SOME SUGGESTIONS TO TEACH ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR YEN DINH 2 SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM TÊN ĐỀ TÀI SOME SUGGESTIONS TO TEACH ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR YEN DINH SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN ONLINE ENVIRONMENT Người thực hiện: Lê Thị Sáu Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Yên Định SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực : Tiếng Anh TABLE OF CONTENTS I: INTRODUCTION Rationale for the study Purpose of the study Scope of the study Methods of the study II: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical background of teaching English speaking skill 2.1.1 What Is "Teaching Speaking"? 2.1.2 T and sts’role in speaking skill 2.1 Advantages of teaching in online environment 2.2 The setting of the study 7 2.3 Difficulties encountered by sts and teachers when being taught and teaching online 2.4 Suggestions for teaching and learning English online 2.5 Applying suggestions in teaching English online for 11th form sts 16 2.6 Results 21 III Conclusions 22 REFERENCES 24 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS YD2SS: Yen Dinh II secondary school Sts: students T: Teacher MOET: Ministry of Education and Training I Rationale The globe has already closed schools in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic including those in Vietnam for nearly months from January to March As a result, teachers were suddenly faced with the challenge of how to not only continue their students’ education but also ensure safety for students Therefore, MOET implemented distance learning online and on television Although teaching on the internet and television is a temporary measure in the context of COVID-19 pandemic, it was emphasized that the education sector would take this opportunity to accelerate the digital transition However, teaching English on the internet is really challenging for high school teachers In reality, a lot of them , especially in the countryside are familiar with the traditional method of teaching in classrooms Consequently, it took them lots of time to adapt to the new method during the social distancing without the best result More seriously, most of English teachers dont know how to deal with speaking lessons in online environment because they often take place in a room with a live interaction including gestures and sounds for English learners to get the lessons easier, so transition from the classroom to the web is a daunting task That’s why I chose this study “ Some suggestions to teach English speaking skill for Yen Dinh secondary school students in online environment ” I hope that teachers can apply some strategies to bring students better outcomes in long terms under any unexpected situations like pandemics or disasters 1.2 Purpose of the study The main purpose of the study is to find out diffculties teachers encounter in teaching speaking skill online at YD2SS This also offers some appropriate strategies to better the current context Research questions: What are difficulties of the teachers at YD2 SS in teaching speaking English on the internet? How to find out some solutions to overcome this problem? 1.3 Scope of the study This study was conducted among the English teachers , 11A1,11A2 and 11A9 Sts at YD2SS during the school year 2019-2020 1.4.Methodology of the study Both qualitative and quantitative methods are used First of all, for the theoretical basis, a lot of reference materials on English speaking skill and how to teach English speaking skill online have been collected, analyzed and synthesized carefully with the due consideration for the Ts’ teaching and sts’ learning situations Secondly, Interviews have been carried out with Ts and sts to find out the causes for teaching speaking English online ineffectively as expected Based on what I have collected, I would like to give some ways to improve this problem II DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical background of teaching English speaking skill This second chapter provides readers with the relevant literature of the study by introducing some key concepts necessary for the best understanding of this research There are some most crucial concepts chosen to be clarified in this part such as English speaking skill, online education 2.1.1 What Is "Teaching Speaking"? What is meant by "teaching speaking" is to teach ESL learners to:  Produce the English speech sounds and sound patterns  Use word and sentence stress, intonation patterns and the rhythm of the second language  Select appropriate words and sentences according to the proper social setting, audience, situation and subject matter  Organize their thoughts in a meaningful and logical sequence  Use language as a means of expressing values and judgments  Use the language quickly and confidently with few unnatural pauses, which is called as fluency (Nunan, 2003) 2.1.2 T and sts’role in speaking skill 2.1.2.1 Teachers’ Role According to Anuradha et al (2014), teachers play significant role in stimulating interactionand developing speaking skills The roles are as follows: - The teacher must be fluent and accurate in spoken elements of language so as to be a role model for the learners - The teacher asks questions to stimulate learners to practice the target language Throwing questions and compelling them to answer something is one of the types of oral drills Further, encouraging students to ask questions to the teacher and peers is also a good technique to propel discussion and involve learners to speak - The teacher brings chart containing pictures in the classroom Teaching aids like charts containing pictures are good stimulators of interaction in the classroom The teacher highlights that part of the chart which breeds discussion in the class - The teacher narrates a story or a joke in the classroom and evokes the learners to the same The narration is corrected by the students and the teacher if mistake is done This way the interest to speak may be kindled among students - The teacher uses minimal pairs (pairs of words differing by one single sound) to teach some difficult sounds in the classroom with the help of familiar sounds of the students 2.1.2.2 Learners’ Role Speaking is an art and to achieve it, students should: - Be conversational and courteous in conventional greetings and other expressions - Ask questions and answer them too to maintain dialogue with other classmates and the teacher - Strive for building vocabulary, acquiring fluency and achieving accuracy - Make an attempt for better pronunciation, appropriate intonation and stress in the expressions of ideas and feelings 2.1 Advantages of teaching in online environment Continuity: The clearest advantadge of teaching in online environment we can see from Covid 19 pandemic is that it helps education uninterupted in unexpected disasters or social distancing Greater focus on learning In a traditional classroom, there are lots of distractions that may take away your student’s attention and then will take time to bring it back It’s more difficult to so online when a student is working on a task Wider range of materials, easily accessible on all devices There are plenty of resources on the internet, and that makes your materials more versatile and customized The time saving and comfort factor There is no commuting involved into online teaching It’s comfortable, convenient and easy for everybody involved That increases the happiness factor, which makes the environment more conducive to teaching and learning 2.2 The setting of the study The study was conducted at YD2SS in Yen Dinh district, Thanh Hoa province among English teachers and students in grade 11 2.2.1 The teachers’ English levels and their facilities at home for teaching online All of the teachers graduated from universities in English major, at least 10 years’ experience They are qualified enough to teach secondary school sts Moreover, everyone has a computer or a laptop to faciliate their online teaching besides class room time (and in social distancing ) 2.2.2 The Sts’ English levels and their facilities at home for learning online Although they all know that speaking skill is the final goal to master in learning a language, they dont have spend enough time on it so their speaking level is quite unsatisfactory Luckily, all of the students have their own smartphones or computers connected with Internet service They can join online class as required Most of their parents are favor of online free classes from T so that their children will have more chance to practise English at home 2.3 What are challenges when Ts teach sts English speaking skill in online environment? 2.3.1 Technical problems Technical problems are one of the significant challenges in teaching online They deal with Wi-Fi interruptions, equipment failures, computer updates and power outages Not only we tutors have to deal with our equipment issues, but we also rely on our students' equipment 2.3.2 Neophobia: second is neophobia, fear of new things closely followed by technophobia Teachers are complex humans in the sense that while we are creatures of habit but we also enjoy challenges and adventure Teachers of the last decade are not very comfortable handling technology as well as the net gen This challenge was definitely overcome within the first few days as we got used to the modalities of connecting with students and delivering lessons 2.3.3 Isolation Learning from home can be lonely Without the buzz of the classroom setting and the company of their peers, it’s no surprise that some students can begin to feel a strong sense of isolation that slowly erodes their desire to learn Despite what they say, many students will find that they miss school when the alternative is to be desk-bound at home Isolation can also undermine many of the instructional strategies that we take for granted in our classrooms Group work, class discussion and collaborative activity can disappear from the program entirely if we aren’t careful, and with them go the associated levels of student engagement and rich learning that those experiences provide 2.3.4 Lesson plans and what educational aids Next challenge was the lesson plans and what educational aids to be used and how to incorporate them There is an ocean of online sites with numerous interesting and exciting lesson plans, activities, and teachinglearning systems in the internet It is difficult to choose the right thing, but it is more challenging to mould it according to the needs of the students One has to consider one’s own comfort level too 2.3.5 Lack of motivation in students As hard as distance teaching might be for us, it’s likely even harder for our students They’ve gone from classrooms explicitly designed to support learning, to bedrooms and kitchen tables where distractions are plentiful and expert support isn’t always on hand 2.4 Suggestions for teachers 2.4.1 Choose your platform and teaching tools There are some issues that you need to be aware of: Assess whether your students have reliable access to technology before you even start Not every home will always have a reliable internet connection or readily available device for students to use An initial email, message or text to parents will give them the opportunity to flag these issues so that you can prepare to accommodate such students ahead of time It’s also important to remember that, for all the talk of our students being ‘digital natives’, many of them aren’t that proficient when it comes to tackling unfamiliar software or using it in a responsible manner An initial ‘onboarding’ session for students is therefore a good idea, and you should consider giving parents a brief orientation too via email Whatever systems you have in place, just ensure that you also have a clear ‘hotline’ where students can report technical issues That’s not to say you’ll take on a fulltime role in IT support – you can’t fix everything – but it will, at the very least, alert you to students who might need alternative arrangements Below are some common choices of many English teachers Vocaroo (http://vocaroo.com): Through Vocaroo, students and teachers can record their voice and create voice files of any length Students can share their voice files with others by creating and sharing a link or embed code on their respective websites Vocaroo is a free web based application and does not demand any registration It works on any web browser Through this application, students can be asked to record their assignments and upload them into the common website created by the teacher, for sharing and evaluation purpose Fotobabble (http://www.fotobabble.com/): Fotobabble is a simple photosharing platform where photos can be shared along with audio recording This application useful in doing activities where students have to see a picture and describe it or else tell a story based on it Students can record their voice and save in an embed code to share with others Audioboo (https://audioboom.com/): Audioboo lets users to easily record and share podcasts with others Audioboo is available free of cost but one has to get registration to use it Other registered users can listen to and comment on the recordings posted Duration of recordings on this application can be five minutes only This app has accessibility on both computer and mobile phones Its feed has subscription facility in iTunes similar to any podcasts Further, sharing of the recordings on social networking sites is very easy Voki (http://voki.com): It is a free application where teachers and students can create their own customised animated avatar which delivers the message Students can create recording up to a minute in Voki The audio recordings in Voki can be embedded into personal blogs or wikispace 10 At the start of the lesson Warmer – introducing the topic (5 minutes) Generating vocabulary (10 minutes) platform whiteboard or blank document Speaking practice (10–15 minutes) work - Make sure that you have the accompanying PowerPoint open and shared • Welcome the learners as they arrive: - Check that T can all hear and see each other - Check that they can see the first slide T may need to write this in the chat facility if they cannot hear T I often a short task for the learners to until they have all arrived For example,I could have a poll set up or a simple activity where they write in the chat, such as to say what they’ve done that week I also like muting learners’ microphones after greeting them to avoid having too much background noise when you get started • Generate interest by showing the learners T’holiday realia and eliciting what T has e.g sunglasses, a reading book, sun cream, flip flops, etc., if you have prepared for a seaside holiday Ask them what they think T is going to (go on holiday) and elicit specifically what type of holiday (e.g seaside holiday) • Ask the learners if they’ve ever been on a seaside holiday and brainstorm other types of holidays T can have, for example camping, skiing, adventure, sightseeing, staycation, cruise, theme park, etc • Elicit from the learners different activities T can on holiday, such as those they will have met in the word game they did before the lesson, but making sure you have examples of activities from each of the holiday types that were brainstormed • Write the activities on the whiteboard (if the platform has one) or on a blank document that you screen share Elicit a physical action to represent each activity • Play a game of Simon says with the activities and actions After a few rounds, ask some of the learners to take the lead role and give the instructions • Now ask learners to identify any activities which can be done on more than one type of holiday, for example have a picnic could be both a seaside holiday and a camping holiday activity • Play a guessing game Ask learners to decide what type of holiday they like best (or would most like to try) and to keep it secret The other learners ask yes/no questions to work out what it is, such as Can you go swimming? Do you stay in a hotel? Do you need sun cream? Is it cold? You can decide how many questions 18 they are allowed to ask before making their guess as to what it is You could play this game in breakout rooms, if the platform you’re using has this function, and your learners are comfortable and responsible when working in breakout rooms, or as a whole class with the learners in teams Either way, demonstrate the game first with your own favourite type of holiday and getting the learners to ask T questions • If T choose to use breakout rooms: - One learner is nominated to be the first to be asked questions After the set number of questions has been asked, the other learners write their idea on a piece of paper and all show the camera at the same time The initial learner then says if anyone is correct Repeat with the other learners - Monitor the learners during the activity by regularly moving between breakout rooms If T’s platform has the function, turn your camera off while you monitor so as to disturb the learners less when you enter a room - Before T bring learners back to the main room, visit each breakout room briefly and announce that they have two more minutes before you will bring them back After two minutes, bring all the learners back • If T choose to play as a whole class with the learners in teams: - Ask all the learners to message you privately in the chat what their favourite type of holiday is, and make teams accordingly, e.g all the learners who say ‘seaside holiday’ are a team - The other teams take turns to ask questions Make sure that when it’s a team’s turn again, a different learner from that team gets to ask a question All the members of the first team get to say yes or no to each question - After the set number of questions has been asked, all the learners write their idea on a piece of paper and all show the camera at the same time The first team then say if anyone is correct If you wish to award points, then each team can receive points according to how many members guessed correctly Then play again with the next team • Slide shows some language you could display to support the learners during the task although you may wish to provide different or extra examples • Now tell the learners that T wants to tell them about Contextualising his last holiday What type of holiday they think it the structure was? What they think you did? Ask the learners to 19 and categorisation (10–15 minutes) platform whiteboard or blank document Past simple forms language practice (5–10 minutes) platform whiteboard or blank document Task set up – finding an item (5 minutes) guess • Write a few sentences about what you did on the whiteboard (if the platform has one) or on a blank document that you screen share Underline the past simple forms Ask learners why they’re different, e.g why you wrote went instead of go and elicit it’s because you’re talking about the past • Slide has a selection of infinitive forms and the corresponding past simple forms, although you may wish to prepare your own Ask learners to try and match them up If your platform has an annotate function, learners could draw lines to match Otherwise they could write the words in their notebooks • As T checks and confirms the answers, drill the past simple form for pronunciation • Finally, ask learners to help you categorise the past simple forms into two groups, but don’t tell them how Ask for ideas about how they could divide them Any method they suggest is valid but you can also encourage them to group according to those ending in -ed and those that not, for example by asking them to think about the spelling Slide has the same selection of past simple forms • Play a team game to help practise the past simple forms, for example noughts and crosses Draw a noughts and crosses grid on the whiteboard (if the platform has one) or on a blank document that you screen share and put learners into two teams For reference write the names of who is in each team on the whiteboard/document • Each team takes a turn to choose a square Ask the team whose turn it is to unmute their microphones, while the other team mutes Say Last holiday I … and mime a holiday activity The team must complete the sentence Encourage the team to discuss and confirm amongst themselves that they all agree before giving their answer If they’re correct, they win the square Continue with the teams taking turns • Depending on the format of your classes, this activity can be set for the learners to in the break time or as homework for before the next class • Ask learners how we can remember a holiday and elicit ideas such as with photos, postcards or souvenirs Ask them what kind of things they like to get as souvenirs, they can be shopbought or things T find or keep, like seashells, tickets, etc • Tell learners to find a souvenir from their last or 20 Personalisation and language expansion (10– 15 minutes) Speaking and listening practice (20–25 minutes) favourite holiday and to find out what it’s called in English so that they can show everyone after the break or in the next lesson Ask the learners to get the souvenir they found ready Each learner then shows and tells the class about their own souvenir Feed in any language they need, eliciting what T can from the other learners first, and write the language as well as the words for the souvenirs on the whiteboard (if the platform has one) or on a blank document that T screen share • Now T asks the learners to think about the holiday where they got the souvenir They need to write some sentences about the holiday, e.g where they went, what they saw, what they did, what they ate, etc Each learner should write a minimum of three sentences Fast finishers can write more or T can ask them to draw pictures to illustrate each of their sentences • Ask each learner to show you via the camera each sentence after they complete it for feedback, rather than showing you them all when they’ve finished, in order to help stagger the checking and feedback process Tell the learners that they need to find other learners who have the same sentences as them, but it should be a different learner for each sentence To this, they need to read their sentences to each other and say when something is the same as them For example, if one learner says I went to Turkey, I took photos and I ate ice cream, and another learner also wrote I took photos as one of their sentences, then they can say Me, too! or I took photos too! Then the two learners can write the other’s name next to that sentence • To create the sense of a mingle for the activity, explain to learners that T is going to put them in breakout rooms in small groups of three or four, but every few minutes you’re going to change the learners’ rooms, so they need to speak and listen as much as they can each time • T could this in an organised way, T could randomise the occupants of the rooms each time In this way, T can change the rooms fairly quickly each time to keep the pace of the activity up and create a sense of immediacy, and if all learners have not said their sentences each time there is a good chance they will meet some or all of their current 21 Homework (5 minutes) ‘roommates’ again in another room • Monitor the learners during the activity by regularly moving between breakout rooms Turn T’ camera off while T monitor so as to disturb the learners less when T enters a room • Before T bring learners back to the main room, visit each breakout room briefly and announce that they have two more minutes before T will bring them back • After two minutes, bring all the learners back Ask them to share any sentences they couldn’t find someone for, and who they thought had a fun or interesting holiday • If T doesnt have or choose not to use breakout rooms: - Learners can take turns to say the sentences about their holiday The other learners need to listen and write in the chat facility I … too! for each sentence that’s the same as one of theirs - After all the learners have spoken, they can read through the chat and find names to write next to their sentences - Ask them to share any sentences they couldn’t find someone for, and who they thought had a fun or interesting holiday Think about our ideas for our ‘class holiday’ last year and choose some of them At the end of the holiday, you sent a postcard to a friend Ask sts to write the postcard! Say what you did on each day of the holiday 2.6 Results This year, I taught 11A1, 11A2, 11A9 in 11th grade All of these classes couldn’t well in speaking skill (Although students from A1, A2 are excellent at grammar) Beside teaching them at traditional crowded classes , I started teaching them how to speak through online class when our school closed down because of COVID -19 We have had more time to practise speaking English for months than ever before To see their improvements, I asked my sts to an oral English test The result is satisfactory Class Time Exellent Quite Averag Bad sts good sts e sts sts 11A before the school closure % `24 % 70 % 4% 11A At the end of second term % 25 % 71 % 1% 11A before the school closure % 18 % 70 % 11 % 22 11A 11A 11A At the end of second term 1,5 % 20 % 72,5 % 6% before the school closure 0% 1% 62 % 37 % At the end of second term 0% 5% 63 % 32 % Excellent : 9-10 points Quite good: 7-8,9 points Average: 5-6,9 points Bad: < points III CONCLUSION Limitations of the study Being one of English teachers of at YD2SS, I can see clearly the current situation of teaching English speaking skill here Therefore, I have conducted this with a view to finding out some tips to teach English speaking skill online effectively However, to improve the situation is not easy and it needs a lot of time and T’s patience As I have mentioned in this study, only some basic and simple ways are found out to improve the situation and the limitations are unavoidable If there is a video of my teaching English speaking online, the study will be clearer and easier for teachers to get the suggestions I expect to receive ideas from my colleges Suggestions for further research On the basis of the findings and the limitations of the study, several suggestions for further research are made Because teaching speaking skill in online environment is rather complex and new to secondary school T, many other researches should be carried out such as stages in an online teaching , how to use online material to teach students to speak, how to design an effective speaking lesson on the internet 23 XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG Thanh Hóa, ngày tháng năm ĐƠN VỊ 2020 Tơi xin cam đoan skkn viết, không chép nội dung người khác Lê Thị Sáu 24 REFERENCE https://carleton.ca/edc/teachingresources/teaching-tips-and-tools/faceto-face-teaching-methods/ http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-TeachingSpeaking.html#:~:text=What %20is%20meant%20by%20%22teaching,rhythm%20of%20the %20second%20language.&text=Use%20the%20language%20quickly %20and,which%20is%20called%20as%20fluency https://www.slideshare.net/chela894/the-speaking-process? from_action=save https://www.3plearning.com/blog/5-common-pitfalls-distance-teachingavoid/ https://www.3plearning.com/blog/5-tips-to-get-distance-learnersmotivated-right-now/ https://www.cambridgeenglish.org/blog/12-tips-for-teaching-an-onlineenglish-class/ https://www.arcjournals.org/pdfs/ijmjmc/v3-i3/3.pdf file:///C:/Users/Admin/Desktop/teaching-kids-holidays-online-lessonplan.pdf https://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/word-games/holiday-activities Anuradha, Y., Murthy, J.V.R and Krishnaprasad, M.H.M (2014) Clustering Based on Correlation Fractal Dimension over an Evolving Data Stream Communicated to IJAIT 2014, unpublished Alderson, J C & Bachman, L F (2004) Assessing Speaking Cambridge: Cambridge: University Press Bergmann, J & Sams, A (2012) Flip Your Classroom: Reach every student in every class every day Arlington, VA: International Society for Technology in Education 25 Bourdeau, J & Bates, A (1996) Instructional Design for Distance Learning Journal of Science Education and Technology, 5, (4), 267-283 Burns, A (2012) A Holistic Approach to Teaching Speaking in the Language Classroom Stockholms University, Available at https://www.andrasprak.su.se/polopoly _fs/1.204517.1411636356!/menu/standard/file/Anne_Burns.pdf 26 Slides from the powpoint for the speaking lesson plan mentioned in the study Slide Can you …? go swimming / make a fire / see dolphins / … Do you stay in …? a hotel / a tent / your house / … Do you need …? sun cream / warm clothes / a helmet / … Is it …? • cold / hot / fun / scary / … • • • • • • • 27 Slide • • • • • • • Can you make two groups? Slept found Called had Played went Bought saw Ate stayed Rowed packed • wrote did drank took made rode visited watched Slide • What can help us remember a holiday? • Find a s_ _ _ _ _ _ _ and find out what it’s called in English! 28 Slide Slide 29 Slide 30 Slide 31 32 ... teachers when being taught and teaching online 2. 4 Suggestions for teaching and learning English online 2. 5 Applying suggestions in teaching English online for 11th form sts 16 2. 6 Results 21 III Conclusions... http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Kayi-TeachingSpeaking.html#:~:text=What %20 is %20 meant %20 by %20 %22 teaching,rhythm %20 of %20 the %20 second %20 language.&text=Use %20 the %20 language %20 quickly %20 and,which %20 is %20 called %20 as %20 fluency... What Is "Teaching Speaking" ? 2. 1 .2 T and sts’role in speaking skill 2. 1 Advantages of teaching in online environment 2. 2 The setting of the study 7 2. 3 Difficulties encountered by sts and teachers