SKKN Improving grade 6 students’ combination vowel sounds of English pilot program at Tran Phu Secondary School

THANH HOA EDUCATION AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT
NONG CONG EDUCATION AND TRAINING DIVISION
THE STUDY OF TEACHING EXPERIENCE
SUBJECT:
IMPROVING GRADE 6 STUDENTS’ DIPTHONGS OF ENGLISH PILOT PROGRAM
AT TRAN PHU SECONDARY SCHOOL
 The writer: Le Thi Phuong Cuong
 Position: Teacher- Tran Phu Secondary school
NONG CONG, 2018
INDEX
CONTENTS
PAGE
Index
Page 1
PART I. INTRODUCTION
I. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
Page 2
II. AIMS AND REQUIREMENT OF THE STUDY
1. Aims.
2. Requirement.
Page 2
III. SCOPES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Page 2
PART II. CONTENTS
I. THE THEORETICAL BASES OF THE TOPIC 
Page 3
1. Bases
Page 3
2. Background information
Page 4
3. The theory of the dipthongs
Page 4
II. THE PRACTICAL BASES OF THE TOPIC
Page 5
1. The real states of the problems
Page 6
2. Solutions
Page 7
3. Application
Page 9
4. The result after applying the study in teaching
Page 20
PART III. CONCLUSION
Page 20
I. Conclusion
Page 20
II. Recommendations 
Page 21
REFERENCE BOOKS
Page 21
PART I. INTRODUCTION
I. REASONS FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC.
	 Education and training play an important role in the development process of the country. In the current period, the country is on the path of reform, opening-up policy relations with the countries of the world increased significantly. Extensive communication with the countries in the world in English , the international language , has become more more and common and attention.
	In teaching English I have noticed that practicing English pronunciation is the misery of our students, especially students in grade 6 whether they have been studying for 3 years at the elementary level, ... and in the end they still do not get the standard English pronunciation. Is learning to pronounce so difficult that can not be learned? or inappropriate teaching methods? Is textbook structure irrational? or Don’t they know how to learn? 
 According to the old textbook program, the students did not learn about pronunciation so their spelling good or bad depends on the teachers.They leant Enlish pronounciation without rules and methods. That is why after 7 or 10 years learning English, they still find difficulties in speaking and communicating even they can speak fluently, Others can’t understand what they are expressing beacause of the mistakes. Besides, the pilot program presents the vocabulary, the grammar items tobe leaned and practised through the skills and activities of the unit, it also focuses on pronunciation. Two or three sounds,which frequently appear in the unit are targeted and practised in isolation and in context of “ A closer look 1”.
To help students participate in the English pilot program and overcome this obstacle, I choose content " Improving grade 6 students’ combination vowel sounds of English pilot program at Tran Phu Secondary School".
II. AIMS AND REQUIREMENTS OF THE STUDY.
 1. Aims.
 In order to help students in grade 6 of pilot program at Tran Phu Secondary School, Nong Cong District, Thanh Hoa Province understand the sound system in English, especially combination vowel sounds ( diphthongs) are enrolled at the second semester in the textbook 6. Thereby, the students have aware of the importance of phonetics in learning English in general and in particular to communicate in English so they can understand what other people say and what they say that others can understand.
2. Requirements.
 To success in the study, the requirement for the topic is that the teacher has to help students know how to pronounce dipthongs /eә /; /iә /; / әu/; /ai/; /aʊ /; /ɔi/ and do exercises correctly. Teacher provides them with the best way to assist them how to pronounce these dipthongs correctly through the illusions and examples. Students have to attend regularly and obey their teacher's requirements.
III. SCOPES AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY.
1. Scopes
 As far as we know, teaching how to pronounce and how to do phonetics exercises is a complicating and difficulf area specially 6 dipthongs /eә /; /iә /; / әu/; /ai/; /aʊ /; /ɔi/ with students in grade 6. There are a lot of things to mention but in this study I only focus on the following fields: 
- Giving definition and how to pronounce these dipthongs.
- Collect exercises containing these dipthongs to help students practise listening and speaking at home. 
- How to do exercises relating to these dipthongs.
2. Objectives.
 As I have said my study is aimed at improving my students' pronounciation of dipthongs and help tgem to solve some difficulties in doing phonetics exercises so my objectives if the study are: 
- Students in class 6B : 27 Studensts, and 6C: 25 students. Total: 52 students
School: Tran Phu secondary school.
- The combination vowel sounds system in the lessons of the second semester textbook 6 of the pilot program, including sounds:
Sounds
 Belong to Units
/eә /; /iә /
Unit 8
/ әu/; /ai/
Unit 9
/aʊ /; /ɔi/
Unit 12
- Some exercises
IV. METHODS OF THE STUDY.
In this study I have used the following methods:
- Investigating the reality.
- Read documents that related to research.
- Using opinion surveys.
- Getting to know phonetic English.
- Introducing phonetic symbols in the units.
- Organizing to practice pronunciation with these audio visual media.
- Doing exercises to check Students’ understanding.
- Summarizing, comparing, drawing lessons.
PART II. CONTENTS
I. THEORETICAL BASES OF THE STUDY.
1.Bases :
- Basing an the international transcription.
- Basing on theory of vowels and consonants 
2. Background information: 
2.1. Vowels .
 What is vowels ? 
A vowel is a speech sound in which airstream from the lungs is not blocked in any way in the mouth or throat and which is usually pronounced with vibration of the vocal cords .
2.2. Dipthongs .
 2.2.1. Whats are dipthongs?
 They are sounds consisting of a movement or gride from one vowel to another . In terms of length, dipthongs are like long vowels. 
2.2.2. How are dipthongs classed? 
- Centering dipthongs : 
 i -> ә 	/ iә / 
 e -> ә / e ә / 
 u -> ә / u ә / 
- Fronting dipthongs :
 e -> i / ei / 
 a -> i / ai / 
 ɔ -> i /ɔi /
- Retracting dipthongs :
 ә -> ʊ /ә ʊ /
 a -> ʊ / a ʊ /
3. Theory of dipthongs.
3.1. /eә/ 
3.1.1. Description: /eә/ is centering dipthongs . The tongue moves from /e/ to the central vowels /ә/. 
3.1.2. How to make the sound.
 3.1.3.Spelling . 
- "are" is often pronounced as / eə/ 
Ex : bare / b eə( r) /
- "ai" + "r" is pronounced as /eə/ 
Ex : Air / eə(r)" /
- "ea" + "+ "r" is pronounced as /eə/
Ex: bear / /beə(r) /
- "ei" may be pronounced as /eə/
Ex : heir / /eə(r) /
3.2. /iә /
3.2.1. Description: /iә/ is centering dipthongs . The tongue moves from /i/ to the central vowels /ә/. 
 3.2.2. How to make the sound?
3.2.3. Spelling.
- "ea" is pronounced as /ɪə/ .
Ex : tear / /tɪə(r) /
- "ee" + " r" is pronouced as /ɪə/ 
Ex: beer/ /bɪə(r) /
3.3. / әu/
3.3.1. Description: /ә / is retracting dipthongs . The tongue moves from /ə / to the central vowels /u /. 
 3.3.2. How to make the sound?
3.3.3. Spelling.
Identify the vowels which are pronounced /əʊ/
- "o " in stressed syllable with consonant or at the end of the word is pronouced as /əʊ/ . 
Ex: go / /gəʊ /
- "oa" with one or two consonants at the end of the word is pronouced as /əʊ/ .
Ex : road /rəʊd/
- "oul" at the end of the word or with a consonant is also pronounced as /əʊ/.
Ex: soul /səʊl/
- "ow" is pronounced as /əʊ/ when it's at the end of the word.
Ex : Know / nəʊ/ x 
3.4 /ai/
3.4.1. Description: fronting dipthongs . The tongue moves from / a/ to the front vowel/ i/ .
3.4.2 . How to make the sound?
3.4.3. Spelling
- "i" the letter in one syllable word ending with a consonant is pronounced as /aɪ/ .
Ex: bike/ baik/ -
- "ui" + consonant + " e" is pronounced as /ai/
Ex: guide/ gaid/ 
- "y" in one sullable word is pronounced as /aɪ/
Ex: by/ bai/ 
3.5. /aʊ /;
3.5.1. Description: . /aʊ / retracting dipthong . The tongue moves from /a/ to the back vowel /ʊ /. 
3.5.2. How to make the sound ?
3.5.3. Spelling
- "ou" with a consonant is pronounced as / aʊ/
Ex: found /faʊnd/
- "ow" at the end of the word or with a consonant is pronounced as /aʊ/
Ex: tower /taʊə(r)/
3.6. /ɔi/
3.6.1.Description:
 /ɔi/ fronting dipthong. The tongue moves from //ɔ/ to the front vowel / i/.
3.6.2. How to make the sound.
3.6.3. Spelling 
- " oi" and " oy" is pronounced as /ɔɪ/.
Ex: coin / kɔɪn/
II. PRACTICAL BASES OF THE STUDY.
1. Real states of the problem.
 For students in grade 6 at Tran Phu Secondary School, Nong Cong district, they have learned English pilot program for 3 years but their pronunciation still has many difficulties. The pronunciation of the children are forced, many students are not willing to speak for fear of making errors that always leads to false in reading, speaking and recognizing the sound of the words when making phonetic exercises. 
 Through the survey to identify exercises sound /əi/ and /aʊ/ ( English 6, page 60) 
Exercise: Listen and put the word in the correct column.
voice down around house boy toy noisy flower shout boil
Key:
/ əi /
/aʊ/
voice
boy
toy
noisy
boil
down
around
house
flower
shout
* The results
Class
Num
Correct 9-10 words
Correct 7-8 words
Correct 5- 6 words
Correct 4 words
Correct 1-3 words
Num
%
Num
%
Num
%
Num
%
Num
%
6B,6C
52
10
19
20
38
15
29
5
9,6
2
4,4
	The surveys of students’feelings when they have learned phonetics I obtained the following results:
Class
Num
Very difficult
Difficult
Easy
Very easy
Note
Num
%
Num
%
Num
%
Num
%
6B,6C
52
25
48
16
31
11
21
0
0
The above results inspired me to do something to help them improve this difficulty, or at least help them not to feel afraid, find it less difficult to learn pronounciation.
2. Solutions .
Through many years of teaching I see that:
Most of the students pronounced these sounds in the words inaccurately. They also confuses with monopthongs. They didn’t also do the phonetics exercises relating to these sounds effectively. Why?
The reasons are that these sounds are difficult sounds. They are similar to each other.
The students didn’t give their whole mind to learn these sounds. The time and the exercises for the students to practise are limited. 
Besides that many of us – the teachers of English didn’t attach special importance to teaching phonetics in general and these consonant sounds in particular. We didn’t also have a suitable method to teach these sounds. Some of us only read and asked their students to repeat when teaching these sounds so we didn’t achieve the good result as we expected. 
My solution to these is " Improving grade 6 students’ combination vowel sounds of English pilot program at Tran Phu Secondary School".
2.1.The steps of teaching these sounds.
These six dipthongs are taught in pairs in three unit 8,9 and 13 in English 6. 
To teach these pairs of dipthongs I often follow the foolowing steps:
- First, I divide board into 2 parts,I write two dipthongs on the board and pronounce them clearly twice.Ask students to listen and observe.
 - Second, I show the mouth diagram of the sounds and explain how to make these sounds.
- Third, I pronounce these sounds again and sak students to repeat.
- Next,I have students distinguish the sounds with the other dipthong or monopthong. Students listen and compare the differences between two dipthongs.
Example : Distinguish sound / i:/ and / iә/
/i:/
/ iә/
e /i:/
pea /pi:/
tea /ti:/
bead /bi:d/
ear / iә/
pier/ piә/
tear / tiә/
beard/ biәd/
Distinguish / eə/ and / iə/ sound.
/eə/
/ iə/
air
bear
chair
hair
ear
beer
cheer
here
- Then, I read the couples of words and ask students to repeat.
- After that I ask students to look at the sounds in some words and read them loudly
Example: Look at the /iә/ sound in some words.
ear /ɪər/
hear /hɪər/
really /ˈrɪəli/
cheerful /ˈtʃɪəfl/
career /kəˈrɪər/
- Finally, I give some sentences that contain these sounds, read and sak students to repeat.
Example : Listen / iә/ sound in some sentences.
- We're here.
/wɪər hɪər/
- Have a beer, cheer!
/ hæv ə bɪər tʃɪər/
- Is there a bank near here? 
/ɪz ðeər ə bæŋk nɪər hɪər/
- The meaning isn't really clear.
/ðə ˈmiːnɪŋ ˈɪznt ˈrɪəli klɪər/
2.2. Some experiences help students do phonetics exercises relating to the dipthongs /eә /; /iә /; / әu/; /ai/; /aʊ /;/ɔi/.
 There are some letters transcribed in two different sounds that make students confuse easily. For example "hear"/ hiә/ and hair / heә/. Some experiences help students do phonetics exercises relating to the dipthongs /eә /; /iә /; / әu/; /ai/; /aʊ /; /ɔi/ . So in this study I also give out some of my experiences when doing phonetics exercises – find out the word that has the underlined part pronounced differently from the others- relating to the sounds . I often teach this part in revisions or in extra-lessons because the time in class is not enough. In this part, I often give out some signals to help students do this kind of exercises better.
3. Application. 
Unit 8: SPORTS AND GAMES
In this unit the students are gained 2 diphthongs / iә/ and / eә/
a. Diphthong / iә/
 * How to make the sound?
ɪə/ is a long vowel sound.
It starts with /ɪ/ and moves to /ə/ 
It’s pronounced /ɪə/.... /ɪə/.
* Practice:
1. Distinguish sound / i:/ and / iә/
/i:/
/ iә/
e /i:/
pea /pi:/
tea /ti:/
bead /bi:d/
ear / iә/
pier/ piә/
tear / tiә/
beard/ biәd/
2. Look at the /iә/ sound in some words.
ear /ɪər/
hear /hɪər/
really /ˈrɪəli/
cheerful /ˈtʃɪəfl/
career /kəˈrɪər/
beer /bɪər/
clear /klɪər
engineer /endʒɪˈnɪər/
superior /suːˈpɪəriər/
3. Listen / iә/ sound in some sentences.
We're here.
/wɪər hɪər/
Have a beer, cheer!
/ hæv ə bɪər tʃɪər/
Is there a bank near here? 
/ɪz ðeər ə bæŋk nɪər hɪər/
The meaning isn't really clear.
/ðə ˈmiːnɪŋ ˈɪznt ˈrɪəli klɪər/
I have these ears a hundred years.
/aɪ hæv ðiːz ɪərz ə ˈhʌndrəd jɪərz/
* Identify the vowels which are pronounced /ɪə/ 
1. "ea" is pronounced as /ɪə/ .
Tear
/tɪə(r)/
nước mắt
Clear
/klɪə(r)/
rõ ràng
Real
/rɪəl/
thực tế
Beard
/bɪəd/
đương đầu, chống cự
2. "ee" + " r" is pronouced as /ɪə/ 
Beer
/bɪə(r)/
Bia
Cheer
/tʃɪə(r)/
sự vui vẻ
Deer
/dɪə(r)/
con nai, hoẵng
Career
/kəˈrɪə(r)/
nghề nghiệp
* Exercise: Listen and under line the words which pronounce /ɪə/
 Tear	 erea	 clear	poor	 care	wear	air
Meterial	 here	 idea	appear	 near	parent	yeah
b. Diphthong / eә/ 
* How to make the sound.
/eə/ is a long vowel sound.
It starts with /e/ and moves to /ə/. 
It’s pronounced /eə/...../eə/.
* Practice.
1. Distinguish / eə/ and / iə/ sound.
/eə/
/ iə/
air
bear
pair
chair
hair
ear
beer
Pier
cheer
here
2. Look at the /eə/ sound in some words.
share /tʃeər/
wear /weər/
air airport / ˈeəpɔːt/
barely /ˈbeəli/
upstairs /ʌpˈsteəz/
hair /heər/
share /tʃeər/
fairy tale /ˈfeəri teɪl/ /eər/
care /keər/
3. Listen /eə/ sound in some sentences.
 Look at that airplane.
/lʊk ət ðæt ˈeəpleɪn/
Up there, in the air, of course.
/ʌp ðeər ɪn ði eər əv kɔːrs/
The fair hair man ran in the sand. 
/ðə feər heər mæn ræn ɪn ðə sænd/
Where are the spare pairs Stan and Dan wear?
/weər ər ðə speər peərz stæn ən dæn weər/
They're cramming for their exam over there.
/ðeər 'kræmɪŋ fər ðeər ɪɡˈzæm ˈəʊvər ðeər/
*Identify the vowels which are pronounced /eə/
1. "ear " is often pronounced as / eə/
Bare
/beə(r)/
trần, trần truồng
Care
/keə(r)/
chăm sóc
Dare
/deə(r)/
Dám
Fare
/feə(r)/
tiền vé
Rare
/reə(r)/
hiếm có, ít có
* Exceptions:
Are
/ɑː(r)/
là (dạng số nhiều của to be)
Harem
/ˈhɑːriːm/
hậu cung
2. "ai" + "r" is pronounced as /eə/ 
Air
/eə(r)/
không khí
Fair
/feə(r)/
công bằng
Hair
/heə(r)/
tóc
Pair
/peə(r)/
cặp, đôi
Chair
/tʃeə(r)/
cái ghế
3. "ea" + "+ "r" is pronounced as /eə/
Bear
/beə(r)/
con gấu
Pear
/peə(r)/
trái lê
Wear
/weə(r)/
mặc, đội, đeo
Swear
/sweə(r)/
thề
4. "ei" may be pronounced as /eə/
Heir
/eə(r)/
người thừa kế
Their
/ðeə(r)/
của họ (từ sở hữu)
* Exercise: 
1. Listen and underline the words have the / eə/ sound
Ear	beer	pier	pear	
Hair	Tear	chairs	square
2. Listen the dialogue and find out the words have / eə/ sound.
A: Let go there
B: No, I don't want to go there.
A: Why not?
B: I'm afraid of the bears on the stairs.
A: They're practice bears made of air.
UNIT 9: CITIES OF THE WORLD
In this unit the students are gained 2 diphthongs / ai/ and /әʊ/.
a. Diphthong / әʊ/.
* How to make the sound.
- /əʊ/ is a long vowel sound. 
It begins with /ə/ and move to /ʊ/.
It's pronounced /əʊ/.../əʊ/
* Practice
1. Distinguish / ɔ:/ and /әʊ/ sound.
/ ɔ:/
/әʊ/
caught / k ɔ:t /
nought / nɔ:t /
bought / bɔ: t/
jaw / dʒ ɔ:/
ball / bɔ:l /
coat /kәʊt/
note /nәʊt/
boat /bәʊt/
Joe /dʒәʊ/
bowl /bәʊl/
2. Look at the sounds.
Go /ɡəʊ/
Road /rəʊd/
Old /əʊld/
Boat /bəʊt/
Phone /fəʊn/
Joking /dʒəʊkɪŋ/
Shoulder /ˈʃəʊldər/
October /ɒkˈtəʊbər/
Potato /pəˈteɪtəʊ/
Tomorrow /təˈmɔːroʊ/
3. Look at the / әʊ/ sound in some sentences.
I don’t know. 
/aɪ dəʊnt nəʊ/ 
My toes are cold 
/maɪ təʊz ər kəʊld/
Is the window open? 
/ɪz ðə ˈwɪndəʊ ˈəʊpən/
She phoned me in October. 
/ʃi fəʊnd mi ɪn ɒkˈtəʊbər/
They showed us their home. 
/ðeɪ ʃəʊd əs ðer həʊm/
*Identify the vowels which are pronounced /əʊ/
1. "o " in stressed syllable with consonant or at the end of the word is pronouced as /əʊ/ e 
Go
/gəʊ/
đi
No
/nəʊ/
không
Ago
/əˈgəʊ/
trước đây
tomato
/təˈmɑːtəʊ/
cà chua
Toe
/təʊ/
ngón chân
2. "oa" with one or two consonants at the end of the word is pronouced as /əʊ/ .
Road
/rəʊd/
con đường
Coal
/kəʊl/
than đá
Goat
/gəʊt/
con dê
Soap
/səʊp/
xà phòng
Coast
/kəʊst/
bờ biển
3. "oul" at the end of the word or with a consonant is also pronounced as /əʊ/
Soul
/səʊl/
tâm hồn
Dough
/dəʊ/
bột nhão
shoulder
/ˈʃəʊldə(r)/
vai
Poultry
/ˈpəʊltri/
gia cầm
4. "ow" is pronounced as /əʊ/ when it's at the end of the word.
Know
/nəʊ/
biết
Slow
/sləʊ/
chậm
window
/ˈwɪndəʊ/
cửa sổ
Bowl
/bəʊl/
cái bát
tomorrow
/təˈmɒrəʊ/
ngày mai
* Exercises:
1. Listen the dialogue and find out the /əʊ/ sound.
A: Hugo.
B: Oh, no. What's the matter Amit?
A: Come, look at the window.
B: No, my eyes are closed and I'm going back to sleep.
A: Oh, no Hugo. Don't go to sleep. Come look at the snow.
B: Snow? But it's only october. I know there's no snow.
A: Come over there the window.
2. Listen and fill in the missing words.
- Our children are ......... up and have children of their.........( grown/ own)
- Old people prefer to stay in their ........ homes.?( own)
- How long............ did you buy it? ( ago)
- We are the ............people there. ( only)
- ..............me please. I'll ............ you the way.?( follow/ show)
b. Diphthong / ai/
* How to make sound.
aɪ/ is a long vowel sound.
It starts with /ɑː/ and moves to /ɪ/. 
It’s pronounced /aɪ/....../aɪ/.
*Practice:
1. Look at the sounds
die /daɪ/
like /laɪk/
why /waɪ/
high /haɪ/
fighting /ˈfaɪtɪŋ/
surprise /sərˈpraɪz/
childhood /ˈtʃaɪldhʊd/
tour guide /tʊər ɡaɪd/
2. Distinguish two sounds / a:/ and /ai/
/a:/
/ai/
bar /ba:/
star /sta:/
darn /da:n/
lark / la:k/
cart /ka:t/
buy /bai/
sty /stai/
dine /dain/
like /laik/
kite/kait/
3. Look at the sound /ai/ in some sentences.
Drive on the right .
/draɪv ɒn ðə raɪt/
Why don't you try?
/waɪ dəʊnt juː traɪ/
Do you like dry wine? 
/du ju laɪk draɪ waɪn/
I'm twice your size, Lisa
/aɪm twaɪs jʊr saɪz 'lɪzə/
That guy might buy my cycle.
/ ðæt ɡaɪ maɪt baɪ maɪ 'saɪkl/
* Identify the vowels which are pronounced /aɪ/
1. "i" the letter in one syllable word ending with a consonant is pronounced as /aɪ/ 
Bike
/baɪk/
xe đạp
Site
/saɪt/
nơi chỗ, vị trí
Kite
/kaɪt/
cái diều
Like
/laɪk/
ưa thích, giống
Mine
/maɪn/
của tôi (t