TABLE CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………… 1

1.1. Reasons for choosing the topic ………………………………….. 1
1.2. Aims of the study ………………………………………………… 1
1.3. Objects of the study ……………………………………………... 1
1.4. Scope and research methodology ……………………………….. 1
1.5. New points of the study …………………………………………. 1
1.5.1. The formation …………………………………………………. 1
1.5.2. Some common activities for pair work and group work ………. 2

2. MAIN CONTENT ……………………………………………………………... 4

2.1. Theoretical background ………………………………………….. 4
2.2. Practical background …………………………………………….. 4
2.3. Solutions and methods for implementation ……………………… 4
2.3.1. Solutions ……………………………………………………….. 4
2.3.2. Methods for implementation …………………………………… 5
2.3.2.1. What are pair work and group work? …………………………5
2.3.2.2. Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems …… 6
2.3.2.3. The ways to organize pair work and group work activities
effectively …………………………………………………………………… 7
2.3.2.4. Procedures for pair and group work …………………………. 9
2.3.2.5. Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities..10
2.3.2.6. Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice ………………. 13
2.4. Result after applying the study …………………………………….14
3. CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………… 15
REFERENCE BOOKS …………………………………………………….. 16


1. INTRODUCTION

deal with initial problems that may arise.
- To show how pair work and group work can be used for various
classroom activities.
- To help teachers be confident in using pair and group work themselves.
1.3. Objects of the study
Students in grade 7 at Hoang Dao Secondary school.
1.4. Scope and research methodology
- Scope: Researching in the process of teaching English at Hoang Dao
secondary school.
- Research methodology: making survey, reading reference books, applying in
teaching, observing and drawing out experiences.
1.5. New points of the study
1.5.1. The formation
We have to decide how to put individual students into pairs and groups.
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There are a number of factors we might consider when doing this. According to
Harmer (1999), I can base such decision on any of the following principles, and
I see they are quite effective.
Friendship: A key consideration when putting students in pairs or groups
is to make sure that we put friends with friends rather than risking the possibility
of people working with others whom they find difficult or unpleasant. However,
our observation may not always accurate and friendship can change from time to
time.
Streaming: Students can be streamed according to their ability.
The first suggestion is that pairs and groups should have a mixture of
weaker and stronger students. Therefore, the more able students can help their
less able students.
The second one is that we can create groups in which all the students are

1.5.2. Some common activities for pair work and group work
A variety of activities can be applied in communicative English classes
through the use of pair work and group work. The list of some common
3


activities is given below.
Role – play: the class is divided into pairs or groups. Then these pairs and
groups are given roles to act out.
Information gap activities: each participant in pairs or groups has
information not shared by any other but require to complete.
Problem – solving: students are given some problems in real-life which
need solving. Then they work in pairs or in groups to find out solutions to these
problems.
The lost twin: each student has a small card on which some features are
printed. There are two copies for each card. Students then have to go around the
class to find out who has the same card.
Picture card activities:
Kim’s game: students in groups look at the items on a table for about
thirty seconds. Then the items are recovered, the groups have to describe and
locate them.
Spot the differences: students are given two pictures, then they work to
spot the differences.
What is my line: students in groups have to ask questions of another
member within a limited time span and discover his or her occupation.

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2. MAIN CONTENT

group work in teaching and learning a foreign language.
- A few teacher reject the possibility of success of pair and group work.
They give different reasons for their belief, some of the reasons are lack of
resources, students use mother tongue during pair and group work , discipline
problem due to noise generated during pair and group work activities and so on.
As a result, despite being an important part of collaborative teaching and
learning, pair and group work generally neglected in teaching English at
secondary school.
2.3. Solutions and methods for implementation
2.3.1. Solutions
- Teacher should know well about what pair work and group work are,
their both advantages and disadvantages as well as solutions to their problems.
- Main advantages, problems and solution to the problems.
- The ways to organize pair work and group work activities effectively so
that we can make use of their benefits and limit their problems. In order to
5


organize pair and group work well, teacher will need to do the followings:
1. Select the activity.
2. Presentation.
3. Prepare any physical materials for group work ahead of time.
4. Anticipate the size and the selection of groups.
5. Anticipate how students will be organized within the groups (tasks and
roles).
6. Control the class well.
7. Consider the timing of the group work.
8. Give feedback
- Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities.
- Suggestion for some popular kinds of practice.

Advantages
Problems
- More language practice
- Noise arrangements
- More speaking time
- Students make mistakes
- Students are more involved
- Lose control of the class
- Students feel secure, confident
………
- Students help one another
- Give students the sense of
achievement when reaching a team
goal.
Now, we will discuss each heading in more detail. First, let’s start with the
advantages
- More language practice:
Pair work and group work give students far more chance to speak
English. For example, students are given an exercise of making sentences
(question & answer), working in pair, each student makes as many sentences as
they can. If the exercise were done ‘round the class’, students would only say
one sentence each, and in a large class many students would say nothing at all.
- More speaking time:
Learners in a class that is divided into 9 groups of 5 or 22 pairs get six
times or fifteen times as many opportunities to talk as in full class organization.
- Students are more involved:
Some activities will probably be dominated by a few students and others
would lose interest if they are conducted with the whole class together. Working
in pairs or groups encourages students to be more involved and to concentrate
on the task.

they said , and then correct mistakes if necessary.
- Difficult to control class:
The teacher has less control over what students are doing in pair work and
group work than in normal class. To stop activities getting out control, it is
important to:
- Give clear instructions about when to start, what to do and when to stop.
- Give clearly defined tasks which don’t continue for too long.
- Set up a routine, so that students accept the idea of working in pairs or
groups, and know exactly what to do.
2.3.2.3. The ways to organize pair work and group work activities
effectively.
Steps in the classroom:
Select the activity
An activity that is best suited for group work may meet the following
criteria:
- The activity has multiple tasks that can be shared among group members
or a single task, such as generating ideas, that benefit from the participation of
all individuals within a group.
- The activity involves problem solving and discussion. Examples of
activities that may be suited for group work are investigations of materials
(newspapers, scientific specimens) and development of ideas or arguments.
Presentation.
It is advisable to give the instructions before giving out materials of
dividing the class into groups; and a preliminary rehearsal or ‘dry run’ of a
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sample of the activity with the full class can help to clarify things. If your
students have already done similar activities, you will be able to shorten the
process, giving only brief guidelines; It is mainly the first time of doing

Sometimes groups are organized only for one activity. Other times,
teachers use the same small groups for a series of activities, so that students get
used to working with one another.
If the tables and chairs cannot be moved for group work, then students can
form groups by turning around in seats to face the children behind.
Organize students within the group.
A laissez-faire approach to group work would be that the teacher give a
general assignment to the group -- like organize a research project on 'qualities
of good leaders' -- and the students are left to organize themselves.
A highly structured approach would be that the teacher assigns a specific
role to each group member. Depending upon the task, the roles might include
'materials handler', 'scribe', 'reporter to the large group' and so on. A semistructured approach might be that the teacher recommend certain roles, but
9


leaves it to the group to assign roles.
A more structured approach, with rotation of tasks within a group, is often
used with younger children. A less structured approach can be used with
students with experience in group work or for simple tasks that do not require
that students take on different roles.
Control the class during students’ working time.
Teacher goes from group to group, pair to pair, monitor, and either
contribute or keep out of the way whichever is likely to be more helpful. If you
do decide to intervene, your contribution may take the form of :
- Providing general approval and support;
- Helping students who are having difficultly;
- Keeping the students using the target language (in many cases your mere
presence will ensure this!)
- Tactfully regulating participation in a discussion where you find some
students are over dominant and others silent.

Therefore, we can “turn in” to a particular pair or group from some distance
10


away. We then decide whether to go over of to help that pair or group.
Instead, we can also go round the class watching and listening to specific
pairs and groups. Then we may stop and interview if it is appropriate or
necessary. We can give them support and suggestions but it is vital that we bear
in mind the most appropriate way to do so.
After: When pairs and groups stop working together we need to organize
feedback. We may have a few pairs or groups quickly demonstrate the language
they have been using. We can correct it, if and when necessary and this
procedure will give both those students and the rest of the class good
information for future learning and action. Constructive feedback can greatly
enhance students’ future motivation.
2.3.2.5. Some demonstrations for pair work and group work activities
Unit 1: My hobbies (Skills 2 - Writing)
Task 3: Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about each other’s hobby. Take
notes below.
2. When he/she started
the hobby: ………..
1. Name of the hobby:
……..

………….’s
hobby

6. Future:
……………………..


Student B
You joined Big Heart 2 years ago because you wanted
to help people in hospital. You have donated blood
twice, and given presents to sick children. Last month
you felt happy when you made a Mid-Autumn
Festival lantern yourself and gave it to a little girl in
hospital who loved it so much.
- Teacher divides students into pairs, tells students to read their role cards
and ask and answer questions with each other.
- Then students can role play the interview for the class.
Unit 5: Vietnamese food and drink (Getting started)
Task 5: Game: What’s your favorite food and drink?
Work in groups. One student describes his favorite food or drink. The rest of the
group tries to guess which food or drink it is.
Example:
A: It’s my favorite drink. It’s a bit sour, but it’s also sweet.
B: Is it lemonade?
B: Yes, it is./No, try again.
- Demonstrate the game to the class first: Teacher may describe one or
two favourite foods or drinks and ask some more able students to guess their
names.
- Then, when students know exactly what to do, ask them to work in
groups.
Unit 7: Traffic (A closer look 2)
Task 2: Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about distances in your
neighborhood.
Example:
A: How far is it from your house to school?
B: It’s about a kilometer.
You can use these cues:

samba music.
C: I am going to Rio Carnival to watch performers dance, and musicians play
samba music, and….
- In groups, students do the activity. They choose one activity and take
turns to lengthen their sentences by adding the activities. This can be organized
as a competition game. After five minutes, whichever group has the longest
sentence is the winner.
- They then write the sentence on the board. Elicit some more sentences
from other groups. Have one student underline all the festival activities in the
sentences. Remind students to take notes of those sentences in their notebook.
Unit 10: Sources of energy (Skills 1: Speaking)
Task 4: Work in pairs. Ask and answer questions about the advantages of each
types of energy sources.
Example:
A: What type of energy is oil?
B: It is a non-renewable source of energy, because it cannot easily be replaced.
A: What are its advantages and disadvantages?
B: It can be used to power machinery, but it also pollutes the environment.
- Teacher goes round and correct the answers if necessary.
- For weaker students, teacher should give them a handout to make it
easier.
Sources of energy
Advantage(s)
Disadvantage(s)
Fossil fuels (oil,
Create energy, generate
Non-renewable, harmful
coal, natural gas)
electricity, or drive big
to the environment.

Practicing short dialogues:
Acting out short dialogues can very easily be done in pairs, with little
chance of making mistakes. It can be done first with pairs of students in front of
the class and then with all students working in pairs at the same time.
Reading a text and answering questions:
Students can discuss questions in pairs or groups and then read the text or
they can read the text silently and then ask and answer questions in pairs or
groups. This is a good way of involving the whole class in answering questions.
Short-writing exercises:
Student can sit in groups and decide together what to write. One student
acts as “secretary”. This can be difficult to organize but in a large class it has the
advantages that students correct each others’ mistakes and the teacher only has a
few papers to mark at the end.
Pair work can be used for correcting written work (eg: homework)students sit in pairs and correct what their partner has written.
Discussions:
With more advanced class, discussions can be conducted in group. It is
important to define the discussion clearly and to ask each group to report their
conclusions afterwards.
Grammar exercises:
Student can do grammar exercises orally in pairs; the teacher goes
through the answers afterwards with the who class and students write the
exercises for homework. This is more interesting and productive than students
doing exercises alone, in silence.
2.4. Result after applying the study
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After a year applying pair work and group work activities in teaching
English at Hoang Dao secondary school, I have got some satisfactory results.
Most of my students have become more interested in learning English and of

pair work and group work effectively in teaching English” but for 7 th grade
students. In my observation, students are more interested and less anxious when
they work in groups and in pairs. Moreover, pair work and group work can
increase the amount of talking for individual students; encourage boarder skills
and participation, cooperation, negotiation and so on. The fact is that the
students felt more confident, comfortable and relaxed in working in pairs and in
small group; the interaction between students were better as they could discuss
freely, and learn from each other as well.
However, there were some factors which needed considering when pair
work and group work activities took place. First of all, before asking students to
work in pairs and in groups, teachers should have given clear instructions, and
provided students with necessary vocabulary. Moreover, to get the whole class
involved in the lesson, the teacher should have moved around the class and
helped the students if necessary. Also, if the teacher had praised students
properly, they would have worked more effectively. In addition, the way of
grouping students should be suitable for the task given and might encourage
students to work more effectively as well. Students liked to work with the ones
who were at higher level of proficiency. Therefore, students with different
proficiency level should be arranged to sit together. Also, the number of students
in each group shouldn’t be too large. As found from the data collection, the
suitable number for a group was 4 or 5 students. To sum up, despite these
problems, the use of pair work and group work techniques really increased
students’ interest and participation in activities.
Surely, this study can not avoid having limitations and making mistakes.
Yet I hope it will be helpful for teaching English at secondary school and
suitable for communicative teaching approach.
Head master’s signature

Hoang Dao, May 10th 2017
I pledge that I do it myself.

Name of initiative
Place of
No.
experience
evaluation
1
Sử dụng tranh ảnh trong Department
các giờ dạy môn nói
tiếng Anh cho học sinh ở
tiểu học.
2
How to organize pair Department
work and group work
effectively in teaching
English for 6th grade
students.

Level School year

Work place

B

2009-2010

Hoang Yen
Primary
School

B