Methods to organize pair work and group work in english teaching

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING OFFICE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE METHODS TO ORGANIZE PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK IN ENGLISH TEACHING Written by : Đỗ Thị Hương Position : Teacher Working unit : Subject Tran Mai Ninh secondary school : English THANH HOA 2021 CONTENTS A REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH B AIMS OF THE RESEARCH C SCOPE, OBJECT AND RESEARCHING METHOD D MAIN CONTENT I GENERAL INTRODUCTION What are pair work and group work? Main advantages, problems and solutions to the problems II ORGANIZING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK Group and pair work organization Organization steps 2.1 Presentation 2.2 Process 2.3 Ending 2.4 Feedback Demonstration 3.1 Examples of pair work: 3.2 Examples of group work: (Powerpoint Files from Students’ groupworks) Suggestions for some popular kinds of practice E RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING F CONCLUSION G REFERENCE BOOKS Page 2 3 3 5 5 6 6 11 12 12 14 A REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE RESEARCH Implementing the Resolution of the 11th Party Congress, especially the Central Revolution 29- NQ / TW dated November 4th, 2013 on comprehensive fundamental reforms of education and training, meeting the requirements of Industrialization, Moderninzing in the socialist – oriented market economy ans international integration , general education in the whole country is implementing synchronous reform in many aspects in which the most significantis innovation in teaching method in schools Innovation is one-way method to active teaching method But how to reform and how to be effective are still difficult problems One of the most focused methods is to organise learning in group for students In order to make his English period more effective, the teacher himself must find out the way of teaching suitable for his students I think that in a good English period, the students play active roles and the teacher is only the adviser All the teachers know pair work and group work are the main activities in teaching English at schools There is always pair work or group work in each lesson of textbook but at times it is not suitable for some classes If the teacher wants his students to play active roles, he should design pair work and group work before going to class for each period But sometimes the teacher gets stuck in organizing pair work and group work effectively If teachers only focus on equiping students with grammar and vocabulary that related to the topic and forget the interdisciplinary between subjects, it will make the lecture dry literary and less interesting Students always feel the heavy pressure and even tired after each Foreign language lesson As a direct teacher on the school podium, during the process of implementing English pilot curriculum, I can clearly see the advantages of this Interdisciplinary Integration teaching method The effectiveness of this method is clearly shown in the attitude, passion, receiving results of students in each lesson Therefore, I strongly implement this topic: "Methods to organize pair work and group work in English teaching”, it is the experience which I myself have gained from the research process and experimental teaching for many years, especially in the academic schoolyears 2019- 2020 and 2020 - 2021 B AIMS OF THE RESEARCH - To introduce pair work and group work and to show the advantages of working in pairs and groups - To show how to organize pair and group work effectively and how to deal with initial problems that may arise - To show how pair and group work can be used for various classroom activities - To give teachers confidence in using pair and group work themselves C SCOPE, OBJECT AND RESEARCHING METHOD - Scope: Researching in the process of teaching English at Tran Mai Ninh secondary school school - Object: Being concerned with ways of organizing activities in the class - Researching method: Reading reference books, discussing with other teachers, applying in teaching, observing and drawing out experiences D MAIN CONTENT I GENERAL INTRODUCTION What are pair work and group work? 1.1 Students work in small groups (of four or five) on tasks that entail interaction: conveying information, for example, or group decision making All the groups work at the same time The teacher walks around, listens, and intervenes little if necessary 1.2 Pair work: The teacher divides the whole class into pairs Every student works with his or her partner and all the pairs work at the same time The teacher walks around, listens and intervenes little if necessaryGroup work: Main advantages, problems and solutions to the problems For certain types of activities, pair work and group work have any number of advantages in working with the whole class together Teachers should think what the main advantages are, and also what problems might be involved in pair work, group work and the solutions for these Here are some main advantages and problems: Advantages Problems - Students have more chances to - The class is noisy practise English - Students make mistakes - Students are more involved - It is sometimes difficult to control - Students feel more confident class - Students learn from each other …… - Students know how to co-operate and share the work with each other - Teacher can save time (Of course, your own advantages and problems may look slightly different from these, but most teachers’ suggestions will probably fit under these headings) Now, we will discuss each heading in more detail First, let’s start with the advantages * Students have more chances to practise English: Pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak English For example, students are given an exercise of making sentences (question & answer), working in pairs, each student makes as many sentences as they can If the exercise was done “round the class”, every student can have a chance to say at least one sentence * Students are more involved: Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and others may lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class together Working in pairs or groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate on the task * Students feel more confident: Students feel less anxious when they are working in pairs or groups than when they are on show in front of the whole class Pair work and group work can help shy students who never say anything in a whole class activity * Students learn from each other: Pair work and group work encourage students to share ideas and knowledge In a reading activity, students can help each other to explore the meaning of a text; in a discussion activity, students can give each other new ideas * Students know how to co-operate and share the work with each other: Students know that their task is successful or not it depends on not only themselves but also their partners Therefore, when working in pairs or groups students know how to co-operate and share the work with each other to lead a good result * Teacher can save time: When teacher asks students work in pairs or groups at the same time he can save more time than when he gets them to work individually Now talk about the problems, and discuss the ways of recovering them: * The class is noisy: Obviously pair work and group work in a large class will be noisy, and this cannot be helped But: - Usually the students themselves are not disturbed by the noise; it is more noticeable to the teacher standing at the side or to someone in the next room - The noise created by pair work and group work is usually “good” noise Students use English or engage in a learning task Teacher should stop the activity when most groups or pairs have finished or prepare a “reserve” task to occupy members of groups who finish earlier than expected * Students make mistakes: During a pair or group activity, the teacher cannot control all the language used, and should not try to so When doing controlled language practised in pairs or groups, the number of mistakes can be reduced by: - Giving enough preparation, the activity can be done with some model presentation first, and pair work or group work is used in final stage - Checking afterwards, the teacher can ask some pairs or groups what they said, and then correct mistakes if necessary * It is sometimes difficult to control class: The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and group work than in normal class To stop activities getting out of control, it is important to: - Give clear instructions on how to start, what to and when to stop - Give clearly defined tasks which don’t continue for too long - Set up a routine, so that students accept the idea of working in pairs or groups, and know exactly what to II ORGANIZING PAIR WORK AND GROUP WORK Group and pair work organization - The success of group or pair work depends on some extents: - The climate of the class - The students’ habit of working in pairs or groups - The selection of an interesting and stimulating task of the teacher - The good performance within the ability of the group or pair - More immediately, it also depends on: - Effective and careful organization Organization steps: 2.1 Presentation: The instructions that are given at the beginning are crucial If the students not understand exactly what they have to do, there will be a waste of time, confusion, lack of effective practice, possible loss of control Select tasks that are simple enough to describe easily; and in monolingual classes, you may find it costeffective to explain some or all in the students’ mother tongue It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials and dividing the class into pairs or groups; and a preliminary rehearsal or “dry run” of a sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things If your students have already done similar activities, you will be able to shorten the process, giving only brief guidelines; It is mainly the first time of doing something with a class that such care needs to be invested in instructing Try to foresee what language will be needed, and have a preliminary quick review of appropriate grammar or vocabulary Finally before giving the sign to start tell the class what the arrangements are for stopping: If there is a time limit, or a set signal for stopping, say what it is; if the pairs or groups simply stop when they have finished, then tell them what they will have to next It is wise to have a reserve task planned to occupy members of pairs or groups who finish earlier than expected 2.2 Process: Teacher goes from group to group, pair to pair, monitor, and either contribute or keep out of the way whichever is likely to be more helpful If you decide to intervene, your contribution may take the form of: - Providing general approval and support; - Helping students who are having difficultly; - Keeping the students using the target language (in many cases your mere presence will ensure this!) - Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where you find some students are over dominant and others are silent 2.3 Ending: Draw the activity to a close at a certain point Try to finish the activity while the students are still enjoying it and interested, or only just beginning to flag 2.4 Feedback: A feedback session usually takes place in the context of full-class interaction after the end of the pair work or group work Feedback on the tasks may take many forms: - Giving the right solution, if there is one - Listening to and evaluating suggestions - Pooling ideas on the board - Displaying the materials the groups/ pairs have produced And so on The main objective here is to express appreciation of the effort that has been invested and its results Feedback on language may be integrated into this discussion of the task, or provide the focus of a separate class session later Demonstration: Before teaching teacher should prepare pair work and group work activities carefully If he can so the students are attracted to his designed activities The climate of the class is very exciting as everyone must practise Some teachers say that pair work and group work can only be applied in speaking or reading periods For me I can apply them in all periods Besides teacher can redesign the material so that it is suitable for his students And below are some my examples that I have already applied 3.1 Examples of pair work: Example 1: In Unit 1: Leisure activities (English 8) Teacher: Practise these questions in pairs (Getting started) 1.Where you think Phuc, Mai and Nick are ? What are they holding in their hands? What are they talking about? Can you guess what Mai, Phuc and Nick like doing in their free time? The theme of this unit is very familiar with the students They practise in pairs very frankly and openly Example 2: In Unit 4: Peoples of Vietnam - Reading (English 8) Teacher: Practice reading the dialogue in pairs Model: Mai is talking with Anna, her new English friend, about Peoples of Vietnam Anna: Where the Thai people live ? Mai: They live in Lai Chau, Son La, Yen Bai, Hoa Binh, Thanh hoa and Nghe An Anna: What is their population? Mai: They have a population of about one and a half million people After students practise this dialogue fluently I ask them to replace the underlined words by: Population Region The Bru-Van Kieu people about 74,500 Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thua Thien - Hue Mon-Khmer group The Khmer people about 1,260,600 provinces of Mekong Delta Mon-Khmer group, writing system Production growing rice, terraced growing rice, raising cattle activities fields, raising cattle and and poultry, making sugar poultry Festivals ceremony held before two main holidays: Chaul sowing seeds Chnam Thmey (New Year) and Greeting-the-Moon festival This practice helps every student in class and no one gets stuck Language Example 3: In Unit 7: Pollution – A close look (English 8) Teacher: Practise asking and answering, using conditional sentences in pairs (After the students study grammar) Model: A: What would you if you found a beautiful old glass? B: If I found a beautiful old glass, I would use it to keep pencils in A: If you had a sheet of paper, how often would you write on both side ? B: Always A: When you finish a can of cola, what will you do? B: If I finish a can of cola, I will put it the recycling bin Students look at the model and it is easy for them to practise in pairs Example 4: In Unit 10: Pollution– Writing (English 8) Teacher: Work in pairs Ask and answer these questions as quickly as possible (Before you write) Is air pollution a problem in your country? What are some of the causes of air pollution? How pollution can affect to our health? Do you think problems with the cleanliness of air will improve in the future? What can an individual to reduce the pollution in your city? If students work in pairs carefully to answer these questions they will find it easy to write about the school education system in Vietnam 3.2 Examples of group work: Example 1: In Unit 1: Leisure Activities– Project (English 8) Teacher: Work in groups JOIN OUR LEISURE ACTIVITY In a small group decide on a leisure activity that you would like to organise It could be a team sport, or a craft-making activity Plan a poster advertising your activity Include the following on your poster: - Explain the activity and include some pictures - Explain why this activity is fun /exciting/ interesting - Give information about the meeting time and place - Tell classmates what they should bring to the activity Use the poster to present the activity to the rest of the class See how many classmates will sign up to your activity (Powerpoint Files from Students’ groupworks) Example 2: In Unit 5: Festivals in Vietnam – Speaking (English 8) Teacher: 1- What festival is the most impressed by you ? (The name of the festival.) The time it is celebrated The time it is celebrated The activities of the festival The reasons you like it Students work in groups and they find it easy to give their answer from their real life 10 (Powerpoint Files from Students’ groupworks) Example 3: In Unit 7: Pollution– Project (English 8) Teacher: What would you if ? Imagine that your group is entering a competition to lead the Green Club in your school You are asked the question: What would you to reduce pollution in our country if you were the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment? You are required to create a collage to show what you would do, and give a presentation about it Now Work in groups and discuss the things you would Collect pictures from different source, or draw the pictures Stick the pictures on a big piece of paper Prepare a presentation Remember to assign who will talk about what Give a presentation to the class Students work in groups and finish this task more quickly than it individually 11 (Powerpoint Files from Students’ groupworks) Example 4: In Unit 8: Films – Project (English 7) Teacher: Work in groups - It shows the view, the characters of the film to advertise it to audience - I like the poster of the film "Crazy Coconut" It's lovely and romantic - I can see a lot of information about the film such as: the names of the directors, characters, production company, showtime, venues - I can include type of films, the views, the cinema name, ect (Powerpoint Files from Students’ groupworks) 12 Students work in groups and find out five words left quickly: flower, trees, houses , roads, weather They are connected with a neighbourhood From my examples above you can see I can almost apply pair work and group work in most of my teaching periods Suggestions for some popular kinds of practice Pair work and group work are not “teaching methods”, but ways of organizing the class They can be used for many different kinds of activity, and are naturally more suitable for some activities than for others Before deciding what kind of activity will be used teacher should answer the following questions: - Can you use pair work or group work for part of the activity? - If so, exactly what will students in pairs or groups? - What will you need to before the pair /group stage? - Is there anything you will after it? Here are suggestions for some popular kinds of practice: *Pattern practice: This can be done in pairs in the same way as practising conditional sentences mentioned in example (Example of pair work – Demonstration) Any controlled oral practice can be done first with the whole class, and then in pairs * Practising short dialogues: Acting out short dialogues can very easily be done in pairs, with little chance of making mistakes It can be done first with pairs of students in front of the class and then with all students working in pairs at the same time * Reading a text and answering questions: Students can discuss questions in pairs or groups and then read the text or they can read the text silently and then ask and answer questions in pairs or groups This is a good way of involving the whole class in answering questions * Short-writing exercises: Students can sit in groups and decide together what to write In each group, one student acts as “group leader”, one student acts as “secretary” This can be difficult to organise but in a large class it has the advantages that students correct each others’ mistakes and the teacher only has a few papers to mark in the end Pair work can be used for correcting written work (eg: homework) Students sit in pairs and correct what their partners have written * Discussions: With more advanced class, discussions can be conducted in groups It is important to define the discussion clearly and to ask each group to report their conclusions afterwards * Grammar exercises: Students can grammar exercises orally in pairs; the teacher goes throughthe answers afterwards with the whole class and students write the 13 exercises forhomework This is more interesting and productive than students doing exercisesalone, in silence E RESULT AFTER APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING The table below expresses clearly the differences in the students’ attitude towards the way to participate in the lessons Before applying the research in teaching not all students in classes take part in the lessons actively After applying it,students join in the lessons more actively The climate of classes is more exciting Here are results of the survey before and after carrying out the study It is realised for 143 students in class 8A, 8D and class 8F of Trần Mai Ninh school: Before: Excellent Good Fair Poor Quality % Quality % Quality % Quality % 36 25,17 66 46,15 33 23,07 5,59 After Excellent Good Fair Poor Qualit y % Quality % Quality % Quality % 74 51,75 51 35,66 15 10,49 2,09 F CONCLUSION: In group or pair work, learners from a learning task can play active roles through small pair or group interaction Learners in a class that is divided into eight groups or 20 pairs get eight times or twenty times as many opportunities to communicate as in full class organization The effectiveness of pair work and group work is that it fosters learners responsibility and independence, it can improve motivation and contribute to a feeling of cooperation and warmth in the class, so that organizing pair work and group work effectively helps improve learning outcomes Despite my trying a lot, the content of this research is only my personal experience of teaching Therefore, there must be some mistakes that I myself still cannot find out I hope I will get suggestions from the readers as many as possible I hope that the study will make contribution to the better situation of teaching and learning English Thank you very much, Confirm of the headmaster 14 Thanh hoa city, April 4th 2021 I pledge not to copy other people’s content Author Đỗ Thị Hương 15 REFERENCE BOOKS Practical handbook of language teaching (David Cross) A course in language teaching - Practical and Theory (Penny Ur) Cambrige university press Giáo trình giáo học pháp (Tở ngoại ngữ –Khoa ngôn ngữ và văn hóa Anh – Mĩ- Úc – Trường đại học quốc gia Hà Nội) Phương pháp dạy tiếng Anh Trung học phổ thông (Nguyễn Hạnh Dung) 5.Sách Tiếng Anh lớp + lớp – Trung học sở 16 ... in the academic schoolyears 2019- 2020 and 2020 - 2021 B AIMS OF THE RESEARCH - To introduce pair work and group work and to show the advantages of working in pairs and groups - To show how to. .. almost apply pair work and group work in most of my teaching periods Suggestions for some popular kinds of practice Pair work and group work are not ? ?teaching methods? ??, but ways of organizing the... implement this topic: "Methods to organize pair work and group work in English teaching? ??, it is the experience which I myself have gained from the research process and experimental teaching for many