that they are trying to learn English with the hope that they can use it effectively. Learners of English, naturally and obviously, want to become the masters of all the four skills. Though there are some who proposed what they need is speaking a fluent English, other consider listening a tool for the realization of their goal, there are also some who say writing is necessary because documenting reports, letters, memos, etc is what they daily deal with in their office. Learning to read effectively remains the top in the targets of most learners here. However, most of them say they find it difficult to focus on reading, and especially to have effective reading. Some even say it is boring to start reading because there are piles of new words, and lengthy reading texts. According to Sookchotirat (2005), reading skill is the most important skill as it is the basis of all the success in ones life. Reading is not only the mother of all skills that helps the students leant other skills but also plays an important role in enriching the students general knowledge and in helping them with their further study later. Good readers can gain more knowledge of any kind from reading. Reading makes the reader more knowledgeable, have wider perspectives and vision. Reading helps the reader get new ideas leading to cognitive development. When the readers transfer what they read to apply with their own idea a new perspective or idea is created. Typically, a reading lesson consists of three stages: pre reading, while reading and post reading. The warm up activities are taught at the pre reading. It is considered the most important because in this stage, warm up activities help students have attention, motivation and interest when start reading a long text. They felt comfortable and relaxed with great attention in reading lessons without feeling bored and tired. From that they can improve their reading skill. So in the process of teaching reading, the teacher should have warm up activities to motivate the learners in order that they could achieve the most comprehension from the reading. From this facts, I choose “Using some warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at Long Chau Sa high school” According to this research, the author hopes that she will get effectiveness when teaching reading skill using warm up activities.

1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research has been developed for almost seven months with the responsibility of the researcher and great help from other people Firstly, I wish to express my deep gratitude to MA Nguyen Thi Thu Hang who has been my trusted guide through the completion of the thesis I would like to thank teachers in Science Committee of Foreign Language Department as choosing my paper, creating favorable condition for me to accomplish this thesis Great acknowledgement is supported by teachers and students in Long ChauSa high school for their help during my research process especially students who enthusiastically gave their time to answer the research questions in this study Last but far from least, I am truly grateful to teachers and students at English department, my family and friends, who are always at be back of me, providing me with helpful advice, ideas, and special encouragement Finally, I wish to share the results of the research with all the people mentioned above TABLE OF CONTENT LIST OF THE TABLES Table 3.1: The students’ opinion toward reading skill Table 3.2: Students’ opinion about warm up activities Table 3.3: The teacher’s opinion about the uses of warm up activities Table:4.1 Students’ attitude toward the suggested warm up activities Table 4.2: Students’ evaluation of the suggested warm up activities LIST OF THE CHARTS Chart 3.1: The current situation of using warm up activities Chart 3.2: The teacher’s opinion toward warm up activities in reading lessons Chart 3.3: The frequency of using warm up activities in reading lessons Chart 4.1: The effectiveness of using warm up activities in reading lessons ABSTRACT This research found out the effectiveness of using warm up activities in reading skill It gave an introduction emphasizing on reading skill and warm up activities in the reading lessons which had a number of benefits Starting a class with a warm up activities may promote interest among students, set a friendly environment, increase students’ participation, attract their attention etc In theoretical part, it covered details information about reading skill and warm up activities including the definition; principles, kinds and roles Most importantly, the researcher investigated the current situation of teaching and learning reading skill at Long Chau Sa high school by survey questionnaire and pretest; then she suggested three warm up activities: using pictures, using videos and using crossword In order to test the effect of proposed activities, the researcher carried out experiment After that, the author checked the effectiveness by posttest and questionnaire for grade 10A6 students at Long Chau Sa high school These activities help students at Long Chau Sa high school loved reading skill These activities helped students have attention, motivation and interest when start reading a long text They felt comfortable and relaxed and pay attention in reading lessons without feeling bored and tired From that they could improve their reading skill PART A: INTRODUCTION Rationale In today’s modern world, English language has become a part of every existing field It has been an international language of communication, business, science, information technology, entertainment and so on Many countries have English as their native languages English has experienced its popularity in teaching and learning in Vietnam over the last few decades Demand for learning English even gets stronger when Vietnam fosters its international relations According to Chastain, K (1987): “English, in parallel with the knowledge of some other fields, turns out to be a key to open the door into the bustling world” In any walk of life in Vietnam, you can find people use English; from the big cities to mountainous areas; from the international conferences to daily conversations, or just few pidgin words with the foreign tourists People learn and use English with different purposes, but there is a fact that they are trying to learn English with the hope that they can use it effectively Learners of English, naturally and obviously, want to become the masters of all the four skills Though there are some who proposed what they need is speaking a fluent English, other consider listening a tool for the realization of their goal, there are also some who say writing is necessary because documenting reports, letters, memos, etc is what they daily deal with in their office Learning to read effectively remains the top in the targets of most learners here However, most of them say they find it difficult to focus on reading, and especially to have effective reading Some even say it is boring to start reading because there are piles of new words, and lengthy reading texts According to Sookchotirat (2005), reading skill is the most important skill as it is the basis of all the success in one's life Reading is not only the mother of all skills that helps the students leant other skills but also plays an important role in enriching the students' general knowledge and in helping them with their further study later Good readers can gain more knowledge of any kind from reading Reading makes the reader more knowledgeable, have wider perspectives and vision Reading helps the reader get new ideas leading to cognitive development When the readers transfer what they read to apply with their own idea a new perspective or idea is created Typically, a reading lesson consists of three stages: pre - reading, while reading and post - reading The warm up activities are taught at the pre reading It is considered the most important because in this stage, warm up activities help students have attention, motivation and interest when start reading a long text They felt comfortable and relaxed with great attention in reading lessons without feeling bored and tired From that they can improve their reading skill So in the process of teaching reading, the teacher should have warm up activities to motivate the learners in order that they could achieve the most comprehension from the reading From this facts, I choose “Using some warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at Long Chau Sa high school” According to this research, the author hopes that she will get effectiveness when teaching reading skill using warm up activities Purpose of the research For the reasons mentioned above, this study is carried out to make a small contributions to the improvement in teaching English in general and in teaching reading skill in particular for teachers and students at Long Chau Sa high school The purpose of this study: - Using some warm-up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at - LCS high school Evaluate the effectiveness of these activities in teaching and learning reading skill The research methods In order to accomplish this study systematically and adequately, the following methods have been used: - Theoretical method: to study the related documents to give some knowledge about reading skill and warm up activities - Investigative and survey method: To fulfill this study, three survey questionnaires, two for students and teachers before experiment and another for student after experiment and the tests are delivered to the students to evaluate the effectiveness of suggested warm up activities - Analysis method: to get the data from many different materials related to the study, analyzing to get the final results - Comparison method: to compare the result form the test before and after experiment Research questions The study will find the answer for the following question: What warm up activities are used for teaching reading to grade 10students at Long Chau Sa high school? How effective are warm up activities for learning reading of the grade 10 students at Long Chau Sa high school? Previous research 5.1 In the world Md Mesbahul Haque (2010), Using pre reading activities to help learners comprehend a text better in Brac University The research aimed at the effectiveness of pre-reading activities in the comprehension of a text better To find out the appropriateness of this hypothesis data was collected by taking a class of higher secondary level of students The result shows that the performance of the students with pre-reading activities is much better than that of the students without pre-reading activities Therefore, it can be suggested that there is a dire necessity of pre-reading activities in ESL classroom and the ESL teachers should use pre-reading activities They should also be very careful in choosing the type of pre-reading activities because different texts demand different types of tasks and activities However, this research involves a few students Therefore I would like to work on the same area in a broader context and with more students in future Kaiy (2006) studies activities to enhance reading in a second language in University of Nevada The author recommends a lot of activities that can be used to improve student’ interested in reading lessons He suggested that using of different activities in teaching and learning foreign language is the most effective way to motivate students to speak Brown (2001) lists some important micro skills that learners should use in reading tasks in Principles of Language Learning and Teaching According to him, students should follow some principles for designing interactive reading techniques, such as: Don’t overlook the importance of specific instruction in reading skills (balance extensive and silent reading), use techniques that are motivating, balance authentic texts, encourage the development of reading strategies include both bottom-up and top-down techniques, subdivide the techniques into pre-reading, during-reading and after-reading phases 5.2 In Viet Nam Le Thi Thuy Dung (2013), with the study on “using timed- reading activities to increase tenth grade’s reading rate fluency at Tran Phu High School, Vinh Phu province: An action research”, she examined the effectiveness of timed reading activity in increasing 10th graders’ reading speed and their fluency This study also has investigated into the students’ attitudes towards tied reading activity The results obtained from the analyzed data show that the use of timed reading helped raise students, reading rate and comprehension, especially in fast reader group Furthermore, most of the students expressed positive attitudes towards timed reading activity Le Minh Duyen (2015) carried out a study on the use of some activities to improve reading comprehension for grade 10 students at Chan Mong high school During the process of carrying out research, the researcher discovered the fact that lots of the students having many difficulties in learning reading comprehension skill Their difficulties come out from lack of reading skill, lack of vocabulary and lack of background knowledge In order to improve and 10 enhance students’ reading comprehension, the researcher proposed some activities to deal with current situation Moreover, after carrying experiment teaching, giving the posttest for students, collecting them and applying some proposed activities, the researcher got a result of the study This result is quite satisfactory because the number of students got bad marks in reading test reduced considerably These activities are very helpful to both the teachers and students in teaching and learning English in general and English reading comprehension in particular Nguyen Thi Hai Lam (2005) studied on Using five minute activities to warm up the language classroom This study addresses the factual role of the warming up activities in the high school and the attitudes of teachers to this problem, and also, it give the need short activities in the lesson time and list of 5-minute activities and procedures to help teacher especially young teachers make the first minutes useful in each lesson in order to achieve a totally successful teaching and learning result That helps all teachers and students more aware of the great learning value of warming up the class to motivate pupils and make use of the short moment at the start of the lesson Overview of the research shows that there are many authors studying on warm up activities for teaching and learning in the world as well as in the Viet Nam such as: Using pre reading activities to help learners comprehend a text better in Brac University written by Md Mesbahul Haque (2010); Activities to enhance reading in a second language in University of Nevada by Kaiy (2006); “using timed- reading activities to increase tenth grade’s reading rate fluency by Le Thi Thuy Dung (2013); Using five minute activities to warm up the language classroom by Nguyen Thi Hai Lam (2005)…Those previous research provided valuable information indicating that using warm up activities helped students improve reading comprehension but there have not been any researches that go into study on warm up activities for reading lessons to raise students’ attitude toward reading skill, from that help to improve reading skill based on currents situation of the application Can you name some of the national park in VN and in the world? (Show some pictures about National park to help sts answer this question) - Give feed back - Lead in to new lesson - Nairobi National Park - Everglades national park APPENDIX 6: THE PRE-TEST I Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Country music is one of the most popular kinds of music in the United States today Maybe, country music is very popular because it is about simple but strong human feelings and events like love, sadness, good times and bad times It tells real life stories and sounds the way people really talk As life becomes more complicated and difficult, it is good to hear about simple ordinary people Country music is sometimes called country-western music It comes from two kinds of music One is the traditional music of the people in the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States The other is traditional, cowboy music from the American West The singers usually play guitars or electric guitars when they sing Country music became very popular in the South During World War II, thousands of people from the South moved to the Northeast and the Midwest to work in factories They took their music with them Soldiers from the rest of the country went to army camps in the South and learned to like country music there Slowly, it became popular all over the United States Country music is very popular because _ A it's about strong human feelings B it's about events like love, sadness C it tells about good times, bad times D all are correct Country music is _ A the traditional music of the people in the eastern United States B considered as the cowboy music from the American West C sometimes called country-western music D from two kinds of music which haven't been widely known According to the passage, it's untrue to say that A Country music became very popular in the South B Factory workers took country music with them from the South C Country music was brought from the South by soldiers D Gradually, country music became popular all over the United States The best title for the passage is _ A Country music B Music in the United States C The Formation of Country Music D The Benefits of Country Music The singers usually play _ when they sing A drum and violins C the music instruments B guitars or electric guitars D guitars and piano II Read the following text Mobile technology can help students to open the door to new horizons, making their learning flexible, motivating and speedy It is not difficult to understand why more and more schools are encouraging mobile learning in the classroom Smartphones, tablet computers, e-readers, netbooks and laptops are gradually becoming great learning tools for students Mobile devices make learning flexible School computer labs with desktops are wonderful but they are not handy Students can not use them in the school yard during the break time or in thr school canteen while they wait for luch Mobile learning devices are different They are light, portable and convenient Students can carry these devices with them wherever they want and wherever they like Mobile learning is motivating Students are more excited and inspired to study when they work with different types of apps These apps not only help them understand the materials better but also motivate them to study harder both in and out classroom Motivation and inspiration can lead to good results and good results can lead to more motivation and inspiration Mobile learning makes education speedy Without having to leave the school building, students can instantly get information or materials necessary for their study This can be done easily thanks to mobile devices with wifi The internet brings the whole world in to the classroom and it takes students just a few seconds to access this wonderful world of knowledge and information a Decide if the following statements are True (T) or False (F): Mobile technology can help workers to open the door to new horizons, making their learning flexible, motivating and speedy ………………………………………………………………………………… Students can not use school computer labs in the school yard during the break time or in the school canteen while they wait for lunch ………………………………………………………………………………… Students are lesson excited and inspired to study when they work with different types of apps ………………………………………………………………………………… Students can play games much faster, using new types of mobile devices with wifi ………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Mobile technology is already here It is up to each school to choose the times when they allow the use of mobile devices ………………………………………………………………………………… b Answer the questions: 11 What are listed as mobile devices in the text? ………………………………………………………………………………… 12 How easy to carry around are mobile devices? ……………………………………………………………………………… 13 What effects apps have on students? ……………………………………………………………………………… 14 How speedy is mobile learning? ……………………………………………………………………………… 15 What will happen if schools soon decide to use mobile mobile technology in learning? ……………………………………………………………………………… II Read the passage careful, then fill in the blank Every year many people in the world learn English Some of them are young children (16)…………are teenagers Many are adults Some learn at school, and some learn in evening classes A few learn English by (17)………….or just by (18) ………… to the language on television or among their friends Most people must work hard to learn English (19) ……… all these people want to learn English? It is difficult to answer that question Young children learn English at school to study better at their (20)……… Many adults learn English because (21) ………… useful for their work Teenagers often learn English for their (22) ………… studies, because some of their books are written (23) …………….English at their college or university Other people learn English (24)……… they want to read English newspaper or magazine for (25) ……….and entertainment 16 A The other B Others C Another D Each other 17 A them B their C themselves D theirs 18 A listening B speaking C talking D hearing 19 A What B How C Why B Aim 20 A Subject B study C Work D Where 21 A they are B it is C there is D of being 22 A taller B higher C better D fuller 23 A in B at C by D with 24 A so B therefore C Because D and 25 A equipment B example C D transportation Information APPENDIX THE POST-TEST I Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions Have you ever visited London, one of the most famous cities in the world? London is divided into three parts: the City, the West End and the East End The city is Britain’s commercial and banking center The West End is the part where rich people live The East End is the part where poor people live Lenin visited London before the Great October Socialist Revolution He often came to work at the British Museum He gathered material for his work movement He attended meetings and gatherings He liked to walk around the city of striking contrasts London is one of the ……… cities in the world A Poorest B Smallest C Most famous D Biggest London is divided into …… parts A B C D.4 Lenin visited London…………… A Before the October Revolution C During the October Revolution B After October Revolution D At the beginning of the October Revolution Lenin liked to walk around the city to………………… A learn English C Have a sightseeing tour B Know about the British capital D go shopping Lenin called London the city of……………… A Frame B the rich Londoners C the poor Londoners D striking contrast II Read the following text Amelia Mary Earhart was born in 1987 in Kansas, a state located in the Midwestern united States She showed an early aptitude for science and sports at school After finishing school, she worked as a nurse for Red Cross where she got to know many of the wounded pilots and came to admire aviation Earhart enrolled in medical studies at Columbia University, but quit after one year and soon started taking flying lessons In 1992 she became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean and the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and pacific She set many other records and wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences She also contributed to formation of the Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots gave advice to women on careers and helped inspire others In 1937 she mysteriously disappeared during a flight Even today her life and career remain fascinating to many people a Decide if the following statements are True (T) or False (F): Kansas is a state located in the Western United States ………………………………………………………………………………… Amelia Mary Earhart was interested in Literature ………………………………………………………………………………… Earhart enrolled in medical studies, but quit after one year and soon taking flying lessons ………………………………………………………………………………… She worked as a pilot right after finishing school ………………………………………………………………………………… 10 Her life and career are still fascinating to many people ………………………………………………………………………………… b Answer the questions: 11 Where and when was she born? ……………………………………………………………………………… 12 What did she show at school? ………………………………………………………………………………… 13 How did she come to admire aviation? …………………………………………………………………………………… 14 What happened in 1928? ………………………………………………………………………………… 15 What else did she do? ………………………………………………………………………………… III Fill in the blanks CHARLIE CHAPLIN The person I am going to write about is Charlie Chaplin He has always been one of My favorite actors and I really (16) _ his films Charlie was born in London in 1889 Both his parents were music hall performers His father was a drunkard and his mother later (17) mad Life was hard and Charlie and his half brother, Sidney, were sent to a(n) (18) for a time He first appeared on the stage when he was seven and by the time he was ten he was a regular performer When he was 17, he went on a tour of the USA where he was (19) _ and given a part in a Hollywood film His early films were not particularly successful but in 1915 he made his (20) _, “The Tramp”, in which he first appeared in the baggy trousers and with the hat and cane Soon he had had his own (21) _ built and was making his own films which included “The Gold Rush”, “Modern Times” and “The Great Dictator” In the 1940s his reputation in the USA started to (22) _ Silent films were no longer so popular Chaplin went to Europe but was not allowed to return to the USA because he was (23) _ of being a communist The authorities finally let him back in 1972 and he was (24) _ an Oscar, but by this time he had made Switzerland his home Chaplin did not have a very happy personal life and was married four times He only found happiness with his fourth marriage in 1943 When he died on Christmas Day 1977, the world had lost one of the greatest (25) _ comedians 16 A admire B admit C claim D encourage 17 A ended B went C came D began 18 A orphanage B institution C shelter D lodging 19 A spotted B elected C set D drafted 20 A achievement B completion C fiction D masterpiece 21 A factory B workshop C studio D stage 22 A slide B split C decline D discredit 23 A suspected B doubted C considered D abused 24 A prized B awarded C delivered D rewarded C previously D present 25 A ever B before ... about using warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students This is the first time the study ? ?Using some warm up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students at Long Chau. .. in teaching reading skill in particular for teachers and students at Long Chau Sa high school The purpose of this study: - Using some warm- up activities to teach reading skill for grade 10 students. .. teaching reading skill of grade 10A6 students at Long Chau Sa high school and suggested three warm up activities to teach reading skill 3.1 The current situation of teaching reading skill at Long Chau