(SKKN 2022) Using online teaching at Covid time to develop English speaking skill for the pupils at Minh Tien primary school

1. INTRODUCTION
Teaching online, especially teaching English online is becoming more and
more popular because of its advantages, Learners are more flexible about their
learning schedule. More importantly, at covid epidemic outbreak, learning
online is considered as the best solution- It’s the safest solution for both
Teachers and Students. During the past two years, most students have had to
stay at home to avoid being infected with covid 19, so have my students, they
have had difficulties in learning English at school, Moreover, it’s a new subject
with my students in a mountainous place, they have no much chance to
communicate with their friends in English, besides, time for each period per
week is limited, sometimes they are off school due to co vid outbreak, they
spend so much freetime at home. Whereas, speaking skill plays the most
important role of all skills, If students only know to write and remember words
or sentences, they can’t realize clearly What English is for, how exciting and
meaningful is it.
As a teacher of English I see difficulties happening to my children. Penny
Ur stated that: “people who know a language are speakers of that language”
which shows the importance of developing speaking skill in teaching and
learning English, in the past few years the aims of lessons in textbooks
concentrate on the communicative method, However, instead of focusing on
speaking language, teachers focus on language and grammar skills to keep up
with the planned curriculum. Especially, primary pupils are often shy of
speaking English in public owing to their age psychology or afraid of making
mistakes…. But we are now living in modern age, there’s no reason for them to
bear more disadvantages, we have been protecting and preventing ourselves
from Co vid but the epidemic can’t stop our children from learning English, I
must turn this language into a living language by improving speaking skills for
my students at any time, With those criteria, during the past few years, I have
successfully applied my experienced initiatives which I courageously write and
show out to share with my honorable readers about the topic: “ Using online
teaching at Co vid time to develop English speaking skill for the pupils at Minh

Tien primary school”. In the course of research, I believe that there will still be
some limitations, I hope to receive comments and advice from my Leaders as
well as Colleagues .
1.1. PURPOSE OF CHOOSING THE TOPIC.
As you know, English plays an important role in the development of our
modern society. Especially the speaking skill that is the key to the young
learners to approach and integrate into the world, owing this they absorb in new
technology, life standard and different cultures of developed countries.
Moreover, to have a better result, Teachers have to provide students a large
source of English grammar and vocabulary and guide students to approach
English channels on internet, radio or TV. The fact is that Vietnamese students
master grammar well and learn by heart a lot of vocabulary but their skill of
speaking is not satisfactory. Therefore, to improve students’ speaking skill
requires Teachers always to pay attention to students and update the latest


2
methods which bring interest to motivate students to speak English regularly and
naturally.
More importantly, Both Teachers and Students have been facing with the
dangerous disease – co vid 19, so the curriculum of teaching is sometimes
discontinued, whereas the national plan of foreign language until the year 2020
must concentrate much on speaking skill that’s the reason why I’m worrying to
achieve the aim. Luckily, internet is now available, so I use zalo groups and
zoom cloud meeting to continue my teaching at home and by the way to
develop children’s speaking skill of English which is suitable for their
quarantine at home when covid-19 is highly infectious .
From my thoughts and experiences above I research this topic.
1.2. RESEARCH PURPOSE.
Speaking skill is one the most important skills in primary grade, the last

aim of learning English is that students will be able to communicate fluently.
However, in the past two years my students have been copying with covid
outbreak, so they have had no much chance to practice speaking at school. To
take advantages of their time at home I use online teaching to develop their
English speaking skill.
1.3. RESEARCH SUBJECTS.
In my topic, I just focus on how to teach and learn online at home to help
the students at Minh Tien primary school to develop speaking skill effectively
by applying new and suitable methods such as: recording about one subject they
are talking then sending to zalo group, imitating and self pronouncing before
mirror, watching a film in English for children, singing a song, or a chant,
especially using room cloud meeting to complete the contents of teaching and
develop speaking English online in class.
1.4. RESEARCH METHODS.
1.4.1. Research, kinds of English topics to find out which are related to
their lessons to guide them to speak about the topics online.
1.4.2. Research based on observation methods: To observe my students
talking online, attend workshops about techniques of teaching primary pupils,
Or classes of my colleagues.
1.4.3. Research based on practice: Teaching and learning online by
applying internet to settle up zalo groups, room cloud meeting to fulfill the dis
continued plan of the school year due to co vid 19 epidemic.
1.4.4. Research based on studying materials related to topics for primary
children to improve speaking skill, songs or chants, model sentences related to
their lessons in their textbooks.
1.4.5. Research based on interviewing my students questions about
familiar topics they have learnt or ask them to give small talks in class.
2. CONTENTS OF THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE
2.1. THEORETICAL BASIS OF INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE
Teaching online has drawn much social concern at co vid time, all

lessons are taught on internet, both teachers and learners use internet soft wares
such as: laptop, smart phone…they are connected with a host –teacher, all


3
lessons and documents are shown as videos, sounds, images… which are easy
for learners to access. Besides, there are live lessons in which students can
communicate directly with Teachers, Nowadays teaching online has been
popular because of its prominent advantages: Firstly, it reduces the risk of
infecting the disease because all lessons are carried out online at home.
Moreover, it promotes self –studying, Students can learn anywhere at any time.
More importantly, with the high technology time, this solution forces teachers
and Students to update new methods to gain the best results
To achieve online teaching aims, Teachers must follow these rules:
Firstly, Teacher must combine knowledge in their lessons with other life skills
to develop students’ abilities by using the method “ students-centered”.
Secondly, all online lessons must be child friendly, practical and keep them so
simple. Besides, teaching plans must be logical from low to higher level which
are suitable with school year schedule at school to help students understand
easily and be more flexible to practice in class or outside. Last but not least,
Teachers must master contents in each online lesson to make sure they are exact
about all fields to fulfill children’s abilities
Our country has been integrating and developing, so English is the key
to open the door of integrating with other countries in the world, It means that
teaching and learning English is an urgent situation which helps us approach
outside world,Widen a large number of fields: science-technology, economysociety medicine…,So English is a universal language and speaking skill is
really important to be able to communicate better, the fact is that many students
master English grammar and vocabulary well, but they have difficulty in
speaking, with new method, we need to pay attention to listening and speaking
skill, according to percent of skills of primary grade, at grade 3 the writing and

listening skills account for 30 % ,listening and speaking skills account for 70%
at grade 4 the writing and reading skill account for 40% ,listening and speaking
skills account for 60 %, at grade 5 the four skills are equal and communicative
method is chosen as the best method in teaching foreign language. That’s the
reason why I tried to find the best ways to take advantage of their time at home
and choose the suitable method to develop their speaking skill when they are
off school, I have made use of internet to create zalo groups to ask students to
do their homework at home by sending their reading vocabulary, sentences or a
short essays of a topic they have learnt. Besides, to keep up with the school year
curriculum of teaching I use zoom cloud meeting to guide my students the
contents of the units and ask them to read or talk individually about the topics
related to their lessons or answer my questions. After a long time of applying
this method, I have seen the improvement in speaking English of my students
and my teaching aims during co vid time have been fully completed.
2.2. THE SITUATIONS OF THE PROBLEM.
2.2.1. Advantages.
2.2.1.1. On the part of teachers.
- Nowadays, there are so many soft wares about teaching speaking for
kids on internet such as: Elsa speaking, Monkey stories-Junior, Edupia, English


4
123, tapes or videos which are child friendly to Children to motivate them to
speak English. Besides, Teachers are sometimes attended workshops that
encourage Teachers to use communicative method in teaching .
- Have to access and use of new methods in teaching.
- Creativity, learn some appropriate teaching compatible with the content
of the lecture.
- Teachers use modern equipments well such as computers, speakers,
projectors, Internet, zoom cloud meeting...

- At co vid time Teachers are encouraged to teach online by Authorities
and students’ parents.
2.2.1.2. On the part of students.
- The majority of school students is eager to be taught online at home
because they can meet their teachers and friends without being on campus.
- They are very active and so industrious.
- They feel more confident to self practice speaking at home.
- They are quick at using modern technology such as: internet, zoom
cloud meeting, zalo.
2.2.2. Dis advantages.
Besides the above advantages, teachers and students exist back:
2.2.2.1. On the part of teachers.
Teachers also use several methods that don’t concentrate on speaking
skill, they pay attention to grammar or writing, so many children can’t both
make sentences and say aloud correctly or fluently, Moreover there are only two
periods of English a week, so It’s difficult for Teachers to organize speaking
activities in class, especially at co vid time when teaching process is often
discontinued which leads to double disadvantages in practicing speaking skill
for students.
2.2.2.2. Teaching equipment.
Equipment used for teaching English is limited. Some equipments are
spoiled or outdated inconsistent with teaching. More importantly, there is no
function room which is also a challenge with Teachers to organize speaking
activities without any noise to other classes around, besides internet is
sometimes disconnected between Teacher and students Which make it unable to
continue teaching and learning online at home.
2.2.2.3. On the part of students.
Students at my school start learning English from grade 3, they live in a
mountainous place, most of their parents are farmers, they don’t know the
importance of English, whereas their learning curriculum at school is often

discontinued because of co vid epidemic outbreak, so their English skills have
limitation.
Some pupils have no internet or electric equipment such as mobile phone
and computer at home, some have no parents living with them, moreover people
around know little or nothing about this new subject, so they have no chance to
practice at home. Some children are shy to communicate in English because of
their age. More seriously, co vid 19 epidemic often causes them not to ba able to


5
attend lessons at school regularly, they have fewer chances to talk in English
than usual .
Before applying learning online to develop speaking skill of English for
children at home, I took a survey to see the differences. I chose classes 3A1,
4A1, 5A1 at Minh Tien primary school in the school year 2021-2022:
No Class
1
2
3

3A1
4A1
5A1

Total
23
25
23

Result of after applying the experience initiative

accurate pronunciation
Inaccurate pronunciation
Quantity
%
Quantity
%
3
13
20
87
5
20
20
80
4
20
19
80

According to the result of the survey above, There are still restrictions of
speaking skill with my students, the number of students being good at
speaking is rather low, whereas the percent of students being bad at speaking is
rather high, so as a Teacher I must find out the suitable solutions to improve this
important skill for my students to overcome the mishaps happening to us from
co vid 19 epidemic. I always ask myself: What should I do to solve the problems
? Why are some students good but some are bad in the same class ? Why are
they better at grammar than speaking? In general, my students are still weak at
four skills Especially, the speaking skill because of some reasons such as: they
are shy They are afraid of being laughed when making mistakes, some due to the
overcrowded lass, Teachers have not got enough time to practice this skill for

their students and the most important reason happening now is co vid 19
epidemic that’s the reason why I have been researching materials, exchanging
with my colleagues and students to guide them to learn effectively at school and
at home by using online learning, depending on each lesson in the text book, I
try to find the best method, for example:
+ Practicing for students to have a quick reflex in English at any
situation .
+ Practicing how to pronounce correctly.
+ Practicing how to use intonation.
+ There are various methods of developing speaking skill:
+ Yes/ No question ,
+Ask and answer,
+Making a speech about one topic
+ Steps to practice speaking for students:
+Pre – speaking
+Controlled practice
+ Free – practice
In my opinion, at any method, teacher must obey the communicative
orientation and student center, Teachers are only guiders, observers, online
speaking means that Teacher observes what students are talking to find out
solutions, methods which are suitable for each lesson.


6
According to Penny Ur, a successful activity should have these
qualifications: firstly, students are talking English in class more than Teachers.
Secondly, the participation of all members in class is even, thirdly participants
are much motivated to speaking activities, last but not least, class language is
child friendly with the aim: kiss- keep it so simple which is easily understood to
bring the most effect.

2.3. METHODS USED TO SOLVE THE PROBLEMS
2.3.1.Using zoom cloud meeting to conduct online lessons and
develop students’ English speaking skill:

Students of class 5A1 at Minh Tien primary school are learning English online
at home by using zoom cloud meeting - Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
It’s common knowledge that: listening- speaking - reading- writing are
four skills which should be practiced regularly during teaching process, they are
the aims of teaching and learning, especially the speaking skill, it’s the bridge
joining learners of language to communicate with foreign people, it accounts for
much more than other skills, when speaking well, students feel confident in
using this language, so teacher needs to ask them pronounce carefully, make
stress, linking sound, intonation….During the lessons of primary grade, this skill
is developed in the parts: Look, listen and repeat, Point and say and Let’s talk.
At primary grade, there are lots of speaking topics in the text books, for
example:
At grade 3: students can be able to
+ Introduce about themselves and their friends, then ask and answer about
the others
+ Ask and answer about someone’age.
+ Give and reply commands, ask for permission.
+ Introduce function rooms in their school and have yes/no questions about
it .
+ Talk about schoolthings and distinguish singular or plural noun
+ Ask and answer about activities at breaktime or their favourire sports .
At grade 4 : Students can be able to:


7
+Ask and answer about their address, date of birth,abilities to do

something.
+ Ask and answer about their hobby, favourite subjects.
+Ask and answer about past activities. Ask and answer about time .
+Invite someone something. Ask and answer about appearance, popular
holidays. Ask and answer about price, plans for summer holiday….
At grade 5 : Students can be able to:
+Ask and answer about past events, intentions for future,subjects at school.
Ask and answer about directions, weather , activities in freetime,
+Compare between two places, two things. Ask and answer about Sports
Day, someone’s feeling...
These are some methods I have applied in teaching zoom cloud meeting
online to gain the teaching aims of those grades at my school:
First method: Practice for students to react quickly in English
The fact is that It’s easier for primary students to understand short and
simple sentences in class, so I often give commands, compliments, or greetings
which are child friendly and make them familiar by using them regularly day
by day. For example:
- Hi/ Hello/ Good morning…
-Sit down, please
- Stand up, please.
- How are you today
-What’s day is it today?
-What’s the date today?
- Who’s absent today?
- Are you ready?
- Who’s volunteer?
In addition to that Teacher should asks students the sentences which relate
to their last lessons to revise and check their reactions. For example: to check
old lesson talking about the weathwer in English 3 - unit 19: Teacher can ask
them some of the questions below:

What’s the weather like today, class? Do you like the weather today,
Nam? Is it sunny today, Mai? Who can tell me what the weather like today is?
An other example for English 4- unit 18: asking about phone number:
Teacher ask Students the questions :Who can tell me ?
What’s your mother ‘s phone number ?What’s your father’s phone
number ? What’s my phone number ?
Especially, When teaching online, I often ask my students to turn off if
they are listeners and turn on micro if they are talking to keep zoom class quiet.
More importantly, My students can be able to understand the sentences
directly without translating from VietNamese.
To practice reflexes in English well Teacher should follow these tactics:
+ Showing nice pictures related to the lesson or one topic, then ask them
to talk about it. This is often used in the part: Look, listen and repeat, point and
say.
For example: English 3- unit 16-lesson 1-Part 1: look , listen and repeat
Teacher shows 2 pictures on the screen and ask them to guess:
Who are they? What are they talking about? What can you see in the
pictures?...


8
Part 2: point and say: Teacher shows 4 pictures on the screen and call
some pairs to ask and answer the model sentence with each picture:
Do you have any …..? Yes, I do/No, I don’t
+Teacher gives more pictures about pets related to their lessons and ask
them to talk about them. This is often used in the part: Let’s talk
For example: Unit 17-lesson1-part 3: talk about their toys. Teacher calls
some students and asks them to talk about toys they like:
St1: What toys do you like?
St2: I like…..

+Teacher turns on some tape scripts about one topic related to their
lesson then ask them to practice after listening twice or three times. This is often
used at the end of each lesson or to check old lesson:
For example: Unit 19- lesson 2. At the end of the lesson, I open the tape
then ask them to practice in pairs in class:
Hoa: Hello, Mai. This is Hoa , I’m in Thanh Hoa
Mai: oh, Great!
Hoa: What’s the weather like in Thanh Hoa today?
Mai: It’s rainy.
Teaching online really needs the interaction between teacher and students
or among themselves. owing to the methods of practicing reflex, students feel
confidents in speaking English and online lessons at home become more and
more exciting and useful, English now is not boring, not practical, it is now a
living language which my students can make use in daily life.
Second method: practice pronunciation for students:
During speaking time, it’s important to pronounce correctly, so when
teaching new words or model sentences, I’m always aware that I myself
pronounce exactly both phonic, intonation and stress so that my students can
imitate in the right way, which is the basic factor for teaching listening and
speaking. To compare with native people’s pronunciation I need to Listen to
their tapes regularly, then I must teach and require my students to have an
English habit of correct pronunciation that’s my target in teaching online or
offline.
-Teacher should ask them to pronounce well last sounds such as : bag
/bæg/, book /buk/....
-Practise connected sounds: for example
If first words end with single vowels /ɪ/ hoặc /iː/, or double vowels /aɪ/,
/eɪ/ và /ɔɪ/ and the next words start with any vowel, sound /j/ will be used to
connect these words, for example :
-“Say it” is pronounced /sei jit/

- With plural form, teacher needs to practise for students the last sound:
+ Pronounce /s/ when standing after voiceless consonants /t/, /p/, /k/, /s/,
/f/, /θ/ For example: cassettes, books, ....
+ Pronounce /z/ when standing after vowel or voiced consonants //b/,
/d/, /g/, /v/, /ð/, /m/, /n/, /Ŋ/, /l/, /r/. For example: crayons, tables, markers …
+ Pronounce /iz/ when standing after vowels :/z/, /s/, /ʤ/, / tʃ /, / ʃ /, /ʓ/


9
For example: pencil cases, oranges, nurse…
Third method: Practice for students to pronounce right intonation:
Intonation means your voice moves up and down, listeners may misunderstand
if you pronounce wrong intonation of sentence. Intonation is separated into two
groups : the rising tune and the falling tune .
The rules of rising tune :
a. Yes/No questions:
For example:
+ Have you ever come here? Are you a student ?. Are you ready?

b. Asking for help:
+Can you give me a cup of tea? +Will you close the door for me, please?.

c. Positive feelings:
+Wow, that’s great! I’m so happy!

+Oh, really surprise!

d. close or emotional feeling:
+Oh sweetie, How are you today?
+My honey, come here .

+Kery, my friend, sit down and drink with me
The rules of falling tune :

a. Greetings to show close feeling:
“Good Morning!”, ”Good afternoon”,

b. Wh questions: What, When, Where, Why, How,…”
+What do you usually do in the evening?
+ Where are the cats?

c. commands , orders:
For example:
+ Don’t be late anymore!
+ Listen to me, now!.
+ Sit down , please!

d. Negative feelings
For example:
+ Teacher, Sorry, I’m late
Fourth method: Introduce and practice for students the ways of
developing speaking skill:
a. Yes/No question :
+ I show a topic and ask them to practice:
+ I provide some related words and model sentences, I model first then
students imitate and practice freely.
For example: Unit 5-English 4: I call some students to practise in turns
with pictures I show online:
T: Can you sing, Nam?
St 1: Yes, I can. Can you dance, Long?
St 2: No, I can’t. Can you play the guitar, Minh?

St 3: Yes,I can. Can you cook, Dat ?...
b. Ask and answer :


10
This method help students have quick reflex of speaking. I show
questions or pictures about one topic or contents related to their lessons and ask
my students to answer
I call two students to open micro to practice in pair, each part I call three
or four pairs. For example: English 3- Unit 14- lesson 2-part 2
I show pictures of pets and ask them to practice in pairs
St1: How many….are there?
St2: There are…………………

English 3: Unit 14: Are there any posters in the room? lesson 2-part 2 sent to
online class 3A1- Taken from English 3 textbook by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
c. Using Let’s chant :
Music always motivates and attracts children to join attentively lessons,
with popular melody of words and sentences in the chant taken mostly in their
online lesson, students memorize easily and speak more naturally. Chants in
online lessons can be used to warm up, review old lesson or teach new words…
the sound of chants inspires the feeling of speaking English in online class
For example: English 3 - Unit 12. This is my house.
Teacher chants first, then call some pairs of students to practice again
Is there a garden?
Is there a garden behind the house? Yes, there is. Yes, there is.
Is there a yard behind the house?
Yes, there is. Yes, there is.
Is there a gate behind the house?
No, there isn’t. No, there isn’t.

Is there a pond behind the house?
No, there isn’t. No, there isn’t.
Fifth method: practice for students to speak with topics .
Each lesson has different topics, so I often ask my students to make
speech on conline class. Sometimes they do this in the part consolidation,
There are many topics for each gade: me and my friends , me and my
school, me and my family, me and the world around…
Normally, I ask them to use words or phrases, model sentences they learnt
or have just learnt to make speech about one topic related to their lesson.
For example: English 4-Unit 8: What subjects do you have today ?
At the end of the lesson I ask them to talk about their school subjects:
Student: Hi, My name’s…I study at Minh tien primary school. I go to school
from Monday to Friday.I have Maths,Vietnamese everyday, On Monday I
have…On Tuesday I have…On Wednesday I have….On Thursday I have….On
Friday I have…My favourite subject is….


11
Here is the video model:

Student of class 4A1 at Minh Tien primary school is talking about their school
subjects. Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
Steps to practice speaking for students:
Depending the content of each lesson we have different methods
Basically, we must follow these steps :
Pre-speaking, Controlled –speaking, Free practice / production.
a. Pre- speaking:
At this first step, Teacher needs to choose speaking topics which are
various, attractive related to students’ lessons, besides Teacher should help
students prepare well speaking process, to speak well about one topic students

must have both idea and language such as: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary.
One of the most difficulties they often have is pronunciation, due to lack of
regular practice and having no demand of communicating in English every day,
especially long sentences and different sounds, so Teacher should help them
pronounce words related to their speaking topics. Moreover, their vocabulary is
restricted that’s also one of the main factors to practice speaking English, to
overcome these difficulties, Teacher should show words first, then read them
three or four times, Teacher calls some students to read online, after that Teacher
explains how to use the words in real life, in this part students will answer my
questions.
b. Controlled speaking :
In this part, students talk much more than teacher. Normally, if I teach in a
class at school, students will practice in pairs, groups or individuals and teacher
is a controller, but online teaching, I ask them to work individuals or in pairs, my
students feel enthusiastic and confident to present their speech online to develop
their speaking skill, this step is used in the part: Point and say
c. Free Practice/Production:
I ask my students to practice new model sentences which they have just been
learnt by their own language without any support from teacher, there are many


12
activities in this part, for example: games, role play, but online teaching I ask
them to work individuals or in pair by calling two students to do role play, I
often encourage them to use other learnt words and sentences to enrich their
speaking, I only support when they need, I use free practice step for the part:
Let’s talk
2.3.2.Using zalo group to improve students’ speaking skill at covid
time:

Students of class 3A1 at Minh Tien primary school are at home and sending
their videos to their class zalo group - Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
Normally, I settle up zalo groups for each class at the first time of school
year to exchange things related to students’ studying, more importantly, at covid
time, It’s really convenient for both Teachers and Students to be able to go on
school year schedule at school. It’s the useful way for me to have extra time to
practice speaking skill for my students, Because learning time at school is
limited, they have only two periods a week that makes me difficult to practice
their speaking English well, more seriously at co vid time all teachers and
students can’t be at school, we are separated to keep away from this dangerous
disease, it means that my students have so much free time at home, so I applied
online method to encourage my students to practice speaking English at home,
their knowledge is in order of the lesson in their text books:
First method: Describing pictures: I show pictures related to their
lesson, then I ask my students to talk about them on Zalo.
For example : English 3- unit 18: What are you doing?


13

English 3- unit 18: What are they doing ? lesson 2-part3 sent to zalo class 3A1
Taken from English 3 textbook by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
Student: In picture a: He is listening to music.
In picture b: He is watching TV….
Second method: Language game : Teacher gives students some riddles
and ask them to answer in English to check their knowledge about culture,
science, or to check old lesson
Example : MONTH QUIZS(to check old lesson English 4-unit 4):
+…….Takes its name from Julius Caesar
+…….Has the fewest days.

+…….Is the longest(number of letters).
+…….Has christmas on the twenty-fifth.
+….…Has thirty days and eight letters
Third method: Working alone: Teacher gives assignments at home to
Students and ask them to prepare well their tasks by recording their videos of
speaking , then send them to their class’ zalo group.
Example: English 5- unit 15: lesson 3- part 5. At the end of the online
lesson, I ask my students to talk about their future job

Student of class 5A1 at Minh Tien primary school is talking about her future job
in the video sent to zalo group - Source by: Tran Thi Viet Huong.


14
Fourth method: Ask and answer
Teacher gives a list of questions then ask students to read and answer
them, after finishing their video records, Students send to their zalo group.
For example: English 5 - unit 13: What do you do in your freetime?
T:Do you like your freetime?
S:Yes/No
T: What do you do in your freetime?-S:
Fifth method: solve a problem
Teacher gives a situation which needs students’ solutions by giving
answers, advice, questions to finish their task.
For example: English 5-unit 11: What’s the matter with you?
Teacher gives situations about health problem of these people and ask
students to give advice to help them be healthy:
Health problem
Should
Shouldn’t

1.Nam
Toothache
2.Mai
Bad cough
3.Hoa
Backache
Sixth method: Self pronunciation
Teacher sends a video of a topic in students’s text book and ask them to
listen then self pronounce many times, they can practise speaking before their
mirors, after being familiar with words or sentences in the video, students will
record their speaking to send to the zalo group for teacher to check, which is
convenient for continuing teaching and self studying at home at covid time.
For example: English 4- Unit 3: What day is it today?

Videos about months of a year sent to zalo of class 4A1
Collected by: Tran Thi Viet Huong
Seventh method: Watching film in English for kids
Watching film in English brings many benefits to students, they not only
help them relax but also improve vocabulary, pronunciation and know more
about foreigners’ culture. There are a lot of famous films for kids such as: Three
Fish Friend, The Big Muzzy Story, Pluto’s at the sea, Tick tock time, Spot Goes
to the farm, Funny faces...These films teach students about good friendship,
family love, animal love. During time of watching films, students will imitate
characters’ speaking in the films as well as words written under scenes after that
they will play role with their friends to act like characters in the film, this is also


15
the useful way of getting used to English and know more about culture of
foreigners:

For example: film “Funny Faces” and film “Pluto’s at the sea” :

Films: funny faces and Pluto’s at the sea shown at online class 5A1
Collected by: Tran Thi Viet Huong
Eighth method: singing English songs to develop students’
pronunciation
Songs often inspire students to learn, they are fun and melodious, they
also consolidate vocabulary, model sentences or idioms in their lessons, so
Teacher sends videos of songs in their textbook when learning online Sometimes
Teacher sends videos of other interesting songs for kid to motivate their
learning, this part is used to warm up or consolidate at the end of online lessons
or self - practice singing :

Song: Linda has alittle doll- English 3-unit 15-lesson 2 sent to online class 3A1
Taken from English 3 text book by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
2.3.3.Using teaching through videos as an effective solution to teach
students in case they are off school due to co vid time:
Besides the online methods above, we can help our students learn lessons
in their textbooks at home with the teaching videos which are performed by
teachers by using modern technology such as: mobile phones, laptops, cameras,
then Teacher will use internet to transmit contents of her lessons and learners
must use internet to be able to attend the teaching videos.
To make teaching videos we must follow criteria:
+Each lesson in the video contains the main knowledge which my
students must be taught, understood as well as practiced enough according to the
planned objectives.
+There’s limited time for each video: it should be from 15 to 25 minutes.
+Each video must show Teacher’s creativity to apply high technology
with the aims to gain: Firstly, Learners are motivated to develop speaking skill

16
and other skills by using knowledge in each lesson. Secondly, They shows
different ways of learning and encourage students to practice during lessons.
Thirdly, using communicative method and student centered. Last but not least,
we must be sure that sound, images as well as other activities must be exact,
clear, simple, easy to understand, especially, child friendly.
With those criteria I myself made some videos which were highly
evaluated from my district council to central authority.
These are some strategies I used to develop English speaking skill for my
Students in my teaching videos- English 3-Unit 17-lesson 2- part 1,2,3: In the
part warm-up, I show some pictures about the pets they have learnt and they are
the pets used for the model sentences in the new lesson, I ask them what they
can see in each picture, I give them ten second to answer, Then I show the key.
In the part point and say, I play a role with my students by acting as if they were
practicing with me. For example : picture a
Teacher: How many dogs do you have?
Students: I have…(Teacher gives them few seconds to guess then shows
the answer

Teaching video English 3- Unit 17: Lesson 2- part 2.
Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong
In the part: further practice, after practising the four pictures in the text
book with my students(by playing a role like part 2), then I hide the number of
pens and books and I ask them to guess: How many books and pens I have by
using the model sentence they have just learnt, Besides I create the song with the
popular rhythm relating to the structure in the lesson: How many…., then
students sing together with me to finish the lesson. These are some model
images:

17

T
Teaching video of English 3- Unit 17: Lesson 2- part 3
Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong
I took part in the contest of designing teaching videos held by Ministry of
Education and was recognized about having video teaching product.
Video 1: English 5 - Unit 6 - Lesson 3 - part 4,5,6,7.
Video 2: English 3 - Unit 17 - Lesson 2 - part 1,2,3.
These are some practical images :

Teaching videos were recognized by Ministry of Education
Source by Tran Thi Viet Huong.
Those are the methods of my experience initiatives:“ Using online
teaching at co vid time to develop English speaking skill for the pupils at Minh
Tien primary school.” I hope my theme will contribute a small part to inspire
their love of English, to motivate students to be keen on speaking English as
well as developing other skills like self-studying at home, making speech or
communicating in English confidently.
2.4. EFFECTIVENESS OF THE INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE.
After a long time of applying online teaching at covid time to improve
students’ speaking in classes: 3A1, 4A1, 5A1 I have gained a satisfactory result,
my students have known how to use vocabulary, model sentences to talk a bout
my suggested topics, they feel confident to speak what they want, so they think
English is meaningful. In fact, time in class is limited, besides covid epidemic
often obstructs learning schedule at school, so it’s difficult to develop contents
of speaking task after their lessons, Teacher has little time to ask some short and
simple questions, Whereas learning online is the best way to have plenty of time

18
to practice speaking at home. Here is the result I achieved after I applied my
experience initiatives:
Result of after applying the experience initiatives
No Class

Total

1

3A1

23

2

4A1

25

3

5A1

23

accurate pronunciation
Quantity
21

22
21

Inaccurate pronunciation

%

Quantity

%

91

2

9

88

3

12

91

2

9

According to the result of the survey, I have seen the improvement

quickly before and after learning online, Students have more time to practice
speaking, they know how to use intonation, stress, the number of being afraid of
speaking reduces so much because they speak at home, nothing can make them
ashamed ,they are flexible to react with any situation, the online class is
ebullient not boring, besides they have lots of time to prepare, they have more
topics to practice, they became familiar with making speech in English.
Moreover, Teacher has more chances to teach students that’s the reason which
brings better result than expected. More importantly, students became well
aware of self-studying at home, Their parents can easily attend their class and
recognize how their children learn as well as paying attention to this important
subject more. Owing to practicing online at home, Teacher can break their ice
berg of communicating in English with other people because at first time before
practicing speaking It’s difficult for them to say a full and correct sentence, now
they have so much time to self-practice at home with the guidance of their
teacher, they receive comments, correction from their teacher which make them
improve English speaking day by day. I think learning online is the best solution
to overcome difficulties which co vid epidemic causes to our educational field
and it’s also the best method to develop students’ English speaking skill
3. CONCLUSION
3.1. CONCLUDE.
From my point of view: “Using online teaching at co vid time to develop
English speaking skill for the pupils of grade 3 at Minh Tien primary school.” is
a process to use some tactics to help students improve their speaking skill of
English when they are off school, to have a successful lesson online, Teacher
needs to use many methods to bring the best effect such as:
Teacher spends time collecting topics, songs, films, questions which relate to
their lessons.
Teacher must be patient to help them when they make mistakes, help them
how to pronounce well connected with intonation, body language, in addition

19
that Teacher usually encourages their interest in speaking as well as their
creativity.
Teacher should develop four skills: listening, speaking, reading and
writing because they support each other.
Teacher should practice the language from easy to difficult: speaking from
short & simple sentences to complicated ones or full paragraphs.
Teacher encourages students to listen to English tapes, videos, radio, TV, songs
or watching films written in English or through pictures to guess what meaning
it is. All questions and answers must be short, simple, easy to understand and use
body language when necessary.
Teacher always put students to be center in teaching activities, they must
speak English more than teacher and Teacher is the observer, guider, controller
who helps them to find out new knowledge…
Teacher needs to self-study regularly, often watches videos of native speakers
Read materials or exchanges with their colleagues about new methods in
teaching online.
However, my initiative experience is likely to have some mistakes, I have
still adjusted during my teaching, and I need to learn from my colleagues, so It
will be grateful if I receive any comments from my honorable readers.
I hope my initiative experience will be an effective method to motivate
primary pupils to speak English better and more confident, especially they can
make use free time at home to practice speaking effectively, besides teachers
won’t worry much about teaching quality at co vid time because they will apply
teaching online to keep up with the school year curriculum, more importantly
their students’ parents believe in teachers more due to teaching on line .
3.2. SUGGEST.
3.2.1. For the school managing board.
- Speaking skill is the most important skill for primary students, so

Teachers need to be equipped enough teaching materials such as: function
room, cassette, tapes...So I hope school leaders and local authority will pay
attention to our teaching conditions much more, This will help teaching as well
as learning English more and more effectively.
-Internet must be always available at school when teaching.
-Organize English speaking club regularly with different topics to
motivate students to get used to speaking English, have a worthy reward for
teachers to teach effectively and the prizes in the contest for good students at
district level, provincial level.
-When having social distancing to curb co vid 19, school leaders should
propagandize students’ parents to use online for learning of their children.
3.2. 2. For the Department of Education and Training
- Organize workshops online or offline for Teachers to popularize the
communicative method in teaching students at school or online throughout the
district at the beginning of every school year.


20
-Ask school leaders to make a list of teachers using online to teach
students at co vid time and give compliments with the teachers who go on
teaching students online when they are off school .
-Our colleagues’ experience initiatives of grade A in districts which are
chosen from the educational scientific department need to be widely popularized
which will help us learn different good methods from each other to make our
lessons more suitable and more interesting.
Thanks a lot and best wishes!
Ngoc Lac, March 4th, 2022
I declare this is my own work and
works of others. I am liable for any
copyright and plagiarism problems

related to this work.
PRINCIPAL’S SIGNITURE
WRITTEN BY

Vuong Thi Hang

Tran Thi Viet Huong