Some suggestions on how to use language games in speaking lessons for 11th grade students

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE TABLE OF CONTENTS A INTRODUCTION I Rationale of the study .2 II Aims of study III Scope of the study IV Research questions V Methods of the study B DEVELOPMENT I Literature review Communicative language teaching 1.1 Definitions of CLT .4 1.2 Characteristics of CLT Speaking 2.1 Definitions of speaking 2.2 The importance of speaking 2.3 Common speaking activities Motivation 3.1 Definitions of motivation .7 3.2 Types of motivation .8 Overview of language games 4.1 What are language games? 4.2 Types of language games 10 4.3 Why use games in language teaching 11 4.4 When to use games .12 4.5 Language games as a motivator for students to speak .12 II Sample games used in speaking lessons 13 Warm-ups 13 Pre-speaking stage 15 While- speaking stage 15 Post- speaking stage .16 III Results 17 IV Recommendations .17 C CONCLUSION AND PROPOSALS 18 REFERENCES 19 A INTRODUCTION I RATIONALE OF THE STUDY Nowadays, English assumes as a more and more important part as a means of international communication than ever Therefore, in some recent years, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills in order to respond to the Students’ needs for effective communication However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning speaking in particular does not come up to the study aims In spite of teachers’ efforts to provide students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills, how to teach and learn speaking effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students at many high schools in Vietnam At Nguyen Quan Nho high school, for most students they find speaking especially important yet most challenging one It has been proved that some students got into a habit of learning “mute English”, which is obviously harmful to a language learner It also seems to me that the techniques exploited during a speaking activity such as: role plays, simulations, discussions… are not really effective Therefore, it is a necessity to find a supplementary technique used in teaching speaking Games can help teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful It can be realized that the common tendency of these methodology writers is that teachers should be more active in using classroom activities to help students recycle lexical items One of the most recommended activities is games According to many teachers, games are highly motivating, competitive and fun Games also bring a relaxing atmosphere and create more opportunities for students to practice Through games, students will enjoy themselves, be stimulated and get involved in speaking As a result, they can learn new lexical items faster and remember better With so many advantages, games seem to be an effective way in teaching and learning a foreign language in general and speaking All the above mentioned reasons and factors have inspired me to conduct a research titled "Some suggestions on how to use language games in speaking lessons for 11th Grade students ” II AIMS OF THE STUDY The study is aimed at: - Investigating the situation of teaching and learning speaking to the 11 th graders in classroom - Investigating the effectiveness of using games in teaching speaking to the 11 th graders at Nguyen Quan Nho high school - Providing some suggestions and implications for the improvement of speaking teaching at Nguyen Quan Nho high school by using games in addition to other techniques III SCOPE OF THE STUDY The study focuses specifically on using games in teaching speaking to the th 11 graders at Nguyen Quan Nho high school in Thieu Hoa, Thanh Hoa So the study limits itself to the teaching and learning speaking only, and the subjects of the study are students from two classes (11B3 and 11B4) studying “Tieng Anh 11” textbook at Nguyen Quan Nho high school IV RESEARCH QUESTIONS With the above objectives, the research questions are: - How to motivate the students in English speaking lessons? - How often are games used in teaching English speaking lessons at 11 th graders at Nguyen Quan Nho high school? V METHODS OF THE STUDY Observation method: The subjects performed self-exploration research project conducted classroom visits, attended colleagues’ lessons Experimental Methods: Teachers teach test conducted on each specific purpose requires some speaking lessons Investigation method: Teachers ask questions to check understanding content assessment of the students’ lessons B DEVELOPMENT I LITERATURE REVIEW Theoretical background relative to the topic and surveys of articles, books and other resources relevant to a particular study topic will be presented This part will also provide description, summary, and critical evaluation of each work quoted Communicative language teaching The history of language teaching has shown a lot of changes in approaches and methods, which reflects the recognition of changes in the sort of proficiency learners need Teaching a second language used to be aimed at enabling learners to read and appreciate class of literature Therefore, any teacher who was able to reach this aim was thought to be a good teacher Most learners of English nowadays desire to be able to communicate with others in the language they learn Parallel with this change in the aims of learning English, methods of teaching has to be changed For a long time, many language teaching methodologists have constantly looked for the most appropriate way to teach English efficiently As a result, many language teaching methods and approaches have come into being such as: - Grammar-translation method - The Direct method - The Audio-lingual method - The Audio-visual method - Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Mackey (1965) remarks that most of the methods which have ever been developed still continue to exist in one form or another as each method has its advantages and disadvantages For example, grammar-translation method is easy to implement and cheap to administer, which makes it still be used in many classroom situations In my study, I only focus on Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) as it is considered the current methodology and one of the most effective approaches to teach learners to speak in a second language 1.1 Definitions of CLT So far, CLT has been viewed differently by different authors such as Wilkins (1972), Nunan (1989), etc According to Nunan (1989: 194), “CLT views language as a system for the expressions of meaning Activities involve oral communication, carrying out meaning tasks and using language, which is meaningful to the learner Objectives reflect the needs of the learner including functional skills as well as linguistic objectives The learners’ role is as a negotiator and integrator The teacher’s role is as a facilitator of the communication process” It is thought that this definition contains aspects that are common to many other definitions Margie S Berns (1984), an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining Firth’s view that "language is interaction, it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles are, why they have come together to speak)" (Ann Galloway “Communicative Language Teaching: An Introduction and Sample Activities” cal.org ) 1.2 Characteristics of CLT The communicative approach can be said to be the product of language educators and linguists who became dissatisfied with the Audio-lingual and Grammar-translation, which could not enable learners to communicate in the culture of the target language David Nunan (1991) points out five features of CLT: - An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language - The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation - The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself - An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning - An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the classroom These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom Under this broad umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities Speaking 2.1 Definitions of speaking Speaking, as Bygate (1997) definites, involves not only the use of the right sounds in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning Speaking, a productive skill, is known to have two main types of conversation namely dialogue and monologue, which are rather different In monologue, you give uninterrupted oral presentation while in dialogue you interact with one or more other speakers for transactional and interaction purposes It is noticeable from the two productive language skills that speaking is different from writing in both processing conditions and reciprocity conditions “First, spoken language is affected by the time limitations, and the associated problems of planning, memory, and production under pressure Second, it is reciprocal activity, which has crucial effect on the kinds of decisions to be made” (Byagte, 1997: 11-12) 2.2 The importance of speaking In social contexts, social roles are likely to be taken by those who learn and know how to speak, but not by those who not have this skill In language learning, speaking plays an utmost important role among the four language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) since it helps to identify who knows or does not know a language Pattison (1992) confirms that when people mention knowing or learning a language, they actually mean that they are able to speak the language It can not be denied that speaking deserves as much attention than written skill In order to carry out many of the most basic transactions, it is necessary for learners to speak with confidence 2.3 Common speaking activities A variety of activities can be used to develop speaking skills Below are some common ones * Role play “Role-playing” is one method of getting the students to imagine they are someone else and play the part (Shi Zheng, 2006) Doing role-play activities is a way to practice, or rehearse, situations that may happen in real life The purpose of this is to prepare the students for the real-life language use (Gu Yueguo, 1998: 89) In addition, role-play will be the most commonly used method to ensure that the students can use effectively what they have learned in the real communication (Gu Yueguo, 1998: 239) Richards suggests that collaborative communication activities such as role-plays have the following characteristics: They provide opportunities to practice strategies for opening, developing, and terminating conversational encounters They require learners to develop meanings collaboratively They necessitate the use of turn-taking rules They practice use of conversational routines and expressions They involve learners in different kinds of roles, necessitating use of different styles of speaking They require negotiate completion of tasks They involve information sharing They focus on comprehensible and meaningful input and output They require a high degree of learners’ participation (Richards 1985: 83) * Information gap activity Teachers are often searching for activities to make their classroom more interactive; language teachers in particular are also looking for activities that promote target language use Info Gap activities are excellent activities as they force the students to ask each other questions; these activities help make the language classroom experience more meaningful and authentic This section will explain in more detail what Info Gap activities are and why they are useful, it will also give some examples of Info Gap activities for any language classroom What is an Info Gap activity? An Info Gap activity takes place between students, not between a student and a teacher, though a teacher can certainly demonstrate the activity The two students will be asking each other questions to which they don’t know the answer; these questions are called referential questions The goal of the activity is for the students to discover certain information, whether about the other person or related to a specific activity What are referential and display questions? A referential question is a question to which the person asking does not know the answer For example, you might ask a new student: “Where are you from?” or “What is your name?” The teacher does not know the answer to these questions; the purpose of asking these questions is to discover information, similar to the Info Gap activities A display question is a question to which the person asking doesn’t know the answer For example, you might ask a student: “What colour is my sweater?” or “Do I have long or short hair?” The teacher clearly knows the answer to these questions; the purpose of asking is to promote student speaking, or to prompt students to remember certain information (whether it be vocabulary, grammar, etc.) Why are Info Gap activities useful? Info Gap activities are useful because they are very meaningful All students are involved in the process equally and they are all moving towards a specific purpose Each student has the task of finding out certain information, and therefore must find a way in which to ask for this information Motivation is usually quite high in these activities These activities help move the students from working in a more structured environment into a more communicative environment They are hopefully using lots of the target language, and in the process discovering where they have gaps Knowing where these gaps are gives them a direction in which to improve Motivation 3.1 Definitions of motivation There have been so far many researchers on the theory of motivation Each author has his/her own way of explaining what motivation is since they look at motivation from different angles However, motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to describe the willingness of a person to expand effort to reach a particular goal For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal In linguistics, sociolinguistics and second language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been postulated Motivation is an important affective variable in SLA, and it has a positive correlation with second language achievement and proficiency, that is to say, motivation of high levels often leads to high L2 achievement and proficiency The motivated learners are usually more active in learning, while unmotivated learners are more likely to cause classroom disturbances However, motivation is extremely difficult to define and measure Atkinson (cited in Arnold, 2000: 13) defined motivation as “a cluster of factors that “energize” the behavior and give it “direction” Thus, in Atkinson’s point of view, motivation is a term used to describe what energizes a person and what directs his activity, energy and direction While Dornyei and Otto regarded motivation as a function of a person’s thought and defined it as “the dynamically changing cumulative aroused in a person that initiates, directs, coordinates, amplifies, terminates and evaluates the cognitive and the motor processes whereby initial wishes and desires are selected, prioritized, operationalised and acted out” (cited in Dornyei, 2001: 9) In his word, Ellis stated that “motivation involves the attitudes and effective states that influence the degree of effort that learners make to learn an L2” (Ellis, 1997: 75) Woolfolk (2001: 366) also defined motivation as “an internal state that arouses, directs and maintains behavior” Similarly, Brown (2000: 160) indicated that “motivation is some kind of internal drive which pushes someone to things in order to achieve something” It can be seen that different researchers approach motivation definition in different ways However, they all share the same point of view that motivation combines effort and desire plus favorable and occurs as a result of a combination of internal and external influences This research, therefore, will follow the definition of motivation proposed by Gardner (1982: 132-147) that motivation is perceived to be composed of three elements These include effort, desire and affect Effort refers to the time spent studying the language and the drive of the learner Desire indicates how much the learner wants to become proficient in the language, and affect illustrates the learner’s emotional reactions with regard to language study 3.2 Types of motivation Gardner and Lambert (1972) introduced the notions of instrumental and integrative motivation Instrumental motivation refers to the learner’s desire to learn a language for utilitarian purposes (such as employment or travel or exam purposes) in the context of language learning On the other hand, integrative motivation refers to the desire to learn a language to integrate successfully into the target language community A learner with integrative motivation has a genuine interest in the second hand language community He wants to learn their language in order to communicate with them more satisfactory and to gain closer contact with them and their culture A learner with instrumental motivation is more interested in how the second language can be a useful instrument towards furthering other goals such as gaining a necessary qualification or improving employment prospects (Gardner and Lambert in William T Littlewood, 1984: 57) It can be seen that the two kinds of motivation not exclude each other Most learners are motivated by a mixture of integrative and instrumental reasons In later research studies, Crook’s and Schmidt (1991), and Gardner and Tremblay (1994) explored four other motivational orientations: (a) reason for learning, (b) desire to attain the learning goal, (c) positive attitude toward the learning situation, and (d) effortful behavior Motivation can also be divided into “intrinsic” and “extrinsic” ones in general learning theory (Arnold, 2000: 14) Intrinsic motivation is what learners bring to the learning environment that is their internal attributes: attitudes, values, needs, and personality factors Extrinsic motivation involves performing a behavior as a means to an end, that is, it originates outside the individual and is concerned with external environmental factors that help shape students’ behavior (Dornyei, 2001: 27) Extrinsic motivation comes from the learners’ desire to get external reward or the cognition of the peers and parents, or the avoidance of punishment While intrinsic motivation comes from the learners’ internal factors because the learner regards second language learning as a means to acquire knowledge and satisfy his curiosity and interest Studies show that - learning, especially long-term learning, is mostly influenced by intrinsic motivation, though extrinsic motivation is also beneficial to learning Overview of language games 4.1 What are language games? Language games can be used in language classes So what are games and what are language games? First of all, what are games? Games are forms of entertainment derived from a set of artificial rules, typically with a known goal to be reached Games can be in the form of physical activities, mental, or a mixture of the two Also, games can be classified as cooperative, solitaire or competitive Hadfield (1987) defines “a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun” Similarly, according to Rixon (1981), “a game consists of governed by rules” This is summed up very well in Gibb’s definition (1978) of a game as “an activity carried out by cooperating or competing decision markers, seeking to achieve, within a set of rules, their objectives” Different the definitions are, they share the same opinion that a game has three main characteristics They are: a goal or objective, a set of rules which govern a game and games involve a contest either between players or between players and the goal So, what are the language games? Language games mean games related to language If games help to improve different aspects such as intellectual ability, patience, then language games help to develop language skills When playing these language games, students not only have fun but can also practice English enjoyably, which helps to motivate students Greenal (1984) defines as one kind of “activity which is used to consolidate language already taught or acquired and occurs during the free stage of lesson or during occasions such as English club meeting…” 4.2 Types of language games Classifying language games into categories can be very difficult because categories often overlap Therefore, different linguists use different ways to classify language games According to Hadfield (1987), “language games can be divided into two further categories: Linguistic games and communicative games Linguistic games focus on accuracy, such as applying the correct antonym On the other hand, communicative games focus on successful exchange of information and ideas, such as two people identifying the differences between their two pictures which are similar to one another but not exactly alike Hadfield (1987) also classifies language games into many more categories as follows: a Sorting, ordering, or arranging games For example, students have a set of cards with different products on them, and they sort the cards into products found at a grocery store and products found at a department store b Information gap games In such games, one or more people have information that other people need to complete a task For instance, one person might have a drawing and their partner needs to create a similar drawing by listening to the information given by the person with the drawing Information gap games can involve a one-way information gap, such as the drawing game just described, or a two-way information gap, in which each person has unique information, such as in a Spot-The-Difference task, where each person has a slightly different picture, and the task is to identify the differences c Guessing games These are a variation on information gap games One of the best known examples of a guessing game is “20 Questions”, in which one person thinks of a famous person, place, or thing The other participants can ask 20 Yes/No questions to find clues in order to guess who or what the person is thinking of d Search games These games are yet another variant on two-way information gap games, with everyone giving and seeking information Find Someone Who is a well known example Students are given a grid The task is to fill in all the cells in the grid with the name of a classmate who fits that cell, e.g, someone who is a vegetarian Students circulate, asking and answering questions to complete their own grid and help classmates complete theirs e Matching games As the name implies, participants need to find a match for a word, picture, or card For example, students place 30 word cards, composed of 15 pairs, face down in random order Each person turns over two cards at a time, with the goal of turning over a matching pair, by using their memory This is also known as the Pelmanism principle, after Christopher Louis Pelman, a British psychologist of the first half of the 20th century f Labeling games These are a form of matching, in that participants match labels and pictures g Exchanging games In these games, students barter cards, other objects, or ideas Similar are exchanging and collecting games Many card games fall into 10 this category, such as the children’s card game Go Fish: http://www.pagat.com/ quartet/gofish.html h Board games Scrabble is one of the most popular board games that specifically highlights language i Role play games The terms role play, drama, and simulation are sometimes used interchangeably but can be differentiated (Kodotchigova, 2002) Role play can involve students playing roles that they not play in real life, such as dentist, while simulations can involve students performing roles that they already play in real life or might be likely to play, such as customer at a restaurant Dramas are normally scripted performances, whereas in role plays and simulations, students come up with their own words, although preparation is often useful 4.3 Why use games in language teaching Games have long been advocated for assisting language learning Here are some of the reasons why: a Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort (Thiagarajan,1999; Wright, Betteridge, & Buckby, 2005) After all, learning a language involves long-term effort b Games provide a context for meaningful communication Even if the game involves discrete language items, such as a spelling game, meaningful communication takes place as students seek to understand how to play the game and as they communicate about the game: before, during, and after the game (Wright, Betteridge, & Buckby, 2005) c This meaningful communication provides the basis for comprehensible input (Krashen, 1985), i.e, what students understand as they listen and read, interaction to enhance comprehensibility, e.g, asking for repetition or giving examples (Long, 1991), and comprehensible output, speaking and writing so that others can understand (Swain, 1993) d The emotions aroused when playing games add variety to the sometimes dry, serious process of language instruction (Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 2000) Ersoz, 2000; Lee, 1995) e The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety (RichardAmato, 1988) and encourage shyer learners to take part (Uberman, 1998), especially when games are played in small groups f Games can involve all the basic language skills, i.e, listening, speaking, reading, and writing, and a number of skills are often involved in the same game (Lee, 1995) g Games are student-centered in that students are active in playing the games, and games can often be organized such that students have the leading roles, with teachers as facilitators h Many games can be played in small groups, thereby providing a venue for students to develop their skills in working with others, such as the skill of disagreeing politely and the skill of asking for help (Jacobs & Kline Liu, 1996) 11 To achieve the above-mentioned benefits some thought needs to be given to when and how to use games 4.4 When to use games Games are often used as short warm-up activities or when there is some time left at the end of a lesson Yet, as Lee observes, a game "should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when the teacher and class have nothing better to do" (1979: 3) Games ought to be at the heart of teaching foreign languages Rixon suggests that games be used at all stages of the lesson, provided that they are suitable and carefully chosen” “Games also lend themselves well to revision exercises helping learners recall material in a pleasant, entertaining way All authors referred to in this article agree that even if games resulted only in noise and entertained students, they are still worth paying attention to and implementing in the classroom since they motivate learners, promote communicative competence, and generate fluency” “Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in learning vocabulary in various ways First, games bring in relaxation and fun for students, thus help them learn and retain new words more easily Second, games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in the learning activities Third, vocabulary games bring real world context into the classroom, and enhance Students’ use of English in a flexible, communicative way” “Therefore, the role of games in teaching and learning vocabulary cannot be denied However, in order to achieve the most from vocabulary games, it is essential that suitable games is chosen Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken into account” “In conclusion, learning vocabulary through games is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms The results of this research suggest that games are used not only for mere fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners” communicative competence” 4.5 Language games as a motivator for students to speak The importance of motivation second language teaching and learning has been discussed for many years Motivation is a key consideration in determining the preparedness of learners to communicate Motivation refers to the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language That is, motivation to learn a second language is seen as referring to the extent to which the individual works or strives to learn the language because of a desire to so and the satisfaction experienced in this activity Therefore, those who are motivated participate actively in class and usually get good study results 12 Since motivation is something very personal, it is not easy to develop However, according to Lightbrown and Spada (1999): “If we can make our classrooms places where students enjoy coming because the atmosphere is supportive and non-threatening, we can make a positive contribution to students’ motivation to learn” With a view to creating such a learning atmosphere, using language games, which have long been advocated for assisting language learning, in speaking classes seems to be a good choice for the following reasons: - Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting Language learning is hard work Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time Games help and encourage many students to sustain their interest and work Sustaining interest can mean sustaining effort After all, learning language involves long term effort - The variety and intensity that games offer may lower anxiety and encourage shyer students to take part in speaking class positively, especially when games are played in small groups - Games also help the teachers to create contexts in which the language is meaningful and useful The students want to take part and in order to so they must understand what others are saying and they must speak in order to express their own point of view or give information II SAMPLE GAMES USED IN SPEAKING LESSONS Warm-ups A warm up activity is often a short and fun game which the teacher can use with his students The purpose of warm up activities is to stimulate the student’s minds before studying a new lesson Warm-ups should last about three to five minutes Unit 6: COMPETITIONS Period 31: Speaking Type of games: Matching games Classroom management: Group work Material : Pictures and cards Time: minutes Procedure: The teacher divides the class into groups of four or five students The teacher gives each groups a set of pictures of competitions and cards containing the names of the competitions Students work in groups and quickly match each competitions with their name Which group finishes first and has the correct answers will be the winner Then the teacher asks students: “Do you like taking part in competitions like these?”, “ Which competitions you like to win?” Pictures: Cards: Card 1: Sao Mai Television Singing Contest Card 2: Quiz: “Road to Mount Olympia” 13 Card 3: Olympic Games Card 4: London Marathon Unit 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY Period 68: Speaking Type of games: Sorting, ordering or arranging games Material: energy posters and hand out Class management: Pair work Time: minutes Procedure: The teacher asks students to work in pairs Teacher sticks the following posters on the blackboard or alternatively print these posters and distribute them to students Teacher then gives the handouts to the pairs and asks students to match the energy with the correct picture After minutes, teacher asks some pairs to present in front of the class Sources of energy Pictures Solar energy Water energy Wind energy Fossil fue Geothermal heat 14 Pre-speaking stage This stage is carried out before students speak The pre-speaking activities are aimed at preparing students with everything necessary for speaking They also involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities for students to plan and organize for speaking Normally, pre-speaking stage often lasts from five to fifteen minutes depending on each lesson Unit 3: A PARTY Period 15: Speaking (Task 2) Type of games: Labeling game Class management: Whole class Material : Picture Time: minutes Procedure: The teacher prepares a set of pictures of parties such as: wedding party, birthday party, Christmas party and Easter party and ask students to match the pictures with the name of cards And then let them tell about the party Using some questions : What you often at the party? What kind of presents you often bring to the party? What kind of clothes you often wear at the party? Birthday party Christmas party Easter party Wedding party 15 While- speaking stage This stage is the main part of a speaking lesson in which students use language input provided in pre-speaking stage to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints, to converse and discuss or to describe one event, to tell a story, etc… Time spent on this stage is nearly twenty to thirty minutes Unit 1: FRIENDSHIP Period 4: Speaking (Task 3) Type of games: Role- play Class management: Group work Material: handouts Time 15 minutes Procedure: The teacher asks students to work in pairs : one plays the role of the journalists and the other plays the role of interviewee Teacher distributes the interview form to each pair and asks them to interview a friend of his or hers who has just won the first international prize in Mathematics and takes notes the answers The students can change their roles and make another interview Then the teacher asks some students to report what they have gained from the interview INTERVIEW FORM 1.What is his/her name? When was he/she born? What is he/she like? 4.What does he/she in his/her free time? How is he/she like? Is he/she friendly? Can you tell me something about his/her interest in Maths? How much time does he/she spend on Maths every day? 8.What made him/her successful? What makes him/her a good friend? Post- speaking stage It is the last step of a speaking lesson so it’s time for Students’ production The activities in this stage are for students to reflect upon their performance Post speaking stage should last ten to twelve minutes Unit 6: COMPETITIONS Period 31: Speaking Type of games: Role play Class management: Group work Material: handouts Time: 10-12 minutes Procedure: The teacher asks students to work in pairs: one plays the role an MC in “Sao Mai Television Singing contest”, while the other plays the role of a singer 16 Teacher distributes the interview from each pair and asks them to interview the singer and takes notes the answer The students can change their roles and make another interview Then the teacher asks some students go to the blackboard to talk about the competition that they have attended from the interview INTERVIEW FORM What is your name? Where are you from? Where and when did you take part in it? Who organized it? Who participated in it? Who won the contest? Did you enjoy it? 8.Why did/ didn’t you enjoy it? III RESULTS The number of students who desire speaking lessons Classes Time At the beginning of the school-year 2018-2019 At the end of the school-year 20182019 11B3 (Frequently using games in speaking lessons) 11B4(Rarely using games in speaking lessons) 15/39 12/38 (38.46%) (31.57%) 30/39 18/38 (76.92%) (47.36%) The data from the table shows that by using language games in teaching speaking skills for the students, I have obtained many positive results It is really the motivation to all students when taking part in speaking lessons The observation also reveals that the way I applied in speaking lessons attracted a large number of students They are no longer shy when participating in speaking activities and therefore, much more interested in the games, activities, or pictures that I gave them The students are able to speak English in a real competitive and friendly atmosphere, which encourages them to speak English more They were excited in some speaking activities such as role play, interview… From these activities they can speak and understand English better IV RECOMMENDATIONS I hope that the teaching strategy of using cooperative learning in oral 17 communication classrooms will much benefit my students as they have more chances to engage in speaking activities Students who are timid, shy and feel less motivated when joining in speaking classes of this kind will feel more confident More importantly, competition among the groups was an important factor to motivate students to work as a group, because it is important for them to be the best and to be recognized Students will be aware of their responsibility in the speaking process They should understand that one way to improve speaking is practicing with others, interacting with others, and learning from others C CONCLUSION AND PROPOSALS Speaking is one of the important language skills to students, to master it requires a lot of time and efforts The problem for both teachers and students in the learning process is to find teaching methods and how to practice speaking skills effectively The experience initiatives carried out with the purposes mentioned above have already provided several effective suggestions of using games for students in speaking lessons in English 11 In my teaching English, this experience initiative motivates my colleagues and me more creatively and actively in teaching because teaching speaking skills in English at high schools is not a simple job that requires a lot of effort and patience Thanks to it, students have a positive outlook on language learning in general and learning speaking skills in particular The results need a relatively long time The scope of application of this experience initiative can be extended to all students at different levels because speaking skills exist in all units of the textbooks Although the study has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, it can not avoid some limitations Due to the short time, limit of knowledge and the scope of the study, the study can not cover all the uses of language games in four skills and language elements Therefore, further study can focus on the use of language games as a motivator in reading classes, writing classes, listening classes and language games as an effective technique to teach vocabulary and grammar Obviously, mistakes are unavoidable, all comments and remarks on this research will be highly appreciated I would like to hear the comments of all colleagues to make my subject more complete! I hereby declare that this initiative is due to the experience I myself have written, not copy anybody’s I sincerely thank you! COMMENTS AND ASSESSMENT OF THE SCIENCE COUNCIL Thieu Hoa, April 15th, 2019 The author 18 Trịnh Ngọc Tý REFERENCES Arnold, J.(2000), Affect in Language Learning, CUP Bygate, M (1997), Speaking, Oxford University Press Carrier, M& the others (1985), Take games and activities for language learning, UK: Thomas Nelson and Sons Collin Granger (1980), Play games with english, teachers’book, East Kilbribe, Scotland Dornyei, R (2001), Teaching and Researching Mativation, Longman Ellis, R (1997), Second Language Acquisition, OUP, Oxford Garder, R.C (1982), Language Attitudes and Language learning, Edward Arnold Hadfield, J (1987), Elementary Communication Games, UK: Thomas Nelson and Sons Hadfield, J (2003), Intermediate Grammar Games, Hong Kong: Thomas Nelson and Sons 10 H.Douglas Brown (2000), Principles of language learning and teaching, San Francisco Sate University 11 H.G Widdowson (1978), Linguistics, Oxford university press 12 http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/gallow01.html 13 http://www.languagegames.org./ 14 http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ 15 Johnson ,K and Morrow, K 1991 Communication in the classroom, Longman 16 Lee, W.R (1979), Language teaching games and contests, Oxford: Oxford University Press 17 Lewis, G and Bedson, G (1999), Games for children, Oxford University Presss 18 Littlewood, W (1981), Communicative Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 19 Mc Callum, G.P (1980), 101 Word Games, Oxford: Oxford University Pess 20 Numan, D 1989 Design Tasks for the communicative classroom, C.U.P 21 Numan, David.1991 Communicative tasks and the language curriculum, TESOL Quarterly 25(2), 279-295 22 Richard-Amato, P.A (1998), Making it happen: Interaction in the second 19 language classroom: From theory to practice, New York: Longman 23 Rixon, S.(1981), How to use games in language teaching, London: Macmillan Publishers 24 Ur, P.(1996), A course in Language Teaching, Cambridge: CUP 25 Woolfolk, A (2001), Educational Psychology (8th ed.), Allyn Bacon, A Pearson Education Company, United States 26 Wright, A; Betteridge, D& Buckly, M (1983), Games for language learning 27 The text book of English 11 20 ... titled "Some suggestions on how to use language games in speaking lessons for 11th Grade students ” II AIMS OF THE STUDY The study is aimed at: - Investigating the situation of teaching and learning... for assisting language learning, in speaking classes seems to be a good choice for the following reasons: - Games add interest to what students might not find very interesting Language learning... main part of a speaking lesson in which students use language input provided in pre -speaking stage to express personal feelings, ideas, or viewpoints, to converse and discuss or to describe one