Renew warm up activity to motivate the 11th graders in english speaking lessons by applying some language games effectively

SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO THANH HOÁ
TRƯỜNG THPT 4 THỌ XUÂN
EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE
RENEW WARM UP ACTIVITY TO MOTIVATE THE 11th GRADERS 
IN ENGLISH SPEAKING LESSONS 
BY APPLYING SOME LANGUAGE GAMES EFFECTIVELY 
 Người thực hiện: Đỗ Thị Sen
 Chức vụ: Giáo viên 
 SKKN thuộc lĩnh vực (môn): Tiếng Anh
THANH HOÁ NĂM 2019
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TABLE OF CONTENTS..
1
1. Introduction...
2
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research.
2
1.2. Aims of the research..
2
1.3. Object of the research
3
1.4. Methods of the research.
3
2. Content.....
3
2.1. Theoretical background.
3
2.2. The reality of the problem......
4
2.3. Measure implementation
5
2.3.1. Guessing games (10 Yes/No questions)..
5
2.3.2. Search games (Find someone who)
6
2.3.3. Labeling games...
7
2.3.4. Matching games......
9
2.3.5. Rearranging games.
12
2.3.6. Word snake..
13
2.3.7. General knowledge quiz (Who is millionaire?)..
14
2.3.8. Word square
15
2.3.9. Guessing games (guess hidden picture)..
16
 2.4. Result..
17
 3. Conclusion and Suggestions......
18
3.1. Conclusion.
18
3.2. Suggestions
18
REFERENCES..
19
Introdution
1.1. Reasons for choosing the research
 Nowadays, English assumes as a more and more important part as a means of international communication than ever. It is also a "useful tool" and a "master- key" to discover the world of science, technology, education, culture, business and diplomacy. With such a trend of development, therefore, improving the quality of education in general and quality of the subject English in particular is one of the concerns leading the current educational policy. Specially, in some recent years, the focus of teaching has been promoting oral skills in order to respond to the Students’ needs for effective communication.
However, due to some objective and subjective reasons, teaching and learning English in general and teaching and learning in particular does not come up to the study aims. In spite of teachers’ efforts to provide students with opportunities to develop their communicative skills, how to teach and learn speaking effectively is still a challenging question to both teachers and students at many high schools in Vietnam.
 At 4 Tho Xuan high school, most students are not aware of the importance of speaking skill. It has been proved that some students got into a habit of learning “mute English” which obviously harmful to a language learner. Therefore, it is necessary to find a supplementary technique used in teaching speaking.
 Games can help teachers to create contexts in which the language is useful and meaningful. Games bring a relaxed atmosphere and create more opportunities for students to practice so they are highly motivating, competitive and fun. With games, students will enjoy themselves, be stimulated and get involved in speaking. As a result, they can learn new lexical items faster and remember better. With so many advantages, games seem to be an effective way in teaching and learning speaking a foreign language.
 All the above – mentioned reasons and factors have inspired me to conduct a research titled “Renew warm up activity to motivate the 11th graders in English speaking lessons by applying some language games effectively.” 
 1.2. Aims of the research
 The aims of the research are:
 - To investigate the situation of teaching and learning speaking to the 11th graders in classroom.
 - To investigate the effectiveness of using games in teaching speaking to the 11th graders at 4 Tho Xuan high school.
 - To provide some suggestions and implications for the improvement of speaking teaching at 4 Tho Xuan high school by using games in addition to other techniques.
 1.3. Object of the research
 The research focuses specifically on using games in warm up activity in teaching speaking to the 11th graders at 4 Tho Xuan high school, namely, 2 classes 11A1 and 11A4.
 1.4. Methods of the research
 In the process of carrying out this research, the survey questionnaire is used to collect data. The survey questionnaire including pre-task and post-task survey questionnaire is for 80 11th form students from 2 classes 11A1 and 11A4 at 4 Tho Xuan high school.
Content
 2.1. Theoretical background
 Speaking
 Speaking, as Bygate (1997) definites, involves not only the use of the right sound in the patterns of rhythm and intonation, but also the choice of words and inflections in the right order to convey the right meaning.
 Common speaking activities
 A variety of activities can be used to develop speaking skills. Below are some common ones:
 * Role play
 * Information gap activity
 * Problem – solving
 * Other picture card activities
 Warm up activities
 A warm up activity is a short, fun game which a teacher or trainer can use with students. The purpose of a warm up is to encourage the students and prepare them to learn by stimulating their minds and/or their bodies.
 Motivation
 Motivation is generally defined as an abstract concept used to describe the willingness of a person to expand to reach a particular goal. For language learners, mastery of a language may be a goal. In linguistic, sociolinguistic and second language acquisition, a number of language learner motivation models have been postulated.
 Oxford and Shearin (1996) points out: “Motivation is important because it directly influences how often use L2 learning strategies, how much students interact with native speakers, how much input they receive in the language being learnt (the target language), how well they do on curriculum-related tests, how high their general proficiency level becomes, and how long they preserve and maintain L2 skills after language study is over”.
 Language games
 Language games mean games related to language. Hadfield (1987) classifies language games into may categories as follow:
 + Sorting, ordering, or arranging games.
 + Information gap games.
 + Guessing games.
 + Search games.
 + Matching games.
 + Labeling games.
 + Exchanging games.
 + Board games.
 + Role play games.
 2.2. The reality of the problem
 The research was carried out at 4 Tho Xuan high school with the participation of 80 the 11th form students. All of the surveyed students have learned English for 6 years. However, most of them have difficulties in mastering four language skills. Of the four skills, as many of them revealed, they find speaking especially important yet challenging one. That was the reason why most of the students feel bored and unmotivated in speaking classes.
 English 11 textbook consists of 16 units for two terms. Speaking lessons are under the tendency theme-based approaches. In general, the textbook provides students with a variety of topics and speaking activities with the aim of helping students improve their speaking skill. However, there are some speaking topics that are far unfamiliar with the students’ background knowledge such as nature in danger (unit 10), sources of energy (unit 11), space conquest (unit 15), the wonders of the world (unit 16), 
 The survey questionnaire used for 80 students from 2 classes 11A1 and 11A4 at 4 Tho Xuan high school.
 Table 1: Students’ attitudes and perspectives towards speaking lessons
Options
Questions
A
(%)
B
(%)
C
(%)
D
(%)
Question 1:
How is speaking skill important to you?
A. Very important
B. Important
C. Normal
D. Not important at all
8
17
25
50
Question 2:
How do you find speaking topics introduced in English 11 textbook?
A. Very interesting B. Interesting
C. Normal D. Boring 
10
21
23
46
Question 3:
How do you find speaking activities introduced in English 11 textbook?
A. Very difficult B. Difficult
C. Normal D. Easy 
62
27
11
0
Question 4:
Are you willing to speak in speaking classes?
A. Yes, I like speaking very much
B. Yes, sometimes
C. No, I’m never willing to speak
1
28
71
As can be seen clearly from the table 1, a lot of the surveyed students think that speaking is the most difficult skill meanwhile there are only 8 % consider speaking very important. More specifically, 46 % find speaking topics introduced in English 11 textbook boring and 62% find speaking activities introduced in English 11 textbook very difficult. Moreover, there are so many students who are never willing to speak in speaking classes (71%). In summary, the students are losing their interest during the lesson. Therefore, an effective technique should be exploited to motivate students in these speaking lessons. 
 2.3. Measure implementation
 To stimulate the students’ minds before studying a new lesson, a short and fun game should be used for warm up activity. The following are some sample games for each unit in English 11 textbook.
 2.3.1. Guessing games (10 Yes/No questions)
Classroom management: Whole class
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher calls one student to go and stand in front of the class. The student thinks of a friend in the class and other students can ask 10 Yes/No questions to find clues in order to guess who the student is thinking of. The person finds the correct name will be the winner.
Example:
Unit 1: FRIENDSHIP
Student A: (stand in front of the class)
Student B: Is he/she tall?
Student A: Yes.
Student C: Does he/she have short hair?
Student A: No.
Student C: Is that Lan?
Student A: No.
Student D: Is he/she thin?
Student A: No.
Student E: Is that Nga?
Student A: Yes. That’s correct.
(Student E is the winner)
Unit 16: THE WONDERS OF THE WORLD
Student A: Is it in China?
Teacher: No.
Student B: Is it in Asia?
Teacher: No.
Student C: Is it in Africa?
Teacher: Yes.
Student D: Is it believed to have been built over a 20-year period?
Teacher: Yes.
Student E: Did it consist approximately 2 millions blocks of stone?
Teacher: Yes.
Student E: Is it the Great Pyramid?
Teacher: Yes. That’s correct.
(Student E is the winner)
Search games
Classroom management: Group work
Material: Grids
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
Students are given a grid. The task is to fill in all the cells in the grid with the name of a classmate who fits that cell. Students ask and answer questions to complete their own grid and help classmates complete theirs.
Example:
Unit 2: PERSONAL EXPERIENCES
Games: Find someone who
Grid: 
Name
1. being late for school
2. being punished by the teacher
3. failing an exam
4. speaking English to a native English speaker
5. being seriously ill
6. traveling to other parts of the country
7. talking to a famous pop star
 2.3.3. Labeling games
Classroom management: Whole class
Material: Pictures 
Time: 3 minutes
Example:
Unit 3: A PARTY
Procedure:
The teacher prepares a set of pictures of parties such as: birthday party, Christmas party, wedding party and thanksgiving party. The teacher asks students to label the names of the parties. And then let them tell about the party.
Using some questions:
What do you often do at the party?
What kind of presents do you often bring to the party?
What kind of clothes do you often wear at the party?
Pictures:
Unit 10: NATURE IN DANGER
Procedure:
The teacher prepares a set of pictures of animals such as: tiger, panda, cheetah, elephant, tortoise and rhinoceros. The teacher asks students to label the names of the animals. 
Pictures:
 2.3.4. Matching games
Classroom management: Group work
Material: Pictures and cards
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher divides the class into groups of four or five students. The teacher gives each group a set of pictures of activities and cards containing the names of the volunteer works. Students work in group and quickly match each picture with their names. Which group finishes first and has the correct answers will be the winner.
Example:
Unit 4: VOLUNTEER WORK
Pictures:
 A
 C
 E
 B
 D
 F
Cards:
1. Visiting the old people
2. Teaching the poor children
3. Taking care of the disadvantaged children
4. Collecting the rubbish
5. Taking part in a directing the traffic
6. Building the road
Unit 6: COMPETITIONS
Pictures:
A
B
C
D
E
F
Cards:
1. General Knowledge Quiz 4. Poetry Reading Competition
2. English Competition 5. Singing Contest
3. Art Competition 6. Athletics Meeting
Unit 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY
Pictures:
 A
 C
 E
 B
D
 F
Cards:
Solar power
Biogas plant
 3. Water power
4. Wind power
Nuclear power
Geothermal heat
 2.3.5. Rearranging games
Example:
Unit 7: WORLD POPULATION
Classroom management: Whole class
Material: Extra-board or power point
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher hangs an extra-board or shows power point which has jumble words. The teacher asks students to rearrange these letters into the correct words and write them on the board.
 Extra-board
1. SOUCESRE->
2. BOLEUD->
3. LYMIFA NAPLIGN->
4. GEURIF->
5. CERSEANI->
6. RAESDEC->
7. LWORD HITRD->
8. RILDENCH->
9. IMLTI->
10. LORTONC ->
Suggested answer
Resources
Double
Family Planning
Figure
Increase
Decrease
Third World
Children
Limit
Control
Unit 9: THE POST OFFICE
Type of games: Rearranging games
Classroom management: Pair work
Material: Extra-board or power point
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher hangs an extra-board or shows power point containing the sentences of a letter. The teacher asks students to work in pairs in order to rearrange the clues to complete the letter. Which pair finishes first and has the correct answer will be the winner.
1. Perhaps due to their stressing work, sometimes they seem a bit cold and not very helpful.
2. The last point I would like to comment on is the attitude of some of your staff. 
3. Secondly, although the parking area is large, it has no security guards and I sometimes fell insecure leaving my motorbike there.
4. Firstly, the lobby inside the post office is too cramped and the seats are not enough.
5. Furthermore, I think it would be much better if the post office is open until 11:00 p.m. so that customers can have more access to your services.
6. Our customers often have to stand while waiting for our transactions, causing an unpleasant scene of disorder.
Suggested answer: 4 – 6 – 3 – 5 – 2 – 1 
 2.3.6. Word snake
Classroom management: Whole class
Material: Extra-board or power point
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher divides the class into 4 groups and asks them to split the letters to have verb phrases by putting a line between the phrases in the word snake. Which group finishes first and has the correct answers will be the winner.
Example:
Unit 8: CELEBRATIONS
Word snake
Suggested answers:
1. grow cash crops
2. build a medical centre
3. build a village ground
4. widen the school
5. resurface the roads
General knowledge quiz 
Example:
Unit 12: THE ASIAN GAMES
Game: Who is millionaire?
Classroom management: Individually
Material: Power point
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher calls 4 representatives of 4 groups to stand in front of the class and gives each of them 4 cards containing letter A, B, C, and D. The teacher shows the questions on power point and asks 4 students to give their answers by raising the cards. The student with the quickest and correct answer will get 10 points. Which student has the highest score will be the winner.
Questions:
1. Which sport is aquatic?
A. skiing B. swimming C. wrestling D. A and B
2. The first Asian Games were held in:
A. Manila, Philippine B. Tokyo, Japan C. New Delhi, India D. Busan, Korea
3. The 14th Asian Games attracted 9,919 participants fromcountries:
A. 32 B. 11 C. 44 D. 45
4. The 3rd Asian Games were held in:
A. Manila, Philippine B. Tokyo, Japan 
C. New Delhi, India D. Bangkok, Thailand
5. What is the sport? 
Wrestling 
B. Skiing 
C. Squash 
D. Rugby
Word square
Example:
Unit 13: HOBBIES
Classroom management: Group work
Material: paper
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher divides the class into groups of four or five students. The teacher gives each group a paper containing a word square and asks them to find the names of hobbies in the square. The words may go across, down, up, backwards or at an angle. Which group finishes first and has the correct answers will be the winner.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
1
I
O
W
A
T
C
H
T
V
E
H
2
Y
H
C
A
O
P
F
G
A
T
D
3
N
E
O
R
E
A
D
D
S
I
R
4
A
N
L
A
B
C
D
I
E
O
A
5
P
U
L
A
D
X
R
Z
E
P
C
6
M
T
E
T
R
A
T
G
A
O
S
7
O
T
C
H
T
T
P
A
I
X
I
8
C
E
T
I
O
S
G
H
K
F
D
9
C
W
U
M
I
N
D
U
L
G
E
10
A
G
P
L
A
Y
C
H
E
S
S
 2.3.9. Guessing games (guess hidden picture)
Classroom management: Whole class
Material: Power point
Time: 3 minutes
Procedure:
The picture is hidden with 4 pieces of paper numbered 1, 2, 3 and 4. To open a piece of paper, students have to answer a question correctly. The first student can guess what the picture is will be the winner.
Example:
Unit 15: SPACE CONQUEST
Hidden picture:
2
3
1
4
Questions:
1. What is the missing word in this sentence?
 It only takes me about 1 hour tofrom Hue to Ho Chi Minh city.
A. go B. fly C. flew
2. What is the missing word in this sentence?
 Gagarin was a well-known..
A. boy B. people C. cosmonaut
3. What is the missing word in this sentence?
 Gagarin became the first person to eat and drink in zero
A. gravity B. weightless C. weightlessness 
4. What is the missing word in this sentence?
Spacemen travel into space at great
A. speed B. space C. success
Keys: 1. B 2. C 3. A 4. C
SPACECRAFT
 2.4. Results
 After applying the above language games in warm up activities in speaking classes for the 11th graders, I realized that there have been some considerable changes such as:
 + The atmosphere of the class became more ebullient; the students were eager to practicing speaking and active to contribute their ideas to the lesson. 
 + The students were more confident and less afraid of making mistakes.
 The progress of the students can be seen through the following tables comparing the data collected from the survey questionnaire before and after applying this experience initiative:
 Table 2:
Questions
Options
A
(%)
B
(%)
C
(%)
D
(%)
Question 1:
How is speaking skill important to you?
A. Very important
B. Important
C. Normal
D. Not important at all
Before
After
8
53
17
29
25
11
50
7
Question 2:
How do you find speaking topics introduced in English 11 textbook?
A. Very interesting B. Interesting
C. Normal D. Boring 
Before
After
10
21
21
45
23
26
46
8
Question 3:
How do you find speaking activities introduced in English 11 textbook?
A. Very difficult B. Difficult
C. Normal D. Easy 
Before
After
62
24
27
19
11
45
0
12
Question 4:
Are you willing to speak in speaking classes?
A. Yes, I like speaking very much
B. Yes, sometimes
C. No, I’m never willing to speak
Before
After
1
13
28
62
71
25
Conclusion and Suggestions
 3.1. Conclusion
 This research is done with the purpose of seeking one effective teaching technique to improve students’ speaking skill. And as there are many teaching techniques exploited by the teachers to teach speaking, the study limits itself to use language games to motivate students to speak. The literature review has been made in the hope of demonstrating the scope of the research theoretically in terms of speaking skill and language games. The findings from the data analysis show that many students have low motivation towards speaking classes. They find speaking activities either challenging or boring. Thus they show their unwillingness to raise their voice. Language games are used for warm up activities to motivate students in speaking classes and are applicable as a motivator in speaking lessons. 
It is hoped that the research will prove worthwhile to those who want to motivate students in speaking classes and who are concerned about the problem.
 3.2. Suggestions
 Although the re