SKKN Some experiences to teach english listening skill for students in grade 4

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The reason for choosing the topic

Nowadays the trend of international integration in many areas including the field of education has brought English up a very important position. English as a means of communication is the key to the treasure of humanity. On the other hand, the wide application of information technology has made learning English become urgent and indispensable. So learning English of Elementary School students is particularly concerned by students, parents, all the teachers of education in our country. English has become one of the main subjects in the curriculum of students.

Learning and use of English require a diligent process of creative practice of both learners and teachers. Especially in the situation of education reform as currently, teaching English in view of communcation methods is widely supported. According to this method, students have many opportunities to communicate, to practise language and to participate in practical situations: Learning coupled with practising.

Primary level English program has been implemented in all regions across the country. Innovation prominent feature of the content of this program is to privide maximum opportunities for students to practise four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing on the topics and situations, communication contents related to environments living at home and abroad. The change in facilitating the teaching and learning of English in secondary schools becomes teaching living language instead of teaching words as many years ago. However, in practical English skills forged for students, teachers confronted with many difficulties, especially listening skill forged. Through my school in the rural areas, when students started to learn foreign languages, most of them were very interested in English, but eventually they fell tired of it. Most of them are very bad at listening skill. It’s difficult for them to understand the content of an essay or dialogue they hear. After each listening lesson, the teacher meets difficulty checking information that students had heard and checking old lesson often not easy.

Facing with that situation as a direct teacher to teach English for students in  grade 4,  who was exposed to the English language through grade 3, I myself always think of how to help students master, listen comprehention and maturely manipulate information. During both teaching and  observing the students, I found the discipline and listening skill of the students having a lot of problems. Most students do not know how to learn listening skill effectively, students often find most diffcult while they practise listening or doing listening tests. In the classroom, students often say that although there are many words in the test they know but they can not hear out. I always ask myself “ How to help students to use vocabularies and grammaticals structures itself to effective listening” . Therefore, in the teaching process, I find a number of methods for positive, simple, easy to understand pratical ensure to develop thinking ability, speculation and creativity of students. With my little experience I boldly go into a topic “Some experiences to teach English listening skill for students in grade 4 in Dien Bien 1 Primary School”.

1.2 The purpose of research

Learning English requires learners to practice four skills: Listening, speaking, reading and writing. The ultimate goal of learning a language is to communicate fluently with everyone. I wrote this topic based on the status of the study English at my school now. The aim of this research is to help students learn English more excitedly in order to remove the difficulties that they have encountered for a long time. I hope my initiative will help my school eager to learn English subject more and become successful learners.

1.3 The objects of research

Some experiences to teach English listening skill for students in grade 4 in Dien Bien 1 Primary School.

1.4 The methods of research

With this topic I have applied the following methodology:

– Observa students .

– Interview students.

– Check and compare learning outcomes of students.

– Studying the textbook program, instruction manuals.

– Discussing with experienced colleagues in professional meettings.

1.5 The new points of experience initiative

This experience initiative is not similar to the content of the solutions that has registered and admitted before. The content of the solutions has not applied in the lessons yet as well as has not regulated into the obligatory methods yet.

2. CONTENT EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

2.1. Theoretical basis of the experience initiative

English, one of the foreign languages, has been being learned by many Vietnamese people for communicating, learning and research. Currently, because of new method in learning and teaching, students have more favorable exposure to the English language. Students have the opportunity to communicate with people in English and easy to apply in life. Prominent feature of the innovation agenda for new textbooks is maximum opportunity for students to practice four skills. In fact, listening skill is one of the focused skills developments in the new methods of teaching foreign languages. Listening is important because students can not communicate with words without understanding what is heard.

2.2 . Situation issues before applying experience initiative

1. Advantages:

– Dien Bien 1 Primary School is located in the center of the city. The school has a teaching staff who are young, fit, enthusiastic, capable of teaching and always love their job. Qualifications and standards are on 100%. In the field of education, my school is always interested, focused on teaching and learning, always enabling teachers and students to fulfill the duties and assigned targets. And the school has always received the active support of the local government so many years, the school was rewarded as the advanced school in the city.

– Administrators of our primary school always care about and create favorable facilitities and profestional documents serve as teaching subjects: projectors, TV.

– Most students prepare books and supplies for learning English department.

1. Disadvantages:

– Although our primary school located in the center of the city, the situations of the students face many difficulties. There is not enough investment in English in time. Students also are not familiar with the method of learning in English listening skill as well as how to make really effective.Beside that the total number of classes and students are overcrowded.

– To the parents, also very difficult to check or guide them to learn a foreign language at home by subjects, parents do not know. They have limited access to communicate in English outside school hours.

In addition, English is a difficult subject, the knowledge is difficult but less study time, and in the listening process they do not control what they will be listened. Words in tape are too fast, not familiar.  A lot of new words, word stress, sentence stress, intonation are very different and difficult for students to understand the content. The questions is how we overcome these weaknesses in order to contribute to improve the learning qualityof listening skill, help students communicate more confident in using English as a second language, proficient in words, sentences, especially for students in as grade 4 students in Dien Bien 1 Primary School.

In order to solve this problem, the first semester of school year     ……….., I had a small survey with two classes of grade 4 with a test within 35 minutes.