Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at

Sở Giáo Dục và Đào Tạo Nghệ an
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Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm
Đề tài:
“Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at
Quy Chau Upper Secondary School”

Giáo viên: Phạm Cảnh Thao
Năm học: 2020- 2021

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Table of contents
Part A:

Introduction

1.

Reasons for the study

2.

Aims of the study

3.

Methods of the study

4.

Scope of the study

5.

Design of the study

Part B:

Investigation

Chapter 1: Theoretical background
I.

What's a warm - up?

1.

Definition

2.

Aims of a warm - up

3.

Different techniques of warm - ups

II.

What are games?

1.

Definition

2.

Classification of games

III.

Advantages of using games to warm up the classroom

IV.

Disadvantages of using games to warm up the classroom

V.

The state of using games in warming up the classroom at Upper Secondary

school.
Chapter 2: Using some games to teach warm ups to the 10th form students at Quy
Chau upper Secondary School
I.

Genenal procedure of playing a game

II.

Suggested games to teach warm - ups to the 10 th form students at Quy Chau

Upper Secondary School.
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Part C:

Conclusion
Reference

Part A: Introduction
1. Reasons for the study

Why warm - ups?

As far as we know, warm - up, one of the classroom activities, is only a very
short activity in the process of the lesson, but it is a very important one. Our work
may not be completed successfully if it starts with a disadvantage. Similarly, a
lesson without a warm - up will lessen its value. In other words, it's difficult for the
following stages of the lesson to be carried out as well as we expect if lesson does
not have a warm - up. In the rhythm of the lesson, the start is always important, it
plays a vital part in making the teaching and learning processes successful and
communicative. When entering the classroom, should the teachers always call
some students to go to the board to do homework, answer the teacher's questions?
should the teacher come to the lesson directly?. Especially, In Quy Chau the
majority of students who come from moutainous and remote areas, their awareness
of the importance of a forein language is still very low. They entry the examination

with very low scores. The condition of teaching, learning foreign languages and
the foreign language learning environment has not responded to the innovation in
education in general foreign language in particular.
Why don't we have several minutes to warm up the classroom, our students?
Why don't we let our students know something before they speak, read, listen,
write or do any tasks? These considerations have promoted me to study warm - up
activities.

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Why games?

One of the most important goal of language teaching and learning is to
create communicative competence of students. Moreover, one of the best way that
can help students reach this objective is through communicative activities. Of
many communicative activities, games are an effective way of motivating students
in a classroom. Games encourages everyone to use English as far as possible, not
to give up too easily, use English naturally, and most importantly, perhaps, games
are fun. Thanks to the Communicative language teaching (CLT) teachers of foreign
languages in general, teachers of English in particular have been encouraged to use
games in teaching and learning. Teachers are aware of the importance of games in
teaching and learning a foreign language. In fact, this activity is mainly designed in
teachers’ lesson plans, games are not used to teach very often except for the fact
that there are some other teachers observing the classroom. Thus, I study this
subject to confirm that games should have a place in a lesson.
Using games to teach warm -ups to avoid boring English class, make
students interested in talking without being nervous, lead them in to the lesson
attractively.
Why the 10th form students, especially for high school students in

mountainous areas?
Unlike the 11th and 12th form students, the 10 th form students are still at the
age of children, especially, they come from remote areas with very low
communication skills, even some students who speak “ Kinh” not clear enough,
because of that, thay are timid...., so they are still motivated whenever being
involved in games. Therefore, think that it's easier to use games to teach English to
the 10th form students in comparison with the 11 th and the 12th form students.
Moreover, for this year, the Department of Education and Training of Nghe an has
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instructed schools to self-create programs in the direction of openness, in the trend
of changing textbooks, luckily, I am assigned to teach some 10th form classes. That
gives me a lot of opportunities to apply using games in teaching warm -ups and to
get feedback from students.
For the reasons above, I decided to choose the subject :
"Using some games to teach warm- ups to the 10 th form students at Quy
Chau Upper Secondary School"
2. Aims of the study
The aims of this study are:
- To give a brief overview on warm -ups and games
- To discuss the best way to teach warm -ups
- To give some suggested games to teach warm - ups
- To design some warm - up activities with games applied to teach the 10 th
form students.
3- Methods of the study
I applied different methods to carry out the study as follows:
- Analytic method
- Collecting method
- Experimental method

- Statistical method
4- Scope of the study
Within this study, my purpose is to carry the research on using games to
teach warm - ups to the 10 th form students though there are many other techniques
that can be used to teach warm - ups.
5- Design of the study
The study is composed of three main parts: introduction, investigation and
conclusion.
Part A: Consists of five terms: reasons for the study, aims, scope, methods,
design of the study.
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Part B: Is divided into 2 chapters
Chapter 1 deals with theoritical background on warm - ups and games
In chapter 2, I focus on giving some games to teach warm- ups to the 10 th
form students.
Part C: Is the conclusion of the study.

Part B: Investigation
Chapter 1: Theoretical

Background

I.What is a warm - up?
1. Definition
For the first several minutes of the lesson, the teacher should use a warm -up
to start.
So, what is a warm - up?

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"A warm - up is a five minute activity which wakes up the students and put
them in the mood for learning English. Usually, it is a fun activity like a game
where the students have to stand up or move around"
In each lesson, the start plays an important role in making the teaching and
learning processes effective and successful. "Warm - up" is not merely a way of
relaxation or entertainment. It should be considered as a meaningful part of the
lesson. A warm - up with reasonable, interesting and varied active affects deeply
the result of the lesson.
2. Aims of a warm - up
In real life, before you read, listen, watch, speak, write or do some tasks it is
necessary that you already know what you are going to do. You have all kinds of
expectations and predictions in your head. For example, when you write a report,
you might plan each section carefully before hand. When you meet someone it is
likely that you have anticipated some of the topics you might discuss and perhaps
imagined some of the things you will say.
In a classroom, if a teacher turns on a tape recorder and says "Listen to this",
without having introduced the topic of the listening, it may be very difficult for the
learners to understand what is happening on the tape.
Warm - up activities help students contextualize their learning or create
demands for some other activities of the lesson. This may help the lessons be more
communicative ones and students may be more successful ones.
The general aim of warm - up activities is to help learners learn better. Some
more specific aims are.
- To create expectations about the language so that students can understand
better what is going to happen.
- To give students a reason to listen, read, speak, write of do other tasks
-To motivate students to want to learn

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- To interest students in a topic
- To involve learners by asking for their ideas of knowledge about a topic.
- To introduce learners to the topic
- To get learners communicating about the topic
- To draw attention to something of importance
- To focus learners ( after a change in activities of if the lesson is beginning)
- To prepare learners with language to use during the activity. It's obviously
important to establish a good atmosphere all students. In addition, warm - up
activities help students be ready for the new lesson with checking up the old one.
3 Different techniques of warm - up
There are a lot of different activities which can be used to warm - up the
classroom, for example, asking usual questions to get students to talk, playing a
short game to check up old lessons, draw students attention or lead students into
the new lessons, talking something outside into the classroom to prepare for what
we are going to teach in the new lesson, telling a story related to the new language,
etc
- Warm up the class to get started
Greeting, chatting, telling a funny story, observing, asking and answering
about pictures, setting riddles, playing a game, singing, a song for fun, telling some
good or bad news on T.V or newspapers etc
- Preparing for the new lesson
+ Checking up the old lesson and relating the old lesson to the new one:
giving questions, giving exercises, asking students to do homework etc.
+ Setting situations for the following activities of the lesson: using visual
aids, using stories, short texts, questions, brainstorming, playing a short game etc.
In conclusion, different ways of warming up the classroom have various
aims. It's better for the teacher to organize one activity serving different aims. For

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example, when coming into class, the teacher can have students play a game. By
using this game, teacher can draw attention of the students, get motivation from
them, check up the old lesson, help students get ready for the new lesson.
II. What are games ?
1 Definition
According to "Longman Dictionary of language teaching and applied
linguistics [ 1992: 153), 'a game, in language teaching, is an organized activity that
usually has the following properties:
a. A particular task or objective
b. A set of rules
c. Competition between players
d. Communication between players by spoken or written language. As for
Hadfield [ 1990: 3], "a game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun"
Different linguists have their own definitions of games. However, their
definitions all show the following features of games
1.

A particular object of goal

2.

A set of rules

3.

Competition between players

4.

Communication between players

5.

Fun

2 Classification of games
Games can be used to check up the old lesson, get students to talk, set
atmosphere or lead students in to the new lesson. These are some of the popular
games.
Pelmanism, slap the board, guessing game ( guessing sentences, guessing
words, guessing objects, guessing pictures etc…), memory game (observe and
remember, Kim's game), noughts and crosses, Lucky numbers, networks, word
square, Hangman, shark attack, chain game, bingo, brainstorming, Jumbled words,
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question and answer game, odd one out, what colour, sentence starters, who am I?
etc...
III. Advantages of using games to warm up the classroom
If we start our lesson by checking up the old lesson or introducing the new
one directly, the students will feel bored and tired. Thus, the result of this stage will
be less effective. They are always under pressure of being called to go to the board
and getting bad mark if why do not we make students feel comfortable and self
confident to do the task and be ready for the new lesson? Communicative activities
such as games can help to solve this problem. Students are often excited about
games. If the teacher uses well - prepared games to warm up the students, the
students will take part in the lesson without being nervous and they can learn

better.
This can be the most important advantage that students can acquire.
Games can create enjoyment, relaxation or motivation and stimulate students
interest for the following stages of the lesson. We should not think that playing
language games is a waste of time because it is one of the best and most popular
way that helps students access a foreign language easily. In addition, games can
provide meaningful practice of language, students may use language naturally and
they will be in the want of communication.
Last but not least, games create warmth, cooperation and friendship among
students
In a word, using games can bring many advantages for the lesson. Games
should be used in language teaching and learning and be sure that they are well
prepared before the class.
IV. Disadvantages of using games to warm up the classroom.
Besides the advantages, games also have some disadvantages Firstly, games
are noisy activities. Thus, some students take advantage of chatting or shouting and
this may affect classes around. Sometimes, it's difficult for the class. Some students
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do not play the game seriously, they think games are only as a way of
entertainment, not for studies. As for some games, it takes the teacher too much
time to prepare so they will feel tired and bored. Some learners do not like games
because they think games are only for children.
V. The state of using games in warming up the classroom at upper
secondary schools.
In fact, it is easier for teachers to use games in teaching English at primary
and secondary schools. The reason is not that the programmes for the pupils at
these schools are easy. It is that the pupils are still children. They are very active
and curious and they like activities.

Mean while, they are in between childhood and adulthood. They always
want to be considered as adults, not children. If the teachers do not know how to
involve them in playing games, students will not be ready to play. Thus, some
teachers do not want to prepare games for warm - ups. They touch the lesson
directly. Besides, many teachers do not like games because they make noise or
because it takes too much time to carry out.
However, many teachers, especially young teachers use games to teach
English very often. Moreover, after doing teaching training at a high school and
teaching for nearly one year, I see that the lessons, particularly warm - ups in
which games are used are more exciting, interesting and motivating. A lot of
students like games and focus their attention on their lessons. They feel excited and
learn better. Step by step, the students are interested in learning English.

Chapter 2
Using some games to teach warm - ups to the 10th form students at Quy Chau
Upper Secondary School

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I. General procedure of playing a game
A game can be played as below
- Asking students for interest ( Are you sleepy? Are you cold? Do you want
to warm you up? Do you want to play a game? etc)
- Introducing the game
- Telling types of activities ( pairs, groupwork, individual, teamwork of the
whole class).
- Giving instructions and setting the rules
- Modeling
- Checking understanding to get feedback from students

- Shouting "start''
- Monitoring the game
- Evaluating and declaring the winner of the game
II. Suggested some games to teach warm - ups the 10 th form students at
Quy Chau Upper Secondary School
Within this study, the author does not have much ambition to suggest games
for all lesson in English syllabus for the 10 th form students the author only suggests
some typical ones.
1. Guessing game 1
Types of activity: The whole class
Preparation:

None

Focus:

Call out the name of the topic of the new lesson

* Procedure

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- The teacher asks students for interest
- The teacher says that they are going to guess a word and tells students how
many letters it has.
( drawing dashes on the board when speaking)
- Asking students to guess the whole word or letter by letter. If the letter is
right, the teacher will put it in the right order
( If the students find it difficult to guess the word the teacher should elicit its

meaning).
- The game finishes right after the students guess the words
* Example:

Unit 12 - Music - Period 1.

Focus: call out the name of the topic: Job
- The teacher asks students for interest
- The teacher introduces the name of the game "guessing game"
- The teacher says, you're going to guess a word, the word has 3 letters
( writing 3 dashes on the board)
You can guess the whole word or letter by letter. If your letter is right, I'll put
it in the right order.
- The teacher gets feedback from students by asking checking questions.
- The teacher monitors the game
J

O

B

* Application: for all lessons
2. Guessing game2
Types of activity:

The whole class

Preparation:

Word cards or pictures

Focus:

Revise vocabulary

* Procedure:
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- The teacher prepares some words on cards or some pictures of the words
s/he is going to revise
- The teacher puts the cards or the pictures in a pile
- The teacher gets a student to come to the front and choose one of the cards
or pictures. Make sure that no one can see which card or picture has been chosen.
- The teacher gets the rest of the class to guess which picture or card it is by
using yes/ no questions. The student answers by only saying " yes" or "no".
- The first student to guess the picture or the card correctly comes up to the
front and chooses a new card or picture and the game continues.
* Example: Unit 14: World cup - Period 2
Preparation: 5 word cards ( soccer, boxing, tennis, cycling, swimming)
Focus: Revise vocabulary on sports
Using yes/ no question: "Do you like...?"
* Application: For most lessons
3- Guessing game 3
Types of activity: The whole class or groupwork
Preparation:

none

Focus:

revise vocabulary

* Procedure:
- Asking one student to go to the board and write a word on a small piece of
paper ( nobody else knows that word).
- The rest of the class ask that student 10 yes /no questions to guess that word.
* Example: Unit 9: Undersea World - Writing
Topic: What should we do to protect sea creatures and sea environment?
Stop dropping litter
on the beach
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What should we do to
protect sea creatures
and
sea environment?

Clean up the beach
Example 1:

Unit 9 - Undersea world - period 1

Type of activity:
Preparation:
Focus:
* Procedure:

groupwork

none
Introduce vocabulary about sea creatures

- Write the name of the category on the board
Dolphins
SEA CREATURES
sharks
- The way to play the game has been shown above
Example 2: Unit 7: The mass media - word study
Type of activity:
Preparation:
Focus:
* Procedure

groupwork
a poster
Revise vocabulary about the media

- Hanging a poster as below on the board

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Whales


1
TV

2

3

radio

MASS MEDIA

direct
media

Junk
mail

5

4

magazine

book

- Sticking five cards with the following words on the board
Print media

Computer

Newspaper

Billboard

Electronic

media

- Checking students understanding
- Dividing the class into groups
- Asking groups to put the words in the bubble - network
- Asking representatives of some groups to present their work.
- The group that does the task correctly wins the game
* Application: for most lessons
7. Shark attack
Type of activity:

the whole class
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Preparation:
Focus:

none
introduce new topics of the lessons revise vocabulary

* Procedure:
- Drawing a girl, some steps, water, a shark
( eliciting the picture from students)
- Thinking of a word or phrase and getting students to know its letters by
drawing dashes on the board.
- Asking students to guess the whole word of phrase or letter by letter.
If the letter is right, the teacher puts it in the right order
If the letter is wrong, the girl will fall down one step
- The game continues until students can guess the word or phrase or the girl

is attacked by the shark.
Example:

Unit 6: Outdoor activities ( An Excursion)

Type of activity:

The whole class

Preparation:

none

Focus: Introduce the topic of the lesson

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* Application: for most lessons
8. Crossword puzzle
Type of activity:

the whole class or teamwork

Preparation:

a poster

Focus: Revise vocabulary or find out the topic of the new lesson
* Procedure:

- Put the chart on the board
- Dividing the class into 2 teams
- Each team chooses a number then listens to a question.
If the answer is right, that team will get 2 points
If the answer is wrong, that team will lose their turn and the other team
chooses their number.
- The team that gets more points or finds out the key word first wins the
game.
* Example: Unit 11: National Parks - Writing
Type of activity:

team work

Preparation:

a poster

Focus:

find out the topic of the new lesson

* Procedure: "Writing graphs"
- Hanging the poster as below on the board

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Questions:
1. What's the name of a unique species of trees in Cuc Phuong National park?
2. What is a snake or crocodile called?

3. What is another word for "an animal that can live both on land and in
water" ?
4. The title of unit 11 is National....
5. Is Cuc Phuong National park in the south or in the north of Viet Nam Key
1. Kim Giao

3. Amphibian

2. Reptile

4. parks

Keyword:

5. North

GRAPH

* Application: For most lessons
9. Word square
Type of activity:

Individuals or group work or teamwork

Preparation:

Posters

Focus:

Revise vocabulary

* Procedure:
- Put a poster of the word square on the board
- Inform what the topic is and tell students how many hidden words they
have to find.
- Divide the class in to 4 teams
- Ask students to find the hidden words and write on a piece of paper.
- The team that finds out the most right words first will be the winner.
e.g

Topic: Countries around the pacific rim
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( Unit 15: The Pacific Rim)
Number of hidden words: 9
Answers
I

N

D

O

N

E

S

I

A

G

A

S

S

Y

C

A

N

A

D

A

U

K

J

M

H

X

E

Q

H

Z

S

B

O

O

I

G

E

L

A

T

T

E

S

R

L

F

U

G

Y

L

T

R

B

V

I

E

T

N

A

M

V

R

A

Q

S

T

T

A

N

R

T

U

A

L

L

V

G

S

I

D

B

R

L

L

I

N

S

E

H

M

N

E

Z

Q

A

B

I

C

J

A

P

A

N

U

I

N

D

O

A
U

K

S

N

E

S

I

A

C

A

N

A

D

T

N

A

M

A

H
O
V

I
R

L

I

E

N
I

I
A

U
R

H
C

J

E
A

P

A

N

* Application: For most lessons
10. Bingo
Type of activity:

Individual

Preparation:

Paper

Focus:

Revise words through listening

* Procedure:
- The teacher gets the class to brainstorm a list of ten or fifteen words they
have learnt or words about some topic, then puts them on the board.
- The students choose any five words and copy them in their pieces of paper.
- The teacher reads out the words in any order
- Each time the students have one of the words that the teacher reads, s/he
puts a tick next to that word.
- The first student to tick all five words shouts "Bing O!" and wins the game.
Example:

Unit 7: The mass media - Listening

Type of activity:

individual
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Preparation:

paper sheets

Focus:

Vocabulary about " The T.V programs" procedure.

- The teacher asks students to think of a list of ten words about " The T.V
programs"
- The rest steps have been shown above
Application: for most lessons
11. Memory game:
Types of activity: Individual or teamwork
Preparation:

Real things of pictures

Focus:

Revise vocabulary

* Procedure:
- Dividing the class into 2 teams
- Showing real things or pictures to the students
- Asking students to observe them quickly ( about 30 seconds) then putting
them away.
- Asking students to write down as many words or phrases showing things or
activities in the picture as they can remember.
- The team having more right words or phrases wins the game
* Example: Unit 14: World Cup [Sports]
Type of activity:

Teamwork

Preparation:

10 pictures of sports

Focus:

Revise vocabulary about sports

* Procedure
The procedure has been shown above
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* Application:

Units 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

12. Jumbled words
Type of activity:

individual

Preparation:

none or cards with words

Focus:

revise word spelling

* Procedure:
- Putting the cards with Jumbled words or writing words with jumbled letters
on the board and tell the student what the topic is, and asking students to rewrite
the words in the right order.
- Asking 1 students to go to the board and write their words as fast as
possible.
- The student that writes more correct words quickly wins the game
* Example: Unit 13: movies and theatres ( Films and Cinema)
Topic:

Jobs relating to music, movies and theatres

Type of activity:

individual

Preparation:

none

Focus:

revise jobs relating to music, movies and theaters

- Writing the words with jumbled letters on the board
1

Pesmoroc

=

4

Terssac

=

=

5

Risgen

=

Ralpywtigh

2
Carot

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3

Key: 1. Composer
4. Actress

=

2. Playwright

3. Actor

5. Singer

* Application: For most lessons

Part c: Conclusion
In conclusion, games always excite students and using games to teach
English in general and warm - ups in particular needs

to be improved and

encouraged more in language teaching and learning. It is games that can help
students learn English better, and use English more naturally and communicatively,

especially improving communicative skills for mountainous students. The fact of
an English teaching year of partly shows that students are actually motivated when
learning warm - ups with games and their communicative competence has step by
step improved.
In this study, I have given some theoretical background about warm - ups
and games, advantages and disadvantages of using games to teach warm - ups. I
have also introduced some games to teach warm - up activities. Especially, I have
applied the games into some lessons of the 10 th form syllabus. All of the above
attempts are done to confirm the importance of warm - ups and games, to find the
best way to teach English and to help the 10th form students find joy. In English,
learn English better and use English as a means of communication.

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Due to the limitations and the requirements of the study I want to. Thus, I
would like to suggest some further studies such as:
- Using games to promote student's speaking
- Using pictures to teach warm – up activities to the 10th form students
- Using questions to warm up the class.

Reference
1. C. Richarols, Jack, Platt, John, Platt, Heidi, Longman Dictionary of
Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, Longman (1992).
2. English Language Teacher Training Project - The Methodolody Course Book one ( 1998).
3. Tanner, Roise, Green, Catherine, Tasks for Teacher Education, Longman
( 1999).
4. Linds Tromberg, Seth, The Standby Book - Activities for the Language
Classroom, Cambridge University Press ( 2001).
5- Mc Carthy, Michoel, English Vocabulary in Use - upper intermediate,

Cambridge University Press ( 1997)
6. Hadfield, J, Intermediate Communication Games, Longmon ( 1990)
7. Nguyen Hanh Dung, phương pháp dạy Tiếng Anh trong trường phổ thông
NXBGD ( 1998)
8. Tu Anh ( tổng chủ biên) Tiêng Anh 10 nâng cao.

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