Measures to improve the quality of english speaking skill for 5th graders of thanh truc primary school

THACH THANH DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

THANH TRUC PRIMARY SCHOOL

INITIATIVE EXPERIENCE

MEASURES TO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH
SPEAKING SKILL FOR 5TH GRADERS OF THANH TRUC
PRIMARY SCHOOL

Performed by: Do Thi Ha
Job title: Teacher
Unit of work: Thanh Truc Primary School
Initiatives in the field of(subject): English

THANH HOA,2021


TABLE OF CONTENT
Numbe
r

Content

Page

1

1. Introduction

2

2

1.1. Reasons for choosing topic.

2

3

1.2. Research purposes.

3

4

1.3. Research subjects.

3

5

1.4. Research Methods.

3

6

2. The content of the experience initiative

3

7

3

9

2.1. Theoretical foundations of the experience
initiative.
2.2. Current state of the problem before applying the
initiative.
2.3. The solutions used to solve the problem.

10

2.4. The effectiveness of experience initiatives.

16

11

3. Conclusion.

16

12

3.1. Conclusions.

16

13

3.2. Recommendations, suggestions.

18

8

4
6

1. INTRODUCTION.
1


1.1. Reasons for choosing topic.
Along with other subjects in Primary school, nowadays, English is a
compulsory subject, considered as an important subject in Primary school and is
very interested by school staff, students, and parents. . English in Primary is the
beginning to build a knowledge base, contributing to the formation of basic
communication skills for students: listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Helping them to have more knowledge to study at higher levels.
Among the above skills, speaking is one of the important skills in learning
English as well as any foreign language. If learners are proficient in using this
skill, it will make them very excited and confident in their immediate and future
learning. Help them overcome the barriers of psychological inhibition when
communicating with friends, teachers, strangers or foreigners and, especially, be
confident when speaking in public whether it is speaking a foreign language or a
mother tongue. to lay. In addition, speaking skills also help students apply the

knowledge they have learned about phonetics, vocabulary, grammar ... into
communication reality.
Thanh Truc Primary School is a school located in the mountainous
countryside, and the exchange learning conditions of students are still limited.
Students, after many years studying English at school, many of them cannot
speak a few sentences in English, especially applying English in real life
communication. They are afraid to speak English, or when they encounter
specific situations, they lack confidence and cannot communicate even though
they still understand the lesson, understand the structure of the sentence, can
read, write ... I directly taught English classes at Thanh Truc Primary School,
through the fact that many years of teaching, I see students still weak in all four
skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. Especially, their speaking skills
are very limited, their pronunciation is not correct, they are shy, reserved, they
are afraid that they laugh when they say it wrong. Before that fact, I can not help
wondering how to learn English well for students? How to practice English
speaking skills for students to be more accurate and confident? ...Because of this

2


thought, I have studied deeply "Measures to improve the quality of English
speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School"
1.2. Research purposes.
- For students: Creating opportunities and an English-speaking
environment for students through classes and English-speaking Club activities,
removing the status of students learning English. but cannot speak in English,
helping students to apply English to communication in life.
- For colleagues: I am writing this topic with the aim to exchange
experiences with colleagues on how to improve English speaking hours
effectively.

1.3. Research subjects.
- Textbooks for grade 5 of the new program of the Ministry of Education
and Training.
- Students of grade 5 at Thanh Truc Primary School.
1.4. Research Methods.
In this topic I have applied research methods:
a. Theoretical research method.
- Analyze textbook content of knowledge part of each lesson.
- Research references related to that knowledge.
b. Methods of actual investigation.
- Investigate the practice of speaking English in student's lessons.
- Organize to collect teachers' opinions in professional groups and adjusts
learning activities to put into practice teaching.
c. Statistical method, data processing.
- Statistics survey data for grade 5 students, Thanh Truc Primary School.
2. CONTENT OF THE EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE.
2.1. Theoretical foundations of the experience initiative.
Among four skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing, speaking is
one of the extremely important skills in learning English, helping students apply
the knowledge they have learned about phonetics, vocabulary, and grammar. ….

3


into real communication. This skill training should be closely coordinated with
other skills, carried out step by step, regularly so that students can apply it to
specific communication situations. In this way, the teacher plays a very
important role in guiding and organizing so that students have the opportunity to
practice and practice speaking English with their teachers and friends in specific
communication situations in a flexible, self-contained manner. Believe and be

effective. Practice of speaking skills must be carried out regularly during
lessons, but the most focus is in the sections “look, listen and repeat, point and
say, let’s talk “.
2.2. Current state of the problem before applying the initiative.
a. Advantages:
- New textbook program:
+ Built around topics that are close to, close to students' goals, needs,
interests and lives.
+ Language materials are introduced and practiced through lively
situations and exercises that promote students' activeness and creativity in
learning to help them develop their communication skills. while grasping the
system of grammatical structures, creating a premise for the development of
language skills in the future.
- Teachers: Actively self-study and self-foster to improve professional
qualifications. Actively innovate teaching methods to improve the effectiveness
of teaching hours and promote students' activeness. Strengthening the
organization for students to work in pairs with groups to train the team spirit and
support each other in learning.
- Students: Most of them are obedient and like to learn English.
b. Disadvantages:
- Textbook program: Speak and Listen lessons are combined into one
period, so it takes time to practice speaking less.
- Teachers:

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+ The English language has not been used in a balanced and reasonable
manner in teaching period, so it does not create the habit of listening, speaking
and behaving in English for students.

+ The instruction for students to use English in daily communication is
limited.
-Students:
+ The number of students in the class is large, so it is difficult to organize
and control students to practice speaking.
+ The English speaking skill is still limited, the more afraid they are when
speaking English.
+ In speaking lessons, students usually just stop at the level of saying one
a few sentences of dialogue according to the form that have not met the
requirements in the meaning of communication.
+ Most of students in Thanh Truc's pronunciation is still heavy in the local
language, so when reading English is not standard, they tend to pronounce
English in Vietnameseized way.
+ Students lack communication environment, teachers and students are all
Vietnamese, do not have the opportunity to interact with foreigners, so they limit
the development of students' ability to communicate in English.
From the above situation, I have given the survey to grade 5 students on
September 10th, 2019.
The content of the survey is as follows:
Introduce yourself. (answer the questions)
What’s your name?
How old are you?
What class are you in?
Where are you from?
What’s your hobby? (what do you like doing?)
Survey results are as follows:

5

Grade

Total
number
of
students

5

103

Good

Medium

Weak

No.

%

No.

%

No.

%

20

19,4

69

67,0

14

13,6

From the above survey results, I see that the number of students who
speak fluently and successfully complete the lesson accounts for a small number
of only 20 students, equivalent to 19.4%, most of them students with foreign
language skills. The number of students completing the lesson are those who
have a good grasp of vocabulary knowledge and sentence patterns, but their
ability to pronounce and speak English is not fast, accounting for 67.0%. In
particular, the number of students who have not finished their speech is
relatively high, 14 students, accounting for 13.6%. In this group, they cannot do
it because they cannot remember words, sentence patterns, and pronunciation
incorrectly, all are shy students. afraid to communicate, in English.
2.3. The solutions used to solve the problem.
As a longtime English teacher, I always define how I have to make
students develop positively, proactively and creatively to help them speak
English naturally. From there, improve learning efficiency and develop better
speaking skills. I am always dedicated to exploring and creating in lessons but
first of all, I have to understand the goals of each lesson. Communicating
enough, yes, but I have always determined that the ultimate goal of teaching
English is to help students communicate well. With new methods learned, with
my own creativity, I have experimented to find ways to guide students to learn

more effectively in speaking lessons, creating favorable opportunities for
students to learn. Practice speaking English as much as possible.
I determined that in order for them to communicate in English well and
confidently speak English, first of all they must have vocabulary, master
sentence patterns, practice and practice speaking regularly between teachers and
students. , Students to teachers, students and students, gradually develop new

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skills. So the first thing I do is find ways to improve the quality of speaking
practice. Here is what I took.
2.3.1. Create a communication environment in English for students.
- Practice quick reflexes in English for students
For the grade 5 students, although they already have a certain vocabulary,
their ability to respond to English is still slow. In teaching practice, most
students only read the contents of the science textbook first and forget later. That
is why their English does not develop. When saying a different content from the
textbook, they are not confident enough, still afraid of the wrong. Therefore, in
teaching, it is necessary to give students a quick response by:
+ In class, teachers always use English commands in class: stand up, sit
down, come here, open your book, close your book, ….
+ After students have learned new sentence patterns, teachers should use
them regularly in the classroom, creating conditions for good English reflexes.
For example:How are you?
What’s the weather like today?
What day is it today?
What’s the matter with you?
+ Replace the unknown word with another known phrase, not afraid to be
shy when saying the wrong words.

For example: They can speak “There are four people in my family”
Instead of saying, “My family have four people”
.I go to school on foot every day -> I walk to school every day.
Regular use of English in class has created a positive effect at my school:
when children meet teachers and friends, they often greet and chat with simple
sentences in English.
- Organize learning activities in pairs, groups.
There are many forms of learning organization, but group teaching creates
conditions for children to exchange and learn from each other during practice, it
is an opportunity to share information and learn what they have not. clearlymake

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students remember quickly and pronounce correctly. This is the most effective
and ideal activity in speaking practice. At the same time, this activity also helps
the teacher easily control the students, listen and intervene when necessary.
Example: Unit 3: Where did you go on holiday?Students can practice in pairs.
A: Where did you go on your summer holiday?
B: I went to Halong bay?
A: How did you get there?
B: I went there by coach
Unit 7: How do you learn English? Students can practice in groups of 4.
A: How do you learn English?
B: I learn to speak English by talking with my foreign friends.
C: I usually practice listening by watching cartoons on TV.
D: I learn to write by writing emails to my friends.
* Note: The problem posed by teachers for groups must have similar
content and knowledge.

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Some pictures of students' activities in pairs and groups of English
lessons.
- Organizing English club exchanges.
English club creates a lively, attractive playground for students to have
many opportunities to exchange, learn, communicate, and show their foreign
language skills. From there, create motivation to arouse passion for children,
promote confidence when communicating in English.

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Some pictures of activities to join the English club.
- Organized "English speaking couples"; "English speaking group".
In addition to their classroom work, they also need a lot of speaking
practice at home. Through studying the student's residential area, they live a lot
closer to each other's home. So I organized the "English speaking couple" for the
children; "English speaking group" at home. After each class in class, I assign
specific homework to couples, groups of friends on topics or conversation
patterns. Students go home to find ideas to talk to each other by themselves. The
purpose is to consolidate the learned vocabulary and sentence patterns, helping
children to speak English in the direction of "natural English speaking".
After completing Unit 8: What are you reading?
I will assign couples and friends the task of telling about the story they are
reading with the following suggested questions:
What are you reading now?
What is the book about?
Who is the main character?

What is he / she like?
- Before each lesson, the teacher will give you couples or groups of
friends to present to the class. Teachers will have timely rewards to motivate
them.
Creating an English speaking environment inside and outside the school
has helped my students to be more confident and more confident in
communicating in English, helping them to love the subject more and more.
2.3.2. Practice pronunciation, stress, intonation, and expression skills
when speaking to students.
a. Pronunciation: is the basic and most important foundation when
practicing speaking English. This is the golden stage of correcting your child's
pronunciation errors. So teachers have to practice for students to pronounce
correctly, pronounce with the last sound, read joint…. This will help children

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avoid common pronunciation mistakes and correct pronunciation from an early
age.
- Practice the habit of reading matching:
For example:
Is‿it beautiful?
What’s ‿he like?
There ‿is a boy.
What was ‿it like?
I watch cartoons ‿on TV.
- Pay attention to practice for the children to pronounce the final
consonants of each word:
For example:Road, Street, Think, Sport
These last sounds, when read out, will determine how the word is and

what it means.
For example:nice- nine- night
white- wine- wife
- Practice for students to pronounce "s, es"
+ Read as / s / when the word has an ending with unvoiced consonants
such as: / p /, / k /, / t /, / f /, / θ /…: streets, peacocks, units…
+ Read as / iz / when word has an end of letters sh, ch, s, x, z, ce, ge… ..:
classes, watches, boxes, races, nurses, changes…
+ Read as / z / when the word has the end of the vowel or the remaining
consonant sound: pythons, things, tigers ...
- Also, some sounds are difficult to pronounce even for small native
students.
+ The / r / sound is difficult for students to notice that the teacher's lips
come out and then open their mouth wide: r r r
+ Sound / th / shows them to put their tongue between their teeth. Pay
attention to lightly bite the tip of your tongue when you pronounce this
pronunciation.

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For example: This, these, they, mother, father…
+ Sound / l / put the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth: ball, doll ...
- How to correct incorrect pronunciation for students.
Correct pronunciation and grammatical errors for students while speaking
is an important thing. However, how to correct mistakes for students and when
appropriate is a delicate and pedagogical job.
- When students are pronouncing a sentence correctly, this is the right
time for teachers to correct mistakes when they are wrong.
- For the case when students are concentrating on thinking and finding

ideas to say something, the teacher should not interrupt to fix the error because
of this will lose their confidence, hyperactivity, and like to participate in
communication activities. At this point it is necessary for students to finish
speaking before editing and asking students to repeat them.
- Teachers help students to have positive attitudes towards their own
language errors. Accepting mistakes is an essential part of the foreign language
learning process, helping children learn from their own mistakes and from their
friends' mistakes.
b. Pay attention to stress, intonation, and expression when speaking.
In addition to pronunciation, stress, intonation (intonation) are important
factors while speaking English. It helps listeners easily understand the content of
the conversation.
+ Word stress
For example: 'party,' Sunday, en'joy and in'vite… ...
+ Sentence stress
Usually, the main accent mark is placed on words that have the meaning
of important content in the sentence.
Example: ‘When will‘ Sports ‘Day‘ be?
It’ll be on ‘Saturday.
Intonation is also an important part of speaking English. Most Vietnamese
people make mistakes when speaking English without intonation. Therefore,

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when practicing speaking English for primary school students, teachers need to
pay attention to train their intonation, instruct students to go up and down,
emphasize, and break between sentences.
+ Intonation and intonation often raise voices at the end of Yes- No
questions, and lower tones in Wh- questions.

Example: Did you see any monkeys?
What did you see at the zoo?
+ Rest between sentences.
Example: When I was there, the pythons moved slowly.
I need milk, apples, eggs and suger.
- In teaching English as well as Vietnamese, speaking to attract listeners in
addition to speaking correctly, standard pronunciation needs to show attitudes,
gestures, banners when speaking.
Need to show the intonation, enough volume (intensity, pitch ...) the voice
attracts attention, causes feelings for the opposite person when speaking. Getting
rid of your usual bad habits while saying (uh ... ah ...)
For example: Listen! The car is coming.
Be quiet! The baby is sleeping.
Need to control vision at the person you are talking to, you need to make
eye contact flexible, focused…, avoid looking absent-minded and vague while
speaking. Pay attention to gesture factors, body language (body language). Keep
a polite way of communicating.
Teachers need to remind students to practice the above requirements every
day. It should be noted that providing students with language is not as difficult
as using language use that language in communication. Therefore, teachers need
to create conditions for students to practice speaking regularly, help them
confidently and boldly give their opinions and also help students detect
limitations and correct mistakes.
2.3.3. The teacher must master the process of the speaking class

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In order to successfully teach speaking lessons to students, teachers must
be completely prepared and adhere to the following steps:

- Prepare to speak (pre- speaking).
+ Introduce sample talk.
+ Practice reading for students (pay attention to the pronunciation)
+ Teacher uses open-ended questions so that students can draw out word
usage and sentence structure.
In this step, teachers are required to have active investment in the content
of the topic, even the teachers themselves must speak correctly and accurately to
be able to model for students. It is necessary to prepare well a system of
suggestive questions, plan out situations that arise for the correct timely and
scientific resolution. If the teacher does this well, the talk will be successful.
- Controlled practice.
+ Students rely on suggested situations (through pictures, words, given
sentence structures, sample dialogues) to practice speaking as required.
+ Students practice speaking individually, in pairs, and in groups under
the teacher's control.
+ Call individuals, pairs or groups to present their talks as required.
This step requires teachers in the class to have good pedagogical skills, a
reasonable and flexible teaching organization, good control of the student's
speech content, creating conditions for students to talk a lot in front of the class.
- Free practical production.
+ Students use words and sentence patterns to talk about objects around
them.
+ Teachers should not be limited in ideas as well as language, so students
should speak for themselves and promote students' creativity.
This is a good job that develops the language ability and creativity of the
children, so when organizing, the teacher needs to skillfully encourage the
students to have the opportunity to show their abilities, avoid the group
situation. Monotonous mechanical operation makes students boring.

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Example: Unit 8: What are you reading? - lesson 2 (1, 2, 3)
- Pre- speaking (look, listen and repeat)
+ Have students exploit pictures to guess the content of the conversation.
+ Practice reading for students by having them listen to tapes and repeat.
+ Ask students to answer the question:
What is Quan reading? - Aladdin and the Magic Lamp.
Who's the main character? - A boy ... Aladdin.
What's he like? - He is generous.
From there, students draw how to use adjectives describing human
personality: hard- working, kind, clever, gentle; and sample sentences: What's
…… like? He's / She's …………
- Controlled practice (point and say).
Ask students, in pairs, to practice speaking according to the suggested
pictures, using the sentence model: What's …… like?
He's / She's …………
Call the groups to present to the class.
A: What's An Tiem like?
B: He is hard-working.
- Free practical production (Let's talk).
In this part, students are allowed to speak by themselves and develop their
creativity.
Ask and answer questions about your favorite book / story.
Do you like fairy tales / comic books / short story? - Yes, …… / No, ……
What book / story are you reading? - I'm reading …… ..
What's the main character like? - He's / She's …….
Do you like him / her? - Yes,… ../ No, …….
Mastering the process of a speaking lesson will help teachers proactively
apply many methods and forms of organization in teaching to ensure that

students master knowledge through each lesson.

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2.4. The effectiveness of experience initiatives.
Through the use of measures to improve the quality of English speaking
skills for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School, up to now, it has created an
English speaking environment inside and outside the classroom, and the ability
to speak English. they have made remarkable progress. Number of students who
like to speak English and like to learn English more. Children often use English
as verbal words when meeting each other or meeting English teachers such as
greeting, asking permission, suggesting, inviting ... So with the practice of
regular speaking skills and intoxication. Their love of learning, along with their
enthusiasm and dedication to their expertise, caring to guide students, organizing
students to do well in learning, encouraging students in time, at the right time, at
the right place, the number of students good English subject has increased
significantly. Since they hardly know how to express their ideas in English,
many children are now able to converse with each other according to the topics
they have learned, in addition, more gifted children can communicate in English.
specific daily situations. To measure the progress of students, I regularly test
their speaking skills in specific situations at the beginning of each class and in
each class. Here are the numbers I obtained at the end of June 2020.
Grade

Total
number
of
students

5

103

Good

Medium

Weak

No.

%

No.

%

No.

%

37

35.9

66

64.1

0

0

The number of students who did well in grade 5 has increased from 20 to
37, from 19.4% to 35.9%. Number of completed students from 69 students to 66
students, decreased from 67% to 64.1%. In particular, the number of incomplete
students decreased significantly from 14 children, accounting for 13.6% to the
time of the survey, they were able to speak. The students' pronunciation has been
improved markedly, they are more confident in communicating in English.
3. CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATION
3.1. Conclude:

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Helping students to develop their communication skills is a process of
training, step by step from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, forming a
daily habit of using English that requires active participation. from two sides:
teacher and student.
Through the teaching and experiment process, I draw some lessons as
follows:
3.1.1. On the teacher's side:
- The teacher must be a good example in using English appropriately,
speaking correctly and speaking correctly.
- Regularly test English speaking skills according to topics and topics that
are close to students because students often have psychology only to learn what
the teacher or test.
- Using balanced English in the classroom, not overdoing Vietnamese in
English classrooms, trying to create an atmosphere of an "English Classroom".

- Actively invest time and effort in creating an English speaking
environment for students, creating opportunities for students to speak English,
and express their ability to communicate in English in all situations.
- Regularly care, motivate and encourage the spirit of students' passion for
learning. Encourage them to speak in English as much as possible, but at the
right time and at the right place.
- Closeness, intimacy and psychology with students, arousing their
passion for English subjects so that they can build a solid foundation for their
vocabulary, language knowledge and skills to develop communication skills.
- Appreciate and properly appreciate the students' ability to expand and
create creativity while speaking, do not force them to say like each sentence,
word by word.
sample.
3.1.2. On the student side:
- Must work hard to learn vocabulary, form sentences, actively participate
in learning activities during school hours.

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- Proactively prepare lessons, study at home, practice speaking with
friends or can speak alone in front of a mirror. course of study.
-

When speaking, it is necessary to speak clearly, to pronounce correctly,

without fear of mistakes.
3.2. Request.
All theoretical research has practical meaning only when applied in
practice. Therefore, in order for this topic to be more feasible, I would like to

propose to the management levels some issues as follows:
- Department of Education and Education Department regularly open
training seminars to create conditions for teachers to exchange experiences and
learn from each other.
- Schools and parents create favorable conditions for the time and money
to encourage teachers and students to participate in club activities as well as
extra-curricular English playgrounds.
The experience initiative "Measures to improve the quality of English
speaking skill for 5th graders of Thanh Truc Primary School" is a relatively open
topic, and there are many issues that need to be added. I hope to receive more
comments from colleagues to enrich the topic.
Thank you very much!
CONFIRM OF UNIT LEADER Thach Thanh, April 12th 2021
I guarantee that the experience initiative is
written by myself without copying.

Do Thi Ha

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