Integrated teaching approaches in some english lessons of english book 10,11,12

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG THPT NGA SƠN SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM INTEGRATED TEACHING APPROACHES IN SOME ENGLISH LESSONS OF ENGLISH BOOK 10,11,12 Người thực : Nguyễn Thị Lan Chức vụ : Giáo viên SKKN môn : Tiếng Anh THANH HÓA NĂM 2018 TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I INTRODUCTION……………………………………………… Reasons for choosing the research………………………………………… Aims of the research………………………………………………………….3 Object of the research……………………………………………………… Research methods………………………………………………………… PART II CONTENTS……………………………………………… ……… .4 Rationale……………………………………………………………….… Practical basis………………………………………………………….…… Integrated teaching approaches………………………………………….… 3.1 Integration within one subject alone…………………………… … … 3.1.1.Integration of four skills…………………………………………… …5 3.1.2 Integration of knowledge ………………………………………… …8 3.2 Integration between two or more subjects…….……………………… PART III CONCLUSION ………………………………………………… 16 PART IV REFERENCES……………………………………………… 17 PART I INTRODUCTION Reasons for choosing the research If teaching is an art, then the colour palette is the knowledge mix - Dr Whitfield Green As you know, nowadays, integration approach has been taking special attention and encouraged to apply into teaching and learning, but in fact, integrated teaching subject has been under discussion off and on for the last half-century, with a resurgence occurring over the past decade The "explosion" of knowledge, the increase of state mandates related to myriad issues, fragmented teaching schedules, concerns about curriculum relevancy, and a lack of connections and relationships among disciplines have all been cited as reasons for a move towards an curriculum integration Integrated teaching approach's like getting a new pair of lenses that make teaching a lot more exciting and help us look forward into the next century because this approach brings the positive effects: * Integrated approach helps students apply skills * An integrated knowledge base leads to faster retrieval of information Multiple perspectives lead to a more integrated knowledge base * Integrated approach encourages depth and breadth in learning Integrated curriculum promotes positive attitudes in students * Integrated approach provides for more quality time for curriculum exploration Aims of the research The author carried out this study to share some significant experiences and integrated teaching methods with an attempt to make a small contribution to the already enriched teaching methods in the hope of helping our students indulge in learning as well as reach the goal of learning English in particular and of education in general Object of the research This research focuses on integrated teaching approaches in English textbook for the students of three blocks Research methods - Study the documents about integration curriculum - Find out some lessons being able to apply integration curriculum - Discuss in English group - Teach and attend some integrated lessons to draw out experiences PART II CONTENTS Rationale In our time, the movement toward a global economy and international connections, as well as the rapid changes in technology, are pushing education toward integration The ability to make connections, to solve problems by looking at multiple perspectives, and to incorporate information from different fields, will be an essential ingredient for success in the future Another rationale for curriculum integration finds its basis in the commonsense wisdom of teachers, who are coping with an increased body of knowledge, large classes, and many mandates related to everything from individual awareness to national tasks When all of these requirements are added to the traditional body of knowledge for which teachers feel responsible, integration is seen as one way to meet both the needs of the students and the requirements of the state The integration of curricular areas and concepts, skills, knowledge allows teachers to assist students as they prepare for the next century To integrate means to coordinate, blend, or bring together separate parts into a functioning, unified, and harmonious whole Curricular integration assists students to identify the links, not only between ideas and processes within a single field, but also between ideas and processes, in separate fields, and in the world outside of school Practical basis It is undeniable that Vietnamese high school students are overwhelmed with their school work They have to learn a lot of subjects which have the same part of knowledge but taught in many different areas In English, each unit is seperated into four skills and teachers often only focus on one skill, but almost all of lessons teachers can redesign to combine skills together, especially all skills, because most practical communicative situations requires more than one skill or when teaching new knowledge that is developed on the foundation of old knowledge, many teachers only teach new one, but not revise old one It is taken for granted, apparently, that in time students will see for themselves how things fit together Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that they tend to learn what we teach If we teach connectedness and integration, they learn that If we teach separation and discontinuity, that is what they learn To suppose otherwise would be incongruous So the teacher should use integration approach Integrated teaching approaches: 3.1 Within one subject alone 3.1.1 Four Skill integration 3.1.1.1 Literature review a Why to integrate the language skills - When we communicate, we often use more than a single language skill On the telephone, for instance, we listen and speak-maybe we also write down a message and read over what we have written - Integrated approach helps to build new knowledge and skills on to what students already know and can So, if students are able to read a short story, this skill will help them to write their own story - Also, integrating the skills allows you to build in more variety into the lesson because the range of activities will be wider Instead of just having listening, the students can have speaking, reading and writing practice This can raise their motivation to learn English - Above all, integrating the skills means that you are working at the level of realistic communication, which provides all-round development of communicative competence in English b How to integrate the four skills - The easiest form of integration is within the same medium (either oral or written), from receptive to productive skills Receptive Skill Productive Skill Oral Medium listening speaking Written Medium reading writing - The second kind is complex integration This involves constructing a series of activities that use a variety of skills However, it’s important to make sure that one activity is closely linked thematically to the next one c The implications of integrating the four skills for teaching Integration of the four skills is concerned with realistic communication This means that we are teaching at the discourse level, not just at the level of sentences or individual words and phrases Discourse is a whole unit of communicative text, either spoken or written.However, integrating the four language skills can be demanding of the teacher: We need to have a good understanding of discourse, and to be able to use textbooks flexibly - This can also be time-consuming, requiring a lot of preparation - Another limitation is the problem of designing suitable materials that take account of students’ different skill levels The four skills tend to develop at a different pace: receptive skills are stronger than productive skills, for example This means that teachers have to be skilful is selecting or designing integrated activities for their students 3.1.1.2 Examples Example 1: English 11 Unit Part D Writing a personal letter about a past experience *Activity Ss practise asking and answer about their unforgettable experience with the following questions (aim at practising speaking skill) - What is your unforgettable experience? - When did it happen? - Where did it happen? - How did it happen? - Who was involved? - How did it affect you? *Activity Sudents(ss) listen to a sample letter writing about Nam’s unforgettable experience( stimulate ss’letter hobby) and then answer T’s questions( aim at helping ss practise listening skill) A sample letter: Dear Long, How have you been doing? Have you got any plan for the coming school break? Perhaps I will go to see my grandparents in the countryside I haven’t seen them since my last school holiday Let me tell you about my last summer vacation at my grandparents’ It was almost a year ago and was one of my most unforgettable experiences My grandparents live in a small village in Trung Khanh There is a large river at the back of their house where I often swimming every afternoon when I spend my vacation with them One day when I was swimming with some of my friends, I suddenly caught a cold I felt so dizzy and was too weak to continue swimming, so I started to sink I thought I was going to drown but I couldn’t call out for help because I was too tired and terrified Luckily, one of my friends saw that and shouted for help Immediately, another friend who swims the best among us swam towards me and tried to pull me up Then other friends swam towards us to help him push me in My ljfe was finally saved Now recalling the moment I thought I was going to die, I understand how precious life is This event definitely taught me to appreciate my life What about you? Have you got any unforgettable holiday that you would like to share with me? See you soon Yours friendly, Nam  Answer the questions: - What happened to Nam?- He was going to drown - When did it happen? - It happened a year ago - Where did it happen? - It happened in the river at the back of his grandparents’ house - How did it happen?- One day when I was swimming with some of my friends, I suddenly caught a cold I felt so dizzy and was too weak to continue swimming, so I started to sink I thought I was going to drown … - Who was involved? - His friends - How did it affect him? - He understand how precious life is and taught him to appriciate his life (Ss can not answer all the questions but they will be curious to read this letter in handout.) *Activity Ask ss to read the sample letter in handout again to draw out the form of an informal letter( what parts?) and how to organize information.(aim at practising reading skill)  The form of an informal letter: + Greeting +Opening + Contents + Conclusion + Signature  The ordering: + what happened? + when it happened? + where it happened? + how it happened? + how it affect you? *Activity Writing a letter telling about one of your most memorable experience: ( aim at practising writing skill) Example English 11 Unit VOLUNTEER WORK Part A Reading *Activity Warm up Ss work in pairs to ask and answer some questions.( speaking skill) - Have you done anything to help the disadvantaged and handicapped children or old and sick people? - What you to help them? - Do you like doing that work ? why? - How often you ?  Leading to new lesson: Volunteer work *Activity Read the passage and then the tasks in textbook( reading skill) *Activity Write a short paragraph to summarise the passage and read out in front of class( writing skill) *Activity Listen and comment or correct mistakes.(listening skill) 3.1.2 Knowledge integration 3.1.2.1 Literature review Knowledge integration has been studied as the process of incorporating new information into a body of existing knowledge This process involves determining how the new information and the existing knowledge interact, how existing knowledge should be modified to accommodate the new information, and how the new information should be modified in light of the existing knowledge Why we need integrate old knowledge into new knowledge? Because in text book 11 and 12 there are many new grammar, content, topic, tasks…relating to old theory in textbook 10, 11 and most of our ss learn before forget about later, so we should revise them in order to help ss apprehend new knowledge easily In the following part, I will give some examples 3.1.2.2 Examples Example 1: English 12 Unit 13 Part E Grammar: Double comparison *Task Reviewing the form of comparative adjectives/ adverbs (existing knowledge)  More + Adj/ adv(long)  Adj/adv(short) + er  Special adjectives/ adverbs: - Good/well → better - Bad/badly→ worse - Much/many→more - little→less - far/farly→farther/further  Adjectives having two sounds and ending with “ y” are considered as short adjectives: - happy→ happier - lazy→ lazier *Task Teaching double comparison.( new knowledge) The + comparative, the + comparative Comparative + and + comparative Example English 11 Unit 15 Part B Speaking: making questions and answer about the important events in space exploration *Task1 Reviewing the structure of the common questions and answers in English.( existing knowledge) Yes/ No question:  Auxiliary verb + S + V…? – Yes , S + aux.v/ No, S + aux.v +not Wh-questions:  Wh-question + aux.v + S +V….? – S + V+…  Wh-question + V+….? – S + V+… *Task Basing on the paragraph at page 170 in textbook, the teacher ask and ss answer.(put them into practice) *Task Ss work in pairs to make question and aswer about the important events in space exploration.(ss use flexibly the structure of the questions in multiform situations -new knowledge) 3.2.Between two or more subjects 3.2.1 Literature review Integrating curriculum in the classroom includes combining different subject areas and then teaching them in relation to a singular theme or an idea An integrated curriculum utilizes three different types of approaches of integration including the multidisciplinary approach, the interdisciplinary approach and the transdisciplinary approach Multidisciplinary Integration Multidisciplinary approaches focus primarily on the disciplines Teachers who use this approach organize standards from the disciplines around a theme Figure 1.1 shows the relationship of different subjects to each other and to a common theme There are many different ways to create multidisciplinary curriculum, and they tend to differ in the level of intensity of the integration effort The following descriptions outline different approaches to the multidisciplinary perspective Figure 1.1 The Multidisciplinary Approach Interdisciplinary Integration In this approach to integration, teachers organize the curriculum around common learnings across disciplines They chunk together the common learnings embedded in the disciplines to emphasize interdisciplinary skills and concepts The disciplines are identifiable, but they assume less importance than in the multidisciplinary approach Figure 1.2 illustrates the interdisciplinary approach Figure 1.2 The Interdisciplinary Approach Transdisciplinary Integration Use the transdisciplinary integration approach by organizing the curriculum around student questions and concerns Transdisciplinary integration is done through projectbased learning which involves allowing the students to tackle a problem Project-based learning allows students to make connections among different subjects by solving the problem and answering open-ended questions Figure 1.3 Transdisciplinary Approach According to Chard (1998), planning project-based curriculum involves three steps:  Teachers and students select a topic of study based on student interests, curriculum standards, and local resources  The teacher finds out what the students already know and helps them generate questions to explore The teacher also provides resources for students and opportunities to work in the field 10  Students share their work with others in a culminating activity Students display the results of their exploration and review and evaluate the project 3.2.2 Examples: Multidisciplinary Integration Exemple English 11 Unit World population Part D Writing: writing a paragraph to describe information in the pie chart.( integrated with geography)  Warm up SS base on information about the favourite games of students given in handout to draw a pie chart.( SS use geographic knowledge to represent data by the pie chart) Handout: - The rate among the favourite games of ss is not the same - Cricket has the largest students It accounts for 30% - Basketball has more than double the students of tennis( with 25% and 13% respectively) - Next is soccer, which occupied 20% in all - 12% of favourite games of ss belongs to chess and it ranks last Expected answer:  Pre-writing: Reading data in the pie chart at page 86 in English book 11.(SS use their geographic knowledge to read data in the pie chart in English) Ss use their geographic knowledge and suggested information in handout of warm up to describe the chart or T can help them by asking some questions such as: 11 - What is the topic of the pie chart? - How did it distribute among region? - Which continent has more than double the population of the whole world? - Which continent ranks second? - Which region had the most population? - Which region is the least populated in all? - … Example English 12 Unit 11 BOOKS Part D Writing: Describing a book.( integrated with literature)  Pre-writing Ss base on their literary knowledge of a report on the book (How many parts dose a report have and what they are? What is the function of every part? or In each part, what we should write? )  Expected answer? a/ General introduction (what is the tittle of the book? Who is the author? What type of book is it/ why did you choose that particular book?) b/ Summary of the book’s content (where is the book set?/ what is the main theme of the story?/ who are the main characters?/ what is the plot of the story?) c/ Conclusion (what is your opinion of the book?/ would you recommend it to others) 12 Interdisciplinary integration Example English 11 Unit 10 Nature in danger, Unit 11 Sources of energy, Unit 10 Endangered species (English 12)… - Through such units, we join to educate ss the awareness of protecting nature, energy, wildlife species…( integrated with civic education) Example English book 10 Unit 16 Historical places Part A reading (integrated with history)  Warm up Show some pictures of Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam(VMQTG) and ask ss to talk about what they know about its history?( SS reconstitute their historic knowledge about VMQTG in English) In the autumn of the year Canh Tuat, the second year of Than Vu (1070), in the 8th lunar month, during the reign of King Lý Thánh Tông, the Văn Miếu was built The statues of Confucius were carved and 72 other statues of Confucian scholars were painted Ceremonies were dedicated to them in each of the four seasons The Crown Princes studied here." - In 1076, Vietnam's first university, the "Quốc Tử Giám" or Imperial Academy, was established within the temple during the reign of Lý Nhân Tông to educate Vietnam's bureaucrats, nobles, royalty, and other members of the elite The university remained open from 1076 to 1779 …  Ask ss to study the passage in textbook to gain more information about VMQTG today Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary integration Example English 12 Unit 16 Part D Writing: Write a letter to your pen pal, David,recommending a significant place to visit (integrated with geography, history, literature and civic education) *Activity Ss complete the sample letter in textbook and draw out the text mode of a letter(what parts?)(integrated with litterature) Outline:  Date  Salutation  Body - Location - natural features 13 - places to visit - food - people  Closing *Activity Ss watch some pictures of Hoi An on screen and practise asking and answering about it before writing a letter to recommend to their pen pal ( integrated with history and geography ) 14 *Activity Ss write a letter to recommend about Hoi An for their penpal, David, to visit( introducing a historical place to an foreigner, which means that students are being educated about the awareness of conserving and promoting cultural heritage and national identity) (integrated with civic education) Transdisciplinary integration 15 Example 6: English 11 Unit 10 Nature in danger Part B Speaking(Ss have to use knowledge of many subjects to tackle the tasks ) For instance: *Activity Causes of nature in danger: - Burning forests and cutting down tree( using biological knowledge to explain) - Using fertilizers and pesticides for cultivation( chemical knowledge) - Discharging chemical pollutants into environment.( chemical knowledge) - Killing endangered animals for fur, skin, food( social knowledge) … PART III CONCLUSION Do you wonder why it is important to integrate curriculum? Think about how much you could learn in a classroom where you learn math, science and reading all in one lesson or teaching a theme-based unit that focuses on cultural diversity and incorporates core content area topics When I taught through an integrated curriculum, my students showed higher signs of retention at an increased rate than when an integrated curriculum was not implemented The reason for this is because they were able to more closely relate to content and make real-world connections in integrated curriculum approaches Students not only connect and create more real world connections in integrated classrooms, but they are also more actively engaged Creating an integrated curriculum means that teachers are charged with having to create challenging, fun, meaningful tasks that help students connect to information Creating a solar system unit that also requires oral language development and practice, reading comprehension skills and mathematics, can engage students far more than just a lesson on the solar system alone Integration helps to achieve retention and engagement in classrooms, which yields higher mastery of content standards One final key benefit of an integrated curriculum is the ability for students to see skills multiple times Instead of teaching comprehension strategies in just reading, teaching those strategies across multiple disciplines can give students an opportunity to see and implement it more often The repetition of the skills being taught creates a higher level of understanding and retention of information for students in the classroom With what I have suggested above, I hope that teachers and students will be more interested in this field and will find this task less and less hard I have tried my best in this study with an aim to share my modest experience with all colleagues However, mistakes and shortcomings are unavoidable So any remarks will be warmly welcomed The educational benefits gained from applying these activities 16 I myself have applied the integration approaches to teach the students of all three blocks in many lessons and have found considerable benefits as I write above I hope that this theme would be of some value to both teachers and students in their language teaching and learning process I would like to thank The confirmation of the principle Thanh Hoa, May 25th 2018 I promise not to have copied Signature Nguyễn Thị Lan PART IV REFERENCES 1.Goldbort, R "Literature, Science, and Liberal Education: Toward Integrative Studies." Teaching English in the Two-Year College 18/2 (1991): 121-125 Watkins, B "In Non-traditional, Interdisciplinary Study at Columbia College, Artists Get a Chance to Broaden Their Horizons, Hone Creativity." The Chronicle of Higher Education 37/3 (1990): 17 3.Britton, J Writing and Reading in the Classroom Technical Report Number Berkeley, CA: Center for the Study of Writing, August 1987 (ED 287 169) 4.Brandt, R "On Interdisciplinary Curriculum: A Conversation with Heidi Hayes Jacobs." Educational Leadership 49/2 (1991): 24-26 5.Caine, R., and Caine, G Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1991 6.Dressel, P "The Meaning and Significance of Integration." In The Integration of Educational Experiences, 57th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, edited by Nelson B Henry Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1958, 3-25 7.Fogarty, R The Mindful School: How to Integrate the Curricula Palatine, IL: Skylight Publishing, Inc., 1991 8.Schmidt, W 17 Curriculum Integration: Its Use in Language Arts Instruction Research Series Number 140 East Lansing, MI: Institute for Research on Teaching, 1983 (ED 241 942) 9.Shoemaker, B "Integrative Education: A Curriculum for the Twenty-First Century." Oregon School Study Council 33/2 (1989) 18 ... enriched teaching methods in the hope of helping our students indulge in learning as well as reach the goal of learning English in particular and of education in general Object of the research... focuses on integrated teaching approaches in English textbook for the students of three blocks Research methods - Study the documents about integration curriculum - Find out some lessons being able... the process of incorporating new information into a body of existing knowledge This process involves determining how the new information and the existing knowledge interact, how existing knowledge