SKKN MOTIVATING AND ENHANCING STUDENTS ENGLISH SPEAKING ABILITY AT QUY HOP 2 HIGH SCHOOL BY APPLYING SMALL GROUP PROJECTS AT HOME

NGHE AN EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT
QUY HOP 2 HIGH SCHOOL

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
"MOTIVATING AND ENHANCING STUDENTS' ENGLISH SPEAKING
ABILITY AT QUY HOP 2 HIGH SCHOOL BY APPLYING SMALL GROUP
PROJECTS AT HOME"

SUBJECT: ENGLISH
WRITER:
TRAN THI LOC
GROUP:
ENGLISH - LITERATURE
TEL:
0974822926
EMAIL:

SCHOOL YEAR: 2021-2022

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INDEX
Contents

Page

INDEX

1

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

3

I. INTRODUCTION: REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC

4

II. RESEARCH CONTENT

6

PART 1: THEORETIC AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND

6

1. What is speaking skill?

6

2. What is project-based learning?

7

3. What are the benefits of group projects?

9

4. Advantages and difficulties of doing small group projects at home

10

5. Factual situation in speaking test in recent years.

11

PART 2: THE SOLUTION

14

1. The speaking program for non-English major students at Quy Hop 2
high school.

14

2. Which difficulties do the participants often make?
3. What can the teachers do to improve in teaching speaking skill and
help students motivate, practice and improve their speaking skill?
4. Implementation process of doing small projects at home.

14
15
17

4.1. Preparation

17

4.2. Procedure

18

4.3. Lesson plan

19

5. Other implemented topics and products

35

5.1. Other implemented topics

35

5.2. Other implemented products

35

PART III: EFFICIENCY OF THE RESEARCH

42
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1. Suitability for students and schools.

42

2. Meeting the requirements of teaching and learning method innovation

42

3. Detailed results

43

III. CONCLUSION

48

1. Summary

48

2. Recommendation

48

APPENDIX

50

REFERENCES

56

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS

CLT:

Communicate Language Teaching

EFL:

English as a Foreign Language

ESL:

English as a Second Language

No:

The number of students

PBL:

Project-based learning

%:

Percent

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I. INTRODUCTION
REASON FOR CHOOSING THE TOPIC
As you know, English nowadays is one of the most popular languages and an

important tool to approach all areas of life. Good use of English in communication
has been the goal of teaching and learning English throughout all levels.
English speaking is thought to be an essential skill for success in the modern
global economy. The ability to speak effectively and fluently in English is becoming
increasingly important in today’s modern world, since communication through
language has become more and more essential. Speaking is known as an important
skill for multifarious reasons in education and business. In fact, it plays a significant
role in personal and professional life. Hoever, it is the fact that students at Nghe An in
general and the students at Quy Hop 2 high school in particular are very weak at
speaking. There are some reasons why English major students face a number of
problems when studying speaking skill. It is inevitable that balancing accuracy and
fluency in speaking is a challenge for these EFL learners. The studies have revealed
that students often make pronunciation, vocabulary and grammatical mistakes. They
pronounce incorrectly and use the wrong words when they speak because English
pronunciation is quite different from Vietnamese one, the words are pronounced
differently with their script, so it is difficult for students to speak correctly and
because of misunderstanding the meaning of words, they face a lot of confusion in
vocabulary use.
I have been teaching English at Quy Hop 2 high school for many years and I
recognize that many students do not want to learn speaking skill and often have
negative attitude to this skill. Most students are still weak at speaking skill. They can
do well on paper tests, but when they speak, they falter, are not confident, lack
courage, and are afraid of making mistakes. Speaking still takes place in the tedious,
boring, imposing nature, which makes students not really interested, still coping, still
sleepy. Although teachers have used technology in teaching, it is not frequent, which
makes the efficiency not high and the class hour not lively and not attracted to
students.
I always wonder how to choose appropriate and effective teaching methods.
How to choose teaching methods and organizational forms that can help students in
speaking lessons: learn with passion and excitement; desire to discover; learn in an

active, proactive and creative way; learn in interaction, in forming cooperative,
friendly relationships together to solve learning tasks.
In order to meet the requirements for fundamental and comprehensive reform
of education (including reform of educational methods) that has been stated in the
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resolutions of the Party, State and Government. That is Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW,
which was dated November 4, 2013 of the 8th Central Conference of the XI term on
fundamental and comprehensive reform of education and training, based on the goals
and viewpoints of program development under the General Education Program and
the General Education Program in English (2018), I boldly propose a measure:
"Motivating and enhancing students' English speaking ability by applying small
group projects at home" with the main goal of motivating students, and helping
students practice and improve their English speaking ability, which is based on:
- Creating opportunities and environments for students to practice speaking English
more.
- Practicing self-study and self-study methods, thereby giving students a much more
personalized and rewarding experience on the topic, students are not limited to
information, vocabulary or grammar introduced in a text taken from a textbook.
Students have the freedom to view the topic from different aspects and thus be
exposed to and practice the English language they have learned in class. As they delve
deeper into a topic, they not only listen to different people's opinions on the topic, but
also learn how to talk about it.
- Helping students learn actively, mobilize all students to participate and promote
students' initiative and creativity, from which they have a positive interest in English
and contribute to improving students' English speaking ability.

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II. RESEARCH CONTENT
PART 1: THEORETIC AND PRACTICAL BACKGROUND
1. What is speaking skill?
Speaking skill is one of the most important skills that have to be
mastered by students in learning English, as it allows us to communicate with others
and express our thoughts and feelings. Speaking skill can be separated into formal and
informal speaking skill, and we use both types of speaking skill in a variety of
contexts throughout life.
There are some definitions of speaking skill below, such as; according to
Richard (2008; 19) states that in speaking we tend to be getting something done,
exploring ideas, working out some aspects of the world, or simply being together. If
the students can speak English fluently that can help them to easy communicate and
also explore their idea. Speaking English well also helps students to access up-to-date
information in fields including science, technology and health and so on.
According to (Cameron, 2001: 40; Brown, 2004: 140) Speaking is a productive
skill in the organs of speech to express meaning which can be directly and empirically
observed.
There are many various aspects of speaking skill. Based on the Brown
(2001:268) proposed four aspects of speaking skill namely fluency, accuracy,
pronunciation, and vocabulary.
Additionally, others stated four elements of speaking skill such as Vocabulary,
Grammar, Pronunciation, and Fluency.
According to Ladouse (1991) speaking is described as the activity as the ability
to express oneself in the situation, or the activity to report acts, or situation in precise
words or the ability to converse or to express a sequence of ideas fluently.
Speaking skill is the skill of using sound to express one's thoughts, opinions
and words for the purpose of expressing opinions, conversing and communicating
with listeners. Through a conversation, the speaker and the listener exchange
information with each other. According to Florez (1999: 98), speaking is an

interactive process by which learners produce information and absorb information to
create meaning.
The National Curriculum states that spoken language is a crucial part of
learning English in schools. Throughout school, students will learn to:
- Listen and respond to teachers and classmates
- Build their vocabulary
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- Use spoken language to express feelings, give explanations and describe
- Ask questions to increase their understanding
- Participate in drama, conversations, role play, discussions and debates
- Understand formal and informal speech
- Listen and understand different points of view
- Hold the attention of the listener
2. What is project-based learning?
At the beginning of the twentieth century, American pedagogues built the
theoretical basis for The Project Method and considered it an important teaching
method to realize the student-centered teaching concept focus, in order to overcome
the disadvantages of traditional teaching with the teacher as the center.
Project-based learning (PBL) is a student-centered teaching method that directs
students to acquire knowledge and skills through embarking on a specific project to
solve a problem. Students will go through a process of discovery and discovery to
solve a challenging project that requires thinking.
PBL is a method of learning where the pupils engage with a real world and
hands on project where they can apply their knowledge, ideas and skills throughout
the process of completing the project (Buck Institute for Education, 2019).
Project-based learning (PBL) or Project-based instruction is an instructional
approach designed to give students the opportunity to develop knowledge and skills
through engaging projects set around challenges and problems they may face in the

real world (According to Academia.edu).
By Maggie O'Brien, Project Based Learning (PBL) is an instructional
methodology encouraging students to learn by applying knowledge and skills through
an engaging experience. PBL presents opportunities for deeper learning in-context
and for the development of important skills tied to college and career readiness.
Project-based learning is different because the learning is spread out over time.
Students are given the opportunity to learn, discover, and create throughout the entire
learning process. According to the Buck Institute for Education, “project-based
learning is a teaching methods in which students gain knowledge and skills by
working for an extended period of time to investigate and respond to an authentic,
engaging, and complex question, problem, or challenge.”
The core idea of project-based learning is that real-world problems capture
students' interest and provoke serious thinking as the students acquire and apply new
knowledge in a problem-solving context. The teacher plays the role of facilitator,
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working with students to frame worthwhile questions, structuring meaningful tasks,
coaching both knowledge development and social skills, and carefully assessing what
students have learned from the experience.
The uniqueness of project-based learning is the creation of a final product that
demonstrates the knowledge, understanding and attitudes of learners towards the
problem being studied and that problem is expressed by learners in many forms
various media such as videos, posters, pictures, reports, models and other artifacts.
Thus, the project teaching method is one of the comprehensive learning
methods that helps students not only gain foundational knowledge and skills, but also
help students develop comprehensively the necessary skills in learning modern
society. Project-based learning emphasizes the process of finding answers with no
restrictions on how or what they should look like, thereby encouraging students to
find answers in a variety of ways. In addition, teachers will accompany students

throughout the project to help them realize their strengths and areas for improvement,
thereby helping them develop their capabilities.
Here are some benefits Of Project-Based Learning:
Project-Based Learning offers a wide range of benefits in teaching and learning
activities. Project-Based Learning offers as highlighted by Thomas (2000), Boos &
Krauss (2007), and Fragoulis (2009), project-based learning can increase students’
learning motivation, increase students’ academic achievement, increase
cooperation/collaboration ability, increase the ability to communicate, increase
students’ skill in managing learning resources improving library research skill), create
fun learning, increase students’ attitudes toward learning, increase students’ creativity,
lowers students’ anxiety level in the learning process, increase resource management
skills, and increase problem solving ability.
Project-based learning has many benefits for both teachers and students. And
more theoretical studies support the application of project-based teaching in schools
to encourage students, reduce dropouts, promote cooperative learning skills, and
improve academic performance (George Lucas Education Foundation, 2001). For
students, the benefits of project-based teaching include:
- Increase diligence and improve self-reliance and learning attitude (Thomas, 2000)
- The knowledge acquired is equivalent or more than that of other teaching models
due to when participating in projects, students will be more responsible in their
studies than in other activities other traditional classroom activities (Boaler, 1997;
SRI, 2000)
- Opportunities to develop complex skills, such as higher-order thinking, problem
solving, cooperation and communication (SRI, 2000)
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- Get more opportunities in the classroom; create strategies that engage students
belonging to different cultures (Railsback, 2002).
Project-Based Learning can in many ways favor the preparation of the skilled

workforce of the 21st century. Through project work the learners' master:
- Time Management.
- Organizational Skills.
- Collaboration Skills.
- Problem-Solving Skills.
- Self-Direction.
- Ability to Find Information.
- Lifelong Learning Ability.
3. What are the benefits of group projects?
Group projects can help students develop a host of skills that are increasingly
important in the professional world (Caruso & Woolley, 2008; Mannix & Neale,
2005). Positive group experiences, moreover, have been shown to contribute to
student learning, retention and overall college success (Astin, 1997; Tinto, 1998;
National Survey of Student Engagement, 2006).
Properly structured, group projects can reinforce skills that are relevant to both
group and individual work, including the ability to:
- Break complex tasks into parts and steps
- Plan and manage time
- Refine understanding through discussion and explanation
- Give and receive feedback on performance
- Challenge assumptions
- Develop stronger communication skills.
Group projects can also help students develop skills specific to collaborative
efforts, allowing students to...
- Give learners more speaking time
- Change the pace of the lesson
- Tackle more complex problems than they could on their own.
- Delegate roles and responsibilities.

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- Share diverse perspectives.
- Develop knowledge and skills.
- Allow students to mix with everyone in the group and establish a shared identity
with other group members.
- Receive teacher support and encouragement to take risks.
- Develop new approaches to resolving differences.
- Find effective peers to emulate.
- Develop their own voice and perspectives in relation to peers.
- Give them a sense of achievement when reaching a team goal
- Teach students how to lead and be led by someone other than the teacher
- Allow students to monitor, move around the group, the class and really listen to the
language they are producing
4. Advantages and difficulties of doing small group projects at home
Small group learning is one way of education, where students form a group to
study some topics together (Shrawder, 2009). It is now widely used in all levels of
teaching in many countries all around the world. Learning in small groups is quite
different from the other two learning methods mostly used by university students,
which are individual learning and large group learning. Unlike individual learning,
where one student studies independently by himself or herself, small group learning
usually involves 3 to 6 students and they learn new things cooperatively. It is also
different from large group learning in that small groups are more controllable, and
everyone can participate in the conversation. Learning in small groups can promote
students’ interaction and motivation, helping them to achieve the goal in a more
comprehensive and effective way. It activates the initiation and creativity of students,
as well as training their ability of communication, problem solving and coordination
(Davis, 1999).
The approach has, in fact, a number of benefits:
- Doing small group projects helps to increase collaboration and students have

opportunities to lift the brain, which results in more ideas. So you can see the increase
in productivity.
- Students are more engaged, have more time to prepare and practice, learn more
topics and know new methods.
- They acquire and practice metacognition skills.
- They retain content over memorization due to the contextual nature of the method.
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- The learners develop cooperation as well as “people skills” and improve their
communication skills.
- The learners make use of technologic devices and have Information Exchange
- Doing small group projects makes the best of diagnostic, formative, and substantive
assessments embedded into the project work.
- It does better than one person to solve complex problems and complete difficult
tasks.
- Learners can improve their skills while working in a group, as a group will keep
people with different skills and abilities.
- Developing pupils’ level of knowledge as well as communication skills, creative and
critical thinking, teamwork and others.
Doing small group projects at home, however, has some difficulties:
* For teachers:
- Design a project that is both associated with the teaching content and with real life.
- Design evaluation criteria for a specific project.
- Develop a set of framework questions for each project topic.
* For students:
- Setting clear learning goals in each lesson topic with projects.
- Conducting research to collect information in a scientific way.
- Working together in the same team to complete the project.
- When doing small group projects at home, conflicts may arise when one person

performs less than the other. Some students find it difficult to accept criticism from
their peers and struggle to get on board with ideas that aren’t their own.
- Many meetings need to be scheduled when doing small group projects at home.
However, if not handled properly, time can be lost and team efficiency can be
reduced.
- The decision-making process will be prolonged and delayed.
5. Factual situation in speaking test in recent years.
To get the result of my students' English speaking ability, I conducted a survey
in my classes (10C2, 10C7, 10C8). Look at the following chart; we can see clearly the
rate between scores.

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60%

51%

50%
40%
30%
20%
10%

21%
13%

10%

5%

Can't speak Speak English Speak English Speak English Speak English
English
badly
averagely
well
very well

0%
When answering a question about the ability to practice English speaking skills,
up to 21% of surveyed students admitted that they could not speak English, 51% of
students self-assessed that their speaking skills were still weak. 28% of students are
confident with average or higher speaking ability.
Mentioning the choice of appropriate evaluation to meet the purposes of the
teaching approach is very important. Most teachers use for measuring the speaking
ability of their learners.
However, due to many difficulties in the management stage (conditions of
facilities as well as equipment, rooms, number of students, teaching staff for the
examination, time invested in teaching for this subject). ...) so most schools in the
country skip the test of speaking skill according to the actual requirements of the
organization as well as the content to be tested for this skill. Even the National
Examination of the Ministry of Education has not tested this skill comprehensively.
The content of the test of speaking skill in the exam papers mainly focuses on basic
types of dialogue that can be converted into reading/writing multiple-choice answers,
so the ability to test this skill is also very limited. Many speaking topics are not easy
to give an objective multiple choice questions (four choices) according to this
structure.
In our school, teachers have determined test formats whether interviewing
individuals or using situation-based settings is appropriate based on the focused
content learners learned throughout the lessons. In addition, they will be interviewed,

asking a series of questions, probably about general or current issues or contents they
learned in class.
I also considered the factual situation in my high school- Quy Hop 2 in 3
classes 10C2, 10C7, and 10C8 with 127 students in school year 2020-2021 and stated
that students in my school also had a bad result. I conducted these scores from the
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final speaking tests (the total score is 2 points) that they attended in the final term
tests at school. We can see clearly in the following tables.
Table 1: The speaking test at the final first term in school year 2020-2021
Number of Scores from Scores from Scores from Scores from
Classes
students
0 to 0.5
0.5 to 1
1 to 1.5
1.5 to 2
10C2

43

10

18

9

6

10C7

42

11

20

7

4

10C8

42

10

20

8

4

In this table, we also see that the scores from 0.5 to 1 account for nearly 50
percent. The scores from 0 to 0.5 ranked the second. The high scores (from 1.5 to 2)
made up the smallest and then the scores from 1 to 1.5. Clearly, many of them did not
get the scores they wanted and they would bypass the skills in almost examination.
Table 2: The speaking test at the final second term in school year 2020-2021
Number of Scores from Scores from Scores from Scores from

Classes
students
0 to 0.5
0.5 to 1
1 to 1.5
1.5 to 2
10C2

43

7

17

11

8

10C7

42

8

19

9

6

10C8

42

8

17

11

6

The table 2 shows that the ability of students to speaking is very weak. The
scores from 1.5 to 2 made up very little. Most of them had the scores from 0.5 to 1.
Thus, the factual situation in my school is not satisfactory and they are really weak in
speaking skill. This resulted that they do not want to learn speaking skill and become
more passive in the speaking lessons.
Through teaching experience, I realized that most of students are unable to
speak fluently. The reason for this bad situation is that they have not been coached to
speak effectively by their teachers and they find it absolutely difficult to speak and
students are more passive, not interested in lessons and even bored in speaking
periods. Furthermore, they lack general knowledge and lack both grammar and
vocabularies which lead to figure out the ideas for the topic and convey their thought
into the topic. Therefore, teachers need to find the best way to motivate and encourage
them in each lesson. I believe that the measure in this study can help teachers more
successful in teaching process, motivating and improving students' English speaking
ability.

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PART 2: THE SOLUTION
1. The speaking program for non-English major students at Quy Hop 2 high
school.
Basing on the new textbooks designed by the Ministry of Education and
Training, English are taught with four skills and Language Focus. The speaking
program at Quy Hop 2 high school follows the syllabus of the MOET (Ministry of
Education and Training) with the aim of improving students’ abilities in speaking. In
English textbook, there are a range of types to practice speaking with statements,
dialogues, conversations and short talk.
The study aimed at exploring the relationship between motivating students in
English language learning and how students improve speaking ability. The study
examines the learning of speaking skill among students at high school and the
researcher also tried to look at the errors committed by those EFL high school
students. The focus was placed on such English language aspects as Vocabulary,
Grammar, Pronunciation, and Fluency related to speaking skill. This was done in
order to help EFL students in the area learn how to increase both motivating in
speaking learning and speaking fluently.
2. Which difficulties do the participants often make?
To answer this question, I made use of questionnaire papers (see appendix 1) to
determine students’ attitude to speaking lesson before doing small group projects and
difficulties that students are facing in classes C2, C7 and C8 with 127 students.
Table 3: The answer for the question: How is the speaking lesson?
Question 1
How is the
speaking lesson?

Very
exciting

exciting

normal

boring

Very
boring

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

13

10.2

25

19.7

62

48.8

21

16.5

6

4.7

The table above indicates that the students in these classes aren't really
interested in speaking activities they have just learned.
Table 4: The answer for the question
Question 2
Did you get more chances to speak in English
during the lesson?

Yes

No

No

%

No

%

58

45.7

69

54.3
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Almost students reported that they didn't get many chances to speak in the
speaking lesson. In speaking lessons in class with a large number of students (more
than 40 students per class), there is not much time for students to practice speaking.
The interaction between teachers and students, between students and students is not
much, sometimes they are forced.
Table 5: Answer for question: What are your problems facing?
Question 3: What
Strongly
are your
agree
problems facing?
No

%

Agree

Neither
agree nor
disagree

disagree

Strongly
disagree

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

Lack of
vocabulary

105 82.7

21

16.5

1

0.8

0

0

0

0

lack of selfconfidence

77

60.6

41

32.3

9

7.1

0

0

0

0

afraid of making
errors

93

73.3

29

22.8

5

3.9

0

0

0

0

no ideas about
what to say

73

57.5

51

40.2

3

2.3

0

0

0

0

As we can see in the table, there are a large number of students strongly agreed

with 4 aspects 82.7 %, 60.6 %, 73.3%, 57.5 respectively, which show students in
these classes have difficulties in their speaking due to lack of vocabulary, lack of selfconfidence, afraid of making errors and no ideas about what to say. For the first
difficulty, the pupils lack vocabulary whereby it is difficult for them to express their
thought verbally in the class. Secondly, their difficulty is their lack of self-confidence.
They tend to be shy and uncomfortable to speak in English with their teachers and
their peers. Then, they are also afraid of making errors in class, because they feel
shameful when they are being corrected in front of their friends. Lastly, they have no
ideas about what to say. Due to these challenges, they tend to keep silent during the
class session. The proposed study will be conducted in order to overcome the
highlighted English speaking skill difficulties. Apart from this, the main purpose of
the research is to link the use of PBL with the students’ speaking performance in
English speaking skill.
3. What can the teachers do to improve in teaching speaking skill and help
students motivate, practice and improve their speaking skill?

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In order to get what students need, I made a question: "what do you think really
help you to speak during the lesson? Please rank all those options below in order from
1 to 4" for the 127 students of 3 classes. Here are the results:
Table 6: The answer for the question
Rank

Interesting
speaking activities

Speaking
topic

Teacher’s
instruction

Classmates

No

%

No

%

No

%

No

%

1

64

50.4

51

40.2

70

55.1

24

18.9

2

41

32.3

29

22.8

38

29.9

34

26.8

3

20

15.7

26

20.5

18

14.2

47

37.0

4

2

1.6

21

16.5

1

0.8

22

17.3

The table shows that interesting speaking activities, speaking topic and
teacher’s instruction are considered to be useful to help students speak during the
lesson.
Therefore, I have changed the speaking activities by making them more
interesting, choosing topics that are related to life, close to students, towards realworld problems (environmental problems where they live, beautiful landscapes,
birthday party, wedding party, music, celebrities, favorite movies, volunteer work,
housework and responsibilities in the family, International Organizations, etc.).
Topics associated with Unit topics in the curriculum are related or can be applied in
practice, discovering what has happened and is happening in life respectively.
Moreover, I have applied some methods in teaching speaking. For example, I
have done small group projects at home and carried out in some speaking lessons and
optional lessons. The units that I have students to work on projects, I will postpone
the speaking lesson to the end of the unit. At the first period of the unit, students will
be assigned topic tasks, divide into specific groups, check the completion progress,
exchange ideas for projects in each next period and then integrate the speaking period
and optional periods for students to report and present their projects.
During doing process, the teacher plays the role of orienting, organizing,
consulting, supervising, helping and creating favorable conditions for students to
implement the project in the best way and then help to develop their own abilities.
The desired outcome of any activity in a foreign language classroom is usually
achieved through the effective construction of the teacher. Based on Harmer’s (2007)
model, I applied an instruction unit consisting of the following stages:

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➢ Introduction: Explaining learners the purpose of the current lesson and the given

topic and ask them to layout their background knowledge on the topic.
➢Presenting the task: In this stage, what I expect from the students to do should be
explained clearly. For example, if I want the students to do a project about a given
topic, I can make a model with clear explanation as a first step. To check whether the
task is understood clearly by the students, they can be asked to repeat the process.
This can be done in English or Vietnamese depending on the level of the students. In
addition, students should be given all the necessary materials, pictures, listening and
reading texts, etc. about the task.
➢Observation and follow up activity on the Topic: The teacher’s keeping track of
the activity going on in the process that students do the projects at home. In order to
get students' assignment implementation, I will directly read and review the original
products submitted by the groups about the content of the information, the way it is
presented, is it suitable for the topic or not? Has the issue been resolved yet? What
information needs to be corrected? Suggest a suitable way to express, etc.
Create conditions and environments to guide and support students to practice and
choose a project implementation plan. Guide them to focus on learning, solving
problems and performing specific project tasks. Allow and encourage students to
construct their own knowledge. Get more about technology to help students if they
need.
➢Feedback: To make the students learn about their performance at the end of the
activity. In this stage, I inform students what they have achieved is better than saying
them what they have failed. Such a feedback would contribute to learners' motivation,
sense of achievement and self-confidence.
4. Implementation process of doing small group projects at home.
This section discusses the procedure to conduct a project lesson and an effective
way to help students develop their speaking skill through the small group projects
given to students following English 7-year program.
4.1. Preparation:
To implement the projects successfully, both teachers and students should have good
preparation.

4.1.1. Teacher:
- Play the role of orienting, organizing, consulting, supervising, helping and creating
favorable conditions for students to implement the project in the best way and then
help to develop their own abilities.
- Create conditions and environments to guide and support students to practice and
choose a project implementation plan.

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- Guide them to focus on learning, solving problems and performing specific project
tasks.
- Allow and encourage students to construct their own knowledge.
- Get more about technology to help students if they need.
4.1.2. Students:
- Students are the center of the project learning task, students do not work
independently but work in groups, acting as people from different fields, with the task
of fulfilling their roles according to the goals stated target.
- When performing assigned tasks, students decide for themselves how to approach
the problem and what activities need to be done to solve the problem.
- Students need to complete the project with the most appropriate and specific
products.
4.1.3. Facilities for carrying out the projects
- Textbooks, reference materials, computers, TV, internet, smart phones, presentation
media, posters, etc. Students need to be facilitated to use information technology
when producing and presenting the products.
- In classrooms at our school, all classes have large TVs that can be connected to
laptops, so it is convenient for students to present their products with PowerPoint,
video clips....
- In the process of teaching and guiding students, teachers have used Padlet,

Messenger, and Zalo to form groups, exchange information, and submit assignments
according to each student's task. When teachers need to talk directly with students but
don't have time, they use Zoom or Google meet to do it. It is really effective.
4.2. Procedure:
Step 1: Introduction
a. Contextualize the task
b. Inform the class of the lesson objectives
c. Timeline and assessment
Step 2: Divide class into groups and select the sub-topics of the project
Step 3: Conduct the project
a. Brain storming ideas, plan and assign tasks
b. Prepare students for information gathering & compiling, and analyzing
data
c. Exchange, ask for teachers' opinions and complete the outcomes of the
project
Step 4: Present the final outcomes of the project
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Step 5: Assess students’ work
Step 6: Give key values
For this study, I have implemented small projects at home for my students with
many topics such as about the films you like best, the World Cup, the party you have
taken part in, you organized or you will organize, the popular celebrations in Nghe
An, in Viet Nam or in the world, the wonders of Vietnam or the world, and
International Organizations.
Now, I would like to introduce the implementation process of doing small
projects at home with the topic "CELEBRATIONS".
4.3. Lesson plan used for the study:
PROJECT- TOPIC 8: CELEBRATIONS – ENGLISH 11 (7 YEARS)

Activity: Choose one of the celebrations to make a presentation on it.
- Tet holiday

- Easter

- Mid-autumn festival

- Christmas

- Valentine’s Day

- Halloween

- Thanksgiving

A. Objectives: Through doing small projects about the CELEBRATIONS, there will
be able to:
1. Knowledge: By the end of the project, students will be able to:
- Further discuss and better understand the topic CELEBRATIONS which are not
limited to information, vocabulary or grammar introduced in a text taken from the
course book and know more about the real world.
- View the CELEBRATIONS from different lenses and thus be exposed to and
practice the English language they have learned in class.
- Apply language knowledge and skills acquired from the unit to give some
information about CELEBRATIONS in Vietnam and in the world.
- Focus on understanding, solving problems, and performing specific project tasks.
- Present their ideas about CELEBRATIONS.
2. Skill:
- develop their communication skills, including reading, listening, writing, and oral
presentations on activities of some CELEBRATIONS.

- Practice self-study and self-study methods, thereby giving students a much more
personalized and rewarding experience on the CELEBRATIONS.

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- Develop cooperation as well as “people skills” and improve their communication
skills through not only listening to different people's opinions on the
CELEBRATIONS, but also learning how to talk about them.
- Develop Time Management, Organizational Skills, Problem-Solving Skills and
Ability to Find Information.
3. Attitudes
- Create opportunities and environments for students to practice speaking English
more and encourage students to participate in speaking activities using English.
- Help students learn actively, mobilize all students to participate, promote students'
initiative and creativity, from which they have a love of English and are inspired
actively participate in the learning process, contributing to improving students'
English speaking ability.
- To encourage students work in groups and develop Lifelong Learning Ability.
4. Competences
- Develop collaborative, problem-solving and communicative competences.
B. LANGUAGE FOCUS
Key terms:
- Tet holiday
- Mid-autumn festival
- Valentine’s Day
Key grammar/ structure: present tenses.

- Easter
- Thanksgiving

- Halloween

- Christmas

C. METHODS
Communicative Language Teaching & Project-based Learning
D. TEACHING AIDS
Textbook, board, chalk, a video, posters, pictures, photos
E. PROCEDURE
Step 1: Introduction
a. Contextualize the task
Ask students: - What is your favourite celebration?
- When and where is this celebration originated?
- What is its purpose?
- What do people usually do?
- What do you yourself often do on this occasion?
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b. Inform the class of the lesson objectives
- Address the objectives of the lesson to the class and emphasize on the core value
and language requirements for the project.
- Help students understand the instruction and the procedure for conducting the
project. Remind students of the following points:
+ They should make a detail presentation on the origin, activities, special thing
about each celebration.
+ Then they brainstorm all the necessary information and illustrations related to
the activities they will do and arrange them in a logical order on a poster/ power
point/video/play...
+ They need to have a good preparation for their presentation on the project.

c. Timeline and assessment
- Allow 1 week for students to work on their project.
- Product presentation time (5-7 minutes per group)
- Introduce the form of project teamwork plan, checklist and rubric for project
assessment to students. Give a clear explanation to help students understand all
requirements before they start doing their project (see appendix 2, 3, 4 & 5).
Step 2: Divide class into groups and select the sub-topics of the project
- Divide students into groups of 6 according to their concern about celebration.
- Students discuss to choose the celebration, and then the group leaders will submit
the group's celebration by filling in the form according to the link the teacher attached
on the Padlet. The teacher will list the movie names of the groups by class and print it
out and paste it in the classroom for students to follow.

Photo: Groups finished the form
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- Have students in each group choose a leader who will assign tasks to the members
and monitor teamwork and a note-taker who will be responsible for taking notes of
group ideas for later discussions. For example, the group leader has to guide and
divide work among members in the group; member 2, is in charge of collecting
photos or pictures about celebration; member 3 and 4 have a duty in writing the
content of presentation; member 5 and 6 are responsible for presenting the form of the
poster/power point/video, etc. All members have to make a presentation. By doing this
way the teacher encourages students to speak naturally with their peers and feel safe
to ask the teacher questions.
- Students discuss in group to complete the table and hand in.
- Teachers guides students how to divide the task.
Here is the table divided the tasks for members of group:

Photo: Group5's tasks

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Step 3: Conduct the project
a. Brain storming ideas, plan and assign tasks
- Team leaders and members discuss, sketch and develop ideas for project
implementation.
- Encourage students to make a detailed teamwork plan for their project. (See
appendix 2)
- Elicit the information that should be put on the poster.
Here is the detailed teamwork plan:

Photo: Group 5's project work plan
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b. Prepare students for information gathering & compiling, and analyzing
data.
- Based on the outlined plan, each group implements the project. One of the important
jobs is to find information; each group needs to determine who is looking for what
information, where, and how?
- Teachers guide students how to collect information and pictures for their project.
- Teachers remind students that they need to compile, evaluate, and synthesize the
relevant information for their project poster.
- Team members collect data from many different sources and then synthesize,
analyze and accumulate knowledge gained from that to complete the tasks of each
team member and send it to Padlet, Zalo for the team leader to summarize. At the
same time, the teacher supervises and checks the content and progress of each

member's work.
- Each group needs to discuss, select the most valuable information and arrange the
information in the most appropriate order, best suited to the project idea. Bring into
full play the role of each individual in the team in each stage of project
implementation.
- The groups complete the draft of the project and submit it to the padlet, zalo,
mesenger for teachers' comments.
c. Exchange, ask for teachers' opinions and complete the outcomes of the
project
- The teacher will directly read and review the project draft submitted by the groups
about the content of the information, the method of presentation is suitable for the
topic or not? Has the issue been resolved yet? What information needs to be
corrected? Suggest a suitable way to express, etc.
- The members of the group will synthesize the teacher's analysis, comments and
suggestions to jointly complete the final project of their group.
- The project implementation results can be presented in many forms such as on
poster Power Point, or videos.
- Groups send the project's products to the teacher's padlet, email, or zalo.

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