Improving the effectiveness of teaching english to students in grade 12 by applying interdisciplinary integration teaching

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ 
TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN ĐỊNH 3
SÁNG KIẾN KINH NGHIỆM
IMPROVING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING ENGLISH TO STUDENTS IN GRADE 12 BY APPLYING INTERDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION TEACHING
Người thực hiện : Nguyễn Văn Long
Chức vụ : Tổ Trưởng Chuyên Môn
SKKN thuộc môn : Tiếng Anh
THANH HOÁ NĂM 2017
CONTENTS
CONTENTS
PAGE
A. PREFACE
I. Reasons for choosing the theme
1
1. Basis of theory	
1
2. Basis of practice
1
II. Aims of the research
2
III. Objects of the research
3
IV. Methods of the research
3
B. CONTENTS
1. Background, the driving force of the solution 
3
1.1. The Multidisciplinary Integration 
3
1.2. Interdisciplinary Integration 
4
1.3 Transdisciplinary Integration 
4
2. Summary of the lessons in the English textbook 12 
4
3. Detailed description of the nature and content of the solution 
5
3.1. Differences 
5
3.2. The novelty of the solution versus the solution that has been implemented 
5
C. APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING
5
1. Integrated lesson plan with Physical Education 
5
2. Integrated lesson plans with History and Geography 
10
D. RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH
15
E. CONCLUSION
16
A - PREFACE
I. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE THEME :
1. Basis of theory :
It is undeniable that English has become the most popular language in the world and it is also a popular foreign language in Vietnam as well. At present, most companies when recruiting all require English proficiency from the applicants. Therefore, mastering a fluency in English will be of a great advantage for applying for a job as well as capturing many start - up opportunities from today's global integration. To keep pace with this common process requires each student while sitting on high school chairs to attain a certain level of English to communicate at least at a simple level. Over the past years, the Ministry of Education and Training has directed the compilation of many textbooks in the communication approach for students at secondary level. However, not only do new curriculum and textbooks have higher difficulties, many new or interesting topics such as Cultural Diversity, Nature in Danger, Water sports, International Organization, Life in the future, but they also have a lot of knowledge related to other cultural subjects such as History, Geography, Civic Education, Physics, Physical Education and Literature... If the teacher just only provides students with grammar and vocabulary related to the topic of the lessons without paying attention to the interdisciplinary integration between the subjects, the lectures will always become considerably boring and hard to absorb , students may always feel scared, bored and tired after foreign language lessons. From the above reasons, as an English teacher with over ten years’ experience, I have continuously been wondering and researching for the techniques to better the quality of teaching English and I am always anxious to find which method can make my students feel inspired and have fun with English lessons so as to improve the quality as well as the effectiveness of my English lectures. Through my years’ time of teaching English 12 as well as exchanging, referring to related materials and drawing experiences after each lecture, I have got an experience initiative entitled " Improving the effectiveness of teaching English to students in grade 12 by applying Interdisciplinary Integration teaching ". This experience is drawn from my research and my real experimental teaching for many years, especially in 2015 – 2016 and 2016 – 2017 school years. With this initiative. I just would like to help students to apply their knowledge of History, Geography, Literature, Arts and Science ... in learning English, which makes the lessons more diversified and interesting. Beside that, students are also able to use their knowledge of other subjects to broaden their vocabulary and knowledge of English. Consequently , they find that learning English is always a process of continuous interaction among subjects. 
2. Basis of practice :
	As can be seen, English is a rather difficult subject to students particularly the rural ones. In the high school English curriculum, there have existed a large number of inter - unitary lessons with different topics that students have studied in some other subjects such as Geography, History, Physical Education, Biology ..... Nevertheless, most of English teachers are usually only concerned about giving explanations to vocabulary, instructions to grammatical structures for students and asking them to do the tasks in the textbook without focussing on the use of integrated methods to teach. Hence, this results in low teaching quality and few students with flying colours. To make it worse, students increasingly lose their interests in learning English and fail to upgrade their communicative abilities.
By talking and exchanging with colleagues as well as surveying 160 students in classes 12C1, 12C2, 12C6, 12C7 of Yen Đinh 3 High school, I noticed that the status of teaching and learning foreign languages ​ is as follows : 
In terms of teachers’ side, most of the teachers of the school are highly qualified, enthusiastic in work, eager to learn ... However, some of them are timid in innovated teaching methods, do not dare to change or redesign textbooks, have not found many different methods to refresh the solution. In particular, a small number of teachers also believe that foreign language teaching is only teaching vocabulary, structures and guiding students how to do the tasks and exercises so that students will achieve high results in the exams. 
In terms of students, Firstly, the 12th grade students have accessed to three years of high school program education. They are no wonder strange with the forms of examination and evaluation that the teachers set. Secondy, they have deep knowledge of natural resources, environment, society, and political economy issues both domestically and internationally through such subjects as Geography, History Thirdly, in subjects such as Literature, History, Geography ... they have learned about many subjects integrated in the lessons. As a result, when it is necessary to combine knowledge of a particular subject into Foreign Language to solve a problem in the unit, they will not feel surprised. 
	According to the survey at the beginning of the year, 65% of students said that English is a difficult subject, to study this subject well requires students to learn not only vocabulary and structures but they have also to master other subjects to integrate the knowledge into English. 
	From the basis of theory and practice , I find that applying Interdisciplinary Integration in teaching will help students to develop their brainstorming, logical thinking and creativity in learning and practical application. So for myself, in the past few years especially this school year 2016 – 2017, I have boldly applied a number of interdisciplinary integrated teaching solutions to create interests as well as help students know how to use the knowledge of other subjects such as History, Geography, Physical Education to learn English more effectively.
II. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH :
	Studying the theoretical issues of integrated teaching and teaching practice at secondary schools which will serve as a scientific basis for the application of integrative teaching in foreign language to students in Yen Đinh 3 High school. This teaching method has not only enabled me to lull most of students to take part in English lessons actively, enthusiatically and creatively but also creat an exciting atmosphere, raise students’s love for English and other subjects. This experience initiative has been applied in quite a long time of my teaching English 12 and I have got considerably hopeful result. Therefore, I decisively exchange my experience initiative with my collagues.
III. OBJECTS OF THE RESEARCH :
This subject is concerned with ways of applying Interdisciplinary Integration in teaching lessons of English 12. 
IV. METHODS OF THE RESEARCH :
- Using the text - book English 12 to apply to each lesson .
- Reading reference books to improve.
- Referring related knowledge from other subjects such as : History, Geography, Civil Education, Physics, Physical Education and Literature...
- Using the soft ware POWERPOINT, pictures and other materials.
- Discussing with other teachers.
- Applying in teaching. 
- Observing and drawing out experiences.
B - CONTENTS
1. Background, the driving force of the solution :
Integrative teaching is one of the important principles in teaching. This is considered a modern teaching concept, to promote the positiveness of students, while improving the quality of education in the school. Interdisciplinary integrated learning is a form of exploration of content, intersperse between subjects, common concepts and thoughts between subjects which are related to each other. These parts maybe in different subjects but they support each other to solve situations, phenomena in life. Integration is possibly understood in the following ways :
- Multidisciplinary Integration.
- Interdisciplinary Integration. 
- Transdisciplinary Integration. 
1.1. The Multidisciplinary Integration : 
Multi - disciplinary approaches focus primarily on subjects. Related subjects share a content orientation and teaching technique, but each has its own curriculum. Multidisciplinary integration is conducted in a way that organizes standards from the subject area centering a topic, a theme, a project, creating conditions for learners to synthesize the knowledge of the subjects concerned. There are many different ways to create an integral program of multi-disciplinary, and they differ in the degree of integration effort.
1.2. Interdisciplinary Integration :
According to the interdisciplinary integration approach, teachers organizes the learning activities around common learning content : topics, subjects, concepts and interdisciplinary skills / subjects. They connect the cabinet in general academic content included in the courses to emphasize the concepts and interdisciplinary skills. Subjects can be identified, but they give less importance than the multi-disciplinary approach. Interdisciplinary integration is also understood as an option in which many subjects related learning is bundled into a new course with a system certain topics go through various grades. For example, Geography, History, Biology, Society, Civic Education, Chemistry, Physics, are integrated into " Social and Environmental Studies " in the elementary education program in England, Australia, Singapore and Thailand.
1.3 Transdisciplinary Integration : 
With an integrated, cross-curricular approach, teachers organize curriculum that addresses students issues and concerns. Students develop living skills as they apply subjects and interdisciplinary skills to the real contexts of life. The two paths lead to the integration of 6 cross - disciplines : project - based learning and negotiating the curriculum. From the above, we see integrated thinking rooted in the basis of science and life. First of all, life is a great encyclopedia, a great collection of knowledge, experience and method. Every situation in life is always an integrated situation. It is not possible to solve a problem and task of theory and practice without using the combined and coordinated multi - disciplinary skills of many different fields. Integrating in the school will help students learn smartly and creatively apply knowledge, skills and methods of a comprehensive, harmonious and sensible amount of knowledge in solving various and new situations in modern life. 
2. Summary of the lessons in the English textbook 12 : 
English textbook 12 has 16 units ( currently reduced to 2 units - Unit 7 and Unit 9 ). Corresponding to 16 lessons is 16 topics. Different topics are quite familiar and close to other subjects ( eg : Unit 1 - Home life, Unit 3 - Culture diversity, Unit 4 - School Education System, Unit 5 - Higher Eduction, Unit 11 - Books contain knowledge content close to Literature and Civic Education, the theme of Unit 10 - Endangered species is related to Biology, the topics of Unit 12 - Water sports and Unit 13 - The 22nd SEA Games have the same background with Physical Education, and the topic of Unit 14 - International Organizations shares the background knowledge with History and Geography.
3. Detailed description of the nature and content of the solution : 
3.1. Differences : 
Teaching foreign languages ​​through the integration of background knowledge of other subjects such as History, Geography and Physical Education 
From the actual teaching, I have drawn some experience in applying interdisciplinary integration in teaching subjects in high school as follows.
- The integrated teaching lesson plan is not an outline of the ways to teach for teachers to lecture the classes, transmission imposed for students but a design of activities, steps to organize for students to perform during class time to acquire knowledge, develop capacity and personality for the purpose of educational purposes of the subjects.
- A good design should consist of two components. First, the system of the teaching situation is set out from the objective content of the unit, appropriate with the nature and level of acceptance of the students. Second, the system of activities animated, manipulated correspond to the above situations by the teachers’ logical arrangement so as to guide students step by step access and master the lessons in a positive and creative way.
- The integrated instructional design lesson must be embedded in the content of knowledge of related subjects.
- It is essential that teachers should ensure the specific content and structure but not squeeze into a rigid patterns that creates open horizons for creative exploration in the student's alternatives on the basis of ensuring the purposes and general requirements of the school.
- Integrated teaching should focus on designing scenarios integration and corresponding activities are complex ones for students to use coordinate the knowledge and skills of the different disciplines into the process available situations in which students not only gain knowledge and skills of each subject separately but also master the knowledge and develop the integrated capacity of the related subjects.
The novelty of the solution versus the solution that has been implemented : 
Bringing concrete integrated activities to each of the following types. 
The following integrated curriculum lessons are taught in 12th grade in Yen Đinh 3 high school in the school years 2015 – 2016 and 2016 – 2017.
C - APPLYING THE RESEARCH IN TEACHING 
1. Integrated lesson plan with Physical Education : 
UNIT 12. WATER SPORT
Lesson 1: Reading
I. Aims : Reading a passage about water polo.
II. Objectives : By the end of the lesson, students will be able to :
1. Knowledge :
- Be updated a new sport – water polo
2. Skills :
- Develop such reading micro- skills as scanning the text & find out the
specific information to complete the table about water polo with the help
from teacher.
- Understand the text and answer all the questions in task 3 correctly ( can
repeat sentences in the reading text ).
- Complete the table to compare between football and water polo ( places
to play, numbers of players, ...).
3. Education :
- Apply the knowledge of Physical Education to learn English, especially
to comprehend the text through some types of exercises: interpreting
video clip to answer questions and gap-filling.
- Be aware of the importance of the applying integrated knowledge of
different subjects in learning English effectively.
III. Teaching aids : 
- Lesson plan
- Pictures, video clips about water polo.
- Projector
IV. Procedure : 
Teacher’s activities
Students’ activities and Lesson contents
- Integration of other
subjects in teaching English.
I. Warm up :
- T shows Ss pictures of
some sports and ask Ss to
tell the type of sport.
- Lead in the topic of the
lesson : WATER SPORT
- Lead in the new lesson : Today we are going to
learn about Water sports.
- T shows some pictures
and ask Ss to apply the
knowlege of Physical
Education to match with the
name of sport. ( Water polo
or Football)
Integrating the knowledge of Physical Education.
II. Before you read :
Ask Ss to watch a video
clip and answer some
questions. ( T teaches some
vocabularies)
+ Where is water polo played ?
+ Do people play it by hand
or foot ?
+ How do people
distinguish the players ?
+ Can you use some words to
describe about water polo ?
- Call on a student to speak
out the answers.
III. While you read :
( In this part, teacher asks students to read the passage in the textbook and do the tasks – using the typical method of foreign language teaching to teach )
* Task 1 : Ask Ss to work in pairs, match the words in column A with their meanings in column B.
- Check the answers with the
whole class.
- Feedback and give correct answers.
* Task 2 : Complete the sentences, using the information from the passage.
- Ask Ss to open their books, scan the passage and do the task.
- Call Ss answer before the class.
- Check up and give feedback.
* Task 3 : Ask and answer the questions.
- Ask Ss to read the passage, find information to answer the questions.
- Go around and help Ss if necessary.
- Call Ss answer the questions.
- Give feedback.
IV. After you read :
* Integration : To do this task, Ss have to apply the knowledge of Physical Education and their understanding about football.
- Ask Ss to work in groups.
Complete the table to
compare football and
water polo using the following suggestion.
+ places to play 
+ number of players
+ main rules 
+ length of game
- Encourage Ss to find
as much information as
possible.
- Call on some students
to present in front of
the class.
V. Homework :
- Ask Ss to learn new
words and write a
paragraph to compare football and water polo.
→ Applying Physical Education knowledge
to guess the name of the lesson and the
content of the reading passage.
I. Warm up :
* Questions :
1. Look at these pictures and tell me what
type of sport it is.
2. Look at these pictures and match with the
suitable sport ( Water polo or Football).
* Expected answers :
- Football : 1, 4, 6
- Water polo : 2, 3, 5
→ Applying Physical Education
knowledge to watch video clip and
analyze the scences to give the Vietnamese names for the words.
II. Before you read :
Watch video clip and answer some
questions.
* Vocabularies :
- pool (n) : bể 
- cap (n) : mũ
- goal (n) : khung thành, gôn
- vertical post (n) : cột dọc
- crossbar (n) : xà ngang
- goalie (n) : thủ môn
- opponent (n) : đối phương
- foul (n) : phạm luật
- minor (a) : nhỏ # major (a): lớn, quan
trọng
- penalize (v) ~ punish : phạt
- eject (v) : đuổi ra
- tie (n) ~ the same score : trận hoà
- referee (n) : trọng tài
III. While you read :
- Work in pairs, match the words in column A with their meanings in column B.
A
B
1. opponent
2. penalize
3. eject
4. foul
5. tie
a. to make someone leave a
game.
b. an action in sports that is
agaist the rules.
c. to punish a team or player who breaks the rules.
d. a situation in a game when two teams have the same scores.
e. someone who tries to defeat another person in a
competition.
+ Suggested answers :
1- e 2- c 3- a 4- b 5- d
- Read the passage and find information to do the task.
- Change the answers witheach other.
+ Expected answers : 
1.8; 30 metres; 20 metres
white caps; blue caps; red caps with the number 1 in white 
their own goal lines
holding or punching the ball.
five to eight minutes.
- Read the passage and do the task.
+ Expected answer :
1. People can play it in a pool.
2. It is in the centre of the pool.
3. The ball can be advanced by passing with one