Khóa luận How to attract interests and involvement of the 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh

Nội dung text: Khóa luận How to attract interests and involvement of the 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh

1. HAI PHONG PRIVATE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES GRADUATION PAPER HOW TO ATTRACT INTERESTS AND INVOLVEMENT OF THE 9TH GRADERS IN A SPEAKING LESSON AT MINH THANH SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG NINH By: Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam Class: Na 903 Supervisor: Nguyen Thi Huyen, M.A Hai Phong - 2009 1
2. BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC DÂN LẬP HẢI PHềNG NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP Sinh viờn: Mó số: . Lớp: Ngành: . Tờn đề tài: . 2
3. NHIỆM VỤ ĐỀ TÀI 1. Nội dung và cỏc yờu cầu cần giải quyết trong nhiệm vụ đề tài tốt nghiệp (Về lớ luận, thực tiễn, cỏc số liệu cần tớnh toỏn và cỏc bản vẽ) . 2. Cỏc số liệu cần thiết để thiết kế, tớnh toỏn . . 3. Địa điểm thực tập . . 3
4. CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP Người hướng dẫn thứ nhất: Họ và tờn: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan cụng tỏc: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Người hướng dẫn thứ hai: Họ và tờn: Học hàm, học vị: Cơ quan cụng tỏc: Nội dung hướng dẫn: Đề tài tốt nghiệp được giao ngày thỏng năm 2009 Yờu cầu hoàn thành trước ngày thỏng năm 2009 Đó nhận nhiệm vụ Đ.T.T.N Đó giao nhiệm vụ Đ.T.T.N Sinh viờn Cỏn bộ hướng dẫn Đ.T.T.N Hải Phũng, ngày . thỏng năm 2009 Hiệu trưởng GS.TS. Trần Hữu Nghị 4
5. PHẦN NHẬN XẫT TểM TẮT CỦA CÁN BỘ HƯỚNG DẪN 1. Tinh thần thỏi độ của sinh viờn trong quả trỡnh làm đề tài tốt nghiệp: 2. Đỏnh giỏ chất lượng của Đ.T.T.N (So với nội dung yờu cầu đó đề ra trong nhiệm vụ Đ.T.N trờn cỏc mặt lớ luận, thực tiễn, tớnh toỏn giỏ trị sử dụng, chất lượng cỏc bản vẽ) 3. Cho điểm của cỏn bộ hướng dẫn: (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ ) Hải Phũng, ngày thỏng năm 2009 Ng ười hướng dẫn chớnh (Họ tờn và chữ ký) 5
6. NHẬN XẫT VÀ ĐÁNH GIÁ CỦA CÁN BỘ CHẤM PHẢN BIỆN ĐỀ TÀI TỐT NGHIỆP 1. Đỏnh giỏ chất lượng đề tài tốt nghiệp về cỏc mặt thu nhập và phõn tớch số liệu ban đầu, cơ sở lớ luận chọn phương ỏn tối ưu, cỏch tớnh toỏn chất lượng thuyết minh và bản vẽ, giỏ trị lớ luận và thực tiễn đề tài. 2. Cho điểm của cỏn bộ phản biện (Điểm ghi bằng số và chữ) Hải Phòng ngày thỏng năm 2009 Người chấm phản biện 6
7. TABLE OF CONTENT ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I: INTRODUCTION 2 1. Rationale 2 2. Aims of the study 2 3. Scope of the study 3 4. Method of the study 4 5. Design of the study 4 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 6 Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6 I. Speaking skill: an over view 6 1. What is speaking? 6 2. Types of speaking 7 3. Types of speaking activities 8 4. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity 8 II. Teaching speaking 10 1. The importance of speaking skill 10 2. Why do students fell less interested and contribute less in a speaking lesson? 10 3. Principles to attract students’ involvements in English speaking lessons 11 4. Activities to promote students’ speaking 14 4.1 Why teacher should give students a variety of speaking activities 14 4.2 Simple tips for teachers to have a successful speaking activity 14 4.3 Activities to promote speaking 15 4.3.1 Information gap activities 15 4.3.2 Dialogues and role plays 15 4.3.4 Activities using pictures 16 4.3.4 Problem-solving 17 7
8. 4.3.5 Using games 17 Chapter 2: study on how a speaking lesson is taught at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh province I. Reality 19 1.1 Current teaching speaking methods in Minh Thanh secndary school 19 1.2 English teaching staff 19 1.3 Students 19 1.4 Teaching and learning condition 20 II. Survey questionnaires 21 1. Participants 21 2. Purposes of the survey questionnaires 21 3. Design of the survey questionnaires 22 4. Data and analysis 23 4.1 Students’ english learning time 23 4.2 students’ and teachers’ opinions on english skill in general and speaking lesson in particular 23 4.2.1 Students’ interests in learning English skills 23 4.2.2 Students’ opinions toward speaking lessons 24 4.2.3 Students’ and teachers’ opinions toward the role pf speaking skill 25 4.2.4 Speaking activities preferred by students 26 4.2.5 Teachers’ encouragement 27 4.3 Students’ and teachers’ opinions on current used techniques and their effectiveness in teaching speaking 28 4.3.1 Pre-speaking 28 4.3.2 While-speaking 31 4.3.3 Post-speaking 34 4.4 Students’ and teachers’ opinions about students’ difficulties when speaking in class 37 4.5 Students’ expectations of improving their English in a speaking lesson 39 4.6 Activities students expect teachers to apply more in a speaking lesson 40 8
9. III. Findings and discussions of findings 41 Chapter 3: Some suggested techniques to attract interests and involvement of the 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh province Techniques in teaching English speaking skill and its applicability 44 1. Pre-speaking 44 1.1 Listen to it now 44 1.2 Reporting 45 1.3 Brainstorming 46 1.4 Read-it-out 48 1.5 Pictures description 49 1.6 Pre-questions 51 1.7 Teaching through songs 52 1.8 Matching 54 1.9 Games 57 1.9.1 Hang man game 57 1.9.2 “Can you spell it” game 58 1.9.3 Find the difference 60 1.9.4 “Who i am” game 61 1.10 Using poems 62 2. While-speaking 63 2.1 Role play 63 2.2 Simulations 65 2.3 Story completion 66 2.4 Information gap 67 2.5 Debate 68 2.6 Survey 69 2.7 Drawing activities 70 2.8 Problem solving 71 9
10. 2.9 Games 72 2.9.1 Find someone who 72 2.9.2 What would you say game 73 2.9.3 Can you do it? 75 2.9.4 The word order game 77 2.9.5 Mime game 78 2.9.6 “Animal for a day” game 80 2.9.7 Prepositional crossword 81 3. Post-speaking 83 3.1 Free talk 83 3.2 Word-cue-drill 83 3.3 Write-it-up 84 3.4 games 85 3.4.1 Opposite game 85 3.4.2 Jumbled words 86 3.4.3 Missing words 87 3.4.4 Observation game 88 3.4.5 The last word 90 Part III. Conclusion 92 Appendix 1: The survey questionnaires for students Appendix 2: The interview questions for teachers Appendix 3: Model lesson List of references . 10
11. Acknowledgements During the process of fulfilling my graduation paper, I have owned my debts to many people. First and most of all, I would like to express my gratitude to Ms. Nguyen Thi Huyen, M.A, my supervisor, for her guidance, great suggestions and advice in each step of the study. Without her precious comments, academic instructions and wholehearted help, my research would have never been accomplished. Also, my sincere thanks are extended to all teachers in Foreign Language department, Hai Phong Private University for their useful lectures and suggestions. Besides, my special thanks send to all teachers and students in Minh Thanh secondary school for their enthusiasm in finishing the survey questionnaires. Last but not least, I am grateful to my family and friends who have given me much encouragement during the time I carried out this paper. Hai Phong, June, 2009 Student Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam 11
12. PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale If you want to understand clearly about customs and culture of any country, first of all, it is essential to know about the language of that country. Currently, about 2/3 nations in the world use English as their mother tongue in variety fields of social life: political, business, cultural exchange, education and others. It is common knowledge that Viet Nam has officially become a member of World Trade Organization; therefore, the need of mastering foreign languages, especially English, is becoming more and more necessary. For such reason, it is of great importance that teaching and learning English in school, basically have to change to meet the requirements. Actually, learning English is not only to know another language but also regarded as a tool of communication. Today, of the four English basic skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), it is thought that speaking seems to play the most important role: knowing- language-people are considered “speaker” of that language as if speaking included all four kinds of knowing. Classroom activities that help to develop learners’ ability in expressing themselves would play an important part in a language course. Despite the awareness of its role, teaching speaking has been undervalued for a long time and speaking is taught just as a repetition of drills or memorization of conversations. In fact, speaking activities in a traditional classroom often take place, in the way of one person asking a question and another giving an answer. As a result, the questions and the answers are structured and predictable, and there is only one correct answer. Clearly, the purpose of asking and answering the question is to demonstrate one’s ability to ask and answer. In recent years, a new teaching method in a language classroom is focusing on the role of the learners in the teaching and learning process. It means that the learners become active participants who do most of activities including speaking activities. However, the fact is that, teachers often are Mr. (Ms) knowing-and –doing- 12
13. everything while students seem to be passive and silent in a speaking lesson. Consequently, second language learners often neglect or have difficulties with oral production (speaking). It can not be denied the fact that some students have memorized hundreds of words and many grammar structures, but they still can not speaking well or do not like speaking lessons. Moreover, teenagers are very dynamic and interested in trying new things, so with the traditional teaching methods and the repetition of the same activities days by days, students become fed up with learning English. The goal of teaching speaking, surely, is to improve the oral production of the students. Along with international integration trend, students should improve and promote their communication skill so that they can express themselves and learn to follow the social and cultural rules appropriating in each communicative circumstances. In order to do that, language-teaching activities in the classroom should aim at maximizing individual language use. Teachers’ role is not only to create a warm and friendly classroom but also to provide students with effective and plentiful activities. Only by such way can those activities encourage students to speak and attract them to speaking lessons. These factors mentioned above have aroused my ambition to carry out the study of “how to attract interests and involvements of 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh”. 2. Aims of the study The study is carried out to research: Firstly, the study studies the different aspects of speaking skill that serves as overview, the features and characteristics of teaching speaking skill. Secondly, the study explores the real situation of teaching English-speaking skill in 9th form in Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh. Thirdly, the study investigates the students and teachers’ attitude toward a speaking lesson. The last also the most important aim is to suggest some effective activities that can be applied in Minh Thanh secondary school to attract students’ interests 13
14. and involvements in speaking lessons. 3. Scope of the study  Actually, attracting students’ interests and involvements needs to be done in teaching all four basic skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing). However, it is impractical to overspread such a large scope I a graduation paper. Thus, the study limits itself to:  Finding out the reality of teaching English speaking skill for 9th form students in Minh Thanh secondary schools  Offering appropriate activities to attract 9th graders in Minh Thanh secondary school in speaking lessons 4. Methods of the study  First, reference books related to speaking and methodology are reviewed to get background knowledge of what speaking is, successful and interesting techniques in teaching speaking.  Second, a survey is conducted for three 9th classes in Minh Thanh secondary school with a point of view to finding out their recognition, attitudes, evaluation of the matter and the difficulties they encounter as well as what activities they like doing in speaking lessons.  Third, more information needed for the findings of the survey will be gathered from formal and informal interview with the surveyed teachers and students. 5. Design of the study The study consists of three main parts: Introduction, Development, and Conclusion. Part I: Introduction shows reasons to choose the study, the aims, scope, methods, and design of the study. Part II: Development includes chapters: Chapter 1: Literature review aims to answer the questions related to speaking that introduces the speaking skill and its features. Chapter 2: “A study on how speaking lessons are dealt with by teachers and students in Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh” referred to the 14
15. analysis and the findings obtain from survey questionnaires made to 9th form students and interview for teachers of Minh Thanh secondary school. This helps examine the real situation of teaching speaking and the need of using various activities in speaking lessons. Chapter 3: “Suggested activities to attract students’ interests and involvement in a speaking lesson” deals with techniques and a sample lesson of using different activities in each part of a speaking lesson to attract secondary students to a speaking lesson” Part III: Conclusion summarizes the discussed parts in the paper and some suggestions for further study. Consequently, Part I has dealt with the content of the study. In the next part, the author will present the focus of the study including her literature review on the understanding of speaking skill and the survey questionnaires for teachers and students of Minh Thanh secondary school which help examine the real situation of teaching and learning speaking. Besides, this Part II also introduces some suggested techniques which can be applied to attract secondary students’ interests and involvements in speaking lesson. 15
16. PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW I. Speaking skill: An overview Speaking in a second language involves the developments of a particular type of communication skill. It has occupied a peculiar position throughout much of the history of language teaching, and only in the last two decades has it begun to emerge as a branch of teaching, learning and testing in its own right, rarely focusing on the production of spoken discourse (Nunan and Carter, 2001). 1. What is speaking? Speaking is the skill that students will be judged most in real life situations. It is an important part of everyday interaction and most often the first impression of a person is based on his or her ability to speak fluently and comprehensively. However, speaking is in many ways an undervalued skill. This, perhaps, is because we can almost all speak, and so have the low opinion of it. Speaking is often thought of as a popular form of expressions. Speaking, on the contrary, is a skill which deserves attention a bit as much as literacy skill. Our learners often need to speak with confidence in order to carry out many of their basic transactions. “Speaking”, as Harris (1977:81) says, “is a complex skill requiring the simultaneous use of different abilities developed at the different rates”. John (1982) believes that speaking ability is regarded the measure of knowing a language. The learners define speaking as the most important skill they can acquire. They assess their progress in term of their accomplishment in spoken communication. Besides, Bygate observes: speaking is the skill by which learners are most frequently judged and through which they make or lose friends. It is the medium through which much of language is learnt and which for many is particularly conductive for learning”. Bygate emphasizes the importance of speaking, not only for performing basic translations, but also for establishing and maintaining social relationships. In addition, Chaney (1998:13) indicates that speaking is the process of building 16
17. and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols, in a variety context. Brown (1994) also believes that speaking ability is integrated closely to writing, reading, and listening. So, in language teaching, it is of great importance to emphasize the interrelationship of skill. In general, speaking is an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information (Brown, 1994; Burns & Joyce, 1997). Its form and meaning are dependent on the context in which it occurs, including the participant themselves, their collective experiences, the physical environment and the purpose for speaking. 2. Types of speaking In speaking class, according to Burns, A & Joyce, H. (1997), students must be exposed to three key items: 2.1 Form-focused speaking Form-focused instruction, that is, attention to details of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, and so forth When learners begin speaking in another language, their speaking will need to be based on some form-focused learning. An effective way to start is to base speaking on some useful, simple memorized phrases and sentences. These may be greetings, simple personal description, and simple questions and answers. As their proficiency and experience in the language develop, most of these sentences and phrases may be re-analyzed and incorporated into the learners’ system of knowledge of the language. Language use based on memorization can be the starting point for more creative use of the language. 2.2 Meaning-focused speaking Meaning-focused instruction, that is, opportunities to produce meaningful spoken messages with real communicative purposes In addition to form-focused speaking, language learners should be exposed to and given chances to practice and use meaning-focused communication, in which they must both produce and listen to meaningful oral communication. 17
18. 2.3 Opportunities to improve fluency Elements of all these above should be presented throughout a speaking program with emphasis on form-focused instruction at the elementary levels and as the learners’ progress on meaning-focused instruction at the higher level. 3. Types of speaking activities (Extracted from www.teachingenglish.org.uk ) 3.1 Controlled Activities Controlled activities mainly focus on form and accuracy. They force students to pay attention to certain structure or functions so that these can be accurately produced. However, teachers should be encouraged to design controlled activities in a meaningful way. This means students also need to consider meaning whatever they are producing. This kind of activity concludes topic- based and task-based activities. 3.2 Semi-controlled Activities Semi-controlled activities focus more on meaning and communication. Teacher still has some control over the language which students are expected to produce but students have more room for their production. It is no longer strictly controlled. 3.3 Communicative Activities Communicative activities allow for real information exchange. The new structure or function becomes integrated into the activity, which is no longer the only focus. In such activities, students are more concerned with meaning. Communicative activities include information gap activities, problem-solving activities, discussions, debates, interviews, fluency-focused games, telling story, etc. 4. Characteristics of a successful speaking activity According to www.iteslj.org/teachingspeaking and reference from book: A course in language teaching-Practice and theory (Ur Penny (1996), a successful speaking activity is characterized as below: 4.1 A friendly and pleasant learning atmosphere: The class atmosphere can be fostered by clearly outlining the objectives of the class’s work at the outset. If 18
19. students are aware that they are expected to take risk, expose weakness, practice skills and share experiences. That will require an environment with a support and respect to develop co-operation and assistance among the members in class. The task of each lesson may be collaborative or competitive, in which case atmosphere will differ. Most students prefer a friendly and pleasant atmosphere because they can understand and acquire the lecture easily. 4.2 Maximum foreign talk: in a successful speaking activity, the students talk a lot in the foreign language. One common problem in a speaking activity is that students often produce one or two simple utterances in the foreign language and spend the rest of time chatting in their mother tongue. Besides, teachers talk too much of time, thus taking away valuable practice time from students. Therefore, teachers should notice to avoid students’ talking in native language and too much teachers’ talk. 4.3. Even participation: whether the activities take place among the whole class or in small group, a successful speaking task should encourage speaking from as many different students as possible. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all have chance to speak and contribute to lesson. Teachers should guarantee equal opportunities for students of different levels. 4.4. High motivation: students are highly motivated. They are eager to speak because they are interested in the topic and they have something new to say about it or because they want to contribute to achieve a task objective. Teachers make sure that the task is in line with students’ ability. 4.5. Acceptable level of language accuracy: Learner’s utterances are ‘relevant, easily comprehensible to each other and of an acceptable level of languages to express themselves in a successful speaking activity. In general, classroom activities play an important role in developing students’ ability to express them. A successful speaking activity is characterized by students’ talk, high motivation even participation, learning atmosphere and acceptable language. 19
20. II. Teaching speaking 1. The importance of speaking skill. “I can’t understand my teacher’s English, but when I talk to “real people” I can understand them”. This is a comment I am sure that many teachers have heard. While it is a bit of exaggeration, students clearly feel that class-based speaking practice does not prepare them for the real world. Why do students often highlight speaking as their biggest problem? Partly because of the way of speaking and because of the way speaking is taught. As Nunan (1991) wrote “Success is measured in term of the ability to carry out a conversation in a target language”. As you know, the speaking skill is quite difficult so the teaching of skill has become increasingly important. Since when we communicate, we use the language to accomplish some functions such as greeting, asking, arguing or promising within social context. If the students don’t learn how to speak or don’t get the chance to speak, they will soon get de-motivated and lose interests in learning. Therefore, the teaching of speaking should start right from the first lesson of English that students have which can make the lesson more interesting, dynamic and even funny for the students. 2. Why do students feel less interested and contribute less in a speaking lesson? According to Ur Penny (1996) there are many reasons why students don’t find speaking lessons interesting. Some main reasons are as below: 2.1 Inhibition Students find it difficult to say things in a foreign language in the classroom because they are shy or perhaps they are afraid of making mistakes, of others’ criticism, or losing face or shyness of the others’ attention. 2.2. Nothing to say Learners often complain that they cannot think of anything to say. Usually, they have no motive to express themselves because they feel guilty that they should 20
21. be speaking 2.3. Low or uneven participation Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard, and in a large group, learners have very little talking time because of some dominant learner’s talks. 2.4. Barriers of spoken language. Since foreign spoken language differs from written form and quite complicated in some aspects, and there are differences of cultural expressing among languages, students tend to use mother tongue if they are grouped with those having the same language, and particularly talking in small groups because they find it easier and more natural to speak their mother tongue than a foreign language. Teachers then would find it difficult to get learners kept to the target language. Gradually, students become fed up with learning English and lose their interests with English and speaking activities as well. As a result, they contribute their involvements in a speaking lesson less than they used to. 2.5. Teachers’ pronunciation It is can be denied that a clear accurate fluent inspiring pronunciation can play a significant role to attract students’ attention. When teaching English speaking lesson, the way that teachers pronounce will impress students in some extends and contribute to lesson success. Students are often confused with soft dull voice of teachers. It will become worse if teachers pronounce words incorrectly because it leads to students’ mistakes. And if teachers’ teaching methods are not attractive at all, students will rapidly feel bored with speaking lessons and teachers as well. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to pay attention to their pronunciation. 3. Principles to attract students’ involvements in English speaking lessons “Teaching is one of the easiest jobs in the world. Teaching well is one of the most difficult”. (From: Teachers Joe-Super teachers –Book for Middle school and High school Teachers of English.mht-Teaching idea for the ESL classroom) 21
22. Principle 1: Positive Reinforcement As a teacher, you should focus on your students successful attempts to use English. At first, reward any success however small. If students speak out loudly and clearly, but make a mistake, praise them just for speaking out or for pronouncing it well. As students improve, you can focus on the most outstanding successes. Whatever you encourage, students will continue to do. On the other hand, if you do not encourage them, they will likely become passive in class. Principle 2: Clear Goals and Instructions Students need to know exactly how an activity is done; otherwise they will be out of control when the activity starts. If necessary, write the instructions on the blackboard or overhead projector. Or, model the activity with one of your best students so everyone can see what they need to do. Students also need to know why an activity is being done. Dictations are done to train the ear, so they will be more successful in learning in the future. Pair practice is a simulation of real-life conversation, so they should not show their questions to their partner. Without understanding why, many students think an activity is not important and give up or practice half-heartedly. Be sure to include goals and instructions in your lesson plan. That way you will be sure to remember to do them, and if you do have any problems, you will easily see how to fix them in future lessons. Principle 3: The Element of Surprise Students usually know exactly what will happen in class and answer questions mechanically. By adding surprises to your lessons, students will be forced to think about meaning and will pay more careful attention. For example, you could ask students ordinary questions such as whether they like pizza, or if they like chocolate. Then ask them if they like chocolate pizza. You might ask students about their families, and then ask if they are married, or if they can drive a car. Students who are answering without thinking will say "yes" automatically. In such cases, their classmates will usually laugh at their mistake, 22
23. and they will realize the importance of paying attention. Of course, laughing is good in general, so saying anything strange will improve the class atmosphere. Whenever you have a list of questions or a lot of language to cover, add something funny or strange at the end of the lesson. Add some intentional mistakes to see who will find them. In a sense, this is a kind of listening exercise. If you do this often, then some day if you really do make a mistake, you can casually tell students it was just a test! A variation of the Surprise Principle is called the "information gap". When students all use the same textbook, they already have the same information. But if you give only some students certain information, a text or picture for example, the other students must use English to find out what information they are missing. Successful pair practice and language games include "information gaps" to encourage students to discover what information they do not have. Principle 4: Variety is the Spice of Life Very often when teachers find a good technique, they use it more and more and come to depend on it. After some time, students become bored doing the same things and this wonderful technique no longer looks very good. In reality the technique is still good, but variety is required to keep students' attention. Various activities can be organized according to how communicative they are. Start with a simple, mechanical activity, then continue with something more meaningful, and finish with a communicative activity. When students do a variety of activities, classes are not dull for either students or teachers! Principle 5: Competition Competition automatically grabs students' attention. The easiest way is to divide the class into two teams and play some kind of game. You could have the left side of the room against the right side, boys against girls, or each row against all the others. Competition can be used on an individual level as well, by giving points to students for their work. You can give points for any written work such as dictations or mini-quizzes. Students enjoy seeing their progress over time, keeping them motivated in the long term. You can also give points during the 23
24. whole term, by giving points for all kinds of activities during your classes. In general, apply teachers’ five principles to your teaching and see how your students change over time. Positive Reinforcement and having Clear Goals and Instructions can be used right from the beginning, in every class. Introduce Surprise, Variety and Competition to your lessons slowly, so as not to overwhelm your students. 4. Activities to promote students’ speaking. 4.1. Why teachers should give students a variety of speaking activities? It is important to provide the students with a variety of speaking activities because:  A variety of speaking activities will enable students to cope with different situations in reality.  Variety helps keep motivation high because any kind of activity, if overused, may become less interesting.  Variety may suit students of different learning styles because each student has his own learning style so some kinds of activities may suit some students while others may suit other students. 4.2. Simple tips for teachers to have a successful speaking activity. Students will zone out within the first five minutes if teacher does not catch their interest. Here are six ways you can generate interest in a speaking activity :( provided by ) Put students in pairs or groups. This will be less stressful for shy students than speaking in front of the class. Make sure students are able to have controlled practice before engaging in fluency activities. Make speaking activities fun, interesting, and purposeful. The students must see a reason to communicate with others. This is why "information gap" activities can work well to encourage speaking. Change the dynamics of the classroom, change the layout or ask the students to move into different groups. 24
25. Make sure that the activity is carefully planned and clearly explained. If students are unsure what is expected of them, they will be less likely to talk. If needed, give students time to prepare for the activity. Think about it. If you were learning Italian and needed to call a plumber in Rome to come fix your toilet, you'd be sure to prepare yourself for the conversation. You'd look up the essential vocabulary in the dictionary. You might write out a script of what you want to say and practice it in the mirror. Give your students time to prepare for the activity, especially if the language is new for them. If you follow these simple tips, you're sure to have a successful speaking activity. 4.3. Activities to promote speaking In order to encourage students to speak, teachers need to have various activities. These activities given by Hayriye Kay from web website can be a suggestion and applicable in a speaking lesson. 4.3.1. Information-gap activities One excellent way to make speaking tasks communicative is to use information- gap activities, in which the students have different information and they need to obtain from each other in order to finish a task. In this activity, students are supposed to be work in pair. Information-gap activities serve many purposes such as solving a problem, or collecting information. Also, each partner plays an important role because the task can not be completed if the partner does not provide the information the other needs. These activities are effective because everybody has chance to talk in the target language. 4.3.2. Dialogues and role-plays Two problems with most dialogues are presented in textbooks:  The lack of natural intonation: The natural speech of native speakers is often phrases or sentence fragments full of pauses, false starts, and repetitions.  The way most dialogues are taught: Teachers ask students to memorize dialogues by heart. Two ways to make dialogues more communicative: 25
26.  Turning dialogues into role plays: students are asked to work in pair: they pretend they are acting as someone else. Then teachers ask a few pairs to perform the dialogue in front of the whole class, speaking in different moods such as happy, irritated, bored, or in different role relationships such as parents and a child, husband and wife, two friends, or making the dialogue longer by adding more lines. Another point is that teachers should ask students to come to the front of class before telling them the situation then give them few minutes to think about that. Thanks to this, students will speak more spontaneously. Factors that affect the success of role-plays (Ur, 1996:133)  Teacher’s enthusiasm;  Careful instructions;  Clear situation and roles;  Making sure that the students have the language they will need to carry out the role-play  Using cue cards: this way, an information gap is formed because each student only sees one cue card so he does not know what the other person is going to say. 4.3.3. Activities using pictures Pictures are invaluable in speaking activities. Appropriate pictures provide cues, prompts, situations and non-verbal aid for communication. There are many different information-gap activities that can be designed around pictures. . Kind 1: use two pictures which look identical to each other at first glance but actually have several differences then teachers ask students to find the differences. . Kind 2: give students just one picture and ask them to describe what is in picture. This activity fosters the creativity and imagination of the learners as well as their public speaking skill. . Kind 3: give students some pictures which describe a story but they are in incorrect order then ask students to reorder them and tell class about that given story. 26
27. 4.3.4. Problem-solving activities. This type of activity tends to be productive because there is a clear objective to be reached. There are many topics that would be interesting and relevant to the students’ life. Problem solving activities require a higher level of language proficiency, but the difficulty levels can be controlled somewhat by the topic. Students are given a situation in which there are some problems need solving. Student will have to give their personal decision for each problem. In problem-solving activities, “participants tend to become personally involved; they begin to relate the problem as an emotional issue as well as an intellectual and moral one” (Ur 1996:128) 4.3.5. Using games The benefits of using games in speaking lesson can be summed up in 9 points: (www.teachingenglishgames.com )  Learners are the main factor  Promote communicative competence  Create a meaningful context for language use  Increase learning motivation  Reduce learning anxiety  Integrate various linguistic skills  Encourage creative and spontaneous use of language  Construct a cooperative learning environment  Foster participatory attitudes of the students. Teachers can divide class into small groups or let the whole class play a game. There are various kinds of game and each kind helps students develop heir skill. Teachers can choose one suitable with students’ ability. Some games: art master, bingo, cross-word It can not be denied that these techniques are so interesting, so if teachers can apply some of them to make their lesson more attractive, students will eagerly involve in the lesson. 27
28. To sum up, Chapter 1 has provided us with the background knowledge of speaking in general and teaching speaking in particular. In the Chapter 2, we will investigate how speaking lessons are dealt with by teachers and students in Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh province thanks to survey questionnaire. 28
29. CHAPTER 2: STUDY ON HOW A SPEAKING LESSON IS TAUGHT IN MINH THANH SECONDARY SCHOOL IN QUANG NINH This chapter aims at showing the attitudes and the expectations of nine graders in Quang Ninh towards teaching English speaking skill. The first section in the chapter reveals the reality and the second deals with the results and analysis of the collected data from survey questionnaires. I. Reality In terms of the limitation of time, the survey was conducted in Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh province and found its reality. The focus of the survey questionnaires have been put on the characteristics of teachers and students in the school along with the reality of their teaching and learning also, and on the design of the adopted textbook: English 9. 1.1 Current teaching speaking methods in Minh Thanh secondary school During my observation time in some English periods in Minh Thanh secondary school, I found that the current methods in each English period seem to be poor and the atmosphere find a little bit boring. Teachers just use their book without any more teaching aids to present their lecture. Each lesson appears familiar and I think it needs to be teaching aids in each lesson. 1.2 English teaching staff With 6 English teachers, Minh Thanh secondary school has young English teaching staff and advantageously, all of them graduated from university and have experience in teaching English. All of them are interested in teaching professional and they are very enthusiastic in teaching and helping students; they always prepare their lectures carefully and thoughtfully, however, sometimes they still keep the traditional teaching methods: focusing on teaching grammar not communication, so this at times prevents students from developing their communicative skill. 1.3 Students The school has more than 600 students divided into 16 classes, in which about 160 students enrolled in 4 classes are learning in 9th grade. Most of them have 29
30. been learning English from 3rd grade; moreover, some students got acquainted with English from their primary education. Their activeness and eagerness in an English lesson could be easily observed. Besides, they are quite good at learning English even English skill. They know the importance of English language in their life; however, they seem to pay attention to written English form more than speaking form. This is partly due to the fact that all of them have to learn in order to pass the exam. Therefore, during the time I observed at Minh Thanh secondary school, I found that a new and strange way for teaching English is so necessary. Students enjoy coming English periods with funny activities in order to help them memorize the given words and phrases easily. 1.4 Teaching and learning condition In general, Minh Thanh secondary school is well-equipped with a lot of aids and spaces. The teaching and learning condition in Minh Thanh secondary school is fairly good with a system of the new blackboards, the equipments are modern: the furniture is right in size. In each class, there is a lot of illustrations English pictures for studying, that is why in English periods the class atmosphere is very pleasant and comfortable. In this school, there is also library where teachers and students can borrow books, magazines and newspapers. However, teaching aids to study English in this school are inadequate. Although there are a lot of reference books in library, it seems to be very difficult for students to understand completely. In class time, teachers often use visual aids but they are not rich. That’s why their lectures don’t attract students’ attention ant it appears quite boring to the students. Furthermore, with difficult lessons, teachers don’t know how to make students understand clearly without illustration. There are 4 of 9th grades; each of them consists of about 38 to 43 students so it is a little bit difficult for teachers to keep discipline in class. Teaching staff is well- trained and enthusiastic, that will be an advantage for teaching and learning English. 30
31. 1.5 The design of English textbook The textbook adopted by the school for 9th graders is the updated pilot material which is complied according to pilot programs by Ministry of Education and Training, with the good design, every lesson comprises of six clear parts: Lead-in: introduces the overview of lesson’s subject matter by using pictures, suggesting knowledge, discussing in group, questioning, reading short information .  Reading: presents a 180-200 words that help students get acquainted with the theme of the unit, provide grammar, vocabulary .and developing reading skill.  Speaking: improves speaking skill by using group work, pair work, individual work . Of course, students communicate up to linguistic function and the theme of each unit.  Listening: it gives a text or a dialogue related to the theme of the unit. Its aim is to practice listening skill. In addition, this part also helps correct pronunciation, consolidate grammatical structures.  Writing: this part has many exercises that can support students’ writing skill to different types of paragraphs such as: letter, narration, data description .  Language focus: is formed from grammar and vocabulary refers to grammatical structures and vocabularies that are focused in that unit. It can be practiced in the form of exercises or communicating. Every lesson is edited to have three steps: pre-, while-, post-, each o which has different functions and acquires different techniques. II. Survey questionnaires 1. Participants 18 survey questionnaires were thoroughly completed by 6 English teachers and 160 9th graders in Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh province. 2. Purposes of the survey questionnaires With a view to provide a thorough insight into the real situations of teaching speaking, survey within the scope of the study is conducted in Minh Thanh 31
32. secondary school. The main aim of the study is to collect and analyze data regarding the recognition and utilization of speaking. The survey questionnaires are designed for the following purposes:  To make out the attitude of students and teachers toward English teaching and learning in general and a speaking lesson in particular.  To get more information about the situation of teaching speaking skill in 9th form classes in Minh Thanh secondary school.  To get to know students’ problems as well as expectations toward techniques applied in the speaking classes. Finally, thanks to these, techniques on using funny activities to attract students’ interests and involvements in speaking periods will be found out. 3. Design of the survey questionnaires The survey questionnaires consist of 18 questions in which 11 questions are raised to students and 7 questions are raised to teachers to study the reality of teaching and learning speaking skill in Minh Thanh secondary school. Students were asked to tick the most suitable answers which correspond with their opinion. The questionnaires are designed as below: The survey questionnaires for students:  Question 1: English learning time of all students  Question 2+3+4+5: studying on students’ attitude toward English lessons in general and speaking lessons in particular as well as kinds of working in speaking activities.  Question 6+7+8: exploring students’ opinions on current used techniques and their effectiveness in speaking lessons.  Question 9: difficulties students encounter when speaking in class  Question 10+11: students’ expectation while taking part in speaking lessons. The interview questions for teachers:  Question 1+2+3: getting to know teachers’ attitudes about the role of English speaking skill, kinds of working in speaking activities as well as their activities to encourage their students to speak.  Question 4+5+6: finding out teachers’ opinions on current used 32
33. techniques and their effectiveness in speaking lessons.  Question 7: Teachers’ opinions on difficulties of students when learning speaking 4. Data and analysis 4.1. Students’ English learning time (Question 1, Appendix 1) The following illustrates their duration of learning English. Number of years 1-3 years 4-7 years More than 7 years Percentage of students 1.25% 95% 3.75% Table 1: Students’ English learning time The table above indicates the time of learning English of all 9th graders in Minh Thanh secondary school. As can be seen from the table, of all the students, there is only 1.25% students who have been learning English for 1-3 years. Whereas, the percentage of students studying English for 4-7 years is 76 times higher than those students, 95%. The rest of the students with 3.75% have spent more than 7 years learning English. From the figures, it’s clear to see that almost students have been acquired to study English early from elementary school. Very few students have just learnt English. It is likely there would be not many differences in their levels. 4.2. Students’ and teachers’ opinions on English skill in general and speaking lessons in particular. 4.2.1 Student’ interests in learning English skills (Question 2, Appendix 1) writing speaking reading listening Chart 1: The most favourite lesson to students’ view 33
34. The aim of this question is to research which English skill students like most. The result given in chart 1 reveals the fact that four skills including listening, reading, writing and speaking all receive strong emphasis in language learning but the pie chart above shows the most favourite lesson that students are interested in. We can easily see that prominent one among the four skills is speaking with the percentage of 50%. Following the trend of WTO integration, our modern society with more and more attractive things force them to speak English well while listening is only occupies 10%. There are many reasons for this figure. First, in every secondary school, most teachers pay much attention to teach grammar but not to listening. Second, Vietnamese teachers’ voice makes students not very interested in. Moreover, when learning listening in class, students often hear from CD, cassette in which the native foreigners speak quite fast with so many homophones, accents so it is very difficult for students to catch the words and understand what the speakers mean. The figures show that oral production skill is concentrated while the two skills reading and writing account for: 24.3% and 15.7% in turn. It is supposed that if the importance of speaking skill was highly realized then the same percentage would be expected to the favourite of speaking lesson. In fact, it is out of our expectations. 4.2.2 Students’ opinions toward speaking lessons. (Question 3, Appendix 1) Surely, students’ favourite lesson can affect their attitude to them. Because half of students like speaking lesson, it is clear that this vast of majority of them find the speaking lesson interesting (76%), even very interesting (14.5%). Therefore, it seems that teachers realize the needs of students and know how to make it interesting for students through activities. Anyway, there are still some students don’t like speaking lesson but reading, writing or listening lessons in stead of. Therefore, to these students, speaking is not very interesting (5.4%), even not interesting. Nevertheless, this number just occupies a small percentage rate (2%). It raises a question whether speaking lessons satisfy the entire students’ needs or not. Is it because they have not been taught enough grammar, structures to express their mind in English or they have few chances to express their demand of improving speaking lessons to their teachers? 34
35. 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% very interesting interesting not very interesting not interesting Chart 2: Students’ opinions toward speaking lessons 4.2.3. Students’ and teachers’ opinions toward the role of speaking skill (Question 4, Appendix 1 and Question 1, Appendix 2) Of course, to some extents, students’ favourite lesson and their thought of speaking lesson affect their attitudes toward speaking skill. According to the chart below, most of them realize the very important role of speaking skill which occupies 80.5%. Meanwhile, 18.7% of them thought speaking skill important. None of them think that speaking skill is not important to them. This shows their awareness of the role of speaking skill. However, the thought that speaking skill is not very important takes up 0.8%. Although this percentage is not high, it is necessary for teachers to make out the reasons of this matter and from then teachers will find the ways to make speaking lessons more attractive to students. 90,00% 80,00% 70,00% 60,00% 50,00% 40,00% 30,00% 20,00% 10,00% 0,00% very important important not very not important important Chart 3: Students’ opinions toward the role of speaking skill 35
36. To teachers’ view, talking about the role of speaking skill, all interviewed teachers agree that speaking skill is very important. According to one teacher’s view, students like speaking lessons because they have good opportunity to speak, learn from each other and they will be more creative in speaking. Moreover, not like other skill, in speaking, students are free to express what they think. In fact, through the survey, most of students (50%) are interested in speaking lessons. 4.2.4. Kinds of working activities in speaking activities (Question 5, Appendix 1 and Question 2, Appendix 2) Working activities prefered by students individually in group in pair The work arrangement does play role in speaking class management, since it expresses the effectiveness of doing speaking activities. Which kind of work arrangement is preferred is demonstrated in the chart illustration above. 15% students prefer working in pairs, while 77% is for working in groups. Preference of individual work occupies 8%. It proves that students come to realize that with working in groups, they would have more opportunities and motivation to practise speaking English. In other words, students are likely to think that they will learn better by cooperating with friends. Moreover, when working in groups or pairs with their friends, students feel not as under pressured of making mistakes as when speaking to teacher. It will encourage students to speak more. Thus, that is the reason why most students choose working in groups as their 36
37. favourites. However, group work and pair work prevent teachers from supervising the target language usage of the learners and the content of the speech, so they can not timely correct when students make mistakes or they are out of topic. To sum up, teacher can apply group work and pair work in speaking lessons to make those lessons become more attractive and effective but before doing this, they have to find out some useful ways to deal with the two given problems. 4.2.5. Teachers’ encouragement (Question 3, Appendix 2) This question is only put to teachers to study what teachers often do to encourage their students to speak. Most teachers (80%) say, they often ask students some questions about the topic to explore their knowledge about it. With the weaker ones, they choose the easy questions so that students can answer. Moreover, letting students work in groups or pairs is often used by 83% teachers to help students be more active and confident in speaking. They also give feedback on each student’s progress. They always value and respect what students think and say. 60% teachers rarely interrupt when students are speaking. 25% teachers often have small gifts foe students who get progress or get good mark or win in the contest. They find it very effective to attract students’ interests and eagerness in speaking lessons. Indispensably, playing games plays an important role in making students more willing to speak. In fact, 40% teachers consider games an effective activity to attract students into speaking. 35% teachers use other methods such as chatting with students in English, holding telling English story They sometimes give students chances to choose what they want to speak. It is not always so, it depends on the lesson plan. And if students don’t like the topic they choose, teachers will try to make it more interesting. In short, there are many ways for teachers to ask their students to speak. Those above can be useful suggestions for you and your students to consider. Let’s check and choose which are suitable for your students and try it now in your speaking class. 37
38. Teachers’ encouragement Percentage Ask students simple questions 80% Have small gifts when students get progress or good mark or win in 25% the contests Never interrupt when students are speaking 60% Let students work in group or pair 70% Frequently carry out games 40% Other methods 35% Table 2: Teachers’ activities to encouragement their students to speak 4.3. Students’ and teachers’ opinions on current used techniques and their effectiveness in teaching speaking 4.3.1 Pre-speaking (Question 6, Appendix 1 and Question 4, Appendix 2) This question is to find in what way teachers often teach pre-speaking and the level of frequency that techniques are applied. This question is raised to both students and teachers. The frequent using of those techniques is shown in the table below. Students Teachers Techniques Frequently Sometimes Never Frequently Sometimes Never Questions 70% 30% 81% 19% Matching 52% 48% 60% 40% Games 44% 56% 40% 60% Information gap 20% 45% 35% 25% 69% 6% Discussion 8% 35% 57% 65% 35% Pictures 7% 30% 63% 70% 30% description Learning by 20% 80% 25% 75% songs Table 3: Frequency of adopted techniques in pre-speaking 38
39. As has been illustrated in the chart, on students’ side, teachers use questions and matching most frequently (70% and 52% in turn). Besides, games which are often used in class time so as to create activeness in students take the third rank with 44%. Specially, students also noted that their teachers rarely use discussion, pictures description and learning by songs in pre-speaking. The rate of teachers use information gap is also at average rate. According to the table, we also see the same percentage to teachers’ side, questions, matching and games are mostly used. All fact and figures are understandable. First, answering questions is time when students check how they get known about the lesson. In addition, it is the simplest way for teachers to ask students directly at the class. Furthermore, this technique can get students’ attention because it is quite easy and clear. What is about games? “Games are often more attractive than the others because it attracts a lot of participants in a class and makes a class more interesting” –a student said. Playing games gives students relaxing times and way to understand lesson easily. In addition, it can make our lesson colourful, make students more interested in it so why it is 44% students and 40% teachers choose games. Also, it is surprising that information gap, discussion, pictures description and learning by songs are sometimes used, even never used while to students’ opinions, these are effective techniques students wish to be applied in pre- speaking. The figures say it all: information gap (20%), discussion (8%), pictures description 7%) and learning by songs (0%) are frequently used to students’ side. A great percent of students claims that these techniques are never applied: learning by songs (80%), pictures description (63%) and discussion (57%). Table 3 shows the frequency of the techniques teachers often use, but are those techniques really effective? The table 4 will give us the answer. 39
40. Students Teachers Techniques Not very Not very Effective Normal Effective Normal effective effective Questions 36% 59% 5% 50% 39% 11% Matching 68% 27% 5% 61% 39% Games 88% 12% 82% 12% 6% Information gap 45% 51% 4% 50% 34% 16% Discussion 36% 52% 12% 58% 42% Pictures 69% 21% 10% 40% 40% 20% description Learning by 70% 24% 6% 43% 30% 27% songs Table 4: Effectiveness of adopted techniques in pre-speaking This question is distributed to both teachers and students. It is to survey how effective teachers’ techniques are and from that point of view, teachers can have more effective methods to teach pre-speaking. In regard to students, games are the most effective techniques. 88% students want to take part in games together with their friends. Besides, the number of students choosing learning by songs is quite high with 70%. Pictures description and matching especially matching pictures and names seem to be more effective. The specific percentage: 68% students like matching and 70% students expect that listening to songs can be applied more in pre-speaking. Rather low numbers (36% and 45%) belong to answering question, discussion and information gap. To teachers’ side, if we see how often these techniques are applied in table 3 carefully, you will realize a surprising finding in this question. While 81% questions are from time to time employed and 30% pictures description is rarely used 50% and 40% (in turn) teachers see them effective. In contrary, learning by songs which is the less popular technique used by teachers (75%) seems to be more effective (43%). The highest percentage of effectiveness level belongs to games: 82%. It may be very effective to apply games not only in pre-speaking 40
41. but also in other steps. It is also good news that teachers and students share the same view on the effectiveness of games and matching. Therefore, there is a suggestion that teachers should use games and matching in pre-speaking. However, it is time we took these numbers into account. From the table above, we can see that there are different ideas about the effectiveness of picture description, discussion and learning by songs. 40% teachers think that pictures description is effective while it goes up to 69% from students’ view. Similarly, none of teachers finds discussion effective in pre-speaking, but still have 36% students consider t effective technique. And, 70% students consider learning by songs effective whereas only 43% teachers share the same idea. In short, through the statistics, we have an overview on the techniques teachers use in teaching pre-speaking, its frequency as well as its effectiveness. I hope that it can be the suggestions for teachers to find out the most effective ones to teach in pre-speaking. 4.3.2 While-speaking (Question 7, Appendix 1 and Question 5, Appendix 2) Students Teachers Techniques Frequently Sometimes Never Frequently Sometimes Never Grid 47% 53% 70% 30% Word-cue drill 60% 40% 75% 25% Pictures 14% 55% 31% 8% 68% 24% description Role-play 27% 70% 3% 35% 65% Discussion 85% 9% 6% 82% 18% Games 20% 47% 39% 18% 46% 36% Doing exercises 85% 15% 87% 13% in textbook Table 5: Frequency of adopted techniques in while-speaking 41
42. Both students and teachers are interviewed the same question. From students’ opinion, through the table above, we can see that discussion and doing exercises in textbook are most used in while-speaking with the same number of 85%. 60% is also a number that contains the third frequency choice for teachers to teach while-speaking. While discussion and word-cue drill account for a high percentage (85% and 60% in turn) just a bit number belongs to grid (47%) and role play (27%). Pictures description and games seem to be rarely used techniques with only 14% and 20% in turn. From teachers’ view, 82% of them often use discussion activity for group work. While the activity is going on, they often listen to students, help those who need and take part in the activity. Teachers also prefer using word-cue drill (75%) and grid (70%) in while-speaking because they are like the suggestions which students can easily base on to speak more fluently and they are quite easy so they can be applied to the whole class including the weaker ones. Sometimes, teachers also use role play (35%). For pictures description and games, teachers seldom use, even never use (25% and 36% in turn). Especially, doing exercises in textbook is the most frequently used technique. Reasons for this are easy to understand. First, doing exercises give teachers chances to get to know how deep their students understand the lessons. In addition, exercises are available in the book for teachers to use. In short, this conveys shows that there is unequal rate among techniques used in while-speaking. Teachers usually focus on some activities but to be sure that whether these techniques applied are effective or not, we should have a look at table 6: 42
43. Students Teachers Techniques Not very Not very Effective Normal Effective Normal effective effective Grid 66% 34% 74% 26% Word-cue drill 70% 30% 80% 19% 1% Pictures 50% 32% 18% 40% 25% 35% description Role play 65% 35% 74% 21% 5% Discussion 52% 42% 6% 77% 17% 6% Games 85% 15% 38% 40% 22% Doing exercises in 40% 60% 80% 20% textbook Table 6: Effectiveness of adopted techniques in while-speaking On the effectiveness of the techniques applied in while-speaking, students and teachers share the same as well as different ideas. Both students and teachers think that word-cue drill, grid and role play are very effective and can be applied more in while-speaking. Of these three techniques, word-cue drill is the most effective technique with 70% students and 80% teachers choose it, the second is grid (66% students and 74% teachers) and the third is role play( 65% students and 74% teachers). It is highly appropriate that word-cue drill and grid are also popular techniques teachers often use in while- speaking. It indicates that teachers and students have the same opinions on the effectiveness of the techniques used and teachers supply well with students’ needs. However, there is a bit sorry through teachers’ awareness of the effectiveness of role play, it seems not to be applied much in the reality of teaching while- speaking. Especially, doing exercises which is considered the most effective technique by 80% teachers turns to be the least effective one to students’ opinion (only 40% students vote for exercises). Similarly, 77% teachers find discussion effective but to students, it seems not very effective because the 43
44. number of students choose it down to 52%. Another surprising finding is that students find games the most effective technique in teaching while-speaking, on the contrary, only 18% teachers often use and 38% teachers consider it effective. Teachers should take this into consideration to meet their students’ demands. Finally, a medium number of teachers and students: 50% and 40% respectively see the effectiveness of pictures description. To sum up, there are many activities which teachers can apply to make the lesson become more vivid and interesting. They need to combine different techniques logically to attract students’ interests and involvements in speaking lessons. 4.3.3 Post-speaking (Question 8, Appendix 1 and Question 6, Appendix 2) Post-speaking is one of indispensable parts of a speaking lesson. It helps students to consolidate what they have learnt in this lecture. So which techniques do teachers often use in this part? How is about their effectiveness? This question was put to both students and teachers. Students Teachers Techniques Frequently Sometimes Never Frequently Sometimes Never Word-cue 50% 45% 5% 46% 48% 6% drill Games 27% 73% 30% 69% 1% Discussion 45% 51% 4% 50% 50% Write-it-up 82% 18% 80% 20% Table 7: Frequency of adopted techniques in post-speaking Running through the table 7, we can easily see that teachers and students give quite similar numbers which indicate the frequency of techniques used in post- speaking. First, to students’ point of view, there is a great number of write-it-up (82%) popularly used in post-speaking. In a common way, after teaching speaking, students have to rewrite what they have learnt. It is a transition from 44
45. speaking skill to writing skill. Word-cue drill takes the second rank of frequent using with 50%. Besides, discussion and games are used less than write-it-up with the percentage of 45% and 27% in turn. To teachers, while teaching post-speaking, both teachers say write-it-up is the most used technique with the percentage of 80% because it helps students improve their writing skill and teachers know how deep their students understand the lesson. One teacher even thinks that when students are busy writing, they will not make noise! Discussion with 50% is second frequently used technique for post-speaking. Word-cue drill is also a preference of teachers in post-speaking. Finally, teachers seem to not frequently use games because only 30% teachers choose it as their popular technique to teach in post-speaking. Using games depends on time and the activeness of teachers. Two teachers claim that with only 45 minutes for each period, there is not enough time to carry out such activity. Besides, when playing games, students will be noisy and it is too difficult for teachers to control the whole class. Those techniques above are applied actively for teaching post-speaking by teachers and students have to learn according to this. But if students and teachers are free to evaluate the effectiveness of these techniques, the ratio will be different or the same? Look at the table 8 below and you will have the answer: Students Teachers Techniques Not very Not very Effective Normal Effective Normal effective effective Word-cue drill 38% 59% 3% 40% 60% Games 90% 10% 80% 20% Discussion 40% 55% 5% 45% 55% Write-it-up 70% 25% 5% 75% 25% Table 8: Effectiveness of adopted techniques in post-speaking You can easily see the differences in students’ opinions on teachers’ frequently used techniques and their effectiveness except for the technique discussion with 45
46. the rather same percentage of 40% and 45%. There is still 5% student finds discussion not very effective. It is understandable because students often have tendency of relaxing after having learnt many things during the period. Few minutes before finishing speaking lesson, they prefer doing something funny or individual instead of discussing again. Write-it-up goes down from 82% to 70% while the number of students choosing games goes up from 27% to 90%. Word-cue drill also accounts for 38%. What is about teachers’ ideas? It is a nice surprise that though teachers use games not frequently (30%), it doesn’t mean that they finds games not effective. 80% teachers admit that games are effective, even very effective technique to teach not only post-speaking but also in the whole lesson. However, the limitation of time prevents them from carrying out this activity. Talking about discussion, teachers claim that they consider it s not as much effective as the others because it is a traditional technique which has been applied from the early of teaching English, so because we use it continuously, it makes students feel boring and disinterested. However, they don’t recognize that they can make their lessons more vivid and attractive when varying the activities in class including discussion or any other traditional techniques. General speaking, the results from the survey questionnaires have explored a real reflection of the matches and mismatches in frequency of techniques adopted by teachers and their effectiveness. Since then, we can balance them and find out the reality of teaching and learning in a class. However, the serious problem that needs to be paid much attention is time pressure and students’ disinterests for learning speaking. 46
47. 4.4 Students’ and teachers’ opinions about students’ difficulties when speaking in class (Question 9, Appendix 1 and Question 7, Appendix 2) Difficulties Students Teachers I don’t have enough words to express what I want to 75% 70% say. I’m shy. 45% 50% I’m afraid of making mistakes. 40% 42% The lessons are too difficult for me. 6.5% My friends don’t cooperate with me. 25% 10% I don’t understand what people speak to me. 50% 45% I’m not interested in speaking. 7.4% 5.8% Other difficulties (grammar, pronunciation, 21% 54% laziness ) Table 9: Students’ and teachers’ opinions about students’ difficulties when speaking in class This question is raised to both students and teachers to explore students’ awareness and teachers’ opinions about students’ difficulties when learning speaking in class. The table above indicates some difficulties that students often cope with such as vocabulary, shyness from students’ view, many admit that their incompetence in speaking caused by poor vocabulary: 120 students among the total of 160(makes up 75%). The misunderstanding, other difficulty, occupies 50%. The shyness (including nervous, timid ) and fear of making mistakes are also popular, makes up 45% and 40% in turn. One says that he or she is not confident while speaking to teacher or in front of class. He or she dares not to speak what they are thinking in their mind. Some others say their friends don not cooperate with them (25%). 7.4% students are not interested in speaking while 11 students find the lessons too difficult to them (makes up 6.5%). 47
48. What is about the other difficulties? 15 students (occupies 9.47%) say that they are not good at grammar, 20 students (12.5%) say they don not pronounce accurately, for example: /l/ and /n/, /s/ and /x/ In-confidence which occupies 9% is also one reason for students to be disinterested in speaking before the whole class. Surprisingly, 6 students (account for 3.75%) accept that they are so lazy speaking. For students, there are many difficulties when speaking in class. They are mostly poor vocabulary, grammar and psychology barrier. So what do teachers think about students’ difficulties when learning speaking? According to interviewed teachers’ opinions, the most popular difficulties students encounter when speaking are also poor vocabulary (70%) and in- confidence (40%). Moreover, 18% teachers say that students often make mistakes on grammar because they think and speak basing on the mother tongue but not target language. Teachers also say not because students are not interested in or the lessons are difficult to them but psychology barrier prevent them from speaking English well. 46% teachers consider laziness a students’ problem when learning speaking. General speaking, teachers and students share the same ideas on the difficulties of students to some extents of poor vocabulary, shyness, the fear of making mistakes and the misunderstanding. However, there are still differences between students’ and teachers’ look. For example, 6.5% students admit that the lessons are too difficult for them while none of teachers find lessons a problem for students. Besides, 25% students think that in-cooperation of their friends prevents them from speaking well when just 10% teachers see in-cooperation is one of speaking problem. In addition, in- confidence which teachers consider as a big difficulty of students with the percentage of 40% turns out to be not a serious problem. In fact, only 9% students have trouble with their own in-confidence when speaking in class. To sum up, it is still highly appropriated that students and teachers have the same opinions on the difficulties which students encounter when learning 48
49. speaking in class. They are mostly poor vocabulary and psychology barrier (in- confidence, shyness ). Actually, these difficulties are popular for learners. It is suggested that they can use simple words instead of thinking about complicated ones which are new or they don’t know. Grammar mistakes are unavoidable in speaking and it takes time to overcome it. For most, they have to get over their own shyness and laziness by the help of teachers and friends especially themselves. When we know what our problem is, we certainly find the ways to overcome it. With the guidance of teachers and the efforts of students, they will be more interested and involved in speaking lessons. 4.5 Students’ expectation of improving their English in a speaking lesson (Question 10, Appendix 1) 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Accuracy Fluency Pronunciation Chart 5: Students’ expectation of improving their English in a speaking lesson There are three criteria that all students wish to improve in a speaking lesson: accuracy, fluency and pronunciation. Which one is more important in their opinions? It is common knowledge that teaching English in elementary school and secondary school in Viet Nam is still kept in traditional way. That means teaching and learning mainly focus on grammar or written form. But now, 49
50. teaching and learning curriculum have many improvements. Teaching English in particular, communication skill is highlighted. In addition, students now become more and more dynamic. They wish to have more new teaching and learning methods so it takes no surprise that students want to improve their fluency (accounting for 55%) in English more than accuracy (35%). Pronunciation is also an aspect that students want to enhance (10%). That reflects that students’ awareness in English pronunciation has changed because in last periods, students seem to pay less attention, even no attention to their way of producing word or they simply repeat their teachers’ pronunciation even they don’t care if it is accurate or not. Therefore, all students’ expectation above should be taken into consideration to design more activities in speaking lessons to motivate students to learn. 4.6 Activities students expect teachers to apply more in a speaking lesson. (Question 11, Appendix 1) Penny Ur (1981) offers a variety of types of oral activities including communication games but also including a wider variety of group activities. She classifies these activities into three main types: brainstorming, organizing and compound activities. Basing her classification, the activities are grouped as following:  Brainstorming activities: Teaching through songs, free talk.  Organizing activities: Storytelling, story completion, reporting, simulation  Compound activities: Information gap, interview, debate, draw activities, problem solving As we can see in the chart, 41.5% of students prefer brainstorming activities. This makes us think of two sides. The first one, it is understandable that these types of activities (songs, free talk) are very cheerful, funny and interesting. It can motive students’ speaking. But in other side, students seem to enjoy playing more than speaking or learning with a certain topic. In contrast, the compound activities which should be concentrated occupy just 30%. A possible explanation 50
51. for this smaller number is that students find these activities not attractive or maybe they have not practised them yet, for example: problem solving, debate A fewer percentage 28% than these two activities is organizing activities. The question needs to be put is whether the activities are so boring that students don’t pay much attention to. Thus, it is necessary for teachers to vary activities to make it interesting for students. Teachers shouldn’t use an activity too regularly that may lead to overuse that activities and soon make students fed up with. Brainstorming Compound Organizing 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 100% Organizing Compound Brainstorming Chart 6: Activities students expect teachers to apply more in a speaking lesson III. Findings and discussion of findings Since the survey and interview are restricted to only small number of students and teachers, surely the result can’t reflect the real situation of teaching speaking skill at Minh Thanh secondary school. Nevertheless, I hope that my findings and discussions following can give useful information to some extents. In regard to students, they express their good attitudes toward speaking lessons. Most of them find speaking interesting for them (76%). It, obviously, means that students soon realize the importance of speaking skill. With this positive attitude, they will have an effective way to learn English because English is not only their favourite subject but also necessary for their future job. 51
52. However, a small percentage of students consider that speaking lessons are not exciting. This means not all speaking lessons satisfy and meet the needs of students. Therefore, it is necessary for teachers to find out their students’ demand and carry out activities that attract their students’ interests. As well, a majority of students (77%) prefer working on group while taking part in speaking lessons. It proves that students can learn better from working with their friends. Then it is clear that working in group is the most students’ favourites. Evidently, the findings raise the demand that teachers should apply some activities using group work to attract students’ interests and involvements into speaking lessons. Regarding to students’ difficulties when speaking in class, it is noticeable that most students lack of vocabulary (75%), shyness (45%) and fear of making mistakes (40%). Psychology barrier (in-confidence, nervous ) is one of the problems that prevent students from expressing their thoughts in English. Actually, their own efforts and the supports of teachers are indispensable to help them overcome those difficulties. According to students, the least frequently used techniques seem to be the most effective ones, to some extents (pictures description, discussion ). Especially, playing games is the techniques students wish to be applied the whole lessons. Students have an unexpected respond to their choice of improving among accuracy, fluency and pronunciation. More than half of students (55%) expect to improve fluency. This is out of my predictions because it is common that students are taught mainly grammar, not communication skill and students often learn English just for passing final exam. Another reason is that students often encounter trouble with grammar. Therefore, students’ expectation has changed our thought now about our goal in teaching speaking that is not accuracy dominance but fluency in stead of. Moreover, pronunciation is also paid more attention than it was in the several previous periods (making up 10%). As far as teachers’ opinions are concerned, teachers share the same point with their students on the role of speaking skill as well as the difficulties students can 52
53. face when speaking. To this point, poor vocabulary, grammar and psychology barrier are the main reasons why students can not speak well. From realizing the problem, both teachers and students need to be together to overcome it. Teachers use many activities to motivate their students in speaking. However, to some extents, their lessons don’t meet students’ needs. It is possible because of poor or boring activities. Consequently, teachers should have more various activities in speaking lesson, in stead of carrying some common activities repeatedly. It is hope that those findings and discussions will be useful to help more people to acknowledge the situation and the techniques of teaching English speaking skills to stimulate students’ learning. With this Chapter 3, through survey questionnaires for teachers and students, we have an overview on English teaching and learning situations in Minh Thanh secondary school as well as the fluency of adopted teaching techniques and their effectiveness from teachers’ and students’ point of view. Basing on the result of the survey, Chapter 3 will provide us with some suggested techniques to attract students’ interests and involvement of 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh. 53
54. CHAPTER 3: Some suggested techniques to attract interests and involvement of the 9th graders in a speaking lesson at Minh Thanh secondary school in Quang Ninh In the Chapter 2, the reality of learning and teaching English speaking skill in Minh Thanh secondary school has been presented. From the survey questionnaires, it is found that there are still techniques which students expect are not consistence with those taught by teachers. For example, students want to play games or use pictures in teaching speaking skill while teachers rarely use them due to the limitation of time. In the shape and side of this research paper, the Chapter 3 will express techniques in teaching speaking skill according to three stages: pre-speaking, while-speaking and post speaking and its applicability in a specific lesson. Techniques in teaching English speaking skill and its applicability 1. Pre-speaking 1.1. Listen to it now •Objectives: Students will have more chance to listen to native speakers through cassette player. Thanks to this activity, their speaking can be corrected and perfected more. By the way, students not only see through what they will speak but also broaden some useful expressions. Furthermore, students’ listening skill will be improved remarkably through this activity. •Procedures: Teacher plays a CD related to the speaking lesson lets students listen to it then ask them some questions or repeat the expressions. •Example given: in Unit 5: The media - Teacher distributes students the handouts about the conversation between Peter and Mary talking about the television programs they like and dislike in which there are some missing words: Peter: You (1) watching sports, don’t you? Mary: Not really. Some sports are so violent and I don’t like (2) them. I (3) 54
55. documentaries. Peter: I’m the opposite. I (4) sports, and documentaries seem quite boring to me. Mary: But you watch the news, (5) Peter: Yes, everyday. It is very informative. Mary: I (6) it too. You don’t like foreign films (7) Peter: No I don’t. - Teacher plays the cassette for students to listen to it - Asks students to listen carefully then fill in the missing words. - Gives students the answer key: (1) like, (2)watching, (3)prefer, (4)love, (5)don’t you?, (6)enjoy, (7)do you? - Asks students to find the structures of them then summarizes and shows students some expressions used in the conversation they have just listened to: + Like: Like Love Enjoy + V-ing/N Prefer + Dislike: I don’t like + Tag-question: You like watching sports, don’t you? You watch the news, don’t you? You don’t like foreign films, do you? - Teacher asks students to repeat these expressions and pay attention to intonation of the native speaker. 1.2. Reporting Before coming to class, students are asked to read a magazine or newspaper and, in class, they report to their friends what they find as the most interesting news. •Objectives: This activity can improve students’ memorization and reconstruction of events or news that they have read in newspapers or heard from somebody. Students will enrich their vocabulary and grammatical structures through expressing short news in their own words. This activity also 55
56. increases students’ confidence while making presentation before the class. • Procedures: - At the end of each English speaking lesson teacher asks students to find and read news in newspaper or magazine at home, and then select their most interesting news. - Teacher can limit the scale of news according to topic which will be discussed in next period. At class, before starting new lesson, teacher asks some students to come in front of class and share their own news and then other students or teacher will raises questions about that news. •Example given: - Teacher asks students to prepare news surrounding topic “Protecting environment”. Students freely choose any news they find interesting about environmental protection like forest protection, reducing pollution, protecting precious animals or mineral - Call some students to share their news before the class. 1.3. Brainstorming According to website either individual or group brainstorming is effective and learners generate ideas quickly and freely. The good characteristics of brainstorming is that students are not criticized for their ideas so students will be open to share new ideas, in other word, brainstorming permit students to approach a topic with an open mind. •Objectives: Brainstorming motivates students to think a lot in a logical way, use imagination as quickly as possible to pick out the ideas. •Procedures: Teacher gives a phrase which is the main topic of the lesson and asks students to find as much as possible things related to the given words. •Example given 1: Unit 2: Clothing - This speaking part of lesson aims at providing students the name of some costumes in England such as T-shirt, short jeans, short-sleeved blouse, skirt . 56
57. - Before beginning the new lesson, teacher writes the phrase “kinds of clothes” on the blackboard and asks students find as much as possible things related to it. - Let students 3 to 5 minutes to think about that then speak out their thought. - Teacher summarizes students’ ideas and introduces the main topic they are going to learn. • Example given 2: Unit 5: The media -Teacher writes the phrase “Name of some television programs” then lets students 3 minutes to write down as much things as they can think about that phrase. -After finishing teacher calls some students to share their ideas. 57
58. 1.4. Read-it-out • Objectives: Students have chance to improve their reading skill and have more expressions for their speaking from the text. • Procedures: - Teacher gives a sample about the content of the speaking lesson. - Students read the sample to remember the structure and widen some new expressions of native speakers. • Example given: in Unit 7: Saving energy - Teacher distributes handouts about the ways to save energy in Western countries to each group – a small text related to speaking topic. “In Western countries, electricity, gas, and water are not luxuries but necessities. Companies now realize that consumers want products that will not only effective but also save money. For most North American households, lighting accounts for 10 percent to 15 percent of the electricity bill. However, this amount can be reduced by replacing an ordinary 100-watt light bulb with an energy-saving bulb. Consumers can save about US $7 to US $21 per bulb”. - Lets students read it in some minutes and then answer some questions for example Questions: 1) What are Western consumers interested in? 2) What can we do to spend less on lighting? 3) If you only use two ordinary bulbs and you pay US $8 for lighting. How much will you pay if you use two energy-saving bulbs in stead of? - After students have answered, teacher gives suggested answers as below: 1) They are interested in products that will not only work effectively, but also save money. 2) We can use an energy-saving bulb in stead of an ordinary 100 watt light bulb. 3) I will pay only US $1. 58
59. 1.5. Pictures description • Objectives: Improving students’ ability of observation and expression what they have observed in the pictures given by teacher as well as students’ knowledge of describing language, their creativity and imagination. • Procedures: Teacher shows some pictures on the blackboard or divides class into small groups and distributes each of them a picture and then asks students to describe what is in the picture. After all groups have finished their discussions, teacher calls some students to speak in front of the class. • Example given 1: Unit 3: A trip to the countryside - Teacher displays pictures on the blackboard as below: - Asks students to observe pictures carefully then each group will describe what activities in the countryside they see in the pictures. -Reminds students to use the structures of present progressive: S +to be +V-ing For instance: Three boys are playing football. A woman is watering vegetables. •Example given 2: Unit 2: Clothing - Teacher hangs on some pictures about traditional costume of some countries 59
60. on the blackboard. - Lets students to look at and describe traditional costumes people are wearing in the pictures and decide where they come from. After students have given their answers, teacher checks and corrects them: 1. They come from the United State of America 2. She is from Japan. 6. She is from Viet Nam. 3. She comes from India. 7. They are from Korea. 4. They are from Arabia. 8. She comes from Thailand. 5. She comes from Russia. 9. She comes from Germany. 60
61. 1.6. Pre-questions This technique can be used in stage pre-speaking to introduce the new lesson. • Objectives: When questioning, learners are exploring the meaning of the lesson in depth. When suitable questions have been asked, learners then can: - Offer possible solutions - Find relevant information to answer questions - Monitor their comprehension - Learners become much more involved in the speaking activity when they are posing and answering questions themselves rather than merely responding to teachers’ questions. It will give students including weaker ones more opportunities to speak without guessing the answers. • Procedures: Teacher writes down some questions related to the content of the lesson then gives students 3 to 5 minutes to think about their answers and speak them out. • Example given 1: Unit 4: Learning a foreign language Purpose of this speaking lesson is to help students to persuade their partner to attend an English language summer course abroad. Teacher gives students some questions: 1. When did you begin learning English? 2. How do you learn English in your country? 3. Do you go to an evening English class? 4. Have you ever read any advertisements for English course? Teacher let students work individually in 3 to 5 minutes. After that, call some students to present their ideas. •Example given 2: Unit 9: Natural disasters  Purpose of this speaking part is that students can learn how to make preparation for a typhoon.  Teacher raises some questions for students: 61
62. a. What kinds of disaster do you know? b. Have there been any typhoons in our hometown? c. What should we do when there is a typhoon?  Teachers can provide students some vocabularies such as: tsunami, volcano, tidal waves, snowstorm, tornadoes  Let students work in group individually in 3 minutes and then call some to share their ideas. Example given 3: Unit 8: Celebrations - By the end of this lesson, students can give and respond to a compliment for comment situation. - Teacher gives students some pre-questions: 1. When do people give a compliment to other? 2. Do you usually give a compliment? 3. On which occasion? To whom? 4/ Do you know how to respond it? - Students discuss and then give their answer. 1.7. Teaching through songs Songs are authentic and accessible examples of spoken English. The rhythms in songs provide listeners with repetition of similar sounds. Students often choose to listen to songs time and time again. Words in songs fit the music helping learners associate the number syllables or stress in these words with memorable rhythms. Songs encourage learners to speak without the fear of making mistakes as attention is not on any individual person. Therefore songs make class atmosphere funny comfortable and draw students’ attention to lesson. • Objectives: Creating a relaxed learning atmosphere for students. Music and lyrics of songs help provide students energy that had none before or change students’ mood. Students also know songs related to topic they are going to discuss. 62
63. • Procedures: - Teacher prepares a song related to the lesson and handout of lyric of it. - Before starting new lesson, teachers play the song for students maybe one or more than one time. - Let students listen to it and then ask students some questions about name, singer, and content of song. •Example given: Unit 6: The environment - By the end of speaking part students will be able to update themselves with the information about one of the best known songs about environment protection. - Teacher hands out students the paper of lyric of the song “Mercy mercy me” sang by Marvin Gaye - Teacher plays the songs for students: “Woo ah, mercy mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Where did all the blue skies go? Poison is the wind that blows from the north and south and east Woo mercy, mercy me, mercy father Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Oil wasted on the ocean and upon our seas, fish full of mercury Ah oh mercy, mercy me Ah things ain't what they used to be, no no Radiation under ground and in the sky Animals and birds who live nearby are dying Oh mercy, mercy me ” (Lyric provided by www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nfs/mercy-mercy-me ) - Teacher can ask students who know about this song to sing or teacher himself sings it. - After listening to it, teachers check students’ understanding about this song for example names of song, musician, singer, composer, the content 63
64. 1.8. Matching • Objectives: Students will feel easy to speak and understand content of the lesson with the given information. Matching is also a useful way to teach vocabulary. • Procedures: - Teacher hangs on 2 posters: one containing pictures, symbols or phrases, one containing phrases. (Pictures and phrases are arranged illogically). - Students have to match pictures, symbols or phrases in the first poster with suitable phrases in the second ones. • Example given 1: Unit 9: Natural disasters - Aims of this part is to help students realize some kinds of disasters - Teacher hangs on some pictures and poster on the blackboard as below: Snowstorm Earthquake Volcano Typhoon Tsunami Tidal waves Tornadoes 64
65. - Give students 2 to 3 minutes to match the pictures with suitable phrases in poster then show the result. After that teacher gives correct answer: 1. volcano 5. typhoon 2. snow storm 6. tornadoes 3. earthquake 7. tsunami 4. tidal waves • Example given 2: Unit 3: A trip to the countryside - Teacher hangs on two posters on the blackboard as below: A : Questions B: Answers 1. Where is your home village? a. 20 minutes 2. How far is it from the city? b. Plant rice and raise cattle 3. How can you get there? c. To the West of the city 4. How long does it take to get there? d. There is no river but a large lake 5. What do villagers do for a living in e. 15 kilometers from the city your village? 6. Does your village have a river? f. By motorbike -Ask students to match the questions in column A with appropriate answers in column B After students give their answers, teacher corrects it: 1. c, 2. e, 3. f, 4. a, 5. b, 6. d •Example given 3: Unit 2: Clothing - Teacher hangs on 2 posters: one containing pictures of people wearing some kinds of clothes, one containing phrases of name of these kinds of clothes. Colorful T-shirt A plaid skirt A plain suit A short-sleeved blouse A sleeveless sweater A stripped shirt Baggy pants Faded jeans Blue shorts 65
66. - Asks students to match the pictures with suitable phrases. After students have finished, teacher gives them the correct answer: 1. A plain suit 2. A stripped shirt 3. Faded jeans 4. Baggy pants 5. A plaid skirt 6. Colorful T-shirt 7. Blue shorts 8. A short-sleeved blouse 9. A sleeveless sweater 66
67. 1.9. Games Games have been shown to have advantages and effectiveness in teaching and learning speaking. Games bring in relaxation and fun for students thus help them learn and retain vocabulary more easily. Games usually involve friendly competition and they keep learners interested. These create the motivation for learners of English to get involved and participate actively in learning activity. 1.9.1 Hang man game • Objectives: Improving students’ ability of recalling learnt words. In addition, students will develop their logical thinking. This game also requires students’ quick brainstorming to find the word in the shortest time. This game is also a way to check students’ learning vocabulary. • Procedures: -Teacher thinks of a word and writes down a series of dashes which represent the series of letter that make up the word. - Students will guess then what the letters are. If they guess a letter right, teacher has to fill it in on the relevant dash. If they guess wrong word, teacher may draw one or more component of a drawing of a man hanging on a gallows. - The guesses continue. Either the whole word has been found or the hang man drawing has been finished • Example given: - Teacher can take advantage of words taught in last periods - For instance teachers choose the word “deforestation” in Unit 6: The environment - Teacher writes down 12 dashes which represent 12 letters of the word then gives students a clue to guess: “It is a noun indicating an activity of human beings which makes forest resource used-up” - Let students guess the word until they find the word or the drawing of a man hanging is finished. 67
68. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 1.9.2 “Can you spell it” game? • Objectives: Increasing students’ spelling and memorization of learnt words. In addition, students will be able to enrich their vocabulary source. • Procedures: - Teacher hangs pictures on the blackboard and related words in incorrect order - Students look at the pictures and rearrange the jumbled letters then spell it for other students. - Who finishes all the words given first will be the winner.  Example given: -Teacher hangs on following picture: 68