SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LƯƠNG THẾ VINH Mã số: SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Motivating students to practice listening skill through English songs to decrease students’ tense while listening, make them feel more interested in listening and enrich their vocabulary Người thực hiện: BÙI NGỌC XINH Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu: Quản lý giáo dục : …………………………………………  Phương pháp dạy học môn: Tiếng Anh  Phương pháp giáo dục : …………………………………  Lĩnh vực khác:  ………………………………… Sản phẩm đính kèm:  Mô hình  Phần mềm  Phim ảnh  Hiện vật khác SƠ LƯỢC LÝ LỊCH KHOA HỌC I THÔNG TIN CHUNG VỀ CÁ NHÂN Họ tên: BÙI NGỌC XINH Ngày tháng năm sinh: 21/07/1969 Giới tính: Nữ Địa chỉ: 103/33 đường 30/4, phường Trung Dũng, Tp Biên Hòa, tỉnh Đồng Nai Điện thoại: 0918.155005 E-mail: phantrongnghiasgd@gmail.com Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị công tác: Trường THPT Chuyên Lương Thế Vinh II TRÌNH ĐỘ ĐÀO TẠO - Học vị (hoặc trình độ chuyên môn, nghiệp vụ) cao nhất: Thạc sĩ - Năm nhận bằng: 2007 III KINH NGHIỆM KHOA HỌC - Số năm có kinh nghiệm: 20 năm - Các sáng kiến kinh nghiệm có năm gần đây: How useful pre-reading activities are in teaching reading Helping gifted students enrich their idiomatic expressions The effectiveness of group work in teaching reading Extensive reading combined with extensive reading tasks to improve students’ general knowledge , increase their engagement in class and enrich their vocabulary SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO TRƯỜNG THPT CHUYÊN LƯƠNG THẾ VINH CỘNG HOÀ XÃ HỘI CHỦ NGHĨA VIỆT NAM Độc lập - Tự - Hạnh phúc Biên Hòa, ngày 03 tháng năm 2012 PHIẾU NHẬN XÉT, ĐÁNH GIÁ SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM Năm học: 2011-2012 Tên sáng kiến kinh nghiệm: Motivating students to practice listening skill through English songs to decrease students’ tense while listening, make them feel more interested in listening and enrich their vocabulary Họ tên tác giả: BÙI NGỌC XINH; Chức vụ: Giáo viên Đơn vị: trường THPT Chuyên Lương Thế Vinh Lĩnh vực: (Đánh dấu X vào ô tương ứng, ghi rõ tên môn lĩnh vực khác) - Quản lý giáo dục  - Phương pháp dạy học môn: . - Phương pháp giáo dục  - Lĩnh vực khác:  Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm triển khai áp dụng: Tại đơn vị  Trong Ngành  Tính (Đánh dấu X vào ô đây) - Có giải pháp hoàn toàn  - Có giải pháp cải tiến, đổi từ giải pháp có  Hiệu (Đánh dấu X vào ô đây) - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng toàn ngành có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng toàn ngành có hiệu cao  - Hoàn toàn triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu cao  - Có tính cải tiến đổi từ giải pháp có triển khai áp dụng đơn vị có hiệu  Khả áp dụng (Đánh dấu X vào ô dòng đây) - Cung cấp luận khoa học cho việc hoạch định đường lối, sách: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đưa giải pháp khuyến nghị có khả ứng dụng thực tiễn, dễ thực dễ vào sống: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  - Đã áp dụng thực tế đạt hiệu có khả áp dụng đạt hiệu phạm vi rộng: Tốt  Khá  Đạt  XÁC NHẬN CỦA TỔ CHUYÊN MÔN THỦ TRƯỞNG ĐƠN VỊ (Ký tên ghi rõ họ tên) (Ký tên, ghi rõ họ tên đóng dấu) TABLE OF CONTENTS - TITLE …………………………………………………………………… - INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………… - RATIONALE OF THE STUDY…………………………………………3 - PROCEDURES……………………………………………………………7 - FINDINGS ……………………………………………………………… 10 - CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………… 16 - APPENDIX 1…………………………………………………………… 17 - APPENDIX 2…………………………………………………………… 26 - REFERENCES ………………………………………………………… 31 Title Motivating students to practice listening skill through English songs to decrease students’ tense while listening, make them feel more interested in listening and enrich their vocabulary INTRODUCTION Listening is one of the four main skills in learning English After many years of teaching at Luong The Vinh high school I have found that a lot of students at this school are afraid of listening periods , seem very tense while listening in class and almost have no pleasure in listening lessons because listening lessons which are based on the school curriculum cannot provide them with what they want However, they very much want to improve their listening skill but they don’t know how to it As a teacher, I think that I should something to help them get pleasure from listening first and then improve their listening skill For this reason I would like to encourage the students to practice listening skill through songs in class and at home in order to decrease tense while listening and enrich their vocabulary RATIONALE OF THE STUDY a What is Listening ? “Listening” is different from “hearing” as Professor John Drakeford says Hearing is a word used to describe the physiological sensory processes by which auditory sensations are received by the ears and transmitted to the brain Listening, on the other hand , refers to a more complex psychological procedure involving interpreting and understanding the significance of the sensory experience ( Drakeford , cited in Bolton 1987:32) Listening skills allow one to make sense of and understand what another person is saying In other words, listening skills allow you to understand what someone is talking about “Listening without comprehension means that listening has not taken place successfully.” ( From the Course book : Teaching Listening & Speaking – SEAMEO – p 15 ) b The importance of listening skill Listening skill plays a very important role and we need good listening skills as Mckay points out that “ Good listening skills make workers more productive The ability to listen carefully will allow you to : - better understand assignments and what is expected of you - build rapport with other people - show support - work better in a team-based environment - answer questions ; and - find underlying meanings in what other say.” Sarwar quotes a statement by Logan ( 1980 , in Sarwar , 2001 , pp 127-136 ) who says that “ People can learn from a variety of sources , even if the final goals are the same ” Hence , teachers’ role is very crucial in leading students to developing their learning habits inside as well as outside the classroom One of the good learning habits is listening to English songs c The aim of the innovation : - To make listening lessons more interesting - To decrease students’tense while listening - To motivate students to practice listening to English songs at home c Why were songs chosen to teach ? Lyn Newton points out that “singing songs and reading poems help expose students to various types of genres” and he also shows us the benefits of listening to songs: - Listening to songs is something people in real life - The language in songs is authentic / real - They are interesting ; they motivate learners - Repetition is not boring if it is in a song - Rhythm and stress are easy in a song - New vocabulary is learnt in context - Listening to songs is a good group activity - We can all sing alone What’s more songs not only make students relaxed but also help them improve their pronunciation , intonation and some grammar points d How to choose songs - The songs chosen must contain useful language ( words , vocabulary , idioms ,or phrases that are usually used in daily life ) or grammar points that students need to learn c The participants of the study 45 students of class 12 A of LTV high school were chosen to take part in the innovation The innovation was carried out in the last minutes of listening periods after the teacher and the students had already finished listening lessons And the innovation lasted 10 weeks in the first semester ( from 10 October to December,2010 The reason why the students of class 12A were chosen as the participants of the study were that : - They like music - They usually listen to music in their free time - They all have a cassette player at home - They usually listen to Vietnamese songs not English songs - Some of them listen to English songs but they just listen to the music or tune of the song not the lyrics ( I once talked to them during speaking class about their free time ,and their attitude to their listening skill ) The Secondary Innovation This innovation process could not be conducted without the secondary innovation which was English songs The researcher wanted to control the participants’participation during the research process to see if they were interested in listening to songs , if they really remembered any songs and if their vocabulary were enriched ( I think students will remember vocabulary, phrases and sentences much easier, much longer if they listen to them repeatedly ),so it was the researcher that introduced the English songs to the research subjects Here is a list of English songs used in the research ( See Appendix ) What Are You Doing ? Who’s That Girl ? Colors Everybody Jump Do-Re-Mi Give Me Something Good to Eat Today Is Monday The Skeleton Dance Don’t Let he Sun Go Down on Me 10 Heal the World In addition, the students could find English songs on the Internet PROCEDURES ) Getting Started a./ A questionnaire which consisted of questions was used in order to find out what the students thought about listening and what they had done to improve their listening skill The questionnaire included both open-ended questions and questions with fixed alternatives For the questions with fix alternatives the students were asked to indicate whether they “strongly agreed ” , “agreed ” , “were neutral ” , “disagreed ” or “strongly disagreed ” with each of the statements For the open-ended questions the students could freely express their thoughts about the extensive Song COLOURS Red , Yellow , Blue and Green stand up Red , Yellow , Blue and Green turn around, and stretch up high above your head Red , Yellow , Blue and Green sit down Pink , Purple , Brown and Tan stand up Pink , Purple , Brown and Tan turn around , stretch up high above your head Pink , Purple , Brown and Tan sit down Gold , Silver ,Black and White stand up Gold , Silver ,Black and White turn around, and stretch up high above your head Gold , Silver ,Black and White sit down Song EVERYBODY JUMP Jump , jump , jump everybody jump We play football in the play ground You play see-saw in the play ground We have fun and joy Everybody jump Climb, climb, climb everybody climb We play football in the play ground You play see-saw in the play ground We have fun and joy Everybody climb Swing , swing , swing everybody swing We play football in the play ground You play see-saw in the play ground 19 We have fun and joy Everybody swing Clap, clap ,clap everybody clap We play football in the play ground You play see-saw in the play ground We have fun and joy Everybody clap Song DO-RE-MI Doe, a deer , a female deer Ray , a drop of golden sun Me , a name I call myself Far , a long long way to run Sew, a needle pulling thread La , a note to follow sew Tea, I drink with jam a bread That would bring us back to doe .oh oh oh Do re mi fa so la ti do, so Song GIVE ME SOMETHING GOOD TO EAT Trick or treat ? Trick or treat ? Give me something good to eat Apples , peaches , tangerines Happy Happy Halloween Trick or treat ? Trick or treat ? Give me something sweet to eat 20 Cookies , chocolate , jelly beans Happy Happy Halloween Trick or treat ? Trick or treat ? Give me something sour to eat Lemons , grapefruits, limes so green Happy Happy Halloween Trick or treat ? Trick o treat ? Give me something good to eat Nuts and candy Lollipops Now it’s time for us to stop Song TODAY IS MONDAY Today is Monday is Monday, Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Tuesday , today is Tuesday, Tuesday string beans , Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Wednesday, today is Wednesday , Wednesday soup , Tuesday string beans, Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Thursday , today is Thursday Thursday roast beef Wednesday soup Tuesday string beans, Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Friday , today is Friday , Friday fish , Thursday roast beef ,Wednesday soup, Tuesday string beans, Monday 21 washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Saturday , today is Saturday, Saturday payday, Friday fish , Thursday roast beef ,Wednesday soup, Tuesday string beans, Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Today is Sunday , today is Sunday , Sunday church, Saturday payday, Friday fish , Thursday roast beef ,Wednesday soup, Tuesday string beans, Monday washday Are you hungry brothers ? We wish the same to you Song THE SKELETON DANCE The thigh bone’s connected to the hip bone The hip bone’s connected to the backbone The backbone’s connected to the neck bone Doin’the skeleton dance Shake your hands to the left Shake your hands to the right Put your hands in the air Put your hands out of sight! Shake your hands to the left Shake your hands to the right Put your hands in the air Wiggle , wiggle , wiggle, wiggle wiggle , wiggle , wiggle, wiggle , wiggle , wiggle, wiggle , wiggle 22 Song DON’T LET THE SUN GO DOWN ON ME I can’t light no more of your darkness All my pictures seem to fade to black and white I’m growing tired and time stands still before me Frozen here on the ladder of my life But it’s too late to save my self from falling I took a chance and changed your way of life But you misread my meaning when I met you Closed the door and left me blinded by the light Don’t let the sun go down on me Although I search myself It’s always someone else I see I’d just allow a fragment of your life to wander free But losing everything is like the sun going down on me I can’t find oh the right romantic line But see me once and see the way I feel Don’t discard me just because you think I you harm But these cuts I have Oh they need love to help them heal, oh Song 10 HEAL THE WORLD There’s a place in your heart And I know that this is love And this place could be much brighter than tomorrow And if you really try 23 You’ll find there’s no need to cry In this place you’ll feel there’s no hurt or sorrow There are ways to get there If you care enough for the living Make a little space , make a better place Heal the world , make it a better place For you and for me and the entire human race There are people dying If you care enough for the living Make a better place for you and for me If you want to know why there’s a love that cannot lie Love is strong , it only cares of joyful giving If we try we shall see In this bliss we cannot feel fear or dread We stop existing and start living Then it feels that always Love’s enough for us growing Make a better world, oh make a better world And the dream were conceived in Will reveal a joyful face And the world we once believe in Will shine again in grace Then why we keep strangling Would this earth crucify its soul Though it’s plain to see This world is heavenly , be Dod’s glow We could fly so high , let our spirit never die In my heart I feel you all my brothers 24 Created a world with no fear Together we cry happy tears See the nations turn their swords into plow shares We could really get there If you care enough for the living Make a little space to make a better world ( repeat times ) 25 APPENDIX PRE-TEST I./ Choose the best answer A… … … … … … is a female deer A doe B doer C deeress D hare Everyone clapped us when we went up to get our prize A to hit your open hands together several times to show that you approve of or have enjoyed sth B to say hello to sb or to welcome them C to be in the same place as sb by chance and talk to them D to be pleased to receive or accept sth You usually … … … … … … … … … … … … your head when you want to show agreement A bend B nod C cross D touch She … … … … … … … … … … … … … … her face with her hands when she felt ashamed A brushed B covered C made D raised He stood up and … … … … … … … … … … … … … … his shoulders A stretched B snapped C waved D straightened She stood crossing her arms and stared at me A becoming healthy, happy or confident B putting or placing sth across or over sth else C breaking sth suddenly with a sharp noise D moving sth in a particular direction by shaking He … … … … … … … … … … his eyes in the bright sunlight A blinked B opened C bloomed 26 D blurred He … … … … … … … his fingers to attract my attention A crossed B snapped C stamped D beat My friend is the girl … … … … … … … … … … … … the long red skirt A in B on C with D.out 10 The day in sb’s house when the clothes, etc are washed is called … … … … … … … A washday B washing day C cloth washing day D A & B 11 It took a long time for the wounds to … … … … … … … … … … A heal B cure C treat D save 12 My idea of bliss is a month in the Bahamas A joy B success C extreme happiness D greatness 13 Your stomach contains acid to help you your food A chew B taste C swallow D digest* 14.Many people like directors, actors, scriptwriters etc join hands to make a film A shake hands B work together C.hold hands D clap hands 15 The current monetary policy is strangling the economy A preventing sth from growing or developing B developing sth C saving sth D damaging sth 16 The human … … … … … … … … … … … … consists of 206 bones A skeleton B body C skull D back 17.A survey was in order to find out what young people think about marriages without love A done B made C conducted D organized 18 31 Who is the person that you usually share your secrets .? A with B of C in 27 D to 19 I’m afraid I completely misread the situation A understand sb/sth wrongly B read sth wrongly C not know how to read D read sth quickly 20 Women 15% of the police force A include B consist C comprise D compose II / Fill in the suitable verbs Choose from the following , using each verb once only bend nod blink call snap rise straighten stamp cover brush wiggle clap raise turn treat cure jump shine to … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … your knees to … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … your head to blink … … … … … … … … … … your eyes to snap … … … … … … … … … … … … … your fingers to straighten … … … … … … … … … your shoulders to stamp… … … … … … … … … … … … your feet to brush … … … … … … … … … … … … your hair to wiggle … … … … … … … … … … … your toes to clap … … … … … … … … … … … … your hands 10 to raise … … … … … … … … … … … … your arms 28 POST-TEST I./ Choose the best answer A… … … … … … is a female deer A doe B doer C deeress D hare Everyone clapped us when we went up to get our prize A to hit your open hands together several times to show that you approve of or have enjoyed sth B to say hello to sb or to welcome them C to be in the same place as sb by chance and talk to them D to be pleased to receive or accept sth You usually … … … … … … … … … … … … your head when you want to show agreement A bend B nod C cross D touch She … … … … … … … … … … … … … … her face with her hands when she felt ashamed A brushed B covered C made D raised He stood up and … … … … … … … … … … … … … … his shoulders A stretched B snapped C waved D straightened She stood crossing her arms and stared at me A becoming healthy, happy or confident B putting or placing sth across or over sth else C breaking sth suddenly with a sharp noise D moving sth in a particular direction by shaking He … … … … … … … … … … his eyes in the bright sunlight A blinked B opened C bloomed 29 D blurred He … … … … … … … his fingers to attract my attention A crossed B snapped C stamped D beat My friend is the girl … … … … … … … … … … … … the long red skirt A in B on C with D.out 10 The day in sb’s house when the clothes, etc are washed is called … … … … … … … A washday B washing day C cloth washing day D A & B 11 It took a long time for the wounds to … … … … … … … … … … A heal B cure C treat D save 12 My idea of bliss is a month in the Bahamas A joy B success C extreme happiness D greatness 13 Your stomach contains acid to help you your food A chew B taste C swallow D digest* 14.Many people like directors, actors, scriptwriters etc join hands to make a film A shake hands B work together C.hold hands D clap hands 15 The current monetary policy is strangling the economy A preventing sth from growing or developing B developing sth C saving sth D damaging sth 16 The human … … … … … … … … … … … … consists of 206 bones A skeleton B body C skull D back 17.A survey was in order to find out what young people think about marriages without love A done B made C conducted D organized 18 31 Who is the person that you usually share your secrets .? A with B of C in 30 D to 19 I’m afraid I completely misread the situation A understand sb/sth wrongly B read sth wrongly C not know how to read D read sth quickly 20 Women 15% of the police force A include B consist C comprise D compose II / Fill in the suitable verbs Choose from the following , using each verb once only bend nod blink call snap rise straighten stamp cover brush wiggle clap raise turn treat cure jump shine 11 to … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … your knees 12 to … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … your head 13 to blink … … … … … … … … … … your eyes 14 to snap … … … … … … … … … … … … … your fingers 15 to straighten … … … … … … … … … your shoulders 16 to stamp… … … … … … … … … … … … your feet 17 to brush … … … … … … … … … … … … your hair 18 to wiggle … … … … … … … … … … … your toes 19 to clap … … … … … … … … … … … … your hands 20 to raise … … … … … … … … … … … … your arms 31 REFERENCES - Bolton , R 1987 People Skills, Sydney, McPherson - Littlewood , W , ( 2000 ) ELT Journal Volume 54/1 January 2000 Oxford : Oxford University Press - Sarwar , Z , ( 2001 ) Adapting individualization techniques for large class In Hall , D., & Hewings , A., ( Eds ) , Innovation in English Language Teaching , A Reader ( pp 127-136 ) London and New York : Routledge - The Course booklet Teaching Listening and Speaking Regional Language Centre Singapore - WWW.exforsys.com/ / listening skills / why – listening – is – important – important html [...]... confidence in learning English , encouraging them to become independent listeners , and helping them find pleasure and real purposes in listening - However , they also wished to be provided with authentic listening materials They wanted to be exposed to more real English world Summary Listening to English songs really improved the students vocabulary and they felt motivated to listening Listening tasks... students to participate in the 14 - activity that they had never had during listening class before - Songs brought them a lot of interesting vocabulary and they could remember the vocabulary much more easily and longer Questionnaire findings revealed that - The students were engaged in the listening lessons - The students felt more relaxed while listening to songs - The students started being interested in. .. you think about listening to songs ? A./ Statements 1 2 3 4 5 SA A N D SD 50% 35% 14% 60% 17% 14% 7% 80 % 10 % 5% 5 1 You thought that listening was very difficult 2 Listening to songs made you feel more interested in listening than before 3.There were a lot of useful vocabulary in the songs you listened to 4 % You listened to English 71% 28 songs at home more often % 5 You felt less tense and more. .. listening to songs ( The vocabulary / idioms / phrasal verbs were taken from the songs that they were 8 going to listen to during the innovation.) 2 ) Students and teachers keep track of student progress by using English songs The listening of the songs could be carried out at the beginning of the listening periods as warm-up or at the end of the listening periods Listening tasks The purpose of giving listening. .. in English songs - The students liked singing English songs , so they practiced listening to them more often - The relationship between the teacher and the students was better because they sometimes discussed the content of a song , talked about the singers Once they invited the teacher to go singing karaoke with them - They thought that listening activity was useful to them in many aspects : creating... checking their vocabulary before the innovation After the students had finished the test the researcher asked the students to hand in all of their tests and did not let them have a chance to look at the test again The purpose of doing this was that the researcher wanted to use the pre-test again as a posttest after the students had finished listening the ten songs to check if they learnt anything from listening. .. The questionnaire was devised to find out (1 ) the students motivation to songs ( 2 ) their attitude towards listening ( 3 ) their evaluation on listening to songs ( 4 ) and their comments on listening to songs The questionnaire included both open-ended questions and questions with fixed alternatives For the questions with fix alternatives the students were asked to indicate whether they “strongly... 2 3 4 5 SA A N D SD 1 You think that listening is very difficult 2.You feel interested in 87 % 5% 4% 3% 6% 6% 10 % 75 % 6% 4% 10 % 80 % 9% 4% 6% 81 % 10 5% listening 3.You could learn a lot ( e.g vocabulary , grammar points )from listening lessons 4 You listen to English songs very often 5 You feel tense in listening periods 85 % % 6 You feel relaxed in listening periods 5% 14 70 % 11% % 2./ Other... about ? Which vocabulary can you get from the song ? ) - Then the teacher showed them the lyrics of the song and some new vocabulary of the song - The teacher let them listen to the song again and asked them sing along with the record - The teacher asked them to sing the song without listening to the record  Oral reports The students took turns or volunteered to sing the songs individually or in groups... relaxed in listening periods 65 % 17% 9% 10 % 6 You started being interested in listening to the lyrics of 53 % 17 % 14 % English songs 14 % B / Some comments given by the students when doing the questionnaire : - They could work at their own pace without classroom pressure - They could listen for pleasure without the pressure of testing or marking - Listening to songs made it possible for the weak students