Using information gap activities to oromote meaningful communica tion

THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
THANH
HOAHOA
DEPARTMENT
OF EDUCATION
AND TRAINING
THANH
CITY EDUCATION
AND TRAINING
OFFICE
THANH HOA CITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING OFFICE

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE
EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

USING INFORMATION GAP ACTIVITIES TO
USING
INFORMATION
GAPCOMMUNICATION
ACTIVITIES TO
PROMOTE
MEANINGFUL
PROMOTE MEANINGFUL COMMUNICATION

Writer: Trinh Thi Thu Duyen
Position : Teacher
School : Quang Trung Junior High School
Subject: English

THANH HOA, 2015

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CONTENTS
A. INTRODUCTION
B. MAIN CONTENT
I. What is a gap?
II. Types of gaps
III. Examples of information gaps activities
IV. Benefits of using information gap activities
V. Drawbacks of using information gap activities
VI. Teacher’s roles in information gap activities
VII. Strategies of implementing information gap activities
VIII. Stages of information gap activities
IX. Some applicable information gap activities
X. The implementing of the lesson plan
XI. Effectiveness of the experience initiatives
C. CONCLUSION
D. APPENDIX
E. REFERENCE BOOKS

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A.

INTRODUCTION
One of the challenges many second language teachers face is motivating

their students to speak in the target language. Confident students always

participate and students who are less confident are reluctant to speak. Even
when students speak in the target language, they are usually answering a
question and this approach greatly limits students’ output. Oral presentations
provide opportunities for students to speak in the target language for an
extended period of time and these activities are useful, but they should not be
the only opportunities students have to speak at length. Because students prepare
for these presentations by writing a script and then rehearsing it, they have
difficulty speaking in the target language spontaneously because they are given
little opportunity to do so. When students choose to learn a language, they are
interested in learning to speak that language as fluently as possible. We,
therefore, need to actively engage students in speaking activities that are
enjoyable enough to interest the students. Further more, one of the principal
tenets of the communicative approach to language teaching is that the learners
are involved in actual interaction in the classroom. This interaction must be
meaningful and involve an authentic use of language.
To help students develop their communicative efficiency in speaking, there
are some activities used in the classroom to promote the development of
speaking skills in our learners. However, in this writing I will just try to center
on information gap activities as one of the strategies to enhance meaningful
and communicative speaking. I will discuss some main points related to
information gap activities: the meaning of gap, types of gap, types of
information, examples of information gap activities, benefits as well as the
drawbacks of using information gap activities, the teacher's roles, some
strategies of implementing information gap activities, and the stages of
information gap speaking lessons. And finally I will suggest some useful and
applicable information gap activities that I have adapted from the text books of
Tieng Anh 6, 7 into my classrooms.
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B.
I.

MAIN CONTENT
What is a gap?
In this context, gap may be taken to mean difference. If there are two
students, A and B, and if A has some information which B does not, and possibly
vice-versa, then there is a difference or gap between the two students. A task
which requires B to find out the information that A has (i.e. a task which closes
the gap) will provide a reason for communication.
II. Types of gap
Generally, the activities which depend on bridging a gap could be in the
form of the following:

The opinion gap: Everyone has different opinions, feelings and thoughts
about the world. Finding out about someone’s feelings and opinions helps
close the gap between people. The number of personalized activities in
many textbooks shows the value of this gap.

The experience gap: All students in classes have had different experiences
in their lives, so this type is a good task for communication. Questionnaires
can be exploited the experience gap, particularly those that aim to practice
past form, e.g. a questionnaire to find out what sports they like most.

The knowledge gap: Students know different things about the world. This
gap can be exploited in brainstorms and general knowledge-style quizzes.

The information gap: This is the classic gap exploited by the
communicative approach. It is a situation where one person knows
something, which the other does not. This cultivates curiosity/

inquisitiveness, inventive nature, confidence, problem solving, phrasing
questions, discovering questions, and above all communication. The
information gap is ideally suited to pair and small group work and usually
relies upon pre-prepared information cards.
III. Examples of information gap activities
1. 20 questions:
Students work in pairs or small groups. One student chooses an object or
person and keeps it a secret. The other students must ask yes or no questions to
determine what that object/person is. The maximum number of questions is 20.
2. Guess the card:
Students work in partners. This is similar to 20 questions only the students
already have the object chosen for them. One student holds a card so that their
partner can’t see. The partner must then ask yes or no questions to determine

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what is on the card. Often teachers structure this activity to fit with the theme of
a particular unit.
3. Find your partner:
Whole class participates. Students are each given a card with an image on it;
there are two of each image. Students must circulate and try to find the person
with the same image by asking yes or no questions. The students may not ask “Do
you have an elephant” if their image is, for example, an elephant. They must ask
more descriptive questions, for example “Does your thing have 4 legs?” or “Does
your thing live in the jungle?”
4. Words on back:
Students work in large groups or as a whole class. Each student has a word
attached to his or her back; the students must then circulate asking each other
yes or no questions to determine what word is on their back.

5. Same different:
Students work in pairs. Each has a different picture that should not be
shown to their partner. The students take turns asking each other yes or no
questions to find out how the pictures are different.
6. Fill in the chart:
Students work in partners. The students are both given tables with
information missing. What is missing in one partner’s table is there on the other
partner’s table and vice versa. Students must ask each other questions to
discover what is missing in each of their tables.
7. Jigsaw activities:
A jigsaw activity is a group activity in which each member is dependent on
the others for part of the information. In other words, in order to complete a task,
group members must cooperate.
IV. Benefits of using information gap activities
Information gap activities have increasingly achieved popularity in recent
years and have been recommended as a way forward in English language
teaching. Below are the benefits of using information gap activities in teaching
English language skills.
- Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to
the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk.
- Participation is even. Classroom discussion is not dominated by a
minority of talkative participants: all get a chance to speak, and contributions are
fairly evenly distributed.

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- Motivation is high. Learners are eager to speak: because they are
interested in the topic and have something new to say about it, or because they
want to contribute to achieving a task objective.

- Language is of an acceptable level. Learners express themselves in
utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an
acceptable level of language accuracy.
V. Drawbacks of using information gap activities
One drawback to this type of exercise is that it could train students to
engage in conversations that resemble police interrogations rather than
interactive discussions. It should be understood by teachers and students that
many varieties of information gap activities are actually a type of interactive
drill rather than a model of conversation.
Also, teachers need to be clear to students about the purpose of the activity.
Some students mistakenly believe that the purpose is to completely fill in all of
the blanks on the page. Teachers need to emphasize that the important part is the
process of asking and answering in English. Otherwise, some students will talk
in their native language, peek at each others' papers, just recite the answers, or
any number of other ways to quickly rush to the end.
Despites all of these drawbacks, information gap activities can serve very
useful roles in the foreign language classroom.
VI. Teacher’s roles in information – gap activities
1. Facilitator
First, as facilitator of communication, the teacher may need to perform in a
variety of specific roles. These include the following:
- He may perform the familiar role of language instructor. He is the
material provider and activity initiator. The students may not have the capacity
to begin the communicative information gap activity directly because they may
lack the knowledge in linguistic forms or skills, which compose communicative
ability.
- He is the organizer of the classroom activities. The main aim of the
teacher when organizing an activity is to tell the students what they are to talk
about (or write or read about), give clear instructions about what exactly their
task is, get the activity going, and then organize feedback when it is over. This

sounds remarkably easy, but can be disastrous if teachers have not thought out
exactly what they are going to say beforehand.
In addition to this, the teacher has to break the whole class into pairs or groups,
and decide on procedures of pair, group or class work. When the information
gap is being filled, the teacher has to walk around the classroom and make sure
the communication is going smoothly.
- He may be the error-corrector. At the stage of pre-communicative
activity, the linguistic errors should be strictly monitored and corrected, but at
the group work and class work levels in the process of communicative activity,
errors are viewed as the unavoidable by-products of communication and can be
ignored unless they hinder communication.
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- He may choose to be a by-stander, making no intervention after initiating
the proceedings, and let communication take place through independent activities.
- While such an independent activity is in progress, he may act as
consultant or adviser, walking to and from in the classroom and helping where
necessary or when asked.
2. Participant
There is no reason why the teacher should not participate as an equal in the
activity. He can offer his information, and at the same time stimulate and present
new language, without taking the main initiative for communication away from
the students themselves.
3. Observer and learner
The teacher may also act as an observer and learner. When the independent
activity is in progress he may move about the classroom in order to monitor the
strengths and weaknesses of the students, as a basis for planning future learning
activities. He can use the weaknesses as signs for learning needs which he must
cater for later, probably through more controlled, pre-communicative activities.

VII. Strategies of Implementing Information Gap Activities
Information gap activities should be implemented via some strategies,
which will provoke learning by a large extent to a learner’s own personal
investment of time, effort, and attention to the second language in the form of an
individualized battery of strategies for comprehending and producing the
language. The following are some techniques used to implement information
gap activities:
1. Pair work or group work:
In order to elicit information and opinions, the learners need to interact
among themselves. They should spend most of their time working in pairs or
groups, finding out their peers’ points of view, transmitting their own
conceptions, exchanging ideas, and questing for clues for solutions. Thus,
dividing the learners into pairs and groups is an inevitable and important
strategy to implement information gap activities. This ensures the successful
function of the information gap activities in teaching speaking in which group
work can help achieve the goals of anxiety reduction and meaningful
communication. However, effective group work in the classroom does not occur
automatically and thus the teacher’s careful involvement is required as in the
following steps:
Firstly, the teacher should plan and prepare for the group work activities
ahead of the speaking lesson because the good designs of the activities will
result in “more negotiation of meaning, more feedback and faster acquisition”.
Secondly, the engagement of the teacher in the group work is important.
Thirdly, the teacher should allot roles to each member within group
reasonably. As it is suggested that mixed groups including different proficient
members can work better than “homogeneous groups”. Additionally, the
students should be seated in a way that they can talk together easily, keep eye
contact, share materials and talk in a lower voice.
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In fact, information gap activities assist students to achieve their goals of
meaningful communication. Through pair and group work they can get more
opportunities to speak and feel more confident about speaking after cooperating
to practice.
Furthermore, they get enjoyment from learning language, which motivates
them to reach a higher level. But teachers should take into consideration that
group work in speaking also has its negative effects. For instance, students may
overuse the first language or engage in “off-task talk.”
2. Personalization and Individualization:
As we all know that information gap activities collect views not only from
others but also from one’s own contributions as well. It is both speakers’
conceptions that close the gap between them. Personalization activities provide
the learners opportunities to express their opinions, suggestions, or taste, to
share their real life experiences or ideas, and to apply their issues or concerns to
some controversial topics. And individualization activities allow the learners to
act at their own pace, in their own manner and style, and on the topics or content
of their own choice. Then they will find their own way, taking charge of their
learning, and make their own opportunities for practice in using the language
inside and outside the classroom.
3. Interest:
Interest is particularly important for the implementation of information gap
activities. To stimulate learners’ involvement, interest requires that the activities
be designed with some essential characteristics, such as those in games, roleplaying, curiosity-arousing activities; imagination-involving activities; real-life
touching experiencing activities; visual or auditory attracting activities; in
addition to a clear goal and a meaningful problem-solving process. Making the
information gap activities interesting will ensure a high involvement of learners
and keeps the motivation ongoing.
4. Variety:
A variety of information gap activities and techniques are always essential in

all teaching and learning. They will accommodate varieties of learning styles and
individuals. Constant alteration of activities, techniques and approaches can
provoke greater motivation and interest as well as further increased longing to fill
in the gaps. Variety also means great several contributions from the learners. If the
information gap activities are created with plenty of potentials for learners, the
desire to learn from the learners could be greatly increased.
VIII. Stages of an Information Gap Lesson
The teachers must be careful during preparing for lesson plan, so they have
to choose the most perfect ways to implement their lessons successfully. Below
are some steps that teachers should take into consideration when setting a lesson
plan by using information gap activities,

Objectives
The objectives of each lesson are respectively derived from the integrated
skill texts. The researcher took into consideration the speaking skills intended to
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be developed in this study and student centered activities. Students find and
share information by asking and answering questions in order to complete a task.

Key words
The key words were chosen from the highlighted words in the lesson.

Key structure
The key structure of each lesson is chosen to apply information gap
activities to help in understanding the text. Moreover, its function is related to
the topic and the main theme of the text.

Estimated time

Each lesson takes 45 minutes. The time varies, but usually ranges between
(05) and (10) minutes for each one.

Resources and teaching aids
The student's book & workbook, the worksheets, the evaluation sheets,
video, pictures, maps, newspaper, LCD, lap top and other materials are used as
resources and teaching aids . They are selected appropriately for each lesson.

Warming up
In this activity, two students share information to complete a task. In oneway gap activities, one student has all the information (e.g., one student
describes a picture and the other learner draws it). In two- way gap activities,
both students have some information and must share it with each other to
complete the task. Because this activity usually combines speaking and listening
with reading and writing, all the skills are practiced.

Procedure and techniques
The teacher prepares a master handout based on information, language
structures, and vocabulary the students have been working on. Then, the teacher
deletes pieces of information on two sets of handouts. For example, Handout
“A” will have some information deleted that handout “B” will provide. Handout
“B” will have other pieces of information deleted that handout “A” will provide.
For example, in a work place context the master could be a weekly schedule or
list of work tasks. The teacher can make one side more challenging than the other,
to meet the needs of learners at different levels.
Pre-teach and practice vocabulary and structures for the particular task.
Students should also be familiar with question and answer formulas (e.g., “What
time is ___” and “It’s at ___”), and ways to ask for clarification (e.g., “Excuse me,
can you repeat,” or “I’m sorry, I don’t understand”). These can be introduced in the
first days of classes, and recycled, adapted, and extended over time.
Explain the information-gap procedures by modeling a sample gap activity

with an able volunteer from the class.
Have students work with a partner. One student in each pair gets Handout
“A” and the other gets Handout “B”. Ask two students to model the asking and
answering of questions in the gap activity before the whole class begins the
activity.
Learners ask and answer questions and record answers until both form “A”
and form “B” have been completed.
Ask students to compare their papers with each other.
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To complete the activity with the whole group, teacher can ask volunteers
to come up to the board to fill in information they’ve gathered from their
partners. Or teacher can ask students to report the information they have in their
handout. This helps solidify the knowledge and gives some slower learners or
pairs a chance to catch up and check their work without stress.

Evaluation
Walking around the room observing learners during the activity gives a
chance to know how well individual learners use and understand English in the
activity and download some notes .
IX. Some applicable information gap activities
Below is a list of information gap activities that I have adapted form the
text books of Tieng Anh 6 and 7, the two text books that I have been working
with for these two recent years. They have proved to be very useful in
motivating students to talk and improving their confidence as well as ability to
speak.
TIENG ANH 6 (sach thi diem)
1. Unit 2. My home – Communication – Activity 2.
FIND THE DIFFERENCES

- Activity: Pair work: Speaking
- Aim: To find the differences in the two pictures
- Grammar and functions: There are / is, There isn’t/ aren’t…
- Vocabulary: Types house and room funiture.

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- Preparation: Make one copy of Nick’s house for student A and one
copy of Mi’s house for student B (see appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedures:

This activity is done as a productive activity.

Divide the class into pairs and give each pair a copy of Worksheet A
and worksheet B. Explain that they must not show their picture to
each other.

Tell the students that there are ten differences between the pictures,
which they must find by asking and answering questions.

Ask them to use There is/ are, There isn’t/ aren’t….

When they have found the ten differences they can look at the other
picture, and then write down the differences.

Check the answer with the class.
2. Unit 3. My friends – Looking back (Communication)
WHEN AND WHAT?

- Activity: Pair work: Writing and speaking
- Aim: To ask and answer questions about schedule.
- Grammar and functions: Present continuous for the future /
Prepositions of time
- Vocabulary: Shedule activities
- Preparation: make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the
class
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedures:

Ask students to close their book.

Write a time of day on the board
For example: At 8 – 9.30 tomorrow morning
Ask the students to guess what you are doing at this time.
For example:

Student 1:

What are you doing tomorrow moring?
Are you doing your homework ?
Teacher:
No, I am not.
Student 2:
Are you having a shower?
Teacher:
No, I am not.
Student 3:
Are you playing football ?
Teacher:

Yes, I am.
Now complete the example sentence on the board:
At 8-9.30 tomorrow morning I am playing football.
If necessary, give another example using a different preposition of time.
For example: Between 10 and 11 tomorrow morning, I am going to
the gym.
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

Now ask the students to write similar sentences about their shedule
in their worksheet.
Make sure they write the time under the heading WHEN? and the
activities under the heading WHAT?. They must not let other
students in the class see what they are writing.

When they have finished, ask them to fold their worksheet as indicated.

Now ask the students to work in pairs.

Tell them to hold their worksheet up so that the column marked
WHEN? is facing their partner and the column marked WHAT? Is
hidden from their partner.

Now ask them to take it in turns to read their partner’s schedule and
guess what they do at this time.

When they have finished and if there is still time, ask them to repeat
the activity with a different partner.

- Option: As most of the students have a similar schedule, they may find that
there is no motivation to ask their partner. Instead, I usually ask them to write
about their schedule.
3. Review 1 – Skills- Speaking
LIKES AND DISLIKES
- Activity: Group of 4: Writing and speaking
- Aim: To ask their partners what they like and dislike about their school
and the reason why.
- Grammar and functions: Present simple and questions for liking and
disliking
What does he/she like ?
What does he/she dislike ?
Why does she/ he like?
Why does she/ he like?
- Vocabulary: adjectives, school words.
- Preparation: Make one copy of worksheet for a student in the group
as indicated (see appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedures:

This activity is done after the reading lesson p.37.

Divide the class into groups of four.

Explain that you are going to give them a wooksheet with some
questions.

Give a copy of the worksheet to each student in the group as
indicated. Tell them not to show their worksheet to their partner at
anytime during this activity. They are going to ask for and give

information about what they like and dislike about their school and
the reason why.

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

Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask
for the information they need and to answer their partner’s
questions.

When they have finished, they write their answers in the table and
report them to the class. They should compare their text, which
should be identical.
4. Unit 4 – My neighbourhood – Getting started - activity 5
DRAW AND SAY
- Activity: Group work: Speaking
- Aim: to practice talking about road signs
- Grammar and function: words to give directions.
- Vocabulary: directions (turn left, turn right, go straight ahead, etc)
- Preparation: Prepare a copy of cards with a direction on it, for
example: Go straight. Take the second turning on the left. (see appendix)
- Time: 7 – 8 minutes
- Procedure:

This activity is done as a production activity.

Divide the class into four groups.


Tell the class that they are going to take it in turns to draw some
roads signs and others will have to guess what each road sign says.

Decide which team is going to play first and ask them to choose one
student to draw.

Give the first player a card and explain to the class that, while he /
she is drawing, only the members of his / her team are allowed to
call out guesses. If his / her team do not guess the sign correctly, the
other team are allowed to guess. Teams score two points for each
correct guess.
5. Unit 6 – Our Tet holiday – Skills 1 - Speaking
DISCUSS
- Activity: pair work: writing and speaking
- Aim: To discuss with your friends what they should or shouln’t do at
Tet.
- Grammar and function: modal verbs.
- Vocabulary: Tet things and activities.
- Preparation: Make one copy of worksheet A and one copy of
worksheet B for each pair of students in the class. (see appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedure:

This activity is done after the teacher has presented the students
with the 2 questions for timetable.
What should you do at Tet ?
What shoudn’t you do at Tet ?
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


Now ask the students to work in pairs of Student A and Student B.
Explain that you are going to give them a discussion about what they
should/ shouldn’t do at Tet.

Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask
for the information they need and to answer their partner’s
questions.
For example:
Student A: We should make a wish.
Student B: I agree. But we shouldn’t get up early.
Student C: No, we shouldn’t. We should invite friends
home, shouldn’t we ?
Students D: Yes, I think we should.

When they have finished, they should compare their text, which
should be identical and write on their notebooks..
6.

Unit 10. My future house – Skills 1 - Speaking
WHICH HOUSE IS IT?
- Activity: individual and class work: writing and speaking
- Aim: to describe pictures of your future houses.
- Grammar and functions: Preposition of place
- Vocabulary: things around the house.
- Preparation: Pictures of houses which have something in similar and a
description of a picture (see appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes

- Procedure:

This activity is done as a production activity of the lesson.

The teacher asks the students to draw their future houses.

The teacher sticks the pictures of houses around the houses.

Then ask the students to go around the class and have a look at the
pictures.
Then the teacher ask the students to reads a description of one
picture. The students listen and decide which picture it is about.
For example: This is a my future house. My house will be on the
moon. In front of the house, there will be a big yard. Behind the
house, there will be many tall trees. Behind the tall trees, there will
be mountains. To the left o the house there is a well. To the right of
the house, there are flowers.

Now the teacher asks the student to write a description of any
picture. Make sure they do not write things that are too easy or too
clear to see.

After the students has finished, call some students to the board and
read their description. Other students listen and guess the picture.

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7.

Unit 8 – Sports and games - Communication
MIMING
- Activity: Whole class: speaking
- Aim: to mime an activity for the rest of the class to guess.
- Grammar and function: Present simple tense.
- Vocabulary: sport activities
- Preparation: Prepare a copy of cards with activity in each. (see
appendix)
- Time: 7 – 8 minutes
- Procedure:

This activity can be done as a time-filler or a warmer for the next
lesson.

Ask the students to watch you and guess what you are doing. Mime
something simple like playing football. While you are miming,
encourage the students to call out guesses as soon as they have an
idea.

After that, ask students to answer some questions about the sport
you have mimed.
For example:
How many players are there in a football match ?
How long does a football match last ?

Tell the students that they are going to take it in turns to mime an
activity for the other students to guess. Before they begin, divide
them into teams of eight or six.

Decide which team is going to play first and ask them to choose a

student to do the first mime.

Give the first player a mime card and explain to the class that while
he / she is miming an activity, only the members of his/her team are
allowed to call out guesses. If his / her team do not guess the
activity correctly, the other teams are then allowed to guess. Teams
score two points for a correct guess.

Continue until all the mime cards have been used. The teams with
the highest score are the winners.
8.
Unit 8 – Sports and games – Skills 1 - Speaking
LIKES AND DISLIKES
- Activity: Pair work and class work: Speaking
- Aim: to ask and answer about each other’s favorite sport (can be
applied with any other thing)
- Grammar and function: present simple / Do you like……….?
- Vocabulary: sports
- Preparation: none
- Time: 7 – 8 minutes
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- Procedure:

This activity is done as a production activity.

Tell students that you are going to read names of five kinds of
sports. Ask students to write these words into 2 columns marked
LIKES and DISLIKES.


After you are finished, have students ask you Yes / No question to
check if they are right or wrong.
For example:

Student 1: Do you like football?
Teacher: Yes, I do.
Student 2: Do you play it well?
Teacher: No, I don’t.
Student 3: Do you belong to any club?
Teacher: Yes, I do.

Ask students to write their own list of favorite sports. And then ask
them to work in pair and repeat the activity.
TIENG ANH 7
1. Unit 1. Skills 1- Speaking
LOOKING FOR MR. X
- Activity: group work: Writing and speaking
- Aim: to ask for and give information about hobby.
- Grammar and function:
What is the name of your hobby?
When did you start your hobby?
Is your hobby easy or difficult ? Why?
Is your hobby useful?Why/ Why not?
Do you intend to continue your hobby?
- Vocabulary: hobby, action verbs
- Preparation: Make a copy of a worksheet for each student in the
group as indicated. (see appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedure:


This activity is done as a production activity.

Ask students to work in groups of six.

Explain that you are going to give them a personal card of Mr. X.
Point out that there is some missing information in the card.

Give a copy of the worksheet to each student in the group as
indicated. Tell them not to show their worksheet to their partner at
anytime during this activity. Explain that they have the information
that is missing in their partner’s worksheet. They are going to ask
for and give information about Mr. X and write in the missing
information.
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

Ask students to work with their partner and to take it in turns to ask
for the information they need and to answer their partner’s
questions.
2. Unit 5. Vietnamese food and drink – Communication
INTERVIEW
- Activity: group work: writing and speaking
- Aim: to find out the top ten most popular free time activities among
students in the class.
- Grammar and function: What is your favourite food/ drink?
- Vocabulary: Free time activities
- Preparation: Make a copy of a worksheet for each student. (see

appendix)
- Time: 10 minutes
- Procedure:

This activity is done as a productive activity, after the students have
read the survey result for understanding.

Ask students to work in groups of six or eight, depending on the
size of the class.

Tell the student that they are going to conduct a survey similar to
the one they have read to find out the answer of their favourite food
or drink.

Give each student in the group one sheet of survey and ask them to
stand up and go round the group to ask and answer.

When they have finished, they should compare their survey result,
which should be identical. Then call one student from each group to
report the survey. Other students listen to find out the similarities
and the differences.
3. Unit 4. Music and arts – A closer look 2
MINGLE BINGO
- Activity: class work: speaking
- Aim: to practice the use of TOO, EITHER
- Grammar and function: too, either.
- Vocabulary: any
- Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the
class. (see appendix)
- Time: 5 - 7 minutes

- Procedure:

Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class.

Tell the student to answer the question in the worksheet about
themselves. And then go round the class asking one another to find
out the ones with similar answers. When they have found the

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similar answers in the three squares in one line (vertical / horizontal
/ diagonal), they should shout out BINGO.

The first five or ten students will go to the front. Then tell them to
report what they have found out.
For example: I like pop music and Mai does, too.
I didn’t go out last night and Hanh didn’t, either.
TIENG ANH 8
1.Unit 2. Life in the countryside – A closer look 2 – Activity 2.
I DO IT MY WAY
- Activity: class work: writing and speaking
- Aim: to talk about life in the countryside.
- Grammar and function: adverbs
- Vocabulary: life in the countryside.
- Preparation: Make one copy of the worksheet for each student in the
class. (see appendix)
- Time: 5 minutes
- Procedure:


This activity is done as a productive activity of the lesson.

Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class.

Ask them to choose ten incomplete sentences from their worksheet
and to complete them in any way true for themselves by adding an
appropriate adverb.
For example: I sing badly / I read novels slowly.
They must use a different adverb for each activity. They should not
let the other students see what they are writing.

When they have finished, tell the students that you are going to tell
them how to do something and they must guess which of the
activities on their worksheet you are referring to.
For example: It’s something I do well. (speak English)
It’s something I do loudly. (laugh)

Now ask the students to work in pairs and tell them that they are
going to take it in turns to tell their partner how they do an activity
and to guess what their partner’s activities are.

Students can have five tries at guessing each activity. They can
score five points for guessing the first time, 4 points for guessing
the second time, 3 points for the third time, etc. if a student hasn’t
guessed after five tries, their partner score 5 points.

The student with the highest scores is the winner.
X. The implementation of the lesson plan
UNIT 2. LIFE IN THE COUNTRYSIDE
Lesson 3. A closer look 2

Teacher: Trinh Thi Thu Duyen – Class: 8A6
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I. Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to form an
adverb from an adjective and know how to use an adverb as well as
comparative forms of adverbs.
II. Language focus:
1. Vocabulary: Adverbs: well, traditionally, soundly, generously, slowly,
healthily…
2. Grammar: adjectives and adverbs
3. Teaching aids: textbook, pictures, handout
III. Anticipated problems:
- There may be some new words.
- Students may get confused with some adjectives ending in “ly”
IV. Teaching procedures:
Teacher’s activities
1. Warm-up: (5 minutes)
MIMING GAME
- Class work: Call students to pick up a card and do the
action written in the card. The others guess what that
student is doing.
(skateboarding, playing volleyball, swimming, playing
tennis, running, cycling, singing, reading, cooking,
typing)
2. Presentation: (15 minutes)
- Grouping: Call 1 St to put the words into 2 groups and
then name the groups.
adjectives
adverbs

healthy
healthily
careful
carefully
dangerous
dangerously
slow
slowly
generous
generuosly
- Introduction: In this lesson, we are going to learn how
to form an adverb form an adjective and how they are
used.
- Presentation: How to form adverbs.
Elicit from Ss how to form an adverbs from an adjective
T gives more examples and introduces more words.
Good – well
Skillful – Skillfully
Safe – safely….
- Check vocabulary: T reads an adjective, Ss read the
correspondent adverb.
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Students’ activities
- Students get a card and do
the action. Other students
guess the action.

- 1 St goes to the board and
put the words into 2 groups

- Listen to the teacher.
- Answer the teacher’s
question.
We form an adverb by
adding LY to the adjective
- Listen to the teacher and
take note


T reads: skillful, bad, quick, careful, safe, good, easy,
slow, dangerous
- Presentation text:
Show Ss the picture of a boy playing soccer and ask
“What is he doing? How is he doing it?” And then ask
Ss to choose a suitable word to complete the sentences.
- Model sentences:
 He is a good soccer player.
adj noun


- Give the corresponding
adverbs: skillfully, badly,
quickly, carefully, safely,
well, easily, slowly, …..
- Listen to the teacher and
answer the question

He plays soccer well.
verb

adv

- Listen to the teacher and
- Concept check: ask the Ss “How do we use an take note
adjective and an adverb?”
- Answer T’ question:
We use an adj to modify a
noun. It stands before a
noun and after and some
linking
verbs.
(feel,
sound…)
We use an adverb to modify
a verb, an adj and another
adverb.
- Explain comparative forms of adverbs
Adjectives and adverbs do
+ more/ less + adv + than
not change their form like
+ adverb + er + than
verbs or nouns.
3. Practice: (10 minutes)
Task 1: (6 minutes) : Complete the passage below with
suitable comparative form of adj
Have Ss do the exercise in the text book.
Ask Ss some questions to check their understanding of
the text.
Among the above instructions, what do you think
- Do the exercise in the text

is / are the most useful?
book
Task 2: ( 4 minutes) Multiple choice exercise
Have Ss work in pairs and choose the correct word to Answer: higher /easier /
complete the sentences. (traditionally, soundly, more convenient / happier /
more
friendly/
fast/
generously, slowly, healthily)
1. Can you speak………………? My English is safer/best
not good.
2. After a hard working day, we usually
20


sleep…………
3. Nowadays, people dress……… so it is difficult
to say which country they are from.
4. It is not always true that rich people
donate……..than poor people.
5. If you want to stay slim, you have to
eat………..
4. Production: (10minutes)
Task 1: I do it my way.
Give one copy of the worksheet to each student in the class.
Ask them to choose ten incomplete sentences from their
worksheet and to complete them in any way true for
themselves by adding an appropriate adverb.
For example:
I sing badly / I read novels slowly.

They must use a different adverb for each activity. They
should not let the other students see what they are
writing.
When they have finished, tell the students that you are
going to tell them how to do something and they must
guess which of the activities on their worksheet you are
referring to.
For example:
It’s something I do well. (speak English)
It’s something I do better. (play football)
Now ask the students to work in pairs and tell them that
they are going to take it in turns to tell their partner how
they do an activity and to guess what their partner’s
activities are.
5. Consolidation:
- Ask Ss about what they have learned in the lesson.
6. Homework:
- ex 4,5
XI. Effectiveness of the experience initiatives
The result after applying the research in teaching:
Students
100%

Excellent-good
35%

Average
50%

C.

- Answer the T’s question

- Work in pair and do the
exercise
Answer:
1. more slowly
2. more soundly
3. less trditionally
4.more quickly
5. more healthily

- Complete the sentences

- Listen to the T and guess
his / her activity
- Work in pairs and repeat
the activity
- Listen and answer T’s
question

Weak (bad)
10%

CONCLUSION
Many students equate being able to speak a language as knowing the
language and therefore view learning the language as learning how to speak
the language. Therefore, if students do not learn how to speak or do not get
21

any opportunity to speak in the language classroom they may soon get demotivated and lose interest in learning. On the other hand, if the right
activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun,
raising general learner motivation and making the English language
classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
By keeping the notion of a gap between students in mind, it is easy to
come up with speaking activities that promote meaningful communication.
These activities often require very little preparation but can increase the total
amount of student talking time in any lesson. In my own teaching, I find the
gap to be a prompt or spur to thinking up productive speaking practice.
Thanh Hóa, ngày 10 tháng 9 năm 2015
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