Effectively applying some methods of developing English communication capacity for students in Nga Tien primary school

 1. PREAMBLE
1.1 Reasons for the topic
As you know, the teaching and learning English in the school has changed a lot in terms of content as well as teaching methods to meet the goals and educational requirements set for this subject. in the reform program. The most fundamental point about the new approach is how to promote students' activeness and initiative and create optimal conditions for them and improve their language skills in communication in both oral and written forms. No matter what kind of communication you have, you need to have strong knowledge, not just the knowledge of pure language.
As an English teacher in elementary school for over 10 years, I always worry about how to teach qualitatively and effectively. To do that requires the teacher to apply methods into diverse and rich articles, making language lessons always exciting, attractive, attractive children, help them to play “All teachers are able to guide and guide students to become self-reliant in their study”. So I’m pleased to introduce: “Effectively applying some methods of developing English communication capacity for students in Nga Tien primary school ”
1.2 The aim for research
The primary environment is the fundamental place forming habits and communication capacities. Frequent communication results in braveries for students without fears of making mistakes in public speaking. As for students lacking proficiency in the mother tongue language, they had a lot of difficulties in getting access to a foreign language. Their timidity makes oral communication limited greatly. and I also expect to contribute a part to English teaching more effectiveness and attract more students in loving this subject.
1.3 Object of research
- The students of our school – Nga Tien primary school of the school year 2017 – 2018.
- In the process of teaching and learning foreign languages. Methods are extremely important. This is creating excitement for an effective lesson.
+ Stable grades : allow students some time to be able to adapt to the new post.
+ Psychological preparation , new knowledge for all.
+ Arouse the knowledge available to students related need for a new lesson.
+ Create situations , contexts introduce new post.
1.4 Method of study
- I’d like to give out the method getting to know approach, questioning, opening – conversation methods.
 - Stemming from my orientation on the proposed implementation of the following measures:
- Instruct students to share knowledge recall reading - speaking practice of the lesson learned.
- Strengthen the sense both sides as well as the form of words. Captures the characteristics of each sample questions, first of all to achieve their best performance in the semester, each school year.
- In addition, the small tracks are also used for entertainment in order to create a playful, exciting learning or to teach them the lessons illustrate vocabulary, accent, rhythm, and a points of English grammar, help them memorize more easily. There by fostering pure soul, love of culture and beauty of foreign languages ​​in general and the beauty of the English subjects in particular, to help them shape and personality development skills and comprehensive better.
2. CONTENT INITIATIVES EXPERIENCE
2.1 The theoretical basic of problem
For years, the teaching method for kids has been similar to one for adults apart from supplementing some songs and games into lectures. It’s clear that the receptive process of our mother tongue language and the next process in the school period are natural. Language capacity is generated by imitating, unconscious learning through different forms such as communicating with relatives, reading stories, connecting with communities, singing, reading poems, painting, etc. The difference of children’s receptive process in comparison with adults is that adults’ receptiveness is conscious and annalistic but children’s one is natural via intuition. 
There are two kinds of material languages which almost every learner needs develop: receptive language and productive language. Receptive language is the language factor possibly realized and not produced by learners. Productive language is the language factor possibly used in speaking or writing. Students will become familiar with realizing new factors through situations if those are repeated many times. To practice using the receptive language, students have to learn how to reflex with new words naturally. In curriculums, grammars are sentences or questions and answers practiced more than once. It is essential that samples are given clearly and fully for students to understand what they have to do in some class activities. 
2.2. The current situation of problem
According to the regulation of Ministry of Education and Training, every child is permitted to study two lessons with 35 minutes per lesson. Several qualified schools could have more lessons, four lessons per week. Hence, the period for students to get access to English is obviously short in comparison with the total communicating hours every week. Moreover, English environment is restricted in classroom hours and students use Vietnamese when lessons end. Children don’t actually need to use English except for the requirement of studying and examination. All the requirements using English are practical and there isn’t other natural English environment for children. 
Children are unable to concentrate on what teachers are delivering in a long period. Consequently, they should be engaged in different activities, to perform various tasks by themselves with exercise types always changed and diversified communication situations.
Children often obtain and imitate knowledge quickly and also forget what have learned quickly. They are naturally curious, dynamic and creative. Children always demand to discover outside environment and interact with others. It cannot be denied that they are interested and creative in games.
In fact, even native children run into difficulties in pronouncing several English sounds like r, tr, sh, and th and their pronunciation could be fully correct when they grow up. The importance of the initial stage is developing simple communication capacity in a new language without creating fears of making mistakes, which significantly affect on students’ motivations for studies. There is one factor basically impacting on language studying process: children will not study without motivation. 
- Almost all students pronounce word stress incorrectly.
Example: ‘underground, ‘holiday, en‘vite, etc.
- In addition, they haven’t been able to pronounce words with s, z, p, k but these suonds are very important
Example: /s/ -> its, excuse
 /z/ -> please, He’s 
 /p/ -> pen, pencil, pet
 /k/ -> close, milk, like 
- Students also read incorrectly. Most of them do not remember vocabulary, especially long words .
Example: vocabulary, playground, baminton, interesting, difficult..
- Students’ communication is not fluently due to fears of making mistakes. Their ability to form a completed sentence is not still good. They still confuse with the position of word class (verbs, preposition, adjectives, nouns and questioning words, etc.)
Example: I go to school.
 There’s a chair in the room.
 That is my new school.
 What’s your name?	
	The statistic result at the beginning of this school year through directly interviewing students at grade 3, 4 and 5 at Nga Tien Primary School.
Total No. of students
Good
Quite good
Medium
Weak
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
No.
%
54 (grade 3)
3
5.5
9
16.8
33
61
9
16.7
55 (grade 4)
3
5.4
9
16.3
28
51
15
27.3
63 (grade 5)
3
4.8
9
14.3
35
55.5
16
25.4
With the result above, from early school year, I always try to find the best methods to design interesting lectures inspiring students so that they could turn what they have learned into productive language via oral communication, integrate with the developing tendency of foreign language subject: learning a foreign language is learn how to communicate but not focusing on grammar as in the past. 
2.3. Solutions and implementing orgnization
2.3.1. Creating attraction from the beginning of the lessons with interesting introduction:
A new lesson often starts with introduction regarded as a preparation which generates a fresh mind for students. An emotional, imagery, vivid introduction would make students become really eager for studying, discover and engaging in the lesson. Perhaps, we accumulate attractive ways in the opening to contribute to the success of the lesson. I carried out several methods introducing a new lesson as following:
Example: Unit 2: What’s your name? (English grade 3):
 “Hello everyone, when we learned English from the very first day, the first and basic task for us is to learn by heart the alphabet from letter A to letter Z. And there are many ways we can apply to remember the 26 letters. You can learn through lots of ways like songs, poems or playing games. And now, let’s start our new lesson”.
2.3.2. Developing communication through team work
	Team teaching is an active method in which, the number of students is divided into groups in certain ways. In each group, students have chances to boost listening and speaking skill and learn from one another. They will be more confident in communicating in a foreign language.
Example: Unit 9: What are they doing?. (English grade 4)
+ Teachers ask students to work in group in part “Look and say”. Then, a pair of representatives in each group go to the board, point to the picture, ask and answer. 
+ Each group understands what they have to do is applying two sentence structures: “What’s he/she doing?” and “He’s/ She’s ” to practice questioning and answering.
- Under the assignment of group leaders, each member in the groups have to understand what he/she has to perform and actively participate in group activities at the same time.
Example:
+ According to the request of the above practicing exercise, a class is divided into some certain groups (6 students per group) and is organized as following:
+ The group leader assigns as:
- Pair 1 questions and answers about picture A and picture B:
- Pair 2 questions and answers about picture C and picture D: 
+ The group leader asks Pair 1 to practice and the rest of groups to listen.
- Then, take turn to group 2. Therefore, every member could listen and practice the whole lesson.
- If any member in one group is confused and unable to practice fluently, he/she will be supported by the group leaders and other members in the group.
* Teacher should divide the class into groups with students’ relatively equal learning capacity. In each team, communication skill of members has to cover all of 4 levels: good, quite good, medium and weak.
- Appointing students with very good English capacity to different groups for controlling the practicing process.
* Teachers should care for, encourage students with weak learning capacity and give complements, reward ones with good performance.
Ask and answer about zoo animals (Unit 9, English 5).
Talk about the weather
 (Unit 19, English 3).
2.3.3. Developing communication through activities in the reflection chain
 In teaching vocabularies, teachers could use cards for students to have more opportunities of practice. The method could be applied in almost all English vocabularies.
Unit 4: My phonics grade 1)
Unit 3: My phonics grade 1)
During practicing process, teachers always need to change, alternate between practicing inflection in individual and in group. In practicing inflection 
in individual, teachers should pick students at random and maintain practicing at high speed to attract students’ concentration.
Example: Unit 9: What colour is it? ( English grade 3).
 While the teachers hold word cards about colors and rotate the cards quickly, the students concentrate on the cards attentively and pronounce the rotated words without delaying. By this way in one picture after another, students will form English speaking reflection very naturally. In another way, the teacher could move the picture up, down, to the left and to the right. In each movement, the students read one time. Continuing poses, their eyes look at the pictures and their mouth pronounces the equivalent word at the same time.
Whole class: “ blue”
Whole class: “ red”
Apart from the above way using vivid images, teachers possibly let students observe one letter by one of a word.
Example: Unit 9: What colour is it? ( English grade 3).
 Teachers use a word card with “yellow” but only reveal letter y first, then ask students to think and guess the color word. As for students at lower learning capacity, teachers could further reveal with e, then reveal l, then reveal l then reveal o, and w.
 Whole class: “ yellow”
 Whole class: “ red”
- And the teachers use a word card with “red” but only reveal letter r first, then ask students to think and guess the color word. As for students at lower learning capacity, teachers could further reveal with e, and d.
- In chain practice, we use objects or pictures as suggesting factors. A picture or an object is shown for the first student with involved questions. The student answers the questions. The turn belongs to the second students with the same questions but some certain factors changed. The chain practice is done until all the students have a chance to practice questioning and answering. The class should be divided into small groups with from 3 to 4 students per group. The practicing task is implemented in each group.
Example: Unit 11: What time is it? (English grade 4).
T: (showing the clock pointing hours for the first student) and ask 
What time is it?
S1: It’s seven o’clock (adjusting the clock into another time (for example It’s is 5’clock) What time is it? (picking a student to change the word in to subject at 
the third person and in single form.)
Example: 
 T: go. I go to school at seven o’clock
 Ss: goes. He goes to school at seven o’clock
- In this task, we could practice the whole sentences. 
T: I get up at six o’clock.
 Ss: She gets up at six o’clock.
2.3.4. Organizing games flexibly in communicating activities
A new teaching method could create an amount of inspiration and creativities for teachers. Each teacher has his own unique creativities during teaching process. If teachers repeat the same method in every lesson, students will get bored and even feel that lessons come as normally without inspiration and expectation. 
Games are also considered to be an important entertainment form. In fact, they could be used to consolidate material languages as shown above by the method attracting students. In all every form, games could perform functions of exercises of practicing skills because we can review and introduce material languages in funny and well-organized ways through games. The method of skill practicing section often goes with repeating with teacher-centered. The method takes effects when students learn new words and sentence structures. On the contrary, games are often open-ended and student-centered.
There are various types of games. Several ones focus on vocabularies or sentence structures. And there are games promoting both vocabularies and sentence structure. Here are several games that I usually apply into my lecture in my class: 
* Games for Drilling Vocabulary
Example: Unit 11: What time is it?. (English grade 4).	
 The teacher reads “It’s eight twenty - five.”. Two students of two groups run to the board, adjust the hands of the clock correctly with time as requested and repeat 
the sentence. The faster is the winner.
It’s eight twenty - five.
+ Charades 
This activity could be implemented in different forms but all the forms are aimed at expressing meaning through gestures. The simplest way to play the game is that word cards or pictures are upside down in a pile. One student takes a card at the top of the pile without reavealing what the word is to the classmates and all of the students guess the word. In another more simple method without using word cards or pictures, the teacher will whisper the word to a student. Then, the student continues to do the same steps above. 
Example: Unit 19: What animal do you want to see? (English grade 4).
The teacher divides the class into two groups. When there is a signal of the teacher, one member in each group runs quickly to the picture equivalent to his group to see what the animal is and takes actions for friends and ask their friends to guess the animal’s name or makes sentence with the animal based on the already learned structure. Which group speaking correctly and more quickly is the winner. 
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are a crocodile.
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are an elephant.
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are a giraffe.
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are a monkey.
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are a monkey.
 S: What am I?
Classmates: You are a hippo.
+ Concentration 
This activity helps students construct memorizing capacity by themsleves. Students are splited into pairs or 3-4 person gourps. Each group receives two sets of pictures and put the upside down without any order. In each time, one student turns two pictures and has to look for the two same pictures and read the words loud in the pictures. If the two pictures are matched, the student gets one point and keeps the two pictures.
* Several games for practicing sentenstructures :
+ Column
In order to distinguish singular nouns, plural nouns; distinguish present verbs, past verbs, ...
Example: Unit 8: This is my pen. (English grade 3).
To further distinguish about the sentences structures having been learned, the teacher write to the board as following:
 This is a
These are 
pencil
rubbers
	Teacher selects five students to rank in the middle of the class vertically. When teacher reads (or changes picture) a plural noun, students quickly run to the correlative position in the board. When teacher reads (or changes the picture) a singular noun, students run to the rest side.
distinguish singular nouns, plural nouns
+ Beanbag Circle 
- It can be applied for the list of words (or sentences) based on specific topics as Jobs, animals, clothes and so on. Students ranks in circle. Student 1 tosses a ball or beanbag for student 2 and makes question. Student 2 answers the question and quickly tosses the ball for student 3 and makes question. The activity is continually conducted until all team members are taken their turn. (Class can be divided into small groups and the game is conducted in groups at 
the same time).
+ Find your Partner 
The activity helps student stand the chance of using language according to particular context. 2 lists of ballots with the same numbers are used. Each student receives a ballot and the ballot needs keeping secret. Students walk around class and find the same ballot them them. The requirement is to make a question related to the content of the student’s ballot.
Example: Unit 5: Can you swim? (English Grade 4).
For instance, student who has the word “dance” can question their friends as “Can you dance?” The respondent answers “Yes, I can” means that he/she has the same ballot with question makers.
Find your partner
Find your partner
 + Living Sentence or Dialogue 
 Teacher divides class into 2 teams; marks the line of beginning and 2 target lines in the other side. When the signal “Go” of teacher is spoken out, each student in each team quickly makes hopscotch (or runs) from the beginning line to the target line to take picture and then returns to give teacher. When giving teacher the picture, student has to say about the picture-related content.
Living sentence 
Living sentence 
Living sentence 
Living sentence 
* Games for Drilling Vocabulary and Structures 
+ Guessing Game 
- Class is divided into two teams. Small learning tools (pencil, eraser, pen, ruler, an