SKKN TIẾNG ANH THPT Some ways in teaching and learning English vocabulary for students at Thuan Thanh No 1 High

CONTENTS
PART 1: INTRODUCTION
I. Reason for choosing the topic

(Page 1)

II. The objectives of the topic

(page 2)

III. The object of the topic

(page 2)

IV. The research methods

(page 2)

PART 2: DEVELOPMENT
2.1. Theoretical base of experience initiative.

(page 2)

2.2. The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary
at Thuan Thanh No 1 high schools
2.3. Solutions and implementation
2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative

(page 3)
(page 5)
(page 14)

PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
I.Conclusions

(page 16)

II. Recommendations
REFERENCES

(page 17)
(page 18)

APPENDIX: EXPERIMENTAL TESTS

PART 1: INTRODUCTION

I. Reason for choosing the topic

(page 19)


1. Theoretically
English is the language of globalization. It's not only the language of
international business and politics but also the primary language used for most
computers and for the inner workings of the Internet. English is the dominant
international language in communications, science, aviation, entertainment,
radio and diplomacy. English is an important tool for operating on the world
stage. The ability to speak and understand English is mandatory in certain fields,
professions, and occupations
In the era of the development of science and technology and of

acculturation, they require each of us to basic knowledge and certain skills. In
particular, foreign language skill, especially English, is the key for us to open
the important door to step out in the world. Besides the skills of listening,
speaking, reading and writing, the vocabulary is very necessary for a foreign
language learner. Vocabulary is also a very important platform for students to
complete their skills in the learning of English in secondary schools. However,
in practice, the vocabulary is not easy so students often encounter many
difficulties. One of the difficulties of the students is absorbing and memorizing
vocabulary that they have learned or once used before.
2. Practically:
Along with the development of society and the need to reach out to the world,
the English teaching methods and course content are constantly being renewed and
improved. The English material for grade 10 with a lot of different topics gives
students more knowledge about life and diverse society. However, the diversity of
subjects and requirements students to memorize more vocabulary. This is a major
barrier for the students, especially for those in rural and mountainous areas.
Therefore, how to find the most effective way of teaching vocabulary to
help students understand each lesson easier is the responsibility of every foreign
language teacher. Nowadays, there are many good methods of teaching
vocabulary, but the selection and the application of those methods in a flexible
way for each unit is not easy for each teacher
In the process of teaching vocabulary to students at the school, I and some
of my colleagues in the team faced many difficulties in finding suitable methods
to improve the quality of education.
From the above reasons, along with the experiences that I have gained
during my teaching, I decide to choose the topic: "Some ways in teaching and
learning English vocabulary for students at Thuan Thanh No 1 High School ”
II. The objectives of the topic

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To draw on a number of methods to help students in Grade 11 English
vocabulary effectively and to give them a certain number of skills in
understanding and remembering vocabulary
III. The object of the topic
High school students in grades 10 Thuan Thanh No 1 and English textbooks
grade 10
IV. The research methods
1. Read the document:
I have studied the materials relating to the topic of my experience
initiative so that I have found the orientation for the content of the topic,
understand the research problem and solve the problem with relatively accurate
documentation.
2. Investigate
a. Attend English lessons: Through attending English lessons of my
colleagues in and out of school, I summarized some valuable experiences in
teaching vocabulary to students
b. Experiment: Through class lesson, I have applied several methods of
teaching vocabulary in each lesson several self-assessment and the effectiveness
of those methods
c. Discussion: Through some group meetings, I and my colleagues have
discussed the problem of teaching methods and skills to teach English
vocabulary effectively to students
d. Assessment: Through the results of the tests for students, teachers can
self-assess the effectiveness of the use of methods of teaching vocabulary and
find out measures to improve the quality of learning vocabulary
PART 2: DEVELOPMENT

2.1 . Theoretical base of experience initiative:
2.1.1: Legal base:
- Education Law No. 44/2009 / QH12 amending and supplementing a
number of articles of the Education Law No. 38/2005 / QH11 promulgated by
the National Assembly November 25, 2009.
Educational programs attached to Decision No 16/2006 / QD-BGDT
minister dated 05/05/2006 of education and training
Decision No. 1400 / QD-TTg of the Prime Minister: On approval of the
project "Teaching and learning of foreign languages in the national education
system the period 2008 - 2020"

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Topics of education and training on innovative approaches to teaching and
assessment of English at high schools
The material “Some common problems of teaching methods innovation
in schools” by Nguyen Van Cuong, Prof. Dr. Bernd Meier compiled
collaborative project developed under high school education of the Ministry of
Education and Training
2.1.2: Scientific base:
Based on current goals of education that is to focus on the development
direction of the dynamism, creativity and active learning of students in order to
help them have the ability to identify and solve problems. To achieve these goal,
the use of diverse techniques of teaching vocabulary to students instead of
traditional teaching methods in which teachers provide only words and
meanings of words is necessary.
Based on innovation-oriented method of teaching English in secondary

schools by the Ministry of Education and Training, basic criteria of the new
teaching methods that operate independently and actively the activeness of
students in solving the tasks to communicate in the language. Key criteria to
assess the learning outcomes of students is the ability to communicate and
conduct capacity tape language in practical situations. In particular, the
vocabulary is the main component in communication activities. Thus, helping
students master the vocabulary is a task that is equally important.
Based on the objectives of foreign language learning is not only to
knowabout the phonetic system, vocabulary, grammar, but also to use that
system to achieve the purpose of communication. Therefore, I know that
encouraging students to use vocabulary in context communication is a
indispensable and relatively difficult task to each teacher, especially with those
students in rural and mountainous areas.

2.2: The actual status of teaching and learning vocabulary at
Thuan Thanh No 1 high schools
Through the teaching of English, especially English program grade 10,
I notice some following problems .
The majority of foreign language teachers have done their utmost to teach
and inspire a love of learning a foreign language students. However, due to a
lack of facilities and equipment needed for particular courses of visual aids cater
for teaching vocabulary, teaching vocabulary should not achieve high efficiency.
Besides, traditional methods of teaching vocabulary often reduces the quality of
the language lessons and absorptive capacity of the students.

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Although most English teachers in the school are making great efforts to
teach vocabulary for students, combining the skills and methods of teaching
vocabulary in a flexible manner is still a challenge . Many teachers are confused
about the selection of a suitable form of teaching vocabulary for each unit.
In fact, many students in grade 10 of Thuan Thanh No 1 high school come
from agricultural commune, some are mountainous ethnic minority students.
Although the students love the English language and they are aware of its
importance, learning vocabulary is still a major obstacle to them. Most students
just memorize mechanically the words down so they also forget them very
quickly. They also can not use the words they have learned in social situations.
In the class, some students become passive, lack of flexibility, afraid to read and
speak English. This is a huge drawback for students from rural and mountainous
areas where they have little chance of contact with alien technology and modern
teaching facilities.
At the beginning of 2021-2022 school year in grades 10A4,10A5,10A13,
after conducting a short test of English vocabulary with the same content, I have
obtained the following results:
Class
10A4
10A5
10A13
Total
The number of students scoring proficient
Percentage
The number of students scoring pretty
Percentage
The number of students scoring average
Percentage
The number of students scoring below
average

Percentage

( 42
students)

(42
students)

42
students)

1

0

1

2,38%

0%

2,38%

5

4

5

11,9%

9,53%

11,9%

14

12

13

33,33%

28,57%

30,96%

22

26

23

52,39%

61,9%

54,76%

Thus, the rate of students scoring good and excellent is only 14,28% in

class 10A4 and 10A13 and the figure is 9,53% in 10A5. The rate of students at
average level accounts for less than 35%. The test results show that the student's

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vocabulary is very limited compared to the amount of knowledge provided in
the textbooks.
From this result, I have adopted a number of measures to improve the
efficiency of teaching and learning vocabulary for students in my class. With
each lesson, I use diverse forms of teaching vocabulary to suit each student
object and I also try to make full use of the poor teaching conditions in my
school.
In 11th grade English, vocabulary is divided into several topics and many
different groups. With each group, we will have many different methods to help
students understand, remember and use new words quickly and effectively.

2.3. Solutions and Implementation
2.3.1: Teaching vocabulary by grouping from each theme, from the type
or level of use
2.3.1.1. Building a number of topics of English vocabulary:
Teachers can arrange words in groups of different topics to the students
easy to remember, easy to learn, easy to understand, depending on the content of
each post
- Example 1: Unit 1: The generation gap / Lesson 1: Getting Started –
grade 11
Theme: family
- Example 2: Unit 5: The mas media/ leson 1- Getting stared/ page 30/

12th grade English
Theme: Computer: keyboard, mouse, computer screen, software,
hardware, data, printer, speakers, CPU ( central processing unit), VDU ( visual
display unit)....
- Example 3: Unit 7: Artificial Intelligence/ lesson 3/ reading/ page 22/
12th grade English
Theme: Films: Science fiction, cartoon, love story film, war film, action
film, detective film, horror film......
2.3.1.2: Using network
When approached with a new theme, teachers help students find out what they
have relationships with the words that they already know it or not, and between
them have any connection.
This is an easy way that allows students to learn and remember new words
quite effectively because it stimulates thinking and imagination of the students.
Teachers can give a hint about the subject and students need to list the words
relating to that suggestion (as much as possible)

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Look at the network in the examples below. With vocabulary exercises are
designed as such networks, students can build systems for each thematic
vocabulary, and remember how to read and how to write words correctly and
logically
- Example 1: Unit 1: family life- lesson 1 – Getting Started
Single family

Generation

gaps

Nuclear family
nucleaar

family

Extended family

- Example 2: Unit 3 – Music / Part D: writing/ page 117/ 10th grade
English
concert

singer

music
debut
confident

album

2.3.1.3: Teach vocabulary through words belong to a group of ten

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Although there are many adjectives are not synonymous, their meanings
come close together. Because they are the only properties of an object, event or

phenomenon
Therefore, when we make a first adjective and ask students to find
another adjective that means close to it, students will develop the ability to guess
and to brainstorm. At the same time students will remember this group from the
faster, longer
2.3.1.4: Teach vocabulary by combining the antonyms
Teaching vocabulary through the pair of opposites has long been a
common approach and highly effective. This is a relationship with very strong
impacts on memorizing vocabulary easily.
For example, when students are asked about an antonym for "hot", students will
say now is "cold" Thus, the lesson, the teacher should skillfully integrate
opposites pair appeared in all together to help students memorize easily
2.3.2: Teaching vocabulary through visual aids
The use of real objects, photographs, film material in teaching vocabulary
always has a strong impact on interest in learning of students. This approach
helps teachers convey lexical semantics quickly and conveniently and it also
encourages students to understand and remember words in a faster and more
efficient way.
2.3.2.1: Realia:
When teaching vocabulary to students, teachers can use the model objects or
related vocabulary to explain the meaning of the word to students. This method
is often highly effective because students can directly observe the objects,
especially in the case of the words that the teacher find it difficult to explain the
meanings of words in language.
- Example 1:Unit 5- invention

Speakers

8

CD Room

Floppy disk

Usb

8


Printer

Computer screen/ keyboard

mouse

- Example 2: Unit 2 : Your Body and You
Using the model illustrated to help students memorize the new words.

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2.3.2.1: Visual:
The use of pictures or video clips in teaching vocabulary is also a very
effective way. In the lecture, I often combine teaching using both pre-prints,
paintings and collectibles added controversy to enrich for his lectures. I also
regularly screen the short film related to the topic of the lesson to help them
understand the vocabulary faster.

- Example 1: unit 1 – family life

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I often use illustrations to describe the words and phrase relating the house
hold chores : do the washing, make the bed, wash the car, do the shopping
Iron the clothes, do the washing up

2.3.3: Teaching vocabulary through several games
When teaching the reading passage with different themes, teachers can
use some game or interesting vocabulary exercises to stimulate innovative
research by students. So that they can understand the meaning of the word faster
and remember the new words better.This method is consistent with the
consolidation and review vocabulary for students.

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To make the lesson more interesting and exciting, teachers divide students
into teams and compete with each other for points. With this method, the boring
review session will become more attractive and more effective because students
will be eager to participate.
2.3.3.1: Wordsquares
Example : Unit 3;
Content Review: different kinds of films

Teachers can make suggestions about the kinds of films for students to find
different kinds of films. The teams will work together to find the correct
answers, the team that scores the higher points will be the winner.
i

A

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f

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D

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F

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Some suggestions:
1. If you like films with exciting story, especially ones about crime
or spies, enjoy a..........( thriller)
2. A....( science fiction) film is a type of film that is based on
imagined scientific discoveries of the future.
3. A....( war) film is about the fight or battle among the contries
based on the real events in history
4. A film for children is called.....( cartoon)
5. Sherlock Holmes is a.............film ( detective)

6. If you enjoy stories about love affairs, a.....( romance) is the
right film for you.
2.3.3.2: Jumbled words

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Teachers will change the order of letters in a word and ask students to
rearrange it correctly. This activity will help students deepen the vocabulary.
The purpose of this form of exercise is to train the students ability to remmenber
the word accurately. Besides, it also creates excitement for students in
vocabulary review lesson.
- Example Unit 3: Music
Content Review: different kinds of music
lokf
-> folk
korc
-> rock
zjaz
-> jazz
cicsslala -> classical
2.3.3.3: Crossword
Crossword is a form of exercise requires the ability to exercise judgment
and critical thinking of students. To do this exercise form, students must conquer
the crossword puzzle with clues given. After understanding the clues, students
will use their ability to remember words to find the exact words to match the
crossword.
This kind of exercise will require students to find keywords is a vertical

box has been prescribed. Teachers usually apply this exercise as a game to
increase the attractiveness. After studying vocabulary with this form of exercise,
students will be trained about the ability of brainstorming. Besides, they will
inculcate the vocabulary after completing crossword.
- Example : Unit 10: Ecotourism
Content Review: some new words in the reading passage
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Suggestions:

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+ horizontal crossword 1: a natural cavity below the earth surface or in the
mountain
+ horizontal crossword 2: light of the sun
+ horizontal crossword 3: A large natural stream of water
+ horizontal crossword 4: A short journey usually for pleasure
+ horizontal crossword 5: A temple or sacred tower in Asian countries
+ horizontal crossword 6: The science that studies the surface of the earth and
its associated physical, biological, economic, policical features.
+ horizontal crossword 7: A hill of impressive height.
After Some students have found the key word "Chicago", teachers introduce

some features about the city of Chicago which has the famous Lake Michigan
Keys:

1

2

S

U

N
3

4
5P

A

E
G O
7

C
S H
R I
X C
D A
G
6

M O

A
I
V
U

V
N
E

R

E
E
R
S

I

O

N

G
T

R
A

A
I

P
N

5

E
U

O
N

H

Y

2.3.3.4: Slap the board
Slap the board is an energetic vocabulary activity - it can be used for
revision, presentation and testing - which involves students running to and
hitting the board.Teachers put the vocabulary items on the board in any order –
jumbled.
Form groups. Give a mother tongue translation for one of the words on
the board. The students have got to recognise the word which translates to that
word. They then run to the board and slap the correct word. The first person in
each group to slap the right word gets a point.
Alternatively, you can form teams and one person from the team runs to
the board, as a representative. The first team to hit the correct word gets the

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point. The representative changes, ready for the next word… This is a little
calmer than if everyone is running to the board.
The teachers can reverse the translation, by putting the mother tongue on
the board. And of course, they could use definitions or opposites if you want to
avoid using the mother tongue.
The teachers can do it with pictures so you put the pictures on the board
and call out the English word and the kids slap the picture.
The teacher doesn't have to call out the English, you can get other kids to
call out so they're getting practice speaking too.
- Example 1: Unit 10 : ecotourism / 10th grade English.
Word group: Sea animals. Revising the new words about sea animals
Teachers hang the pictures about the new words on the board,then ask each
member of the team to run quickly to slap on the picture related to the word that
the teachers have mentioned.

dolphin

turtle

jelly fish

carb

sea horse

sperm whale

shark

star fish

lobster

squid

seal

fish

- Example 2: Unit 10: Conservation /Part A: Reading / page 104/ 10th
grade English.
Below are some words in the game "Slap the board" that I've designed to
revise vocabulary for students

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Teachers stick the colorful card-boards with the new words on the board
then ask students to run up to slap on board containing the word that teachers
read aloud. This game should be played in teams to increase the enthusiasm and
excitement to the lesson.
equal

eliminate

enrol

force

run

discrimination

gender

frequent

Example 3: Unit 9:preserving the enviroment

national park

rainy

cave

toxic chemical in water

butterfly

hike moutain

the orphanage

2.4: The efficiency of the experience initiative
Based on the teaching process and experimental results from tests of
vocabulary in three classes 10A4,10A5, 10A13, I can see the positive eficiency
after the application of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching

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vocabulary English for students. The improvement in the ability to remember
and use vocabulary application is demonstrated by the number of students
getting good marks and average ones as follows:
Table 1:

Before applying the measures
Class

Total
The number of students scoring proficient
Percentage
The number of students scoring pretty
Percentage
The number of students scoring average
Percentage
The number of students scoring below
average
Percentage

Table 2:

10A4

10A5

10A13

( 42
students)

(42
students)

42
students)

1

0

1

2,38%

0%

2,38%

5

4

5

11,9%

9,53%

11,9%

14

12

13

33,33%

28,57%

30,96%

22

26

23

52,39%

61,9%

54,76%

After applying the meassures
Class

Total
The number of students scoring proficient
Percentage
The number of students scoring pretty
Percentage
The number of students scoring average
Percentage

17

10A4

10A5

10A13

( 42
students)

(42
students)

42

students)

5

3

6

11,9%

7,14%

14,28%

10

8

11

23,8%

19,04%

26,19%

19

20

18

45,24%

47,62%

42,86%

17


The number of students scoring below
average
Percentage

8

11

7

19,04%

26,19%

16,66%

Comparing the results obtained from the two tables above, I can see the
progress of the students when learning vocabulary with these methods which are
more diverse and more interesting, especially when students do the vocabulary

exercises are designed in the form of games.
As can be seen in the Table 1, the percentage of students getting bad
marks in the vocabulary test accounts for more than 50% and the rate of students
scoring good or excellent makes up for below 15%. From the second table, after
the adoption of measures to improve the efficiency of teaching vocabulary,the
percentage of students scoring at or above average has increased significantly
(from about 40% in Table 1 to about 75% in Table 2)
In each lesson, students are more active, more flexible and enthusiastic
participation in the vocabulary section. Students are no longer passive listening
and memorizing mechanically as it once was. In every classroom lessons, many
students have the ability to remember a large number of basic vocabulary.
I do not take too much time to explain words and practice from them.
With some games, students can organize themselves, so it has increased the
confidence and positivity of students in learning English.

PART 3: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
I. Conclusions
This result indicates that the measures which I have applied to improve
the efficiency of vocabulary learning for students has yielded positive results.
Students are not only able to remember and use more vocabulary, but also feel
excited about learning vocabulary with different groups. They no longer have to
meet the psychological fear of exercises or tests of vocabulary. On the contrary,
the foreign language lessons becomes more fun and more exciting.
These are some of the measures that I have learned, consulted and adopted
into their lesson in the grade 10th English program. However, in the course of
use, there are still many difficulties and limitations in the application these
measures into teaching and learning .Therefore, I look forward to receiving
constructive feedback so that I can complete my work better.

II. Recommendations

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Derived from the application of innovative experiences and the results obtained
above, I give some suggestions as follows:
Firstly, every teacher should apply a broad and flexible methods of teaching
vocabulary, and also should teach them the skills to learn vocabulary from lower
classes so that they will have a certain vocabulary when they com to higher grades.
Secondly, teachers should enhance the vocabulary exercise form in the
warm up interesting, and the consolidation of all to stimulate the interest of
student learning.
Thirdly, teachers and schools should organize extra-curricular sessions in
English to give students new experiences when learning English. Based on the
interest to be involved, they will be more motivated to learn the vocabulary
In short, each method has its own advantages and disadvantages so when
teaching vocabulary to students, teachers need to choose the appropriate method
for each different type of vocabulary to help students to find ways of learning
vocabulary most effectively.

THE CONFIRMATION OF THE
PRINCIPAL
VICE- PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL

Thuan Thanh, 2nd February, 2023
I promise that this experience initiative
was written by myself without copying
from anyone else.
Experience initiative writer

Lê Thị Thanh Ha

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REFERENCES
1. Học từ vựng tiếng Anh theo chủ điểm, tác giả Nguyễn Phương Mai, NXB
Đại học quốc gia Hà Nội
2. Vui học từ vựng tiếng Anh, Song Phúc chủ biên, NXB Giáo dục
3. English vocabulary in use by Michael Mc Carthy
4. English Vocabulary For All By G K Puri
5. website: />6. website: />7. website: />8. website: />
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APPENDIX:

EXPERIMENTAL TESTS
TEST 1 ( Before conducting the research)
( Time allowed: 10 minutes)

Choose the best answer:
1. I like to work with figures, so I like..................
A. Maths

B. Literature

C. Biology

D. History

C. Stops

D. Rings

2. The alarm goes off at 4.30
A. Goes wrong

B. Explores

3. ............is a film or a TV program giving facts about something
A. Documentary

B. Cartoon

C. News

D. Music

4. A period of one hundred years is called.....................
A. A long time

B. Century

C. Decade

D. Millennium

5. ............is traditional music of a country
A. Pop music

B. Rock’n’roll

C. Classical music

D. Folk music

6. I like to learn English best because it is an ................ language.
A. Nation

B. Region

C. International

D. Traditional

7. When the winter comes, everybody feels.................
A. Cool
Keys: 1.A

21

B. Hot
2. D

3. A

C. Cold
4. B

5. D

D. Wet
6. C

7. C

21


TEST 2 (during conducting the research)
( Time allowed: 10 minutes)
Choose the best answer:
1.We call a short journey for pleasure a ( an)..................
A.Expedition

B. Travel

C. Excursion

D. Visit

2.If you want to invite someone to attend your birthday party, you will write
a letter of......
A.Refusal

B. Invitation

C. Acceptance

D. Application

3.............is a modern music that is popular with young people
A.Pop music

B. Traditional music

C. Classical music

D. Folk music

4. Jack is a (an)...............part of the team because we can not do without him.
A. Intergral

B. Tiny

C. Unnecessary

D. Impossible

5.We call a group or groups of animals or plants..........
A.Fauna

B. National parks

C. Flora

D. Species

6............is a film or a play that is intended to be funny, usually with a happy
ending.
A.Science fiction

B. Comedy

C. Tragedy

D. Detective

7.A large area of sea that is partly surrounded by land is.................
B. Sea
Keys: 1.C

22

B. Ocean
2. B

3. A

C. Marine
4. A

5. D

D. Gulf
6. C

7. D

22