CATEGORY PART 1: INTRODUCTION (Page 1) I Reason for choosing the topic (Page 1) II The objectives of the topic ( page 2) III The object of the topic (page 2) IV The research methods (page 2) PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical base of experience initiative (page 2) (page 2) 2.2 The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary at Lam Kinh high schools (page 3) 2.3 Solutions and implementation (page 5) 2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative (page 17) PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS (page 19) I.Conclusions (page 19) II Recommendations REFERENCES APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL TESTS (page 19) PART 1: INTRODUCTION I Reason for choosing the topic: Theoretically: - English is the language of globalization It's not only the language of international business and politics but also the primary language used for most computers and for the inner workings of the Internet English is the dominant international language in communications, science, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy English is an important tool for operating on the world stage The ability to speak and understand English is mandatory in certain fields, professions, and occupations - In the era of the development of science and technology and of acculturation, they require each of us to basic knowledge and certain skills In particular, foreign language skill, especially English, is the key for us to open the important door to step out in the world Besides the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, the vocabulary is very necessary for a foreign language learner Vocabulary is also a very important platform for students to complete their skills in the learning of English in secondary schools However, in practice, the vocabulary is not easy so students often encounter many difficulties One of the difficulties of the students is absorbing and memorizing vocabulary that they have learned or once used before Practically: Along with the development of society and the need to reach out to the world, the English teaching methods and course content is constantly being renewed and improved The English mateiral for grade 10 with a lot of different topics gives students more knowledge about life and diverse society However, the diversity of subjects and requires students to memorize more vocabulary This is a major barrier for the students, especially for those in rural and mountainous areas Therefore, how to find the most effective way of teaching vocabulary to help students understand each lesson easier is the responsibility of every foreign language teacher Nowadays, there are many good methods of teaching vocabulary, but the selection and the application of those methods in a flexible way for each unit is not easy for each teacher In the process of teaching vocabulary to students at the school, I and some of my colleagues in the team faced many difficulties in finding suitable methods to improve the quality of education From the above reasons, along with the experiences that I have gained during my teaching, I decide to choose the topic: "Some measures to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning English vocabulary for students in grades 10” II The objectives of the topic To draw on a number of methods to help students in Grade 10 English vocabulary effectively and to give them a certain number of skills in understanding and remembering vocabulary III The object of the topic High school students in grades 10 Lam Kinh and English textbooks grade 10 IV The research methods Read the document: I have studied the materials relating to the topic of my experience initiative so that I have found the orientation for the content of the topic, understand the research problem and solve the problem with relatively accurate documentation Investigate a Attend English lessons: Through attending English lessons of my colleagues in and out of school, I summarized some valuable experiences in teaching vocabulary to students b Experiment: Through class lesson, I have applied several methods of teaching vocabulary in each lesson several self-assessment and the effectiveness of those methods c Discussion: Through some group meetings, I and my colleagues have discussed the problem of teaching methods and skills to teach English vocabulary effectively to students d Assessment: Through the results of the tests for students, teachers can self-assess the effectiveness of the use of methods of teaching vocabulary and find out measures to improve the quality of learning vocabulary PART 2: DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Theoretical base of experience initiative: 2.1.1: Legal base: - Education Law No 44/2009 / QH12 amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Education Law No 38/2005 / QH11 promulgated by the National Assembly November 25, 2009 - Educational programs attached to Decision No 16/2006 / QD-BGDT minister dated 05/05/2006 of education and training - Decision No 1400 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister: On approval of the project "Teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education system the period 2008 - 2020" - Topics of education and training on innovative approaches to teaching and assessment of English at high schools - The material “Some common problems of teaching methods innovation in schools” by Nguyen Van Cuong, Prof Dr Bernd Meier compiled collaborative project developed under high school education of the Ministry of Education and Training 2.1.2: Scientific base: - Based on current goals of education that is to focus on the development direction of the dynamism, creativity and active learning of students in order to help them have the ability to identify and solve problems To achieve these goal, the use of diverse techniques of teaching vocabulary to students instead of traditional teaching methods in which teachers provide only words and meanings of words is necessary - Based on innovation-oriented method of teaching English in secondary schools by the Ministry of Education and Training, basic criteria of the new teaching methods that operate independently and actively the activeness of students in solving the tasks to communicate in the language Key criteria to assess the learning outcomes of students is the ability to communicate and conduct capacity tape language in practical situations In particular, the vocabulary is the main component in communication activities Thus, helping students master the vocabulary is a task that is equally important - Based on the objectives of foreign language learning is not only to knowabout the phonetic system, vocabulary, grammar, but also to use that system to achieve the purpose of communication Therefore, I know that encouraging students to use vocabulary in context communication is a indispensable and relatively difficult task to each teacher, especially with those students in rural and mountainous areas 2.2: The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary at Lam Kinh high schools Through the teaching of English, especially English program grade 10, I notice some following problems - The majority of foreign language teachers have done their utmost to teach and inspire a love of learning a foreign language students However, due to a lack of facilities and equipment needed for particular courses of visual aids cater for teaching vocabulary, teaching vocabulary should not achieve high efficiency Besides, traditional methods of teaching vocabulary often reduces the quality of the language lessons and absorptive capacity of the students - Although most English teachers in the school are making great efforts to teach vocabulary for students, combining the skills and methods of teaching vocabulary in a flexible manner is still a challenge Many teachers are confused about the selection of a suitable form of teaching vocabulary for each unit - In fact, many students in grade 10 of Lam Kinh high school come from agricultural commune, some are mountainous ethnic minority students Although the students love the English language and they are aware of its importance, learning vocabulary is still a major obstacle to them Most students just memorize mechanically the words down so they also forget them very quickly They also can not use the words they have learned in social situations In the class, some students become passive, lack of flexibility, afraid to read and speak English This is a huge drawback for students from rural and mountainous areas where they have little chance of contact with alien technology and modern teaching facilities At the beginning of 2015-2016 school year in grades 10B1,10B2,10B6, after conducting a short test of English vocabulary with the same content, I have obtained the following results: Class 10B1 10B2 10B6 Total The number of students scoring proficient Percentage The number of students scoring pretty Percentage The number of students scoring average Percentage The number of students scoring below average Percentage ( 42 students) (42 students) 42 students) 1 2,38% 0% 2,38% 5 11,9% 9,53% 11,9% 14 12 13 33,33% 28,57% 30,96% 22 26 23 52,39% 61,9% 54,76% - Thus, the rate of students scoring good and excellent is only 14,28% in class 10B1 and 10B6 and the figure is 9,53% in 10B2 The rate of students at average level accounts for less than 35% The test results show that the student's vocabulary is very limited compared to the amount of knowledge provided in the textbooks - From this result, I have adopted a number of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning vocabulary for students in my class With each lesson, I use diverse forms of teaching vocabulary to suit each student object and I also try to make full use of the poor teaching conditions in my school - In 10th grade English, vocabulary is divided into several topics and many different groups With each group, we will have many different methods to help students understand, remember and use new words quickly and effectively 2.3 Solutions and Implementation 2.3.1: Teaching vocabulary by grouping from each theme, from the type or level of use 2.3.1.1 Building a number of topics of English vocabulary: Teachers can arrange words in groups of different topics to the students easy to remember, easy to learn, easy to understand, depending on the content of each post - Example 1: Unit 1: A day in the life of/ Part B: Speaking/ page 14/ 10th grade English Theme: Subjects: Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, History, Geography, Biology, Physical Education, Civic Education - Example 2: Unit 5: Technology and you/ Part A: Reading/ page 54/ 10th grade English Theme: Computer: keyboard, mouse, computer screen, software, hardware, data, printer, speakers, CPU ( central processing unit), VDU ( visual display unit) - Example 3: Unit 13: Film and cinema/ Part B: SPeaking/ page 134/ 10th grade English Theme: Films: Science fiction, cartoon, love story film, war film, action film, detective film, horror film 2.3.1.2: Using network When approached with a new theme, teachers help students find out what they have relationships with the words that they already know it or not, and between them have any connection This is an easy way that allows students to learn and remember new words quite effectively because it stimulates thinking and imagination of the students Teachers can give a hint about the subject and students need to list the words relating to that suggestion (as much as possible) Look at the network in the examples below With vocabulary exercises are designed as such networks, students can build systems for each thematic vocabulary, and remember how to read and how to write words correctly and logically - Example 1: Unit 8: The story of my village/ Part A: Reading/ page 82/ 10th grade English mud stra w field Countryside crop farme r village - Example 2: Unit 11: National parks / Part D: writing/ page 117/ 10th grade English Rejectio n Acceptan ce Applicatio n Letter Thankyou Invitation Refusal Inquiry 2.3.1.3: Teach vocabulary through words belong to a group of sense Although there are many adjectives are not synonymous, their meanings come close together Because they are the only properties of an object, event or phenomenon Therefore, when we make a first adjective and ask students to find another adjective that means close to it, students will develop the ability to guess and to brainstorm At the same time students will remember this group from the faster, longer Example: Unit 13: Films and cinema/ Part B: speaking/ page 134-135/ 10th grade English Teachers guide students to find the adjectives describe a movie they like or not like based on the adjectives have been hints available in textbooks or find other adjectives Interesting: exciting, wonderful, moving, good fun, fascinating Terrifying: boring, violent, horrifying, bad, 2.3.1.4: Teach vocabulary by combining the antonyms Teaching vocabulary through the pair of opposites has long been a common approach and highly effective This is a relationship with very strong impacts on memorizing vocabulary easily For example, when students are asked about an antonym for "hot", students will say now is "cold" Thus,in the lesson, the teacher should skillfully integrate opposites pair appeared in all together to help students memorize easily Example: Unit 12: Music/ Part A: reading/ page 124/ 10th grade English put "love" - next to "hate" put "joyful" - next to "solemn" put "happy" and “ excited” - next to " mournful" 2.3.2: Teaching vocabulary through visual aids The use of real objects, photographs, film material in teaching vocabulary always has a strong impact on interest in learning of students This approach helps teachers convey lexical semantics quickly and conveniently and it also encourages students to understand and remember words in a faster and more efficient way 2.3.2.1: Realia: When teaching vocabulary to students, teachers can use the model objects or related vocabulary to explain the meaning of the word to students This method is often highly effective because students can directly observe the objects, especially in the case of the words that the teacher find it difficult to explain the meanings of words in language - Example 1: Unit 5: Technology and you/ 10th grade English Part A: reading/ page 54- new words:parts of computer system Teachers use the parts of a real computer Speakers Printer CD Room Floppy disk Computer screen/ keyboard Usb mouse - Example 2: Unit 9: Under sea world/ 10th grade English Part A: reading/ page 94- new words: starfish,shark, submarine,satelitte Using the model illustrated to help students memorize the new words star fish- modal shark -modal submarine- modal satelitte- modal - Example 3: Unit 14: Historical places/Part A: reading/ page 142/ 10th grade English - new words: trophy Using a modal of a trophy - Example 4: Unit 6: An excursion/Part B: speaking/ page 66/ 10th grade English - new words: boat and parts of a boat ( sundeck,seat, ) Using a modal of a boat 2.3.2.1: Visual: The use of pictures or video clips in teaching vocabulary is also a very effective way In the lecture, I often combine teaching using both pre-prints, paintings and collectibles added controversy to enrich for his lectures I also 10 regularly screen the short film related to the topic of the lesson to help them understand the vocabulary faster - Example 1: Unit 8: The story of my village/Part A: reading/ page 82/ 10th grade English I often use illustrations to describe the change of the Vietnamese countryside in the past and nowadays to help them understand the content, at the same time I offer students some new words - In the past: houses/ straw and mud/ poor/ simple TV set farmer/ field/ plough/ buffalo travel/ bike - Now: Brick houses/ motorbike new farming method/ bumper crop 11 some shopping cash crop for export - Example 2: Unit 13: Film and cinema/Part D: writing/ page 137/ 10th grade English I sometimes use a short video summary of the movie Titanic profile to help my students understand the content of the story and the characters in the film In the movie, I offer some words related to the film to help my students understand and remember more effectively Some scenes in the movie and the new words related The main characters/Jack/Rose hit an iceberg kill herself luxury liner/ sink/ the disaster 12 2.3.3: Teaching vocabulary through several games When teaching the reading passage with different themes, teachers can use some game or interesting vocabulary exercises to stimulate innovative research by students So that they can understand the meaning of the word faster and remember the new words better.This method is consistent with the consolidation and review vocabulary for students To make the lesson more interesting and exciting, teachers divide students into teams and compete with each other for points With this method, the boring review session will become more attractive and more effective because students will be eager to participate 2.3.3.1: Wordsquares Example : Unit 13: Film and cinema/Part A: reading/ page 132/ 10th grade English Content Review: different kinds of films Teachers can make suggestions about the kinds of films for students to find different kinds of films The teams will work together to find the correct answers, the team that scores the higher points will be the winner i A b h f l e D g F s c i e n c e m l i t s a w e t u o n c i i b x e n c a r t 0 n c i r e l l i r h t c g l e m d o n i o e i z f v w n v n f u q e r c a e e n e c n a m o r r b m v e w i l l x Some suggestions: If you like films with exciting story, especially ones about crime or spies, enjoy a ( thriller) 13 A ( science fiction) film is a type of film that is based on imagined scientific discoveries of the future A ( war) film is about the fight or battle among the contries based on the real events in history A film for children is called ( cartoon) Sherlock Holmes is a film ( detective) If you enjoy stories about love affairs, a ( romance) is the right film for you 2.3.3.2: Jumbled words Teachers will change the order of letters in a word and ask students to rearrange it correctly This activity will help students deepen the vocabulary The purpose of this form of exercise is to train the students ability to remmenber the word accurately Besides, it also creates excitement for students in vocabulary review lesson - Example 1: Unit 1: A day in the life of /Part B: Speaking / page 14/ 10th grade English Content Review: subjects lengshi -> English turelitera -> literature rosyhti -> history mystriche -> chemistry gygrapheo-> geography - Example 2: Unit 12: Music//Part A: reading/ page 124/ 10th grade English Content Review: different kinds of music lokf -> folk korc -> rock zjaz -> jazz cicsslala -> classical 2.3.3.3: Crossword Crossword is a form of exercise requires the ability to exercise judgment and critical thinking of students To this exercise form, students must conquer the crossword puzzle with clues given After understanding the clues, students will use their ability to remember words to find the exact words to match the crossword This kind of exercise will require students to find keywords is a vertical box has been prescribed Teachers usually apply this exercise as a game to increase the attractiveness After studying vocabulary with this form of exercise, 14 students will be trained about the ability of brainstorming Besides, they will inculcate the vocabulary after completing crossword - Example : Unit 6: An excursion /Part A: Reading / page 62/ 10th grade English Content Review: some new words in the reading passage Suggestions: + horizontal crossword 1: a natural cavity below the earth surface or in the mountain + horizontal crossword 2: light of the sun + horizontal crossword 3: A large natural stream of water + horizontal crossword 4: A short journey usually for pleasure + horizontal crossword 5: A temple or sacred tower in Asian countries + horizontal crossword 6: The science that studies the surface of the earth and its associated physical, biological, economic, policical features + horizontal crossword 7: A hill of impressive height After Some students have found the key word "Chicago", teachers introduce some features about the city of Chicago which has the famous Lake Michigan Keys: S U N S R C H I A I V V N E E E R 15 5P A E G O X D C A G M O U R S I O N G T R A A I P N E U O N H Y 2.3.3.4: Slap the board Slap the board is an energetic vocabulary activity - it can be used for revision, presentation and testing - which involves students running to and hitting the board.Teachers put the vocabulary items on the board in any order – jumbled Form groups Give a mother tongue translation for one of the words on the board The students have got to recognise the word which translates to that word They then run to the board and slap the correct word The first person in each group to slap the right word gets a point Alternatively, you can form teams and one person from the team runs to the board, as a representative The first team to hit the correct word gets the point The representative changes, ready for the next word… This is a little calmer than if everyone is running to the board The teachers can reverse the translation, by putting the mother tongue on the board And of course, they could use definitions or opposites if you want to avoid using the mother tongue The teachers can it with pictures so you put the pictures on the board and call out the English word and the kids slap the picture The teacher doesn't have to call out the English, you can get other kids to call out so they're getting practice speaking too - Example 1: Unit 9: Conservation / 10th grade English Word group: Sea animals Revising the new words about sea animals Teachers hang the pictures about the new words on the board,then ask each member of the team to run quickly to slap on the picture related to the word that the teachers have mentioned dolphin carb shark squid 16 turtle sea horse jelly fish sperm whale star fish lobster seal fish - Example 2: Unit 10: Conservation /Part A: Reading / page 104/ 10th grade English Below are some words in the game "Slap the board" that I've designed to revise vocabulary for students Teachers stick the colorful card-boards with the new words on the board then ask students to run up to slap on board containing the word that teachers read aloud This game should be played in teams to increase the enthusiasm and excitement to the lesson supply defence run soil run off destroy law circulatio constant run off n dam rapid frequent Example 3: Unit 11:National park /Part A: Reading / page 112/ 10th grade English 17 national park rainy cave butterfly toxic chemical in water hike moutain the orphanage 2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative Based on the teaching process and experimental results from tests of vocabulary in three classes 10B1,10B2, 10B6, I can see the positive eficiency after the application of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary English for students The improvement in the ability to remember and use vocabulary application is demonstrated by the number of students getting good marks and average ones as follows: Table 1: Before applying the measures Class Total The number of students scoring proficient Percentage The number of students scoring pretty Percentage The number of students scoring average Percentage The number of students scoring below 10B1 10B2 10B6 ( 42 students) (42 students) 42 students) 1 2,38% 0% 2,38% 5 11,9% 9,53% 11,9% 14 12 13 33,33% 28,57% 30,96% 22 26 23 18 average Percentage Table 2: 52,39% 61,9% 54,76% After applying the meassures Class Total The number of students scoring proficient Percentage The number of students scoring pretty Percentage The number of students scoring average Percentage The number of students scoring below average Percentage 10B1 10B2 10B6 ( 42 students) (42 students) 42 students) 11,9% 7,14% 14,28% 10 11 23,8% 19,04% 26,19% 19 20 18 45,24% 47,62% 42,86% 11 19,04% 26,19% 16,66% Comparing the results obtained from the two tables above, I can see the progress of the students when learning vocabulary with these methods which are more diverse and more interesting, especially when students the vocabulary exercises are designed in the form of games As can be seen in the Table 1, the percentage of students getting bad marks in the vocabulary test accounts for more than 50% and the rate of students scoring good or excellent makes up for below 15% From the second table, after the adoption of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary,the percentage of students scoring at or above average has increased significantly (from about 40% in Table to about 75% in Table 2) In each lesson, students are more active, more flexible and enthusiastic participation in the vocabulary section Students are no longer passive listening and memorizing mechanically as it once was In every classroom lessons, many students have the ability to remember a large number of basic vocabulary 19 I not take too much time to explain words and practice from them With some games, students can organize themselves, so it has increased the confidence and positivity of students in learning English PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS I Conclusions This result indicates that the measures which I have applied to improve the efficiency of vocabulary learning for students has yielded positive results Students are not only able to remember and use more vocabulary, but also feel excited about learning vocabulary with different groups They no longer have to meet the psychological fear of exercises or tests of vocabulary On the contrary, the foreign language lessons becomes more fun and more exciting These are some of the measures that I have learned, consulted and adopted into their lesson in the grade 10th English program However, in the course of use, there are still many difficulties and limitations in the application these measures into teaching and learning Therefore, I look forward to receiving constructive feedback so that I can complete my work better II Recommendations Derived from the application of innovative experiences and the results obtained above, I give some suggestions as follows: Firstly, every teacher should apply a broad and flexible methods of teaching vocabulary, and also should teach them the skills to learn vocabulary from lower classes so that they will have a certain vocabulary when they com to higher grades Secondly, teachers should enhance the vocabulary exercise form in the warm up interesting, and the consolidation of all to stimulate the interest of student learning Thirdly, teachers and schools should organize extra-curricular sessions in English to give students new experiences when learning English Based on the interest to be involved, they will be more motivated to learn the vocabulary In short, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages so when teaching vocabulary to students, teachers need to choose the appropriate method for each different type of vocabulary to help students to find ways of learning vocabulary most effectively 20 THE CONFIRMATION OF THE PRINCIPAL VICE- PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL Nguyễn Văn Nam Thanh Hoa, May 25, 2016 I promise that this experience initiative was written by myself without copying from anyone else Experience initiative writer Lê Thị Thùy Linh 21 REFERENCES Học từ vựng tiếng Anh theo chủ điểm, tác giả Nguyễn Phương Mai, NXB Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội Vui học từ vựng tiếng Anh, Song Phúc chủ biên, NXB Giáo dục English vocabulary in use by Michael Mc Carthy English Vocabulary For All By G K Puri website: http://www.vnsay.com/hoctienganh/ website: http://tienganh123.com/ website: http://www.englishrainbow.com/ website: http://forum.vietnamlearning.vn/ 22 APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL TESTS TEST ( Before conducting the research) ( Time allowed: 10 minutes) Choose the best answer: I like to work with figures, so I like A Maths B Literature C Biology D History C Stops D Rings The alarm goes off at 4.30 A Goes wrong B Explores is a film or a TV program giving facts about something A Documentary B Cartoon C News D Music A period of one hundred years is called A A long time B Century C Decade D Millennium is traditional music of a country A Pop music B Rock’n’roll C Classical music D Folk music I like to learn English best because it is an language A Nation B Region C International D Traditional When the winter comes, everybody feels A Cool Keys: 1.A B Hot D A C Cold B D D Wet C C 23 TEST (during conducting the research) ( Time allowed: 10 minutes) Choose the best answer: 1.We call a short journey for pleasure a ( an) A.Expedition B Travel C Excursion D Visit 2.If you want to invite someone to attend your birthday party, you will write a letter of A.Refusal B Invitation C Acceptance D Application is a modern music that is popular with young people A.Pop music B Traditional music C Classical music D Folk music Jack is a (an) .part of the team because we can not without him A Intergral B Tiny C Unnecessary D Impossible 5.We call a group or groups of animals or plants A.Fauna B National parks C Flora D Species is a film or a play that is intended to be funny, usually with a happy ending A.Science fiction B Comedy C Tragedy D Detective 7.A large area of sea that is partly surrounded by land is B Sea Keys: 1.C B Ocean B A C Marine A D D Gulf C D 24 25 ... gained during my teaching, I decide to choose the topic: "Some measures to improve the efficiency of teaching and learning English vocabulary for students in grades 10? ?? II The objectives of the. .. in three classes 10B1,10B2, 10B6, I can see the positive eficiency after the application of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary English for students The improvement in the. .. summary of the movie Titanic profile to help my students understand the content of the story and the characters in the film In the movie, I offer some words related to the film to help my students