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Warm – up activities in teaching and learning English at grade 10A5 in Cai Be high schoo
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to express sincere thanks to the Management Board of Dong Thap University for giving me chance to study the study of educational reality. I would like to send my special thanks to PhD Do Minh Hung (who is the Head) and the lecturers of the Foreign Language Department at Dong Thap University for their help and encouragement during my study. I would like to express my deep gratitude to Ms. Le Hong Phuong Thao, MA, my supervisor, for her precious advice, insightful comments as well as her considerate assistance and adequate supervision. I would also acknowledge my great thankfulness to all my lecturers at Dong Thap University, Ms. Nguyen Thi Thuy Hang and Mr. Nguyen Anh Nhan, my trainers and my students at grade 10A5 in Cai Be high school, and also send to my boundless gratefulness to MA Huynh Ngoc Diep, the Head of Cai Be high school, all of teachers and students at Cai Be high school for their help, encouragement and invaluable support, without which I would have never been able to complete the study of educational reality. Finally, I must express my special gratitude to my beloved family, my closed friends and my classmates, who have given me their best regards, helpful advice as well as precious supports during my study. i TABLE OF CONTENT Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS i TABLE OF CONTENT ii Part I. INTRODUCTION 1 1. Motivation for the study: .1 2. Aim of the research: 1 3. The research question: .1 4. The research method: 1 5. Significance of the research: .2 6. Scope of the research: 2 7. Organization of the study 2 Part II. THE CONTENT 4 Chapter One. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 4 I. 1. Cai Be high school .4 I. 2. Teachers staff: 4 I. 3. Students: 4 I. 4. Warm-up activities .6 I. 4. 1. Definition of warm-up activities 6 I. 4. 2. The value of warm-up activities .7 I. 4. 3. Why do we use warm-up activity? .8 Chapter Two. METHODOLOGY .9 II. 1. Research question .9 II. 2. The researcher .9 II. 3. The setting 9 II. 4. The subjects 9 II.5. Data collection instrument .9 II. 5. 1. Questionnaires 10 II. 5. 2. Observation .11 II. 6. Data collection procedure .11 II. 6. 1. Questionnaires 11 II. 6. 2. Observation .12 Chapter Three. Result and Discussion .13 III. 1. Result of interview 13 III. 1. 1. Students .13 III. 1. 2. English teachers .16 III. 2. Result of observation .19 III. 3. Summary .19 Chapter Four. Recommendation and Conclusion 20 IV.1. Conclusions .20 IV. 2. Recommendation 21 ii IV. 1. 1. For English teachers 21 IV. 1. 2. For students .21 IV. 1. 3. For union local 21 IV. 3. Limitations 21 REFERENCES 23 APPENDIX 1 24 APPENDIX 2 25 APPENDIX 3 26 iii Part I. INTRODUCTION 1. Motivation for the study: Up to now, English which is used very popular in Vietnam is an important international language. English is one of the important subjects at High School. It has been used for Final Examinations to evaluate students’ level of knowledge. Therefore, whether students are proficient at English or not is very important to them. Being proficient at English means student is good at both received skills - reading and listening, and productive skills - speaking and writing. These four skills are integrated in a lesson to improve all these skills for the students, because one certain skill can be used to improve the others. But it is very hard for people to begin learning English. Therefore, it is necessary to have teaching and learning English methods and techniques. To make students interested is very important for teachers, especially English teachers. How must we do that? This is the responsibility of all of the teachers! Warm – up activities are a way in which we can take interest, but how do English teachers in high schools apply these activities? There are many ways to make good warm – up activities at high schools. This is a reason why I choose “warm – up activities in teaching and learning English at grade 10A5 in Cai Be high school” to research. According to this research, I myself will get experiences to improve skills and teaching methods. 2. Aim of the research: To make students interested in learning English at high schools. 3. The research question: What are problems in warm – up activities which teachers give for students? 4. The research method: Interview method Observation method 1 5. Significance of the research: To make good warm – up activities. 6. Scope of the research: Warm – up activities in grade 10A5 at Cai Be high school. 7. Organization of the study Acknowledgment Table of contents Part I. Introduction 1. Motivation for the study 2. Aim of the research 3. The research question 4. The research method 5. Significance of the research 6. Scope of the research 7. Organization of the study Part II. The content Chapter One. Background Information I. 1. Cai Be high school I. 2. Teachers staff I. 3. Students I. 4. Warm-up activities I. 4. 1. Definition of warm-up activities I. 4. 2. The value of warm-up activities I. 4. 3. Why do we use warm-up activity? Chapter Two. Methodology II. 1. Research question II. 2. The researcher II. 3. The setting 2 II. 4. The subjects II. 5. Data collection instrument II. 5. 1. Questionnaires II. 5. 2. Observation II. 6. Data collection procedure II. 6. 1. Questionnaires II. 6. 2. Observation Chapter Three. Result and Discussion III. 1. Result of interview III. 1.1. Students III. 1. 2. English teachers III. 2. Result of observation III. 3. Summary Chapter Four. Recommendation and Conclusion IV. 1. Conclusion IV. 2. Recommendation IV. 2. 1. With English teachers IV. 2. 2. With students IV. 2. 3. With union local IV. 3. Limitations References Appendices 3 Part II. THE CONTENT Chapter One. BACKGROUND INFORMATION I. 1. Cai Be high school Cai Be high school was built in 1960s. At present, school has 21 learning rooms, a library, three laboratory rooms for three subjects (physics, chemistry, and biology), three computer rooms (40 computers and one host computer) for teaching and learning information technology. And there are also many rooms such as a headmasters’ room, two vice-principal’ rooms, one finance room, one teachers’ room, one health care room for school, and etc. Especially, all of learning rooms has computer to apply electronic lesson plan to teach. Besides, school also has sports ground, gymnastics ground for students to play sport and learn gymnastics. There are many benches and trees in a school yard where students can relax and revise students’ lesson. At the present, Cai Be high school also lacks loudspeakers. There are only five loudspeakers, six phonographs to provide for teaching and learning English. Cai Be high school is school at the three zones, Cai Be town, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province. It is one of four high schools in Cai Be district. I. 2. Teachers staff: At the moment, there are 85 teachers including 39 female teachers and 46 male teachers. All of teachers have a bachelor’s degree. In English departments, there are 6 teachers. One of them is male. I. 3. Students: In this school year, Cai Be high school has 14 classes in grade 10, 13 classes in grade 11 and 14 classes in grade 12. The number of students at Cai Be high school belongs to register of overseer, such as: 4 Total students Boys Girls Class 10 603 216 387 Class 11 571 237 334 Class 12 607 187 420 All of school 1781 640 1141 Grade 10A5 43 15 28 Figure 1. Figures of students at Cai Be high school In the first term, about learning capacity and conduct of student at grade 10A5 as follow from mark-book of senior master: Learning capacity Good Moderated good Average Weak Bad Quantity 3 13 20 6 1 Figure 2. Figures learning capacity of students at grade 10A5 Conduct Good Moderated good Average Weak Bad Quantity 33 9 1 0 0 Figure 3. Figures conduct of students at grade 10A5 In English, points of students at grade 10A5 following: Point 8.0 – 10.0 6.5 – 7.9 5.0 – 6.4 4.0 – 4.9 < 4.0 5 Quantity 3 8 11 13 8 Figure 4. Figures point of students about English at grade 10A5 I. 4. Warm-up activities I. 4. 1. Definition of warm-up activities When preparing your lesson, you star by planning the main items you want to include: the teaching of a new grammar point, or a grammar exercise, or the reading of a text. But once you have prepared the main components of your lesson, and made sure it is learning-rich, varied and interesting, you may find you still need some extra ingredients to make it into a smooth, integrated unit. You may need, for example: - A quick warm-up for the beginning to get your students into the right mood for learning; - An idea for a brief vocabulary review before starting a new text; - A light filler to provide relief after a period of intense effort and concentration; - A brief orientation activity to prepare a change of mood or topic; - A game or amusing item to round off the lesson with a smile. Besides contributing to routine lesson planning, you may find these activities can be of use in non-routine situations as well: when, for example, you have to fill in for another teacher and need some quick, easily-prepared ideas for instant use; or for supplying extra content for an English club evening or English party; for helping a group of new students to get to know one another; or for keeping students profitably busy when you unexpectedly have extra time on your hands. Therefore, to begin the new lesson, we often have warm-up activity, or five-minute activity, or playing game. What is a warm-up activity? It means an activity which is entertaining and engaging, often challenging and an activity in which the learners play and usually interact with other. 6 I. 4. 2. The value of warm-up activities Through warm-up activities, learners practice and internalize vocabulary, grammar and structures. Motivation is enhanced, to, by the warm-up activity and the competition. And added benefit is that the learners’ attention is on the message, not on the language. They acquire language unconsciously, with their whole attention engaged by the activity in much the same way as they acquired their mother tongue. "Activities of a socially infectious nature, where stress is placed on cooperative, rather than the competitive, aspects of some recreation activities, can be used to attract patients' attention and to sustain their interaction. Very simple games played in a small group may serve to encourage participation by making the patient feel an integral and necessary part of the activity." (O'Morrow, The Whys of Recreation Activities for Psychiatric Patients, Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 3rd quarter, 1971). Warm-ups help your learners put aside their daily distractions and focus on English. If they haven't used English all day, they may take a little while to shift into it. Warm-ups also encourage whole-group participation which can build a sense of community within the group. For new groups, see the list of ice breakers further down. "Activities help them (individuals with mental & emotional illness) reestablish constructive self-attitudes and restore self-confidence and a sense of security." (O'Morrow, The Whys of Recreation Activities for Psychiatric Patients, Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 3rd quarter, 1971). There are many advantages of using warm-up activities in the classroom: 1. Warm-up activities are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class. 2. They are motivating and challenging. 3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Warm-up activities help students to make and sustain the effort of learning. 4. Warm-up activities provide language practice in the various skills- speaking, writing, listening and reading. 5. They encourage students to interact and communicate. 6. They create a meaningful context for language use. 7 [...]... Teachers in Cai Be high school Students in Cai Be high school Warm – up activities II.5 Data collection instrument A number of produces have been used for collecting information such as interviews, observations, record reviews, diaries, material analysis, etc (Nunan, 1992) In this research, two instruments: questionnaires and observation were chosen and employed The usage of these instruments will be discussed... Conclusions The applying of renovation in education, especially the renovating in grade 10, has gained many achievements However, there are still problems need to be solved to perfect the educational progress One of the problems here is the warm- up activities in teaching and learning English What are problems in Warm- up activities which teachers give for students? This study was done to find out the problems... questionnaires 1 and questionnaires 2 Basic standard for teaching period (See Appendix 3) 1 To begin the new lesson, teacher must make warm- up activities 2 Teacher should often change many forms of warm- up activities 3 Teacher has to control times of teaching period, all of students in grade 4 Student is confident, active, self-motivated and self-conscious when taking part in warm- up activities 5 Warm- up activities. .. use warm- up activity? - Language learning is hard word One must make an effort to understand, to repeat accurately, to adapt and to use newly understood language in conversation and in written composition Effort is required at every moment and must be maintained over a long period of time Warm- up activity helps and encourages many learners to sustain their interest and work - Experiencing language Warm- up. .. problems The following are the main findings of the study that lasted in ten weeks in second semester of grade 10A5 at Cai Be high school Questionnaires 1 Purpose of the questionnaires 1 is to know the attitude of students about the warm- up activities and whether the teachers do like what they inform in the questionnaires 2 or not Through the result, the students seen the warm- up activities is normal,... student of class English 2006A, Foreign Language Department, Dong Thap University II 3 The setting The study took place at Cai Be high school, where I practiced It was done in cooperation with the teachers and the students at Cai Be high school The study was carried out in the eighth term of my semesters The aim is to find out what difficulties the teachers encounter when planning warm – up activities II... studied English? c1 %2 c % c % c % 0 0 43 100 0 0 0 0 All of students have studied English for 5 years Therefore, they can understand and take part in warm- up activities in learning period Question 2: Are you interested in yes c 35 no c 8 % 81,4 % 18,6 Most of students interest in English I think teachers should have method to attract some students (8) don’t interest in English Question 3: Very attracting... lesson and take students interested in learning English In fact, it is important to begin the new lesson by warm- up activities because those activities help teachers lead to the new lesson and review the old lesson easier and easier Beside, those activities help students feel comfortable and relaxed when they start learn English, hard subject 16 Question 3: always usually Do you often change warm- up activities. .. occurrence and use of a particular language form By making language convey information and opinion, warm- up activities provide the key features of “drill” with the added opportunity to sense the working of language as living communication Warm- up activities involve the emotions, and the meaning of the language is thus more vividly experienced It is, for this reason, probably better absorbed than learning. .. attitude about warm- up activities and their ideas about warm- up activities The questionnaires included 10 items Questionnaires 2 (See Appendix 2) were given to the teachers to know the shape of the warm- up activities they use in high school How do they plan the warm- up activities in teaching periods? The questionnaires consisted of 10 items 10 II 5 2 Observation Wajnryb (1992, p.1) said that observation is . reason why I choose warm – up activities in teaching and learning English at grade 10A5 in Cai Be high school” to research. According to this research,. teaching and learning English. Cai Be high school is school at the three zones, Cai Be town, Cai Be district, Tien Giang province. It is one of four high