The experience in learning vocabulary effectively for primary students

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic:
English is an international language, it has a great role in many fields such as diplomacy economy, commerce, science and technology. Because of opening policies of our state and party and globalization, many and many people use foreign languages, especially English. English is used by many classes in our society. Following that trend, there has been an increare in teaching and learning English at primary schools in Viet Nam. It gives students chance to learn an international language.
English is a new and difficult subject for primary students. When they first learn English, they must learn vocabulary. And vocabulary is one of the important part of a foreign language. In all skills such as: speaking, listening, reading and writing, we need to have vocabulary. In order to have good vocabulary knowledge,we must learn hard and enrich our vocabulary day by day. It is very difficult for primary students because they have not been the awareness of learning a foreign language and just because they do not feel the importantce of learning English. But they have strong points such as: They can memorize the words well and they easily imitate their teachers but they don’t memorize long. This makes them afraid of vocabulary and have wrong writing of vocabulary and pronounce the words incorrectly or they are not eager to communicate with each other in English in each English lesson. So how can they enrich their vocabulary? How can we make them eager to learn English ? This is a question for all of us - English teachers.
 With my experience of teaching, I would like to introduce "The experience in learning vocabulary effectively for primary students"
1.2. The purpose of research :
Before going into the specific issue, we agree that the mainstream methods of teaching foreign languages ​​is integration, meaning that new words should be taught in context. Students should learn how to use new words and new structures for communication in foreign languages​​.
Right from the beginning, teachers should consider the various procedures for teaching, testing and consolidating vocabulary.
Should all the new words be taught or not? How should teachers teach vocabulary effectively? The purpose of this initiative is to help:
- Construct intuitive tools to introduce new words.
- Ensure that students understand the structure, vocabulary applied to the structure to improve communication functions.
- Deepen vocabulary in memory of students through the sample questions and practice exercises.
 - Help the lessons become more vibrant and lively.
 - Students understand the new words in the classroom.
 - Students' vocabulary significantly increase.
 - The weak students use the vocabulary in simple sentences and then in more complex sentences.
1.3. The subject of research :
I have applied alternately to the lessons to the lessons in English textbook grade 3, 4, 5 and have performed for students in grade 4 at Dong Ve 2 Primary school.
1.4. The methods of research 
In order to implement this initiative, I have chosen some of the following methods:
- Reading documents that relate to the research issue.
- Survey method for comments.
- Testing method.
- Pedagogical observation method
- Method of assessment.2. CONTENT
2.1. Rationale
The purpose of foreign language teaching is not to give students knowledge of the language, but the ultimate goal of teaching foreign languages ​​in general and English in particular is teaching students the ability to communicate in English. The ability of students to communicate through skills: Listening, Speaking , Reading and Writing. 
- For any languages ​​in the world, to communicate with it, we are required to have vocabulary. Vocabulary is an indispensable component in the language used for communication activities and an important part of the language learning.
- In English we can not train and develop the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing of students without basing on the foundation of vocabulary. Indeed, without a necessary variety of vocabulary, students can not speak, listen, read or write well however good they may be at structures.
The findings of the “National Reading Panel” indicate that vocabulary instruction does lead to gains in comprehension, but that methods must be appropriate to the age and ability of the reader. Using both indirect and direct teaching methods to build students’ oral and reading vocabularies should be a part of a balanced reading program. Indirect methods would include read-alouds, shared reading and writing experiences, and independent reading. Direct teaching of vocabulary should respond to the needs of the students and should actively engage them in the process (National Reading Panel, 2000).
Learning vocabulary may not be the most exciting thing students do school, but by using interesting and fun ways to teach vocabulary words, teachers can increase student interest and help with both memorization and retention.
2.2. The situation of the problem:
 Under the current curriculum distribution, English accounts for four periods per week in primary school. Each lesson of units normally has new words. In oredr to teach vocabulary more vividly and effectively, teachers should use pictures or flashcards for illustration, which enables students to easily remember words and attract their attention to the lessons.
Of course, there are few difficulties in vocabulary learning. I believe vocabulary is the most comprehensive and most difficult aspect of English for foreign learners to master thoroughly. Students should concentrate first on learning the most frequently used and therefore most important English vocabulary for their practical real life needs. 
However, besides a number of children who learn vocabulary seriously, many students are still lazy at learning vocabulary. 
Moreover, it is also very difficult to check or guide them to learn at home. Because English is a foreign language and parents do not always know it well. It is also very difficult to the manage students' learning at home.
Also, the way students learn vocabulary is also worthy of attention. Students often learn vocabulary by reading words in English and trying to remember them in Vietnamese. They are easy to forget and get confused with so many words. As a result, many students get bored with learning. Therefore, teachers need pay attention to the psychology of students.
I have taken a small recent survey among 4th grade students at Dong Ve II primary school by this exercise to test the students’ memory of words.
 *Exercise: Write a dictation
My best friend is Hoang Ha Linh. She is ten years old. She lives at 14 Le Cong Khai Street in ThanhHoa with her mother, father and her younger brother. She is a student at Dong Ve 2 primary school. He is tall and thin. She has long black hair. Her close friends are Van, Dung and me. Her telephone number is 091.240.279
I obtained the following results:
Class
Total
Wrong writing of words
Correct writing of words
 4A
 4B
 4C
30
31
32
10 students (33,3%)
19 students (61,3%)
12 students (37,5%)
20 students (66,7%)
12 students (38,7%)
20 students (62,5%)
The result showed that the number of students who are not good at vocabulary is still comparatively high. To improve the situation, I decided to try to apply some my teaching experience to vocabulary teaching.
2.3. The solution to the problem
As a English teacher, I always encourage my students to learn English and I use more interesting pictures and educational equipments and teach my students many English songs in order to get the students’ attention to their learning.
How can teachers help them learn vocabulary well? Here are some techniques
2.3.1. Learn the vocabulary by real images
When I teach lesson about the weather, there are some words about the
weather : cloudy, sunny, rainy., I draw the picture of the words about the weather 
Eg: Teacher draws
 Students:
có mưa
 có mây
có nắng
 Ù × Û
- T reads	 cloudy	 sunny	 rainy
- Ss repeat (twice)	 cloudy	 sunny	 rainy
- T writes and reads cloudy	 sunny	 rainy
- Ss read again	 cloudy	 sunny	 rainy
 After students read in chorus,I call each student to read the words individually. 
I listen and correct their pronunciation and ask them to read again the words they pronounce incorrectly. And then I ask them to play the game “ What and Where”. The aim of this game is to help students remember the pronunciation of the words immediately. 
 When the period has five minutes left I guide them to play the game "Slap the board". By the end of this lesson, students will be able to help students remember the meaning of the words. I divide the class into 2 groups.
 Eg: The questions with “How”
 Group 1 Group 2
 wide	 metre 	 
 long	 deep thick
 heavy high	 fast
 bridge well
‚ ‚
‚ ‚
‚ ‚
‚ ‚
‚ ‚
2.3.1.1. Learn vocabulary basing on the structure:
- When I teach comparative adjectives, I call some students to go to the board or use some pictures and ask the rest of the class to look at them then describe their friends.
The girl is taller than the boy.
The boy is bigger than the girl.
Or I use the real things to make comparison
eg: I pick two rulers and ask the students to make comparison
2.3.1.2. Learn vocabulary according to the topic
 In this lesson, students remember all the words, I ask students to write down the words they have learnt: 
Sports
Clothes
Fruits
Subjects
Food
- football
- swimming
- badminton
- tennis
- table tennis
- basketball
- base ball
- jacket
- blouse
- shirt
- trousers
- T- shirt
- jeans
- shoes
- bananas
- apples
- oranges
- mangoes
- pine- apple
- grapes
- lemon
- English
- Music
- Vietnamese
- Mathematics
- Art
- Scien
- A.T
- bread
- rice
- fish
- meat
- beef
- chicken
- noodle
 Or I give some vocabulary of the topic combining real pictures. This way helps them remember quickly and fully accurately.
Ex: shirts,trousers,jeans, shorts, dresses  are clothes
- bananas, apples, oranges.are fruits
- rice, meat, fish . are food
( download pictures from Internet: www.google pictures of clothes; www.google pictures of food; www.google pictures of fruits )
I also ask students to revise the words they have learnt by playing games
Eg: I write down one word on the board and ask students to write all the supporting words
Summer
Spring
Autumn
Winter
seasons
By doing this, I think students remember the words easily and they find no difficulty in doing “choosing exercises”.
2.3.2. Revising words by learning songs
Basing on the original songs, I can compose the other songs and ask students to remember the words in these songs. They can sing along and learn new words easily in their lessons such as: warm- up, consolidation or when they have a rest.
Students can sing individually, in pairs, in groups or all class
Eg: Revising the colour words by singing “Bac Kim Thang” song: 
- Revising the words by singing “ Family Member” song:
2.3.3. Revising words at home:
 “Study must be together with practice”. That saying is always true. Learning words is not enough in class but also at home. I ask them to learn some new words each day or spend thirty minutes each day learning new words. This helps them form their good study habbit. 
 After a period of learning vocabulary, I ask them to write down the words at home, each word must be written down five times until they remember the meaning, the pronunciation of these words. By doing this, I think students will remember all the words they have learnt. Beside asking them to write down the words in their book, they can write the words down anywhere if it is possible such as: a piece of paper, a board so that they can learn the words anywhere or any time.
Health
Sức khỏe
Traffic lights
Đèn giao thông
eg:
Turn left
Rẽ trái
Headache
Đau đầu
2.3.4. Learning vocabulary anywhere
 Beside learning vocabulary in class or at home, I also advise students to have a piece of paper or a small notebook, whenever they study or find new words they can write the words down in a piece of paper or a small notebook in both side: one side is in Vietnamese, the other is in English. By doing this, they can learn vocabulary anywhere so they can remember the words easily. It is one of the best ways to enrich their knowledge of vocabulary. Beside that, I encourage students to watch foreign films or cartoons in English so that they can practice their listening skill and they have chance to imitate the way each word that is pronounced correctly. So they have good memory, pronunciation of the words.
 Eg:
 The front side The back side
Sports
Thể thao
football
swimming
badminton
tennis
table tennis
baseball
basketball
bóng đá
bơi
cầu lông
quần vợt
bóng bàn
bóng chày
bóng rổ
2.4. The effect of initiative application
 Above is my experience of teaching vocabulary that I have had after many years of teaching and studying. Here is the reasonable result:
 I find that students are more confident, they are eager to write words. They pronounce the words correctly , they are better at reading and writing skill, especially they are more self-confident in communication inside or outside classes. By taking this survey, I can find each students’ weak points and strong points so that I can have the best methods of teaching which are suitable for each student’s level.
Class
Excellent
Good
Average
Below average
Total
%
Total
%
Total
%
Total
%
4A
4
13,3
12
40
12
40
2
6,7
4B
5
16,1
10
32,3
13
41,9
3
9,7
4C
8
25
12
37,5
10
31,2
2
6,3
* The experience:
 By taking this survey, I have drawn some experiences:
 In order to improve the quality of teaching, each teacher must be enthusiastic with career or try their best to study, to find the interesting methods of teaching which attract students so that they get interes ted in each period of learning English.
 We should encourage students to learn English especially we must pay much attention to the weak students. We should combine knowledge of many other subjects to provide the best periods of learning English to the children. We can use cartoons, beautiful songs, interesting gamesto help students remember the words easily. 
3. THE CONCLUSIONCONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1. Conclusion: 
This is only the first step results in the implementation process to improve teaching methods. I have learnt more from collegues, teachers who have extensive experience in teaching and education and from my own reality of teaching English in classes 4, as well as theoretical study. I have experienced in innovative teaching methods. 
Use songs and music, real life objects, or puzzles, but the more teachers mix the better. Remember the difference between recognizing and producing words: to practice recognition the words have to be supplied by teachers; then students use them to fill in blanks or match them. For students to effectively and accurately produce vocabulary, they have to spontaneously recall the words.
3.2. Recommendations:
3.2.1. To the leaders:
 - I would like leaders to facilitate teachers study conditions, reference, self-learning, self- training to improve and enhance the quality of teaching.
 	- The school should provide some additional equipment for subjects like English: the pictures of each lesson in the textbook and, if possible, please provide players, video tapes, lab for English subject.
- English clubs or thematic sessions on innovative teaching methods, information technology application to teaching as well as sample lessons for hard lessons should be organized regularly for teachers to be able learn and exchange experience with each other.
With the positive and satisfactory results I have obtained, personally, I would like to propose to the Staff of Administrators at Dong Ve 2 primary school to facilitate the school-wide application.
3.2.2. To the teachers:
- Be positive more every day, creat more gentle and comfortable learning environment.
 - Teacher should prepare lessons carefully before class.
 - Prepare content for students by establishing discussing questions and the possible suggested answers.
- Play a role as a guider who helps student in learning activities.
- Have students work in pairs or groups so that students can help each other as much as possible . 
I also would like to encorage Vietnamese teschers to have more confidence and experience in teaching vocabulary even though we are not native speakers of English. With full advanced preparation, we can all be experts in teaching English.
 This is an initiative by my personal experiences drawn from practical teaching, thus, it would not be surely avoid deficiencies. I personally expect the interest and comments from the leaders and colleagues.
Headmaster’s signature
 Vu Thi Thuy Ha
Dong Ve 2, March 20th 2018
I swear this thesis is written by me without copying content from others!
Written by
Ha Thi Hai Yen
REFERENCES
1, Use melody of " Bac Kim Thang" “Family Members” songs
2, Download images from Sach mem
3, Download images for www.google pictures of fruits from Internet
4, Download images for www. google pictures of food from Internet
5, Download images for www.google pictures of clothes from Internet
THE RESULT OF EXCELENT EXPERIENCES ACHIEVED
The implementer: Ha Thi Hai Yen 
 Position: Teacher 
 School: Dong Ve 2 Primary School
 STT
NAME OF EXCELENT EXPERIENCES
LEVEL
TIME
 1
Create excitement for primary students with short songs
Level B of City 
2012- 2013
INDEX
Content
Page
1. INTRODUCTION
1
1.1. Reasons for choosing topics
1
1.2. The purpose of research 
1
1.3. The subject of research 
2
1.4. The methods of research 
2
2. CONTENT
3
2.1. Rationnale
3
2.2. The situation of the problem
3
2.3. Matter content
4
2.4. The effect of initiative application
13
3. THE CONCLUSION AND RECOMENDATIONS
14
3.1. Conclusion
14
3.2. Recomendations
14