Applying sentence frames & sentence starters to speaking and listening teaching in unit 2, experimentary english textbook 10, and unit 1, experimentary english textbook 11

 THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING 
 TINH GIA 2 HIGH SCHOOL
 EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE
APPLYING SENTENCE FRAMES & SENTENCE STARTERS TO SPEAKING AND LISTENING TEACHING IN UNIT 2, EXPERIMENTARY ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 10, AND UNIT 1, EXPERIMENTARY ENGLISH TEXTBOOK 11
 Author: LE THI LIEN
 Position: Teacher
 Subject: English
 THANH HOA, 2017
TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Contents
Page
I- INTRODUCTION
1
1. Rationale
1
2. Aims of the study
2
3. Objects of the study
2
4. Methods of the study
2
II- CONTENTS OF THE STUDY
3
1.Theoretical basis
3
2. Practical basis
3
3. Applying Sentence starters and sentence frames in teaching unit 2 (Grade 10) & Unit 1 (Grade 11)
4-9
4. Results of applying techniques
9
III- CONCLUSION AND RESOLUTION
10
1. Conclusion
10
2. Resolution
10
Reference books
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Appendix 4
Appendix 5
Appendix 6
Appendix 7
I- INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
It goes without saying that English has developed into a world language. It is considered international because of its significance in cultural aspects in not only former Bitish colonies but also in other countries due to integration. Besides, English is regarded as global thanks to the dominance of the language in this information technology age. It is a common knowledge that any modern citizen of this rapidly growing twenty-first century mastering the English language is determined to overpower those who do not. Still, there remain some opponents of this trend who decide to go against the flow to probably avoid the domination of the language and its culture. Notwithstandingly, any practical and serious thinking individual could easily tell how that conservative idea is hardly working at this point now that English has been deeply rooted and undoubtedly here-to-stay in our society. In other words, one, needless to say, greatly depends on English to survive and thrive in this contemporary world. 
The teaching and learning of English; therefore, has been immensely concentrated around the globe. English language is even separated into four distinctive skills to be easily taught to non-native speakers of English. As a child, we learn to listen before we speak, so it is fairly clear that input should come first before output. Novel movements in teaching English language also share the same opinion on placing more attention to the communicative purpose of the language by focusing on Listening and Speaking. 
Reality has showed inconsiderable improvement in learners’ speaking and listening skills accompanied by a bitter truth of these two skills remaining a struggle for English learners. 
The apparently undesirable situation of teaching and learning speaking and listening skills has triggered a passionate need in every teacher or instructor of English language to invent new ideas to combat the problem. As one myself, I have been concerned enough to detect and apply effective techniques to enhancing students’ speaking and listening skills at Tinh Gia 2 High School in many units in Experimentary English textbook, with the aim of enabling my students to easily obtain what they are learning about.
In what follows I shall concentrate on the application of Sentence Starters & Sentence Frames (SS & SF) in teaching unit 2 Listening lesson, experimentary English textbook 10 & Unit1 Speaking lesson, experimentary English textbook 11, by Pearson. 
2. Aims of the study
My theme focuses on making clear about some issues below:
-What do Sentence Starters or Sentence Frames (SS & SF) benefit the language learners?
-How are SS & SF applied?
3. Objects of the study
The objects chosen for my study and application are 10th & 11th grade students of classes 10B7, 11A8, 10C7, 11B7 in Tinh Gia 2 High School, Thanh Hoa province in two school years. These students are eligible to focus on speaking and listening skills before their main subjects in the National Examination and English is not really their interest; therefore, they complete the activities in their English text book in an active way.
4. Methods of the study
The methodololgy used in this experience initiative is experimental. Groups of 168 high school students of 4 classes 10B7, 10C7, 11A8, 11B7 in Tinh Gia 2 high school were involved in the two studies. The applications for classes 10B7, 11A8 were in school year 2015-2016, and 10C7, 11B7 were in school yearo 2016-2017, a pair of 10B7 and 10C7, a pair of 11A8 and 11B7 compared with each other. 
The study is intended to better inform the way teachers prepare SS & SF and to see to what degree the benefits of applying SS & SF extend beyond the groups without any designed activities. 
My study is conducted by qualitative methods, including 
- collecting information about the theme.
- practicing teaching
- observing and assessing.
- analyzing data
By using the combination of these methods, my theme will make clear the questions in this topic, and reach effectively the targets of the essay.
II- CONTENTS OF THE STUDY
1. Theoretical background
According to Linda L Evans, Sentence Frames or Sentence Starters are effective means utilized to build background knowledge as well as to consolidate materials. Even as native English speakers we sometimes struggle with just the right word to explain, describe, clarify, or elicidate what we want to convey. We always understand more than we can speak. One of the best ways to engage English language learners (ELL) in actively acquiring new material is to connect their background knowledge to the new topic. So, lets give them some sentence frames or starters to help them use language.[1]
2. Practical background
It is a matter of fact that the new English textbook, applied experimentarily in some Vietnamese high schools, is a project- based design, including 10 units and 4 reviews. Each unit is relevant to a certain topic and is divided into Getting started, Language, Reading, Speaking, Listening, Writing skills, Communication & Culture, and Looking back & Project. Most of the topics in the books grade 10-12 are designed with real-life situations and modern life in society. Curricula attract and motivate the learners a lot. However, the amount of vocabulary and activities in almost the lessons require a better level of language learners. That’s why, not few teachers have been trying hard to find suitable teaching supplimentary means and, to a certain extent, these means can fulfil the aim of helping students understand and know thoroughly the contents of the lessons. Nevertheless, how will the class be if these techniques are applied in all the lessons? Will the students find it motivating enough to acquire knowledge? Will the completing tasks in the text book help students learn how to take initiative , build their confidence, solve problems, communicate ideas, and manage themselves more effectively? Will the students have chance to build important skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, communication in a variety of media, and speaking as well as presentation skill? More important, will the students be confident enough to be connected with comunities and the real world in the target language? 
SS & SF bearing many good points as mentioned above can help language learning reduce more and more stress. I, therefore, forcedly implemented SS & SF in teaching many units, of which Unit 2 Listening lesson, Experimantary English textbook 10, and Unit 1 Speaking lesson, Experimentary English textbook 11, brought my students and my teaching as well much joyful experience.
3. Applying SS & SF in teaching Unit 2, Listening skill, New English textbook 10 and Unit 1, Speaking skill, New English textbook 11. 
	The kinds of SS & SF can be varied, depending on the real situation in terms of students’ ability and the content of each unit. By my experience in learning and teaching English, I have successfully applied some kinds of SS & SF in teaching many units. Below are some SS & SF-applied activities extracted in two units to illustrate the way I experienced in school year 2016-2017. 
3.1 Applying SS&SF in unit 2, listening skill (Page 21), English 10.
In Unit 2, English 10, Listening skill (Page 21), SS & SF, used as an effective means in Act 4 and Act 5, are designed to help students divide the plate of the food pyramid in the simplest way but the least time-consuming and summarize the plate of food pyramid they have learnt easily. 
To illustrate the way I applied the techniques, I extract activities implemented in the lesson plan. 
UNIT 2: YOUR BODY AND YOU
Lesson 5: LISTENING SKILL: “The Food Pyramid”
V. Procedures
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
Activity 3: (12ms)
Aim: To check students’ comprehension
-Help sts underline key words for each sentence.
-Have sts guess the answer basing on their background knowledge.
-Have students listen to the recording once, require to take notes during their listening.
-Have sts to listen to for the 2nd time
-Check some sts about their taking notes
-Call on students to check their answers
-Give feedback:
-Explain sentence 5 to sts (because it is the most difficult and the key to do Act 4) 
-Lead in Act 4
-------------------------------------------------
*Activity 4: (5ms)
Aim: To develop students’ skill in listening for specific information.
-Have students listen again to divide the plate into sections with the right labels of foods they hear
-Provide sts with sentence starters on screen of the projector to enable them to have anwers easily and correctly 
SENTENCE STARTERS..
1. In our daily diet, half of the plate should be.....
2. A quarter of the plate should be ., and . should be the other quarter.
-Call on some sts to read aloud sentence starters 
-----------------------------------------------
*Activity 5: ( 5ms)
Aim: To wrap up the listening with an expansion to writing using the knowledge and information students have just learnt.
-Provide sts with sentence starters by handouts or on screen of the projector to check their comprehension
SENTENCE STARTERS..
(Appendix 1)
1.Three important group of food to stay healthy are
2.Daily exercises and weight control are ..
3.In your daily diet, half of the plate should be..
4.Whole grains should make up.
5.Fish, poultry, beans and nuts 
-Have sts work in pairs/groups to complete sentence starters
-Call on someone to read aloud their answer
-Give feedback
-Ask sts to write down and study at home
--------------------------------------------------
-underline key words
Key words:
1.The Healthy Eating Pyramid is a complex guide of choosing your diet.
2.Daily exercises and weight control are key to staying healthy according to the Pyramid.
3.You are advised to eat more things on the top of the Pyramid.
4.It’s suggested that half of your plate consists of vegetables and fruit.
5.Fish, poultry, beans and nuts the other half of the dinner plate.
-Guess the answer
-Listen to the recording and take notes
-Do as required
Key Act 3
The Healthy Eating Pyramid is a complex guide of choosing your diet->F(simple)
Daily exercises and weight control are key to staying healthy according to the Pyramid.->T
You are advised to eat more things on the top of the Pyramid.->F (bottom)
It’s suggested that half of your plate consists of vegetables and fruit. ->T 
Fish, poultry, beans and nuts the other half of the dinner plate. ->F ( a quarter) 
---------------------------------------
-Listen to the recording again
-use Sentence starters to give answers
Key Activity 4Vegetables, fruits
Grains Protein 
 Fat
\\
-See the SS&SF given and do as required
-work in pairs/groups
-Write down and self-study at home
3.2 Applying SS&SF in unit 1, Speaking/ skill (Page 11), English 11.
In Unit 1, English 11, Speaking skill (Page 11), SS & SF are designed after Act 2 (Further activity) to check students’ acquisition of phrases learnt which are key words &phrases and ideas as well used to practise in Act 3. 
To illustrate the way applied the technique, I extract the Act implemented in the lesson plan. 
UNIT 1 – THE GENERATION GAP
Lesson 4 – Speaking: “What are conflicts about?”
V. Procedures:
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities
II. While- speaking:
*Activity 2: (7 ms)
Aim: To focus on the ideas and useful language that Sts can use in Act 3 when they talk about their problems with parents.
- Introduce the task
- Ask Ss to read the list of things teenagers and their parents complain about
- Ask sts to work individually to tick the complain they hear in their family.
- Encourage Ss to add some more complains if they can
- Go around to observe and help sts with any new language they may need to express their ideas
- Ask some sts to talk about their ideas after the model by the teacher (as parents) and two good students (as children).
Model: 
T: My children dress badly and have ugly hairstyles.
St 1: My parents don’t respect my privacy.
St 2: my parents don’t listen to my opinions. 
- Listen and give feedback: answers can vary
* Further activity: (4ms) Game playing
Aim: To give chance for sts to repeat conflicts between parents and children happening almost in families, also to help them engrave useful language for confident practice 
-Introduce the game
-Divide the class into 6 groups of 7. 
-Numerate the members in each group.
(No 1, 3, 5, 7 are children. No 2, 4, 6 are parents. Sts as parents sit near one another, given Handouts (SS & SF) of uncompleted sentences of complaining about their children, so do Sts as children)
-Ask sts to close books, give out SS & SF Handouts, and tell them what to do
-Check up what Sts have to do
Handouts: (Appendix 2)
Groups of parents
N2
My children .and have ugly hairstyles.
N4
My children spendon their and computers.
N6
My children don’t ...
Groups of chldren
N1
My parents don’t let me I want.
N3
My parents don’t respect..
N5
My parents want me to ..
N7
My parents keep.with their friends’ children.
-Have sts to work in groups
-Go round & help
-Call on pairs (N1 with N2, and so on) to represent before class
-Give feedback
-Ask Sts to exchange their SS & SF with the other role, and give them time to get ideas
------------------------------------------------------
* Activity 3: (10 ms)
- Introduce the task
- Get Ss to read the “Helpful expressions” (Explain some phrases if necessary)
- Ask Ss to work in pairs practice talking about the problems they have with their parents and giving advice, using SS & SF Handouts given in Act 2.
- Go around to help sts if necessary.
-Ask some pairs to role-play their conversation
- Listen and give feedback on their performance
-------------------------------------------------------
- Listen to the T.
- Read the list
- Tick the conflicts they have in their family
- Add some more if possible
- Listen to and talk about their ideas
-Listen to game introduction
-Get SS& SF Handouts
-Respond
-Discuss and help one another
-work in pairs
-Listen to
-Exchange handouts
-----------------------------
- Listen to the teacher
- Read the expressions
- Work in pairs
- Do the role-play
-------------------------------
4. Results of applying SS & SF in teaching unit 2, English 10, and unit 1, English 11.
The fact that New English textbooks 10 and 11 are only experimented in some classes narrows me from my assessing results. However, application was carried out in two classes for each unit, 10B7 (2015-2016) with 10C7 (2016-2017), and 11A8 (2015-2016) with 11B7 (2016-2017). Undoubtedly, the SS&SF-applied classes produced better results compared with classes without this application. 
In order to assess the effectiveness of applying SS & SF to teaching unit 2, Listening skill (English 10), I conducted a thirty-minute test for paragraph- writing (Appendix 3), also for Unit 1, Speaking skill (English 11) with a fifteen-minute oral test (Appendix 4), and then I compared the scores, analyzed the data by a table of score levels (Appendix 5)
Before using this technique, most of my students could traditionally complete all the taks in the text book, with the help of their teacher. However, they easily forgot the vocabularies, the topic as well as the contents of the unit. It seemed that after each lesson, students did not really understand the deeplysinked part in the unit. 
Clearly, when applying applying SS & SF to teaching in general and teaching two units in particular, my students enjoyed working together to create their groups’ outcomes, they seemed to be very eager for each unit because they 
remembered main ideas and useful language to communicate with friends and teacher in English with confidence.
Here, I felt the sense that activities were done more easily with the support of vocabulary or repetition of useful languages they had chance to embed during their experience. In detail, when students did the 15 minute test for listening skill, they gave their answers faster and more correctly. Therefore, they could use foreign language to give advice for a better diet, basing on knowledge learnt in the food pyramid. Also, students presented their talking about conflicts with fewer mistakes but more confidence and activeness thanks to vocabulary and key phrases engraved. 
III- CONCLUSION
1. Conclusion
Language teaching needs innovations without ease. It is no longer a process of floating the “iceberg”. To integrate in the modern society, students need to be equipped with important skills. Accordingly, urgent requirements should be made to help student acquire knowledge actively, practice their skills and solve the problems with confidence. Applying other techniques in teaching language to reduce stress for low-level students and to mark the learners’ mind becomes significant. It is the teacher’s role that help students can find out the main ideas, enrich their vocabulary, and apply them to real life situations 
Besides, changes is also shown as the role of the teacher from the provider into a consultant; students will fulfil the demand of knowledge themselves. It is clearly that in my class, with SS & SF, each unit indeed is appealling to students. When students practice speaking or writing about good advice for a better diet or about conflicts happening in their families, they are able to expand their vocabulary and evaluate their listening and speaking skills. 
SS & SF is an easy technique to prepare, it doesnot take time and money for teachers. With this means, students are insprired to obtain a deeper knowledge of the topics they are studying. When designing or planning SS & SF for any activity, it has got to fulfill some criteria. Firstly, SS&SF must focus on main objective of the Act. Secondly, it must help reduce stress of vocabulary for learners. In addition, it must be applied practically and easily in many classroom lessons
2. Suggestion
Basing on practical teaching New English Textbook 10, 11 in two school-years, I suggest that foreign language learning classes should be equipped with such modern facilities as projectors, headphones, and TV sets to motivate students by exciting lessons with pictures and useful links for foreign language learning and teaching. 
This is my little experience to help students find learning in acquiring actively by themselves. I hope to receive your reading and comments as well as contribution to make this theme more perfect so that it can be applied widely.
Thanks for your reading!
THE CONFIRMATION OF 
THE HEAD MASTER
Thanh Hoa, May 25th 2017.
Author
 Lê Thị Liên
REFERENCES
 Bibliography:
1.[1]Submitted On December 14, 2007, Article Source: 
2. Exprimentary English textbooks 10, 11 by Pearson
APPENDIX
APPENDIX 1 : 
ENTENCE STARTERS
Three important group of food to stay healthy are..
Daily exercises and weight control are .
In your daily diet, half of the plate should be
Whole grains should make up...
Fish, poultry, beans and nuts ....
APPEND