Skkn measures to improve english speaking skills for students through presentting topics, current english program of grate 7th at thi tran nua secondary school

1. Introduction
1.1. The reason to choose a topic.
Nowadays English has become an international language because it
is widely used in many parts of the world. In the tendency of integration of the
global economy, English is one of the effective communicative tools for
everybody. The role of English is considered to be very important in the fields
of economics, politics, science, culture and education. Especially, Vietnam’s
official membership of WTO on 7th November 2006 opened a new door for
integrating into the world economy, and more and more people want to learn
English for communicating with foreign partners, tourism, study tours, etc.
Moreover, English is now a compulsory subject which must be taken in
every examination, so learning English is becoming more and more important
with all students. Thanks to the innovation of ways in teaching English, English
lessons are taught with four skills (speaking, reading, listening, and writing) in
one unit.
However, the majority of students cannot communicate in English
although they have learnt it for many years, even from pre- school. It is because
they focus too much on grammar, structures and vocabulary just to prepare for
written tests. Moreover, only those who get high marks in written exam are
appriciated. As a result, they don’t spend enough time and effort on speaking
English. There is no surprise that students even some good at English are not
confident in speaking it.
- Before applying the method in my school:
I have taught the new English textbook curriculum in which speaking is
considered a compulsory test. I see that the new textbooks provide a variety of
knowledge, vocabulary, structures appropriate to improve speaking skills.
However, my students lack neccessaryskills and confidence as well to
communicate, they are always worried that they may make mistakes in
pronunciation or language choice, they feel ashamed when others cannot
understand what they mean.
After days and nights I have spent on studying language teaching

methods, trying some with my students, I find an efective method.
Today I would like to share with you what I have done and what I and my
students have achieved. I am interested in this assignment which lists out some
ways that I have been using in teaching to improve their speaking skills and
make them interested in learning. I hope that my assignment will be useful to
any learner, teacher of English and anyone who pay attention to this problem
1.2. Research purposes
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    By successfully studying the topic, this experiential initiative will help
teachers gain the following experience:
1. How to develop effective speaking skills.
2. Guide students to train themselves to have English speaking skills.
3. Some skills lessons, 7th grade English textbook, Vietnam Education
Publishing House) as examples.
4. Suggestions for building and improving students’ English speaking skills.
1.3 Research Objects
- 7th grade student, I am teaching current English program.
- Class 7 B at Thi Tran Nua secondary school . Number of students: 40 students.
- Class 7C at Thi Tran Nua secondary school . Number of students: 41 students.
1.4. Research Methodology
- Attend training classes; learn from colleagues and some of my own
experiences.
- Observe students' acquisition of knowledge in the teaching process.
- Listen to the students pronounce and observe the students for communication.
- Research from teaching materials, reference books and resources on Internet
teaching methods.

2. Content of experience initiatives
2.1. Rationale of innovative experience.
Nowadays in Vietnam, it is very important to learn one or more foreign
languages to use everyday English speaking and at work, especially in English.
English is used everywhere, anytime. However, the question is why many
people learn English for a long time but when they interact with native speakers;
they do not understand or misunderstand what native speakers are saying. The
answer is due to the ability to communicate in English. So, how to communicate
better in English?
As we all know; communication is the way of communicating
information between different individuals in the same society. However,
communication is not simple, instead is an art that requires people to have the
skills hone carefully. So, what methods help us to communicate effectively?
In communication, there are many ways to convey information, but in the
scope of this research, I only focus on verbal communication through: audio and
language.
Communication is not just a way for two-way communication between
speakers and listeners. It is the expression of culture, lifestyle, and behavior of
each person. Therefore, the author would like to send useful methods to use in
communication so that everyone can learn and apply effectively, especially
English communication skills for 6th grade students. For students,
communicating as much as possible is very helpful and necessary. Because they
remember the vocabulary, they can hear and understand what the teacher is
saying, so that they can easily answer the teacher's questions, thereby interacting
with the teacher and the learner.
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Determining the importance of learning English communication skills, the
Ministry of Education and Training has implemented the National Foreign
Language Project 2020 to improve English language skills of English teachers
throughout the country to develop communication skills for students especially
in the context of integration today.
In the new textbook of the Ministry of Education, teaching
communication skills is integrated in the communication class. To teach this part
of a lesson is not only my concern but also many of my colleagues.
2.2. Actual situation before applying experience initiatives
In order to implement methods to teach students to communicate well,
and to correct errors for students during communication, I conducted a survey
on the communication ability of the 6th grade from the beginning of the school
year, 2020 – 2021,sixth grade students at Thi Tran Nua secondary school in
Trieu Son district and obtained the following result:
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Class Total
o
o
o
N
%
N
%
N
%
No
%

7B
40
0
0
8
20,0 11
27,5 21
52,5
7C
41
1
2,4 6
14,6 12
29,3 22
53,7
When I first started the school year, I gave my students the first test by
communicating, greeting and encouraging them to talk a lot about themselves,
their families and personal interests ... I found that their communication is very
poor and they are afraid to speak English. They do not remember the
vocabulary, do not focus on learning how to pronounce the words, not even
learn the vocabulary, so it is too difficult for them to express a problem in
English although it is very simple.
Besides, facilities, teaching materials for children have not been fully
invested such as dictionaries, practice materials, radio, cassettes, etc. At the
same time, there are many English classes but only one room to practice
language, in addition to the large number of students in a class, so it is difficult
for both teachers and students to learn a communication lesson. Moreover, most
students do not have the opportunity to interact with native speakers, so they
also have some limitations in communicating in English. In addition, students
have difficulty pronouncing and distinguishing between similar sounds when

teachers speak. In addition, they are lazy when chatting in English with
classmates.
Foreign language is a subject that requires students to work hard. Study
regularly, study anytime, anywhere can develop vocabulary. Memorize a lot of
vocabulary; Students can apply that knowledge to their daily communication
without being confused. Moreover, it is also important and necessary to guess
the vocabulary of a lesson. Previously, in the old method, teachers often refer to
new lessons without stimulating students' thinking ability, so they are very
passive in absorbing new lessons, so the effectiveness of the lesson is not high.
The need to innovate in teaching methods, how to improve the quality of
lessons, how to use methods to promote student ownership, initiative and
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creativity is always a concern of teachers, who are willing to devote their entire
lives to education. Therefore, each teacher must constantly explore, create and
learn from colleagues to find the best teaching method that best suits their
students.
From the above reality, I myself think that it is necessary to help my
students learn to communicate more, so I have taught myself, researched myself,
gathered knowledge and created a method of “Measures to improve English
speaking skills for students through presenting topics, current English
programar of grade 7th”
2.3. The solution used to solve the problem
2.3.1. Building ideas:
Many students want to speak English. They have ambition to speak and
they are willing to communicate to “real foreigners”. However, they face many
difficulties. Some even don’t know what to say about one topic. And the

solution for this is “building ideas”.
When they first read the questions, they should ask themselves
questions like:
+ What?
+ How?
+ Why?
+ Where/ when? ...
Then try to answer them, at first they can give short answers and gradually
longer ones with explanations, examples to make it clear.
At the begining, teachers may provide some sample questions or guide them
how to ask and answer. They can also discuss with their friends to find out
suitable questions.
(I attatch some samples at the end of this assignment)
Example: Unit 1 of English 7: “ My hobbies ”
To build ideas, students need to answer some questions:
1. What’s name of your hobby?
2. When did you start your hobby?
3. Is your hobby easy or difficult? Why?
4. Is your hobby useful? Why/Why not?
5. Do you intend to continue your hobby in the future?
TOPIC 1: MY NEW SCHOOL
1) What is you new school's name?
2) Is it in the country or in the city?
3) It is big or small?
4) Are there any trees in your new school?
5) Are there any flowers in your new school?
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6) Is the school yard big or small?
7) How many teachers are there in your new school?
8) How many classes are there in your new school?
9) How many students are there in your new school?
10) Is your new school near or far from your house?
11) How do you go to your new school everyday?
12) What do you do to keep your new school pretty everyday?
13) Do you love your new school?
14) Do you study well to become a good student?
TOPIC 2: MY NEW FRIEND
1) What is your new friend?
2) How old is he?
3) Is he in your classmate?
4) Does he sit next to you?
5) What is his favourite subject?
6) Do you have the same favourite subject as you?
7) Do you go to school with him everyday?
8) Are you best friends together?
9) Do you help together study well?
10) What do you and he do together in your free time?
11) Are you and him best friend forever?
12) Are you happy to be his best friend?
2.3.2 Writing an outline:
- Why outline?
+ Outlines help maintain the speech’s focus on the thesis by allowing the
speaker to test the scope of content, assess logical relationships between ideas,
and evaluate the relevance of supporting ideas.
+ Outlines help organize a message that the audience can understand by visually
showing the balance and proportion of a speech.

+ Outlines can help you deliver clear meanings by serving as the foundation for
speaking notes you will use during your presentation.
The paragraph should include the following things:
- Your hobby ( name of your hobby): “ Today, I would like to talk about
my hobby. My hobby is .....”.
- When your hobby started.
- How your hobby has been built up.
- Why you had this hobby.
- Your feelings about the hobby.
2.3.3. Providing neccessary words:
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Vocabulary is central to English language teaching because without sufficient
vocabulary students cannot understand others or express their own ideas.
Wilkins (1972) wrote that “. . . while without grammar very little can be
conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. This point reflects my
experience with different languages; even without grammar, with some useful
words and expressions, I can often manage to communicate. Lewis (1993) went
further to argue, “lexis is the core or heart of language” (p. 89).
Teaching vocabulary helps students understand and communicate with others in
English. They can express their ideas and make them understandable.
Vocabulary can show their English ability and talents because there are many
expressions to talk about one idea.
For reasons above, it is neccessary to provide students vocabulary before they
present a topic. Our teachers should use different ways and methods in order to
attract their attention and help them learn Some tips for conveying vocabulary
related to the topic: My hobbies

*Brainstorming
-Students work in two groups (A & B)
-Students think of vocabulary which relates to the topic hobby
-Students write on the board.
-T gives remarks and gives more words words effectively.
*Matching:
-Students work in groups of 5 or 6
-Students match the words in column A with the correct pictures in column B
-Students presents the answers on the board
-Teachers gives feedbacks
A
B
1

flying kites

a

2

planting trees

b

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3

bird-watching

c

4

carving wood

d

5

making models

e

6

going sailing

f

7

having a picnic

g

 Keys: 1a; 2d; 3c; 4d; 5f; 6e; 7g

*Bingo!
- T presents somes words (8 to 10 words) about hobbies
- Students repeat the words
- Students choose 4 or 5 words form the list above to write down on their small
pieces of paper
- Teacher reads the words in random
- Students tick the words they have in their paper
- Ss win the game when they have all the words ticked
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- Examples words/phrases:
+ watching TV
+ listening to music
+ playing soccer
+ playing badminton
+ shopping
+ mountain-climbing
+ chatting
+ surfing on the internet
+ gradening
+ running
*Lucky Number
-Teacher gives the questions (with 9 numbers in which there are 3 numbers
called Lucky Numbers)
-Students work in 2 groups (A & B)
-Students choose the number and answers the questions to get marks when the
numbers are questions and students also get marks when they choose the lucky

numbers.
-Some example numbers:
1) Lucky Number
2) What is your hobby?
3) Do you like listening to music?
4) Lucky Number
5) Lucky Number
6) Do you like reading?
7) Do you hate collecting stamps?
8) Is cycling your hobby?
9) Do you often have a picnic with your family?
*Kim’s game
-Teacher presents a poster of words about hobbies
-Students read and try to remember as many words as possible
-Teacher hides the poster
-Students rewrite the words in 2 groups
-Example words/phrases:
+listening to music
+shopping
+playing soccer
+watching TV
+playing badminton
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+running
+chatting with friends
+playing volleyball

+surfing on the internet
+gradening
*Find someone who..
-Students go around to interview their classmates
-Students write the names in the grid
-Who finishes the grid first is the winner
-Teacher gives students the model sentences or examples
Find someone who likes....
Names
read books
watch TV
listen to music
climb mountain
plant trees
do the housework
collect coins
Let’s take a look at the presentation of a grade 7 student to see how important it
is to master a wide range of vocabulary and how the ideas were organized.
“Firstly, making models can help me relax after studying hard because I
can play with them and I sometimes make models with my parents, brothers,
sisters, my friends and my classmates and so on. We really have good fun
together when we make models. Therefore, making models brings me a lot of
happiness. I feel really relaxing when I make models.
Secondly, making models is not difficult because there are a lot of easy
models for me to make such as pot, teapot, pan, bike and so on. I can easily
choose a topic to make the models because there are a lot of normal things
around me. For example, one day, on the way to my school I saw cat eating a
fish. I like this view very much, so I make a model of a cat, a model of a fish. I
put the fish in the cat’s mouth. That helps my remember about the day I saw
them.

Finally, making models is cheap because the materials for making them
are not very expensive. We can use many kinds of materials to make models.
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They can be clay, stones, tree leaves, tree branches, paper and so on. I can
collect them every where around me.
I don’t pay a lot of money for buying the materials. Moreover, using
recycled things to make models is one of the best ways to keep our environment
clean and healthy.”
+ In the Firstly section, there are words "my parents, brothers, sisters" on the
topic "Unit 1: My home" and the words "my friends and my classmates" belong
to the topic "Unit 3: My friend" of 10-year 6th grade English program.
+ In the Secondly part, there are words "pot, teapot, pan" on the theme "Unit 1:
My home" and the words "difficult, normal, easy, view" under the theme "Unit
5: Natural wonders Of the world ” of the 10-year Grade 6 English program.
+ In the Finally section there are the words "clay, stones, tree leaves, tree
branches, paper" on the theme "Unit 10: Our houses in the future" and the words
"recycled things, environment, clean, healthy" belong to the theme "Unit 11:
Our Greener World" of 10-year sixth grade English program.
2.3.4. Using appropriate structures:
Sentence Structure is important because it provide us with the framework for the
clear expression of our ideas.
The aim in speaking is always to express in complete sentences which are
correctly pronounced. The variety of structures can make the presentation more
interesting, more beautiful.
Teachers may provide them some basic structures and some students can use the
same ones. For better students, they can replace or mix with other structures.

For example, to talk about hobby, we can provide them some structures:
+ My hooby is listening to music.
+ My interest is listeing to music.
+ My favorite thing is listening to music.
+ My favorite thing to do in my free time is listening to music.
+ I am into listening to music.
+ I love listening to music.
+ I enjoy listening to music.
+ I like listening to music.
+ I am interested in listening to music.
+ I am keen on listening to music.
+ I am fond of listening to music.
+ I am a big fan of music in general.
+ Listening to music is one of my favourite free time activities.
+ Listening to music is the thing I often do in my free time.
2.3.5. Using conjunctions:
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Conjunctions are words that link other words, phrases, or clauses or ideas
together. Without conjunctions, the presentation becomes unclear, illogical and
difficult
to
follow.
Teachers should guide students how to use conjunctions appropriately
(sequence, adding more information, time phrases, causes and solutions, giving
examples…)
- Please look at the presentation of the grade 7 student above:

“Firstly, making models can help me relax after studying hard becauseI
can play with them and I sometimes make models with my parents, brothers,
sisters, my friends and my classmates and so on. We really have good fun
together when we make models. Therefore, making models brings me a lot of
happiness. I feel really relaxing when I make models.
Secondly, making models is not difficult because there are a lot of easy
models for me to make such as pot, teapot, pan, bike and so on. I can easily
choose a topic to make the models because there are a lot of normal things
around me. For example, one day, on the way to my school I saw cat eating a
fish. I like this view very much, so I make a model of a cat, a model of a fish. I
put the fish in the cat’s mouth. That helps my remember about the day I saw
them.
Finally, making models is cheap because the materials for making them
are not very expensive. We can use many kinds of materials to make models.
They can be clay, stones, tree leaves, tree branches, paper and so on. I can
collect them every where around me.
I don’t pay a lot of money for buying the materials. Moreover, using
recycled things to make models is one of the best way to keep our environment
clean and healthy.”
+ To connect ideas, he used “Firstly, Secondly, Finally”
+ To compare, contrast or make clear the previous sentences, he used “so,
and, because, but, with, when”
+ To add more information and give example, he used “Moreover, For
example, such as”
2.3.6. Practicing:
It is important to practice presenting in front of other people. Students can
experience the feeling of nervousness, shyness or learn how to express an idea
when they forget some words or structures. They can know how to overcome the
fear, worries and focus on the presentation.
I try to give them chance to practice as much as posible in some ways:

1. Practice with a partner:
2. Practice with group mates
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3. Practice with classmates
4. Practice with teachers
2.3.7. Building skills:
From diferent ways to learn and practice, students can improve English
speaking skills and genarally speak English naturally. And one day, they can
speak about any topic that they have realting vocabulary and structures.
They follow the steps easily: building ideas  writing an outline 
Choosing vocabulary  Selecting structures  Listing conjunctions 
Practicing  Mastering.
Speaking is a skill which requires practice a lot. Please remember
“Practice makes perfect”. There is no way to master a language but to practice.
SOME EXAMPLES
A. Hello everybody. Now I would like to introduce my hobby. My hobby is
collecting books. My book collection started when I was seven years old. At that
time, my father used to tell me bedtime stories every night, which was very
intersting. I really loved listening to those stories.Since then,I have collected
story books as a hobby. My father knew that and he helped me a lot. Now, I
have over 200 books of different kinds. To increase the size of my collection, I
sometimes exchage books with those who share the same hobby with me. Each
time I read the books, I have a feeling of living in the past.Kings,Queens appear
before my eyes. What a pleasant thing to look at my favorite books.
B. Hi, guy! Today I want to talk about my hobby. My hobby is collecting
stamps. When I was still ony a baby, my mother began to collect for me.I

remember it was my fifteenth birthday that she first put them into my hands.
They was in three fat books, but since that time I have added three more ,so that
now I have a bigger collection than any of my friends.
How do I get my stamps? I have never bought a single one from a shop,so my
collection has really cost me nothing. My father, who works in a big office,
sometimes brings me home stamps from many countries of the world. To add
more stamps to my collection, I exchange with some friends who live here and
in other countries. My friends send me stamps in turn for the ones I sent to them.
Now that I am working for my living, I do not have as much time as before to
spend on my stamps. But in the evenings, nothing could please me more than to
sit down at the table with my precious books, arranging new stamps in them,
writing in the name of countries,or, If I am too tired, I just look through the
stamps already in the books. Each stamp has a story to tell me of far countries
and strange peoples.I see pictures of men and women, birds and animals that I
have never seen. King and presidents pass before my eyes, and I can follow the
history of nations in the world.
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But my stamps collection does not make me think only of the past. Just as my
mother collected for me, so I am also collecting for my future child. If I can pass
my hobby onto him, he will bless me for it as I have blessed my mother for her
wise action.
2.4 The effectiveness of experience initiatives for educational activities, for
myself, my colleagues and the school.
After a year of using this method to teach students speaking skill , I found
that their English communication skills improved markedly. Some students who
are afraid of speaking now become more energetic, more active in

communicative practice and participate in activities and communication games.
In addition, they are more aware of how to best communicate.
Continuing to study the students' communication ability to monitor, I have
obtained the following results:
Excellent
Good
Fair
Poor
Class Total
o
o
o
N
%
N
%
N
%
No
%
7B
40
5
12,5 10
25,0 16
40,0 9
22,5
7C
41
4

10,0 12
29,2 14
17,4 11
24,4
The rate of excellent and good students has increased from 0 to 12,5% in
the normal class. The rate of weak students in the normal class was about 20 %
compared to the beginning of the school year.
Nowadays, the demand of learning English is increasing and the form of
teaching English communication is really necessary especially for the trend of
international integration. However, not all teachers have English teaching
sessions, especially English for successful communication. That's why I myself
after a process of teaching have drawn for me the following experiences:
Opportunities should be created for students to practice English
communication.
- Choose a topic for the lesson
You should choose to give your students a topic to communicate with or
can use an article, comic, something or picture to set up a big topic for
conversation. Topics that is appropriate for their students so that they are easier
for them to learn and have more interest in learning.
- Determine the purpose of the student
Before starting to teach communication classes, we should define the
learning goals of students. You can also choose a specific grammar or
vocabulary you want students to work with. For example, the topic of
"shopping" and direct their students on the way to ask prices and pay.
- Creating practical opportunities for students.
The most important thing in learning English communication is to have
interaction between students and students, students and teachers and learning
must go hand in hand with practice. If possible divide students into groups and
then practice together according to the topics and sentence patterns they have
learned.

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- Regularly recalling the learned knowledge.
Regularly review students' knowledge. This will help students not to
forget the old lessons and knowledge to be practiced more smoothly.
A person with effective communication skills will be loved and easily
succeed at work. However, to get the best communication skills in English in
today's integration trend, students have to be reminded to work hard in a spirit of
progress and learning. As long as we work hard to overcome our weaknesses,
we will surely gain many good relationships and develop ourselves over time.
3. Conclusions and recommendations
3.1. Conclusions
I feel that developing English communication skills for students is not a
simple matter. It requires teachers to have creative, understandable and receptive
teaching methods for students. After a year of research, I realized that the
method of teaching communication skills has a lot of effects. First of all, to
create a love and interest for students in the process of learning communication
skills, to help them no longer find it difficult or embarrassing to communicate
English with friends or teachers.
Since then, the ability of students to communicate has increased
significantly. The rate of excellent and excellent students in the normalclass has
increased from 0 %to 12,5%. The rate of weak students dropped to 20%,
compared to the beginning of the school year.
Besides, for me, the study of methods of teaching communication skills
for students has contributed to improving my level and pedagogical capacity. At
the same time, it contributes to innovating teaching methods in particular and
English topics in general.

In the context of students in mountainous areas, teaching facilities are
inadequate, the opportunity to meet native speakers is very difficult; the initial
success I achieved was an encouragement for me personally.
This method can be applied to communication lessons in grades 6 or 7:
"Communication" section, New English textbook Vietnam Education Publishing
House. However, because each lesson unit has a different communication lesson
structure, teachers need to apply creatively to achieve the desired effect.
3.2.Recommendations
To make teaching English communication really effective, I personally
have some recommendations as follows:
- The school management and equipment department should be equipped
with teaching aids such as dictionaries, books, magazines, video recorders,
cassette recorders, projectors, etc. Or install more a few other audiovisual rooms
for students to study effectively.
- Teachers should be creative using this method to suit each unit and each
student. Avoid stereotyping, making students bored.
- To apply this new method effectively, I strongly recommend the
Department of Education, the School Board, the Department of Education and
Training introduces the topic to all colleagues to exchange, learn from
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experiences, draw positive teaching methods on developing communication
skills for English subjects.
Above are a few small teaching experiences that I share for reference
colleagues. However, during the implementation process, it is inevitable that the
shortcomings are unavoidable, so I look forward to receiving the comments and
supplements of my colleagues so that I can achieve more success in my English

teaching career.
Sincerely thanks!
CONFIRM OF THE PRINCIPLE
Thanh Hoa, April 20th, 2022.
I swear, this teaching exprience was
written by myself, not being copied from
other people’s contents.

Nguyen Thi Quy

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* References:
To proceed to this topic I based on some materials:
1. English grade 6 textbook, Vietnam Education Publishing House).
2. How to Teach Communication, Gerald Kelly, Pearson Longman, 2000.
3. Tips for Teaching Communication: A Practical Approach, Linda Lane,
Pearson Longman, 2010.
4. Documents from web sites:
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5. Good tips to teach Communication VN-Express electronic newspaper.

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