Using some positive teaching techniques to teach life skills effectively through some integrated reading topics for the

Research

Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet

I. INTRODUCTION
1. Reason for the research
With the aim of improving the quality of full education for the young, to meet
the human resources for the industrialization and modernization of the
country, to meet the needs of learner, general education has been strongly
reformed according to century’s goals. They are learning to know, learning to
do, learning to assert themselves, learning to live together. So the goal of
general education has shifted from equipping the knowledge to the necessary
capability for the students.
In addition, the popular education method has also been innovated in order to
raise the sense of initiative and creativeness of the students, which is suitable
with the characteristics of each class , students’ psychology and the age;
strengthen the students’ groupwork and train the skill of applying the
knowledge to the life to integrate the life skills for themselves. The content of
life skills education has been integrated in many subjects and other
educational activities. With the advantages of the subject, we find that the
education of life skills through English is practical in the stage of the
globalization.
During the teaching process at Thach Thanh 4 High School, when applying
some positive techniques in teaching English and integrating the life skills
education for students, I realised that it is suitable with my students and the
characteristics of the school. So, I bravely choose the topic " Using some
positive teaching techniques to teach life skills effectively through some
integrated reading topics for the students at Thach Thanh 4 High School ".
2. Purposes
We have known that intergrating knowledge in solving a problem of lesson is
essential, which make learners not only study and improve the knowledge

from other subjects but also help them understand and solve the matter fast
and perfectly. Intergrated knowledge of subjects such as: Geography, History,
Mathematics, Physics, knowledge from culture, Civic education and life in
reading skill provide the students useful information about nature, social
problems, state of using energ, etc. Morever, with the images and real
situations which express social phenomena honestly, bad
weather
phenomena, environment pollution, the damage of historical place etc, the
students are aware of the responsibility for protecting the environment and
using energy more economically. Consequently,
students learn life
experiences and adjust their behavior. In order to do this, teachers must have
appropriate teaching methods and techniques to stimulate students' creative
thinking and making their lectures more attractive.
3. Subjects
On the subject, I study and apply some positive teaching techniques to teach
some integrated reading topics for the class 11C3 and 12B2. Applied these
techniques, I helped students participate actively in the lectures and limit the

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students’ laziness in groupworks . Students actively explore the knowledge of
the topics through pictures, newspapers and the internet, and so on. From

that, they will be more interested in learning and comprehending more
knowlegde which is not mentioned in the pasage.
4. Methods
To make my solutions effectively, I have used some following methods.
Firstly, I always get advices from colleagues through co-working.
Secondly, I usually study, create and use new method in teaching English,
such as using images, pictures, posters, real objects to give cues and motivate
students’ creative thoughts.
Next, I often give students the tasks that they must prepare at home. Students
have to finish their tasks by looking for the information, pictures, films or
document in individual or groups.
Finally, when I teach integrated topics, I often give them questions and use
some positve teaching techniques, such as mind map, table-cloth or piece
technique, etc. Students have to finish the tasks in a short time and present
their ideas before others.
II. CONTENT
1. Theoretical background
Normaly, the teacher is considered to suceed in teaching reading skill when
she/he helped students understand and get much information about the topic
and do all the tasks that follow. Teaching units related to culture, historical,
geographical knowlegde, etc is a hard work because it requires the teacher has
both tecnique knowledge and understanding about the places, people, events
or social problems from the lesson. However, the teacher must not explain so
much that the lesson excursive, he/she only uses the apropriate teaching
technique to guide and encourage students’ learning activities. It promote
learning and creativity of students. Besides, the learning activities are
organized, guided by teachers, the learners will not be in passive. The
learners have to self-help, actively participate in the process of searching and
discovering the knowledge. The learners must use knowledge to solve
problems in realities. So they themselves will absorb learning content and

develop the creative capacity.
The positive method of teaching and learning gives the students an
excitement, joy in learning which is suitable with the students’ active
characteristics.
2. Realities before applying the research
Thach Thanh 4 High School is a newly established school, located in the
mountainous areas of Thanh Hoa province. We have many dificulties when
we carry out the renovation of teaching method. Most students are the
Muong ethnicity minority. Their awareness and thought are not as quick as
the students of the same age in other areas. Morever, English is a specific
subject which is uneasy for students in mountainous areas, so our teaching

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and learning English have many difficulties. They participate in the lesson
passively. For example, when I taught the reading topic "Sources of energy",
"Life in the future", I noticed that most of my students engaged in lectures
passively. Through learning, I found that they were interested in these topics
but their background knowledge on these topics was very limited. Besides,
the information about these topics are limited, and the given exercises are
familiar, such as "true or false", "answer the questions". Therefore, they do
not attract the student's thought very much. Realised that, I myself always
make many questions such as “ how to stimulate students' thought,” how to

attract the students in learning”, “ how to make students gain the most
knowledge about the topic and take out life experiences for themselves”, I
have studied and applied some positive techniques to teaching some
intergrated reading topics.
3. Solutions:
There are many positive teaching techniques such as: questioning techniques,
mind map, piecework and KWL techniques ... To apply these techniques
effectively, the teacher must not only follow the specific processes of each
technique but also it requires creative flexibility and pedagogic method. In the
research, I will present the steps to implement some positive teaching
techniques and give some illustrative examples.
3.1 Questioning technique:
In teaching, the teacher’s question system plays an important role, which is
one of the determinants to the quality of the students’ knowledge. Instead of
presenting a lecture by reading and copying, the teacher have to prepare a
question system. It motivates students think, discover knowledge, develop
lesson contents, and encourage them to brainstorm and discuss the content of
the lesson logically. Furthermore, the question system is used to orient and
guide students discover the essence of things, the rules of phenomena,
stimulate the exploration, the curiosity, etc. During the conversation, the
teacher is an organizer, students are person exploring, and creating new
discoveries actively. Besides, students gain the joy, excitement of explorers
and confidence when they find that they have contributed their opinions in the
teacher’s conclusions. As a result, students both gain new knowledge and
learn the way to get it.
There are two types of questions: closed and opened question .
Closed question is a form that has right / wrong or yes / no answer. This type
of question is often used primarily in assessing knowledge or the level of
memorization information in the conclussion or at the end of the lead-in to
examine students' understanding of tasks and directions.

Opened question is a question that can have multiple answers. Using opened
questions, the teachers will not only stimulate students’ thought, provide
students many opportunities to share personal ideas but also help students
memorize and test their knowledge.

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Example 1: Unit 8: Life in the future. (English 12 textbook)
When teaching the lead-in, if the teacher uses the closed-question in the
textbook "Do you think the life will be better in the future?" , students only
give answer "Yes, I do " or " No, I don’t". With this closed -question form,
teachers neither develop the students’ thought nor orient the knowledge they
need to acquire in the unit. Instead, I use the opened form: "What do you
think about life in the future?" and ask them to discuss in groups. Students’
discussion was very exciting. They gave many differrent answers, such as
“Many people will be unemployed in the future”, “The people are better
looked after”, “Robots help people do the hard work/ Robots will do most of
the work in home”, “The environment is more polluted”, etc.
3.2. Table-cloth technique
Table-cloth technique is a collaborative learning organization that combines
personal and group works. The goal of this technique is to stimulate, promote
students’ engagement actively, enhance individual independence and
responsibility, and develop interaction between students.

For students, they will learn how to approach with different strategies and
solutions through this technique . Students will be trained in thinking,
deciding, and solving problems. Furthermore,it helps to raise the relationship
between students, enhance collaboration, communication, share experiences
and respect each other.
To apply this technique effectively, the teacher must follow its sequence of
steps.
First, the teacher gives students a question or task , and divides the students
into small groups. Each group will be delivered an A0 paper divided into
smaller parts: the middle and the surrounding parts corresponding to the
number of members of the group as shown:

Each member of the group sits in a position corresponding parts.
Next, the teacher asks students work in individual to work for a few minutes,
concentrate their thoughts on answering questions or tasks and write their
own opinions on suitable part of the A0 paper.

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After, the students have to discuss in groups to give mutual agreement and
write them in the center of the A0-cloth-table. With disagreements,
individuals have the right to reserve and keep in the surronding of the tablecloth.
Finally, the teacher calls the representatives of the groups to show their ideas

in front of the class. Other groups can give comments and feedbacks, the
teacher concludes.
Example 2: Unit 8: Life in the future. (English textbook 12).
I applied the clothe-table technique to teaching lead-in when I taught this
topic for the students in class 12B2.
Firstly, I divided the students into four groups and gave each group an A0
paper with the opened- question: “ What do you think about the life in the
future?”
Secondly, I asked all the members of the groups work independently in eight
minutes. They have to give the answers and write them down on personal part
on A0 paper.
After, I asked them to discuss and give mutual agreement and write them in
the middle of the paper.
Finally, I asked the representative of each group to show their answers. Other
groups can give comments and feedbacks.
As a result, my students worked actively and give many answers such as
"people are better taken care of", "robots will do most of work", " the air is
worse polluted”,etc. With these answers, they have partly oriented the
contents of the reading passage that they are about to explore. Below is the
picture of the table-clothe of the group 1.

In conclusion, table-cloth technique is a simple teaching one that is easy to
implement. It can be organized in all subjects, lessons, or grades like group
learning. However, it can overcome the limitations of group learning such as:
some passive members do not participate in group’s activities. It requires all
members to work individually, think and write their own opinions before

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group’s discussion. Since then, all members can participate in discussing and
have opportunity to share personal ideas and experiences, self-assess, and
adjust their own perceptions.
3.3. Grafting technique:
Grafting technique is a technique that organizes jointly learning activities
between individuals and groups . It is used to solve a complex tasks. It not
only stimulates the students’ active participation in groupwork but also
enhances the role of the individuals in the collaboration.
To use this technique effectively, teachers and students must follow two
stages illustrated in the following diagram:

Stage 1: Intensive group.
Students are divided into small groups of 3 to 6 students. Each group is
assigned a task to in-depth study a different content of learning. The groups
have to research and discussion. Each member must master the content of the
assignment and be able to present the content to other groups. Each student
becomes an in- depth field investigator in the stage 2.
Stage 2: Pieces group
After completing the task at the stage 1, students from different intensive
groups join together into new groups called group of pieces. At this time, each
of the students in “intensive group” became "pieces" in the "pieces group".
Students must assemble the array of knowledge into a "master picture". Then
the teacher asks the students from the "intensive groups" in the "pieces group"
represent their content.

Finally, the teacher gives groups of pieces a new task. This task has
synthesized, generalized the whole content that was learned from the
intensive group.
Example 3: Unit 10: Sources of energy. (English 11 textbook).
During the 2015-2016 school year, I applied the piece technique to teach the
integrated topic "Sources of energy" for the students in class 11C3. This topic
is very interesting, linked to reality of using sources of energy now. However,
the amount of information on these sources of energy is limited. Students are

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only drawn to these sources of energy without understanding how to make the
electricity from these sources as well as their advantages and disadvantages.
So, they have not been aware of their role and responsibility in protecting and
using energy sources economically. To help them do this, I applied the
grafting technique to help students study more about them after reading the
text.
Steps are done:
Step 1: I divide the students into 6 groups and give each group a task.
Students have to prepare this task at home:
Group 1: Study and find out the information, pictures about the form of the
fossil fuel, its advantage(s) and disadvantage(s), and how to make the
electricity from this energy.

Group 2: Study about nuclear energy.
Group 3: Study about solar energy.
Group 4: Study about wind energy.
Group 5: Study about water energy.
Group 6: Study about geothermal heat.
Step 2:
After reading the passage, I ask students to form the “intensive group”. All the
members have to study, discuss to get so much information about the task
that each of them can show it influently before other groups.
Next, I ask the students to perform the "pieces group" stage. Groups must
acquire information, documents, and pictures of sources of energy to
demonstrate what content will be presented in the "pieces group".
Then I formed a new group: "piece group". Each group must have a full set of
members of the 6 assigned "intensive teams". Members of the "piece groups"
presented their content in turn about each sources of energy in front of the
other members.
Finally, I assign new tasks to groups:
“ Briefly describe the sources of energy mentioned in the paragraph? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of each energy source?.
Each “piece group” apoints a member to represent their ideas by using
pictures, films, etc to illustrate.
After applying this technique I realized that my students were more excite
about the topic. They also made me surprise at the ability to gather
information and materials, design slides to represent their task. As a result,
students have a full look on the sources of energy. Here is the product of each
group.
Group 1: Study and find out the information, pictures about the form of
the fossil fuel, its advantage(s) and disadvantage(s), how to make the
electricity from this energy.

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Group 2: Study about nuclear energy.

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Group 3: Study about solar enery

Group 4: Study about wind energy.

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Group 5: Study about water energy.

Group 6: Study about geothermal heat.

3.4. Mindmap tecnique
Mindmap is a thinking organization tool, the easiest way to transmit
information into the brain and then send them out. At the same time, it is a
very creative and effective means of recording the information.

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Mindmap technique is a form of note that can use colors and images to
expand, deepen the ideas.
Teachers who use the mind map in teaching will bring high efficiency,
develop logical thought, and analytical capability. Students will understand
the lesson more, remember longer rather than memorize or learn by heart.
When applying the mind map technique to teaching, the teacher do these
following steps:
Firstly, the teacher gives a picture or a keyword presented an idea, a definition
or a main content in the centre of the map.

Secondly, the picture or a keyword in the centre will be developed and linked
to pictures or keyword called the sub-topic level 1 by major branches.
After, the main branches will be continued to branch out to images, sub-topics
level 2 related to the main branch.
Finally, branching will be continued. The related definitions, content and
problem are interconnected to create a "master picture" describing the theme
in the centre clearly and completely.
There are many ways to organize the topic in the form of mind maps:
hierarchical diagrams, network diagrams, sequence diagrams, relational
diagrams. The students can choose a suitable way to make the mindmap with
personal point of view and experience.
Example 4: Unit 7: World population. (English textbook 11)
After teaching the intergrated topic: “ World population”, to help students
consolidate and expand the knowledge about theworld's population, I asked
students to draw a mindmap.
Step 1: I divided the students into 4 groups and gave the question:
“What word is used to describe the current of world population?
The students gave the answer: “ Overpopulation”. It is the keyword in the
centre of the diagram.
Step 2: I gave student a task:
“ Draw a map to indicate the causes, concequences of the
overpopulation and the measures to limit the population growth.”
The word : “causes, consequences, measure” are the keyword level 1:

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Students worked in groups. They must remind the knowledge they’ ve learnt
to complete the mindmap.

3.5. “ KWL” technique (K: know; W: want to know; L: learned )
“ KWL” tecnique is a kind of diagram which presents the link of the
knowlegde they’ve known to the knowledge they want to know and the
knowledge they’ve learnt in the lesson.
When teachers apply this technique to teaching, it will help students identify
learning motivation and tasks, self-assess learning outcomes by determing
existing fully understand, experiences and knowledge related to the lesson,
the need for new knowledge and assessment their own result after the lesson.
So, the teacher can assess the result of the lecture through the students’ selfessessment. Therefore, The teacher can adjust his/her teaching appropriately.
This technique is often used in the introduction of the lesson by individuals or
groups.
Firstly, the teacher gives individual or group a “KWL” handout like this:

Next, the teacher asks students to write what they have known about the
lesson/topic in the column 1; what they want to know in the column 2.
After, the teacher continues his/her teaching to provide the students the full
knowlegde about the lesson.

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Finally, at the end of the lesson, the teacher asks students to write down what
they’ve learnt in the column 3.
Example 5: Unit 16: The wonders of the world. (Enlish textbook 11)
This topic is very difficult because it contains so many new words. Morever,
most of my students have few knowledge about the Great Pyramid. The
passage is about some major information about the Great Pyramid, such as
when it was built, what the ancient Egypt built the pyramid for, its
contruction, etc. To help the students identify the content of the passage and
reasearch more information about the pyramid which is not mentioned in the
text, I applied the “KWL” technique in the while-you-read.
Firstly, after reading the passage about the Great pyramid, I gave each of them
a handout like this:

Secondly, I gave students two questions:
1.What do you know about the Great Pyramid of Giza?
2. What do you want to know more about the Great Pyramid?
and asked students write down the answers on the “K” and “W” column.
This is the picture of Miss Thuy’s handout:

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After, I gathered the students’ handouts and gave feedback to the information
in “K” column. With the questions in “W” column, I used pictures and
integrated knowledge to give answers:
With the question “ Who is Pharaoh Khufu?”. I showed the picture:

and gave explaination:
“ He is a Pharaoh in Egypt in the acient time. This is one of the 10 greatest
Pharaohs of Egypt. Khufu was the 2nd pharaoh of the Fourth Dynasty in the
Old Kingdom. His reign over Egypt spanned more than twenty three years
from 2589 BC through 2566 BC. It is believed Khufu became Pharaoh while
in his twentieth.”
With the second question: “ How special about the blocks of stone used for
building the Great Pyramid?”, I showed the picture:

and explained
“ The structue consisted of appropriately 2 millions blocks of stones, each
weighing about 2.5 tons. There has been much debate concerning the
techniques used by ancient Egyptians to cut and dress rough-quarried granite
boulders or blocks for use in masonry. No remnants of the actual drilling
equipment or saws have survived, leaving Egyptologists to make guesses
about drilling and sawing

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techniques on the basis of tomb-scenes, or the many marks left on surviving
granite items. These blocks of stone were placed so tightly that no small sharp
knife can insert between them because they put together based on proportion
of PI number.
The base of the great pyramid could be equal to b=c/π/(sqrt(2)-1) which is in
calculations somewhere close to 230.380924 meters using:
b=base, c=lightspeed (current best estimate) = 299792458 m/s,
π=3.141592653589793238462643383279 (some “signigficant” number of
decimals:-),sqrt(2)-1=0.414213562 which also happens to be a nice number
since 1/(sqrt(2)-1)=2.414213562 (which is exactly 2 higher). As a result the
Pyramids live today.
With the third question: “ What is the structure of the Great Pyramid?,
I showed the picture:

and explained:
“The true pyramid exists only in Egypt, though the term has also been applied
to similar structures in other countries. Egyptian pyramids are square in plan
and their triangular sides, which directly face the points of the compass, slope
upwards at approximately a 50° angle from the ground and meet at an apex.
The prototype for the pyramid are the mastabas of the Old Kingdom (2680—
2565 ), which are rectangular in plan and have only two sloping sides. After
these came the step-pyramid at Sakkara, built c.2620 , which soon evolved
into the straight-sided true pyramid. This monumental structure was
developed around the IV dynasty and continued to be the favored form for
royal burial through the VI dynasty.”
With the fourth question: “ How did the ancient Egyptians build the
Pyramid?
I explained:

“There are two theories of building the Great Pyramid. The first theory
involves the construction of a straight or spiral ramp that was raised as the
construction proceeded.”
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“ For the construction of the pyramids, ancient Egyptians had to transport
heavy blocks of stone and large statues across the desert.”
“They placed the heavy objects on a sledge that workers pulled over the sand.
“The second theory suggested that the blocks were lifted and placed using
thousands of huge weight arms like this:

With the last question: “ Why was the Great Pyramid located on the west of
the Nile river?” I showed the map:

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and gave explaination:
“All Pyramids in Egypt were built on the right of the Nile River where the
Sun sets, related to the world of the deaths. Egyptians believed that when they
die, their souls will go to heaven to meet “Ra”( their God).”
After, I asked students do some exercises. In the consolidation part, I asked
students complete the “L” column with the information they’ve learnt in the
lesson. Students can do this task at home and hand in for the teacher on the
next period. And this is the picture of Miss Thuy’s handout- a good student in
the class 11C3:

4. Effectiveness of the research
To consolidate the lesson I had students done a 15 minutes test. Then I
collected the papers, gave marks and feedback.
From the results of applying my new solutions in teaching, I realize that most
students understand and do well. Besides, most of them are interested in
learning from manipulating interdisciplinary subjects which provides the
students a wide range of information related to the lesson. Below is the
statistics I have collected: from the school year 2015-2016, 2016-2017 that
my experiences have been done in two classes 11C3, 12B2 at Thach Thanh 4
high school.
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Class Number of

students

Contents

11C3

excited

12

27.9%

35

81.4%

unexcited

31

72.1%

8

18.6%

excited

15

32.6%

38

82.6%

unexcited

31

67,4%

8

17.4%

12B2

43

46

Before appying/

After applying/

Rate (%)

Rate (%)

III. conclusion
1. General conclusion
In a lesson of teaching reading skill, the teacher not only help students
understand the meaning of the passage but also manipulate flexibly
techniques which are agreeable with the instant unit to motivate students’s
interest in learning and create activities to make them practise better.
However, English is by far different from Vietnamese because it is too
difficult to learn and remember. Reading in Vietnamese is much easier as
students do not get difficulty in understanding the passage. Moreover, many
students have a limitation of words, some are lazy in practising at home or
preparing the lesson before going to school that prevent them from having
good results. To overcome these limitations, teachers must apply appropriate
teaching techniques to become both an organiser and a guide, and encourage
students to actively participate in the learning process.
After applying these tecniques to teach four intergrated reading topics: “ Life
in the future”, “Sources of energy”, “World population” and “ The wonders of
the world”, I found that the techniques I have mentioned in the research are
useful and can be widely applied in many lessons and grades.
2. Recommendation
* For my office and colleagues.
I would like to offer my office to invest more refererence books, hold
English clubs so that students have chances to practise and exchange
knowledge more often. I also take this hope that my colleagues will always
cooperate and help me in the process of teaching English at school.
* For Department of Education and Training.
I am looking for being paid attention to our teaching in a mountainous
school as mine that we feel interested in our career.
Being a young teacher, I know my research could be limited. I would like
to receive good comments from colleagues and sponsors so that my given
solution become more perfect and effective.

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Approved by

Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet
I speak with full conviction that this is the
experience I do it myself, not copying from the
others.
Written by
Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet

Ngo Van Giang
Sincerely thank!

Thach Thanh, May 25th2017

Nguyen Thi Anh Tuyet

Thach Thanh 4 High School

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