(SKKN 2022) The ways to motivate students in practicing rpeaking English 6

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Content
1.INTRODUCTION
1.1 Reasons for choosing the study
1.2 The aims of study
1.3 The subjects of study
1.4 The methods of study

2. CONTENT
2.1. Rationale of theory
2.2 The reality of the study
2.3 Problem solutions
a. Help students overcome their shyness and nervousness
b. Clear goals and instructions
c. Pay much attention to warm –up activities
d. Reduce levels of difficulty
e . Find relevant topics
2.4. The results in researching the reality
3.CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 Conclusion
3.2 rECOMMENDATIONS
REFFERENCES
NAMES OF EXPERIENCE INITATIVE

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reasons for choosing the study.
Our country is now a developing one. Its economy is undergoing rapid
change as its moves from non-market socialism to a market economy with a
socialist orientation. Therefore, communicating with people from other countries
is necessary. English has become an important communication tool for us to
easily integrate into the world. The teaching of English has been improved in
method of the communicative, leaner –centered approach which is adaptable to
give students many opportunities to communicate in English. In fact, at many
schools in Viet Nam, the teaching of English has not really developed students’
ability, activeness and motivation. Therefore, helping students to speak English
fluently in class is important. I choose the theme “The ways to motivate
students in practicing speaking English 6 ” to present my personal experience.

1.2 The aims of study:
English has been learned everywhere recently. But how do the students
learn English and use English as a means of communication? There is also the
concern of industry and education of all teachers to teach English.
All four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing are concerned
and have been incorporated into the exercises and classroom activities.
In the four skills, speaking is usually the poorest for the students of
learning English in Viet Nam. It results from lack of speaking practice, but
students, especially mountainous students tend to be reluctant to speaking English
in class as well as after class. It is important for teachers to encourage and
motivate them to speak English, especially in class.
In fact, to get good speaking skills, the language learning process must be
practiced regularly with the different form and content… From my experience, I
have chosen the theme: "The ways to motivate students in practicing speaking
English 6 ”.
1.3 The subjects of study.
After twenty - three teaching years, what I have realized is that a large
number of students are afraid of learning to speak English and say that it is
difficult for them to be good at this skill. Moreover, there is not a real language
environment for them to practice it every day. In addition to this, speaking skill is
not always included in the exam. They only learn for the exam, not for the
communication. Some teachers also lack of putting real interest in their lessons.
According to a recent survey, more than 70% of the students reported that they
are worried about their speaking skill. They said that they could hardly make a
simple conversation in English or express what they thought. Therefore, if
students do not learn how to speak or do not any opportunities to speak in the
classroom, they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. Because
of these above situations, my theme tends to deal with how to improve the

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efficiency of teaching speaking skill for students in my secondary school through
some personal experiences.
1.4. The methods of study.
- My real teaching at my school.
- Surveys
-Document research
- Discussion
2. THE CONTENT
2.1Rationale of theory
Nowadays, English is playing an essential role in developing society as
well as economy of the world. People use it in work, study, and entertainment.
According to statistics from December 24th, 2013 of the General Statistics Office,
there are more than 7.5 million foreign people who visited and worked in Viet
Nam. Teaching English is not only a tendency but also a responsibility of each
teacher of English. Students learn English by communicating approach which has
been popular, therefore, motivating students to practice speaking English is one
of the most necessary parts of teaching English.
2.2.The reality of the study
Now I am teaching at a secondary school in my district. It is one of the
best schools, however, most of the students said that they are not confident in
speaking English. Many of them have gone to English speaking club, but the
results are not as good as they expected. Students lack of language environment,
they can’t practice what they have learnt. In addition to this, my district is a
mountainous region, the economic conditions are poor, so the students do not
have many chances to get access to the world. Another factor is that many parents
do not really care about their sons’ or daughters’ English learning. They are
believed that students do need to study well enough for their written exam. They
also said that learning speaking English is really necessary at university.
I made a survey to find out the ability to speak English in class 6D1,

6D2 According to the survey, I gained the following results:
Number
class of
students
6D1 38
6D2 36

good

fair

mediu

poor

SL %
SL %
SL %
SL %
4
10,5 11 29
14 36,8 6
15,7
2
5,6 6
16,7 17 47,2 7
19,4

fail
SL %

3
8
4
11,1

2.3 Problem solutions
a. Help students overcome their shyness and nervousness.
During the years of my teaching English in a secondary school, I have tried
to build a language speaking environment, adopt many ways and encourage
students to open their mouths to speak and they made a lot of progress in
speaking English.


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Generally speaking, there are two factors to affect students' speaking
English in class. One is they fail to find suitable words to express themselves and
the other is they are afraid of making mistakes. Sometimes they make mistakes
when they are speaking because they are shy and nervous. Therefore a good
environment helps the students to speak actively and correctly. On the one hand, I
try to ease my students and remove their nervousness, fear and anxiety with
encouraging words and on the other I have tried these ways to build a free and
lighted-hearted environment.
1. I try to arrange the seats of my classroom in a circle or in groups with the
students facing each other not in rows and lines.
2. Let the students speak English sitting in their seats not standing. They will not
feel uneasy this way.
3. At first stage, I allow the students to play their tape recording they have
prepared for a certain topic beforehand.
4. Let students talk in the sound lab or on telephone without seeing each other.
5. Try to divide the students into pairs and groups according to the different

topics, if you can and also you can let them prepare their "opinion", and then
have a group spokesman deliver the opinion.
6. Set a day for no native language spoken. Students prepare a certain number of
cards and they can write down those words or expressions, which they cannot
convey in English if they have. Later on we discuss those words and expressions
in class.
7. Let the class have 5-10 minutes free talk at the beginning of every class.
Students can talk about any interesting events, news or stories they have read,
listened and watched recently.
8. Let students have an English class out of classroom with such activities as a
class barbecue, picnic and party.
9. Build an English corner at the school and let students talk freely with those
who are interested in learning English.
It is essential to try to build an atmosphere where the students no longer
feel shy, where they will voluntarily raise their hands to ask a question and where
they will freely voice their own opinions.
The teachers should remember to help students have confidence in
speaking despite the fact that they are making mistakes. However, feedbacks and
corrections are necessary. The teachers shouldn’t interrupt the flow of
communication. They can take notes while pairs or groups, then correct or ask
other students to correct. The teachers also need to help students have positive
attitude toward the friends’ errors. The students should be encouraged even if
they make mistakes while speaking.
b. Clear goals and instructions.
Students need to know exactly HOW an activity is done, otherwise they
will be out of control when the activity starts. If necessary, write the instructions


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on the board. Or model the activity with one of your best students so everyone

can see what they need to do.
For instance, for period 66 (Unit 7 Movies -English 6 P.56), when being asked
to talk about the movies which the students have ever seen, I provided them some
suggested ideas:
+ Type of film
+ Actors/Actress
+ The plot (story)
+ Review

Besides, I also gave the students some questions to ask about the film.
+ What kind of film is it?
+Who does it star?
+What is it about?
+ What have critics said about it?
With these instructions, students know how to write the film, prepare the
information before talking in front of the class.
Students also need to know WHY an activity is being done. Without
understanding WHY, many students think an activity is not important and give up
or practice half- heartedly. Be sure to include goals and instructions. That way
help students remember to do them.
c. Pay much attention to warm –up activities.
Warm-up plays an important part in the success of the lesson. Teachers
should vary warm-up activities to attract students' attention and interest because
if they feel excited about their lessons from the beginning, they will make a good
contribution to it. In order to give students exciting readiness for their speaking
lesson, teachers can do different things to arouse students’ interest by using
various teaching techniques such as brainstorming, word web, chatting, etc.
Before a new lesson I often motivate my students by chatting to them about the
topic of interest, giving them preparation tasks or quick warm-up to get them in
the right mood for the new lesson. Brainstorming is one of the simplest teaching

techniques, but it is one of the most effective kinds of motivation because it takes


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a short time. I can write key words on the blackboard and the class is encouraged
to think of ideas, words, phrases associated with them.
I have taught my grade 6 students English as a selective subject since the
beginning of this school year. The following slide was designed on my power
point lesson plan for one speaking lesson (Grade 6 selective subject ).
My students were divided into two teams. The first team tried to put as many
means of transport as they could around the key word “MEANS OF
TRANSPORT” and the second team tried to find traffic problems with the key
word “TRAFFIC PROBLEMS ”. When the time allowed was over, the team
with more correct words was the winner. After that, the class was required to
predict the topic of the speaking lesson.
The fact is that they were really interested in their speaking topic “TRAFFIC
PROBLEMS IN YOUR BEN SUNG TOWN”

The possible answer key for the warm-up activity
For Period 44 , I divided the class into three teams. The first team tried to put as
many kinds of clothing as they could around the key word “CLOTHING” and
the second team tried to find color of clothing with the key word “COLORS”,
the third team tried to find size of clothing with the key word “ SIZE” When the
time allowed was over, the team with more correct words was the winner. After
that, the class was required to predict the topic of the speaking lesson.


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When the time allowed was over, the team with more correct words was the
winner. After that, the class was required to predict the topic of the speaking

lesson.
The fact is that they were really interested in their speaking topic “ SCHOOL
UNIFORM ”

Students can look at the pictures and work in pairs about kinds of the houses
in the future ( Unit 9)


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d. Reduce levels of difficulty.
Students already have less confidence when it comes down to a difficult
topic. There are too much challenging task, the learners feel too much pressure
and tense. Perhaps, they do not want to be cooperative. Therefore, the teachers
reduce the levels slightly at the beginning, the students will feel less pressure and
they will be more motivated to speak.
The teacher can reduce the levels of difficulty by making easy questions
for students to understand it. For example, when asking students talk about the
topic “ your home village”, the teacher should give them some suggested
questions:
+ Where is your home village?
+ How far is it from your house to the city?
+ How do you get there?
+How do people do for their living?
The teacher guides students the way to answer. Basing on the questions,
students can write about their home village on their own words, and then
present in front of the class.
Moreover, if we teach weak students, we should ask them short and easy
questions as much as possible to be sure that they also understanding what they
have learnt. Therefore, they are confident to talk about the topics they are asked.

For period 4 ( Unit 1: home) I ask students to work in pairs. I explain that If you
see tick “ V” in the picture, You will answer “ YES” and You will answer “ NO”
if you see “x” in the picture. Them , I do first

Ex: T: Do you live in an apartment?
S:Yes, I do


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After that , I underlined “an apartment” and ask students to replace

Or period 7 ( UNIT 1) I ask the students to survey about the housework that
the members of the family do. The class is divided into three groups. They tick
( V) in the table . After aking and anwering the following the model:
T: What housework does your mother?
S: My mother does the laundry.
do the
dishes

do the
clean the make dinner/ Do the Do you do
shopping kitchen lunch/
laundry anything
breakfast
alse?

My
family
______’s
family

______’s
family
e. Find relevant topics:
Students will be more motivated to speak about something that they care
about. Tap into students’ passion by having classroom debates and discussing
current topics so that students have a lot to say. Did something important happen
in the world this week? Then talk about it in English. Is there a new song or
movie that everyone is talking about?


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The teacher also asks students to write down a few themes that they would
be interested in speaking about and then build an activity based on those. When
students have something important to say, they find a way to say it in any
language.
For Period 27 ( Unit 3), I used the technique “word web” in order to warm
up the speaking lesson. This activity could help my students revise the describing
characters preparation they had learned and could help them get ready for the
new lesson with more interest.

The possible answer key for the warm-up activity
Next, these pictures were shown so as to elicit the topic of the speaking
lesson and my students could easily find out that the speaking topic was “Food
and Drink”


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Basic on above, look at these pictures my students could easily find out
that the speaking topic was “ Natural Disasters”

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f. Hold games in the class as much as possible


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Students love games. Games play an important roles in motivating
students. Games create an exciting atmosphere for all of the students to take part
in. I try to choose these games to have students practise.
a) Twenty questions: One student has a word or some expressions in his mind.
Other students guess the word by asking only general questions and alternative
questions. The student answers them only with "yes" or " no". If the students can
guess the word or the expression in less than twenty questions, they win,
otherwise they lose.
b) Taboo word description: One student thinks of a certain word in his mind
and describe it without mention some words which have something to do with the
word. For example, the word "book", you cannot mention the words: book, letter
and paper. Another student acts as a judge. Other students listen. If the student
mentions those taboo words, he will lose.
c) Listen and guess: One student writes a word or a sentence or a job on the
blackboard and the other student describes it with gestures but without
mentioning the word itself.
Other students sit without facing the blackboard and guess the word by the
student's description.
d) Repeat and add: First, one student says a sentence of an improvised story.
The next student repeats the sentence and adds another one. Then next student
repeats the sentences and adds one more sentence. This will go on and see who
will repeat without missing the sentences they have said. Finally this will make a

funny story. The student who can say the story fully will win.
e) Speaking and guessing: First choose four students to come to the front or in
the middle of the circle with their hands over their ears to prevent them from
hearing anything and then show other students an expression or a sentence
without letting the four students see it. Finally the students try to tell the four
students the meaning of the word or expression that they saw with gestures. The
student who guesses right or close right will win.
f) Right or wrong: First ask 4 students to come to the front and other students
ask them some alternative questions or tag questions concerning knowledge, such
as, geography, history, music and arts, then the four students try to answer them.
The student who answer the biggest number of the questions correctly will win.
Teachers should invent more ways to let students practise. This will arouse their
interest to speak and help them more easily to master this skill.
These are some games which I always teach in speaking period
Have students listen. The drag and drop the pictures in to the boxes


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For example Unit 7 : Have students play “ LUCKY NUMBERS”.
- Option 1. Lucky number (Teacher - Ss)
- Lucky Numbers: (Group work)
- Write 10 numbers on the board from 1 to 10.
- Tell Ss that each number is for a question but 4 of them are lucky number.
For a lucky number, Ss will get 2 marks without answering any questions. For
other numbers, Ss have to answer the questions. If their answer is correct, that
team will get two points; if it is incorrect, the other team will answer and gets
only one point for their answer.
=> T: Say the definitions of kinds of movies
* Possible questions:

1. a movie that makes the audience laugh
2. a movie that features cartoon characters
3. Lucky number
4. a movie that usually features lots of stunts and fighting
5. a movie that is set in the future, often featuring science
6. Lucky number
7. Lucky number
8. a movie in which strange and frighting things happen
9. a movie which combines comedy with a love story
10. Lucky number


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Period 75 ( Unit 7)
Memory game: What and Where
- Write the words on the board, put each word in a circle.
- Ask Ss to chorally say the words
- Rub out the word one by one
- When all the circles are empty, ask Ss to say the words again; make sure the Ss
can remember the words in association with the circles.
- Call some Ss to go on the board and write the words in correct circles again.
- Ask Ss to fill in the blanks with the opposite adjectives
- Give feedback


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For instance period 86 ( Unit 9) Get the class to remember the new words
that they had learnt by unscrambling the words and phrases into the

meaning words

2.4. The results in researching the reality


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After a period of time of conducting these solutions, to my expectation, I
have gained satisfying results. I've found that my students have become more
confident and active in their speaking lessons. Many of them said that they no
longer feel their speaking lessons stressful and too difficult. Most of them
admitted that their speaking skill has been improved a lot day by day.
In fact, I usually encourage my students to feel excited and confident in
their oral skill; therefore, I usually give them good grades when they do their
speaking tasks well or quite well and I do not discourage them by giving them
bad grades when they do not fulfill their oral exercises. Instead of that, I always
give these students positive feedbacks so that they will try their best later.
However, my students are told that their speaking skill is always assessed during
the school year and their constant progress is always positively taken into
consideration.
I have gained the below results
class
6D1
6D2

Number
of
students
38
36

good

fair

mediu

SL %
SL %
SL
10 23,3 15 39,5 13
6
16,7 11 30,6 19

%
47,2
52,7

poor
SL
0
0

fail
%
0
0

SL
0
0

%
0
0

3. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
3.1.Conclusion:
Speaking is an important part of second language learning to any learners.
The ability to communicate in English clearly and efficiently contributes to great
success of the learner in school and to far better success later in his life.
Therefore, it is essential that language teachers pay great attention to helping
students develop their speaking skill rather than leading students to pure
memorization. Teachers should provide students with a rich environment where
meaningful communication takes place while teaching any other skill. With this
aim, various speaking activities can contribute a great deal to students in
developing basic interactive skills necessary for life.
These activities make students more active in the learning process and at
the same time make their learning more meaningful and fun for them. And
remember the English proverb: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”.
3.2. Recommendations:
+ Recommendations to the education and training committee division and my
school:
- I recommend that the education and training committee division hold more
sample teaching lessons, using various useful teaching techniques in an artistic
way in order to attract students’ enthusiasm in communication tasks.
-I suggest that the managing board of my school buy more and more materials of
methodology for the teachers of the school. As a result, the teachers should have
a better chance to develop their job.

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+ Recommendations to other teachers:
- Indeed, I know that I am not really full of experience in teaching because the
number of years I have involved in this job is still far smaller than many of my
colleagues. Therefore, I would need useful comments and supplements from
experienced teachers so that my initiative ideas would be much better.

Sincerely!
Ben Sung, April 6th 2022
The headmaster’s identification:
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I certify that the minor thesis entitled “
The ways to motivate students in
practicing speaking English” is the
result of my own work and that the
minor thesis or any part of the same ha
not been submitted to any university or
institution
Tran Thi Hoa