Measures to improve the quality of english speaking skill for 5th graders of thanh truc primary school

THACH THANH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THANH TRUC PRIMARY SCHOOL INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL FOR 5TH GRADERS OF THANH TRUC PRIMARY SCHOOL Performed by: Do Thi Ha Job title: Teacher Unit of work: Thanh Truc Primary School Initiatives in the field of(subject): English THANH HOA,2021 TABLE OF CONTENT Numbe r Content Page 1 Introduction 2 1.1 Reasons for choosing topic 1.2 Research purposes 1.3 Research subjects 1.4 Research Methods The content of the experience initiative 2.1 Theoretical foundations of the experience initiative 2.2 Current state of the problem before applying the initiative 2.3 The solutions used to solve the problem 10 2.4 The effectiveness of experience initiatives 16 11 Conclusion 16 12 3.1 Conclusions 16 13 3.2 Recommendations, suggestions 18 INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for choosing topic Along with other subjects in Primary school, nowadays, English is a compulsory subject, considered as an important subject in Primary school and is very interested by school staff, students, and parents English in Primary is the beginning to build a knowledge base, contributing to the formation of basic communication skills for students: listening, speaking, reading and writing Helping them to have more knowledge to study at higher levels Among the above skills, speaking is one of the important skills in learning English as well as any foreign language If learners are proficient in using this skill, it will make them very excited and confident in their immediate and future learning Help them overcome the barriers of psychological inhibition when communicating with friends, teachers, strangers or foreigners and, especially, be confident when speaking in public whether it is speaking a foreign language or a mother tongue to lay In addition, speaking skills also help students apply the knowledge they have learned about phonetics, vocabulary, grammar into communication reality Thanh Truc Primary School is a school located in the mountainous countryside, and the exchange learning conditions of students are still limited Students, after many years studying English at school, many of them cannot speak a few sentences in English, especially applying English in real life communication They are afraid to speak English, or when they encounter specific situations, they lack confidence and cannot communicate even though they still understand the lesson, understand the structure of the sentence, can read, write I directly taught English classes at Thanh Truc Primary School, through the fact that many years of teaching, I see students still weak in all four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing Especially, their speaking skills are very limited, their pronunciation is not correct, they are shy, reserved, they are afraid that they laugh when they say it wrong Before that fact, I can not help wondering how to learn English well for students? How to practice English speaking skills for students to be more accurate and confident? Because of this thought, I have studied deeply "Measures to improve the quality of English speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School" 1.2 Research purposes - For students: Creating opportunities and an English-speaking environment for students through classes and English-speaking Club activities, removing the status of students learning English but cannot speak in English, helping students to apply English to communication in life - For colleagues: I am writing this topic with the aim to exchange experiences with colleagues on how to improve English speaking hours effectively 1.3 Research subjects - Textbooks for grade of the new program of the Ministry of Education and Training - Students of grade at Thanh Truc Primary School 1.4 Research Methods In this topic I have applied research methods: a Theoretical research method - Analyze textbook content of knowledge part of each lesson - Research references related to that knowledge b Methods of actual investigation - Investigate the practice of speaking English in student's lessons - Organize to collect teachers' opinions in professional groups and adjusts learning activities to put into practice teaching c Statistical method, data processing - Statistics survey data for grade students, Thanh Truc Primary School CONTENT OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE 2.1 Theoretical foundations of the experience initiative Among four skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking is one of the extremely important skills in learning English, helping students apply the knowledge they have learned about phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar … into real communication This skill training should be closely coordinated with other skills, carried out step by step, regularly so that students can apply it to specific communication situations In this way, the teacher plays a very important role in guiding and organizing so that students have the opportunity to practice and practice speaking English with their teachers and friends in specific communication situations in a flexible, self-contained manner Believe and be effective Practice of speaking skills must be carried out regularly during lessons, but the most focus is in the sections “look, listen and repeat, point and say, let’s talk “ 2.2 Current state of the problem before applying the initiative a Advantages: - New textbook program: + Built around topics that are close to, close to students' goals, needs, interests and lives + Language materials are introduced and practiced through lively situations and exercises that promote students' activeness and creativity in learning to help them develop their communication skills while grasping the system of grammatical structures, creating a premise for the development of language skills in the future - Teachers: Actively self-study and self-foster to improve professional qualifications Actively innovate teaching methods to improve the effectiveness of teaching hours and promote students' activeness Strengthening the organization for students to work in pairs with groups to train the team spirit and support each other in learning - Students: Most of them are obedient and like to learn English b Disadvantages: - Textbook program: Speak and Listen lessons are combined into one period, so it takes time to practice speaking less - Teachers: + The English language has not been used in a balanced and reasonable manner in teaching period, so it does not create the habit of listening, speaking and behaving in English for students + The instruction for students to use English in daily communication is limited -Students: + The number of students in the class is large, so it is difficult to organize and control students to practice speaking + The English speaking skill is still limited, the more afraid they are when speaking English + In speaking lessons, students usually just stop at the level of saying one a few sentences of dialogue according to the form that have not met the requirements in the meaning of communication + Most of students in Thanh Truc's pronunciation is still heavy in the local language, so when reading English is not standard, they tend to pronounce English in Vietnameseized way + Students lack communication environment, teachers and students are all Vietnamese, not have the opportunity to interact with foreigners, so they limit the development of students' ability to communicate in English From the above situation, I have given the survey to grade students on September 10th, 2019 The content of the survey is as follows: Introduce yourself (answer the questions) What’s your name? How old are you? What class are you in? Where are you from? What’s your hobby? (what you like doing?) Survey results are as follows: Grade Total number of students 103 Good Medium Weak No % No % No % 20 19,4 69 67,0 14 13,6 From the above survey results, I see that the number of students who speak fluently and successfully complete the lesson accounts for a small number of only 20 students, equivalent to 19.4%, most of them students with foreign language skills The number of students completing the lesson are those who have a good grasp of vocabulary knowledge and sentence patterns, but their ability to pronounce and speak English is not fast, accounting for 67.0% In particular, the number of students who have not finished their speech is relatively high, 14 students, accounting for 13.6% In this group, they cannot it because they cannot remember words, sentence patterns, and pronunciation incorrectly, all are shy students afraid to communicate, in English 2.3 The solutions used to solve the problem As a longtime English teacher, I always define how I have to make students develop positively, proactively and creatively to help them speak English naturally From there, improve learning efficiency and develop better speaking skills I am always dedicated to exploring and creating in lessons but first of all, I have to understand the goals of each lesson Communicating enough, yes, but I have always determined that the ultimate goal of teaching English is to help students communicate well With new methods learned, with my own creativity, I have experimented to find ways to guide students to learn more effectively in speaking lessons, creating favorable opportunities for students to learn Practice speaking English as much as possible I determined that in order for them to communicate in English well and confidently speak English, first of all they must have vocabulary, master sentence patterns, practice and practice speaking regularly between teachers and students , Students to teachers, students and students, gradually develop new skills So the first thing I is find ways to improve the quality of speaking practice Here is what I took 2.3.1 Create a communication environment in English for students - Practice quick reflexes in English for students For the grade students, although they already have a certain vocabulary, their ability to respond to English is still slow In teaching practice, most students only read the contents of the science textbook first and forget later That is why their English does not develop When saying a different content from the textbook, they are not confident enough, still afraid of the wrong Therefore, in teaching, it is necessary to give students a quick response by: + In class, teachers always use English commands in class: stand up, sit down, come here, open your book, close your book, … + After students have learned new sentence patterns, teachers should use them regularly in the classroom, creating conditions for good English reflexes For example:How are you? What’s the weather like today? What day is it today? What’s the matter with you? + Replace the unknown word with another known phrase, not afraid to be shy when saying the wrong words For example: They can speak “There are four people in my family” Instead of saying, “My family have four people” I go to school on foot every day -> I walk to school every day Regular use of English in class has created a positive effect at my school: when children meet teachers and friends, they often greet and chat with simple sentences in English - Organize learning activities in pairs, groups There are many forms of learning organization, but group teaching creates conditions for children to exchange and learn from each other during practice, it is an opportunity to share information and learn what they have not clearlymake students remember quickly and pronounce correctly This is the most effective and ideal activity in speaking practice At the same time, this activity also helps the teacher easily control the students, listen and intervene when necessary Example: Unit 3: Where did you go on holiday?Students can practice in pairs A: Where did you go on your summer holiday? B: I went to Halong bay? A: How did you get there? B: I went there by coach Unit 7: How you learn English? Students can practice in groups of A: How you learn English? B: I learn to speak English by talking with my foreign friends C: I usually practice listening by watching cartoons on TV D: I learn to write by writing emails to my friends * Note: The problem posed by teachers for groups must have similar content and knowledge Some pictures of students' activities in pairs and groups of English lessons - Organizing English club exchanges English club creates a lively, attractive playground for students to have many opportunities to exchange, learn, communicate, and show their foreign language skills From there, create motivation to arouse passion for children, promote confidence when communicating in English Some pictures of activities to join the English club - Organized "English speaking couples"; "English speaking group" In addition to their classroom work, they also need a lot of speaking practice at home Through studying the student's residential area, they live a lot closer to each other's home So I organized the "English speaking couple" for the children; "English speaking group" at home After each class in class, I assign specific homework to couples, groups of friends on topics or conversation patterns Students go home to find ideas to talk to each other by themselves The purpose is to consolidate the learned vocabulary and sentence patterns, helping children to speak English in the direction of "natural English speaking" After completing Unit 8: What are you reading? I will assign couples and friends the task of telling about the story they are reading with the following suggested questions: What are you reading now? What is the book about? Who is the main character? What is he / she like? - Before each lesson, the teacher will give you couples or groups of friends to present to the class Teachers will have timely rewards to motivate them Creating an English speaking environment inside and outside the school has helped my students to be more confident and more confident in communicating in English, helping them to love the subject more and more 2.3.2 Practice pronunciation, stress, intonation, and expression skills when speaking to students a Pronunciation: is the basic and most important foundation when practicing speaking English This is the golden stage of correcting your child's pronunciation errors So teachers have to practice for students to pronounce correctly, pronounce with the last sound, read joint… This will help children 10 avoid common pronunciation mistakes and correct pronunciation from an early age - Practice the habit of reading matching: For example: Is‿it beautiful? What’s ‿he like? There ‿is a boy What was ‿it like? I watch cartoons ‿on TV - Pay attention to practice for the children to pronounce the final consonants of each word: For example:Road, Street, Think, Sport These last sounds, when read out, will determine how the word is and what it means For example:nice- nine- night white- wine- wife - Practice for students to pronounce "s, es" + Read as / s / when the word has an ending with unvoiced consonants such as: / p /, / k /, / t /, / f /, / θ /…: streets, peacocks, units… + Read as / iz / when word has an end of letters sh, ch, s, x, z, ce, ge… : classes, watches, boxes, races, nurses, changes… + Read as / z / when the word has the end of the vowel or the remaining consonant sound: pythons, things, tigers - Also, some sounds are difficult to pronounce even for small native students + The / r / sound is difficult for students to notice that the teacher's lips come out and then open their mouth wide: r r r + Sound / th / shows them to put their tongue between their teeth Pay attention to lightly bite the tip of your tongue when you pronounce this pronunciation 11 For example: This, these, they, mother, father… + Sound / l / put the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth: ball, doll - How to correct incorrect pronunciation for students Correct pronunciation and grammatical errors for students while speaking is an important thing However, how to correct mistakes for students and when appropriate is a delicate and pedagogical job - When students are pronouncing a sentence correctly, this is the right time for teachers to correct mistakes when they are wrong - For the case when students are concentrating on thinking and finding ideas to say something, the teacher should not interrupt to fix the error because of this will lose their confidence, hyperactivity, and like to participate in communication activities At this point it is necessary for students to finish speaking before editing and asking students to repeat them - Teachers help students to have positive attitudes towards their own language errors Accepting mistakes is an essential part of the foreign language learning process, helping children learn from their own mistakes and from their friends' mistakes b Pay attention to stress, intonation, and expression when speaking In addition to pronunciation, stress, intonation (intonation) are important factors while speaking English It helps listeners easily understand the content of the conversation + Word stress For example: 'party,' Sunday, en'joy and in'vite… + Sentence stress Usually, the main accent mark is placed on words that have the meaning of important content in the sentence Example: ‘When will‘ Sports ‘Day‘ be? It’ll be on ‘Saturday Intonation is also an important part of speaking English Most Vietnamese people make mistakes when speaking English without intonation Therefore, 12 when practicing speaking English for primary school students, teachers need to pay attention to train their intonation, instruct students to go up and down, emphasize, and break between sentences + Intonation and intonation often raise voices at the end of Yes- No questions, and lower tones in Wh- questions Example: Did you see any monkeys? What did you see at the zoo? + Rest between sentences Example: When I was there, the pythons moved slowly I need milk, apples, eggs and suger - In teaching English as well as Vietnamese, speaking to attract listeners in addition to speaking correctly, standard pronunciation needs to show attitudes, gestures, banners when speaking Need to show the intonation, enough volume (intensity, pitch ) the voice attracts attention, causes feelings for the opposite person when speaking Getting rid of your usual bad habits while saying (uh ah ) For example: Listen! The car is coming Be quiet! The baby is sleeping Need to control vision at the person you are talking to, you need to make eye contact flexible, focused…, avoid looking absent-minded and vague while speaking Pay attention to gesture factors, body language (body language) Keep a polite way of communicating Teachers need to remind students to practice the above requirements every day It should be noted that providing students with language is not as difficult as using language use that language in communication Therefore, teachers need to create conditions for students to practice speaking regularly, help them confidently and boldly give their opinions and also help students detect limitations and correct mistakes 2.3.3 The teacher must master the process of the speaking class 13 In order to successfully teach speaking lessons to students, teachers must be completely prepared and adhere to the following steps: - Prepare to speak (pre- speaking) + Introduce sample talk + Practice reading for students (pay attention to the pronunciation) + Teacher uses open-ended questions so that students can draw out word usage and sentence structure In this step, teachers are required to have active investment in the content of the topic, even the teachers themselves must speak correctly and accurately to be able to model for students It is necessary to prepare well a system of suggestive questions, plan out situations that arise for the correct timely and scientific resolution If the teacher does this well, the talk will be successful - Controlled practice + Students rely on suggested situations (through pictures, words, given sentence structures, sample dialogues) to practice speaking as required + Students practice speaking individually, in pairs, and in groups under the teacher's control + Call individuals, pairs or groups to present their talks as required This step requires teachers in the class to have good pedagogical skills, a reasonable and flexible teaching organization, good control of the student's speech content, creating conditions for students to talk a lot in front of the class - Free practical production + Students use words and sentence patterns to talk about objects around them + Teachers should not be limited in ideas as well as language, so students should speak for themselves and promote students' creativity This is a good job that develops the language ability and creativity of the children, so when organizing, the teacher needs to skillfully encourage the students to have the opportunity to show their abilities, avoid the group situation Monotonous mechanical operation makes students boring 14 Example: Unit 8: What are you reading? - lesson (1, 2, 3) - Pre- speaking (look, listen and repeat) + Have students exploit pictures to guess the content of the conversation + Practice reading for students by having them listen to tapes and repeat + Ask students to answer the question: What is Quan reading? - Aladdin and the Magic Lamp Who's the main character? - A boy Aladdin What's he like? - He is generous From there, students draw how to use adjectives describing human personality: hard- working, kind, clever, gentle; and sample sentences: What's …… like? He's / She's ………… - Controlled practice (point and say) Ask students, in pairs, to practice speaking according to the suggested pictures, using the sentence model: What's …… like? He's / She's ………… Call the groups to present to the class A: What's An Tiem like? B: He is hard-working - Free practical production (Let's talk) In this part, students are allowed to speak by themselves and develop their creativity Ask and answer questions about your favorite book / story Do you like fairy tales / comic books / short story? - Yes, …… / No, …… What book / story are you reading? - I'm reading …… What's the main character like? - He's / She's …… Do you like him / her? - Yes,… / No, …… Mastering the process of a speaking lesson will help teachers proactively apply many methods and forms of organization in teaching to ensure that students master knowledge through each lesson 15 2.4 The effectiveness of experience initiatives Through the use of measures to improve the quality of English speaking skills for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School, up to now, it has created an English speaking environment inside and outside the classroom, and the ability to speak English they have made remarkable progress Number of students who like to speak English and like to learn English more Children often use English as verbal words when meeting each other or meeting English teachers such as greeting, asking permission, suggesting, inviting So with the practice of regular speaking skills and intoxication Their love of learning, along with their enthusiasm and dedication to their expertise, caring to guide students, organizing students to well in learning, encouraging students in time, at the right time, at the right place, the number of students good English subject has increased significantly Since they hardly know how to express their ideas in English, many children are now able to converse with each other according to the topics they have learned, in addition, more gifted children can communicate in English specific daily situations To measure the progress of students, I regularly test their speaking skills in specific situations at the beginning of each class and in each class Here are the numbers I obtained at the end of June 2020 Grade Total number of students 103 Good Medium Weak No % No % No % 37 35.9 66 64.1 0 The number of students who did well in grade has increased from 20 to 37, from 19.4% to 35.9% Number of completed students from 69 students to 66 students, decreased from 67% to 64.1% In particular, the number of incomplete students decreased significantly from 14 children, accounting for 13.6% to the time of the survey, they were able to speak The students' pronunciation has been improved markedly, they are more confident in communicating in English CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION 3.1 Conclude: 16 Helping students to develop their communication skills is a process of training, step by step from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, forming a daily habit of using English that requires active participation from two sides: teacher and student Through the teaching and experiment process, I draw some lessons as follows: 3.1.1 On the teacher's side: - The teacher must be a good example in using English appropriately, speaking correctly and speaking correctly - Regularly test English speaking skills according to topics and topics that are close to students because students often have psychology only to learn what the teacher or test - Using balanced English in the classroom, not overdoing Vietnamese in English classrooms, trying to create an atmosphere of an "English Classroom" - Actively invest time and effort in creating an English speaking environment for students, creating opportunities for students to speak English, and express their ability to communicate in English in all situations - Regularly care, motivate and encourage the spirit of students' passion for learning Encourage them to speak in English as much as possible, but at the right time and at the right place - Closeness, intimacy and psychology with students, arousing their passion for English subjects so that they can build a solid foundation for their vocabulary, language knowledge and skills to develop communication skills - Appreciate and properly appreciate the students' ability to expand and create creativity while speaking, not force them to say like each sentence, word by word sample 3.1.2 On the student side: - Must work hard to learn vocabulary, form sentences, actively participate in learning activities during school hours 17 - Proactively prepare lessons, study at home, practice speaking with friends or can speak alone in front of a mirror course of study - When speaking, it is necessary to speak clearly, to pronounce correctly, without fear of mistakes 3.2 Request All theoretical research has practical meaning only when applied in practice Therefore, in order for this topic to be more feasible, I would like to propose to the management levels some issues as follows: - Department of Education and Education Department regularly open training seminars to create conditions for teachers to exchange experiences and learn from each other - Schools and parents create favorable conditions for the time and money to encourage teachers and students to participate in club activities as well as extra-curricular English playgrounds The experience initiative "Measures to improve the quality of English speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School" is a relatively open topic, and there are many issues that need to be added I hope to receive more comments from colleagues to enrich the topic Thank you very much! CONFIRM OF UNIT LEADER Thach Thanh, April 12th 2021 I guarantee that the experience initiative is written by myself without copying Do Thi Ha 18 ... deeply "Measures to improve the quality of English speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School" 1.2 Research purposes - For students: Creating opportunities and an English- speaking. .. of English speaking skills for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School, up to now, it has created an English speaking environment inside and outside the classroom, and the ability to speak English. .. to improve the quality of English speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School" is a relatively open topic, and there are many issues that need to be added I hope to receive more