How to motivate grade 6 students to learn english vocabulary effectively

1 PHÒNG GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO YÊN ĐỊNH TRƯỜNG THCS LÊ ĐÌNH KIÊN SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM TÊN ĐỀ TÀI HOW TO MOTIVATE GRADE STUDENTS TO LEARN ENGLISH VOCABULARY EFFECTIVELY Người thực hiện: Lưu Thị Tâm Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị cơng tác: Trường THCS Lê Đình Kiên Yên Định – Thanh Hóa SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực môn: Tiếng Anh YÊN ĐỊNH NĂM HỌC 2020 – 2021 I INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Nowadays, English is becoming more and more universal in the independent world It is considered as a bridge that links people from different parts of the world and helps expand international close relations Thanks to English, people can sit together and solve the serious problems happening daily Moreover, we can perceive much of the world’s progress in several fields such as science, technology, commercial, education, health, and etc Therefore, learning and teaching English has become more and more important.Favorable and effective communication requires students to have some vocabulary, so learning vocabulary is indispensable indispensable in learning English Recognize the importance of innovating teaching methods for jobs improve their quality and help them perfect their important skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing They not only study grammar well but also apply it to practice communication skills with native speakers fluently, listen and exchange information with them about real-life areas of life such as literature chemistry, hobbies, travel, learning The fact shows that in pilot textbook there is a large number of new words and vocabulary on a variety of topics So learning vocabulary for children is still difficult, because most of them only memorize parrots, only a few days later asked to become a new word immediately I would also like to share some of my experience in teaching and learning vocabulary at school to be highly effective for the new 6th grade English subject at Secondary School Learning and practicing foreign languages is highly effective when learners express good communication The implementation of that communication depends on many factors in the process of learning a foreign language that are perfect listening, speaking, reading and writing skills So teachers and students have to determine that understanding and using language in foreign languages is very important, but vocabulary is much more important Also, the vocabulary used in the sentence must match the context, so it requires students to have an understanding of the culture, customs and traditions of that country The communicator will have many disadvantages when using the wrong words, the context can lead to unfortunate misunderstandings Conversely, communicators will succeed if they use the correct words, even words used in an ornate manner, elaborating in the right context and pleasing the listener So how learners learn vocabulary well and flexibly apply those words to their listening, speaking, reading and writing skills That is the problem of concern for everyone who is teaching and learning foreign languages in general, English in particular It is thanks to the tricks and flexibility of the teacher Realizing that this issue is important, I chose the topic "How to motivate grade students to learn English vocabulary effectively.” Aims of the study With the successful research of the topic, experience initiatives will help teachers have the following experiences: - Understand the methods of teaching vocabulary to students - Methods for teaching vocabulary to grade students - studying English teaching materials, vocabulary teaching techniques - Training, teaching and testing - Attend colleagues' exchange time and learn from experience - Examining and evaluating the results of grasping students' lessons so that they can make reasonable adjustments and supplements - Instruct students to practice on their own to the skill of using English vocabulary in the next step Object and scope of the study The object of the study is the 6th grade students in junior high school 3 Methodology 4.1 Read the topic To this topic, I have researched and collected materials related to the topic, learning from other teachers' experiences As a result, orienting the content of the topic, understanding the research problem and solving the problem with relatively accurate materials 4.2 Investigation a Attending colleagues’lessons After attending colleagues’lessons at the school and summarizing some experience in teaching English vocabulary b Experiment: Experiment yourself through a number of lessons in the classroom, apply some method of teaching vocabulary in each lesson and evaluate the effectiveness of that method c Conversation: Through discussions on difficult issues in English teaching methods and new vocabulary teaching methods d Testing: Through student quality testing, teachers make their own assessments of the effectiveness of using some of the vocabulary teaching methods and suggest more appropriate solutions II - Development Theoretical background: In teaching and learning English, vocabulary is one of the three components that make up the language knowledge system and acts as a means, condition for forming and developing communication skills In any language, the role of vocabulary is also very important Can see a language is a collection of vocabulary It is not possible to understand the language without understanding the vocabulary, or through the vocabulary units But that does not mean that only understanding the individual vocabulary units, independently of each other but can only master the language through dialectical relationship between vocabulary units Thus, learning vocabulary and practicing vocabulary usage skills are the leading factor in the transmission and acquisition of a language in general and English in particular Because vocabulary is a linguistic unit, it is expressed in two forms: verbal and written If you want to use that language, you must master the form of verbal expression of words and words But due to the relationship of vocabulary with other elements in the language (grammar, phonetics, intonation ) or in communication situations Without a necessary vocabulary, learners cannot use sentence structures and linguistic functions in communication However, the perspectives of teaching and learning vocabulary in English are constantly changing, leading to a lot of changes in vocabulary teaching and learning methods Therefore, how to choose teaching methods to promote students' activeness, selfawareness, initiative, creative thinking, self-improvement skills, practical skills, and passion for learning practice and the will to rise up for students is something that all English teachers care about Actual situation In English, there are many reference materials that help teachers innovate teaching methods Especially every year, the education and training department organizes professional training courses Helping English teachers to approach and use new methods effectively However, due to the fact that teaching and learning English, teachers still face many difficulties such as: - Students are not fully aware of the importance of learning vocabulary but only focus on studying grammar or sentence structure - Students lack vocabulary, lazy to learn vocabulary, gradually lose basic vocabulary so it directly affects the acquisition of four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing - Most of the children are still passive in thinking, the ability to judge the meaning of words is limited 5 - The children have not yet associated with images in thinking about the second language So they are passive when using vocabulary to form complete sentences Through experience of teaching period: English Section 17 (Unit A closer look 1) and I have surveyed students in grade (6 minutes) with the following question content: Find the words that indicate the part above Human body (Networks) The results are as follows: Lớp Number of Vocabulary test results when no measures have been applied Excelent Good amount % amount % Average amount % weak poor amount % amount % students 155 5,2 10 6,4 60 38,7 62 40 15 9,7 From the above results and through teaching experience, I myself have always pondered: How students have vocabulary, thereby improving the quality of teaching English I have found some solutions and the results are quite satisfactory Solutions 3.1 Implementation measures: In order to have an attractive and attractive teaching period for students, promoting students' active activities, it requires teachers to invest a lot of time, effort, using teaching methods and techniques modern From lesson design to preparation of teaching equipment such as pictures, visual equipment To teach a vocabulary effectively, it is necessary to ensure the following steps: - Prepare for teachers: + Search for documents, images related to the topic, to design lessons Use teaching methods and techniques to promote students' learning activities + Regularly making simple visual aids to create excitement in lessons + Assign learning tasks, prepare lessons for students before learning new lessons + Prepare lesson thoroughly, in detail before going to class 6 - Prepare for students: + Prepare homework before class + Find new words at home + Practice pronunciation often + Attention in class listening to lectures, energetic statements to build lessons, positive, self-discipline in group and pair activities + Collecting many documents, pictures related to lectures with teachers + Actively make visual aids when the teacher asks 3.2 Applicability - With each topic, each lesson is different, teachers need to be flexible, change the way of writing to attract students - Teachers need to lead students into the lesson in a variety of ways For example "suggest" with simple questions related to the lesson topic, forcing students to think and answer at their own discretion On that basis lead to incorporate materials into the lesson - Students must be the central character in the lesson Give students the right to take initiative and develop questions to promote students' intellect Frequently use your new vocabulary So teachers have to think of many game activities in groups, in pairs so students can participate in better lesson design Depending on the requirements of each skill, there are appropriate tricks for each lesson Fully exploit the activities and apply them flexibly but not confined to the framework 3.3 Some principles to teach new words: - Choose new words by topic: Teachers should choose 5-8 new words to teach, these words must be active vocabulary, which means that the students will use frequently in class to practice basic skills, especially in practicing speaking and writing skills - These words need to have a high frequency meaning they appear frequently in the article 7 - These terms need to be acquired in the learning process of students at present and in the future - Avoid boring students, monotonous lessons, teachers not let students repeat words many times Because does not bring effective learning 3.4 Steps for presenting new vocabulary Use a suitable technique to elect or show the meaning of the new vocabulary Model the pronunciation clearly (twice) Ask students to repeat the word chorally and individually Correct students’ pronunciation Write the words on the board and students copy down on their notebooks 6.Check that students clearly understanding the meaning and pronunciation Draw students’ attention to aspect of vocabulary such as part of speech , collocation, frequency etc… Give students a written record Flash card Visual aids Realia Mind map techniques Synonym/ Antonym Favorite topics Example Translation 3.5- Electing techniques for teaching vocabulary a Visual aids Use a picture to introduce new words about the things in the house Unit My home The picture of prepositions of places The picture of body parts (Unit My friends) The picture of emotions (Unit 3: My friends) 10 The pictures of places Railway station Palace Memorial Art gallery Cathedral Square b Realia The use of realia , or real-life objects in the ESL classroom can make a huge difference in student learning It engages them and motivates them to learn It’s fun and sets a more natural learning environment Some realia you may use to introduce new vocabulary includes: - Use real things (teacher brings dictionary, caculator, lucky money, sun cream, scissors, plaster,backpack , flash-lamp or group of following different topic such as - Clothes 11 - Toy planes, trains, cars, animals, furniture, etc… - Family photos -Holiday items (pumpkin, Easter eggs, Halloween or Christmas decorations) - Plastic fruits and vegetables c Synonym/ Antonym * Synonym - Synonym are words that have the “same meanings” or “nearly the same meaning” - Use the questions Holiday = vacation Eg: Ex :What’ s another word for “ holiday”? 12 Synonym flat candy gift faucet bin amaze ill begin kids large bike rubbish apartment sweet present tub waste basket surprise sick start children big bicycle garbage * Antonym - Antonym are words that have the “opposite meanings” Antonym big noisy same empty happy right near young small quiet different full sad wrong far old 13 shout whisper d Translation - Teacher ask students to translate from English to Vietnamese or exchange from Vietnamese into English + Translate from English to Vietnamese E.g: Teacher: A “ destination” What does this mean in English? Student: “ It means that “ điểm đến” in English - T ask Ss to translate some words from English to Vietnamese such as dictionary, compass, villa, stilt house, chest of drawer, ceiling fan, creative, neck, cheek, statue, railway station, memorial, temple, art gallery, palace, cathedral, square, suburb .etc + Translate from Vietnamese into English - Teacher: How you say “Điểm đến” in English? Ex : A destination - T ask Ss to translate some words from Vietnamese into English such as tốt bụng, thông minh, ơ, làm vườn, trượt tuyết, bóng bầu dục, quan trọng, cần thiết, tiếng, điều ước, khóa cửa, đồ uống có ga, gian lận, đồ đạc, nhà sàn, hộ, dao, kéo, gương, etc e Example Example 1: fridge, ceiling fan, microwave, wardrobe, dishwasher, cupboard, bed, sofa, table, stool, bookshelf, chairs are called furniture f Favorite topics - When you learn the words related to the favorite topics, you can able to remember forever Traveling Hobbies Family Shopping Favorite topics Transportations Music Food and drink 14 15 Mind map Unit 2: My home h The result, the effect brings 16 With what I share as above and apply in teaching has brought me unexpected results In the 2018-2019 school year, I was in charge of teaching grade 6, I applied innovative methods in teaching attractive new words into the lecture and brought them interesting lessons During the teaching period, I found that the students are more hardworking, interested in learning vocabulary and also learning better The results achieved after the tests of specific vocabulary knowledge are as follows: Number of Vocabulary test results when no measures have been applied Excellent Good Average Weak poor amout % amout % amout % amout % amout % 155 5,2 10 6,4 60 38,7 62 40 15 9,7 Here is a table of results I can compare to take the average of tests for grade students students: Number of students 155 Vocabulary test results after applying the measures Excellent Good Average Weak poor amout % amout % amout % amout % amout % 25 16,1 45 29 70 54,3 15 9,6 0 I found the lessons more exciting and lively Students already memorize new words right in the classroom What is more important is that their vocabulary increases significantly In short, the innovation of teaching methods has brought great results compared to traditional teaching, especially with English Finally I want to say that with design experience "Some solutions to improve the effectiveness of teaching English vocabulary for grade 6.” I share that hope to be of some help to my colleagues e Scope and effects of the solution This project is not only applied for students of Secondary School but also for other learners of English as a second language 17 The traditional way of teaching with a teacher-centered teaching method shows that students are not interested in learning, and the effectiveness is not high The innovation of student-centered teaching methods has made them more interested in learning, more active students, more effective teaching hours, leading to higher test results In addition, the preparation of vocabulary lessons also helps students actively participate in pair and group activities to promote attention and enthusiasm when practicing listening and speaking English during class hours of the students in the classroom, creating more lively hours and attracting more students' attention, meeting the "two increases, two decreases" that have a real effect in improving the quality of education and perfecting student's personality, contributing to comprehensive student development education III CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS Conclusion Vocabulary plays an important role in the language system Without adequate vocabulary, people cannot use words as a means of communication The correct teaching of English vocabulary for junior high school students gives students the means to communicate for comprehensive development The richer a student's vocabulary is, the greater its ability to use it, the more accurate it will be and the more clearly it will communicate The success of word teaching depends primarily on the atmosphere of the necessary verbal communication that teachers create in the classroom, and it is important for students to adapt to that communication In addition, teachers must have a method so that all students can memorize vocabulary effectively, providing them with a variety of learning strategies and stimuli It is possible to use visual, sound and, most importantly, engaging students; There they not only hear, see, but also perform the movements Finally, teachers need to be realistic about their goals and expectations of what students can personally encounter and the time they need to practice, memorize and study Always learning to innovate, making students surprised about the ability to renew their teaching style is a great success of 18 teachers and students in attracting students to study English Depending on the circumstances of the time, place and specific physical material conditions, teachers can create new ways of teaching from clumsy During the teaching process, teachers take the role of the instructor and implementation organization; Students play an active role in the learning process, so it is necessary to promote students' activeness in practicing practice In order for this to happen, students must actively and voluntarily participate in the practice, not be afraid of making mistakes, and it should be noted that fluency is very important at this stage The minimum condition for students to practice their language skills is that each classroom is not overcrowded, with sufficient audiovisual equipment, audio / CD, situation pictures Academic performance assessment should emphasize four skills, and a small portion of language knowledge Testing language skills is always preferred in any way To achieve high results in teaching English to junior high school students, teachers must first be responsible, have a love for the job, and are enthusiastic at work The purpose of the lesson needs to be clearly defined, the use and flexible combination of creative teaching methods, suitable to the characteristics of the subject and the target audience Teachers exploit and combine the effective use of teaching aids and equipment such as projectors, pictures, flashcards, the Internet, and make a variety of aesthetic teaching aids that will help students enjoy engaging join the lesson Suggestions * For educational management levels - In order to meet the requirements of renewing the new curriculum and textbooks under the 2020 foreign language project, the management levels need to strengthen the opening of training classes, professional training, seminars, experience initiatives on innovating teaching methods, so that teachers have enough capacity and expertise to adapt to the requirements of educational renovation 19 - Invest in and build modern teaching equipment and facilities to ensure foreign language teaching and learning * For the school: - Awareness raising on innovating teaching methods for officials and teachers - Advise with management, social organizations to invest in building schools, facilities and modern teaching equipment, enabling teachers and students to use and access with new and modern information pages to improve teaching and learning effectiveness - Do well the work of socialization of education, to procure equipment and teaching facilities - Do well the emulation, motivate and reward teachers with high achievements in teaching The topic cannot avoid shortcomings I look forward to the comments, exchanges from comrades, colleagues and experts to myself more and more progressive, more complete and the most effective topic contributing to the cause of education educate and train young people, bring foreign languages closer to them, penetrate into life and become an effective and effective communication tool Thereby, accumulated more teaching experience and the art of teaching achieve the highest results that meet the educational requirements in the current period I sincerely thank for the comments of the scientific council and all teachers TEACHER’S DECLARATION I declare that this study is original and has not been submitted for assessment elsewhere I declare that this study is my own work and not involve plagiarism or collusion Yen Dinh, April 19th 2020 20 Lưu Thị Tâm TABLE OF CONTENTS Items I- Introduction Page 21 Rationale of the study Aims and the study Objects and scope of the study Methodology II- Development Theoretical background Actual situation Solutions The effect after approaching the study III- Conclusion and suggestions 3 3 15 17 ĐỀ TÀI SKKN ĐÃ ĐƯỢC HỘI ĐỒNG SKKN NGÀNH GIÁO DỤC CÁC CẤP ĐÁNH GIÁ TT Tên đề tài Xếp loại/ cấp/ năm Phương pháp trợ giúp học sinh học kĩ B- huyện- 2009 nghe hiểu SOME TYPICAL MISTAKES IN C- Tỉnh- 2011 PRONUNCIATION MADE BY SECONDARY STUDENTS AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS USING PEER FEEDBACK TO B- Huyện - 2015 IMPROVE THE GRADE NON – ENGLISH - MAJOR STUDENTS’ WRITING SKILL AT A SECONDARY SCHOOL “COMMON MISTAKES OF SECODARY STUDENTS IN PRONOUNCING ENGLISH CONSONANTS” A- Huyện- 2018 ... particular It is thanks to the tricks and flexibility of the teacher Realizing that this issue is important, I chose the topic "How to motivate grade students to learn English vocabulary effectively. ”... of the study is the 6th grade students in junior high school 3 Methodology 4.1 Read the topic To this topic, I have researched and collected materials related to the topic, learning from other... ask students to translate from English to Vietnamese or exchange from Vietnamese into English + Translate from English to Vietnamese E.g: Teacher: A “ destination” What does this mean in English?