Applying conversation method to practise english speaking skill in the post - Listening stages of listening lessons

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT 
YEN ĐINH 3 UPPER SECONDARY SCHOOL
EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE
APPLYING CONVERSATION METHOD TO PRACTISE ENGLISH SPEAKING SKILL IN THE POST - LISTENING STAGES OF LISTENING LESSONS
Performer : Mai Thị Thu Phương
Position : Teacher
Subject : English
THANH HOA 2019
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
PAGE
A. PREFACE
I. Reasons for choosing the theme
2
1. Basis of theory
2
2. Basis of practice
3
II. Aims of the research
4
III. Objects of the research
5
IV. Methods of the research
5
B. CONTENTS
I. Definition of Game
5
II. Effectiveness of games in speaking lessons
5
III. Games and the ways to organize them in speaking lessons of English 10
6
1. Game “ Nought and Cross ”
6
2. Game “ Lucky numbers / stars ” 
8
3. Game “ Shark attack ”
9
4. Game “ Magical Wheel / Hat ”
11
5. Role play game
12
C. APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING
13
D. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
14
E. RELEVANT LESSONS
16
F. CONCLUSION
16
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
PAGE
A. PREFACE	
2
I. Reasons for choosing the theme
2
II. Research task
2
III. Scope of the research
2
IV. Purpose of the research
2
V. Reseach methods
3
B. CONTENTS
3
I - Rationale 
3
1. Purpose of teaching 
3
2. The basic factors directly affect the effectiveness of the speaking lessons 
3
II - The reality of teaching English subject at Yen Đinh 3 High School
4
1 - Advantages 
4
2 - Disadvantages 
5
III - A number of practical solutions to conduct an effective speaking lesson 
6
1- Making plans for a speaking teaching lesson 
6
2 - Good implementation of the teaching process 
7
C. APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING
11
D. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
14
E. RELEVANT LESSONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
16
F. CONCLUSION
16
A - PREFACE
I. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE THEME :
	The goal of teaching English is to form and develop students' basic skills in English and the intellectual qualities needed to get further study or lead labouring life. Therefore, the new English textbook is compiled according to the same programmatic point of view, which is the thematic approach and appreciates active and positive learning methods of students.
	All four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are concerned and coordinated in exercises and activities which are designed and organized in class. 
	According to the policy, today's teaching methods are shifted in the direction of "overcoming a one-way transmission, training the creative thinking of learners, gradually applying advanced methods and modern facilities to the teaching process ” [7]. This orientation has been legalized in the education law that is " The method of general education is promoting the activeness, self-awareness, initiative and creativity of students, in accordance with the characteristics of each class and subject ". Fostering self-study methods, training skills to apply knowledge into practice, emotional impact, bringing excitement in English subject.
	For the above reasons, I boldly choose the topic "Applying conversation method to practise English speaking skill in the post listening stages of the listening lessons " in upper secondary level as my research topic. I would like to help teachers gradually overcome these difficulties to teach students how to speak English better, and at the same time help students be active and proactive in acquiring and comprehending knowledge of lessons.
II. RESEARCH TASK :
	 In order to well implement the research topic, the researcher who implements this topic needs to perform the following tasks :
1- Research English instruction materials, speaking teaching techniques of speaking.
2- Teaching and mock teaching
3- Observe colleagues’ teaching, exchange and draw experience.
4- Test and evaluate the results of the students' handbook so that they can adjust and supplement appropriately.
III. SCOPE OF RESEARCH :
	The topic centers around the topic of teaching and learning English-speaking subjects of teachers and students at Yen Đinh 3 Upper Secondary School. But the object of typical research that I have boldly applied this topic is classes 10A2 and 11C2.
IV. PURPOSES OF RESEARCH :
	 With successful research, this topic and initiatives it brings in will help teachers get the following experience :
1. How to organize a speaking lesson , an effectively speaking activity.
2. Steps to smoothly conduct a speaking lesson.
3. Guiding students to practise and train themselves to acquire and apply good speaking skills when communicating in English in practice. [2]
V. RESEARCH METHOD :
1. Observation method : the person who implements the topic self-studies and conducts the class visit time of his colleagues.
2. Methods of exchange and discussion : after studying the colleague's time, the colleague now expects the subject, colleagues and practitioners to exchange and discuss from which to draw the scriptures and experience for the lesson.
3. Experimental methods : teachers conduct teaching tests for each purpose and specific request of some teaching periods.
4. Method of investigation: teacher asks questions to check and assess the content comprehension of students.
B - CONTENT
I - Rationale :
1. Purpose of teaching :
	Teaching foreign languages ​​is not merely to provide students with knowledge of that language, but the ultimate purpose of teaching foreign languages ​​in general and English in particular is to teach students the ability to communicate in English. The ability of students to communicate is reflected in the skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing which enable students to have conditions to receive and exchange information, improve English proficiency, and have a better understanding about cultures of the world, give them the habit of having immediate response in communication. English speaking skills of students are formed through a process of learning and practising in the English language environment. In addition to studying at school, students must practise speaking through different forms and methods such as communicating with friends, with teachers and with native speakers ... [1]
	Speaking skills are demonstrated by the ability to use linguistic knowledge for communicative purposes to be understood in English.
2. The basic factors directly affect the effectiveness of the speaking lessons :
a. Teachers :
- With new and positive teaching methods, teachers play the role of directing and controlling students to work in class hours. [3]
- In order to conduct an effective speaking lesson, teachers need to perform well the following basic elements :
+ Choose and flexibly use techniques, design speaking activities in accordance with the content of each lesson. [6]
+ Organizing and controlling classes, allocating reasonable time.
+ Proficient use of facilities and teaching aids for teaching and speaking.
+ Create appropriate teaching aids for teaching.
+ Accurate, inspiring, engaging and engaging pronunciation for students.
b - Methods - speaking teaching techniques : 
	Speaking teaching techniques are specified by the content of teaching speaking. In other words, the content of the speaking lesson governs the selection, applying the combination of the methods and teaching techniques. Each teaching technique is suitable for a specific form of teaching (teaching grammar, teaching listening, teaching writing ...) [4]. 
c - Equipment and teaching aids for teaching speaking :
- The use of equipment, images to support teaching and learning in foreign languages ​​in general and English in particular is considered a means of expressing a part of the main content of textbooks [5]. In order to perform well these speaking practice exercises, learners must listen to the lesson contents as the dialogue models in the tapes or through the sample clips. Moreover, teaching equipment also serves as a positive means of innovating teaching methods, creating motivation and stimulating learning.
* The equipment needed for the subject :
- Cassette tape transceiver.
- Recorder of reading and listening texts in the textbooks.
- Painting pictures illustrating lesson content in textbooks
- Photos and teachers' self-created belongings ....
d – Students :
	In the relationship between the methods of teaching and learning : Teachers are the ones who organize and control students to self - master knowledge by their own manipulations and intellectual acts under the role of teacher’s control. 
	In order for the speaking lesson to be good, students need to have the necessary skills in communicating in English.
II - The reality of teaching English subject at Yen Đinh 3 High School :
1 - Advantages :
	Although there are many difficulties and limitations in the teaching process, we have overcome the difficulties ahead, gradually improve the quality of English teaching hours to meet the objectives of the curriculum and the latest textbooks .
a - In terms of teachers :
- Taking the first successful step in accessing to the relatively good use of the specific teaching techniques – speaking teaching techniques.
- Being used to and active with the method of designing a speaking lesson.
- Coordinating quite flexibly the teaching techniques.
- Creating a variety of teaching aids suitable to the content of teaching periods, so many teaching lessons become lively, charismatic and highly effective.
- Using flexibly body language to attract students and make class more excitingly.
- Using modern teaching equipment to serve the teaching and learning process: video tapes, cassette players, video players, projectors.
b - In terms of students :
- Many students have spoken and recognized the spoken voice of native speakers, use and know how to start and learn phonics and intonation more accurately when communicating.
- Most students speak better and are more confident especially in topics close to everyday life from using simple sentences to more complex sentence structures, fulfilling requirements, teachers’ homework after listening for the 3rd time.
- Some students have formed skills in learning.
- Students have become accustomed to speaking subject.
2 - Disadvantages : 
a - In terms of teachers :
	There are still some teachers who encounter certain difficulties in implementing speaking techniques and teaching steps, selecting techniques which suit each lesson, each stage of teaching period. They are also afraid to use or not exploit proficiently the teaching aids for speaking lesson (projector, cassett radio, computer, illustration ...)
b - In terms of students :
- The motivation to speak English is limited.
- Many children have less opportunity to speak and lack confidence when speaking English.
- Some children are afraid to listen and speak in English, and are afraid of making mistakes.
- Students are not familiar to the speed of reading and speaking in English tapes.
c - Means of teaching aids :
- The teaching aids for teaching are too few, some are missing or not good enough: pictures, photos, tapes and casstte.
- There is no language room for listening and speaking. Classrooms are heavily influenced by background noise.
d - Specific investigation :
	In the process of teaching, I myself took over the 10 and 11 blocks. With the sense of studying the characteristics of the students' learning situation, while learning from the experience, I was oriented from the beginning of the school year give myself a specific plan and method to proactively investigate students' learning situation by their class. Through the investigation, I realized that most of the students have a poor vocabulary, their English speaking and listening skills are limited. The survey results are as follows :
Class
Total
Excellent
Rather good
Average
Bad
Very bad
%
%
%
%
%
10A2
45
0
0
9
20
29
64,4
7
15,6
0
0
11C2
45
5
11,1
15
33,3
21
46,7
4
8,9
0
0
III - A number of practical solutions to conduct an effective speaking lesson :
1- Making plans for a speaking teaching lesson :
a- In terms of teachers :
        In order to conduct a good speaking teaching lesson, the teacher should follow these steps :
- Researching the content of lessons from teacher’s books and textbooks:
	 Textbooks, teacher’s books are an important basis for teachers to make their teaching plans for their lessons. The careful study of textbooks and teacher’s books will help teachers organize and control the speaking lessons to center around the focus and allocate time for steps, activities in a scientific way.
- Study the purpose of the lesson requirements :
	The purpose and requirement of the lesson is the goal that both teachers and students need to achieve after the lesson . For speaking lesson, it is common that the purpose and the requirement of the lesson is to help students practise and develop skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing (in which listening skill is essential), after finishing listening, students understand the main content of the listening and perform some language requirements or exercises.
- Select and coordinate speaking techniques in a flexible and appropriate way :
	The selection of speaking techniques must be determined on the basis of the content of the teaching period, characteristics and capabilities of the class and stages in the speaking process. In each stage, there are specific speaking techniques suitable for each stage.
- Good use of teaching facilities and equipment for teaching periods :
* Use of illustrations :
+ Pictures in the textbook :
	One of the strengths of the textbook compiled under the new program is that there are many illustrations. Taking maximum advantage of the pictures in the textbook to help students understand the new lesson is the need to focus on all the lessons.
+ Painting illustrations : ( self - created or purchased ) to introduce and practise new lessons is a mandatory requirement. No illustrations are required to ensure high aesthetics, but there must be a close relationship with the lesson content. If there are no conditions to buy, you can enlarge the illustration in the textbook.
- Need to build a reasonable, scientific lesson plan :
	Teachers need to plan their teacher activities, game activities, time for activities, the requirements of each exercise, and student responses.
- Discussing and discussing teaching plans :
	The effectiveness of the lesson will be improved if the teaching plan is discussed with colleagues before teaching. This work not only brings positive results for the lesson, but other skills have the same results.
b- In terms of students :
	Teacher asks students to be well prepared for the next lesson by :
- Prepare vocabulary and sentence structure for the lesson, the topic of the upcoming lesson.
- Give out of the system of open questions about the lesson that they are about to learn so that students have time to think, learning materials ....
- Ask students to do some exercises related to the content of listening lesson, but for other skills lessons also have the same results.
- Encouraging and encouraging students to be confident, proactive and creative, creating dialogues related to the content of the lesson.
2 - Good implementation of the teaching process :
	The structure of the conversation is completely different from the structure of a reading text. The words of the conversation must be short and concise.
	The main activities of the conversation are to work in pairs, in groups and in roles.
	For a grammar or vocabulary lesson, usually in the course of the lesson, there are three stages : Presentation - Practie - Production. The process of a speaking lesson must also go through three stages : Presentation, Practice, and Production. This teaching process not only helps students understand the lesson but also helps them use speaking skills in real communication. But the prerequisite is that teachers need to clearly identify the goals that require each specific topic to guide students to perform well in the next phases.
* Approach to the conversation :
Steps
Content
Purposes
Activities
Step 1
Presentation
( about 10 - minutes)
- Motivate students' interest.
- Create a need to communicate for students.
- Encourage students to think about the topic they will learn in English.
- Introducing the topic of the conversation, introduce the context and characters.
- Giving suggestions.
- Introducing new words.
Step 2
Practice
( about 20 - minutes)
Help students to : 
 - Understand the content of the conversation.
- Memorize the dialogues of the characters.
 - Know how to apply the structure in the sample conversation to build similar dialogues under the guidance of teachers.
Perform speaking exercises through :
 - Practice with instructors' instructions.
 - Practice freely.
Step 3
Production
( at least 15 - minutes)
- Help students to develop their communication skills.
- Performing exercises.
- Speaking practice through free practice and contact with reality.
* Tips and activities for a conversation teaching steps :
	We can use many different tricks to introduce the conversation in an appropriate and attractive way for each of your specific students. Here are some suggested activities to introduce the conversation :
* PRESENTATION (Introduction) :
	 You can use visualization (Using visuals) : Use pictures or real objects to introduce :
	Use drawings, introduce characters and the context of the conversation.
	Use pictures of characters, introduce characters and context by asking students questions based on pictures to answer.
	Use visual aids such as drawings or real objects, and students build a conversation.
Example : Lesson 6 of English 10 : “An excursion” ( page 68 ) . You can use one of the following activities for the Post - Listening section :
- Use a zoom picture about a group of friends who are planning to go camping. Let's listen to the group's conversation.
- Use a picture of a group of friends : two male friends : Tuan and Hung, three girls : Hoa, Dung, Mai are sitting at Tuan’s house. Ask questions for students to answer basing on the picture. Some of the following suggested questions can be selected :
+ Who is this ? (pointing to Tuan) 
+ Who are they	? (pointing to the rest)
Or : What can you see in the picture ? 
 What is Tuan doing ?
        What are the others doing ?
- Use real objects : 2 backpacks, 1 bag of bread, 2 boxes of milk, drinking water ... Introducing the character and context of the conversation by giving the suggestions and questions, then teacher can play the role with some good students in class. Encourage active groups.
	 You can use cassette tape :
- Turn on the tape for students to listen to the sample conversation.
- Read a sample of conversations according to the voices of the characters in the conversation.
- Work together with students who have a good voice in class to read a similar conversation form.
- Work together with some pretty good students in the class, play the role of a similar conversation model.
* PRACTICE :
- To help students understand and practise conversation more effectively, I often use the following types of activities :
• Ask questions and answers.
• True / False statements.
• Selected exercises (Multiple choice).
• Fill in the appropriate word in the blank (Gap - fill)
• Use similar words and phrases to build a substitutions (controlled practice).
• Use words and groups of similar words to build a similar conversation (free practice).
• Sort questions and answers accordingly (Matching questions and answers).
• Based on the structure of sample dialog, build a situation - based role play.
• Retell the conversation content (In the form of monologue or dialogue - retelling).
	Here are some suggested activities to help students practise speaking skill in the Post – Listening stage of a listening lesson.
Multiple choice for Post - Listening : 
English 10 – Unit 1 : " A Da