creating effective teaching and learning environments

BM 01-Bia SKKN DONG NAI EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT NAM HA HIGH SCHOOL Code: THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Teacher: TRAN THI VAN ANH Research field: English Education management:  Teaching method:  Other fields:  Attachments:  Object  Software  Film School year: 2019 – 2020  Other things DONG NAI EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT NAM HA HIGH SCHOOL THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Teacher: Research field: Education management: Teaching method: Other fields: Attachments:  Object School year: 2019 – 2020 CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS Contents Introduction Study background Reason for choosing the study Objects and scope of the study Purpose of the study Contents I Reality of the study II Contents of the study Process of the study 1.1 Integrated activities 1.1.1 Predicting 1.1.2 Consolidating 1.1.3 Interviewing 1.2 Mind mapping 1.3 Playing games 1.4 Using technology in learning and teaching Advantages and disadvantages of the study Evaluation of the study Conclusions References Appendix Sample lesson CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS GENERAL INFORMATION Name of the initiative experience: CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Research field: English teaching method Author: - Full name: TRAN THI VAN ANH Male (Female): Female - Diploma: Bachelor of teaching English - Position, place of work: English teacher/ Nam Ha high school - Telephone number: 0909.961.960 Email: vananhtran278@gmail.com Contribution rate for the initiative experience (%): 100% CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS INTRODUCTION Study background My study, Creating effective teaching and learning environments, offers applicable techniques helping improve the effectiveness in teaching in general and in teaching reading in particular as well as stimulating learning environments among students Reason for choosing the study Nowadays, teaching and learning are not giving and receiving knowledge any longer Instead, teachers give instructions and students are main characters of the class, which we call learner-centred learning In this situation, students choose what they will learn, how they will pace their learning, and how they will assess their own learning Realizing the characteristics of new teaching and learning style, I always study and research the best methods to help teachers improve the quality of teaching and learning English I also learn from my colleagues at Nam Ha high school as well as other high schools through professional training courses Furthermore, I have done some experiments in which I applied various teaching techniques to improve teaching and learning environments in my classes Last but not least, in order to finish this study, I have made statistic and considered the result which has been changed significantly since I started using these techniques Following are my study, Creating effective teaching and learning environments, which is drawn from all my eight-year teaching experience Objects and scope of the study The study focuses on students belonging to my three classes such as 10C4, 10C5, and 12C9 at Nam Ha high school; they are at the age from sixteen to eighteen About the time of this study, it is conducted during the first semester of the 2019-2020 school year (from the mid of September to the mid of December), and the activities are built according to the available tasks in the textbook Purpose of the study In an attempt to improve teaching and learning quality in reading lessons, I have had an idea and conducted some practical applications I feel quite optimistic about these techniques; hence, I write this paper aiming to share the skills to create effective teaching and learning environments, especially in reading lessons School year: 2019-2020 Anh Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS CONTENTS I Reality of the study Nobody can disapprove of the fact that teaching and learning styles have changed significantly over the years In the twenty-first century classroom, it is students, not teachers, who play primarily “active” role Moreover, students are required to be more active and become responsible participants in their own learning and with their own pace of learning In addition, teachers are facilitators of student learning and creators of productive classroom environments, in which students can develop the skills they might need at present or in future However, this will certainly force teachers both to be more creative, active and to make more efforts to improve their skills in teaching as well as class management In fact, to find out the best solutions to the problems teachers often meet while applying new techniques in teaching English, all groups and departments related to education usually carry out the movements, the contests or the discussions which help teachers have opportunities to learn experiences from each other II Contents of the study Process of the study In order to create effective teaching and learning environments in reading lessons, teachers are supposed to be more patient and flexible in teaching as well as making great efforts to design attractive learning activities Moreover, the most important thing to better class environments is making students excited about learning activities, so that they will actively contribute to the lessons Following are some techniques which I have applied to improve teaching and learning environments in reading lessons 1.1 Integrated activities Integrated activities aim to focus on more than one skill or subject matter through one exercise or activity For example, in a reading exercise, you can develop not only reading skills but speaking skills, writing skills and listening skills as well As we know, the main reason for language learning is effective communication However, our current educational system is only focused on grammar and comprehensive reading, which is not good for students’ communicative skills in the future Many Vietnamese students graduating from a university cannot communicate with foreigners Therefore, using integrated activities in teaching English is obligatory It is necessary for teachers to design activities in which students are supposed to use a combination of receptive School year: 2019-2020 Anh Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS skills – reading and listening - and productive skills – speaking and writing There are also many interesting activities which teachers can use to engage their students Following are some activities to combine reading and writing or speaking which I have used in my reading lessons 1.1 Predicting Rationale: The aim of this activity is for students to preview a reading passage in order to predict its content -Procedure: Have students preview the text they will be reading to get a general idea of what it is about The clue may be the title of the passage, the first paragraph, the first sentence of each paragraph, the last paragraph, and so on Ask students to work in groups to write down what they think the passage will be about or what they think will happen in the reading based on the information they got in step one Depending on the nature of the reading and the level of the class, students could write lists of words or phrases, or they could write a paragraph Invite students to read what they have written Compare predictions After reading the entire passage, students can compare their predictions with the text In this activity, students begin to pose questions about a text and make predictions about it before they read In this way, students become authors of the text and may understand the kinds of expectations that a writer has, which can be helpful for them in their own writing Students may also begin to see the role that previewing and predicting play in understanding what they read In addition, this kind of activity gives students a purpose for reading and motivates them to orient themselves to the topics they want to discover Sample lessons: Grade 12 – Unit 8: LIFE IN THE FUTURE The clue: the title of reading text and the first paragraph “What will life be like in the future? Different people have different answers to this question; some are pessimistic while others optimistic.” → Students’ first prediction: “The passage will talk about life in the future Some people think life will be better; while others think it will be worse.” Teacher divides class into two groups and asks them to discuss some changes in specific fields, such as medical care, environment, transport, etc according to two different opinions “Life will be better” and “Life will be School year: 2019-2020 Anh Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS worse” Then, each group will write their work in the wallchart and show it to the class → Students’second prediction: LIFE WILL BE BETTER LIFE WILL BE WORSE School year: 2019-2020 Anh Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Grade 10 – Unit 4: SPECIAL EDUCATION The clue: the title of the passage and the vocabulary “A TEACHER IN A SPECIAL CLASS” → Students’ prediction: “The passage will talk about the work of a teacher in a special class The work may be very difficult, because the students may be disabled For example: Students may be blind; teacher has to use books with Braille alphabet to teach them Students may be deaf and dumb; teacher has to use sign language to teach them It will take teacher a very long time and so much effort to teach disabled students.” 1.1.2 Consolidating Rationale: After reading a passage, students are asked to recall as much as they can of what they read Reconstructing a reading helps students clarify their understanding of the text and gives them practice in using the language they are learning -Procedure: After reading, give students a few minutes to review the text Tell them to remember everything they can Ask students to close textbooks and take turns with classmates to tell each other in their own words what they remember from the reading Invite students to speak aloud to classmates Compare their works As a class, give some phrases or numbers which appear in the passage and ask students to use these cues to talk about the events mentioned in the passage Consolidating is a valuable step in the reading process because it becomes quite apparent whether students have understood the reading, thus allowing the teacher to discover and work with any misconceptions that might arise School year: 2019-2020 Anh Teacher: Tran Thi Van School year: 2019-2020 Anh 20 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS CONCLUSIONS Lessons drawn from the process for the application of the study I have tried to present the techniques to create effective teaching and learning environments This idea will obviously stimulate students’ interest in reading activities as well as encourage them to take part in class activities actively and effectively I highly recommend English teachers to use helpful techniques in teaching English in particular, and teaching in general It really works in the aspect of stimulating students to learning Suggestions and recommendations on putting the study into the practice At some points, however, teachers need to constantly change and improve teaching skills, whereas learners are supposed to be more active The schoolboard needs to support teachers by providing modern facilities and training courses to improve their teaching quality Pledge of the copyright infringement All above are about my thoughts as well as my activities during the eight-year teaching experience I assure myself that this study is an ingenious work, not an infringement of copyright Biên Hòa, ngày 28 tháng 02 năm 2020 TÁC GIẢ SÁNG KIẾN HỘI ĐỒNG CÔNG NHẬN SÁNG KIẾN TẠI CƠ QUAN, ĐƠN VỊ NƠI TÁC GIẢ CÔNG TÁC (Ký, ghi rõ họ tên) (Xác nhận: công nhận khơng cơng nhận sáng kiến) (Ký tên, đóng dấu) School year: 2019-2020 Anh 21 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS REFERENCES Teaching methodology - Nguyen Hanh Dung Textbook: English 10,11 and 12 Teacher’s books English 10,11 and 12 4.Web: violet.com.vn APPENDIX SAMPLE LESSON: GRADE 10- UNIT WARM-UP (3’) Guessing game: Who Is She? Teacher shows some pictures about a woman Students use these cues to guess who the woman is Picture 1: Picture 3: School year: 2019-2020 Anh 22 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS Picture 5: Answer key: She is Marie Curie - Then, teacher introduces the new lesson: UNIT 3: PEOPLE’S BACKGROUND PART A – READING BEFORE YOU READ (7’) Teacher’s activities - Teacher asks students to predict the content of the reading passage What information will the passage talk about? - Teacher invites some students to say aloud their answers while some students write down their answers on the board - Teacher gives feedback School year: 2019-2020 23 Teacher: Tran Thi Van Anh CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS VOCABULARY: - Teacher gives students some key words of the lesson and asks them to look up their meanings and kinds of words in advanced -Teacher lets students give the meanings of vocabulary - Teacher checks students’ work and conducts repetition in peer and in individual                general education scientific training mature (a) habour (v) →~ the dream of a scientific career private (a) → privacy (n) tutor (n) interrupt (v) tragic (a) take up (phr-v) →~ the position obtain (v) award (v) determine (v) atomic weight of radium human suffering humanitarian (a) School year: 2019-2020 Anh 24 - Students look up meanings of the vocabulary given by teacher in advanced - Students take notes and repeat vocabulary Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS WHILE YOU READ (20’) Teacher’s activities - Teacher plays the audio of the reading text and asks Ss to pay attention to pronunciation and intonation - Then, teacher has students work in pairs to read and comprehend the reading text in five minutes - Teacher observes the class and gives support if necessary -Teacher introduces activity Activity 1: True or False (using Kahoot to design multiple choice task) - Teacher asks students to decide which statement is true, which is false and give the reason for each statement Questions & Answers: Marie went to school in Warsaw (True) Her dream was becoming aprivate tutor (False: She harboured the dream of a scientific career.) At the Sorbonne, she studied very well (True) School year: 2019-2020 25 Teacher: Tran Thi Van Anh CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS She married Pierre Curie in 1894 (False: She met Pierre Curie in the School of Physics in 1894.) She was the first woman professor at the Sorbonne (True) - Teacher has students use their mobile phone to the task on the app The correct will be shown on the monitor after all students submit their answers -Teacher gives feedback and introduces task Activity 2: Your favourite shape is (Playing game) -Teacher introduces the rule of the activity: “You will be divided into groups Each group will take turns to choose your favourite shape There will be questions behind shapes, and your groups are supposed to answer the questions The group with the most correct answers will be the winner There will be extra shapes with no mark if you choose those shapes.” - Teacher asks some questions to be sure that all groups understand the rule - Teacher lets students the activity and announces the winner School year: 2019-2020 Anh 26 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 27 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 28 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 29 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS AFTER YOU READ (15’) Teacher’s activities - Teacher divides students into in four groups to the last activity - Teacher introduces the rule: Activity 3: Rewrite Marie’s background, using the following pictures as cues (Consolidating) “Rewrite Marie’s background, using the following picture as cues After each picture, you will have to write your sentence into the wallchart and we’ll check your answers at once The group with the most correct sentence will be the winner Good luck to you!” - Teacher asks some questions to be sure that all groups understand the rule - Teacher monitors the activity and announces the winner - Teacher gives presents to the winners of Activity and Activity 3, and then assigns homework HOMEWORK:  Learn vocabulary by heart  Write a paragraph (about 100 words) about Marie, using the following words as cues: Strong-willed Ambitious Hard-working Intelligent Humane  Prepare for next class: Part B – Speaking School year: 2019-2020 30 Teacher: Tran Thi Van Anh CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 31 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 32 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 33 Teacher: Tran Thi Van ... initiative experience (%): 100% CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS INTRODUCTION Study background My study, Creating effective teaching and learning environments, offers applicable... Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 28 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year:... Teacher: Tran Thi Van Anh CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: 2019-2020 Anh 31 Teacher: Tran Thi Van CREATING EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS School year: