Using games to teach english for children aged 8 11 difficulties and solutions

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES M.A THESIS IN TESOL USING GAMES TO TEACH English FOR CHILDREN AGED 8-11: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts Submitted by: PHAN THỊ HOÀI THƯ Supervised by: ĐỖ HUY THỊNH, Ph.D Ho Chi Minh City December 2007 Phan Thị Hoài Thư CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I certify my authorship of the thesis submitted today entitled: USING GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH FOR CHILDREN AGED 8-11: DIFFICULTIES AND SOLUTIONS in terms of the statement of requirements for Theses in Master’s Programs issued by the Higher Degree Committee Ho Chi Minh City, December 2007 PHAN THỊ HỒI THƯ i Phan Thị Hoài Thư ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest gratitude to: - Dr Đỗ Huy Thịnh, my thesis supervisor, Director of SEAMEO RETRACVietnam for his invaluable instructions, comments and sympathy - Dr Hà Văn Sinh, Senior Teacher at Nha Trang Teacher’s Training College, Director of Phước Tiến Language Center in Nha Trang for his help and advice - All my friends and colleagues at the Youth Foreign Language School for their help and encouragement - All my family members for their love, sacrifice and support ii Phan Thị Hoài Thư ABSTRACT This thesis aims to (1) examine the importance of games in teaching English to children aged 8-11 at the Youth Foreign Language School in Ho Chi Minh City, (2) identify popular difficulties that teachers of English for children at this age range often face and (3) investigate various factors that cause the difficulties and then (4) find out specific solutions for these difficulties The study used a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods, of which the qualitative was dominant The study involved a sample of 127 children aged 8-11 and their six teachers Five data collection types were used in the study: document review, observation, interviewing, filming and questionnaires The results of the study indicated that games played a very important role in the teaching and learning English at the Youth Foreign Language School However, it also revealed numerous difficulties The difficulties fell into four main categories: physical conditions, class management, maintaining students’ interest and combining effectively games and the target language Various solutions were found out and piloted at the Youth Foreign Language School within three months To solve difficulties concerning physical conditions, the teachers need to be creative to adapt the games to suit the school context To solve difficulties concerning class management, the teachers should form their own class habits for the children and they need to be gentle and, simultaneously, strict to the children To solve difficulties concerning maintaining students’ interest, the teachers need to be, again, creative and sensible in selecting and conducting games To solve difficulties concerning combining effectively games and the target language, the teachers need to be flexible and patient In sum, sound solutions require the teachers’ devotion, creativeness, patience and also strictness iii Phan Thị Hoài Thư TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality……………………………………………… i Acknowledgements……………………………………… …………… ii Abstract………………………………………………………………… iii Table of contents……………………………………………….……… iv Abbreviations………………………………………………….……… vi Chapter INTRODUCTION……………………………….……… 1.1 Statement of the problem ………………………………………… 1.2 Significance of the study ………………………………………… 1.3 About the researcher ……………………………………………… 1.4 Statement of purpose ……………………………………………… 1.5 Research questions ……………………………………………… 1.6 Research methodology …………………………………………… 1.7 Limitations and Delimitations …………………………………… 1.8 Thesis outline ……………………………………………………… Chapter LITERATURE REVIEW……………………………… 2.1 What is “game”? ………………………………………………… 2.2 Why games in teaching a language? ……………………………… 2.3 The characteristics of children’s mental and physical development and language learning …………………………………………… 2.4 How to use games in teaching English to children? ……………… 15 2.5 An overview on the Total Physical Response (TPR) and the Communicative Approach ……………………………… 16 iv Phan Thò Hoài Thư Chapter AN OVERVIEW OF THE PRESENT TEACHING AND LEARNING AT THE YFLS 3.1 A description of the physical condition at the YFLS ……………… 23 23 3.2 A description of the “English for Children Programs” (EFC Programs) at the YFLS …………………………………… 23 3.3 A description of Let’s Go series (2nd ed.) ………………………… 24 3.4 A description of the teaching staff and teaching methodologies at the YFLS……………………………………… 26 3.5 Teaching games currently used at the YFLS ……………………… 26 Chapter METHODOLOGY AND PROCEDURES 4.1 Sample Selecting ………………………………………………… 4.2 Data Collection …………………………………………………… 37 37 37 Chapter RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 40 5.1 The importance of games in a language class……………………… 40 5.2 Popular difficulties that teachers at the YFLS often face ………… 42 5.3 Children’s expectations from games ……………………………… 46 5.4 Solutions for popular difficulties ………………………………… 51 5.5 The teachers’ judgment on the solutions after three months of piloting 57 Chapter CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS 6.1 A summary of the main findings and implications ………………… 6.2 Recommendations ………………………………………………… REFERENCES…………………………………………………………… … APPENDIXES…………………………………………………………… … Appendix 1……………………………………………………………… Appendix 2…………………………………………………………….… Appendix …………………………………….……………………… Appendix ……………………………………………………………… Appendix ……………………………………………………………… 69 69 71 74 77 77 79 82 83 86 v Phan Thị Hoài Thö ABBREVIATIONS CLT Communicative Language Teaching EFC English for Children SEAMEO South - East Asian Ministers of Education Organization TPR Total Physical Response TESOL Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages YFLS Youth Foreign Language School vi Phan Thị Hoài Thö CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1.1 Statement of the problem The economic, political and social changes in Vietnam over the past two decades have brought about a more significant role of English as a foreign language in all aspects of the social life English has become an important means of getting good career, promotion, scholarship and further study Therefore, parents are more concerned about the learning of English of their children when they are at an early age Since 1995, English has been taught in primary schools as an optional subject in many cities in Vietnam Since then, not only primary schools but also foreign language centers in the country have paid much more attention on the career of teaching English to children However, most teachers are non-native English speaking ones graduating from universities and colleges nationwide and they are trained to teach English to adults or teenagers, not for children at all Meanwhile, teaching English for children requires special care about their typical mental and physical development which strongly affects their process of acquiring a language and their learning style as well The teaching of English to children, therefore, meets numerous difficulties As a global language, English gives all possible opportunities for even very young children to use it through video, TV, computers and films What they might not be exposed to is the “street” use, i.e., the language used for daily life purposes around them Therefore, there is an onus on the teacher to provide exposure to the language and to provide opportunities for learning through classroom activities It is now generally accepted that language teaching not merely can be but should be enjoyable What activities are popularly considered enjoyable in teaching a language? The answer is games “Games are enjoyable and games are used to capture the child’s interest” (Clark, 2002, 192), and this conclusion is supported by many famous educators, trainers and teachers, especially teachers of languages Accordingly, applying games to teach English for children to reap Phan Thị Hoài Thư better results is undeniable Nevertheless, the application of games in teaching English cannot escape from obstacles Therefore, there is a need to find out effective methods as well as tips to minimize the difficulties and maximize positive affects of games in teaching English to children, particularly in the context of Vietnam 1.2 Significance of the study The teaching of English to children has been dramatically developing in Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, a big city of the country in recent years By this way or another, English has been being taught to all grades in primary schools, and most language centers and schools in the city have English classes for children Being aware of the mental and physical development of children, teachers have been trying their best to choose adequate teaching methods Among those, using games can be regarded as the most popular and effective way To achieve higher quality in teaching English to children, more attention, therefore, should be paid to it Besides its strengths, the use of games cannot avoid difficulties Not all teachers can realize and solve all of their shortcomings when using games to teach English to children For that reason, the purpose of the study is to find out common difficulties and provide teachers with specific solutions Thanks to that, games will be effectively organized (that is, not just for time filling or entertainment) Once difficulties are solved satisfactorily, the real value of games will be maximized Accordingly, the children’s learning of English will reap better results 1.3 About the researcher I had a chance to teach English to children at Phuoc Tien Foreign Language Center, one of the most famous centers in Nha Trang in 2001 when I was just a third-year student at the university Teaching English to children does interest me I have learned a lot about this work from my friends, and experienced teachers of the center as well as from my own experience Simultaneously, through small talks with the teachers of the center (most of them are also teachers of English to children at primary schools) and visiting their classes, I noticed that Phan Thị Hoài Thư there existed several problematic difficulties Using games, a very popular and preferred method to teach English to children, faces numerous problems Many teachers complained: “I use games very often in my classes since they help attract pupils Nevertheless, the children often feel bored when they get familiar with all the games after two or three months, and require new games It is very difficult for me to find out new games to satisfy them in every class.” Others said: “My class becomes a market when playing games I cannot control them” Some confessed that they did want to organize an interesting game activity in class but they could not as it took them so much time to prepare for such a game in such a poor context In 2004, I moved to Ho Chi Minh City for my further study and have been teaching English to children at the Youth Foreign Language School (YFLS) since then Similar problems and complaints still exist It is obvious that using games to teach English to children generally are meeting obstacles Most teachers use games to teach English to children and they all agree with their fantastic effects The great values of games cannot be denied but the difficulties when applying games in teaching should not be ignored to bring the best Therefore, the road to sound solutions still awaits teachers’ efforts and devotions 1.4 Statement of purpose Keeping the idea of searching for specific solutions for common difficulties in using games to teach English to children aged 8-11, the purposes of this study are, therefore, (1) to examine the role of games in teaching of English to children aged 8-11, (2) to identify popular difficulties that teachers of English to children have to face, (3) to investigate various factors that cause the difficulties and (4) to find out specific solutions for these difficulties 1.5 Research questions In other to achieve the overall goal of the research, four following questions will lead the study: How important are games to the teaching of English to children aged 811? Phan Thị Hoài Thư Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE (For the children at the Youth Foreign Language School) Name: Age: Gender: Male Female Please put a cross in the box that best describes you How often you want to play a game in your class? Every lesson Once a week Twice a week Never What you expect to get when joining in a game? YES NO YES NO Practicing what you have just learned Playing and cooperating with your friends Showing off your ability Receiving gifts Receiving teachers’ compliments Winning (and losing) Learning how to play a game The joy Relaxing and not doing exercises How you like playing games? In teams In pairs Individuals With friends and teachers 79 Phan Thị Hoài Thư How many times you expect a game to be repeated during the course? YES NO Only once Not more than three times As many as possible I not care how many times the games are repeated but there must be a little change after each time How you like the teachers to give instructions? YES NO In English so that I can practice my English In Vietnamese so that I can master the rules easily A proper combination of English and Vietnamese What you often remember after playing a game? YES NO The language that you have learned The game and its rules The joy The winning and losing 80 Phan Thị Hoài Thư What difficulties you often face in playing a game in your class? YES NO The noise of neighbor classes distracts my concentration during the game I have to speak softly and not make noise because I am afraid of annoying my neighbor classes which reduces the interest in playing games Some friends usually run around, tease others and make noise while playing games I can’t hear the teacher because my class are always very noisy when playing games I not really like playing games because I am not as good as my friends The games are not really interesting because there are not modern facilities such as projectors and computers I cannot move comfortably because there are too many chairs and tables in my class Other: ……………………….…………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… What you remark on the games played in your class? Interesting and a lot of fun Boring and a waste of time Useful for your learning English Not really useful for your learning English I like playing games in my English class Thank you very much 81 Phan Thị Hoài Thö Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE (For the Teachers at the Youth Foreign Language School) This questionnaire is a part of the research project which aims to identify popular difficulties when using games to teach English for children aged 8-11at the Youth Foreign Language School and to find out possible solutions Please take a time to fill out every single item in the questionnaire Your contribution is highly appreciated and the information you provide means a lot to the researcher How often you have your class play a game? Every lesson Once a week Twice a week Never What you expect when conducting a game in your class? YES NO To give the students a chance to practice the language and language skills To satisfy the interest of the students To create a competition in learning among the students To build up a good relationship among the students To teach the students how to play the games To fill the time respectively Others ………………………………………… ………………………………………………… ………………………………………………… 82 Phan Thị Hoài Thư Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE (For the Teachers at the Youth Foreign Language School) This questionnaire is a part of the research project which aims to identify popular difficulties when using games to teach English for children aged 8-11at the Youth Foreign Language School and to find out possible solutions Please take a time to fill out every single item in the questionnaire Your contribution is highly appreciated and the information you provide means a lot to the researcher PART I PERSONAL INFORMATION How long have you been teaching English for children? under year 1-3 years 3-5 years over yea Gender: Male Female Personality: Please put a tick in the box that best describes you active and dynamic quiet not very active but not very quiet love children patient 83 Phan Thị Hoài Thư PART II DIFFICULTIES IN USING GAMES TO TEACH ENGLISH FOR CHILDREN AGED 8-11 AT THE YOUTH FOREIGN LANGUAGE SCHOOL Please put a tick in the box that best describes you Difficulties in the physical condition Causing a lot of difficulty Causing some difficulty Causing completely no difficulty Lacking modern teaching aids such as projectors and computers So many chairs and tables, lacking space Lacking pictures supporting for some games Lacking hooks to hang the pictures Not good soundproofed classrooms Other: (please clarify and choose the right level) ……………………………………… …………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… Difficulties in the class management Causing a lot of difficulty Causing some difficulty Causing completely no difficulty Some children usually run around, tease others while playing games Some children make noise and the rest cannot hear the teacher’s instructions and their friends Some children not want to join in the games because they lack self-confidence Some children not really like games and 84 Phan Thị Hoài Thư they often other things when the class is playing games How to control time availability to suit the school syllabus Other: (please specify and choose the right level) ……………………………………… …………………………………………………… Difficulties in maintaining students’ interest in playing games Causing a lot of difficulty Causing some difficulty Causing completely no difficulty Children have diverse requirements in game types and the difficulty level of each game because of their difference in personalities, ages and English proficiency Children have short concentration span and are easy to get bored Ways of complimenting Looking for suitable games to meet the diverse needs of the students is timeconsuming It is hard for the teacher to join in the games with the students because of great difference in age Other: (please specify and choose the right level) ……………………………………… ……………………………………………………… …………………………………………………… … Difficulties in the games and the target language effective combination Causing a lot of difficulty Causing some difficulty Causing completely no difficulty How to select games which are really relevant to the lessons How to use English to give succinct and easy-tounderstand instructions How to form a habit of speaking English for the students when playing games 85 Phan Thị Hoài Thư How to use games to consolidate the language that the students have just learned How to develop the students’ language skills through playing games Other: (please specify and choose the right level) ……………………………………… ………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………… Thank you very much 86 Phan Thị Hoài Thư Appendix QUESTIONNAIRE (For the Teachers at the Youth Foreign Language School) This questionnaire is a part of the research project which aims to identify popular difficulties when using games to teach English for children aged 8-11at the Youth Foreign Language School and to find out possible solutions Please take a time to fill out every single item in the questionnaire Your contribution is highly appreciated and the information you provide means a lot to the researcher After months of piloting the solutions for popular difficulties, please put a tick in the box that best describes your judgement on the solutions From to show the continuous increase of the effectiveness of the solutions Level “0” means the solution is not effective and level “3” means the solution is very effective A Difficulties in the physical condition Solutions for the lack of space for the students’ movement in the classroom Substitute games needing a lot of space for movement by the ones that only offer the movement at their seats For example, we can substitute “Simon says” and “Stand up” for “Baseball Game” and “Blows Wind Blows” Adapt a little the rules of the game to suit the physical conditions at the school For example: - in the game “Bean Bag Circle”, in stead of asking the students to make a circle, we can ask them to stand at their place throwing and catching the ball - In the game “Freeze Frame”, in stead of asking the students move freely around the class, we can ask them freeze at their place 87 Phan Thị Hoài Thư Solutions for the lack of pictures supporting for the games Ask the students to draw the pictures by themselves For example, in the game “Bingo”, in stead of copying the pictures for all students, we can ask them to draw quickly the pictures of some fruits, clothes, or animals (depending on the requirements of the game) that they have learned 3 The teacher sketches the pictures on the board, asking some questions about the sketch for the students to guess while drawing to draw their attention Solutions for the lack of hooks to hang pictures Use the toy clay or spongy glue (which not damage the board) to stick the pictures on the board Use wet plastic bags The students in turn hold the pictures B Difficulties in the class management Solutions for the children’s making noise and running around while playing games Non-money fining: the team will lose a certain points if one of the team members makes noise (shouting) or running around without permission Assign the naughty children important positions such as group leaders, game supervisors and teachers’ assistants 88 Phan Thị Hoài Thư Solutions for the fact that some children not want to join in the games because they lack selfconfidence The teacher should divide pairs/groups/teams equally in terms of English proficiency and ability of each individual Encourage and give compliments timely when these children achieve just a minor success or progress 3 Solutions for the fact that some children not really like games and often other things when the class is playing games Assign the group leaders to take care of their group Fining: the team will lose a certain points if one of the team members does not join in the game Be close to these children and ask for the reasons why not want to join in the games to have timely adjustments Solutions for time availability control Let the children play the games that are so familiar to them to save the time for game rule explanations Fix the pairs/groups/teams so that we not have to waste time in regrouping after each time of playing Stop playing firmly even if the children insist to play some more Let the children play at the end of the lessons to not damage the time availability and the children will leave the class with a happy and relaxing feeling 89 Phan Thị Hoài Thư C Difficulties in the maintaining students’ interest in playing games Solutions for the children’s difference in personalities, ages and English proficiency Choose games which are not too difficult and complicated so that all children can join in Do not choose games that can only serve a particular group of children Adapt the requirements of the game so that within a game there are both difficult and easy questions Thanks to this, all children have a chance to join in the game and show off themselves Solutions for children’s short concentration span Choose games with simple and easyto-remember rules Explain the rules briefly and demonstrate in stead of long explanations Do not lengthen a game more than 15 minutes Stop the game when one third of the students lose interest 90 Phan Thị Hoài Thư Solutions for economical ways of complimenting Compliment and applause Plus marks in the class regular tests Give a star to the winners and they stick the stars in their notebooks At the end of the month or the course, give a gift to the ones who own most stars Prepare some small cards with some simple English compliments, give the cards to the ones who play best when the game ends The teacher and the students vote the best player in the game and that person has the right to ask the rest of the class to some commands (e.g sing a song please, cry in a minute please, make the sound of the cat please, etc.) The winners have the right to ask the losers to some commands as the examples above Solutions for saving time on selecting games Repeat the games as many times as possible providing that there must be a little change to create a new feeling inside the children after each time For example, we can increase the difficulty, change the time availability, change the game rules a little bit, change the game controller, etc 91 Phan Thị Hoài Thư D Difficulties in the games and the target language effective combination Solutions for selecting the really relevant-to-lesson games but least time For each part in Let’s Go, select a best game for yourself and fix that game for the right part Every time the class studies that part, we apply that game and the only thing we have to is to change the language content to suit that lesson Solutions for giving easy-tounderstand instructions in English but least time Give instructions in Vietnamese in the first time the game introduced to the children From the second time, teachers can give instructions in English because the children master the rules of the games in the first time already Select the games that are similar to Vietnamese traditional games It is easier for the children to master the rules of the games because they are familiar to these game rules Give clear demonstrations rather than long explanations 92 Phan Thị Hoài Thö Solutions for forming a habit of speaking English for children while playing games Minus points of the whole team if their members speak in Vietnamese The ones who speak in Vietnamese have to some commands from their friends or teacher Stop playing if someone who speaks in Vietnamese a certain number of times 93 ... searching for specific solutions for common difficulties in using games to teach English to children aged 8- 11, the purposes of this study are, therefore, (1) to examine the role of games in teaching... English to children aged 8- 11, (2) to identify popular difficulties that teachers of English to children have to face, (3) to investigate various factors that cause the difficulties and (4) to. .. use of games in teaching English for children, difficulties and solutions This chapter puts forward some pedagogical implications for using games in particular and in teaching English for children