Designing encouraging activities for the post stage to improve oral skill in each lesson skill for 11th students in bá thước high school

1 PART 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Reasons for the study Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication For English teaching, the question of how to increase communicative competence was and tends to be the most crucial one In Vietnam, there has been a general situation that many students mastering the fine points of English grammar but find themselves at loss when it comes to actually having a conversation with native speakers In other word, like many other Vietnam students, my students don’t have a head for speaking English As a teacher for years, I have been trying hard to find out as many teaching methods as possible to improve my student’s English speaking competence In reality, the only way to develop fluency in speaking is by a huge amount of listening and then practising Our students need more oral practice so that they can be more confident to speak Therefore, it is necessary that oral tasks be carefully prepared The key to encourage speaking skill in the classroom is creating the proper environment Children should feel relaxed, and social interaction with peers should be encouraged I completely agree that developing speaking skill for students can be done not only in speaking lesson but also in reading, listening, writing or even in language lessons In my experience, the post- stages in each lesson is the position where we can innovate useful activities for summarising the whole topic and developing speaking skill as well With a view to increasing students’ talk time and enhancing their speaking competence fluently, naturally and accurately, I have studied for years to find out the most suitable teaching methods Especially, designing the post - stages in the lessons plays an integral role in the success of the whole lesson Therefore, I have applied a variety of encouraging activities to my lectures such as: role play, interview, dictogloss… Having applied for years successfully, I decided to choose the topic: “Designing encouraging activities for the post- stage to improve oral skill in each lesson skill for 11th students in Bá Thước high school” for my experienced innovation In this study, there are exciting and useful activities of developing speaking skill in post- parts from unit to unit 16 of English 11 Of course, this study can’t be perfect in limited time Therefore, I hope that the colleagues’ contribution will make it more perfectly 1.2 Aims of the study The aims of this study are: - To give out a brief overview on post - stages created by designing encouraging activities to improve oral practice effectively - To discuss the best way to teach the post - stages English 11 - To give some lecture samples to teach the post - stages in English 11 1.3 Methods of the study - Draw from experience of my teaching - Consult many documents ,especially methods of study - Study colleagues’ experience 1.4 Scope of the study In general, the students often have so much pressure of tests, examinations that they seem to ignore that the aim of studying English is communication Therefore, within this study, my purpose is to carry the research on developing speaking skill in the post- stages of all lessons in English 11 1.5 New features in the study’s result In my innovation, there are not only language games but also some other interesting activities such as summarizing lessons through charts, tables…; rehearsing play; making interview; learning English through songs, movies … which have high effectiveness and wide application And these available activities, which were suitably adapted for all levels of students, can help create environment for students to develop the ability of using language naturally PART 2: CONTENT 2.1 Rationale of study Teaching speaking skills of English has been so far considered very important in Vietnamese secondary school classes However, the procedure of teaching a speaking text in English, especially the steps of exploiting content has not been very satisfactory since they are limited to only some techniques and these techniques are repeatedly used Therefore, practicing the speaking skill of English as a foreign language is a matter of much concern by language teachers In order to make the lessons more exciting, creative and effective, to help students acquirres language skills of English, new techniques should be applied and one of them is information transfer This assignment deals with the information - transfer technique that aim to help language teachers control the procudure of explaining content of a speaking text and checking students’ understanding efectively, and at the same time involve students in challenging, meaningful and interesting activities of content exploitation Examples presented here focus on the textbook of English 11 – new version 2.2 Theoretical background 2.2.1 The importance of speaking skill Language is a tool for communication We communicate with others, to express our ideas, and to know others’ ideas as well Communication takes place, where there is speech Without speech we cannot communicate with one another The importance of speaking skills, hence is enormous for the learners of any language Without speech, a language is reduced to a mere script The use of language is an activity which takes place within the confines of our community We use language in a variety of situations 2.2.2 The role of post - stage in each lesson This stage is like the follow – up stage After students have practised the target skill in the white – stage, they an extension activity This helps students take the information or whatever they have produced in the white – stage, and something meaningful with it This stage is usually an “information transfer” production – type exercise where students respond to what they have just learnt Tasks usually involve the productive skills The importance is that we have to definite exactly what activities we can use in the post – stage and who does most of the work In conclusion, in the Presentation – Practice – Production framework of teaching language, games can be used provided that they can be either for practising specific language items or skills or for more communicative language production 2.3 How to improve speaking skill in the post- stage As you know that, making students speak more English in the classroom is not only a matter of "forcing" them to speak This demands good preparation of proper material and implementation must be progressive and systematic which demands more teacher's workload Many people argue that post – stage is not so necessary as other parts However, from my point of view, it is an essential stage to design various activities for students to develop their speaking skill because after getting information, students find it easy to produce their language And it is important that teacher create the best environment and chance for students to practise speaking English naturally and effectively Below are some of my effective activities to give students opportunities to improve their speaking skill: 2.3.1 Roleplay Students dramatise the content of text, taking the roles of the characters in the store they have just studied The teacher organises the role - play by putting all the same roles together, eliciting and then letting them practise what they will say, then cross-grouping so that each new group has one of each of different characters 2.3.2 Recall the story Students re-tell the story in the content of the text in their own words The teacher can help them by doing a mini drill first, usually using the same pictures or simplified statements that were used for predicting in the pre -stage task or ordering or selecting in the while - stage task Students practise speaking in pairs or groups The re-telling with a picture can also be done as a chain story 2.3.3 Dictogloss Teachers give out some key words or phrases related to the lesson text Students have to rearrange the words and phrases following the order of the text Then they reconstruct their stories in their own words using the words or phrases as cues Then, students practise speaking in groups, pairs or individually 2.3.4 Further practice The teachers choose a topic related to the topic of the lesson, usually a topic personalised to the students and designs a production activity for the students to For example, after doing the grids, they will describe other classmates; or students can recount similar stories to the lesson text - things that have happened to them personally 2.3.5 Discussion In this activity, teachers have students work in groups to discuss some questions about the topic related to the lesson After that, some students will make their presentation in front of the class 2.3.6 Summary In order to summarize the lesson, there are a lot of suggestions for students to improve their speaking skill easily such as: summarizing the content of the lesson through describing pictures, information tables, charts, cues, mindmappings… 2.3.7 Interview In this activity, teachers have students work in pairs to make an interview by using questions given out This is good chance for students to improve their interaction with their teachers and partners 2.3.8 Experiment 2.3.8.1.Material preparation In order to use game created by information technology effectively, teachers have to prepare carefully the following things before teaching: - Lesson plan - Textbook - Computer - Projector - Speaker or cassette - Other visual aids 2.3.8.2 General procedures of post stage It is really necessary for teachers to pay attention to the following procedures before starting the post - stage because they are important factors to help their activities successfully: - Asking students for interest - Introducing the activities - Telling types of activities (individual, pairwork, groupwork or teamwork) - Giving instructions and setting the rules - Modelling - Checking understanding to get feedback from students - Shouting "start'' - Setting up time - Monitoring the activity - Evaluating and declaring the excellent participants 2.3.8.3 Practising methods: On carrying out the study, I used some methods such as: Analytic method, Collecting method, Experimental method, Statistical method, Audio-lingual method, Grammar translation method, Direct method And a common way to be used is PPP approach 2.3.8.4 Samples of using variety of effective activities in post –stage in English 11 to develop students’ speaking skill 2.3.8.4.1 Unit Friendship – Part A: Reading Discussion: In this activity, the teacher asks students think of the following topics, choose one of them to discuss in groups - Why we need to have close friend ? - “ A friend in need is a friend in deed ?” What you think about this proverb ? - What quality of friendship is the most important to you ? why? Then, the teacher asks students to share ideas One secretary from each group takes note the group’s ideas Teacher moves round to give help if necessary 2.3.8.4.2 Unit Friendship – Part B: speaking Role-play: Teacher asks students to work in pairs to play the role of a journalist and an interview whose friend has won the first international prize in maths Journalist: You are interviewing a person whose best friend has won the first international prize in maths Use the questions below as help Interview: You have a friend who has won the first international prize in maths You are being interviewed by a journalist about him /her Questions for interview: - What is his/her name ? - Where and when was he born ? - What is he/she like ? - What does he/she look like ? - What are his/her hobbies ? - What made him/her successful in maths ? - What you often with your friend? - Which characters you share in common? 2.3.8.4.3 Unit Friendship – Part C: Listening Interviewing: Teacher has students interview their partners about their best friends 1 These are some guiding questions for them to make an interview: - How long have you known your best friend ? - How did you meet this friend ? - What you remember the first time you met ? - What you like best about him/her ? b c d Teacher moves round to control and gives help if necessary After the interview, it is necessary to call some students to report what they have known from their partners’ answers Finally, teacher gives comments on what students have reported 2.3.8.4.4 Unit personal experience – Part A: Reading Mine the story: In this activity, teacher asks students to work in groups of three to play the parts of the narrator, the father and the daughter: the narrator tells the story, the father and the daughter mime the story Teacher goes round to give help then calls some groups to act out the story in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments e ` 2.3.8.4.5 Unit A party – Part C: Listening f Mindmaping: After finishing all tasks of the lesson, students will be asked to work in groups of three, look at the mindmap to summarize the listening lesson Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 2.3.8.4.6 Unit A party – Part B: speaking Describing chart: Teacher shows the chart related to the content of the lesson, asks students to think of plans being necessary for a party Where Home / restaurant Budget Dressing How much Who to invite When Date & time Planning a party food Cook / order Entertainment Decorations Color balloons / flowers Music / games food Cook / order ENTERTAINMENT (………) DATE & TIME ( on March 8th From 4pm to 6p.m) FOOD & DRINK (… …) PLACE (at our class) BUDGET (500, 000VND) DRESS ( …… ) Birthday PARTY DECORATION (…… ) GUESTS (friends and classmates….) Then, students have to work in pairs to make plans for the party Teacher moves around the class to give help When the time for preparation is over, teacher invites some pairs to present their conversation in front of the class 2.3.8.4.7 Unit Volunteer work – Part B: Speaking Role play: In this part, teacher gives out a situation in which an old invalid man are having problem with a bad student who is really addicted to computer game The bad boy is run out of money now, so he wants to rob the invalid man’s money to play game At that time, some volunteer students appear, help the man get his money and awaken the bad student to volunteer work rather than being absorbed in useless games Teacher asks students to work in groups of or to rehearse the play One is in the old invalid man, one is in the bad students and the others are volunteer students Teacher can help students talk about volunteer activities easily while reheasing play by giving some pictures: 2.4.4.8 Unit Volunteer work – Part C: Listening Giving suggestions: In this part, teacher gives out some suggestions related to the content of the text Ask students to work in pairs or groups to summarize the listening text Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 1 Summarize the story about Spring School Using the following suggestions The aim of Spring School Provide/ It/ disadvantaged children/ classes The number of children who live or attend the lasses - 30 street students/ live/study - 250 children /special difficulties /attend class The activities the children can take part in at school - dance/ sing/ play music/They 2.3.8.4.9 Unit Competitions – Part A: Reading Table description: In this part , teacher asks students to talk about the English competition base on the table information: The annual final English Competition 1.Time last Saturday 2.Competitors The representatives of three classes 3.Aim of the competition Stimulate the spirit of learning English among the students 4.Organized by English teachers 5.Sponsored by The Students’ Parents Society 6.Competition’s rules - work in groups of three - complete activities - answer the questions on the worksheets 7.The judges’ activities - observe and score the students’ performance - announce total score of each group The winner’s awards a set of CDs for studying English and an Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary winner group B (70 points) Teacher asks students to work in pairs or groups to summarize the reading text base on the table information Teacher goes around to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 2.3.8.4.10 Unit Competitions – Part C: Listening Chart description: Teacher asks students to work in pairs to summarize the listening text base on the chart information Teacher moves around the class to give help Invite some pairs to present their conversation in front of the class 1 Every year 42 km , 13 towns 1967 The Boston Marathon In 1984, 34 countries 1897 The centre of Boston J McDermott (the first man won the race) 2.3.8.4.11 Unit World population – Part A: Reading Discussion: Teacher has students work in groups, asks them discuss about five world largest countries in population Discuss with your partner and find out five world largest countries in population Say where they are and which is the richest and which is the poorest country Indonesia Russia Europe India China Asia Latin America The USA Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 2.3.8.4.12 Unit Celebrations – Part A: Reading Picture description: Firstly, teacher asks students to think of what they will introduce to foreigners about Tet holiday when they have chance to talk to them Teacher shows some images and has students work in groups to talk about Tet holiday Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments Preparation for tet: Food at Tet holiday: Activities at Tet holiday: 2.3.8.4.13 Unit Celebrations – Part C: Listening Speak –it – up: Teacher asks students to work in groups of four From the notes from the table, have students make a comparison between the Vietnamese New Year and the Japanese one Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the comparison in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments Activities Japan Vietnam Preparations begin a few days before the New Year begin many days before the New Year Foods and clothes begin a few days before the New Year clean up, pine trees, watch the national singing contest on TV, is celebrated among family only traditional foods, dress, ao dai, suits, no kimonos clean up, peach/apricot flowers, watch TV Activities on New Year’s Eve People to celebrate with .is celebrated with every family / relatives 2.3.8.4.14 Unit The Post office – Part A: Reading Speak-it-up: Teacher gives students some cues and ask them to make sentences about Thanh Ba post office Write the cues on the board Cue 1: advanced technology Student: Thanh Ba post office is equiped with advanced technology Cue 2: staff Student: Their staff is well trained, thoughtful and courteous Cue 3: mail and parcel device Student: They provide good mail and parcel service Cue 4: Express money transfer Student: They will sent your money in less than 24 hours Cue 5: phone call and faxes Student: they have original telephone call service and messenger call service as well as fax transmission Cue 6: press distribution Student: They have newspaper or magazine delivery service Teacher asks some students to repeat after each answer Then tell the rest of the class what they know about Thanh Ba post office using the cues on the board Teacher should encourage students by giving them good marks 2.3.8.4.15 Unit 10 Nature in danger – Part A: Reading Reporting the video: In this part, teacher lets students work in two teams Tell them that they are going to watch a video of the song “ The Earth Song” by Michael Jackson 1 Then, teacher asks students to try to remember the events happening in the scenes of the video then talk about them when the video finishes Teacher can give out some guiding questions such as: - Who is the singer ? - What is the song about ? - How are people, plants, animals described in the videoclip ? - What is your feeling after listening to the song ? 2.3.8.4.16 Unit 11 Sources of energy – Part B: Speaking Discussion: Ask students to work in groups Discuss the actions that you and your friends often to use energy economically to protect our environment Suggestions: - We join “the Earth hour” annually - We often turn off electric devices like lights, fans - When we leave rooms or unnecessary electric devices Teacher asks students to work in groups of four From the suggestions from, have students talk about how they are saving energy in daily life Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 2.3.8.4.17 Unit 12 The Asian games – Part B: Speaking Find someone who…?: Teacher delivers the handouts to each student Ask students to move around, asking the questions in the handout of Find someone who table If someone says yes, ask some more details and write his or her name Tell students not to write the same name for different questions Ask some students to report their work in front of the class Handout: Find SO who … Name Details Hate sports ? What sport ? why ? Plays sport everyday ? How often ? Has ever won a sport competition ? When ? Has his/her favourite sport idol ? Who ? Has never watched sports on TV? Why ? Has never missed a football match on Favourite team ? TV ? Watches the Asian Games very often ? Which game/ like best ? Prefers Sea Games to Asian Games ? Why? 2.3.8.4.18 Unit 13 Hobbies – Part C: Listening Dictogloss: In this activity, teacher asks students listen once more time and rearrange the following phrases in order they hear - When he was a little boy - His hobby is reading - Learn about tiger without going in to jungle - Cope with living better - Avoid catching disease - Learn about so many things : wonders of the world , space, gigantic whales… Then, base on these phrases ask a student to summerise the listening lesson by their own words Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to make the summary in front of the class Finally, teacher analizes and gives comments 2.3.8.4.19 Unit 15 Space conquest – Part A: Reading Chart description: Teacher shows some pictures about Yuri Gagarin and asks students to complete the following sentence base on the pictures Teacher goes round to give help then calls some students to complete the sentences in front of the class Then, teacher gives feedback - Yuri Gagarin/ Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin is a Soviet cosmonaut Y ur i G a g ar in - The Vostok /lift off/ 12th April, 1961/ bring Gagarin into space The Vostok lifted off on 12th April, 1961 Vosto k1 to bring Gagarin into space - The flight / last/ 108 minutes The flight lasted 108 minutes - He/ the first person / eat and drink / weightlessness /when 1/he /27 years old  He was the first person to eat and drink in weightlessness: when he was 27 years old : 0 Eat & drink space - He / turn back/ the earthin/safe /make / him a hero  He turned back the earth safely, which makes him a hero - He/ die/ 1968/ a plane crash  He died in 1968 in a plane crash After completing the sentences, students have to look at the following chart to summarize the content of reading text Teacher gives comments and scores to encourage students’ effort Talk about Gagarin base on the chart Yuri Gagarin Yuri Gagarin Vostok1 Eat & drink in space A plane crash 1968 1961 Be national hero Land safely 01:48:00 2.3.8.4.20 Unit 16 Space conquest – Part A: Reading Discussion: Teacher shows some pictures of the wonders of the world Ask students to work in groups of four, discuss the following questions: - What are the names of these wonders ? - Where are they ? - What you know about them ? - Which one you like best ? Why ? Christ the Redeemer in Brazil Great Wall of China Colosseum in Italy Taj Mahal in India Sydney Opera House in Australia Babylon on Iraq 2.4 Experiment’s effect: Having applied the encouraging activities in post-stage to teach English 11, I can affirm that they really bring to my lectures much effectiveness Not only the activities add students’ interest but they help my students improve speaking skill as well I have done the experiments with the encouraging activities in post-stage for the students of 11th grader for years As a result, more and more students feel eager with speaking English because they have no any tention or nervous This is the reason why students study better The result of these investigations is counted up with the following table: School year Class 2019-2020 2020-2021 11A1 11A2 11A3 11A4 11A5 11A8 Before doing experiments After doing experiments Paying attention to lesson (% Students) Practising speaking well (% Students) Doing well tasks (% Students) Paying attention to lesson (% Students) Practising speaking well (% Students) Doing well tasks (% Students) 58% 48,8% 57% 47,3% 39,2% 25,3% 62,7% 52,3% 55,9% 48,8% 45,6% 40,3% 44,2% 42,5% 35,6% 57,3% 50,3% 47,8% 86,2% 75,9% 62,6% 88,5% 65,3% 55,3% 69,7% 68,8% 60,3% 65% 70% 45,5% 70% 70,3% 60,8% 90% 85% 60% PART CONCLUSION In conclusion, learning English through the encouraging activities in post-stages is one effective and interesting way that can be applied in any classrooms The results of my research suggest these encouraging activities be used not only for more fun, but more importantly, for the useful practice and review of language lessons, thus leading toward the goal of improving learners' communicative competence Furthermore, by applying the encouraging activities in post-stage to teach English, I want to help student speaking English better And of course, the encouraging activities in post-stage are much more convenient and interesting than tasks in the text book Not only can we apply the encouraging activities in post-stages to teach English 11 but we also can use them to teach English in any classrooms, even for English 10,12 Finally, I hope my research with samples lectures from Unit to Unit 16 of English 11 will become useful reference materials for teachers And I also hope to be consulted to make my study more perfectly CONFIRMATION OF THE HEADMASTER Bá Thước, May 10th, 2021 I pledge that this is my experience during my process of teaching, not copying the content of others Author Vi Thị Minh PART REFERENCES Tiếng Anh 11 Nhà xuất giáo dục Giới thiệu giáo án Tiếng anh 11 Nguyễn Hải Châu, Vũ Thị Lợi, Trần Lê Thúy Hằng, Đồng Thị Yến Trang Sách Giáo viên Tiếng anh 11 Nhà xuất giáo dục Dạy học theo chuẩn kiến thức kĩ 11 Vũ Thị Lợi, Hoàng Thị Xuân Hoa, Nguyễn Thu Hà, Nguyễn Huyền Minh Lee, S K (1995, January-March) Creative games for the language class http://exchanges.state.gov/forum/vols/vol33/no1/P35.htm Lee, W R (1979) Language teaching games and contests Oxford: Oxford University Press Rixon, S (1981) How to use games in language teaching London: Macmillan Thiagarajan, S (1999) Teamwork and teamplay: Games and activities for building and training teams San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M (2005) Games for language learning (3rd ed.) New York: Cambridge University Press  ... necessary for teachers to pay attention to the following procedures before starting the post - stage because they are important factors to help their activities successfully: - Asking students for interest... the father and the daughter: the narrator tells the story, the father and the daughter mime the story Teacher goes round to give help then calls some groups to act out the story in front of the. .. competence Furthermore, by applying the encouraging activities in post- stage to teach English, I want to help student speaking English better And of course, the encouraging activities in post- stage are