THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

NONG CONG No3 UPPER – SECONDARY SCHOOL

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

USING LANGUAGE GAMES TO IMPROVE SPEAKING
SKILLS FOR GRADE 10 STUDENTS AT NONG CONG 3
HIGH SCHOOL

The writer: Tran Thi Thu Hien
Position:
English teacher
Experience: English

THANH HOA, 2017

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APPENDIX
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PART I: INTRODUCTION
I. Reasons for choosing the reseach
II. Aims of the reseach
III. Scopes of the reseach
IV. Reseaching methods
PART II: DEVELOPMENT
I. Theoretical background
II. Practical background
III. Solutions

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to assess a learner of English. However, it is not easy to master speaking skills,
there are many problems in learning speaking skills such as: the limited
opportunities for students to speak in class; teachers have not used many
speaking activities for students to participate in speaking; the lack of variation of
teaching techniques used by the teacher in class; teacher found it difficult to
control the class. In reality, visual aids, use songs, use group work and pair work
ect… has been applied in speaking lessons. However they have not brought as
much efficiency as expected. Therefore, using games in teaching speaking skills
is an important role in modern English than ever before. In language teaching,
applying language games is an important factor creating more opportunities and
interest to encourage students to speak.
For the above reasons, I decided to carry out a research on the title “using
language games to improve speaking skills for grade 10 students at Nong Cong
III High school” with the hope that it will be of some help to improve students in
leaning English speaking skills. I hope this research will be effective for students
in learning English speaking skills.
II. AIMS OF THE RESEARCH
On the basis of surveying students’ ability of speaking English at Nong
Cong III High School, I have given feasible solutions including innovating
methods of teaching speaking skill and ways of evaluating students’
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communicating comprehension with the aim of helping them get communicative
target of learning a language.
III. SCOPES OF THE RESEACH
Games are often used in language teaching. However, this thesis only focus
on the games to develop speaking skills. Especially to improve speaking skills
of the grade 10 students at Nong Cong III High School, the researcher intends to
investigate the current situation of teaching and learning speaking skill, then



Class

Before applying innovative techniques
(According to the figures at the beginning of
the school- year 2016 – 2017)
Excellent

Good

Fair

Poor

10B2

0%

5%

25%

70%

10B5

0%

8%

Give a short conversation:
A ………….. (1)

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B. Hi, Lan, How are you?
A. I’m fine. Thanks. And you?
B. I’m fine. Let’s go somewhere for a drink
A. Sorry…………… (2)
B. Oh yes. Bye
A. Bye. See you later.
Ask students to work in pairs
Each pair has to make a conversation based on the information on the board
After 2 to 3 minutes, call some pairs to practice about conversation
Possible dialogue:
A.
Hello, Hong
B.
Hi, Lan, How are you?
A.
I’m fine. Thanks. And you?
B.
I’m fine. Let’s go somewhere for drink
A.
Sorry. I’m busy. I must go out with my mother now.
B.
Oh yes. Bye
A.
Bye. See you later.

Type of games: Cross- word
Classroom management: Whole class
Teaching aid: handouts
Time: 5- 7 minutes
Procedure:
Teachers prepare a cross- word which has the key word “world cup”
(teachers can use a sub- board or a PowerPoint presentation).Teacher divides the
class into tow teams to answer eight questions in eight horizontal to find out the
key word in the vertical
Who can answer the key word will be the winner.
W I
N
N
E
R
M A
R
A
D
O
N
A
R
U
N
N
E
R
U
R

T
U
G
A
L
Clues:
1. The person who wins in a competition?
2. Who is considered the biggest football player every age?
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3. The person who fails in a competition?
4. The city has Big Ben Tower?
5. Which country is called the hometown of football?
6. Who is the head of a football team?
7. Where are football matches taken place?
8. Which national team does Cristiano Ronaldo play for?
3.1.2 Pre- speaking stage
This stage is carried out before students actually speak. The pre-speaking
activities are aimed at preparing students with everything necessary for
speaking. They also involve thought and reflection, and provide opportunities
for students to plan and organize for speaking. Normally, pre-speaking stage
often lasts from five to fifteen minutes depending on each lesson.
3.1.2.1 Brainstorm
Unit 1: A day in the life of………
(Task 2)
Type of games: Brainstorm
Classroom management: Whole class
Teaching aid: handout
Time: 15 minutes

Starting a conversation
Closing a conversation
Good morning.\ Hi
Great. I’ll see you tomorrow
Sorry. I’ve got to go. Talk to you later. Hello. How are you?
Well, it’s been nice meeting you
Hello. What are you doing?
How’s everything at school?
Catch you later?
Goodbye. See you later?
Hi. How is school?
Procedure:
- Three tables will be a group. So there will be 4 groups in total
- Students will discuss in groups to put sentences to the right columns
- The fastest group can go to the broad and match
- Teacher will check and give the key
3.1.2.3. Net works
Unit 3: People’s background
Type of games: Net works
Classroom management: Group
work
Teaching aid: card
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher divides the class into groups of eight students (two rows of
tables). The teacher asks students to work in groups to write about their topic
The teacher wrote on the board from the network
After teacher asks students work in group then students in each on the
board and write the information on topic
Then teacher asks students use information on this topic to talk about this

3.1.2.4 Role – play
Unit 14: World Cup (speaking task 1)
Type of games: Role- play
Classroom management: Group
work
Teaching aid: handout
Time: 7- 10 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher asks students to name four national football teams in the
photos on page in the textbook. They are: The English national football team
(photo1), the French national football team (photo 2), the Italian national
football team (photo 3) and the German national football team (photo 4)
Then the teacher divides the class into 4 groups namely: The English
team’s fans, the French team’s fans, the Italian team’s fans and the German
team’s fans respectively. The teacher will take turns to read the questions to each
group and the students in each group are supposed to answer them. One point is
given for each correct answer. And if all the members in one group fail to give
correct answer, the other groups can score points by raising their hands to
answer the questions. The winner is the one that gets the highest point.
Finally, the teacher can call the representatives from four groups to talk
about their favorite teams, using the information they have gained via the quiz.
They are encouraged to add some further information that they know to the talk.
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World Cup quiz for each national football team
Questions for the English team’s Questions for the German team’s
fans
fans
1. How many World Cup tournaments 1. How many World Cup tournaments

3.1.2.5 Labeling games
Unit 9: Undersea world (speaking task2)
Type of games: Labeling games
Classroom management: Whole
class
Teaching aid: pictures
Procedure:

Time: 7 minutes

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The teacher prepares a set of pictures of sea problems. (See the pictures
above). Then the teacher gives out one by one and asks students to tell what it is
about. The students raise their hands to describe the pictures and the teacher will
write these ideas on the board. Then the teacher states that they are some threats
to the health of the oceans. They are: Oil is spilled from tankers (picture 1);
whales and sharks are still hunted for food, medicine and other products (picture
2); explosives are used to catch fish and other sea animals (picture 3); beaches
are filled with plastic bags, pieces of glass and cigarette butts (picture 4). The
teacher requires students to discuss the consequences that might occur and offer
some possible solutions to these problems.
3.1.3 While-speaking stage
This stage is the main part of a speaking lesson in which students use
language input provided in pre-speaking stage to express personal feelings,

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the boxes
For example: Tiger is an animal may suffer from dangerous diseases.
Then teacher divides the class into two teams. One team is Nought (O) and one
team is Cross (X).
Two teams respectively collected words from the box and put sentences.
Public teams set of correct answers will be an “O” of “X”.
Public teams has 3 “O” or “X” on the on a horizontal, vertical, diagonal is
the winner.

3.1.3.2 Chain story
Unit 11: Nation parks
Task 3(While- speaking)
Type of games: chain story
Classroom management: Pair
works
Teaching aid: handouts
Time: 12 minutes
Preparation: Prepare handouts: one for Nga and the other for Nga’s friend
Nga’s friend
Nga

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- Ask what Nga did last Saturday
- Ask about the means of transport
Nga’s class used to go to Huong
Pagoda
- Ask about food and drinks Nga’s
class brought

Kind of film
Reason for watching to film
Favorites film
Favorites film / piece of film
When to watch to film
Procedure:
- Divide class into small groups of three. One of them will be a journalist
who wants to interview high school students about their music taste. The
journalist has to ask 2 students some questions and fill in the table for his\ her
later article
- Students can change the role if time permits
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- After 8 minutes of interviewing, the teacher calls on some groups to make
presentations on what they have done in their group
Teacher gives comments and corrects errors.
3.1.3.4 Challenging game
Unit 16: Historical place
(Task 3)
Type of games: Challenging game
Classroom management: Work group
Time: 15 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher split the class into two teams. The teachers gives topic has the
key words “citadel of the Ho dynasty”. Two teams huddle within 30 seconds to
give words related to this topic and turn to challenge your team. Which team is
more challenging than the number of words spoken before.
If say enough and the right amount of challenge is scored 1 point. If you
say one wrong word or saying one word that does not belong or not say enough

9. It was warm. I prefer the weather in Vung Tau to Nha Trang
11. Hi, Nam. I feel tired because I stayed up late to watch TV last night
13. No, I didn’t. I did my homework until 11 p.m. I feel hungry now. What
about going to the cinema?
15. What did you like most in Vung Tau?
2. What was on TV last night?
4. Yes, that’s a great ideal. Let’s go
6. Sure
8. By the way, do you want to see my photos?
10. Hello, Ba. You don’t look happy. What’s the matter with you?
12. Hi, Hung. It was wonderful. I really enjoyed it.
14. Oh, there was an international football match on TV at 9 p.m. and a
good film at 11 p.m. Did you watch TV last night?
Feedback:
The weather: 5 12 15 3 7 9 1 8 6
Last’s night TV program: 11 10 2 14 13 4
3.1.4.2 Picture drill
Unit 5: Technology and game
(Task 4)
Type of games: Picture drill
Classroom management: Group
work
Teaching aid: Pictures and cards
Time: 10 minutes
Procedure:
The teacher divides the class into groups of four or five students
The teacher prepares from 6 to 8 pictures on the board.
From this picture, the student asks questions based on drawings were used
structure learning.
Pictures:

excursion. The teacher can begin the story with one clause of the third
conditional sentence. Then the students in each group one by one add more
sentences using the third conditional sentences. After the last student in each
group finishes the story, all groups are asked to tell their excursion in front of the
class. The teacher will decide which the most interesting story is.
For example: The teacher can begin: If yesterday had been Sunday………

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Student A: If yesterday had been Sunday, I would have gone a picnic to
Cua Lo beach
Student B: If I had gone to Cua Lo beach, I would have gone with some of
my friends
Student C: I had gone with some of my friends; we would have gone there
by motorbike
Alternatively, it can be made more interesting and amusing by replacing the
third conditional sentences with the story using “fortunately” and
“unfortunately”.
For example:
The teacher can start: Yesterday it was nice, so I decided to go for a walk
Student A: Unfortunately, it began to rain
Student B: Fortunately, I had an umbrella
Student C: Unfortunately, it was broken.
3.1.4.4 Searching game
Unit 15: Task 4 (Post- speaking)
Type of games: searching game
Classroom management: Whole class
Teaching aids: copies of tables Preparation: make copies for the table
below

allowed to use proper name. And the game can be played until time is up.
For example: The student takes up a card on which “Amsterdam” is
written. He can use the typical features to talk about it: It is the city which is
famous for tulips and windmills. So the other students may find it easy to guess
correctly
Set of cards
HONGKONG TOKYO

NEW DELI

ROME

SYDNEY

LONDON

MEXICO

HANOI

BEIJING

PARIS

BERLIN

BANGKOK

MOSCOW


Good

Fair

Poor

10B2

7%

26%

43%

24%

10B5

8%

28%

44%

20%

PART III. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION

I. Conclusion
The important of speaking for grade 10 form students is undeniable. It is

The writer

Trần Thị Thu Hiên

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REFERENCES
1. Lightbown M.P, Spada N. (1990), How language are learned, OUP[1]
2. Ur, P. (1996). A course in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP[2]
3. Kim, Lee Su. 1995. Creative Games for The Language Class.[3]
4.Greenal, S. (1984). Language games and activities. Great Britain: Hulton
Educational Publication[4
5. Lesson/Ersz-Games.html[5]
6. Techniques/ Deesri-Game.html[6]
7. />
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Họ và tên tác giả: Trần Thị Thu Hiên
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Cống 3
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