Applying some games in teaching grammar grade 10th at ham rong high school

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT HAM RONG HIGH SCHOOL EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE APPLYING SOME GAMES IN TEACHING GRAMMAR FOR STUDENTS IN GRADE 10 AT HAM RONG HIGH SCHOOL Researcher: Luu Thi Khanh Van Position: Teacher Research field : English THANH HOA, 2021 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction……………………………………………………….3 1.1 The reason for choosing the topic…………………………… 1.2 The purpose of the research…………………………………….4 1.3 Study subjects………………………………………………… 1.4 Research methodology………………………………………….4 Contents of the experience initiative……………………………….4 2.1 Rational of the experience initiative……………………………4 2.2 Situation of the issue before applying the experience initiative…6 2.3 Solutions to solve the issue………………………………… 2.4 Results after applying the initiative…………………………….16 Conclusion and suggestions……………………………………… .17 3.1 Conclusion……………………………………………………….17 3.2 Suggestions …………………………………………………… 18 References …………………………………………………………… 20 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing the topic Recently, teaching English has improved in method in the light of the communicative, learner-centered approach which is adaptable to required objectives and helps students have many opportunities to communicate in English However, at many high schools, teaching English still has not developed students’ ability, activeness and motivation The problem of the study was that, the researcher believes that the problem of the present study stems from students’ low output in English language tests, lack of motivation and weak participation in class A lot of new teaching methods have been applied in teaching foreign languages in high schools Like many other skills, grammar concepts need to be reviewed Teachers can review grammar throughout the year to solidify understanding, to build confidence, to scaffold learning, and to engage students The idea of using games in teaching does not seem to be widely accepted and implemented although its profitability has been proposed and justified as early in the seventieth century There has been a misconception that all learning should be serious in nature In fact, using games is an important tool that allows language teachers to add colors to their classrooms by providing challenge and entertainment They are particularly valuable for students as a source of cognition that helps them adopt sounds and rhythms and comprehend the foreign language As an English teacher, the author really wants to clarify the topic with my knowledge to analyze, understand the situation of teaching and learning English at Ham Rong high school This problem was documented through the researcher’s long experience in teaching English as a foreign language and exam results, data analysis and consultation of other English teachers as well and hopefully the study “Applying some games in teaching grammar in grade 10 at Ham Rong high school” will make a small contribution to enhancing the effectiveness in teaching English grammar 1.2 The purpose of the research This study aims to: * Explore whether using language games have a significant influence on the students’performance or not * Explore the role of using language games in teaching a foreign language * How to utilize some language games in teaching grammar lessons 1.3 Study subjects This study was carried out in two English classes with 92 students - grade 10 at Ham Rong high school The research focused on how to apply some games in grammar lessons 1.4 Research methodology The study is basically a qualitative research with the following methods: + Read and study materials + Summarise experiences + Exchange experiences with colleagues Contents of the experience initiative 2.1 Rational of the experience initiative Since motivation is not only a vital but also a highly complex factor determining more or less successful language learning, it is necessary to examine approaches to motivation in learning in order to bring about better insights into it Learners’ motivation can change overtime and effect on their language learning Various studies have found that motivation is strongly related to success in language learning There is an interesting movement towards teaching English with games It creates students’ motivation in learning English Just imagine when coming in class, the teacher announces that it's time for a grammar lesson with games and instead of moans and whining, the teacher and the students get smiles and excitement The games also provide the students with opportunities for free expression According to the idea mentioned above, Mora & Lopera (2001) stated that “games and fun activities have always been one of everybody’s favourite things to in class, both for teachers and students” We think that motivation plays an important role when we apply a game, not only to get students’ concentration but also to produce better learning conditions During the game atmosphere, the teacher has to influence the whole class in an active and positive way Before talking about the role of games in learning English, I introduce some definitions of game A game is an activity of sport involving skill, knowledge or chance in which a person follows fixed rules and tries to win against an opponent According to Collins COBUILD English language Dictionary (1987), it is a contest played according to rules and the winner is recognized by skill, strength or luck It is an activity engaged in for amusement It can also be defined as the manner of playing in a contest, a situation that involves rivalry or struggle Certainly, games can be related to language learning Language games can add fun and variety to English lesson if the learners are fond of games Also a game is a wonderful activity to break the routine of classroom drills by providing relaxation while remaining within the framework of language learning A game can in fact be stimulating and entertaining Students may wish to play games purely for fun Teachers, however, need more convincing reasons “Teachers need to consider which games to use, when to use them, how to link them up with the syllabus, textbook or programme and how, more specifically, different games will benefit students in different ways (Khan, J.1996)” The key to a successful language game is that the rules are clear, the ultimate goal is well defined and the game must be fun Most classes should start with a “warm-up” activity to help the students relax and settle into the class The warm-up is often a game, just to start things on a “fun” level The basic idea is to let the class play, have a couple laughs and some fun right at the very beginning – work them very hard in the middle – and finish up the class with some fun Following this process, where the class begins and ends with anxiety-reducing activities or games, we should find the students more motivated for their next class 2.2 Situation of the issue before applying the experience initiative 2.2.1 Advantageous conditions - Parents and students are aware of the importance of acquiring a foreign language - Some students show a special interest in learning English - English is one of core subjects, which are compulsory in final examinations at certain stages of the school education system This will encourage students to invest more time in studying it 2.2.2 Difficulties - Some students are not really interested in learning English - Teachers not have enough time to apply educational games in teaching in order to motivate the students 2.3 The solutions to the issue Some procedures can be taken into account for playing games in an English lesson as following First, choose games on the basis of their suitability in terms of the lesson the students practice Second, prepare the games carefully beforehand Third, explain to the students the purpose of and rules for the games Fourth, give students one or more opportunities to practice before the games are played Fifth, involve as many students as possible Sixth, if games are played in teams, points should be awarded for each correct answer and the score written up on the board For the development of this paper, I chose some popular games such as: “Twenty questions”, a guessing game in which one player thinks of an object and informs his opponents whether it is “animal, vegetable, or mineral” or, in some games, “abstract.” The others in turn ask questions designed to limit the field of inquiry and close in upon the answer “Detective game” is used to practise speaking and logical thinking in your classroom One student is a murderer, the others are given clues and can prove that they are good detectives Your students must go round the class and ask/answer questions about personal details (What’s your name? Can you spell it? How old are you? What are your hobbies? Tell me about your family, please Do you have a pet?) and they must find the murderer “ Change seat if ” is an exciting and fun activity that is very effective in improving students' listening skills This activity is a great way to end a busy class and or to burn off extra energy and help focus your students Students are sure to enjoy this active listening activity “Noughts and crosses” or tic-tac-toe game is one of the simplest games that can be easily adapted to language learning classes It brings fun and really change the dull atmosphere of the lesson in a second I usually use it for revising a previous lesson, and it works great Besides, it can engage the attention of any age of learners “Jewel game” develops a person's capacity to observe and remember details “Simon says” is the classic game that can be used anywhere from a day at the beach, to a long car ride or even a simple ice breaker Listen closely as “Simon” gives you directions If “Simon” says to something, you better act fast But, if “Simon” does not and you it anyway, you’re out 2.4 Application  TWENTY QUESTIONS The teacher gives a picture of a famous person Students in turn make questions  Unit 2: SCHOOL TALKS - Grammar (WH - Questions) The teacher gives a picture of a famous person (Michael Jackson) The teacher can ask the students to work in groups of In minutes, the group make more questions will be the winner Ex: What is his name? Where is he from? What is his job?  DETECTIVE GAME The teacher copies and cuts up one set of cards for each group, shuffles them and places them face down in the middle of the group Students have to arrange the cards to make a story  Unit 3: PEOPLES BACKGROUND - Grammar (English 10) The teacher copies and cuts up one set of cards (a murder story)for each group, shuffles them and places them face down in the middle of the group Students have to arrange the cards to make a full story (they practice past tenses) An old lady was found dead in her living room She had been hit on the head and jewelry worth five thousand pounds had been stolen from the house The murder occurred between seven and ten oclock in the evening One of the principal suspects is Annie Hudson, the district nurse, who has the key to the old lady’s house, and who lives ten minutes walk away The cards contain details of Annie’s movements that evening The groups’ task is to read them and try to work out if she could have committed the murder or not Students should turn over one card at a time from the pile and discuss the probable sequence of events After the groups have finished, let them compare their findings  CHANGE SEAT IF… This Game can be used at the end of the class after the students learn Conditional sentence (type 1); so that your students go home with a smile on their faces; or you can play this game when you want to notice your students focus fading Unit 8: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE - Grammar Procedure To play this all you have to say is, Change Seats if + you have black hair + you have a sister + you like to eat hamburgers + you are sitting beside a boy + your favorite color is red + you like to homework + you don't like to homework! If whatever you said is true about any student in the class , they must Change Seats with one of the other students who also has to switch his/her seat This is one of the best Games to play with your class and every student will really be happy to play it; and while you are playing this game you are also improving the students listening skills  If I… This Game can be used at the end of the class after the student learn Conditional sentences (type 1, 2, 3)  Unit 8: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE Grammar (English 10) Unit 9: UNDERSEA WORLD Grammar (English 10)  Unit 11: NATIONAL PARKS Grammar (English 10) Procedure - Divide the class into groups - One group make sentences beginning with IF I… The other will finish 10 the sentences - The students put their paper into hats one with IF I… , another with I At the end of the sentences the students have to write their names The winner will be the pair has the most interesting sentence, the most meaningful sentence, Ex: Teacher takes pieces of paper If I am a bird I will be a monkey!  NOUGHTS AND CROSSES - Draw a noughts and crosses grid on the board - Supermarket Souvenir shop School Post office Bookstore Movie theatre Hotel Street Village Divide the class into groups : one is Noughts (0) and one is Crosses (X)  Unit 2: SCHOOL TALK - Grammar (WH- questions)  Unit 12: MUSIC - Grammar (WH- questions) When Why Who Which What Where Where How Why - Divide the class into two teams, and label the teams noughts or crosses - Each team has to make a question correctly before they can place their 11 symbol into an appropriate place on the board - The winning team is the one who gets a line of three of their symbols on the grid Ex 1.What you in your free time? 2.What is your favourite sport? How often you watch TV? 4.Where you usually go on a Sunday? Who you often spend your free time with? Why you morning exercises everyday? Where you go on holiday? Where you have free time? Which sport you prefer football or swimming?  RELATIVE CLAUSES Divide the students into two teams, the noughts and the crosses, and give out a worksheet like the one in the photo It consists of the nine squares of the noughts and crosses diagram, each containing the photo of an object or a person that the students will not know in English, but will be able to describe within the limits of the grammar (relative clauses ) and vocabulary that they have already learnt 12  REPORTED SPEECH SOCCER The teacher can choose some students to play the games  Unit 8: THE STORY OF MY VILLAGE - Grammar The teacher can flip over a quotation card and the student whose turn it is reads the quote and reports what was said, heard, read, or thought For example, if the card says it's a beautiful day then the student will say: He/she said that it was a beautiful day Every card has been designed so that the student can easily identify the pattern that is required Ex: said that thought that If the student correctly reports what was in the quotation, the soccer ball advances one space (one player) closer to the opposing net If the student makes even the slightest mistake then the ball moves one space closer to his or her own 13 net MIMING GAME:  Students use their bodies to convey the meaning of an action or an expression which the others have to guess It can involve all the members of class at the same time Teacher can divide the students into small groups One of the students in the group has to mime and the other groups have to guess Unit 6: AN EXCURSION - Grammar ( The Present Progressive) Students stand in front of the class and mime actions The other students must guess what the student is doing: She's driving a car, He's opening an umbrella in the rain, etc…  BRING ME SOMETHING Comparative and Superlative adjectives are a very important part of learning English While grammar lessons and exercises are beneficial, we all know it is important to get the students communicating and using the structures in realistic situations Unit 16: HISTORICAL PLACES - Grammar I like to play a game where they search the class to find an item I have requested The students are in groups, and I stand in front of the class As an example, I ask for something smaller than a pencil The first group to bring me an item that fits the request gets a point Other examples include: + Something bigger than the textbook + Something older than the desk + Something newer than a new notebook + Someone better looking than the teacher (That always gets some laughs) 14 THE JEWEL GAME  This game promotes the development of memory and observation skills a) Preparation - Divide the class into small groups Make sure that all desks are cleared and no student has pen or paper to write anything down - Flashcards or pictures - Show flashcards or pictures to the silent class for 60 seconds After that each group must write down the verbs followed by infinitive or gerund as they can remember - The students try to remember what they have just read b) Examples  Unit 2: SCHOOL TALKS – Grammar ( Gerund - Infinitive)  Unit 12: MUSIC – Grammar ( Infinitive) Teacher’s activities & contents Students’ activities  Have Ss play the game Explain the rule of the  Listen to T’s instruction game  Post the poster on the board containing some verbs followed by gerund:  Look at the poster and try to remember Verbs Followed by a Gerund admit delay finish permit resist advise deny forbid postpone resume 15 appreciate detest get practice risk avoid dislike through quit spend  Discuss to write down as can't help enjoy (time) many songs as possible complete escape imagine report suggest  representatives go to the consider excuse mind tolerate board and write in limited waste time have recall resent miss (time)  Look a the poster and check  Put the poster down the table and give Ss 1’ to discuss the answers  Call on members from groups to go to the board and write their answers  Repost the poster to check the answers  Announce the winners  SIMON SAYS “Listen carefully to the articles”  Unit 13: FILMS AND CINEMA – Grammar ( Articles) When teaching articles, teacher often gives the rules of articles briefly and then asks students to some gap filling exercises SIMON SAYS is a wellknown game where students only an action if the instructions are preceded by the words “Simon says…” and otherwise stay still There is a fairly well known variation on this where students only the action if the instructions are grammatically and logically correct, and this can easily be adapted to practice articles with instructions they should copy like “Look at the teacher”, “Point at the 16 tallest student” and “Wink at a student”, and ones they shouldn’t like “Touch the student” (because they don’t know which one) 2.4 Results after applying the initiative The table above expresses clearly the difference in the students’ understanding of the lessons with and without grammar games In fact, after some lessons with grammar games, the number of students who get marks -7 occupies 34.7% while after some lessons not having grammar games, this number of students is 10% Moreover, the number of students who get marks -10 only occupies 28.1% in lessons without grammar games compared with 40% of the students get these marks in the other lessons The number of students who get marks under here also occupies rather high rate (25%) Marks – 10 8–9 7–8 6–7 5–6 Under Use grammar games Numbers of students % (10B2,10B8) 10 25 32 16 5,4 10,8 27,1 34,7 17,3 4,3 Not use grammar games Numbers of students % (10B2, 10B8) 18 27 27 12 2,1 6,5 19,5 29,3 29,3 13,04 CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 3.1.Conclusion - Grammar games help teachers combine skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing during giving the games and form the habit to play them Therefore, teachers only need to prepare a little, they can make class atmosphere lively and effectiveness of learning high because both teachers and students are familiar to the way to play games 17 - During the game, most students feel interested, ready to cooperate to take part in the game When playing the games, students express their motivation Moreover, students can revise the old structure and learn new one without being nervous or tired - Although benefits and effectiveness of grammar games are proved, grammar games sometimes cause difficulties to teachers and students + using grammar games loses a lot of time, so the teachers not have enough time to teach all content of the lesson + The class is crowded, so there are many difficulties both teachers and students including multi level learning and noise In summary, learning grammar though games is a method both effective and attractive, and can be applied in any classes 3.2 Suggestions Lin Hong, author of "Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners", explains that not all games are going to work to teach the students language skills If the game is simply for fun and not linked to educational goals, it may not be the best use of your time It is possible to have a fun game that is educationally sound, however To find out if the game is educationally sound, think about these questions posed by Hong:  Which skills the games practice?  What type of game is it and what is its purpose?  Does the difficulty level of the game mesh with the students' ability level?  Does the game require maximum involvement by the students?  Do the students like it? Do you like it? 18 These suggestions will help teachers to overcome difficulties in using grammar games and get used to teaching grammar with games in order to develop students’ motivation and understanding of the lesson Principal’s confirmation Thanh Hoa, May 10th 2021 I assure that this is my idea report, I not copy others’ content Written by Luu Thi Khanh Van 19 REFERENCE Games to teach English (Harold S Madren) - Oxford University Press 2003 Bridge TOEFL: Teaching English With Games (2007) How to improve students’ communicative skills - Masaryk University 2007 Intermediate Communication Games (Hadfield, J ) - Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd 1990 Using Games in Teaching English to Young Learners ( Lin Hong) The Grammar Activity Book Cambridge University Press ISBN 521 575796 Một số website giảng dạy Tiếng Anh: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/ http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/,http://www.britishcouncil.org , http://www.globaledu.com.vn , http://www.ila.com, … SGK Tiếng Anh 10 (Bộ Giáo Dục Đào Tạo)-NXB Giáo Dục ICT ESD – Nhà xuất Giáo dục (2008) 20 ... and exam results, data analysis and consultation of other English teachers as well and hopefully the study ? ?Applying some games in teaching grammar in grade 10 at Ham Rong high school? ?? will make... towards teaching English with games It creates students’ motivation in learning English Just imagine when coming in class, the teacher announces that it''s time for a grammar lesson with games and instead... difficulties in using grammar games and get used to teaching grammar with games in order to develop students’ motivation and understanding of the lesson Principal’s confirmation Thanh Hoa, May 10th 2021