(Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm) using information gap activities to oromote meaningful communica tion

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING THANH HOA CITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING OFFICE THANH HOA CITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING OFFICE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES TO USING INFORMATION GAPCOMMUNICATION ACTIVITIES TO PROMOTE MEANINGFUL PROMOTE MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION Writer: Trinh Thi Thu Duyen Position : Teacher School : Quang Trung Junior High School Subject: English THANH HOA, 2015 CONTENTS A INTRODUCTION B MAIN CONTENT I What is a gap? II Types of gaps III Examples of information gaps activities IV Benefits of using information gap activities V Drawbacks of using information gap activities VI Teacher’s roles in information gap activities VII Strategies of implementing information gap activities VIII Stages of information gap activities IX Some applicable information gap activities X The implementing of the lesson plan XI Effectiveness of the experience initiatives C CONCLUSION D APPENDIX E REFERENCE BOOKS A INTRODUCTION One of the challenges many second language teachers face is motivating their students to speak in the target language Confident students always participate and students who are less confident are reluctant to speak Even when students speak in the target language, they are usually answering a question and this approach greatly limits students’ output Oral presentations provide opportunities for students to speak in the target language for an extended period of time and these activities are useful, but they should not be the only opportunities students have to speak at length Because students prepare for these presentations by writing a script and then rehearsing it, they have difficulty speaking in the target language spontaneously because they are given little opportunity to so When students choose to learn a language, they are interested in learning to speak that language as fluently as possible We, therefore, need to actively engage students in speaking activities that are enjoyable enough to interest the students Further more, one of the principal tenets of the communicative approach to language teaching is that the learners are involved in actual interaction in the classroom This interaction must be meaningful and involve an authentic use of language To help students develop their communicative efficiency in speaking, there are some activities used in the classroom to promote the development of speaking skills in our learners However, in this writing I will just try to center on information gap activities as one of the strategies to enhance meaningful and communicative speaking I will discuss some main points related to information gap activities: the meaning of gap, types of gap, types of information, examples of information gap activities, benefits as well as the drawbacks of using information gap activities, the teacher's roles, some strategies of implementing information gap activities, and the stages of information gap speaking lessons And finally I will suggest some useful and applicable information gap activities that I have adapted from the text books of Tieng Anh 6, into my classrooms B I MAIN CONTENT What is a gap? In this context, gap may be taken to mean difference If there are two students, A and B, and if A has some information which B does not, and possibly vice-versa, then there is a difference or gap between the two students A task which requires B to find out the information that A has (i.e a task which closes the gap) will provide a reason for communication II Types of gap Generally, the activities which depend on bridging a gap could be in the form of the following:  The opinion gap: Everyone has different opinions, feelings and thoughts about the world Finding out about someone’s feelings and opinions helps close the gap between people The number of personalized activities in many textbooks shows the value of this gap  The experience gap: All students in classes have had different experiences in their lives, so this type is a good task for communication Questionnaires can be exploited the experience gap, particularly those that aim to practice past form, e.g a questionnaire to find out what sports they like most  The knowledge gap: Students know different things about the world This gap can be exploited in brainstorms and general knowledge-style quizzes  The information gap: This is the classic gap exploited by the communicative approach It is a situation where one person knows something, which the other does not This cultivates curiosity/ inquisitiveness, inventive nature, confidence, problem solving, phrasing questions, discovering questions, and above all communication The information gap is ideally suited to pair and small group work and usually relies upon pre-prepared information cards III Examples of information gap activities 20 questions: Students work in pairs or small groups One student chooses an object or person and keeps it a secret The other students must ask yes or no questions to determine what that object/person is The maximum number of questions is 20 Guess the card: Students work in partners This is similar to 20 questions only the students already have the object chosen for them One student holds a card so that their partner can’t see The partner must then ask yes or no questions to determine what is on the card Often teachers structure this activity to fit with the theme of a particular unit Find your partner: Whole class participates Students are each given a card with an image on it; there are two of each image Students must circulate and try to find the person with the same image by asking yes or no questions The students may not ask “Do you have an elephant” if their image is, for example, an elephant They must ask more descriptive questions, for example “Does your thing have legs?” or “Does your thing live in the jungle?” Words on back: Students work in large groups or as a whole class Each student has a word attached to his or her back; the students must then circulate asking each other yes or no questions to determine what word is on their back Same different: Students work in pairs Each has a different picture that should not be shown to their partner The students take turns asking each other yes or no questions to find out how the pictures are different Fill in the chart: Students work in partners The students are both given tables with information missing What is missing in one partner’s table is there on the other partner’s table and vice versa Students must ask each other questions to discover what is missing in each of their tables Jigsaw activities: A jigsaw activity is a group activity in which each member is dependent on the others for part of the information In other words, in order to complete a task, group members must cooperate IV Benefits of using information gap activities Information gap activities have increasingly achieved popularity in recent years and have been recommended as a way forward in English language teaching Below are the benefits of using information gap activities in teaching English language skills - Learners talk a lot As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk - Participation is even Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed - Motivation is high Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective - Language is of an acceptable level Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy V Drawbacks of using information gap activities One drawback to this type of exercise is that it could train students to engage in conversations that resemble police interrogations rather than interactive discussions It should be understood by teachers and students that many varieties of information gap activities are actually a type of interactive drill rather than a model of conversation Also, teachers need to be clear to students about the purpose of the activity Some students mistakenly believe that the purpose is to completely fill in all of the blanks on the page Teachers need to emphasize that the important part is the process of asking and answering in English Otherwise, some students will talk in their native language, peek at each others' papers, just recite the answers, or any number of other ways to quickly rush to the end Despites all of these drawbacks, information gap activities can serve very useful roles in the foreign language classroom VI Teacher’s roles in information – gap activities Facilitator First, as facilitator of communication, the teacher may need to perform in a variety of specific roles These include the following: - He may perform the familiar role of language instructor He is the material provider and activity initiator The students may not have the capacity to begin the communicative information gap activity directly because they may lack the knowledge in linguistic forms or skills, which compose communicative ability - He is the organizer of the classroom activities The main aim of the teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are to talk about (or write or read about), give clear instructions about what exactly their task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over This sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if teachers have not thought out exactly what they are going to say beforehand In addition to this, the teacher has to break the whole class into pairs or groups, and decide on procedures of pair, group or class work When the information gap is being filled, the teacher has to walk around the classroom and make sure the communication is going smoothly - He may be the error-corrector At the stage of pre-communicative activity, the linguistic errors should be strictly monitored and corrected, but at the group work and class work levels in the process of communicative activity, errors are viewed as the unavoidable by-products of communication and can be ignored unless they hinder communication - He may choose to be a by-stander, making no intervention after initiating the proceedings, and let communication take place through independent activities - While such an independent activity is in progress, he may act as consultant or adviser, walking to and from in the classroom and helping where necessary or when asked Participant There is no reason why the teacher should not participate as an equal in the activity He can offer his information, and at the same time stimulate and present new language, without taking the main initiative for communication away from the students themselves Observer and learner The teacher may also act as an observer and learner When the independent activity is in progress he may move about the classroom in order to monitor the strengths and weaknesses of the students, as a basis for planning future learning activities He can use the weaknesses as signs for learning needs which he must cater for later, probably through more controlled, pre-communicative activities VII Strategies of Implementing Information Gap Activities Information gap activities should be implemented via some strategies, which will provoke learning by a large extent to a learner’s own personal investment of time, effort, and attention to the second language in the form of an individualized battery of strategies for comprehending and producing the language The following are some techniques used to implement information gap activities: Pair work or group work: In order to elicit information and opinions, the learners need to interact among themselves They should spend most of their time working in pairs or groups, finding out their peers’ points of view, transmitting their own conceptions, exchanging ideas, and questing for clues for solutions Thus, dividing the learners into pairs and groups is an inevitable and important strategy to implement information gap activities This ensures the successful function of the information gap activities in teaching speaking in which group work can help achieve the goals of anxiety reduction and meaningful communication However, effective group work in the classroom does not occur automatically and thus the teacher’s careful involvement is required as in the following steps: Firstly, the teacher should plan and prepare for the group work activities ahead of the speaking lesson because the good designs of the activities will result in “more negotiation of meaning, more feedback and faster acquisition” Secondly, the engagement of the teacher in the group work is important Thirdly, the teacher should allot roles to each member within group reasonably As it is suggested that mixed groups including different proficient members can work better than “homogeneous groups” Additionally, the students should be seated in a way that they can talk together easily, keep eye contact, share materials and talk in a lower voice In fact, information gap activities assist students to achieve their goals of meaningful communication Through pair and group work they can get more opportunities to speak and feel more confident about speaking after cooperating to practice Furthermore, they get enjoyment from learning language, which motivates them to reach a higher level But teachers should take into consideration that group work in speaking also has its negative effects For instance, students may overuse the first language or engage in “off-task talk.” Personalization and Individualization: As we all know that information gap activities collect views not only from others but also from one’s own contributions as well It is both speakers’ conceptions that close the gap between them Personalization activities provide the learners opportunities to express their opinions, suggestions, or taste, to share their real life experiences or ideas, and to apply their issues or concerns to some controversial topics And individualization activities allow the learners to act at their own pace, in their own manner and style, and on the topics or content of their own choice Then they will find their own way, taking charge of their learning, and make their own opportunities for practice in using the language inside and outside the classroom Interest: Interest is particularly important for the implementation of information gap activities To stimulate learners’ involvement, interest requires that the activities be designed with some essential characteristics, such as those in games, roleplaying, curiosity-arousing activities; imagination-involving activities; real-life touching experiencing activities; visual or auditory attracting activities; in addition to a clear goal and a meaningful problem-solving process Making the information gap activities interesting will ensure a high involvement of learners and keeps the motivation ongoing Variety: A variety of information gap activities and techniques are always essential in all teaching and learning They will accommodate varieties of learning styles and individuals Constant alteration of activities, techniques and approaches can provoke greater motivation and interest as well as further increased longing to fill in the gaps Variety also means great several contributions from the learners If the information gap activities are created with plenty of potentials for learners, the desire to learn from the learners could be greatly increased VIII Stages of an Information Gap Lesson The teachers must be careful during preparing for lesson plan, so they have to choose the most perfect ways to implement their lessons successfully Below are some steps that teachers should take into consideration when setting a lesson plan by using information gap activities,  Objectives The objectives of each lesson are respectively derived from the integrated skill texts The researcher took into consideration the speaking skills intended to be developed in this study and student centered activities Students find and share information by asking and answering questions in order to complete a task  Key words The key words were chosen from the highlighted words in the lesson  Key structure The key structure of each lesson is chosen to apply information gap activities to help in understanding the text Moreover, its function is related to the topic and the main theme of the text  Estimated time Each lesson takes 45 minutes The time varies, but usually ranges between (05) and (10) minutes for each one  Resources and teaching aids The student's book & workbook, the worksheets, the evaluation sheets, video, pictures, maps, newspaper, LCD, lap top and other materials are used as resources and teaching aids They are selected appropriately for each lesson  Warming up In this activity, two students share information to complete a task In oneway gap activities, one student has all the information (e.g., one student describes a picture and the other learner draws it) In two- way gap activities, both students have some information and must share it with each other to complete the task Because this activity usually combines speaking and listening with reading and writing, all the skills are practiced  Procedure and techniques The teacher prepares a master handout based on information, language structures, and vocabulary the students have been working on Then, the teacher deletes pieces of information on two sets of handouts For example, Handout “A” will have some information deleted that handout “B” will provide Handout “B” will have other pieces of information deleted that handout “A” will provide For example, in a work place context the master could be a weekly schedule or list of work tasks The teacher can make one side more challenging than the other, to meet the needs of learners at different levels Pre-teach and practice vocabulary and structures for the particular task Students should also be familiar with question and answer formulas (e.g., “What time is _” and “It’s at _”), and ways to ask for clarification (e.g., “Excuse me, can you repeat,” or “I’m sorry, I don’t understand”) These can be introduced in the first days of classes, and recycled, adapted, and extended over time Explain the information-gap procedures by modeling a sample gap activity with an able volunteer from the class Have students work with a partner One student in each pair gets Handout “A” and the other gets Handout “B” Ask two students to model the asking and answering of questions in the gap activity before the whole class begins the activity Learners ask and answer questions and record answers until both form “A” and form “B” have been completed Ask students to compare their papers with each other To complete the activity with the whole group, teacher can ask volunteers to come up to the board to fill in information they’ve gathered from their partners Or teacher can ask students to report the information they have in their handout This helps solidify the knowledge and gives some slower learners or pairs a chance to catch up and check their work without stress  Evaluation Walking around the room observing learners during the activity gives a chance to know how well individual learners use and understand English in the activity and download some notes IX Some applicable information gap activities Below is a list of information gap activities that I have adapted form the text books of Tieng Anh and 7, the two text books that I have been working with for these two recent years They have proved to be very useful in motivating students to talk and improving their confidence as well as ability to speak TIENG ANH (sach thi diem) Unit My home – Communication – Activity FIND THE DIFFERENCES - Activity: Pair work: Speaking - Aim: To find the differences in the two pictures - Grammar and functions: There are / is, There isn’t/ aren’t… - Vocabulary: Types house and room funiture 10 - Preparation: Make one copy of Nick’s house for student A and one copy of Mi’s house for student B (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedures:  This activity is done as a productive activity  Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a copy of Worksheet A and worksheet B Explain that they must not show their picture to each other  Tell the students that there are ten differences between the pictures, which they must find by asking and answering questions  Ask them to use There is/ are, There isn’t/ aren’t…  When they have found the ten differences they can look at the other picture, and then write down the differences  Check the answer with the class Unit My friends – Looking back (Communication) WHEN AND WHAT? - Activity: Pair work: Writing and speaking - Aim: To ask and answer questions about schedule - Grammar and functions: Present continuous for the future / Prepositions of time - Vocabulary: Shedule activities - Preparation: make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the class - Time: 10 minutes - Procedures:  Ask students to close their book  Write a time of day on the board For example: At – 9.30 tomorrow morning Ask the students to guess what you are doing at this time For example: Student 1: What are you doing tomorrow moring? Are you doing your homework ? Teacher: No, I am not Student 2: Are you having a shower? Teacher: No, I am not Student 3: Are you playing football ? Teacher: Yes, I am Now complete the example sentence on the board: At 8-9.30 tomorrow morning I am playing football If necessary, give another example using a different preposition of time For example: Between 10 and 11 tomorrow morning, I am going to the gym 11  Now ask the students to write similar sentences about their shedule in their worksheet Make sure they write the time under the heading WHEN? and the activities under the heading WHAT? They must not let other students in the class see what they are writing  When they have finished, ask them to fold their worksheet as indicated  Now ask the students to work in pairs  Tell them to hold their worksheet up so that the column marked WHEN? is facing their partner and the column marked WHAT? Is hidden from their partner  Now ask them to take it in turns to read their partner’s schedule and guess what they at this time  When they have finished and if there is still time, ask them to repeat the activity with a different partner - Option: As most of the students have a similar schedule, they may find that there is no motivation to ask their partner Instead, I usually ask them to write about their schedule Review – Skills- Speaking LIKES AND DISLIKES - Activity: Group of 4: Writing and speaking - Aim: To ask their partners what they like and dislike about their school and the reason why - Grammar and functions: Present simple and questions for liking and disliking What does he/she like ? What does he/she dislike ? Why does she/ he like? Why does she/ he like? - Vocabulary: adjectives, school words - Preparation: Make one copy of worksheet for a student in the group as indicated (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedures:  This activity is done after the reading lesson p.37  Divide the class into groups of four  Explain that you are going to give them a wooksheet with some questions  Give a copy of the worksheet to each student in the group as indicated Tell them not to show their worksheet to their partner at anytime during this activity They are going to ask for and give information about what they like and dislike about their school and the reason why 12  Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask for the information they need and to answer their partner’s questions  When they have finished, they write their answers in the table and report them to the class They should compare their text, which should be identical Unit – My neighbourhood – Getting started - activity DRAW AND SAY - Activity: Group work: Speaking - Aim: to practice talking about road signs - Grammar and function: words to give directions - Vocabulary: directions (turn left, turn right, go straight ahead, etc) - Preparation: Prepare a copy of cards with a direction on it, for example: Go straight Take the second turning on the left (see appendix) - Time: – minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done as a production activity  Divide the class into four groups  Tell the class that they are going to take it in turns to draw some roads signs and others will have to guess what each road sign says  Decide which team is going to play first and ask them to choose one student to draw  Give the first player a card and explain to the class that, while he / she is drawing, only the members of his / her team are allowed to call out guesses If his / her team not guess the sign correctly, the other team are allowed to guess Teams score two points for each correct guess Unit – Our Tet holiday – Skills - Speaking DISCUSS - Activity: pair work: writing and speaking - Aim: To discuss with your friends what they should or shouln’t at Tet - Grammar and function: modal verbs - Vocabulary: Tet things and activities - Preparation: Make one copy of worksheet A and one copy of worksheet B for each pair of students in the class (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done after the teacher has presented the students with the questions for timetable What should you at Tet ? What shoudn’t you at Tet ? 13   Now ask the students to work in pairs of Student A and Student B Explain that you are going to give them a discussion about what they should/ shouldn’t at Tet  Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask for the information they need and to answer their partner’s questions For example: Student A: We should make a wish Student B: I agree But we shouldn’t get up early Student C: No, we shouldn’t We should invite friends home, shouldn’t we ? Students D: Yes, I think we should  When they have finished, they should compare their text, which should be identical and write on their notebooks Unit 10 My future house – Skills - Speaking WHICH HOUSE IS IT? - Activity: individual and class work: writing and speaking - Aim: to describe pictures of your future houses - Grammar and functions: Preposition of place - Vocabulary: things around the house - Preparation: Pictures of houses which have something in similar and a description of a picture (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done as a production activity of the lesson  The teacher asks the students to draw their future houses  The teacher sticks the pictures of houses around the houses  Then ask the students to go around the class and have a look at the pictures Then the teacher ask the students to reads a description of one picture The students listen and decide which picture it is about For example: This is a my future house My house will be on the moon In front of the house, there will be a big yard Behind the house, there will be many tall trees Behind the tall trees, there will be mountains To the left o the house there is a well To the right of the house, there are flowers  Now the teacher asks the student to write a description of any picture Make sure they not write things that are too easy or too clear to see  After the students has finished, call some students to the board and read their description Other students listen and guess the picture Unit – Sports and games - Communication 14 MIMING - Activity: Whole class: speaking - Aim: to mime an activity for the rest of the class to guess - Grammar and function: Present simple tense - Vocabulary: sport activities - Preparation: Prepare a copy of cards with activity in each (see appendix) - Time: – minutes - Procedure:  This activity can be done as a time-filler or a warmer for the next lesson  Ask the students to watch you and guess what you are doing Mime something simple like playing football While you are miming, encourage the students to call out guesses as soon as they have an idea  After that, ask students to answer some questions about the sport you have mimed For example: How many players are there in a football match ? How long does a football match last ?  Tell the students that they are going to take it in turns to mime an activity for the other students to guess Before they begin, divide them into teams of eight or six  Decide which team is going to play first and ask them to choose a student to the first mime  Give the first player a mime card and explain to the class that while he / she is miming an activity, only the members of his/her team are allowed to call out guesses If his / her team not guess the activity correctly, the other teams are then allowed to guess Teams score two points for a correct guess  Continue until all the mime cards have been used The teams with the highest score are the winners Unit – Sports and games – Skills - Speaking LIKES AND DISLIKES - Activity: Pair work and class work: Speaking - Aim: to ask and answer about each other’s favorite sport (can be applied with any other thing) - Grammar and function: present simple / Do you like……….? - Vocabulary: sports - Preparation: none - Time: – minutes - Procedure: 15    This activity is done as a production activity Tell students that you are going to read names of five kinds of sports Ask students to write these words into columns marked LIKES and DISLIKES After you are finished, have students ask you Yes / No question to check if they are right or wrong For example: Student 1: Do you like football? Teacher: Yes, I Student 2: Do you play it well? Teacher: No, I don’t Student 3: Do you belong to any club? Teacher: Yes, I  Ask students to write their own list of favorite sports And then ask them to work in pair and repeat the activity TIENG ANH Unit Skills 1- Speaking LOOKING FOR MR X - Activity: group work: Writing and speaking - Aim: to ask for and give information about hobby - Grammar and function: What is the name of your hobby? When did you start your hobby? Is your hobby easy or difficult ? Why? Is your hobby useful?Why/ Why not? Do you intend to continue your hobby? - Vocabulary: hobby, action verbs - Preparation: Make a copy of a worksheet for each student in the group as indicated (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done as a production activity  Ask students to work in groups of six  Explain that you are going to give them a personal card of Mr X Point out that there is some missing information in the card  Give a copy of the worksheet to each student in the group as indicated Tell them not to show their worksheet to their partner at anytime during this activity Explain that they have the information that is missing in their partner’s worksheet They are going to ask for and give information about Mr X and write in the missing information 16  Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask for the information they need and to answer their partner’s questions Unit Vietnamese food and drink – Communication INTERVIEW - Activity: group work: writing and speaking - Aim: to find out the top ten most popular free time activities among students in the class - Grammar and function: What is your favourite food/ drink? - Vocabulary: Free time activities - Preparation: Make a copy of a worksheet for each student (see appendix) - Time: 10 minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done as a productive activity, after the students have read the survey result for understanding  Ask students to work in groups of six or eight, depending on the size of the class  Tell the student that they are going to conduct a survey similar to the one they have read to find out the answer of their favourite food or drink  Give each student in the group one sheet of survey and ask them to stand up and go round the group to ask and answer  When they have finished, they should compare their survey result, which should be identical Then call one student from each group to report the survey Other students listen to find out the similarities and the differences Unit Music and arts – A closer look MINGLE BINGO - Activity: class work: speaking - Aim: to practice the use of TOO, EITHER - Grammar and function: too, either - Vocabulary: any - Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the class (see appendix) - Time: - minutes - Procedure:  Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class  Tell the student to answer the question in the worksheet about themselves And then go round the class asking one another to find out the ones with similar answers When they have found the 17 similar answers in the three squares in one line (vertical / horizontal / diagonal), they should shout out BINGO  The first five or ten students will go to the front Then tell them to report what they have found out For example: I like pop music and Mai does, too I didn’t go out last night and Hanh didn’t, either TIENG ANH 1.Unit Life in the countryside – A closer look – Activity I DO IT MY WAY - Activity: class work: writing and speaking - Aim: to talk about life in the countryside - Grammar and function: adverbs - Vocabulary: life in the countryside - Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the class (see appendix) - Time: minutes - Procedure:  This activity is done as a productive activity of the lesson  Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class  Ask them to choose ten incomplete sentences from their worksheet and to complete them in any way true for themselves by adding an appropriate adverb For example: I sing badly / I read novels slowly They must use a different adverb for each activity They should not let the other students see what they are writing  When they have finished, tell the students that you are going to tell them how to something and they must guess which of the activities on their worksheet you are referring to For example: It’s something I well (speak English) It’s something I loudly (laugh)  Now ask the students to work in pairs and tell them that they are going to take it in turns to tell their partner how they an activity and to guess what their partner’s activities are  Students can have five tries at guessing each activity They can score five points for guessing the first time, points for guessing the second time, points for the third time, etc if a student hasn’t guessed after five tries, their partner score points  The student with the highest scores is the winner X The implementation of the lesson plan UNIT LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE Lesson A closer look Teacher: Trinh Thi Thu Duyen – Class: 8A6 18 I Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to form an adverb from an adjective and know how to use an adverb as well as comparative forms of adverbs II Language focus: Vocabulary: Adverbs: well, traditionally, soundly, generously, slowly, healthily… Grammar: adjectives and adverbs Teaching aids: textbook, pictures, handout III Anticipated problems: - There may be some new words - Students may get confused with some adjectives ending in “ly” IV Teaching procedures: Teacher’s activities Warm-up: (5 minutes) MIMING GAME - Class work: Call students to pick up a card and the action written in the card The others guess what that student is doing (skateboarding, playing volleyball, swimming, playing tennis, running, cycling, singing, reading, cooking, typing) Presentation: (15 minutes) - Grouping: Call St to put the words into groups and then name the groups adjectives adverbs healthy healthily careful carefully dangerous dangerously slow slowly generous generuosly - Introduction: In this lesson, we are going to learn how to form an adverb form an adjective and how they are used - Presentation: How to form adverbs Elicit from Ss how to form an adverbs from an adjective T gives more examples and introduces more words Good – well Skillful – Skillfully Safe – safely… - Check vocabulary: T reads an adjective, Ss read the correspondent adverb 19 Students’ activities - Students get a card and the action Other students guess the action - St goes to the board and put the words into groups - Listen to the teacher - Answer the teacher’s question We form an adverb by adding LY to the adjective - Listen to the teacher and take note T reads: skillful, bad, quick, careful, safe, good, easy, slow, dangerous - Presentation text: Show Ss the picture of a boy playing soccer and ask “What is he doing? How is he doing it?” And then ask Ss to choose a suitable word to complete the sentences - Model sentences:  He is a good soccer player adj noun  - Give the corresponding adverbs: skillfully, badly, quickly, carefully, safely, well, easily, slowly, … - Listen to the teacher and answer the question He plays soccer well verb adv - Listen to the teacher and - Concept check: ask the Ss “How we use an take note adjective and an adverb?” - Answer T’ question: We use an adj to modify a noun It stands before a noun and after and some linking verbs (feel, sound…) We use an adverb to modify a verb, an adj and another adverb - Explain comparative forms of adverbs Adjectives and adverbs + more/ less + adv + than not change their form like + adverb + er + than verbs or nouns Practice: (10 minutes) Task 1: (6 minutes) : Complete the passage below with suitable comparative form of adj Have Ss the exercise in the text book Ask Ss some questions to check their understanding of the text Among the above instructions, what you think - Do the exercise in the text is / are the most useful? book Task 2: ( minutes) Multiple choice exercise Have Ss work in pairs and choose the correct word to Answer: higher /easier / complete the sentences (traditionally, soundly, more convenient / happier / more friendly/ fast/ generously, slowly, healthily) Can you speak………………? My English is safer/best not good After a hard working day, we usually 20 sleep………… Nowadays, people dress……… so it is difficult to say which country they are from It is not always true that rich people donate…… than poor people If you want to stay slim, you have to eat……… Production: (10minutes) Task 1: I it my way Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class Ask them to choose ten incomplete sentences from their worksheet and to complete them in any way true for themselves by adding an appropriate adverb For example: I sing badly / I read novels slowly They must use a different adverb for each activity They should not let the other students see what they are writing When they have finished, tell the students that you are going to tell them how to something and they must guess which of the activities on their worksheet you are referring to For example: It’s something I well (speak English) It’s something I better (play football) Now ask the students to work in pairs and tell them that they are going to take it in turns to tell their partner how they an activity and to guess what their partner’s activities are Consolidation: - Ask Ss about what they have learned in the lesson Homework: - ex 4,5 XI Effectiveness of the experience initiatives The result after applying the research in teaching: Students 100% Excellent-good 35% Average 50% C - Answer the T’s question - Work in pair and the exercise Answer: more slowly more soundly less trditionally 4.more quickly more healthily - Complete the sentences - Listen to the T and guess his / her activity - Work in pairs and repeat the activity - Listen and answer T’s question Weak (bad) 10% CONCLUSION Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak the language Therefore, if students not learn how to speak or not get 21 any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get demotivated and lose interest in learning On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be By keeping the notion of a gap between students in mind, it is easy to come up with speaking activities that promote meaningful communication These activities often require very little preparation but can increase the total amount of student talking time in any lesson In my own teaching, I find the gap to be a prompt or spur to thinking up productive speaking practice Thanh Hóa, ngày 10 tháng năm 2015 XÁC NHẬN CỦA THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ Tôi xin cam đoan SKKN viết, khơng chép nội dung người khác Người viết Trịnh Thị Thu Duyên 22 ... INTRODUCTION B MAIN CONTENT I What is a gap? II Types of gaps III Examples of information gaps activities IV Benefits of using information gap activities V Drawbacks of using information gap activities. .. Teacher’s roles in information gap activities VII Strategies of implementing information gap activities VIII Stages of information gap activities IX Some applicable information gap activities X The... just try to center on information gap activities as one of the strategies to enhance meaningful and communicative speaking I will discuss some main points related to information gap activities: