Some activities to help grade 7 students at Luong Noi secondary school improve their speaking skill in extra lessons in the afternoon

 Table of Contents
Contents
Pages
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The reasons for topic:
1.2. Research purpopes:
1.3. Research objects:
1.4. Research methods:
2. THE CONTENTS:
2.1. Theoretical Base:
2.2. Statement of the problem:
2.3. The solutions:
2.4. Effectives:
3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION:
3.1. Conclusion:
3.2. Recommendation:
REFERENCES
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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. The reasons for topic:
English, an international language, has been a compulsory subject at secondary schools in Vietnam in the past few years. All students want to learn English well to have a better future. Along with improving grammar, students need to improve their language skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. For me, the main target of learning a foreign language is to communicate with people all over the world. 
However, there are still students who are not aware of the importance of the subject in their lives so they are lack of interest in studying this subject. To build up the students’ passion of learning English, it needs to give them an exciting learning environment, to innovate teaching methods of teachers to be scientific and effective. Therefore, the teacher always finds the most suitable methods to apply to each unit remarkably, helping the students acquire the language lessons fast with good memory and especially the passion for the subject. Personally, I always explore and learn through colleagues, through the media, through many different teaching methods that are interesting and helpful.
Luong Noi secondary school students are interested in learning English, especially in grade 6, but over time they feel afraid, decreased interest, learn and lead his people to the quality department increasingly decline in the grade on. That’s why the higher grade the students are in the more difficult they feel in learning English and many of them lead to be lazy to learn this subject. The main reason is that they do not remember structures and new words. From this reality I have always tried to answer the question “How students can remember words and sentence structures well to make learning English easier?” And through many testing lessons I notice that the lesson introducing new language (often introducing new language focused on new vocabulary, grammar and language functions through teaching dialogues) is the first and decisive content of a successful unit. For the above reasons, I boldly launched an initiative experience "Some activities to help grade 7 students at Luong Noi secondary school improve their speaking skill in extra lessons in the afternoon."
1.2. Research purpopes:
 My purpose in writing this initiative experience was to find out what the most common and effective methods in developing speaking skill and improve the quality of teaching English at Luong Noi secondary school, help students understand the importance of speaking skill in learning English through extra lessons. Beside that I can cultivate myself the professional capacity in teaching, improve the teaching methods appropriate for each positive post, each subject students to improve the quality of teaching and learning English at Luong Noi secondary school.
1.3. Research objects:
Initiative experience focused on taking some activities to help grade - 7 students at Luong Noi improve their speaking skill in extra lessons in the afternoon.
1.4. Research methods:
- Theoretical Reseach: Reading, Reference, Teacher book, Lesson plan .
	- Statement of the problem at Luong Noi junior high school.
- Teaching method.
2. THE CONTENTS:
2.1. Theoretical Base:
Performing the movement of each teacher is a moral example, self-learning and innovation and to meet the requirements of innovative teaching methods and teaching organizations towards active teaching, learner centered, scientific lesson design, arranging reasonable activities of teachers and students, focusing on close object students, promoting positive, proactive creativity in foreign language learning of the students. Innovating teaching methods so that in each lesson students are interested in learning, positive practice and remember new language at class time.
2.2. Statement of the problem:
a. Advantages: 
- I am a young teacher so I am always enthusiastic with my English teaching job and I always want to find something new, interesting for my students. My love for my lovely students is also a kind of motivation for me to try my best to help them. 
- Many of my students are eager to learn how to speak English well so that they can communicate with foreigners when they have chance. 
- More and more students and their parents are aware of the importance of speaking skill. 
- My collogues as well as other teachers in my school always give me good encouragement and support. 
b. Disadvantages: 
- When I applied my experiences and innovations, I also have some certain difficulties as following: 
- Most of my students are ethnic people and they are familiar with speaking their own language ( The Muong Language ) even at class. 
- The number of students who can speak English and wants to improve their speaking skill is very limited. 
- Teaching aids and time are also a big problem as I still need more time and teaching aids to prepare a contented lesson for extra class in the afternoon. 
- Quite a few students are too weak to speak English as they don't know much lexicology as well as lacking grammar structures. 
       In the first semester of school year 2015-2016 before applying my research, I gave a speaking topic to the students in class 7A and 7B “ Talk about your bedroom.”, testing their speaking skill through lession 3: At home.
Here are the survey results quality speaking skill of students of grade 7 at Luong Noi secondary school - school year 2015-2016:
Class
Total
Excellent
Good
Moderate
Weak
Poor
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
No
%
7A
29
0
0
5
17,2
18
62,2
5
17,2
1
3,4
7B
30
0
0
8
26,7
17
56,6
3
10
2
6,7
From this result I have adopted some solutions to introduce some activities to help grade 7 students improve their speaking skill in extra lessons in the afternoon.
2.3. The solutions:
In fact, very few students can speak English fluently after studying it for 4 years at junior high school. I have observed some of colleagues' teaching lessons and through observation, I have realized some difficulties that teachers and students have.
a. To teachers: 
- In most of extra lessons in the afternoon, teachers just help their students do grammar exercises, reading, writing and listening. They ignore speaking skill so day by day, month by month and year by year, students find it really hard to speak English though they can understand what other people speak in English in a simple way.
- Some teachers cannot create speaking activities for students to take part in or they are not creative in designing activities. 
- Some teachers don't make models so that students cannot imitate. Some teachers don't have enough teaching aids like pictures, real objects..... for students to express their ideas. 
b. To students: 
- Many students are not confident to present their ideas in English though they can understand what other students and their teachers say. 
- Many students are not motivated to speak English and are afraid of making mistakes and being laughed at by their friends or being told off by their teachers. 
- Many students just want to learn new grammar structures because they are new to them. They don't want to speak what they have learnt. By learning many grammar structures, they can get good marks in final exam, which only test students' knowledge of grammar mainly. 
With experience of teaching English for more than 12 years, I still find it rather hard to design speaking activities so that all students can get involved. So, I have tried many methods and then I can learn what I have done with a class and then I can improve in other classes. 
2.4. Effectives:
To help my students improve their speaking skill, I can't do it in a day or two. On the contrary, it took me months, even years to draw some following experiences and innovations. 
* Pair- work on topics given. 
Aim: 
To help students ask and answer using questions from brainstorming stage to create communicative activities. 
Time to carry out: 
20 minutes. 
Preparation: 
+ Teacher: Vocabulary of jobs, good questions to explore personal information. 
+ Students: Get to know some information about the person they want to act. 
a. Asking and answering about personal information. 
As we know, teachers of English often ask their students to work in pair asking and answering about their personal because this activity is quite important and interesting. 
Last schoolyear, after students have learnt Units 1,2,3 in English 7, in an extra lesson in the afternoon, I asked students in class 7A to work in pair asking and answering about their personal information. I gave them some clues such as: name, age, job, accommodation, family, telephone number, favorite pastimes. I also reminded students some phrases to ask their friends back to increase the communicative target. Such as: 
How/ What about you? 
And you? 
And your....
For weak class, I asked all class to build up the questions before they asked each other. Questions as following: 
	What's your name?
	How old are you? 
	Where do you live? 
	How far is it from your house to school? 
	How do you go to school? 
	How many people are there in your family? 
	What's your telephone number? 
	What do you do in your free time? 
Unluckily, I found my students feel quite bored with this activity because they did learn how to answer these questions in the morning so during their working time, I walked around to take notes what their answers were. 
First, I asked all students in class to work in pairs simultaneously and then I required some pairs to present their dialogues in front of the whole class. 
Here are some of the dialogues I noted down during that lesson. 
* First, I heard two students called Huyen and Ly make their dialogue as following: 
Huyen: What's your name?
Ly: My name is Ly. 
Huyen: How old are you? 
Ly: I'm 11 years old. 
Huyen: What do you do? 
Ly: I'm a student. 
Huyen: Where do you live? 
Ly: I live in Ba Thuoc
Huyen: How far is it from your house to school? 
Ly: It's about 1 km. 
Huyen: How do you go to school? 
Ly: I go to school by bike. 
Huyen: How many people are there in your family? 
Ly: There are four people in my family. 
Huyen: What's your telephone number? 
Ly: 0373 871 256
Huyen: What do you do in your free time? 
Ly: I play badminton. 
	Obviously, two students named Huyen and Ly made a good dialogue because they could use all questions needed to ask about personal information. But they still felt bored with this activity since they have been in the same class for nearly two years and they have known each other very well. That's why when listening to Ly's answer, Huyen showed no surprise or not much interest because she could guess what Ly's answers were. 
* Next, I observed 2 students named Thu and Mai
Thu: What's your name, Thu? 
Mai: My name is Mai. And your name, Thu? 
Thu: My name is Thu. How old are you? 
Mai: I'm 11 years old. And you? 
Thu:	I'm 11. What do you do? 
Mai: I'm a student. And you? 
THu: I'm a student. Where do you live? 
Mai: I live in Ba Thuoc. How about you? 
Thu:	I live in Ba Thuoc, too. How far is it from your house to school? 
Mai: It's about 2 km. How about your house? 
Thu:	It's about 2 km. How do you go to school? 
Mai: I goto school by bike. And you? 
Thu: I go to school by bike. How many people are there in your family? 
Mai: There are four people in my family. And your family? 
Thu: There are five people in my family. What's your telephone number? 
Mai: 0373 871 345. And your telephone number? 
Thu: 0373 871 254. What do you do in your free time? 
Mai: I play soccer. And you? 
Thu: I watch TV. 
	Happily, two students Thu and mai made a better dialogue than Huyen and Ly's because they did use phrases like: How about you? And you? .....to ask his friend but they still found this activity a bit uninteresting because they were neighbors and they knew clearly about each other. They knew each other so clearly that they made a very funny mistake when asking questions: 
Thu: What's your name, Mai? 
Mai: My name is Mai. And your name, Thu?
	From the dialogues students in class 7A made, I thought I had to find a better way, a more interesting thing but students can still have to practice asking and answering personal information without feeling bored. So when I taught class 7B (a weaker class), I also asked the whole class to build up questions as I did in class 7A. Then I asked students to act if they were new to each other. So each student have three minutes to note down the name, job, accommodation.......they liked. They may act if they were famous singers, actors or actress............. Then I asked students in class 7B to change their seats so that they could ask the person they wanted to know more. I also reminded students to use phrases given to ask his/ her new friend to increase communicative target and encouraged them to be creative in using questions. 
And here are two dialogues I noted down:
(Dialogue made by Phan and Loan. Loan is A. Phan is B)
A: Hi. Nice to meet you. 
B: Hi. How do you do. What's your name? 
A: My name is Messi. And your name? 
B: My full name is Ngo Kien Huy. How old are you? 
A: I'm 27 years old. How about you? 
B: I'm 24. What do you do?
A: I'm a soccer player. And you? 
B: I'm a singer. Where do you live? 
A: I live in London. And you? 
B: I live in Ho Chi Minh city. How do you often go to work? 
A: I go to work by bus. How about you? 
B: I go to work by car, sometimes by bus. How many people are there in your family? 
A:There are three people in my family. How about your family. 
B: There are two people in my family. My mother and I. So what do you so in your free time? 
A: I play basketball. Sometimes I go swimming. And you? 
B: I sometimes play video games. Sometimes, I play table tennis.
	With the way I used for students in class 7B, I found that all students were eager to work together to make dialogues. Although they couldn't cover all personal information needed, their dialogues were more colorful and more lively. Therefore, to motivate students first to feel like taking part in speaking activity, then gradually to improve their speaking skill as well as their confidence, teachers really need to create artificial activities which are new and interesting to them and above all, teachers have to create activities that are suitable for students' levels. 
	Pair- work in teaching and learning English is not new and can be called a daily activity but how teachers make students get involved in this kind of activity eagerly is a big problem to many teachers. 
	With the way I used for students in class 7B can be used in many lessons with other topics relating to exploring personal information. 
b. Pair- work about future plan using "will"
Aim: 
- To help students express their future intention using "will" after learning Unit 2. 
	- To help students exchange information about their plan as well as revising the use of "will" and develop speaking skill. 
Time to carry out: 
20 minutes. 
Preparation: 
+ Teachers: Information/ flashcards about places of interest in their province or country. Questions to ask about holiday in the future. 
+ Students: Revise the use, form of "will" at home first. 
Steps: 
	When I taught class 7B. First, I asked students to speak out some questions to ask their friends about their plans for a holiday next summer. Here are questions students in class 7B presented. 
	Where will you go next summer?
	How will you go there?
	Who will you go with?
	Where will you stay there?
	How long will you stay there?
	What will you do there?
	Will you buy any souvenirs and take any photos?
Then, I asked all students to work in pair simultaneously. I walked around class to check and help but I found that most of students in class 7B said they would go to SamSon as they hadn't been to anywhere else and they didn't know much about other famous places. Therefore, their dialogues were almost the same. They didn't talk about other places as I expected. When I carried out the same lesson in class 7A, I asked students to say out the place they wanted to visit such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh city....., then I provided some information about those places. 
 you can get there by car/ bus/ train / plane (from Thanh Hoa city)
Hanoi: 	you can visit: Sword lake, One Pillar pagoda, Ho Chi Minh's 
	 Mausoleum, Ba Dinh Square,......
 you can try: Hanoi Pho, Com cakes, ......
Similarly, I provided some flashcards containing some necessary information about some places to my students so that they can use. 
After students had worked simultaneously, I asked some pairs to present their dialogues and I was very glad to find that some pairs made very good dialogues. Here is one of those. 
I noted down a dialogue between Son and Anh as following: 
Son: Hi, NHung. Where will you go this summer?
Anh: I will go to Ho Chi Minh city. 
Son: How nice! Who will you go with? 
Anh: I will go with my parents and my brother. 
Son: How will you go there? 
Anh: We will go there by train. 
Son: Where will you stay in Ho Chi Minh city? 
Anh: We will stay at a small hotel. 
Son: How long will you stay there? 
Anh: We will stay there for a week. 
Son: What will you do in Ho Chi Minh city? 
Anh: We will visit Nha Rong Harbor, Dam Sen Water Park, Tien Spring park and go to a music live show. And we'll try a lot of specialties in Ho Chi Minh city. 
Son: Will you buy any souvenirs and take any photos?
Anh: Of course, we will. I will have a gift for you and I will show you my photos. 
Son: Great. Have a good trip. 
Anh. Thanks. How about you? 
Son: This summer, I will go to Hanoi with my parents. We'll go there by bus. We'll stay at my uncle's house for 4 days. I think we will visit you can visit: Sword lake, One Pillar pagoda, Ho Chi Minh's Mausoleum, Ba Dinh Square,......And we'll try Hanoi Pho, Com cakes, ......We'll take some photos and buy some gifts. I'll give you a nice gift. 
Anh: Thanks. Enjoy your journey. 
	Once again, if teachers want their students to be interested in speaking activities, they have to create new, interesting and suitable ones. Moreover, to be successful in one activity, teachers must have good knowledge in that filed and prepare what is essential to help students in case they get stuck in exploring information. 
* Application:
All teachers of English have known the importance of pair work in learning English so they can use this type of activity whenever they want to help their students to speak. 
* Report. 
Report is also an excellent way for students to improve their speaking skill as well was their confidence because if one wants to report something, he will have to stand up in front of class to do it. 
In order to have a good report activity, teachers need to set tasks to students before asking them to report something. Report activity is often used after pair work. Teachers also need to provide cards so that students can take notes. 
After students in class 7B finished their open pairs (asking and answering about personal information), I asked some students to come to black board to talk about themselves and about a friend he has talked with. Unfortunately, many students can't remember information about their friends, some even forget information about themselves. Furthermore, all students in class 7B have known each other very well so they were not interested to hear about their friends. 
	When I carried out pair- work activity about personal information in class 7B, I had some more ex