BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITIES IN WRITING LESSONS

THANH HOA TRAINING AND EDUCATION DEPARTMENT THIEU HOA UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE TOPIC: BRAINSTORMING ACTIVITIES IN WRITING LESSONS Performer: Trần Xuân Diệu Position: Teacher Subject: English THANH HOA 2019 INDEX I INTRODUCTION Page 1.1 The reason for choosing the theme 1.2 The purpose of study 1.3 The object of study 2-3 1.4 The methodology of research II CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical basis 2.2 Real basis before applying this innovation 5-6 2.3 Problem solving - 21 2.4 Result Analysis 21 - 22 III CONCLUSION AND PETITION 3.1 Conclusion 22 3.2 Petition 23 REFFERENCE MATERIALS 24 I INTRODUCTION 1.1 The reason for choosing the theme: We are living in the 21st century – the century of modern civilization and information technology Our nation is currently in a development period whose foundation is knowledge economy and a policy with the focus on education, particularly on innocation of teaching and learning qualities, as a top priority, for the purpose of training the human resources for the industrialization and modernization of Vietnam In order to survive and develop to keep up with other developed countries, we must master the latest achievements Thus, the curricula in schools today should aim at such practical issues English as a subject in school curricula was popularized later than other subjects, but it is the key to the human beings’ treasure of knowledge It can lead us to the world, cooperate with other nations and help us acquire the best knowledge available Currently at high level, English program has been renewed in terms of content, form and methods of teaching The purpose of foreign language teaching in general and English in particular is not aimed at students in the study of the language system, but to help them use the system language as a communication tool, meant to train students communicative competence This communication capability is represented by two production skills: speaking and writing skills In the two mentioned skills, the writing skill is considered difficult for students It requires learners not only to have extensive knowledge about the topic you want to write, but also to have vocabularies, master the rules of grammar and sentence structures to be able to express their ideas One difficulty students encounter when writing is that they often lack the necessary ideas to write So we need to help students apply their knowledge available, exchange each other to share the good ideas or knowledge to the article which contains full, rich content To meet actual demand, every teacher needs to find an optimal teaching methods, matching each real object of each student to achieve good results that is the problem, the purpose for which each teacher has to concern, to think Through the process of teaching, exploring learning, referring to many types of books, apply many different teaching techniques, I bravely choose and write up the experience initiative "Brainstorming activities in writing lessons." 1.2 The purpose of study: With researching this experience initiative successfully, it will help teachers get the following experiences: Using appropriately and exploiting effectively the teaching writing techniques Finding out the way to boost the students so that they have motivation to learn writing skills Accumulating the methods when conducting an effective writing lesson 1.3 The object of study: The research topic focuses on designing writing skill lectures for some writing sections in 10, 11, 12 grades of high school program, mobilizing students’ background, developing dynamics for student in writing skills, designing lessons at each stage to be able to apply the appropriate teaching techniques to the circumstances of each classroom, each object type so that they can write effectively The objects of the study are students in10, 11, 12 grades When researching this topic, I had to perform the following tasks: - Look at the documentation of teaching and learning English, the teaching techniques in writing skills - Remove the faculty, teaching experiment - Exchange professional knowledge with colleagues, learn from experience - Inspect and assess the results of all students in holding knowledge, so that there is a reasonably additional adjustment 1.4 The methodology of research: - Observational method - Experimental method - Exchangeable and discussible method - Investigational method II CONTENT 2.1 Theoretical basis: As soon as students learn English, they have to get in touch with four basic skills of language: listening, speaking, reading and writing These are teachers’ important skills in transmitting knowledge to students All in all, writing skill is difficult for learners Teachers are expected to find out effective teaching methods and to practice well the rule "Learning accompanies with practicing." Starting from the opinion “learners are the centre”, learning and teaching methods have basically changed Teachers are not the only to seize the knowledge and to transmit They are the guiders, supporters, consultants and inspectors Learners are not passive ones in acquiring knowledge They are the centre of the teaching and learning process Learners are always active in learning with a view to gaining high results in learning as well as making use of in real life In teaching foreign language in general and English in particular, teaching method innovation is a matter of great importance Besides mastering the language knowledge, practicing listening, speaking, reading well; writing skill plays an important part as well Teaching writing skill is one of the basic contents and it is really a subtle combination in teaching other language skills From the above theoretical point, how to apply teaching writing methods to help students practice a good English writing (making sure that it is accurate in writing request, grammar and creation) is very important 2.2 Real basis before applying this innovation: High schools have been using new textbooks, students are expected to develop four skills equally in a textbook and writing skill is the one that learners need spend much time practicing in order to get a coherent and clear article To make sure the right and sufficient teaching and learning according to the curriculum, and widening to practice the four basic skills, especially writing skill for students, teachers need study, collect and use a variety of practical forms in accordance with each school’s material facility condition so that it can improve students’ English standard English is a quite interesting subject but learners are required to be highly labourious or the knowledge is easily interrupted and forgettable On the way to look for the experience, collecting materials and studying colleagues’ experiences, taking part in Thanh Hoa training and education department’s professional training courses, I have integrated modern learning methods into the periods, especially in arid writing lessons During empirical progress, my students have gained some relatively encouraging results; the writing classes are less boring; students are more active and better at writing; many students’ compositions are highly creative Advantages and disadvantages at Thieu Hoa high school when this innovation is applied: * Advantages: - The school managing board always care about and create favourable conditions in terms of material facilities and professional documents for teaching: CD players, overhead projectors - The local government and other associations inside and outside schools always support teachers in the their job - The teachers of English always receive support in the same professional group and colleagues - Most pupils in class like learning English and properly prepare books, notebooks and other learning tools - Almost all pupils’ parents always provide necessary care and good conditions for their children’s learning * Disadvantages: - The majority of pupils not know effective writing learning methods Their parents find it difficult to check or instruct them in their self-study at home, because not all parents know English - They are not fully aware of the significance of English, and it is a difficult subject, so some become fed up with it - They rarely have chances to write in English, and they tend to be afraid when it comes to writing in English - Most of them are in difficult situations, so they not have many reference books to improve their vocabularies, structures or phrases, apart from that provided in their course books * Specific investigation: In the process of teaching, with the sense of both researching students’ learning situation features and carrying out to learn from experience, from the beginning of the school year, I've driven myself specific plans and methods in order to actively investigate the students’ learning situation in the classes I directly teach The specific survey results are: Table 1: General information about students participating in the survey: Class The number Good Rather Mediu Weak Bad 11K 10M 11B of students 45 43 43 m 38,8% 46,5% 52% 6,2% 7,0% 8% 0% 4,7% 2% 4,1% 0% 0% good 50,9% 41,8% 38% 2.3 Problem solving: To perform an effective writing lesson, each lesson is ensured three main parts: pre - writing, while - writing and post - writing + Pre - writing: This is the initial phase of a writing lesson, Teachers guide students the topic, provide linguistic data for students to prepare to write as words, phrases, and some necessary structures for the later writing Apart from the structures, students need to have ideas to complete a good composition In the step to find ideas, teachers have students operate in groups such as: speaking activities to find out the opinions, interviewing and reading ones to get information If students are at lower level, teachers can get students to read the model essays or to write a completed text from the suggested words + While - writing: Teachers have to guide students clearly, briefly specifically and easily understandable so that students can write the right form of a composition Students use the prepared information to rewrite by their own vocabularies They can work individually, in pairs or in groups + Post - writing: This is the stage that students complete their compositions Teachers have students correct the mistakes themselves before teachers give feedback * The implementation solutions: - Mind - map method: In order to help students find out the ideas, I have applied the mind – map method (spider’s web or branch forms): Idea Idea Topic Idea Idea Spider’s web mind – map Idea Idea Main ideas Idea Idea Branch form Depending on the theme and content of the article, teachers can choose suitable diagrams For the topic with less main themes and the short auxiliary parts, the spider’s web mind – map should be used And for those with more main ideas, auxiliary parts in phrase forms, we should use the branch forms The topic of the mind – map diagram is the composition’s theme From the main theme, teachers will guide students to discuss, exchange to figure out the main ideas by drawing more branches revolving around themes From those branches, students continue drawing the small branches indicating the supportive idea for the main theme Example 1: Unit 13 (English 11) – Writing about a collection Teachers can use the following diagram for students to brainstorm Your collection 10 Example 1: years ago Color Shap e Size When I was… Type Classi fy Broaden knowledge Shelve s Whe n Know more about Why Safe Book Stamp Nam e Your collection Sell How to keep Box At the age of… Last year Doll Coin Give Future plan Album Buy How to collect Exchang e Collect more Donate Ask friends / relatives Example 2: 14 Share housework Go to bed on time Get up early Wash clothes Have to Not have to Family rules Allowed Not allowed Prepare meals Go out with friends Use the family motorbike Play sports after school Drink wine / smoke Go out late at night Example 3: Unit (English 10): The story of my village 15 16 Thus, after brainstorming activities to complete the mind – map, students have relatively necessary ideas for the composition Teachers only guide students some structures, how to verbalize students’ ideas and disposition, from that students can perform their own articles The advantage of this method is that it can bring into play students’ activeness and creation Due to the brainstorming, discussion, exchanging the ideas, students will find out more ideas and their compositions’ contents are not only more sufficient but also various - Using table method: Aside from the mind – map, table method is also very effective to organise the brainstorming activities in the writing skill period With this method, teachers have to prepare the table (under the learning note form) It is dependable on the contents for which teachers design the table suitably Normally, I use the following table: Topic MAIN IDEAS CONTENTS Example 1: Unit 13 (English 10) – Describing a film Describing a film MAIN IDEAS CONTENTS Name of the film Kind of the film What the film is about Where the film is made What it is based on The main character (s) What you know about the character (s) Ending 17 Teachers fill the information in the MAIN IDEAS column (the gist of the article), the CONTENT column is the one that students have to fill the information by brainstorming After delivering the table, teachers ask students to think about and fill the missing information in the table During the process, students think and exchange the ideas and fill the information in the table, teachers should go round to help students because they may have difficulties in vocabularies After brainstorming, each group (or individual) will have a table with different information on the same topic Students can write about films like Harry Potter / Tom and Jerry / Romeo and Juliet Teachers can ask students to swap tables together to share information with each other Example: Describing a film MAIN IDEAS Name of the film Kind of the film What the film is about CONTENTS Romeo and Juliet Love story film Tragic love between Romeo and Where the film is made What it is based on The main character (s) Juliet Italy A true story in Verona City in Italy Romeo, a handsome and gentle boy/ What you know about the Juliet, a nice girl They fell in love at the first sight / character (s) They were not allowed to get married/ Their parents hated each Ending other Unhappy (They killed themselves to keep their love ) 18 After finishing brainstorming activities, students completed information sheet about the topic you want to write Next, the teacher guides students structures, how to verbalize and link that information together and then ask students to write a paragraph or a complete article The use of table method to organize activities aimed at exploiting knowledge and understanding (knowledge base) of students on the topic posts Students are free to write about what they know or they like Example 2: Unit (English 10) - Special education What were advertised - Native teachers only What happened to you - Only one native teachers / All - No more than 20 students per Vietnamese teachers class - About 50 students in class - Free books and cassettes tapes - Paid 100.000 VND for books and - All air-conditioned rooms cassettes - 5.30 pm – 8.30 pm - Only one ceiling fan in classroom - Start late but finish early, teacher * The arrived late implementing measures: - Organizing group activities (Work in groups) In a class, students’ level of knowledge, thinking cannot absolute uniformity This requires teachers to organize appropriate activities and forms of learning to create an interaction between the students Operating group activities during the brainstorming ones is a really effective measure Group activity creates the environment for discussing and debating in community Each individual’s reviews are revealed, confirmed or rejected, thereby learners can improve to a new level Group activity increases learning efficiency, reduces dependent phenomenon The character and the capacity of each member are shown For the method of using diagrams to organize learning activity, teachers should organize group activities The teacher divides the class 19 into small groups (4-5 students) and asks the groups to act to complete the mind – map according to the topic Teachers can also split the theme of the article into subthemes, and divide the class into groups with the corresponding numbers so that each group can practice and complete a diagram about a topic of small threads After brainstorming activity, teachers ask the groups to share the results with each other and eventually to gather the results of the group for the synthesis of knowledge about the topic of discussion Example 1: Unit (English 10) – Writing about advantages and disadvantages of the mass media Teachers divide the class into six groups to have a discussion about the six following topics: - Group 1: Advantages of the Internet - Group 2: Disadvantages of the Internet - Group 3: Advantages of radio - Group 4: Disadvantages of radio - Group 5: Advantages of newspapers - Group 6: Disadvantages of newspapers Example 2: Unit (English 11) – Describing a celebration Teachers divide the class into four groups to have a discussion about the four following topics: - Group 1: Mid – Autumn Festival - Group 2: National Independence Day - Group 3: Teachers’ Day - Group 4: Women’s Day - Organizing to work in pairs or individually: For the method of using table to organize brainstorming activities, I organize the class to work in pairs or individually After guiding the topic of the article, 20 teachers deliver the table (already prepared) and ask the pairs / individuals to brainstorm to fill in the table For the classes that students are rather than average or higher in degree (selected class), I ask each pair / individual to complete a separate table at their disposal For the classes with less qualified students, I combine the method of orientation to guide students by asking students to think to complete information on some of the themes that I made (with images or video clip) Note that these topics should be very popular and closer to students In this case, the individuals and pairs or can freely elect the topic (what they like or understand best) to fill in the table Example: Unit 13 (English 10) - Describing a film Teachers can take pictures or video clips on movies: Tom and Jerry / Romeo and Juliet / Happy House / Harry Potter (or any other famous movies) Note: when organizing activities in groups, pairs or individuals, teachers should limit time for students Depending on the content of articles that teachers limit for a reasonable period (usually no more than 15 minutes) This is done to avoid losing too much students’ time in brainstorming activity and lack of time for other activities * For “in pairs” activities I also give the game "LUCKY PAIRS" on writing lesson The game "LUCKY PAIRS" is applied in two parts: the While -writing and Post – writing and it is made as follows: - The teacher writes the names of all students in the class in pairs (the teacher can arrange themselves or rely on class diagrams) in the small pieces of paper, then put them in a box - When teaching While – writing part, the teacher instructs students how to play: two students will represent to draw and read out the names of two lucky pairs Two lucky pairs will write their articles up the extra tables and theirs will be checked by whole class and their teacher in Post-writing activities At the same 21 time the teacher will give marks if the articles are good The remaining students will work in pairs to write in their notebooks or in their papers, the teacher can collect some items to correct at home - The teacher provides students with some points to consider when correcting students’ mistakes such as: the contents have enough ideas or not, grammar, words, phrases Then the teacher asks "LUCKY PAIRS" groups to hang the extra tables on the board to give feedbacks Finally, the teacher comments the students’ strengths and weaknesses to overcome in the later articles and have the students rewrite their posts at home With the adoption of this game to writing lesson, it not only helps students interested in the subject, helps all students in the class become active in working but also helps teachers have enough time to fix the students, and students are more and more confident and progressive in learning English in general and improve their writing in particular 2.4 Result Analysis * Results: Through applying the innovation I myself have achieved some positive results: First of all, these experiences are consistent with the new textbook program; students are more interested in learning and more proactive and creative to expand the understanding; also very flexible in perceiving knowledge and skill development The academic atmosphere is simmering and soothing Students have the opportunity to assert themselves, no longer embarrassed or frightened when entering school This is the cause that leads to the relatively positive results of the second term: Table 2: Achieved results: Class The number Good Rather Medium Weak Bad 11K 10M 11B of students 45 43 43 good 61,2% 65,1% 52% 28,6% 30,2% 42% 0% 0% 4% 10,2% 4,7% 2% 0% 0% 0% 22 * Experience drawn Through successfully applying the innovation, I myself have drawn out some experience as follows: - Teachers must always create foreign language environment in school and must use English as the main language for communication - Depending on the grades and students that teachers can use English sentences which are short, simple, easy to understand, easy to remember, catchy - Teachers should integrate written English activities with the form "playing learning" - Teachers should appeal, attract students to the article content in the forms of activity, teaching writing techniques that are appropriate to each stage of a writing lesson - Teachers need to choose, use and flexibly combine the methods and techniques in the writing teaching process of a writing lesson - Teachers must innovate lectures to suit each student's level, create conditions for weak students so that they can confidently participate in exciting classes III CONCLUSION AND PETITION: 3.1 Conclusion: What I have presented above is my teaching methods and experience I realize that in the teaching process, teachers should try to apply methods flexibly so as to make them suitable with the content of the lesson and their students Besides, teachers should also wisely use pedagogical techniques to stimulate students’ interest in their study and help them have good study results To promote the originality and activeness of pupils in studying, we need to organize the teaching process in the direction of positivizing learners’ activities, and during this process, teachers are only those who transmit knowledge to pupils Students should learn such knowledge through their own activities if they wish to acquire and master it 23 Regarding students, apart from some good ones, there are also some who not learn much Therefore, teachers should encourage them to actively participate in the teaching and learning process To satisfactorily answer the need for renovating educational methods at the secondary level, besides objective factors, such as the curriculum, time, levels of students, teachers’ professional capabilities, the most important element is the way teachers organize their lessons To respond to the movement of renovating teaching methods at primary and secondary schools, as a teacher of English, I really wish to contribute my part to improve teaching methods in general, so they can become more effective, and pupils can enjoy learning English and communicate in English I look forward to getting the leaders’ and colleagues’ contribution and comments 3.2 Petition: From the achieved results, I have the following petition: - Teachers have to well organize activities involving in the lessons - Power point should be used in order to have a lively lesson - The leaders take more interest in this specific subject CONFIRMATION OF THE HEAD MASTER Thieu Hoa, May 26th 2019 I HEREBY COMMIT THAT THIS PAPER IS MY ORIGINAL IDEA AND IS NOT COPIED FROM ANY SOURCES Trần Xuân Diệu 24 REFFERENCE MATERIALS New English textbook and teachers’ book (Ministry of Education and Training) How to teach English Jeremy Harmer – NXB Longman The Methodology Course (English Language Teaching Training Project) Teaching Writing Skills in a language Christine Nuttall – Oxford University Press – 2001 Book “Some problems on renovating the teaching methods in English of high schools" (Ministry of Education and Training) 25 Appendix: Model teaching plan Unit 2- English 11- period 10 UNIT Lesson: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES WRITING I OBJECTIVES By the end of the lesson, Ss will be able to write a letter to describe a past experiences within 120-130 words based on the suggested cues II LANGUAGE FOCUS  New words Words related to past experiences II TEACHING AIDS extra board III PROCEDURE Stages/time needed Warm-up (8mn) Teacher’s activities Students’ activities - Has Ss fill in the blanks with the words Work in pairs provided a.proud b.embarraced d.angry e.sad f.frightened David was very ………when his father appeared on TV Tom was very ………… when John took his car without asking him George was very ……… when he was given bad marks Linda was very ……… when she saw an accident Mary was very ………… when she sent him a birthday present on the wrong day - Walks around and explains Ss the new words if necessary - Asks some Ss to present their results - Checks and corrects - Introduces Ss the personal experiences in sentences above and asks: When did you last feel ………….? a.angry b.surprised c.frightened d.happy - Asks some Ss to answer the questions - Leads Ss into the lesson - Has Ss read a letter Pre-writing (7mn) Dear Janes, Last night I had a terrible dream I was waking along an empty street late at night Suddenly a tiger appeared at the end of the street He ran toward me with his big mouth 26 While- writing (18mn) Post- writing (10mn) Homework (2mn) open and sharp teeth He roared and jumped upon me I screamed loudly and awoke I’m still frghtened now What about you ? How are you? What are you doing these days? Send my best wishes to your parents Write to me soon I’m looking forward to hearing from you Sincerely yours, Paola  Has Ss complete the chart Work in pairs Name of experience When it happened Where it happened How it happened How the experience affected the writer  Checks and corrects - Has Ss write a letter to his/ her pen friend telling him/her about one of his/her most memorable past experiences, using some Work individually suggested main points When it happened Where it happened How it happened Who was involved How the experience affected you - Walks around and helps Ss if necessary - Asks some Ss to write their letters on the board - Comments and corrects - Asks Ss to the exercises of Writing in Workbook, page 17 - Asks Ss to prepare next lesson carefully Do at home 27 28 ... solving: To perform an effective writing lesson, each lesson is ensured three main parts: pre - writing, while - writing and post - writing + Pre - writing: This is the initial phase of a writing. .. practicing listening, speaking, reading well; writing skill plays an important part as well Teaching writing skill is one of the basic contents and it is really a subtle combination in teaching... "Brainstorming activities in writing lessons. " 1.2 The purpose of study: With researching this experience initiative successfully, it will help teachers get the following experiences: Using appropriately