Sáng kiến kinh nghiệm Using pre-reading activities to help students feel more interested in reading

 1
 SỞ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO ĐỒNG NAI
 Đơn vị : Trường THPT NGÔ QUYỀN
 ___________________
 Mã số: ..
 (Do HĐCNSK ghi)
 SÁNG KIẾN
 USING PRE-READING ACTIVITIES TO HELP 
STUDENTS FEEL MORE INTERESTED IN READING
 Người thực hiện: BÙI PHÚ XUÂN
 Lĩnh vực nghiên cứu:
 - Quản lý giáo dục
 - Phương pháp giáo dục
 - Phương pháp dạy học bộ môn: Tiếng Anh
 - Lĩnh vực khác: .. 
 (Ghi rõ tên lĩnh vực)
 Có đính kèm: Các sản phẩm không thể hiện trong bản in sáng kiến
 Mô hình Đĩa CD (DVD) Phim ảnh Hiện vật khác
 (các phim, ảnh, sản phẩm phần mềm)
 Năm học: 2019-2020
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Page
 INTRODUCTION .. 3
 1. Background ........ 3
 2. Reasons for choosing the topic  3
 3. The scope of the research ........ 4
 4. The objective of the research .. 4
 CONTENTS . 4
I. RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH ..... 4
II. RESEARCH CONTENTS  6
 1. Procedure  6
 Activity 1: Mind-mapping . 6
 Activity 2: Matching ..... 8
 Activity 3: Competition Game - Hangman ...... 14
 Activity 4 : Discussion  .. 15
 Activity 5: Word Sort ...... 17
 2. Advantages and disadvantages of applying these Pre- 19
 reading activities in the class. .
 3. Evaluation . 19
 a. Novelty of the research  19
 b. Evaluation of the research ... 19
 c. Applicability of the research .. 20
 CONCLUSION ... 21
 REFERENCES  22
 Appendix 1 . 23
 Appendix 2 . 24 3
 TOPIC: USING PRE-READING ACTIVITIES TO HELP 
 STUDENTS FEEL MORE INTERESTED IN READING
 INTRODUCTION
 1. Background
Nowadays learning English is considered to be very essential in our modern
society because it is an international language which is necessary for many 
different kinds of activities including education, politics, and socio-economics. 
Knowing English also gives you golden chances to get a good job in a 
multinational company in Vietnam or finding work abroad. What is more 
English is one of the core subjects in all Vietnamese secondary schools, high 
schools, colleges and universities. Therefore, classroom teaching is really a 
demanding job.
Most Vietnamese teachers have to work with a class of forty five students or 
more and there is usually a wide variety of abilities in each class. In reading 
class, it is common that teachers always play the centred roles and explain 
everything to students while students do nothing. As a result, they find no 
pleasure or interest in reading lessons.
 2. Reasons for choosing the topic
Through discussions with some of the teachers and students’ in my school I have 
found out some problems in teaching and learning reading. Most teachers 
choose the teaching career with the hope that they could spark the joy of 
learning in their students. However, classroom teaching is a demanding job. 
Teachers sometimes recognize that their students find no pleasure in the act of 
reading.
Being an English teacher, what should we do to draw students’ attention and to 
engage them in reading lessons as well as give them as many opportunities as 
possible to take part in active activities in the classroom? This requires both 
students’ and teacher’s efforts. However, it is our own job to make the 
classroom a lively and communicative place. How can we create such a 
classroom?
My experience has taught me that Pre-reading activities are very important for 
helping students to understand the background of the text and help students feel 
more interested in reading periods. They can spark students’ curiosity and 5
Sookchotirat (2005) suggests that reading skill is the most important skill as it is 
the basis of all the success in one’s life. Good readers can gain more knowledge 
of any kind from reading. Reading makes the reader more knowledgeable, and 
reading makes the reader have wider perspectives and vision. Reading helps the 
reader get new ideas leading to cognitive development. When the reader 
transfers what they read to apply with their own idea a new perspective or idea is 
created.
Harmer (1998: 68) also makes clear that reading is useful for many purposes. 
Reading texts provides opportunities to study a language: vocabulary, grammar, 
punctuation, and the way we construct sentences, paragraphs and texts. Reading 
texts also provides good models for English writing. Lastly, good reading texts 
can introduce interesting topics, stimulate discussion, excite imaginative 
responses and be the springboard for well-rounded, fascinating lessons.
Yeeding (2007) investigated the effects of pre-reading activities on learners’ 
motivation and reading comprehension ability. Results showed that the activities 
subjects were highly motivated, enthusiastic to read. After the experiment, they 
scored significantly higher.
The teaching should accommodate learners’ development of the 4 language 
skills. Reading skill, in particular, is the most important skill in second or 
foreign language learning (Carrell, 1988).
Reading skill plays such an important role in learning English, however, through 
discussions with some of the teachers and students’ in my school I have found 
out some problems in teaching and learning reading. Students usually feel tired 
and bored at the beginning of the lesson, they study passively and find no 
pleasure in the act of reading. Some of them just try to struggle with the text 
(e.g.: unknown words and complicated grammar rules) to find the answers to 
comprehension questions. It was also very surprising to find out that most of 
them did not understand the purpose of reading. They spent nearly 80% of the 
time on translating the text word by word into Vietnamese, even a simple one. 
Because they thought that they could only understand the text completely if they 
translated the text. Besides, some of the students also translate comprehension 
questions about the text before giving answers to the teacher.
Through the observation in my classes for many ages I also realized the same 
problem that my students did not show much interest in the reading lessons 
therefore I decided to design some Pre-reading activities such as Mind-mapping; 
Matching; Competition Game – Hangman; Discussion and Word Sort, etc. to see 
whether they really help me draw students’ attention to the content of the new 
lessons and feel more interested in the reading class. 7
 FAMILY
 The word FAMILY may produce something like the sketch below
 respect
 close-knit family
 father
 household chores
 join hands
grandparents FAMILY
 secure
 take care of
 responsible
 • Let’s take Unit 11: SOURCES OF ENERGY - English 11 as another 
 example:
 Teacher writes down the word ENERGY on the board and has students 
 brainstorm all the words they can think of:
 ENEGRY 9
 Let’s take Unit 12: THE ASIAN GAMES – English 11 as an example:
 • Divide the class into two groups A & B
 • Stick the pictures of sports on the board.
 • Distribute the cards of the names of the sports to the students: 
 Volleyball; Shooting; Weightlifting; Wrestling; Fencing; Table tennis
 • Call out the pictures in any order and the representatives of each group 
 should run to the board and stick the names under the pictures.
 • The group with more correct answers will be the winner.
 • Give more information about these sports (e.g. in what countries they are 
 played, indoor or outdoor sports, who are the famous players of these 
 sports) and introduce the new lesson.
1 2
3 4 11
1 2
3 4
 5
 6 13
5 6
7 8
 printer keyboard speakers visual display unit (VDU) or computer screen
 mouse A Central Processing Unit (CPU) Floppy disks CD ROMS
KEY
 1. Picture 1: visual display unit (VDU) or computer screen
 2. Picture 2: mouse
 3. Picture 3: printer
 4. Picture 4: keyboard
 5. Picture 5: A Central Processing Unit (CPU)
 6. Picture 6: speakers
 7. Picture 7: Floppy disks 15
In this lesson, the secret word is “COMPETITIONS” teacher draws the same 
number of dashes as the number of letters in this word. For this word, teacher 
would need 12 dashes like this: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Let’s take Unit 4: SCHOOL EDUCATION SYSTEM – English 12 as another 
example:
In this lesson, the secret word is “EDUCATION” teacher draws the same 
number of dashes as the number of letters in this word. For this word, teacher 
would need 9 dashes like this: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.
 Activity 4: DISCUSSION
 • We use “Discussion activities” to
- give students an opportunity to talk about the things they really care about
- encourage students to think more critically and actively participate in the 
classroom
- increase students’ interests and engagement in reading lessons
- arouse students’ curiosity about a certain topic
- help students process the information rather than simply receive
- help develop students’ habits of collaborative learning.
 • Let’s take Unit 11: BOOKS– English 12 as an example:
The teacher has students work in groups of four and discuss some of the 
questions relating to the topic of the reading lesson.
The teacher invites some students to report their ideas in front of the class, gives 
comments and then starts the new lesson.
 1. Do you like reading? Why or why not?
 2. Which is your favourite book?
 3. Do you usually read for leisure or for study purposes?
 4. What do you think are the benefits of reading in general?
 5. Do you think there is a difference between reading habits in the past 
 and in the present day?
 6. What kinds of books did you read when you were a child?
 7. Which book has affected or influenced you the most so far?
 8. Do you think people don’t read enough books these days?
 9. What is the impact of e-books on reading habits?
 10. In your opinion, will paper books disappear completely in future?