Some experiences in teaching warm up for nine graders

TABLE OF CONTENT
1. Introduction.
1.1. Reason for choosing topic.
1.2. Aims of study.
1.3. Object of the study.
1.4. Methods of the Study.
1.5. The new points of the study.
2. Content of the study.
2.1. Rationale.
2.2. Problem Statement.
2.3. Solutions.
2.3.1. Techniques of “Warm up”.
2.3.1.1. Guessing topic.
2.3.1.2. Finding information.
2.3.1.3. Remind knowledge.
2.3.2. Process of the study.
2.3.3. Effectiveness of the study.
3. Conclusions.
REFERENCE BOOKS

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Reason for choosing topic.
Nowadays, English is spoken all over the world. It seems to be the main
and the official language in many countries. Learning English is essential for
students to improve their knowledge in the world. Studying environment plays
an important part in teaching and learning English.
As we know, English is very difficult for students to study; therefore they
can not grasp the content of the lessons. Students don’t want to join in the
activities in the class. Because of that, I think it is necessary to stimulate
students to learn, to make them feel excited before learning a lesson. Using
"Warm up" in each lesson is essential to study English.
It is an effective way to help the students begin to think in English and to
review previously introduced material. Different types of warm ups help provide
variety and interest in the lesson.
A warm up to prepare students for a period of concentration may involve
physical movement with activities that keep them active by standing up,
walking, jumping, matching pictures with sentences or vocabulary, drawing or
writing personal experiences or stories, and singing or listening to familiar songs

and chants. These are, among others, enjoyable and motivating warms ups. [1]
Recognizing the need of using techniques to initiate lessons, so early in
the school year 2017-2018, when assigned to teach English 9 I chose to research
and apply the subject “Some experiences in teaching WARM UP for nine
graders " to improve the quality of teaching and learning to meet the goal of
teaching method innovation.
1.2. Aims of study.
The study is carried out with the aims:
- To stabilize the class, allowing students time to adapt to new lessons.
- To create a favorable environment for new lessons.
- To make students exciting about the new lesson.
- To help students connect what they have learned with new lessons.
- To create situation and context for the introduction of the new lesson.
- To create a need for communication.
- To create a purpose for the next communication.
1.3. Object of the study.
In this article I want to share the experiences I had when I applied
warming up activities to nine graders at Quang Binh secondary school. The main
objective was to get students' attention at the beginning of the class by means of
enjoyable and short activities as well as to observe how possible it was to
engage them in the steps that followed. I sought to explore students' involvement
in the English class while I tried to motivate them through appropriate warm
ups.
1.4. Methods of the Study.
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- Summarize the experiences.
- Observation method.
- Communication method.

- Document study method.
- Investigation method.
- Researching students' activities method. [6]
1.5. The new points of the study
The first part of the presentation often involves pre-teaching to encourage
the flow of information. In this initial stage, we conduct activities to present the
new language by providing a context for each situation.
Some assessment activities like games, tasks or projects let students carry
out the activity while the teacher is circulating in the classroom monitoring their
use of the language, to examine students' progress and achievement. Also, a
written assessment and a self evaluation section could be included.
2. Content of the study
2.1 Rationale
Many students complain that they feel bored doing same thing again and
again from the beginning to end of a class. As they do not feel interested in
class, they cannot progress much in learning a language. Unfortunately, many
teachers do not pay attention whether or not students feel interested and
motivated to work with the activities they provide in classes. It is needed to find
out how to keep students’ interest in learning. Using warm up activities can be
one way to bring variation in class activity and to make the students curious,
focus their attention, provide them purpose and motivation.
The importance of having warming up activities was mentioned at the
beginning of this paper, but a question remains: What is a warming up activity?
Some educators have considered that warm up activities are designed to attract
students' attention, to help them put aside distracting thoughts, and to get them
ready to focus individually and as groups on whatever activities that follow.
They will cause people to stop whatever they are doing or thinking and refocus
their attention. We could say a warming up activity is a motivating starting point
that will lead students to become animated to work efficiently in the language
class. For the purpose of our study, it was the activity used to encourage

students' involvement and permeate the development of the whole lesson, so we
avoided looking at them as isolated activities. These kinds of activities might
also be called zealous, enthusiastic or suggestive activities.
2.2. Problem Statement.
At the beginning of the school year, through quality surveys I found that
only a small number of students can speak English. Through surveys, they all
think that this subject is difficult, it is easy to forget because they don’t
communicate with friends daily.
For 9th grade students, the amount of knowledge in many lessons is great.
In the class, students often receive knowledge passive. They do not understand
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the purpose of communication, resulting in poor learning quality. Apart from this
problem, there is also a problem that many pupils in rural areas, their learning
conditions have not been sufficient, but the requirements for study in this subject
also need. The support of materials such as dictionaries, reference books, video
tapes and internet is not enough. From this fact, to encourage and motivate the
desire of all students, I think every teacher should study, apply the techniques of
"Warm up" to the lessons.
The following is the result of testing students in grade 9 at the midterm of
the first semester.
Class

9A
9B

Number
of
students

42
42

Excellent

Good

Average

No of
students

%

No of
students

%

No of
students

%

0
0

0
0

3
2

7
6

16
20

38
47

Below average
and weak
No of
%
students

23
20

55
47

2.3. Solutions
2.3.1. Techniques of “Warm up”.
2.3.1.1. GUESSING TOPIC
This is an activity that helps students predict the topic of the lesson; the teacher
may use a variety of techniques below:

- Hangman
- Jumbled words
- Guessing topic
- Guessing picture
- Guessing words
- Shark attack
2.3.1.2. FINDING INFORMATION
These types of activities are designed to help students stabilize their class, focus
attention and excitement, but still have the information they need to get to the
next lesson.
- Brainstorm
- Networks
- Lucky number
- Chatting
- Kim’s game
2.3.1.3. REMIND KNOWLEDGE
These activities aim to create a conductive environment for students to recall
their old knowledge and get lead to the new lesson.
- Bingo
- Noughts and crosses
- Matching
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- Crossword puzzle
- What and where
- Slap the board
- Chain game….. [6]
2.3.2. Process of the study
APPICATION 1:

UNIT 2 - LESSON 1: Getting started + Listen and read (P13 English 9)
Pictures :

[2]
This is the beginning lesson of the unit, consists of Getting started and
Listen and read. The teacher needs to simplify some difficulties, help students
to catch up quickly and actively requirements.
a. Matching:
The teacher uses the pictures provided in the students’ books to describe
the traditional dresses. Therefore, matching is used to help students to remember
the meaning of the words.
Teacher’s and students’ activities
Content
Matching : Students look at the
Warm up : (Getting started)
pictures and match them with the Matching:
suitable traditional costumes.
Pictures
Traditional costumes
Students work in groups and then A
1. Aodai
give their keys.
B
2. Kimono
T corrects students’ working and C
3. Kilt
then asks students about the D
4. Veil
pictures.
E

5. Sari
5


- Where does she/he come from?
F
6. Cowboy
- Why do you know where she/he A.2, B.1, E.3, D.5, E.6, F.4
comes from?
Practice asking and answering
Students practice asking and
about the pictures:
answering about the pictures The answer:
with their friends.
1. She comes from Japan. She is wearing a
Teacher corrects students’ ideas.
Kimono.
2. She comes from Viet Nam. She is
wearing Ao dai.
3. He comes from Scotland. He is wearing
a kilt.
4. She comes from India. She is wearing a
sari.
5. He comes from the USA. He is wearing
the Cowboy.
6. She comes from (Saudi) Arabia. She is
wearing a Veil. [4]
b. Chatting:
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
*Content

CHATTING:
Warm up : (Getting started)
Teacher chats to students:
Chatting:
- How many people are there in the - There are six people.
pictures?
- Do you know where they are come - Yes, I do. Because of their
from? why?
costumes.
- Look at picture a). What is she a. She comes from Japan. She is
wearing? Where does she come?
wearing a Kimono.
- Look at picture b). What is she b. She comes from Viet Nam. She is
wearing? Where does she come?
wearing Ao dai.
- Look at picture c). What is he c. He comes from Scotland. He is
wearing? Where does he come?
wearing a kilt.
- …..
d. She comes from India. She is
wearing a sari.
e. He comes from the USA. He is
wearing the Cowboy.
f. She comes from (Saudi) Arabia.
She is wearing a Veil. [3]
c. Guessing game :
* Teacher’ and students’ activities
*Content
Teacher hides the picture of a
Warm up :

Vietnamese woman and asks *Guessing picture:
students to guess how many people a. A woman comes from Japan. She
there are in the picture, what she is is wearing a Kimono.
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wearing and where she is from.
Students guess the picture by
asking some Yes-No questions.
T answers yes or no, then students
describe the pictures teacher hides
Ex: Are there three person in the
picture ? Is there only one person in
the picture?
Is she standing or sitting?
Is she wearing Ao dai?
=> She comes from Vietnam.

b. A woman comes from Viet Nam.
She is wearing Ao dai.
c. A man comes from Scotland. He is
wearing a kilt.
d. A woman comes from India. She is
wearing a sari.
e. A man comes from the USA. He is
wearing the Cowboy.
f. A woman comes from (Saudi)
Arabia. She is wearing a Veil. [4]

APPLICATION 2 :

UNIT 2 –LESSON 2 : SPEAK
Page-14/ 15
[2]
This lesson aims to develop speaking skill, so the teacher should use the
techniques improve vocabulary and structures.
Pictures:

[2]
a. Kim’s game :
This technique aims to revise vocabulary related to casual clothes and
clothes on special occasion.
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
* Content
Teacher gives the pictures about the
Warm up :
clothes and has students look at it in 20
Kim’s game:
seconds and then takes it away.
The clothes: shirt, skirt, short,
Teacher divides the class into two T-shirt, suit, jeans, blouse,
teams and asks them to go to the board to
write as many things as they remember
from the pictures.
Teacher shows the picture again and
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corrects students’ work. The team which
writes more words will win the game.
After this activity, teacher can lead in the new lesson by asking some questions:

- Can you tell me name of clothes you have?
- What do you usually wear on the weekend?
- What is your favorite type of clothing?
b.Crossword/ wordsquare :
This activity helps students revise vocabulary of clothes to talk about the
clothes they like.
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
* Content
Warm up : Crossword
Teacher gives a “crossword” and
S H I
R
T
P
asks students to find the names of
A U U O T
A
clothes from it.
S K I
R
T
N
Students work in two teams and
B H M T
B T
then they go to the board to write the
L C O L
R S
correct words out.
O S

A R
I
S
Teacher corrects students’ working
U K V P
T
O
and chooses the winner.
S K I
L
T
S
E J
E
A N S
 Key:
SHIRT, SKIRT, SARI, SKILT,
JEANS
SUIT, SHORT
BLOUSE, PANTS [3]
c.Noughts and crosses :
* Teacher’s and students’ activities
Students play “noughts and
crosses” by making sentences to talk
about wearing suitable clothing
given in the box.
Teacher divides the class into two
teams. Each team chooses one
student to go to the board .
The student of the first team

writes the nought in the box after
their fellow has spoken a sentence
with the word given.
The student of the second team

* Content
Warm up :
Noughts and crosses :
shirt x Jeans o Skirt
Blouse
Pants x Suit
o
Shorts
Sari
Skilt
x
Ex:-Team 1:
+ S1: I like wearing shirt to
school. (x)
+ S2: I usually wear pants
on the weekend. ( x )
-Team 2:
+ S1: Jeans are my favorite
type of clothing. ( o )
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writes the cross in the box after their
fellow has spoken a sentence with
the word in the box.

The winner is the team which has
three
noughts
or
crosses
continuously.

+……………[3]

APPLICATION 3 :
UNIT 2 – LESSON 3: LISTEN
Page- 16 [2]
The aim of this lesson is develop listening skill. Students will be able to listen
for realistic information about some event. Therefore, teacher should use the
techniques to revise vocabulary and pronunciation.
Pictures:

[2]
a. Slap the board:
*Teacher’s and students activities
*Content
Teacher shows pictures about some
Warm up:
clothes and shoes on the board and
Slap the boad:
calls 2 students go to stand at the  Picture: short, pants, skirt, long
first table.
sleeved white blouse, short sleeved
9

Teacher reads one word, students pink blouse, blue shoes, red boot,
run to the board and slap the picture brown shoes, short sleeved white
of that words.
blouse. [2]
The winner is the student who
slaps the board first.
Then teacher calls other pair.
They also listen to teacher and slap
the board at the picture of the correct
word.
b. Bingo:
* Teacher’s and students’ activities
- Before playing game, Teacher’s asks
students to give the name of some
clothes and then teacher asks students
to choose 9 words to write into their
boxes.
- Teacher reads the words , students
listen and mark in their box
- When teacher reads 3 words
continuously in one student’s box ,
he/she’ll say “bingo”
Teacher’s should give a present to
the winner

*Content
Warm up :
Bingo:
Words given: shorts, pants, skirt, long

sleeved white blouse, short sleeved
pink blouse, blue shoes, red boot,
brown shoes, jeans, plain suit, striped
shirt, sweater, baggy pants, trousers, Tshirt, short sleeved white blouse. [3]
shorts
jeans
sweater
blue shoes plain suit brown
shoes
T-shirt
pants
skirt

c. Matching:
*Teacher’s and students’ activities *Content
- Teacher shows the pictures about
Warm up
clothes on the board and write
Matching
their names in some cards and put Pictures Clothes
on the table.
1
a. shorts
- Teacher divides the class into 2 2
b. long sleeved white blouse
teams. Teacher reads a word, one 3
c. skirt
student from each team run to the 4
d. pants
table and choose the correct name 5

e. brown shoes.
for each picture.
6
f. short sleeved pink blouse
- They match the names with the 7
g. blue shoes
correct pictures. The winner is the 8
h. red boot
team which matches more words 9
i. short sleeved white blouse
with suitable pictures
1-d; 2-a; 3-c; 4-b; 5-f; 6-i; 7-g; 8-h; 9-e
[4]

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APPLICATION 4: UNIT 8 - LESSON 3: READ
Page 68, 69
a. Networks:
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
*Content
Teacher divides the class into 2
Warm up
teams. Each team go to the board to
Networds:
write the names of celebrations in
Tet
one minute and thirty seconds.
Easter

Teacher’s day
The winner is the team which
Celebratio
writes more celebrations.
Father’s dayns
………
After this activity teacher asks students some questions to lead in the new lesson
- Which celebration do you love best?
- Do you love your father?
- Have you ever expressed your feelings to your father?
Today we’ll read some feelings to father.
b. Kim’s game:
Picture:

[7]
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
Students look at the pictures in
20 seconds and remember them.
- T hides the pictures, students go to
the board to write the celebrations
they saw from the pictures in two
teams.
- The team which remembers and
writes more celebrations will win the
game.

*Content
Warm up
Kim’s game:
Celebrations: Woman’s Day, Tet,

May Day, Mid fall festival,
Christmas, Wedding, Teacher’s Day,
Father’s Day.

11


After this activity teacher asks students some questions to lead in the new
lesson.
- Which celebration do you love best?
- Do you love your father?
- Have you ever expressed your feelings to your father?
Today we’ll read some feelings to father.
c.Jumbled words
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
* Content
Teacher gives some jumbled
Warm up:
words and gives a clue : they are the
Jumbled words:
names of some celebrations (or gives 1. yam yad -> May Day
pictures about celebrations)
2. dim lalf stivefal -> Mid fall
Teacher divides the class into festival
two teams. After repairing in 1 3. stichrams -> Christmas
minutes, teacher calls each team to 4. dewdignd -> Wedding
go to the board to give the correct 5. chertea’s dya -> Teacher’s Day 6.
words .
therfa’s yad -> Father’s Day. [3]
The team which completes the

work more quickly and write more
correct words will win the game.
After this activity teacher asks students some questions to lead in the new
lesson:
- Which celebration do you love best?
- Do you love your father?
- Have you ever expressed your feelings to your father?
=> Today we’ll read some feelings to father
APPLICATION 5:
UNIT 8 – LESSON 4: WRITE
Page- 70 [2]
In the writing lesson, the teacher needs to use the techniques providing students
structures related to the topic.
Pictures:
I love my
parents very
much

[7]
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a. Chain game:
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
Teacher uses a picture of a family
and guides students to express their
feelings to their parents by playing
“chain game”.
- T divides into groups of five. The
students in each group must give a

sentence to express their feeling to
their parents and repeat their friends’
sentences.
- S1 speaks a sentence. S2 repeats S1’s
sentence and speak another sentence.
S3 repeats S1 and S2’s sentences and
speak another sentence…..S5 repeat
four sentences of their fellows and
speak another sentence.
- The group which gives more good
ideas and speaks fluently will have a
gift.
b. Brainstorm:
*Teacher’s and students’ activities
- Teacher divides the class into 2
teams and helps them play
“brainstorm” about what they
should do on the Mother’s Day or
Father’s Day?
- Students from each team go to the
board to write their ideas in one
minutes and thirty seconds.
- The team which gives more good
ideas will win the game.

* content
Warm up :
Chain game:
o Group 1: (5 students)
S1: I love my parents very much.

S2: I love my parents very much and
I will give a gift to my parents.
S3: I love my parents very much, I
will give a gift to my parents and I
will help my parents to do
housework.
S4: I love my parents very much, I
will give a gift to my parents and I
will help my parents to do housework
and I will study well.
S5: …………..[3]

*Content
Warm up:
Brainstorm:
What should you do on the Mother’s
Day or Father’s Day?
- Do the housework
- Give a gift to my father/ mother.
- Go on a picnic with my father/ mother.
- Have a party at home.
- Give some flower to my father/ mother.
- Give a postcard to my father/ mother.
- ……[4]

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APPLICATION 6
UNIT 3: LESSON 5 – LANGUAGE FOCUS Pages- 28/ 29/ 30/ 31

The lesson Language focus has many different activities, therefore, the
teacher need to use many warm up techniques.
a. Guessing picture:
Pictures:

[2]
* Teacher’s and students’ activities
Teacher has students look at the
pictures and tells them to remember
the actions in the pictures.
Ex: P1: A student with his bad exam
P2: A girl is thinking about his
parents.
P3: Three students are in the rain.
P4: …………
Teacher hides the pictures and
asks students to guess one or two
pictures which is chosen by teacher.
Students ask some Yes/ No
questions to get information and then
they tell what the picture is.

*Content
Warm up :
Guessing picture:
Picture 1:
Students:- Are there five people in
the picture?
T: No.
Students: Is there only one person in

the picture?
T: Yes.
Students: Is he thinking about his
exam?
T: Yes.
Students: Oh. I see. Picture is about a
student with his bad exam.

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b.Lucky number:
This technique is often used in answering question activities; however,
teacher can use in many different activities like: describing pictures, complete
sentences..
* Teacher’s and students’ activities
*Content
Warm up :
Students play “Lucky number” in Lucky number : Describe pictures
two teams.
1. Picture 1: A student with his bad
Students from each team choose exam
one number. Teacher gives picture of 2. Picture 2: A girl is thinking about
that number and the student describe his parents.
it.
3. Lucky number
Students have 10 marks for each 4. Picture 3: Three students are in the
suitable description. If they choose rain.
the Lucky Number (LK), they will 5. Picture 4: A boy is thinking about
have 10 marks for their team without flying.

giving the description.
6. Picture 5: Five students are
The team which has more marks will talking about Hue festival.
win the game.
7. Lucky number
8. Picture 6: A boy is thinking about
new bicycle. [3]
EX: Student 1 chooses number 1Teacher gives picture 1 and Students
1 describes it: A student with his bad
exam.
=> Student 1 gets mark 10 for his/her
team
2.3.3. Effectiveness of the study
After a year of applying the theme, the students of Quang Binh secondary school
are more active in the. They are eager to participate in the team games and group
activities. Student can speak English with friends and teacher confidently. The
result show that their English has been improved a lot.
Class

9A
9B

Number
of
students

42
42

Excellent

Good

Average

No of
students

%

No of
students

%

No of
students

%

3
4

7
8

15
13

35

30

22
22

53
53

Below average
and weak
No of
%
students

2
3

5
7

15


3. Conclusions
Warm up is a very important step to make students interested in learning
and ready for the new lesson.
Warm Up gets students to begin thinking and focusing on English. It may
have been a few days, a week, or even longer since they last used English. A
little time here will improve receptivity later.
Warm up activities are a great way to start any English class. It is a winwin for both teachers and students. Teachers can tune themselves in for the

upcoming class and buy themselves some time. Students, especially younger
ones, can have fun, get to know each other, and learn something new at the same
time. Just like athletes need to warm up their muscles before their activities,
students need to “warm up” their brains. The warm up activities should take
about 5 minutes.
These activities can range from controlled to less-controlled and free
expressions. The activities must provide opportunities to work on a particular
skill or to work integrated skill exercises. Application: The application provides
students with hands-on opportunities to use what they have learned. This part of
the lesson can also be considered part of the practice -particularly less controlled
and free practice.

XÁC NHẬN CỦA
HỘI ĐỒNG KHOA HỌC

Quảng Xương, ngày 22 tháng 4 năm 2018
Người viết

Nguyễn Thanh Bình

16


REFERENCE BOOKS
[1] Một số vấn đề về đổi mới phương pháp dạy học ở trường THCS – Bộ
giáo dục và đào tạo (2004) .
[2] Sách giáo khoa – Tiếng Anh 9 – NXB giáo dục.
[3] Sách thiết kế bài giảng –Tiếng Anh 9 – NXB Đại Học Sư Phạm.
[4] Sách giáo viên - tiếng Anh 9 - NXB giáo dục
[5] Chuẩn kiến thức kỹ năng.

[6] Tài liệu bồi dưỡng thường xuyên cho giáo viên THCS – Môn tiếng Anh –
NXB Giáo dục.
[7] Tham khảo một số tài liệu trên mạng internet
- Nguồn:

17