Guiding students to solve exercises about making sentences

PART ONE:	 INTRODUCTION
 THE REASONS FOR CHOOSING TOPIC
 Nowadays, English has become an international language because it is widely used in many parts of the world. In the tendency of integration of the global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools for everybody. The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields of economics, politics, science, culture and education. Especially, Vietnam’s official membership of WTO on 7th November 2006 opened a new door for integrating into the world economy, and more and more people want to learn English for communicating with foreign partners, tourism, study tours, etc.
 In recent years, English has become a compulsory subject in secondary education programme and it is one of three main subjects in GCSE examinations. In upper secondary school English programme, each unit is divided into five lessons with language focus and four skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing . Writing is an impotant skill that is always used in General Certificate of Secondary Education, and competitions for gifted students. Writing exercises usually account for 20% of the total score of the tests. However, many students have difficulties in doing the exercises that require writing skill in English, and some even ignore doing them so that their results are always low. Writing is always thougth to be a difficult skill, so teachers and students only pay their attention to other exercises, not writing ones.
     Therefore; I choose the topic " Guiding students to solve exercises about making sentences" in my experience initiative to help them reinforce and practice grammar effectively and achieve good results in the exams. 
PART TWO:	 CONTENT
I. Theoretical basis.
 	Writing is one of four important skills that are used in almost important examinations, especially in the English test of GCSE examination, it accounts for 20% of the total score. However, writing seems to be the most difficult skill. When learning it, they find it very hard and they tend to ignore writing exercises. In examinations, when scoring their papers, we realize that, most of students avoid doing writing part or if they do it, the answers are not correct. In my topic, I only focus on some theoretical problems, some basic exercises about writing and some simple ways to make sentences so that the students can do the exercises related to writing skill in English. When they can make different types of sentences, they will be able to write a paragraph or an essay, which will help them do all the writing exercises in examinations and it is certain that their scores will be higher.
II. Scope of research.
I applied this experience initiative for teaching 10 and 11 grade at Trieu Son 1 upper school. They are students of classes 10A8,11C1 and 11C7.
III. Factual basis.
 I researched this topic based on the following aspects: 
                - Based on actual teaching. 
                - Based on some references about writing. 
                - Based on the opinions of the colleagues.
     Before making the topic, I had a test to examine the quality of the students of the classes 10A8,11C1 and 11C7 at Trieu Son I high school. I obtained the following results:
Class
Number of students
Excelent
Good
Average
Weak
Number of students
%
Number of students
%
Number of students
%
Number of students
%
10A8
50
5
10%
16
32%
15
30 %
14
2%
11C1
42
3
7%
13
31 %
14
33.4%
12
28.6%
11C7
41
4
10%
12
29.2%
11
26.8%
14
34%
IV. Solutions.
Parts of a sentence 
To make a sentence, students have to understand what forms a sentence. In general, a sentence includes following basic parts of speech: subject, verb, complement, modifier. However, not all senentences have all these parts. Some sentences have three parts, some have two and the others have only one verb. 
. Subject
Subject is the agent in a sentence, it can be a pronoun, a proper name, a noun or a noun phrase. Subject is usually at the beginning of the sentence and it decides the form of the verb following it.
Examples: 
Flowers are beautiful ( “flowers” is a noun )
That new red car is mine ( “That new red car” is a noun phrase)
 	 In some situations, when there is no real subject in the sentence, “It” or “ there” will be the subject
Examples: 
It is a nice day today
There is someone at the door
In English, every sentence has a subject, even imperative sentence. In this kind of sentences, subject is understood the listener, even if it doesn’t appear.
. Verb
Verb is an integral part of a sentence.There are two types of verbs: action verbs and state verbs. It can be a verb or a verb phrase. A verb phrase includes a verb and particles ( maybe one or two )
Examples:
I usually play badminton ( action verb)
He feels happy	 ( state verb)
This food tastes delicious ( state verb)
I tasted the food carefully ( action verb)
I have seen Mr Brown	 ( action verb)
They are looking for their car key. ( verb phrase)
My mother takes care of us. ( verb phrase) 
. Complement
Complement is a word or a phrase that refers to the object influenced by subject. Like a subject, a complement is always a noun or a noun phrase without a preposition at the beginning. However, a complement usually follows a verb or a verb phrase. Not all sentences have a complement. It is used for the answers to “ What” or “ Whom” questions.
Examples:
John bought a car yesterday. 
( What did John buy yesterday?)
Jill wants to drink some water. 
( What does Jill want to drink?)
I met her at the party last night. 
( Whom do you meet at the party last night?)
. Modifier 
 Modifier is a word or a phrase that refers to time, place or manner of an action. Not all sentences have a modifier. It can be an adverb, an adverbial phrase or a prepositional phrase. A prepositional phrase starts with a preposition an ends with a noun . A modifier can be used for the answers to “ When”, “ Why”, and “ How” questions. One sentence may have more than one modifier. Then, adverb of time will be at the end of the sentence.
 He went to Da Lat last summer.
 ( adverbial phrase – when did he go to Da Lat?)
 My mother is in the kitchen. 
( prepositional phrase – Where is your mother?)
 He can play the piano well. 
( adver of manner- How can he play the piano?)
 They sang beautifully at the competition last Sunday 
 Manner place time
2. Types of sentences:
Basing on their functions, sentences are devided into four types: statement, interrogative sentences, exclamative sentence and imperative sentence
2.1. Statement: 	S + V + (complement) + (modifier) 
This is the most popular kind of sentences. It is used to convey information. It can be affirmative or negative. 
Examples:
1. David plays the piano.
2. The boy doesn't learn English.
2.2.  Interrogative sentences. 
2.2.1.  Yes/No question: the answer to this kind of question is always “ yes” or “ no”. To make this kind of question, we need to invert the auxiliary verb or modal verb to the beginning of sentence.
Aux./ modal verb + S + V + ( complement) + ( modifier)?
Examples:
Is he a doctor? Yes, he is./No, he isn't.
Does he like coffee? Yes, he does./No, he doesn't. 
Can you speak English? Yes, I can./No, I cannot.
2.2.2. Negative questions: This kind of question begins with a negative form of an auxiliary or a modal verb. And the answer is usually “ No”
Aux./ modal verb + not + S + V + ( complement) + ( modifier)?
Examples:
1. Isn't she a student at this university? – No, she isn’t
2. Doesn't he like black coffee?	- No, he doesn’t
3. Can’t they speak english?	- No, they can’t
2.2.3. WH- questions: this question starts with one of the following words: what, why, where, when, how, who, whom, which, whose .
+ Wh- word is the subject : Wh + V+ ( complement) + ( modifier)?
 Examples:
1.What is this?
2.Who is in the room?
+ Wh- word is not the subject: Wh+ aux./ modal verb+ S + V
Examples:
1.What did you do last night?
2. Why do you learn English?
3. How does she learn English?
2.2.4. Alternative question
Examples:
1.Are you Vietnamese or English? I'm Vietnamese. 
2.Do you learn English or Russian at school? I learn English.
2.3. Exclamative sentence:
 This kind of sentences is used to express feeling or emotion. And it is used with "what, how"
2.3.1. What +(a/an) + adj + noun!
Examples:
1.What a clever boy he is!
2. What beautiful flowers! 
3. What tight shoes!
4.What beautiful weather!
5. What delicious food they served!
6. What a lovely house they have!
2.3.2. How + adj/adv + S + V!
1.How cold it is!
2.How quickly he ran!
2.4. Imperative sentence:
2.4.1. V- inf.+ ( complement) + ( modifier)?
Examples:
1.Go out! 
2. Open your book, please! 
3. Hurry up! 
4. Have a piece of this cake. It's delicious.
2.4.2. Don’t + v-inf. + ( complement) + ( modifier)?
Examples:
Don’t make too much noise in the room.
Don’t do it again.
3. Exercises of making a sentence
3.1. Answer the questions: 
Giving questions for students to answer is a basic activity that any teachers apply in their teaching. 
This kind of exercise can be used in oral test, or during a lesson. Not only does it improve the ability of making sentence, but it is also very good for them to practise listening and speaking skills. When they answer the questions in writing or speaking,it means that they are making sentences. The teacher should start with simple questions and then give more and more difficult ones
Examples:
 When starting Unit 1, English 10 with the topic “ A day in the life of”, a familiar topic for student, I usually ask some students to answer the questions about their daily routines and they are eager to answer.
What time do you usually get up in the morning? 
What do you do after that?
How many lessons do you often have a day?
What do you do in the afternoon?
Can you tell me what you do in the evening?
..
Examples:
In Language focus part of unit 2 , English 10, students have to revise how to make “ Wh- questions”. At the beginning of the lesson, I often ask them some questions with “wh”:
What time is it now?
How often do you play sports?
When were you born?
What subjects do you like?
Who are you learning English with?
What does your father/ mother do?
How many brothers/ sisters do you have?
Why do you like English?
How far is it from your house to your school?
Where is your house?
These questions are simple and related to their life, so they can answer correctly and frequently, which makes them feel confident. Then I give them more difficult sentences and guide them to make questions for underlined parts. 
 Examples:
 English 10, Unit 9- Undersea world . Before reading, I ask the students to answer some questions:
How many oceans are there in the world?
Can you name some sea animals that you know?
How many percentage of the Earth’s surface is covered by the water?
	Giving questions is also very effective when teaching reading or listening skills. After students have finished the lesson, I usually ask them to close their books and answer my questions associated with what they have learnt.
Examples:
In Listening part of Unit 11: National Park, English 10, I ask the students some questions at the end of the lesson: 
Where is Cuc Phuong national Park?
When was cuc Phuong National park officially opened?
Which ethnic minority live in Cuc Phuong?
Whose army was stationed there before it made its surprise attack on Thang Long?
3. 2. Translation. 
From my point of view, it is sometimes neccessary to use Vietnamese to teach English, especially for the first level students or weak students. This may make them feel more confident in learning a foreign language. We can use Vietnamese in explaination to convey the meaning of the language that they are learning. And then we can ask them to translate English into Vietnamese and vice versa
While teaching, I usually ask my students to translate some sentences to practice the grammatical structures or new words/ phrares that they have learnt. This is a good way to enrich vocabulary and remember structures.
 To distinguish the different uses of “ used to/ be used to/ get used to” , I give them the following exercises: ( Unit 4, English 10)
	 Examples: Translate into English:
Tôi thường dậy sớm để học bài khi còn là học sinh.
->I used to get up early to revise my lesson when I was a student.
Tôi quen với việc dậy sớm để học bài.
-> I am used to getting up early to revise my lesson.
Tôi bắt đầu quen với với việc dậy sớm để học bài.
-> I get used to getting up early to revise my lesson.
Con dao này được dùng để cắt bánh mì.
-> This knife is used to cut bread./ This knife is used for cutting bread.
These phrases are very familiar but the students may be confused when using them. When they do the exercise, they can easily distinguish the differences between them.
To help them remember a group of words or phrases that have the similar meaning, I also use this kind of exercise:
 Examples: Translate the following sentences into English, use the phrases:
+ be in danger of extinction
+ become extinct
+ at risk
+ be threatened
Cá heo đang gặp nguy hiểm bởi vì sự săn bắt quá mức ( Unit 9, English 10)
-> Dolphins are at risk due to overhunting.
Nhiều loài động vật đang có nguy cơ bị tuyệt chủng. ( Unit 10, English 11)
->Many species of animals are in danger of extinction.
Thiên nhiên đang bị đe dọa ( unit 10, English 10)
-> Nature is being threatened.
Khủng long đã tuyệt chủng hàng ngàn năm trước đây.
-> Dinorsaurs became extinct thousands years ago.
This kind of exercise can be used in oral test, homework or during the lesson. And the content should be based on the knowledge that the students have known, or they can infer, sometimes. Or you can fix some information about the fact or history into the sentences
 Examples:
1 . Có nhiều nguồn năng lượng thay thế, ví dụ như: năng lượng mặt trời, địa nhiệt, năng lượng hạt nhân.. ( Unit 11, English 11)
-> There are a lot of alternative sources of energy, such as solar energy, geothemal heat, nuclear power..
2. Thành Cổ Loa được xây dựng theo hình xoắn ốc. ( Unit 16, English 11) 
-> Co Loa citadel was built in spiral form.
3. Quốc Tử Giám được xem là trường đại học đầu tiên ở Việt Nam
-> Quoc Tu Giam is considered to be the first university in Viet Nam.
4. Phạm Tuân là người Việt Nam đầu tiên bay vào vũ trụ.
-> Pham Tuan was the first Vietnamese person to fly into space
5. Neil Amstrong là người đầu tiên đặt chân lên mặt trăng
-> Neil Amstrong was the first person to st foot on the moon.
Asking students to translate some sentences in Vietname songs or poems into English is also an interesting exercise. Teacher should choose some popular songs or poems for them to translate. It will give comfortable atmostphere to the whole class
Examples: When teaching “Conditonal sentences type 2”, I ask them to make English sentences for the following Vietnamese ones in the song “ Tu Nguyen”, composed by musician Truong Quoc Khanh
Nếu là chim tôi sẽ là loài bồ câu trắng
-> if I were a bird, I would be a white dove.
Nếu là hoa tôi sẽ là một đóa hướng dương 
-> If I were a flower, I would be a sunflower.
Nếu là mây tôi sẽ là một vầng mây ấm
->If I were cloud, I would be a warm cloud.
Most of the students have listened to this song, and they are eager to do the task. When doing it, they can rememer the use of conditional sentence type 2. 
3.3. Reordering the words/ phrases to make meaningful sentences
 This kind of exercises is widely used in many tests. All the given words and phrases are jumbled. Students have to reorder them into the correct positions without adding or changing words. To do this exercise well, students must understand the structure of the sentences and the uses of parts of speech clearly. This will help them identify the words and their functions and they can reorder them correctly. 
3.3.1. For weak students, teachers should give them simple sentences that they can do. Don’t give them too complicated ones, which will make them feel depressed. 
Examples:
up/ early/ in/ I/ always/ the/ get/ morning.
-> I always get up early in the morning
subjects/ you/ How many/ studying/ school/ at/ are?
->How many subjects are you studying at school?
learning/ you/ do/ Why/ English/ like?
-> Why do you like learning English?
practises/ every day/ Lan/ speaking/ English.
-> Lan practises speaking English every day.
going/ How about/ for/ out/ dinner?
-> How about going out for dinner.
All the sentences above are very simple. Students can apply what they have learnt to do this task, such as: like + v-ing, practise + v-ing, how about + v-ing 
3.3.2. For intermediate and advanced learners, the exercises, of course, must be more difficult. Sometimes, they need to think much when doing them.
Examples:	
 to be / are /many / understanding/ that There /seem /beyond / our / mysteries.
->There are many mysteries that seem to be beyond our understanding.
lecture /attending / regretted/ the /last / Peter/ week/ not.
->Peter regretted not attending the lecture last week.
so / got on /time /for /the / passengers / to /leave / It / all /the / was / train /board.
->It was time for the train to leave so all the passengers got on board.
 of /We / because/ our/ upset/ failure/ were.
->We were upset because of our failure.
badly /policeman / damaged/ accident/ to /the /whose /The/ car /had/ talking/ was /been /in/ the / man
->The policeman was talking to the man whose car had been badly damaged in the accident.
Building sentences by using the given words or phrases.
Because of its difficulties, not many teachers are not interested in using this exercise in the tests. From the words or phrases given, students have to make a meaning sentences. Firstly, they must understand the meaning of the words and phrases that are given and their uses. Then they need to identify the grammatical structure that will be used. When making the sentence, they may have to add some more words and change some given words. It is not an easy task for students. However, it is an effective way to improve their use of language if the teachers design suitable exercises for them. This is a very important step to help them do this kind of exercise correctly. We should use this kind of exercise in oral test, in writing test or homework. The level of difficulties must depend on the knowledge of the students.
3.4.1. For weak students, the exercise must be on what they have known/ have learnt and the signals must be very clear for them to infer.
Examples:
They/ build/ new/ hospital/ city/ at the moment
->They are building a new hospital at the moment.
In this sentences, the adverbial phrase “ at the moment” helps students identify the tense easily.
If/ it/ rain/ I/ not/ go/ out/ tomorrow.
->If it rains, we will not go out tomorrow
The words “ if” and “ tomorrow” are clear signals for conditional type 1
Mai/ be/ beautiful/ than/ her/ sister
->Mai is more beautiful than her sister
The word “ than” in this example refers to comparative.
He/ enjoy/ play/ football/ afternoon
->He enjoys playing football in the afternoon.
Students remember the structure : enjoy+ v-ing
My father/ come/ home/ late/ last night.
->My father came home late last night
The adverb “ last night” refers to past simple tense.
 In all the above sentences, the symbols are very clear: 
3.4.2. For better students, the exercises must be more complicated for them to infer. The sentences should include difficult words or phrases because good students usually like challenges
1. if/ you/ listen/ my/ advice/ first/ place, you/ be/ successful/ now
->If you had listened to my advice in the first place, you would be successful now.
In this sentence, there are two adverbs: in the first place