Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm Some ways in teaching and learning English vocabulary for students at Thuan Thanh No 1 High School

Nội dung tài liệu: Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm Some ways in teaching and learning English vocabulary for students at Thuan Thanh No 1 High School

1. CONTENTS PART 1: INTRODUCTION I. Reason for choosing the topic (Page 1) II. The objectives of the topic (page 2) III. The object of the topic (page 2) IV. The research methods (page 2) PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1. Theoretical base of experience initiative. (page 2) 2.2. The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary at Thuan Thanh No 1 high schools (page 3) 2.3. Solutions and implementation (page 5) 2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative (page 14) PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I.Conclusions (page 16) II. Recommendations (page 17) REFERENCES (page 18) APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL TESTS (page 19)
2. PART 1: INTRODUCTION I. Reason for choosing the topic 1. Theoretically English is the language of globalization. It's not only the language of international business and politics but also the primary language used for most computers and for the inner workings of the Internet. English is the dominant international language in communications, science, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy. English is an important tool for operating on the world stage. The ability to speak and understand English is mandatory in certain fields, professions, and occupations In the era of the development of science and technology and of acculturation, they require each of us to basic knowledge and certain skills. In particular, foreign language skill, especially English, is the key for us to open the important door to step out in the world. Besides the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the vocabulary is very necessary for a foreign language learner. Vocabulary is also a very important platform for students to complete their skills in the learning of English in secondary schools. However, in practice, the vocabulary is not easy so students often encounter many difficulties. One of the difficulties of the students is absorbing and memorizing vocabulary that they have learned or once used before. 2. Practically: Along with the development of society and the need to reach out to the world, the English teaching methods and course content are constantly being renewed and improved. The English material for grade 10 with a lot of different topics gives students more knowledge about life and diverse society. However, the diversity of subjects and requirements students to memorize more vocabulary. This is a major barrier for the students, especially for those in rural and mountainous areas. Therefore, how to find the most effective way of teaching vocabulary to help students understand each lesson easier is the responsibility of every foreign language teacher. Nowadays, there are many good methods of teaching vocabulary, but the selection and the application of those methods in a flexible way for each unit is not easy for each teacher In the process of teaching vocabulary to students at the school, I and some of my colleagues in the team faced many difficulties in finding suitable methods to improve the quality of education. From the above reasons, along with the experiences that I have gained during my teaching, I decide to choose the topic: "Some ways in teaching and learning English vocabulary for students at Thuan Thanh No 1 High School ” 1
3. II. The objectives of the topic To draw on a number of methods to help students in Grade 11 English vocabulary effectively and to give them a certain number of skills in understanding and remembering vocabulary III. The object of the topic High school students in grades 10 Thuan Thanh No 1 and English textbooks grade 10 IV. The research methods 1. Read the document: I have studied the materials relating to the topic of my experience initiative so that I have found the orientation for the content of the topic, understand the research problem and solve the problem with relatively accurate documentation. 2. Investigate a. Attend English lessons: Through attending English lessons of my colleagues in and out of school, I summarized some valuable experiences in teaching vocabulary to students b. Experiment: Through class lesson, I have applied several methods of teaching vocabulary in each lesson several self-assessment and the effectiveness of those methods c. Discussion: Through some group meetings, I and my colleagues have discussed the problem of teaching methods and skills to teach English vocabulary effectively to students d. Assessment: Through the results of the tests for students, teachers can self-assess the effectiveness of the use of methods of teaching vocabulary and find out measures to improve the quality of learning vocabulary PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 . Theoretical base of experience initiative: 2.1.1: Legal base: - Education Law No. 44/2009 / QH12 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law No. 38/2005 / QH11 promulgated by the National Assembly November 25, 2009. Educational programs attached to Decision No 16/2006 / QD-BGDT minister dated 05/05/2006 of education and training Decision No. 1400 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister: On approval of the project "Teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education system the period 2008 - 2020" 2
4. Topics of education and training on innovative approaches to teaching and assessment of English at high schools The material “Some common problems of teaching methods innovation in schools” by Nguyen Van Cuong, Prof. Dr. Bernd Meier compiled collaborative project developed under high school education of the Ministry of Education and Training 2.1.2: Scientific base: Based on current goals of education that is to focus on the development direction of the dynamism, creativity and active learning of students in order to help them have the ability to identify and solve problems. To achieve these goal, the use of diverse techniques of teaching vocabulary to students instead of traditional teaching methods in which teachers provide only words and meanings of words is necessary. Based on innovation-oriented method of teaching English in secondary schools by the Ministry of Education and Training, basic criteria of the new teaching methods that operate independently and actively the activeness of students in solving the tasks to communicate in the language. Key criteria to assess the learning outcomes of students is the ability to communicate and conduct capacity tape language in practical situations. In particular, the vocabulary is the main component in communication activities. Thus, helping students master the vocabulary is a task that is equally important. Based on the objectives of foreign language learning is not only to knowabout the phonetic system, vocabulary, grammar, but also to use that system to achieve the purpose of communication. Therefore, I know that encouraging students to use vocabulary in context communication is a indispensable and relatively difficult task to each teacher, especially with those students in rural and mountainous areas. 2.2: The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary at Thuan Thanh No 1 high schools Through the teaching of English, especially English program grade 10, I notice some following problems . The majority of foreign language teachers have done their utmost to teach and inspire a love of learning a foreign language students. However, due to a lack of facilities and equipment needed for particular courses of visual aids cater for teaching vocabulary, teaching vocabulary should not achieve high efficiency. Besides, traditional methods of teaching vocabulary often reduces the quality of the language lessons and absorptive capacity of the students. 3
5. Although most English teachers in the school are making great efforts to teach vocabulary for students, combining the skills and methods of teaching vocabulary in a flexible manner is still a challenge . Many teachers are confused about the selection of a suitable form of teaching vocabulary for each unit. In fact, many students in grade 10 of Thuan Thanh No 1 high school come from agricultural commune, some are mountainous ethnic minority students. Although the students love the English language and they are aware of its importance, learning vocabulary is still a major obstacle to them. Most students just memorize mechanically the words down so they also forget them very quickly. They also can not use the words they have learned in social situations. In the class, some students become passive, lack of flexibility, afraid to read and speak English. This is a huge drawback for students from rural and mountainous areas where they have little chance of contact with alien technology and modern teaching facilities. At the beginning of 2021-2022 school year in grades 10A4,10A5,10A13, after conducting a short test of English vocabulary with the same content, I have obtained the following results: Class 10A4 10A5 10A13 Total ( 42 (42 42 students) students) students) The number of students scoring proficient 1 0 1 Percentage 2,38% 0% 2,38% The number of students scoring pretty 5 4 5 Percentage 11,9% 9,53% 11,9% The number of students scoring average 14 12 13 Percentage 33,33% 28,57% 30,96% The number of students scoring below 22 26 23 average Percentage 52,39% 61,9% 54,76% Thus, the rate of students scoring good and excellent is only 14,28% in class 10A4 and 10A13 and the figure is 9,53% in 10A5. The rate of students at average level accounts for less than 35%. The test results show that the student's 4
6. vocabulary is very limited compared to the amount of knowledge provided in the textbooks. From this result, I have adopted a number of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning vocabulary for students in my class. With each lesson, I use diverse forms of teaching vocabulary to suit each student object and I also try to make full use of the poor teaching conditions in my school. In 11th grade English, vocabulary is divided into several topics and many different groups. With each group, we will have many different methods to help students understand, remember and use new words quickly and effectively. 2.3. Solutions and Implementation 2.3.1: Teaching vocabulary by grouping from each theme, from the type or level of use 2.3.1.1. Building a number of topics of English vocabulary: Teachers can arrange words in groups of different topics to the students easy to remember, easy to learn, easy to understand, depending on the content of each post - Example 1: Unit 1: The generation gap / Lesson 1: Getting Started – grade 11 Theme: family - Example 2: Unit 5: The mas media/ leson 1- Getting stared/ page 30/ 12th grade English Theme: Computer: keyboard, mouse, computer screen, software, hardware, data, printer, speakers, CPU ( central processing unit), VDU ( visual display unit) - Example 3: Unit 7: Artificial Intelligence/ lesson 3/ reading/ page 22/ 12th grade English Theme: Films: Science fiction, cartoon, love story film, war film, action film, detective film, horror film 2.3.1.2: Using network When approached with a new theme, teachers help students find out what they have relationships with the words that they already know it or not, and between them have any connection. This is an easy way that allows students to learn and remember new words quite effectively because it stimulates thinking and imagination of the students. Teachers can give a hint about the subject and students need to list the words relating to that suggestion (as much as possible) Look at the network in the examples below. With vocabulary exercises are designed as such networks, students can build systems for each thematic 5
7. vocabulary, and remember how to read and how to write words correctly and logically - Example 1: Unit 1: family life- lesson 1 – Getting Started Single family Nuclear family Generation gaps nucleaar family House Extended family hold - Example 2: Unit 3 – Music / Part D: writing/ page 117/ 10th grade English concert singer music debut confident album 2.3.1.3: Teach vocabulary through words belong to a group of ten Although there are many adjectives are not synonymous, their meanings come close together. Because they are the only properties of an object, event or phenomenon 6
8. Therefore, when we make a first adjective and ask students to find another adjective that means close to it, students will develop the ability to guess and to brainstorm. At the same time students will remember this group from the faster, longer 2.3.1.4: Teach vocabulary by combining the antonyms Teaching vocabulary through the pair of opposites has long been a common approach and highly effective. This is a relationship with very strong impacts on memorizing vocabulary easily. For example, when students are asked about an antonym for "hot", students will say now is "cold" Thus, the lesson, the teacher should skillfully integrate opposites pair appeared in all together to help students memorize easily 2.3.2: Teaching vocabulary through visual aids The use of real objects, photographs, film material in teaching vocabulary always has a strong impact on interest in learning of students. This approach helps teachers convey lexical semantics quickly and conveniently and it also encourages students to understand and remember words in a faster and more efficient way. 2.3.2.1: Realia: When teaching vocabulary to students, teachers can use the model objects or related vocabulary to explain the meaning of the word to students. This method is often highly effective because students can directly observe the objects, especially in the case of the words that the teacher find it difficult to explain the meanings of words in language. - Example 1:Unit 5- invention Speakers CD Room Floppy disk Usb Printer Computer screen/ keyboard mouse 7
9. - Example 2: Unit 2 : Your Body and You Using the model illustrated to help students memorize the new words. 2.3.2.1: Visual: The use of pictures or video clips in teaching vocabulary is also a very effective way. In the lecture, I often combine teaching using both pre-prints, paintings and collectibles added controversy to enrich for his lectures. I also regularly screen the short film related to the topic of the lesson to help them understand the vocabulary faster. 8
10. - Example 1: unit 1 – family life I often use illustrations to describe the words and phrase relating the house hold chores : do the washing, make the bed, wash the car, do the shopping Iron the clothes, do the washing up 2.3.3: Teaching vocabulary through several games When teaching the reading passage with different themes, teachers can use some game or interesting vocabulary exercises to stimulate innovative research by students. So that they can understand the meaning of the word faster and remember the new words better.This method is consistent with the consolidation and review vocabulary for students. 9
11. To make the lesson more interesting and exciting, teachers divide students into teams and compete with each other for points. With this method, the boring review session will become more attractive and more effective because students will be eager to participate. 2.3.3.1: Wordsquares Example : Unit 3; Content Review: different kinds of films Teachers can make suggestions about the kinds of films for students to find different kinds of films. The teams will work together to find the correct answers, the team that scores the higher points will be the winner. i A b h f l e D g F s c i e n c e m l i t s a w e t u o n c i i b x e n c a r t 0 0 n c i r e l l i r h t c g l e m d o n i o e i z f v w n v n f u q e r c a e e n e c n a m o r r b m v e w i l l x Some suggestions: 1. If you like films with exciting story, especially ones about crime or spies, enjoy a ( thriller) 2. A ( science fiction) film is a type of film that is based on imagined scientific discoveries of the future. 3. A ( war) film is about the fight or battle among the contries based on the real events in history 4. A film for children is called ( cartoon) 5. Sherlock Holmes is a film ( detective) 10
12. 6. If you enjoy stories about love affairs, a ( romance) is the right film for you. 2.3.3.2: Jumbled words Teachers will change the order of letters in a word and ask students to rearrange it correctly. This activity will help students deepen the vocabulary. The purpose of this form of exercise is to train the students ability to remmenber the word accurately. Besides, it also creates excitement for students in vocabulary review lesson. - Example Unit 3: Music Content Review: different kinds of music lokf -> folk korc -> rock zjaz -> jazz cicsslala -> classical 2.3.3.3: Crossword Crossword is a form of exercise requires the ability to exercise judgment and critical thinking of students. To do this exercise form, students must conquer the crossword puzzle with clues given. After understanding the clues, students will use their ability to remember words to find the exact words to match the crossword. This kind of exercise will require students to find keywords is a vertical box has been prescribed. Teachers usually apply this exercise as a game to increase the attractiveness. After studying vocabulary with this form of exercise, students will be trained about the ability of brainstorming. Besides, they will inculcate the vocabulary after completing crossword. - Example : Unit 10: Ecotourism Content Review: some new words in the reading passage 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 11
13. Suggestions: + horizontal crossword 1: a natural cavity below the earth surface or in the mountain + horizontal crossword 2: light of the sun + horizontal crossword 3: A large natural stream of water + horizontal crossword 4: A short journey usually for pleasure + horizontal crossword 5: A temple or sacred tower in Asian countries + horizontal crossword 6: The science that studies the surface of the earth and its associated physical, biological, economic, policical features. + horizontal crossword 7: A hill of impressive height. After Some students have found the key word "Chicago", teachers introduce some features about the city of Chicago which has the famous Lake Michigan Keys: 1 C A V E 2 S U N S H I N E 3 R I V E R 4 E X C U R S I O N 5P A G O D A 5 6 G E O G R A P H Y M O U N T A I N 7 2.3.3.4: Slap the board Slap the board is an energetic vocabulary activity - it can be used for revision, presentation and testing - which involves students running to and hitting the board.Teachers put the vocabulary items on the board in any order – jumbled. Form groups. Give a mother tongue translation for one of the words on the board. The students have got to recognise the word which translates to that word. They then run to the board and slap the correct word. The first person in each group to slap the right word gets a point. Alternatively, you can form teams and one person from the team runs to the board, as a representative. The first team to hit the correct word gets the point. 12
14. The representative changes, ready for the next word This is a little calmer than if everyone is running to the board. The teachers can reverse the translation, by putting the mother tongue on the board. And of course, they could use definitions or opposites if you want to avoid using the mother tongue. The teachers can do it with pictures so you put the pictures on the board and call out the English word and the kids slap the picture. The teacher doesn't have to call out the English, you can get other kids to call out so they're getting practice speaking too. - Example 1: Unit 10 : ecotourism / 10th grade English. Word group: Sea animals. Revising the new words about sea animals Teachers hang the pictures about the new words on the board,then ask each member of the team to run quickly to slap on the picture related to the word that the teachers have mentioned. dolphin carb shark squid turtle sea horse star fish seal jelly fish sperm whale lobster fish - Example 2: Unit 10: Conservation /Part A: Reading / page 104/ 10th grade English. Below are some words in the game "Slap the board" that I've designed to revise vocabulary for students 13
15. Teachers stick the colorful card-boards with the new words on the board then ask students to run up to slap on board containing the word that teachers read aloud. This game should be played in teams to increase the enthusiasm and excitement to the lesson. equal elimina te runenrol force discrimination gender frequen t Example 3: Unit 9:preserving the enviroment national park cave butterfly hike moutain rainy toxic chemical in water the orphanage 2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative Based on the teaching process and experimental results from tests of vocabulary in three classes 10A4,10A5, 10A13, I can see the positive eficiency after the application of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary 14
16. English for students. The improvement in the ability to remember and use vocabulary application is demonstrated by the number of students getting good marks and average ones as follows: Table 1: Before applying the measures Class 10A4 10A5 10A13 Total ( 42 (42 42 students) students) students) The number of students scoring proficient 1 0 1 Percentage 2,38% 0% 2,38% The number of students scoring pretty 5 4 5 Percentage 11,9% 9,53% 11,9% The number of students scoring average 14 12 13 Percentage 33,33% 28,57% 30,96% The number of students scoring below 22 26 23 average Percentage 52,39% 61,9% 54,76% Table 2: After applying the meassures Class 10A4 10A5 10A13 Total ( 42 (42 42 students) students) students) The number of students scoring proficient 5 3 6 Percentage 11,9% 7,14% 14,28% The number of students scoring pretty 10 8 11 Percentage 23,8% 19,04% 26,19% The number of students scoring average 19 20 18 Percentage 45,24% 47,62% 42,86% 15
17. The number of students scoring below 8 11 7 average Percentage 19,04% 26,19% 16,66% Comparing the results obtained from the two tables above, I can see the progress of the students when learning vocabulary with these methods which are more diverse and more interesting, especially when students do the vocabulary exercises are designed in the form of games. As can be seen in the Table 1, the percentage of students getting bad marks in the vocabulary test accounts for more than 50% and the rate of students scoring good or excellent makes up for below 15%. From the second table, after the adoption of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary,the percentage of students scoring at or above average has increased significantly (from about 40% in Table 1 to about 75% in Table 2) In each lesson, students are more active, more flexible and enthusiastic participation in the vocabulary section. Students are no longer passive listening and memorizing mechanically as it once was. In every classroom lessons, many students have the ability to remember a large number of basic vocabulary. I do not take too much time to explain words and practice from them. With some games, students can organize themselves, so it has increased the confidence and positivity of students in learning English. PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I. Conclusions This result indicates that the measures which I have applied to improve the efficiency of vocabulary learning for students has yielded positive results. Students are not only able to remember and use more vocabulary, but also feel excited about learning vocabulary with different groups. They no longer have to meet the psychological fear of exercises or tests of vocabulary. On the contrary, the foreign language lessons becomes more fun and more exciting. These are some of the measures that I have learned, consulted and adopted into their lesson in the grade 10th English program. However, in the course of use, there are still many difficulties and limitations in the application these measures into teaching and learning .Therefore, I look forward to receiving constructive feedback so that I can complete my work better. 16
18. II. Recommendations Derived from the application of innovative experiences and the results obtained above, I give some suggestions as follows: Firstly, every teacher should apply a broad and flexible methods of teaching vocabulary, and also should teach them the skills to learn vocabulary from lower classes so that they will have a certain vocabulary when they com to higher grades. Secondly, teachers should enhance the vocabulary exercise form in the warm up interesting, and the consolidation of all to stimulate the interest of student learning. Thirdly, teachers and schools should organize extra-curricular sessions in English to give students new experiences when learning English. Based on the interest to be involved, they will be more motivated to learn the vocabulary In short, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages so when teaching vocabulary to students, teachers need to choose the appropriate method for each different type of vocabulary to help students to find ways of learning vocabulary most effectively. Thuan Thanh, 2nd February, 2023 THE CONFIRMATION OF THE I promise that this experience initiative PRINCIPAL was written by myself without copying VICE- PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL from anyone else. Experience initiative writer Lê Thị Thanh Ha 17
19. REFERENCES 1. Học từ vựng tiếng Anh theo chủ điểm, tác giả Nguyễn Phương Mai, NXB Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội 2. Vui học từ vựng tiếng Anh, Song Phúc chủ biên, NXB Giáo dục 3. English vocabulary in use by Michael Mc Carthy 4. English Vocabulary For All By G K Puri 5. website: 6. website: 7. website: 8. website: 18
20. APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL TESTS TEST 1 ( Before conducting the research) ( Time allowed: 10 minutes) Choose the best answer: 1. I like to work with figures, so I like A. Maths B. Literature C. Biology D. History 2. The alarm goes off at 4.30 A. Goes wrong B. Explores C. Stops D. Rings 3. is a film or a TV program giving facts about something A. Documentary B. Cartoon C. News D. Music 4. A period of one hundred years is called A. A long time B. Century C. Decade D. Millennium 5. is traditional music of a country A. Pop music B. Rock’n’roll C. Classical music D. Folk music 6. I like to learn English best because it is an language. A. Nation B. Region C. International D. Traditional 7. When the winter comes, everybody feels A. Cool B. Hot C. Cold D. Wet Keys: 1.A 2. D 3. A 4. B 5. D 6. C 7. C 19
21. TEST 2 (during conducting the research) ( Time allowed: 10 minutes) Choose the best answer: 1.We call a short journey for pleasure a ( an) A.Expedition B. Travel C. Excursion D. Visit 2.If you want to invite someone to attend your birthday party, you will write a letter of A.Refusal B. Invitation C. Acceptance D. Application 3 is a modern music that is popular with young people A.Pop music B. Traditional music C. Classical music D. Folk music 4. Jack is a (an) part of the team because we can not do without him. A. Intergral B. Tiny C. Unnecessary D. Impossible 5.We call a group or groups of animals or plants A.Fauna B. National parks C. Flora D. Species 6 is a film or a play that is intended to be funny, usually with a happy ending. A.Science fiction B. Comedy C. Tragedy D. Detective 7.A large area of sea that is partly surrounded by land is B. Sea B. Ocean C. Marine D. Gulf Keys: 1.C 2. B 3. A 4. A 5. D 6. C 7. D 20