The experience in teaching vocabulary effectively for primary studens

1 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic: English is an international language, it has a great role in many fields such as diplomacy economy, commerce, science and technology Because of opening policies of our state and party and globalization, many and many people use foreign languages, especially English English is used by many classes in our society Following that trend, there has been an increare in teaching and learning English at primary schools in Viet Nam It gives students chance to learn an international language English is a new and difficult subject for primary students When they first learn English, they must learn vocabulary And vocabulary is one of the important part of a foreign language In all skills such as: speaking, listening, reading and writing, we need to have vocabulary In order to have good vocabulary knowledge,we must learn hard and enrich our vocabulary day by day It is very difficult for primary students because they have not been the awareness of learning a foreign language and just because they not feel the importantce of learning English But they have strong points such as: They can memorize the words well and they easily imitate their teachers but they don’t memorize long This makes them afraid of vocabulary and have wrong writing of vocabulary and pronounce the words incorrectly or they are not eager to communicate with each other in English in each English lesson So how can they enrich their vocabulary? How can we make them eager to learn English ? This is a question for all of us - English teachers With my experience of teaching, I would like to introduce "The experience in learning vocabulary effectively for primary students" 1.2 The purpose of research : Before going into the specific issue, we agree that the mainstream methods of teaching foreign languages is integration, meaning that new words should be taught in context Students should learn how to use new words and new structures for communication in foreign languages Right from the beginning, teachers should consider the various procedures for teaching, testing and consolidating vocabulary Should all the new words be taught or not? How should teachers teach vocabulary effectively? The purpose of this initiative is to help: - Construct intuitive tools to introduce new words - Ensure that students understand the structure, vocabulary applied to the structure to improve communication functions - Deepen vocabulary in memory of students through the sample questions and practice exercises - Help the lessons become more vibrant and lively - Students understand the new words in the classroom - Students' vocabulary significantly increase - The weak students use the vocabulary in simple sentences and then in more complex sentences 1.3 The subject of research : I have applied alternately to the lessons to the lessons in English textbook grade 3, 4, and have performed for students in grade at Dong Ve Primary school 1.4 The methods of research In order to implement this initiative, I have chosen some of the following methods: - Reading documents that relate to the research issue - Survey method for comments - Testing method - Pedagogical observation method - Method of assessment 2 CONTENT 2.1 Rationale The purpose of foreign language teaching is not to give students knowledge of the language, but the ultimate goal of teaching foreign languages in general and English in particular is teaching students the ability to communicate in English The ability of students to communicate through skills: Listening, Speaking , Reading and Writing - For any languages in the world, to communicate with it, we are required to have vocabulary Vocabulary is an indispensable component in the language used for communication activities and an important part of the language learning - In English we can not train and develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing of students without basing on the foundation of vocabulary Indeed, without a necessary variety of vocabulary, students can not speak, listen, read or write well however good they may be at structures The findings of the “National Reading Panel” indicate that vocabulary instruction does lead to gains in comprehension, but that methods must be appropriate to the age and ability of the reader Using both indirect and direct teaching methods to build students’ oral and reading vocabularies should be a part of a balanced reading program Indirect methods would include read-alouds, shared reading and writing experiences, and independent reading Direct teaching of vocabulary should respond to the needs of the students and should actively engage them in the process (National Reading Panel, 2000) Learning vocabulary may not be the most exciting thing students school, but by using interesting and fun ways to teach vocabulary words, teachers can increase student interest and help with both memorization and retention 2.2 The situation of the problem: Under the current curriculum distribution, English accounts for four periods per week in primary school Each lesson of units normally has new words In oredr to teach vocabulary more vividly and effectively, teachers should use pictures or flashcards for illustration, which enables students to easily remember words and attract their attention to the lessons Of course, there are few difficulties in vocabulary learning I believe vocabulary is the most comprehensive and most difficult aspect of English for foreign learners to master thoroughly Students should concentrate first on learning the most frequently used and therefore most important English vocabulary for their practical real life needs However, besides a number of children who learn vocabulary seriously, many students are still lazy at learning vocabulary Moreover, it is also very difficult to check or guide them to learn at home Because English is a foreign language and parents not always know it well It is also very difficult to the manage students' learning at home Also, the way students learn vocabulary is also worthy of attention Students often learn vocabulary by reading words in English and trying to remember them in Vietnamese They are easy to forget and get confused with so many words As a result, many students get bored with learning Therefore, teachers need pay attention to the psychology of students I have taken a small recent survey among 4th grade students at Dong Ve II primary school by this exercise to test the students’ memory of words *Exercise: Write a dictation My best friend is Hoang Ha Linh She is ten years old She lives at 14 Le Cong Khai Street in ThanhHoa with her mother, father and her younger brother She is a student at Dong Ve primary school He is tall and thin She has long black hair Her close friends are Van, Dung and me Her telephone number is 091.240.279 I obtained the following results: Wrong writing of Class Total Correct writing of words words 4A 4B 4C 30 31 32 10 students (33,3%) 19 students (61,3%) 12 students (37,5%) 20 students (66,7%) 12 students (38,7%) 20 students (62,5%) The result showed that the number of students who are not good at vocabulary is still comparatively high To improve the situation, I decided to try to apply some my teaching experience to vocabulary teaching 2.3 The solution to the problem As a English teacher, I always encourage my students to learn English and I use more interesting pictures and educational equipments and teach my students many English songs in order to get the students’ attention to their learning How can teachers help them learn vocabulary well? Here are some techniques 2.3.1 Learn the vocabulary by real images When I teach lesson about the weather, there are some words about the weather : cloudy, sunny, rainy…., I draw the picture of the words about the weather Eg: Teacher draws Students:    có mây có nắng có mưa - T reads cloudy - Ss repeat (twice) cloudy - T writes and reads cloudy - Ss read again cloudy sunny sunny sunny sunny rainy rainy rainy rainy After students read in chorus,I call each student to read the words individually I listen and correct their pronunciation and ask them to read again the words they pronounce incorrectly And then I ask them to play the game “ What and Where” The aim of this game is to help students remember the pronunciation of the words immediately When the period has five minutes left I guide them to play the game "Slap the board" By the end of this lesson, students will be able to help students remember the meaning of the words I divide the class into groups Eg: The questions with “How” Group wide long heavy high bridge      Group metre deep thick fast well      2.3.1.1 Learn vocabulary basing on the structure: - When I teach comparative adjectives, I call some students to go to the board or use some pictures and ask the rest of the class to look at them then describe their friends The girl is taller than the boy The boy is bigger than the girl - Or I use the real things to make comparison eg: I pick two rulers and ask the students to make comparison 2.3.1.2 Learn vocabulary according to the topic In this lesson, students remember all the words, I ask students to write down the words they have learnt: Sports Clothes Fruits Subjects Food - football - jacket - bananas - English - bread - swimming - blouse - apples - Music - rice - badminton - shirt - oranges - Vietnamese - fish - tennis - trousers - mangoes - Mathematics - meat - table tennis - T- shirt - pine- apple - Art - beef - basketball - jeans - grapes - Scien - chicken - base ball - shoes - lemon - A.T - noodle Or I give some vocabulary of the topic combining real pictures This way helps them remember quickly and fully accurately Ex: shirts,trousers,jeans, shorts, dresses … are clothes - bananas, apples, oranges….are fruits - rice, meat, fish …are food ( download pictures from Internet: www.google pictures of clothes; www.google pictures of food; www.google pictures of fruits ) I also ask students to revise the words they have learnt by playing games Eg: I write down one word on the board and ask students to write all the supporting words Summer Spring seasons Winter Autumn By doing this, I think students remember the words easily and they find no difficulty in doing “choosing exercises” 2.3.2 Revising words by learning songs Basing on the original songs, I can compose the other songs and ask students to remember the words in these songs They can sing along and learn new words easily in their lessons such as: warm- up, consolidation …or when they have a rest Students can sing individually, in pairs, in groups or all class… Eg: Revising the colour words by singing “Bac Kim Thang” song: - Revising the words by singing “ Family Member” song: 10 11 2.3.3 Revising words at home: “Study must be together with practice” That saying is always true Learning words is not enough in class but also at home I ask them to learn some new words each day or spend thirty minutes each day learning new words This helps them form their good study habbit After a period of learning vocabulary, I ask them to write down the words at home, each word must be written down five times until they remember the meaning, the pronunciation of these words By doing this, I think students will remember all the words they have learnt Beside asking them to write down the words in their book, they can write the words down anywhere if it is possible such as: a piece of paper, a board… so that they can learn the words anywhere or any time eg: Traffic lights Health Đèn giao thông Sức khỏe Headache Đau đầu Turn left Rẽ trái 2.3.4 Learning vocabulary anywhere Beside learning vocabulary in class or at home, I also advise students to have a piece of paper or a small notebook, whenever they study or find new words they can write the words down in a piece of paper or a small notebook in both side: one side is in Vietnamese, the other is in English By doing this, they can learn vocabulary anywhere so they can remember the words easily It is one of the best ways to enrich their knowledge of vocabulary Beside that, I encourage students to watch foreign films or cartoons in English so that they can practice their listening skill and they have chance to imitate the way each word that is pronounced correctly So they have good memory, pronunciation of the words Eg: The front side The back side Sports - football swimming badminton tennis table tennis baseball basketball Thể thao - bóng đá bơi cầu lơng quần vợt bóng bàn bóng chày bóng rổ 12 2.4 The effect of initiative application Above is my experience of teaching vocabulary that I have had after many years of teaching and studying Here is the reasonable result: I find that students are more confident, they are eager to write words They pronounce the words correctly , they are better at reading and writing skill, especially they are more self-confident in communication inside or outside classes By taking this survey, I can find each students’ weak points and strong points so that I can have the best methods of teaching which are suitable for each student’s level Excellent Good Average Below average Class Total % Total % Total % Total % 4A 13,3 12 40 12 40 6,7 4B 16,1 10 32,3 13 41,9 9,7 4C 25 12 37,5 10 31,2 6,3 * The experience: By taking this survey, I have drawn some experiences: In order to improve the quality of teaching, each teacher must be enthusiastic with career or try their best to study, to find the interesting methods of teaching which attract students so that they get interes ted in each period of learning English We should encourage students to learn English especially we must pay much attention to the weak students We should combine knowledge of many other subjects to provide the best periods of learning English to the children We can use cartoons, beautiful songs, interesting games…to help students remember the words easily 13 THE CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Conclusion: This is only the first step results in the implementation process to improve teaching methods I have learnt more from collegues, teachers who have extensive experience in teaching and education and from my own reality of teaching English in classes 4, as well as theoretical study I have experienced in innovative teaching methods Use songs and music, real life objects, or puzzles, but the more teachers mix the better Remember the difference between recognizing and producing words: to practice recognition the words have to be supplied by teachers; then students use them to fill in blanks or match them For students to effectively and accurately produce vocabulary, they have to spontaneously recall the words 3.2 Recommendations: 3.2.1 To the leaders: - I would like leaders to facilitate teachers study conditions, reference, selflearning, self- training to improve and enhance the quality of teaching - The school should provide some additional equipment for subjects like English: the pictures of each lesson in the textbook and, if possible, please provide players, video tapes, lab for English subject - English clubs or thematic sessions on innovative teaching methods, information technology application to teaching as well as sample lessons for hard lessons should be organized regularly for teachers to be able learn and exchange experience with each other With the positive and satisfactory results I have obtained, personally, I would like to propose to the Staff of Administrators at Dong Ve primary school to facilitate the school-wide application 3.2.2 To the teachers: - Be positive more every day, creat more gentle and comfortable learning environment - Teacher should prepare lessons carefully before class - Prepare content for students by establishing discussing questions and the possible suggested answers - Play a role as a guider who helps student in learning activities - Have students work in pairs or groups so that students can help each other as much as possible I also would like to encorage Vietnamese teschers to have more confidence and experience in teaching vocabulary even though we are not native speakers of English With full advanced preparation, we can all be experts in teaching English This is an initiative by my personal experiences drawn from practical teaching, thus, it would not be surely avoid deficiencies I personally expect the interest and comments from the leaders and colleagues 14 Headmaster’s signature Dong Ve 2, March 20th 2018 I swear this thesis is written by me without copying content from others! Written by Vu Thi Thuy Ha Ha Thi Hai Yen 15 REFERENCES 1, Use melody of " Bac Kim Thang" “Family Members” songs 2, Download images from Sach mem 3, Download images for www.google pictures of fruits from Internet 4, Download images for www google pictures of food from Internet 5, Download images for www.google pictures of clothes from Internet 16 THE RESULT OF EXCELENT EXPERIENCES ACHIEVED The implementer: Ha Thi Hai Yen Position: Teacher School: Dong Ve Primary School STT NAME OF EXCELENT EXPERIENCES Create excitement for primary students with short songs LEVEL Level B of City TIME 2012- 2013 17 INDEX Content INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing topics 1.2 The purpose of research 1.3 The subject of research 1.4 The methods of research CONTENT 2.1 Rationnale 2.2 The situation of the problem 2.3 Matter content 2.4 The effect of initiative application THE CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS 3.1 Conclusion 3.2 Recomendations Page 1 2 3 13 14 14 14 18 ... reading and writing experiences, and independent reading Direct teaching of vocabulary should respond to the needs of the students and should actively engage them in the process (National Reading... Rationale The purpose of foreign language teaching is not to give students knowledge of the language, but the ultimate goal of teaching foreign languages in general and English in particular is teaching. .. “choosing exercises” 2.3.2 Revising words by learning songs Basing on the original songs, I can compose the other songs and ask students to remember the words in these songs They can sing along