Some strategies on teaching Reported Speech

APPENDIX
Contents
Page
PART A: INTRODUCTION	
1. Reasons of choosing the title 
2. Aims of the study 
3. Subjects of the study 
4. Methods of the study 
PART B : CONTENTS OF THE STUDY 
I. THE THEORETICAL BASIC 
II. THE SITUATIONS OF THE STUDY 
1. Advantages 
2. Disadvantages 
III. THE SOLLUTIONS 
 1. Some basic rules of Reported Speech 
2. Some main types of Reported Speech 
3. Other kinds of Reported Speech 
4. Use a mind-map in teaching and studying Reported
 Speech 
PART C: RESULTS OF THE STUDY 
PART D: CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS 
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 PART A: INTRODUCTION
1. REASONS OF CHOOSING THE TITLE
Nowadays, in the time of co-operation and globalization, English is used as a mean of international communication. Therefore, more and more people all over the world are trying to master this language. In Viet Nam, to meet the demands for development and integration of the country into the world, over the last decades, more emphasis has been put on the teaching and learning of English language. As a result, English becomes a compulsory subject in most schools of all levels now.
It can not be denied that English grammar is a indispensable factor in teaching and studying English. One of the most confusing grammatical points is Reported Speech which major of students don’t know how to change direct speech into reported one correctly. Therefore, the question for teachers is that how to teach this important grammatical point effectively. All these reasons motivate me to carry out the study of “ Some strategies on teaching Reported Speech”.
2. AIMS OF THE STUDY
The study aims at overviewing about the Reported Speech . Also, it suggests some strategies on teaching Reported speech. Moreover, I did the research to evaluate the effectiveness of doing Reported Speech tasks of students. 
3. SUBJECTS OF THE STUDY
The study focuses on some strategies in teaching Reported Speech such as some rules for changing from Direct Speech into Reported Speech, some main forms of Reported Speech,some other cases of Repoted Speech, and the use of a mind-map in teaching Reported Speech.
4. METHODS OF THE STUDY
The research based on the theoretical methods : searching, researching and analysing the materials relating to the grammatical point of Reported Speech.
Besides, the research also based on the practical methods : attending to the classes of my colleagues, teaching with the attendance of my colleagues, doing some surveys for my students by asking them to do some tasks, homework and tests.
	 PART B : CONTENTS OF THE STUDY
I. THE THEORETICAL BASIC
So far, most of learning English students have troubles with Reported Speech because of its complicated rules and cases. For examples, when changing into Reported Speech, they often confuse with changing Subjects, Verbs, Adverbs of time and place. Moreover, they do not master how many main types of reporting there are and how to change them into Reported Speech. Last but not least, they also do not master what verbs used to report the feeling, attitude of the speaker.
Because of being a teacher of English , I understand that not only students have difficulties in learning Reported Speech but also a lot of teachers face to it in teaching. They have not found the most efficient way to facilitate this grammatical point to students. As a result, how to teach Reported Speech effectively is the important question for all teachers to answer.
II. THE SITUATIONS OF THE STUDY
1. Advantages
* In term of teachers: 
- Most of them are well–qualified and well–competent in their professional teaching.
-They have good ability of applying information technology in teaching English. 
- They are always accessed to the latest teaching methods in the workshops.
* In term of students: 
Nowadays, most of students aware the importance of English which improves their motivation and passion for studying it.
2. Disadvantages
* In term of teachers: 
- Many teachers sometimes have problems in teaching some difficult points of the lesson. So, it is not easy for students to understand such lesson. “ Reported Speech” is an example for this.
* In term of students: 
- Many students are lack of their attention in the class. 
- They are not self-confident enough and always passive in mastering the knowlegde.
- Sometimes, they are lazy to do their homework or extra exercises. 
- Some students belong to the poor families that they have no time for studying any more. This problem causes their bad studying result. 
 - Students are lack of a language environment in which their communicative skills are practised daily. Every thing students learn is most theoretical. 
* In term of teaching equipments:
- Equipments used for teaching English are limited and even outdated or not working. 
- Many schools have no functional classrooms. This does not meet the demand of learning language in the modern life. 
III. THE SOLLUTIONS
1. Some basic rules of Reported Speech
Reported Speech is used to report what someone has said. When reporting, the reporter needs to give the exact content, meaning and feeling of a remark or a speech, without necessarily using the speaker’s exact word. Thus, the reporter not only obeys some basic rules but also bases on the context of the situation. These are some basic rules for changing from the direct speech into the indirect speech.
. Change Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives and Reflexive Pronouns
Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives and Reflexive Pronouns usually change from fist or second to third person, except when the speaker is reporting his own words. For instance:
	 a) I said: “ I cut my hand myself ”.
	 => I said that I had cut my hand myself.
These are some notes for changing Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives in Reported Speech:
DIRECT SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
1. The first person
It is the person of the speaker in the Direct Speech
Ex: a) He said : “ I did it myself ”.
 => He said that he had done it himself.
 b) He said : “ We’ll come right away”.
 => He said (that) they would come right away.
2. The second person
It is the person of the listener in the Direct Speech
Ex: a) He said to her : “ You are a hard-working student”.
 => He told her (that) she was a hard-working student.
b) “ You have to do your homework yourselves ”, Mrs Lien said to her students.
 => Mrs Lien told her students (that) they had to do their homework themselves.
3. The third person
 It stays the same as in the Direct Speech
Ex: a) She said : “ They have to go to the market and cook dinner themselves”.
 => She said (that) they had to go to the market and cook dinner themselves.
b) He said : “ She will never return here one more time”.
=> He said (that) she would never return ther one more time.
1.2. Change the tense of the Verb
 Reported Speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. Verbs in the Direct Speech have then to be changed into a corresponding past tense. The changes are shown in the following table.
 DIRECT SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
1. Present Simple
 Past Simple
Ex: She said : “ I am a new student”.
 => She said (that) she was a new student.
2. Present Progressive
 Past Progressive
Ex: “ We are having dinner”, he said.
 => He said (that) they were having dinner.
3. Present Perfect / Past Simple
 Present Perfect
Ex: a) “ I have never seen a such fat man”, Mai said to Tam.
Mai told Tam that she had never seen a such fat man.
 b) “ He sold his apartment”, she said.
 => She said that he had sold his apartment.
4. Present Perfect Progressive / 
 Past Progressive
 Present Perfect Progressive
Ex: a) He said: “ I’ve been waiting for ages”
 => He said that he had been waiting for ages.
 b) “ We were having dinner when your mother came”, Lan said to me.
 => Lan told me that they had been having dinner when my mother had come.
5. Past Perfect
 Past Perfect
Ex: a) She said: “ He had been to school but he had learnt nothing here”.
 => She said that he had been to school but he had learnt nothing there.
6. Future
 Future in the Past
Ex: a) Jane said: “ I will / shall be 20 on my next birthday”.
Jane said that she would be 20 on her following birthday.
 b) He said: “ I will / shall be using the car myself on the 24th”	
 => He said that he would be using the car himself on the 24th .
Fist Condition
 Condition in the Past
Ex: a) He said : “ If the bus is late again, I will take a taxi to work”.
He said that if the bus was late again, he would take a taxi to work.
 b) He said: “ I’ll be glad if she is here in an hour”.
 => He said that he would be glad if she was there in an hour. 
 ( NOT: He said that he would be glad if she were there in an hour.)
* Notes: 
- If Direct Speech uses the Past Simple which contains a certain period of time, or an unchangeable event, it will not change into the Past Perfect in Reported Speech.
 	Ex: 	1. My teacher said: “ The Second World War ended in 1945”.
	=> My teacher said that the Second World War ended in 1945.
	2. She said : “ I decided not to buy the house because it was on the 
 main road”.
	=> She said that she had decided not to buy the house because it 
 was on the main road.
- In theory, the past progressive tense in Direct Speech changes into the Past Perfect Progressive. However, this change only takes place when it refers to a completed action. In practice, the Past Progressive Tense in Direct Speech usually remains in Reported Speech.
	Ex: 	 He said: “ When I saw them they were playing tennis”.
	=> He said that when he saw them they were playing tennis.
- In term of Conditional Sentences in Reported Speech, there is no tense changes in Type 2 and Type 3.
	Ex: 	a) “ If I had a permit I could get a job”, he said.
	 => He said that if he had a permit he could get a job.
	b) Mary said: “ If I had finished the composition earlier, I would 
 have handed it in on time”.
	=> Mary said that if she had finished the composition earlier, she 
 would have handed it in on time.
- Unreal past tenses after wish, would rather/ sooner and it is time do not change:
	Ex: “We wish we didn’t have to take exam,” said the children.
	 => The children said they wished they didn’t have to take exams.
1.3. Change expressions of time and place ( some adverbs of time & demonstrative)
Adverbs and adverbial phrases of time and demonstrative change as follow:
Direct Speech
Reported speech
here
this
these
now 
today
yesterday
the day before yesterday
tomorrow
the day after tomorrow
next week/ next month/ next year, ect.
last week/ last month, ect.
Two years ago
there
that
those
then, at that time
that day
the day before
two days before
the next day / the following day
in two days’ time
the following week/ month / year, ect.
The previous week/ month/ etc.
Two years before
* Note:
- If the speech is made and reported on the same day, these time changes are not necessary.
	Ex: At breakfast this morning my father said: “ I’ll be very busy today”
 => At breakfast this morning my father said that he would be very busy today.
2. Some main types of Reported Speech
To facilitate Reported Speech in teaching and studying, I classified it into three basic types as follow:
Statements 
Questions : Wh- questions and Yes / No Questions
Imperatives (Advice, commands, requests, Suggestions)
2.1. Statements
- When reporting statements, we should use the form:
Reporting verb + ( that ) + Reported clause
 (F1)
- We use say or tell to report the statements in Reported Speech.
	say + that + reported clause
	tell + sb + that + reported clause
	Ex: “ I have just heard the news”, she said.
She told me ( that) she had just heard the news.
She said ( that) she had just heard the news.
 PRACTICE
Change these statements into Reported Speech.
1. “He always has dinner here,” she said.
=>....
2. “I couldn’t get into the house because I had lost my key,” he said.
=>....
3. “I’m her guest at the moment,” he said.
=>....
4. “If the ground is dry on the day of the race, my horse might win,” said the owner.
=>....
5. “I’m deeply grateful for all what you’ve done for Maurice,” Mrs Tabret said to Stella.
=>....
6. “You behaved very badly yesterday,” Pearl says to her.
=>....
7. “The bus was here a minute ago,” said Arnold.
=>....
8. “If you saw my father, you’d recognize him at once,” said Tom.
=>....
9. “I meet Peter at the club last weekend,” said Bessie.
=>....
10. “I’ll come with you as soon as I am ready.” She replied.
=>....
2.2. Questions ( Wh- Questions and Yes / No Questions)
- There are two main kinds of questions, these are Wh- Questions and Yes / No Questions. When we turn direct questions into Reported Speech , changes are the same in statements. It means that we change tenses, pronouns, possesive adjectives, adverbs of time and place, and demonstratives. If the introductory verb is say , it must be changed to a verb of inquiry like ask, inquire, want to know, wonder. The interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative form. The question mark (?) is therefore omitted in reported questions. The commom forms of this type in Reported Speech are shown as follow: 
2.2.1. Wh – questions 
Reporting verb + wh-word + S + V 
	 (F2)
Ex: 	a) He said : “ Where is she going ? ”
	=> He asked where she was going.
	b) She said to me : “ Who are you?”
	=> She asked me who I was.
2.2.2. Yes / No Questions: 
- Yes / No – questions has the following forms:
	To be
	Do/ Does/ Did
	Will/ Shall + S + N/ Adj ./ V / P2, ect. ? 
	Can/May/ Should
Would/ Could/ Might , ect. 
Have/ Has/ Had
- We use if / whether to report Yes/ No question Direct Speech.
Reporting verbs + if / whether + S + V
 ( F3)
Ex: a) “ Am I right ?”, He said.
	=> He wondered if / whether he was right.
	b) “ Did you see the accident ?” the policeman asked.
	=> The policeman asked if / whether I had seen the accident.
 	c) “ Shall I lock the car or leave it unlocked?” he said.
	 => He asked if / whether he should lock the car or leave it unlocked.
- Whether is usually used to emphasize to a choice. Also, we can use whether or not and whether.. or not instead of if / whether.
Ex: 	He asked: “ Do you want to insure your luggage or not?”
=> He wanted to know whether or not I want to insure my luggage.
=> He wanted to know whether I want to insure my luggage or not.
2.2.3. Before TO – INFINITIVE
a) Question words: 
- We can use question words who, what, where, where, when, how before a to – infinitive to express situation that is difficult or uncertain. Some reported verbs often used in this case are ask, wonder, (not) be sure, have no idea, ( not) know, (not) decide, (not) tell.
	Ex: 	1. “Who should we contact ? ” said they.
=> They asked me who they should contact.
	=> They didn’t know who to contact.
	2. “ How could I tell this news to my parents ?” said he.
	=> He wondered how to tell that new to his parents.
- Question words can be used to report questions about something that should be done:
	Ex:	 “ What should I do?” she said.
	=> She wondered what to do.
- Note: The question word why can not be used before a to – infinitive.
b) Yes/ No – Questions: 
- We can only use whether before to – infinitive. 
- Note: if can not be used in this case.
	Ex: 	“ Should I tell my parents what I really think?” she wondered.
	=> She wondered whether to tell her parents what her really thought.
	( NOT: She wondered if to tell her parents what her really thought.)
	PRACTICE
Exercise 1: Change the following sentences into Reported Speech.
1. “Is there a word of true in this story,” said his mother.
=>....
2. “What country do you come from?” said Bill.
=>....
3. “Which Tim has won?” asked Ann.
=>....
4. “What are you going to study?” sai Bill.
=>....
5. “What platform does the train leave from?” asked John.
=>....
6. “Have you ever seen this before?” she said to him.
=>....
7. “Does he speak English and Frech?” said Paul.
=>....
8. “Aren’t Bessie and Harry here?” she asked him.
=>....
9. “ Were your own boys happy at the school?” she said.
=>....
10. “Will you tell John what I told you last night?” Ann said to Peter.
=>....
Exercise 2: Rewrite the following questions in reported speech, using question words before TO- infinitive.
1. “ How should we use this suupport service?” they wondered.
 => ..
2. “ Who should I turn to for help?” he asked.
 => ...
3. “ Mum, when should I turn off the oven?” Mai asked her mother.
 => ..
4. “ Where should we park our bikes?” asked Phong and Minh.
 => ..
5. “ Should we call her now?” he asked.
 => .
6."What should we do to make Linh feel happier?” they wondered.
 =>..
2.3. Imperatives
+ The sentence that expresses a command, a request and an advice or a suggestion is call an imperative sentence. For examples:
	- Open the door. 	( a command)
	- Please help me.	( a request)
	- Avoid unhealthy food. 	( an advice / a suggestion)
	- Don’t make a noise. 	( a command)
+ Indirect commands, requests and advice or suggestion are usually expressed by a verb of commands / requests / advice/ suggest + Object + to – infinitive.
+ Common form: 
Reporting Verb + O + (NOT) + TO - infinitive
 ( F4 )
Reporting Verbs can be used: ask and tell: ask / tell sb (not) to do st.
Ex:	 1. He said, “ Lie down, Tom”.
	=> He told Tom to lie down.
	2. He said : “ Can you pass me a buiscuit?”
	=> He asked me to pass him a buiscuit.
	3. My teacher said to me : “ You should improve your Spainish 
 pronunciation ”
	=> He told me to improve my Spainish pronunciation.
- The person addressed (indirect object) is often not mentioned in direct commands, requests, advice,.. such as He said, “ Go away”. Hence, when reporting we must add a noun or pronoun: He told me / him/ her/ them/ the childen to go away.
2.3.1. Commands
- Direct commands are usually expressed by the imperative in the form of (F4) :
Ex: “ Don’t drive too fast,” he said.
=> He told me not to drive too fast.
- Some other reporting verbs can be used for indirect commands such as command, order,charge, demand, warn, forbid
	Ex:	1. My mornitor said : “ Make a line !”.
	=> My mornitor commanded us to make a line.
	Ex: 	2. “ Don’t swim out too far, boys,” I said.
	=> I warned the boys not to swim out too far.
- Note: say is not normally included in command. 
2.3.2. Requests, advice
 It is especially effective that we report speaker’s words with understanding his attitude and intention so that we use a reporting verb exactly. For instance, “ Can you open the door, please?”. In this direct speech, the speaker wants to give a request of opening the door, but makes a question. Therefore, instead of reporting She asked if I could open the door, we should report : She asked me to open the door. 
- Requests and advice can be expressed not only in the forms ( F1), ( F2), ( F3), ( F4) but also in a variet of ways.
- Reporting verbs can be used in Reported Speech for them: advise, ask, tell,, beg, encourage, entreat,request, urge, implore, recommend,remind, invite,.
	Ex: 	1. “ If I were you, I’d stop smoking,” I said.
	=> I advised him to stop smoking.
	2. “ Don’t forget to order the wine,” said Mrs Pitt.
	=> Mrs Pitt reminded her husband to order the wine.
	3. “ Go on, apply for the job,” said Jack.
	=> Jack urged / encouraged me to apply for the job.
	4. “ You shouldn’t draw on the wall,” said teacher.
	=> The teacher advised us not to draw on the wall
* Notes: 
- The reporting verb advise is usually used with:
+ You should / You ought to + V
+ If I were you , I would / should.
+ You’d better.
+ Why don’t you
Ex: “ You’d better go to the dentist,” she said.
 => She advised me to go to