SKKN using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at quy chau upper secondary school

Sở Giáo Dục Đào Tạo Nghệ an Trường THPT Quỳ Châu Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm Đề tài: “Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School” Giáo viên: Phạm Cảnh Thao Năm học: 2020- 2021 Table of contents Part A: Introduction Reasons for the study Aims of the study Methods of the study Scope of the study Design of the study Part B: Investigation Chapter 1: Theoretical background I What's a warm - up? Definition Aims of a warm - up Different techniques of warm - ups II What are games? Definition Classification of games III Advantages of using games to warm up the classroom IV Disadvantages of using games to warm up the classroom V The state of using games in warming up the classroom at Upper Secondary school Chapter 2: Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at Quy Chau upper Secondary School I Genenal procedure of playing a game II Suggested games to teach warm - ups to the 10 th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School Part C: Conclusion Reference Part A: Introduction Reasons for the study Why warm - ups? As far as we know, warm - up, one of the classroom activities, is only a very short activity in the process of the lesson, but it is a very important one Our work may not be completed successfully if it starts with a disadvantage Similarly, a lesson without a warm - up will lessen its value In other words, it's difficult for the following stages of the lesson to be carried out as well as we expect if lesson does not have a warm - up In the rhythm of the lesson, the start is always important, it plays a vital part in making the teaching and learning processes successful and communicative When entering the classroom, should the teachers always call some students to go to the board to homework, answer the teacher's questions? should the teacher come to the lesson directly? Especially, In Quy Chau the majority of students who come from moutainous and remote areas, their awareness of the importance of a forein language is still very low They entry the examination with very low scores The condition of teaching, learning foreign languages and the foreign language learning environment has not responded to the innovation in education in general foreign language in particular Why don't we have several minutes to warm up the classroom, our students? Why don't we let our students know something before they speak, read, listen, write or any tasks? These considerations have promoted me to study warm - up activities Why games? One of the most important goal of language teaching and learning is to create communicative competence of students Moreover, one of the best way that can help students reach this objective is through communicative activities Of many communicative activities, games are an effective way of motivating students in a classroom Games encourages everyone to use English as far as possible, not to give up too easily, use English naturally, and most importantly, perhaps, games are fun Thanks to the Communicative language teaching (CLT) teachers of foreign languages in general, teachers of English in particular have been encouraged to use games in teaching and learning Teachers are aware of the importance of games in teaching and learning a foreign language In fact, this activity is mainly designed in teachers’ lesson plans, games are not used to teach very often except for the fact that there are some other teachers observing the classroom Thus, I study this subject to confirm that games should have a place in a lesson Using games to teach warm -ups to avoid boring English class, make students interested in talking without being nervous, lead them in to the lesson attractively Why the 10th form students, especially for high school students in mountainous areas? Unlike the 11th and 12th form students, the 10 th form students are still at the age of children, especially, they come from remote areas with very low communication skills, even some students who speak “ Kinh” not clear enough, because of that, thay are timid , so they are still motivated whenever being involved in games Therefore, think that it's easier to use games to teach English to the 10th form students in comparison with the 11 th and the 12th form students Moreover, for this year, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe an has instructed schools to self-create programs in the direction of openness, in the trend of changing textbooks, luckily, I am assigned to teach some 10th form classes That gives me a lot of opportunities to apply using games in teaching warm -ups and to get feedback from students For the reasons above, I decided to choose the subject : "Using some games to teach warm- ups to the 10 th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School" Aims of the study The aims of this study are: - To give a brief overview on warm -ups and games - To discuss the best way to teach warm -ups - To give some suggested games to teach warm - ups - To design some warm - up activities with games applied to teach the 10 th form students 3- Methods of the study I applied different methods to carry out the study as follows: - Analytic method - Collecting method - Experimental method - Statistical method 4- Scope of the study Within this study, my purpose is to carry the research on using games to teach warm - ups to the 10 th form students though there are many other techniques that can be used to teach warm - ups 5- Design of the study The study is composed of three main parts: introduction, investigation and conclusion Part A: Consists of five terms: reasons for the study, aims, scope, methods, design of the study Part B: Is divided into chapters Chapter deals with theoritical background on warm - ups and games In chapter 2, I focus on giving some games to teach warm- ups to the 10 th form students Part C: Is the conclusion of the study Part B: Investigation Chapter 1: Theoretical Background I.What is a warm - up? Definition For the first several minutes of the lesson, the teacher should use a warm -up to start So, what is a warm - up? "A warm - up is a five minute activity which wakes up the students and put them in the mood for learning English Usually, it is a fun activity like a game where the students have to stand up or move around" In each lesson, the start plays an important role in making the teaching and learning processes effective and successful "Warm - up" is not merely a way of relaxation or entertainment It should be considered as a meaningful part of the lesson A warm - up with reasonable, interesting and varied active affects deeply the result of the lesson Aims of a warm - up In real life, before you read, listen, watch, speak, write or some tasks it is necessary that you already know what you are going to You have all kinds of expectations and predictions in your head For example, when you write a report, you might plan each section carefully before hand When you meet someone it is likely that you have anticipated some of the topics you might discuss and perhaps imagined some of the things you will say In a classroom, if a teacher turns on a tape recorder and says "Listen to this", without having introduced the topic of the listening, it may be very difficult for the learners to understand what is happening on the tape Warm - up activities help students contextualize their learning or create demands for some other activities of the lesson This may help the lessons be more communicative ones and students may be more successful ones The general aim of warm - up activities is to help learners learn better Some more specific aims are - To create expectations about the language so that students can understand better what is going to happen - To give students a reason to listen, read, speak, write of other tasks -To motivate students to want to learn - To interest students in a topic - To involve learners by asking for their ideas of knowledge about a topic - To introduce learners to the topic - To get learners communicating about the topic - To draw attention to something of importance - To focus learners ( after a change in activities of if the lesson is beginning) - To prepare learners with language to use during the activity It's obviously important to establish a good atmosphere all students In addition, warm - up activities help students be ready for the new lesson with checking up the old one Different techniques of warm - up There are a lot of different activities which can be used to warm - up the classroom, for example, asking usual questions to get students to talk, playing a short game to check up old lessons, draw students attention or lead students into the new lessons, talking something outside into the classroom to prepare for what we are going to teach in the new lesson, telling a story related to the new language, etc - Warm up the class to get started Greeting, chatting, telling a funny story, observing, asking and answering about pictures, setting riddles, playing a game, singing, a song for fun, telling some good or bad news on T.V or newspapers etc - Preparing for the new lesson + Checking up the old lesson and relating the old lesson to the new one: giving questions, giving exercises, asking students to homework etc + Setting situations for the following activities of the lesson: using visual aids, using stories, short texts, questions, brainstorming, playing a short game etc In conclusion, different ways of warming up the classroom have various aims It's better for the teacher to organize one activity serving different aims For example, when coming into class, the teacher can have students play a game By using this game, teacher can draw attention of the students, get motivation from them, check up the old lesson, help students get ready for the new lesson II What are games ? Definition According to "Longman Dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics [ 1992: 153), 'a game, in language teaching, is an organized activity that usually has the following properties: a A particular task or objective b A set of rules c Competition between players d Communication between players by spoken or written language As for Hadfield [ 1990: 3], "a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun" Different linguists have their own definitions of games However, their definitions all show the following features of games A particular object of goal A set of rules Competition between players Communication between players Fun Classification of games Games can be used to check up the old lesson, get students to talk, set atmosphere or lead students in to the new lesson These are some of the popular games Pelmanism, slap the board, guessing game ( guessing sentences, guessing words, guessing objects, guessing pictures etc…), memory game (observe and remember, Kim's game), noughts and crosses, Lucky numbers, networks, word square, Hangman, shark attack, chain game, bingo, brainstorming, Jumbled words, question and answer game, odd one out, what colour, sentence starters, who am I? etc III Advantages of using games to warm up the classroom If we start our lesson by checking up the old lesson or introducing the new one directly, the students will feel bored and tired Thus, the result of this stage will be less effective They are always under pressure of being called to go to the board and getting bad mark if why not we make students feel comfortable and self confident to the task and be ready for the new lesson? Communicative activities such as games can help to solve this problem Students are often excited about games If the teacher uses well - prepared games to warm up the students, the students will take part in the lesson without being nervous and they can learn better This can be the most important advantage that students can acquire Games can create enjoyment, relaxation or motivation and stimulate students interest for the following stages of the lesson We should not think that playing language games is a waste of time because it is one of the best and most popular way that helps students access a foreign language easily In addition, games can provide meaningful practice of language, students may use language naturally and they will be in the want of communication Last but not least, games create warmth, cooperation and friendship among students In a word, using games can bring many advantages for the lesson Games should be used in language teaching and learning and be sure that they are well prepared before the class IV Disadvantages of using games to warm up the classroom Besides the advantages, games also have some disadvantages Firstly, games are noisy activities Thus, some students take advantage of chatting or shouting and this may affect classes around Sometimes, it's difficult for the class Some students 10 not play the game seriously, they think games are only as a way of entertainment, not for studies As for some games, it takes the teacher too much time to prepare so they will feel tired and bored Some learners not like games because they think games are only for children V The state of using games in warming up the classroom at upper secondary schools In fact, it is easier for teachers to use games in teaching English at primary and secondary schools The reason is not that the programmes for the pupils at these schools are easy It is that the pupils are still children They are very active and curious and they like activities Mean while, they are in between childhood and adulthood They always want to be considered as adults, not children If the teachers not know how to involve them in playing games, students will not be ready to play Thus, some teachers not want to prepare games for warm - ups They touch the lesson directly Besides, many teachers not like games because they make noise or because it takes too much time to carry out However, many teachers, especially young teachers use games to teach English very often Moreover, after doing teaching training at a high school and teaching for nearly one year, I see that the lessons, particularly warm - ups in which games are used are more exciting, interesting and motivating A lot of students like games and focus their attention on their lessons They feel excited and learn better Step by step, the students are interested in learning English Chapter Using some games to teach warm - ups to the 10th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School 11 I General procedure of playing a game A game can be played as below - Asking students for interest ( Are you sleepy? Are you cold? Do you want to warm you up? Do you want to play a game? etc) - Introducing the game - Telling types of activities ( pairs, groupwork, individual, teamwork of the whole class) - Giving instructions and setting the rules - Modeling - Checking understanding to get feedback from students - Shouting "start'' - Monitoring the game - Evaluating and declaring the winner of the game II Suggested some games to teach warm - ups the 10 th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School Within this study, the author does not have much ambition to suggest games for all lesson in English syllabus for the 10 th form students the author only suggests some typical ones Guessing game Types of activity: The whole class Preparation: None Focus: Call out the name of the topic of the new lesson * Procedure 12 - The teacher asks students for interest - The teacher says that they are going to guess a word and tells students how many letters it has ( drawing dashes on the board when speaking) - Asking students to guess the whole word or letter by letter If the letter is right, the teacher will put it in the right order ( If the students find it difficult to guess the word the teacher should elicit its meaning) - The game finishes right after the students guess the words * Example: Unit 12 - Music - Period Focus: call out the name of the topic: Job - The teacher asks students for interest - The teacher introduces the name of the game "guessing game" - The teacher says, you're going to guess a word, the word has letters ( writing dashes on the board) You can guess the whole word or letter by letter If your letter is right, I'll put it in the right order - The teacher gets feedback from students by asking checking questions - The teacher monitors the game J O B * Application: for all lessons Guessing game2 Types of activity: The whole class Preparation: Word cards or pictures Focus: Revise vocabulary * Procedure: 13 - The teacher prepares some words on cards or some pictures of the words s/he is going to revise - The teacher puts the cards or the pictures in a pile - The teacher gets a student to come to the front and choose one of the cards or pictures Make sure that no one can see which card or picture has been chosen - The teacher gets the rest of the class to guess which picture or card it is by using yes/ no questions The student answers by only saying " yes" or "no" - The first student to guess the picture or the card correctly comes up to the front and chooses a new card or picture and the game continues * Example: Unit 14: World cup - Period Preparation: word cards ( soccer, boxing, tennis, cycling, swimming) Focus: Revise vocabulary on sports Using yes/ no question: "Do you like ?" * Application: For most lessons 3- Guessing game Types of activity: The whole class or groupwork Preparation: none Focus: revise vocabulary * Procedure: - Asking one student to go to the board and write a word on a small piece of paper ( nobody else knows that word) - The rest of the class ask that student 10 yes /no questions to guess that word * Example: Unit 9: Undersea World - Writing Topic: What should we to protect sea creatures and sea environment? Stop dropping litter on the beach 14 What should we to protect sea creatures and sea environment? Clean up the beach Example 1: Unit - Undersea world - period Type of activity: Preparation: Focus: * Procedure: groupwork none Introduce vocabulary about sea creatures - Write the name of the category on the board Dolphins SEA CREATURES sharks - The way to play the game has been shown above Example 2: Unit 7: The mass media - word study Type of activity: Preparation: Focus: * Procedure groupwork a poster Revise vocabulary about the media - Hanging a poster as below on the board 15 Whales TV radio MASS MEDIA direct media Junk mail magazine book - Sticking five cards with the following words on the board Print media Computer Newspaper Billboard Electronic media - Checking students understanding - Dividing the class into groups - Asking groups to put the words in the bubble - network - Asking representatives of some groups to present their work - The group that does the task correctly wins the game * Application: for most lessons Shark attack Type of activity: the whole class 16 Preparation: Focus: none introduce new topics of the lessons revise vocabulary * Procedure: - Drawing a girl, some steps, water, a shark ( eliciting the picture from students) - Thinking of a word or phrase and getting students to know its letters by drawing dashes on the board - Asking students to guess the whole word of phrase or letter by letter If the letter is right, the teacher puts it in the right order If the letter is wrong, the girl will fall down one step - The game continues until students can guess the word or phrase or the girl is attacked by the shark Example: Unit 6: Outdoor activities ( An Excursion) Type of activity: The whole class Preparation: none Focus: Introduce the topic of the lesson 17 * Application: for most lessons Crossword puzzle Type of activity: the whole class or teamwork Preparation: a poster Focus: Revise vocabulary or find out the topic of the new lesson * Procedure: - Put the chart on the board - Dividing the class into teams - Each team chooses a number then listens to a question If the answer is right, that team will get points If the answer is wrong, that team will lose their turn and the other team chooses their number - The team that gets more points or finds out the key word first wins the game * Example: Unit 11: National Parks - Writing Type of activity: team work Preparation: a poster Focus: find out the topic of the new lesson * Procedure: "Writing graphs" - Hanging the poster as below on the board 18 Questions: What's the name of a unique species of trees in Cuc Phuong National park? What is a snake or crocodile called? What is another word for "an animal that can live both on land and in water" ? The title of unit 11 is National Is Cuc Phuong National park in the south or in the north of Viet Nam Key Kim Giao Amphibian Reptile parks Keyword: North GRAPH * Application: For most lessons Word square Type of activity: Individuals or group work or teamwork Preparation: Posters Focus: Revise vocabulary * Procedure: - Put a poster of the word square on the board - Inform what the topic is and tell students how many hidden words they have to find - Divide the class in to teams - Ask students to find the hidden words and write on a piece of paper - The team that finds out the most right words first will be the winner e.g Topic: Countries around the pacific rim 19 ( Unit 15: The Pacific Rim) Number of hidden words: Answers I N D O N E S I A G A S S Y C A N A D A U K J M H X E Q H Z S B O O I G E L A T T E S R L F U G Y L T R B V I E T N A M V R A Q S T T A N R T U A L L V G S I D B R L L I N S E H M N E Z Q A B I C J A P A N U I N D O A U K S N E S I A C A N A D T N A M A H O V I R L I E N I I A U R H C J E A P A N * Application: For most lessons 10 Bingo Type of activity: Individual Preparation: Paper Focus: Revise words through listening * Procedure: - The teacher gets the class to brainstorm a list of ten or fifteen words they have learnt or words about some topic, then puts them on the board - The students choose any five words and copy them in their pieces of paper - The teacher reads out the words in any order - Each time the students have one of the words that the teacher reads, s/he puts a tick next to that word - The first student to tick all five words shouts "Bing O!" and wins the game Example: Unit 7: The mass media - Listening Type of activity: individual 20 Preparation: paper sheets Focus: Vocabulary about " The T.V programs" procedure - The teacher asks students to think of a list of ten words about " The T.V programs" - The rest steps have been shown above Application: for most lessons 11 Memory game: Types of activity: Individual or teamwork Preparation: Real things of pictures Focus: Revise vocabulary * Procedure: - Dividing the class into teams - Showing real things or pictures to the students - Asking students to observe them quickly ( about 30 seconds) then putting them away - Asking students to write down as many words or phrases showing things or activities in the picture as they can remember - The team having more right words or phrases wins the game * Example: Unit 14: World Cup [Sports] Type of activity: Teamwork Preparation: 10 pictures of sports Focus: Revise vocabulary about sports * Procedure The procedure has been shown above 21 * Application: Units 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 12 Jumbled words Type of activity: individual Preparation: none or cards with words Focus: revise word spelling * Procedure: - Putting the cards with Jumbled words or writing words with jumbled letters on the board and tell the student what the topic is, and asking students to rewrite the words in the right order - Asking students to go to the board and write their words as fast as possible - The student that writes more correct words quickly wins the game * Example: Unit 13: movies and theatres ( Films and Cinema) Topic: Jobs relating to music, movies and theatres Type of activity: individual Preparation: none Focus: revise jobs relating to music, movies and theaters - Writing the words with jumbled letters on the board Pesmoroc = Terssac = = Risgen = Ralpywtigh Carot 22 Key: Composer Actress = Playwright Actor Singer * Application: For most lessons Part c: Conclusion In conclusion, games always excite students and using games to teach English in general and warm - ups in particular needs to be improved and encouraged more in language teaching and learning It is games that can help students learn English better, and use English more naturally and communicatively, especially improving communicative skills for mountainous students The fact of an English teaching year of partly shows that students are actually motivated when learning warm - ups with games and their communicative competence has step by step improved In this study, I have given some theoretical background about warm - ups and games, advantages and disadvantages of using games to teach warm - ups I have also introduced some games to teach warm - up activities Especially, I have applied the games into some lessons of the 10 th form syllabus All of the above attempts are done to confirm the importance of warm - ups and games, to find the best way to teach English and to help the 10th form students find joy In English, learn English better and use English as a means of communication 23 Due to the limitations and the requirements of the study I want to Thus, I would like to suggest some further studies such as: - Using games to promote student's speaking - Using pictures to teach warm – up activities to the 10th form students - Using questions to warm up the class Reference C Richarols, Jack, Platt, John, Platt, Heidi, Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman (1992) English Language Teacher Training Project - The Methodolody Course Book one ( 1998) Tanner, Roise, Green, Catherine, Tasks for Teacher Education, Longman ( 1999) Linds Tromberg, Seth, The Standby Book - Activities for the Language Classroom, Cambridge University Press ( 2001) 5- Mc Carthy, Michoel, English Vocabulary in Use - upper intermediate, Cambridge University Press ( 1997) Hadfield, J, Intermediate Communication Games, Longmon ( 1990) Nguyen Hanh Dung, phương pháp dạy Tiếng Anh trường phổ thông NXBGD ( 1998) Tu Anh ( tổng chủ biên) Tiêng Anh 10 nâng cao 24 25 ... The state of using games in warming up the classroom at Upper Secondary school Chapter 2: Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at Quy Chau upper Secondary School I Genenal... from students For the reasons above, I decided to choose the subject : "Using some games to teach warm- ups to the 10 th form students at Quy Chau Upper Secondary School" Aims of the study The. .. - To give a brief overview on warm -ups and games - To discuss the best way to teach warm -ups - To give some suggested games to teach warm - ups - To design some warm - up activities with games