Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm Applying experiential activities in some topics to improve the presentation skill of the 12th grade students

 TABLE OF CONTENTS 
  CONTENT Page 
Part A Introduction 1 
 I. Reasons for the study 1 
 II. Aims of the study 2 
 III. Methods of the study 2 
 IV. Scope of the study 2 
 V. New features in the study’s result 2 
Part B Investigation 3 
 I. Theoretical background 3 
 1. Experiential learning activities in education 3 
 2. Why applying experiential learning in language teaching 4 
 and learning? 
 3. Presentation skill in learning foreign language 5 
 II. Real situation before applying experience 5 
 III. Solutions 7 
 IV. Experiment 10 
 1. Material preparations 10 
 2. General procedures 10 
 3. The illustrated lessons 11 
 V. The results of the research 29 
 VI. Survey on the necessity and the feasibility 30 
 1. Aim of the survey 30 
 2. Content and methods of the survey 30 
 3. Scope of the survey 30 
 4. Results of the survey about the necessity and the feasibility 31 
 of the research. 
Part C Conclusion 33 
Part D Reference 35 
 II. Aims of the study 
 The aims of this study are: 
 - To maximize students’ using their own experiences in real life to present 
their points about the topics. Learners can reduce the fear of standing in front of 
the class by being equipped the materials for the speech. 
 - To partly stimulate students’ practice in foreign language about topics that 
illustrates the real situations in the life. 
 III. Methods of the study 
 - Drawing from experience of my teaching. 
 - Consulting many documents ,especially methods of study. 
 - Studying colleagues’ experience 
 IV. Range of the study 
 The theme revolves around the issue of research, designed from some 
experience in teaching English 12 - Standard program to teach speaking skill for 
students as well as enhance their presentation ability, particularly in the classes 
12A1, 12A6 and 12A7 the academic year 2022- 2023 
 V. The new point of this experience 
 Experiential learning method can be used in teaching English to make 
teaching process much interesting and fun. It will increase students’ interest in 
learning process in classroom, because the circumstances become more interesting. 
It is suitable for characteristics of students who are likely active in English class, so 
experiential can be helpful in teaching English, especially in speaking class. 
Moreover, using experiential activities can help create environment for students to 
develop the ability of using language in real situations. 
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 Learning by doing. This is the basis for the experiential learning theory. 
Learning through classroom experiences plays a significant role in improving the 
communication skills of learners. Language learning is also a process in which 
students should not just listen to their teachers’ words, they need to practice using 
the language depending on their lexical resource, grammar, and their social 
knowledge about the topics. The best way to motivate students take part in useful 
activities to improve their communication skill is organizing variety of experiential 
activities instead of sitting quietly and listening to their teachers. Students will 
have chance to make decisions in studying and check the consequences. For 
teachers, creating opportunities for students to have experiences based on the 
things they are learning about is key. Teachers can help create environments where 
students can learn and have experiences at the same time. 
 If you’re a current teacher, or studying to become one, it’s important to get a 
degree that will give you qualifications and knowledge for your career, and help 
prepare you to be licensed. Additionally, it’s key to understand how different 
students learn and understand how different learning theories impact education. 
Teachers who understand learning theories can better optimize their classroom and 
help more students learn in ways that work for them. Being a successful teacher 
means focusing on how best to help students succeed. 
 2. Why applying experiential learning in language teaching and learning? 
 According to Schank & Fano (1995), experiential learning enables students to 
acquire skills by doing. According to him, one of the greatest benefits of 
experiential learning is that it motivates the students. It is evident from his works 
that students like to learn through engaging in real-world situations and at the same 
time get entertained while learning and participating in learning activities inside 
class. Learning through classroom experiences plays a significant role in 
improving the communication skills of learners. Language learning is also a 
process in which students should not just listen to their teachers’ words, they need 
to practice using the language depending on their lexical resource, grammar, and 
their social knowledge about the topics. The best way to motivate students take 
part in useful activities to improve their communication skill is organizing variety 
of experiential activities instead of sitting quietly and listening to their teachers. 
Students will have chance to make decisions in studying and check the 
consequences. The evaluation of the results will determine their future actions. 
 Most of the learning institutions are faced with a major problem where 
learners are not capable of transferring and applying the knowledge acquired in 
class to the real-world environment. Based on this fact, Hamer (2001), 
recommends the application of experiential techniques as a way of encouraging 
learners to apply the acquired skills in the outside classroom environment. 
Harmin(1994), agreed with this idea. According to him, this goal could be 
achieved through the development of a classroom that promotes self-respect, self-
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 observation to be developed by the researcher. The use of questionnaires is one of 
the most common research methods because it can produce a large amount of 
information about many different issues such as communication difficulties, 
preferred learning styles, preferred classroom activities, attitudes and beliefs 
suggests observation is a way of gathering information about teaching, rather than 
a way of evaluating teaching, although generally observation is associated with 
evaluation. 
 The questionnaire consisted of six questions to investigate how students speak 
English in class and ask for the students’ opinions about the necessity of practicing 
English much more to become good English speakers. 
 Table 1: Students' attitudes towards the presentation in English in front of the 
class: 
 Attitude Rate (%) 
 Being shame when speaking English because they are afraid of 
 making mistakes in grammar, or vocabulary in the process of 65 
 speaking 
 Being afraid of the teacher and the classmates’ attitude 51 
 Using Vietnamese when being assigned to work in pairs, groups 80 
 Not having enough information on assigned topics 58 
 Shortage of vocabulary, grammar to solve questions related to 
 68 
 assigned topics 
 According to the survey, in Table 1 we found that the problems of students at 
1-5 High School could be divided into four main groups: 
 a. Students felt embarrassed to speak English because they were afraid of 
making mistakes in grammar or vocabulary in the speaking process. It is often seen 
at the elementary level students are afraid of being criticized by teachers and other 
students 
 b. On being assigned to work in pairs (or groups), students usually use their 
native language. They often use Vietnamese to explain to each other or express 
ideas when they do not know how to use vocabulary 
 c. Students often feel that there is not enough information on the topics 
discussed even in Vietnamese. 
 d. Students feel lack of language and verbal resources to solve assigned tasks. 
In that case, the teacher should create a friendly atmosphere of cooperation so 
students will not have to fear admit their mistakes and will accept the criticism. 
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 in a restaurant or a coffee shop. In this manner, student emulates and perform tasks 
that are similar to what individuals who hold this position does. Role play activities 
are obviously new approach in teaching speaking, because students will improve 
their ability of applying language knowledge in meaningful context sand also help 
them more confident in studying. It seems that the activity was beloved by most of 
students during the research because they have chance to practice with their 
classmates using handy daily structures for real situations which happen every day 
in their life. Beside, a narrator can play an significant role in making the story more 
coherent and comprehensive. 
 This activity is often applied to the third step of three steps in Communicative 
Approach Method in classroom teaching consisting of presentation, practices and 
production, which emphasizes much on the comprehensively performance of the 
target language. When organizing the practice of role-play, the teacher must 
provide a context and several roles for students to prepare and then perform in the 
class. The performance can be developed by several groups. When one is 
performing, the other students are audience and discuss its advantages and 
disadvantages afterward. The discussion itself is also a kind of practice. 
 2. Project work presentation 
 This involves assigning of tasks to students in groups. This enhances the 
student to develop a norm of self-dependence and become more responsible 
learners. The activity was not only an active teaching but also a collaborative 
learning activity for students during investigating, researching, and solving the 
learning problems. Instead of teaching students what to do, the teacher helped them 
how to do in their groups to practice speaking skill and develop many core skills, 
such as: collaborative skill, time management, critical thinking skill, problem 
solving, group work skill and presentation skill. Based on learning out come and 
the content of the topics, teacher designed the tasks with related topics for students 
to prepare in their groups, and then present in front of their class. For example, 
teacher can give the topics involving in the environment, jobs, introducing places 
of tourism etc. After every group presentation, the teacher and their classmates 
gave out advice for each member. The group work or project work teaching 
method is carried out according to the following process. 
 To complete this activities, both graders and teacher need more time than 45 
minute for a class. The teacher plans about the topics and tells students the 
requirements of the project. Learners can prepare in groups at home because within 
the time of a class, they cannot implement various activities including discussion, 
preparation for the way of their presentation and presentation, etc. Presentations 
about the results of the project are performed during speaking class or Post -stage 
of other skills in classroom. 
 3. Story telling through organizing reading or watching activities 
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 and create the opened environment for them to express their own competences 
such as drawing, painting, linguistics, and presentation. 
 This activity can be applied in speaking lesson or post- stage of other lessons. 
 IV. Experiment 
 1. Material preparation 
 In order to have a effective teaching class, there are some teaching aids have 
been created, they can be used again and again. Obviously, teaching aids have a lot 
of good uses for language teaching and learning if they are carefully prepared and 
creative exploited in class. They can be simply listed as follows: 
 - Lesson plan 
 - Textbook 
 - Audio aids: Speaker 
 - Audiovisual aids: Computer and projector 
 - Other visual aids: pictures, posters, handouts, etc. 
 2. General procedures 
 Teachers needs to pay attention to the following procedures of encouraging 
students to present in front of the class 
 - Attracting students’ attention 
 - Giving the topics 
 - Introducing the activities: Telling types of activities (individual, pair work, 
group work or teamwork); Giving instructions and setting the rules 
 - Setting the deadline for students’ preparations 
 - Getting feedback from students 
 - Monitoring the activity 
 - Setting up time for students’ presentation 
 - Letting the activities begin 
 - Evaluating and declaring the excellent participants 
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