VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES O0O NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI (Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 HANOI-2015 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES O0O NGUYỄN THỊ DUNG AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI (Nghiên cứu thăm dò về việc dạy tiếng Anh cho học sinh lứa tuổi mầm non tại một số trường mầm non ở Hà Nội) M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Field: English Teaching Methodology Code: 60140111 Supervisor: Asoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ HANOI-2015 DECLARATION I declare that my thesis entitled AN EXPLORATORY STUDY ON TEACHING ENGLISH TO CHILDREN AT KINDERGARTENS IN HANOI is the result of my own research of the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi and this thesis fulfills with the requirements of the degree Master of Arts and has not been published anywhere Nguyễn Thị Dung 2015 Supervisor’s signature Assoc Prof Dr NGUYỄN VĂN ĐỘ i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I would like to express my sincere thankfulness to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Dr Nguyen Van Do for his whole hearted guidance, valuable suggestions, and critical comments during the course of writing this thesis My thanks also go to all the teachers at VIVA center who were willing to give me information via survey questionnaire Their enthusiasm and helpful feedbacks made the thesis more reliable and useful Finally, I would like to offer my deepest gratitude to my family and close friends for their understanding and support during the time of doing the research ii ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of the survey conducted in VIVA center to find out the difficulties in teaching English perceived by the teachers VIVA center involves thirty teachers who are teaching English at thirty nursery schools in Hanoi The focus is on professional support that the teachers receive to teach English at preschool level The difficulties will be viewed from the questionnaire and observational data The results indicate that Vietnamese nursery teachers lack English teaching methodology for children and classroom management skills All the teachers have not only taken part in any regular training because at this time there are not any colleges or universities training English nursery school teachers in Vietnam, but also have not enrolled any professional training courses from center Besides, the teachers also have difficulty in using teaching facilities and they need more appropriate teaching facilities At the end of the study, suggestions and solutions will be given to help the teachers overcome those challenges iii TABLE OF CONTENTS APPENDICE I LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS TPR Total Physical Response No Number of teachers L1 First language L2 Second language TEYL Teaching English to young leaners ESL English as a Second Language ELT English language teaching iv LIST OF CHARTS Chart 1: Teaching methods Chart 2: Teachers’ using English in the class Chart 3: Number of children Chart 4: Children’s work in the classroom Chart 5: Sitting arrangement Chart 6: Teachers’ self-evaluation about controlling the class Chart 7: Using of teaching facilities Chart 8: Making teaching aids Chart 9: Training courses Chart 10: Observing other classes v LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Table 2: Teachers’ perceptions towards English teaching at preschool level Teaching activities Table 3: Table 4: Number of teachers Teaching facilities vi PART A: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale Nowadays, it cannot be denied that English is important and almost everyone has a demand on getting English proficiency Therefore, English is taught as a compulsory subject in many countries all over the world In Vietnam, it is introduced into primary education curriculum starting from Grade 1 Nevertheless, a large number of Vietnamese people believe that English should be learnt as soon as possible They would like their children to learn English earlier Thus, many kindergartens offer English classes for very young leaners who range from three to six years old The growing trend of teaching English to kindergarteners has received much attention from the society It is the fact that teaching English to very young learners is not an easy task because of specific characteristics of the children If teachers are not well qualified, they may not be able to motivate the children to study, or they may fail to use appropriate and effective tasks to help students learn English As an English teacher who taught English for very young leaners, the author saw a great number of challenges of teaching English to kindergarten children in Hanoi At this time, Vietnam does not have any colleges or universities training English nursery teachers Besides, there are not many researches about teaching English to preschool leaners This urges the researcher to carry out this study which examines teaching English to children at kindergartens in Hanoi This study is hoped to provide some useful contributions to teaching English at preschool level in general and to help Vietnamese teachers teach English better in particular 2 Aims and objectives of the study For the aim of investigating the English teaching at kindergartens in Hanoi, the researcher desired to undertake a research with the three following objectives vii Bus 29 Bus Bicycle Look Bus Bicycle Tricycle Wheels on Look Look Stroller the bus the bus Stroller Tricycl Stroller It’s a… song 30 Tricycle, Bicycle What’s this? Wheels on song Bicycle, Go, Stop Bicycle Bicycle Car Car Car, Bus Car Drink Drink Motorbike Bus What’s this? Bus Wheels on Drink Wheels on the bus song It’s a… Turn left the bus Turn right Unit 7: Transportation song 31 Car Car Train Train Motorbike Motorbike Go Motorbike Wheels on Train, Motorbike Train Motorb What’s this? Stop the bus It’s a… song Turn left Turn right 32 Train Tricycle Turn left Go Go Turn left Turn right, Stop 33 Train Stop Turn right Review Stroller XII Review 59, 60, 61 Turn le Turn rig Wheels on the bus song Stroller Plane, Plane Review Review Helicopter, Helicop Truck Truck What’s this? It’s a plane/ helicopter… 34 Tricycle Tricycle Green Green Green Train Yellow Yellow Red Red Wheels on the bus lights: Red light Green l Yellow Yellow light Stroller Stroller Orange Orange Red Tricycle Blue Blue Black Black Review: Green, Review all Colors Yellow Transportati Look 36 Red lig Green light song 35 Traffic Green Green Yellow Yellow Red Red, Orange Red Review Traffic lights Go , Stop, Slow Go Stop Slow ons and traffic lights Blue, Black 37 Bell Bell Santa Claus Santa clause Bell , Reindeer Santa Claus Bell Santa clause Reindeer Bell , Reindeer Santa Claus Jingle Bell Jingle Bell song song XIII Bell Santa c Reinde 38 Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christmas Christm tree tree tree, Star , tree , Star, tree, Star , tree, St Star Star Present Present Jingle Bell song Present Jingle Bell song 39 Present Present Present Sing Sing Sing, Dance Dance Dance We wish Sing, Dance Sing We wish Dance you… song you… song 40 Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Merry Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! Christmas! Christm Review 29, Card Review 29, Card Review 29, Card 30, 31 30, 31 Chung cake Chung cake Chung cake Chung cake Chung cake Chung Lucky Lucky Lucky Lucky Lucky money 41 30, 31 money money money money Sing I like Chung cake/ Lucky Dance money Sing , Dance 42 Peach Lucky Peach Peach flower money flower flower Chung cake Chung cake Lucky Lucky XIV Peach flower Chung cake Lucky money Peach f money money Go to bed Go to bed Wake up Wake up 43 Fireworks Fireworks Fireworks Firewo Peach Peach Peach Peach flower Peach f flower flower flower Numbers:5- Happy New 10 44 Fireworks Fireworks year! Happy New year! Happy New Review Happy New Review Unit Unit 4 45 Review Year Card Unit 4 Year Card 4 Banana Banana Banana Banana Mango Mango Mango Mango Eat Apple, Banana I like apples/ Eat Happy Year C Apple Banan a banana I like apples song 46 Apple Orange Apple Orange Orange Orange Mango Drink Drink Apple Pear, Orange Do you like apples? Yes, I do No, I don’t I like apples song Unit 6: Nature ( XV Pear Orange Mango ( 1 0 c l a s s e s ) 47 Pear Mango Pear I like Pear I like apples song Orange apples song Review 47, Apple Mango Orange Pear Banana 48, 49 Dialogue: Do you like apples? No, I don’t What do you Matchi Apple Mango Orange Pear Banana like? I like bananas 48 Mum Teacher Mum/Teach er, I love 8-3 card Mum Teacher Mum/Teach er, I love XVI 8-3 card Mango, Orange Yummy! Do you like Mango Orange you! you! apple? Yes, I do I like apples song 49 Cat Cat Cat Cat Dog Dog Dog Dog Duck Duck Cat, Dog, Duck What’s this? Cat Dog Duck It’s a Dog/ Cat… 50 Pig Pig Pig Pig Pig Pig Cow Cow Cow Cow Cow Cow Animal What’s this? sound song It’s a pig/ 1 cow… Animal sounds song Unit 5: 1 51 Duck Animals Animal sound song 1 Duck Bird Bird Bird Bird Mouse Mouse Mouse Mouse Chicken Chicken Chicken Chicke A small bird song What’s this? It’s a pig/ cow… XVII A small bird song 52 Bird Bird Tiger Tiger Mouse Mouse Elephant Elephant A small Tiger, Elephant Tiger Elephan What’s this? run bird song It’s a pig/ tiger… run 53 Review Monkey Run Run, Walk, Walk 2 2 Chicken Walk sounds song sounds song Chicken Sing Run The Animal The Animal 54 Run, Walk, Bear Frog Frog Frog Run Sing jump What’s this? jump Walk The Animal It’s a frog sounds song Jump, Run, 2 55 Walk Monkey Monkey Frog Monkey Bear Bear Jump Bear The animal sounds song 2 Run Walk XVIII Frog, Monkey Bear What’s this? It’s a frog/ Monke Bear bear The Animal sounds song 2 56 Frog jump jump Square Square 3743 3743 The Animal sounds song 2 Circle, Review: sounds song Circle, Review: The Animal 57 Frog 2 Shapes: Circle, Circle, triangle, Shapes: Circle, triangle, triangle triangle, star, Circle, star, square square 58 Triangle, Star 59 Triangle, Review Star, square Review Star Review Unit 4-5-6 Unit 4-5-6 (part 1) Review Review Unit 4-5-6 60 Review (part 1) Test 2 Test 2 XIX (part 1) Test 2 Star, sq 61 Sun Sun Sun Sun Look Look Moon Eat Rainbow of Sun, Moon, Look Sun Moon Look up the sun/ moon colors song Mr Sun song 62 Sun , Moon Moon Sun , Moon Sun Sun , Moon Sun Star , look Star , look Moon Star , look Moon Twinkle, Look up Star Look up Star twinkle Look down Twinkle, twinkle little little star song Twinkle, twinkle little star Look down star song song 63 Rainbow Star Rainbow Rainbow Rainbow Rainbo Run, Walk Run, Walk Look up I like Look u Jump Jump Look down Look up Look down Unit 6: Nature (PART 2) Rainbow song rainbows Run, Walk, Jump Look up Look down Rainbow song XX Look d 64 Dialogue: What’s What’s your name? your name? My name My name is… Dialogue: How old are you? I’m 4/ 5 is… Dialogue: Dialogue: Where do you? you live? I’m fine… I live in Ha you? I’m 4/ 5 years old years old How are 65 How old are Dialogue: How old are you? I’m 5/ 6 Where do you live? I live in Ha Noi Dialogue: Where do you live? I live in Ha Noi Review Review Review Unit Unit 4 Unit 4 4 Review Review Review Unit Unit 5 Unit 5 5 Review Review Review Unit Unit 6 Unit 6 6 Review Review Review Unit Unit 7 Unit 7 7 Test 3 Test 3 Test 3 your name? My name is… 66 67 68 69 70 XXI you? I’m 5/ 6 years o years old Noi What’s How ol Where you live I live in Noi ... questionnaire is the main tool to collect the data for the study Classroom observation functions as an additional tool to check the information Observation is a way of gathering data by watching... kindergartens in Hanoi Tools for data collection in this study are questionnaire and class observation Data collected from questionnaire is analyzed quantitatively and data from class observation... goals, and the context in which teaching and learning occur 1.2.2.3 Teaching materials Tomlinson (1998, p xi) defines that materials are “anything which presents or informs about the language being