THANH HOA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONN AND TRAINING

BA THUOC CHAMBER OF EDUCATION & TRAINING

EXPERIENCE INITIATIVE

SOME TECHNIQUES TO TEACH THE SOUND / ʊ / AND / u: /
FOR GIFTED STUDENTS AT LUONG NGOAI SECONDARY
SCHOOL

Writer: Ha Thi Thao
Position: Teacher
Teaching school: Luong Ngoai secondary school
The aspect of study: English

THANH HOA 2019
1|Page


INDEX

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Reason of research..................................................................
1.2. The purpose of the research ...................................................
1.3. Research subjects....................................................................
1.4. Method of research.................................................................
2. CONTENT
2.1. Rationale.................................................................................
2.2. Statement of the problem........................................................
2.2.1. Problem
2.2.2. Effect

2.4.4. For my colleagues.
3. CONCLUSION AND PROPOSAL
3.1. Conclusion..............................................................................
3.2. Proposal.................................................................................
DOCUMENTS
CATEGORY INITIATIVES

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1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
There are many things that English teachers need to fit into their limited
class time-grammar, vocabulary, speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
Pronunciation often gets pushed to the bottom of the list. Many teachers say
there’s just not enough time to teach pronunciation. Students often think it isn’t
that important-after all, it won’t be tested on their high school entrance exams! But
if students need or want to speak English understandably, pronunciation is
important. “The days when learners only needed reading and writing skills in
English are past. Depending on where you teach, many or all of your students will
need to speak and understand English in real life to communicate with both native
2

Ngoai secondary school, coping with a lot of difficulties that gifted students have
in pronouncing the sound / ʊ / and / u:/ I applied some new ways to change the
learning skills and results of students. In this study, I would like to clarify the way
I did through the topic “Some techniques to teach the sound / ʊ / and / u:/ for
gifted students at Luong Ngoai Secondary School”
1.2. The purpose of the research
- To help students recognize and pronounce the sounds / ʊ / or / u:/ correctly .
1.3. Research subjects
- To research the regulations so as to help the students at Luong Ngoai school
overcome difficulties in identifying the sounds / ʊ / and / u:/correctly.
1.4. Researching method:
During the study, I used the following methods:
- Survey and investigation are applied to investigate the quality of students
when they pronouce the sound / ʊ / and / u:/ through class activities and tasks in
the textbook
3


- Observation is applied to observe the activities of students during the time
they are included in the phonetic drills.
- Practice is applied when the teachers organize activities for students to
reconigzie the sound/ ʊ / and / u:/ .
- Analysis, statistics, synthesis, comparation and assessment are applied to
assess the progress of students when they approach with new methods
2. CONTENT
2.1. Theoretical Base
English has 24 consonant sounds and 20 vowel sounds, represented by just
21 consonant letters and five vowel letters. Also, unlike some other languages,
English does not have a one-to-one correspondence between letter and sound. For
example, the spelling group “ough” is pronounced differently in the words ought,

Short vowel sound (/u/): e.g. Cut
This sound is pronounced (/ʌ/), like in bus, until, and ugly.
Long vowel sound (/uː/): e.g. Cute
The /uː/ sound can be heard in the words use, argue, and student.
2.2. Statement of the problem
2.2.1. Problem:
Many researchers have also proven that students are much more ready to
interact with each other with more complex responses than with their teacher [4]
‘students feel comfortable working, interacting and making mistakes with their
partners rather than with their teachers and corrective feedback from peers are
found to be less daunting than the correction by teachers. I was a new teacher at
Luong Ngoai Secondary School. Many of my students could barely pronunciation
any English and were reluctant to even try. Most of the time, they were found
speaking Muong, their mother tongue language. After a short time teaching in
here, myself identifies factors causing pronunciation difficulties as: Students are
worried about making mistakes fearful of criticism, or simply shy. Students have
no motivation to express themselves… only one participant can talk at a time
because of large classes and the tendency of some students to dominate while
others speak very little or not at all… students who share the same mother tongue
tend to use it because it is easier and because they feel less exposed if they speak
their mother tongue.
- / ʊ / và /u:/ are the popular sounds in English. However, most students in Luong
Ngoai often mistake the sound / ʊ / for /u:/. The main reason of the mistake is that
in Vietnamese all the syllables are read alike, and there is no concept of "long
syllable" so Luong Ngoai students find it difficult to pronounce short and long
vowels, which leads to misunderstanding for the listeners.
2.2.2. Effect.
In fact, when I taught gifted student in the school year 2017-2018, 2018-2019
at Luong Ngoai Secondary School. To have accurate basis for determining
innovative solutions, find out the way to solve the problem, from the beginning of

unt
0
0
2
13,3

Medium
Amo
%
unt
7
46,6
8
53,4

Weak
Amo
%
unt
7
46,6
4
26,6

Poor
Amo
%
unt
1
6.8

0
0
5
33,3
7
46,7
3
20
By the statistical results showed that the percentage of weak & poor
students are still quite high. This indicates their pronunciation skills are limited, so
the essential problem is how to train pronunciation skills for students to be
effective, I have proposed solutions and used following methods to perform.
2.3. Suggested solutions and implementation
How do you know if a word in English is pronounced with the long vowel
sound or the short vowel sound? For example, cut and cute are pronounced
differently, but which one has the long u sound? It may seem obvious with a short,
familiar word, but what if you encounter a new word that you have never seen
before? There is a quick an easy trick I have found that will give you the right
answer most of the time.
2.3.1) Some techniques to teach the two sounds:
The sound /u:/
A. LESSON ONE: The sound /u:/
In this unit we will study the various letters which represent or include the
sound / u: / for example,/u:/ in blue, too, who and chew
A.1)Teaching /u:/ sound.
-Describe
the
way
of
pronouncing
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/uː/ is a long vowel sound. Make a lip into a circle. Put your tongue up and back.
It's pronounced /uː/....../uː/.
- Write some words that includes /u:/ on the board and read them out.
Blue, Chew, Route, Two, Cruise, Boot, Hoop, Goose, bamboo
Ask students to compare the words. They recognize that the letters pronounced
/u:/ are different. After that we teach them how to identify the vowels
pronounced /u:/.
* WRITE ON THE BOARD:
+ “o” is pronounced /u:/ in some common words that end by “o” or “o” with
some certain consonants.
Example:
Do, To, Lose, Tomb.
+) “u” is pronounced as /u:/ in words having “ue”, “u-e”, “uit”, “ui-e” , as in glue,
June, fruit, cruise.
+) “oo” is pronounced as /u:/ when standing at the end of a word or a sound or
being followed by some consonants: l, d, t, n, th (e) as in school, tooth, noon,
7


soot, food, sooth except for “oo” followed by k as in book, look, and some words
such as “foot”, “floor”.
+) “ou” is pronounced as /u:/ in some words when it is followed by “p”, “pe”,
“ch-”, “nd”, “ff” as in loup, troupe, douche, wound, boudoir, bouffant. Words
similar to (because they are derived from) French words tend to have /u/, e.g.
"soup", "route" [for UK speakers], "group" etc;
+) “ew” is also pronounced /u:/.For example: crew, grew, bedew, jewel…
A.2) Practice activity:

e
……………………….
9. g o
g
o l
e
……………………….
10. t
b
e
u
……………………….
The answer:
1. two
6. smooth
2. do
7. bestrew
3. group
8. flute
4. chose
9. google
5. bruise
10. tube
b) Fill in the missing word.
Students can be given partially written words and then fill in the missing letters.
To make it easier, pictures [4] are included.

1.s - - 2.j - - - -

3.t - - 8

different categories. A student goes to the board and picks one word up then the
others try to guess the word by asking him/ her questions. For instance, he picks a
word relating to appliance of family. Through questions are made, students can
find the word “broom”.
Suggestions for categories:
+Appliance of family: broom, duvet, bathroom scales, stool, spoon, cruise
+Animals: baboon, gnu, goose, rooster, moose, raccoon, bluebird
+Vegetables and fruits: mushroom, ugli fruit, jackfruit, star fruit, blueberry
+Clothes: uniform, suit, hood, swimsuit, tunic, bloomers, pantsuit
+Jobs-occupation-professions: supervisor, musician, student, computer
programmer
-For intermediate:
9


Limit time for students to write as many words including long vowel u relating to
a certain category as possible. They can work individually, in pairs or in groups.
The categories can be
 Sports
 Foods
 Verbs
 personality
 Tools
Examples: judo, canoeing, rude, bestrew…..
- For advanced:
Ask students to work in groups of 5. Each group is given one of these tasks
following:
 Write as many words as you can that contain “oo”.
 Write as many words as you can that contain “u-e”, “ue”.
 Write as many words as you can that contain “ui”.

Cartoon
Full
June
Put
It can be easily seen that there the same letters but they are pronounced
differently as book and cartoon.
+) "o" is pronounced /ʊ/ in some words such as wolf

,

woman
,bosom.
+) "ou" is pronounced /ʊ/ in some model verbs: should, would, could
+) "oo" " is pronounced /ʊ/ if it is followed by k, d, t as in book, good, sooth.
Now we can see that it is difficult to recognize /ʊ/ or /u: / in a word with “oo”
when we compare it to it in the previous lesson because “oo” itself has 2 ways of
pronunciation. Therefore we must learn the cases by heart.
Note: g,st or h precedes ood then oo is pronounced /ʊ/.
+) “u” is pronounced /jʊ/ when we find it in the pattern : “u + r + a vowel” such
as in cure, furious.
+) “u” is pronounced /ʊ/in some words when it is followed by “sh”, “ ll”, “t”.
For example: pull, push, foot except for boot, soot, cull, lull or ush follows b .
B.2) Practice activity:
/ ʊ / and /u:/ are the sounds in English that can be difficult for any learners, and
there are also distinctions between sounds that some students find confusing
because there is no such distinction in their mother tongue so it is definitely
worthwhile doing some activities to target specific areas.
- For beginners:
a. Limited time writing:
Divide the class into groups. Give them 5 minutes to write as many words as


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B

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R

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T

O

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E

I

N

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P

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N

F

S

Y

E

N

E

P


I

L

B

U

L

L

U

O

U

O

O

U

D

H

J

* Group work: Ask students to work in groups of 5. All groups do the same task at
the same time
First, write as many words as you can that contain “ur-”.
Second, write as many words as you can that contain “ush”.
Third, write as many words as you can that contain “ull”.
Last, write as many words as you can that contain “ook”.
Limit the time. Allow students to use dictionary during the activity. When
the time is over, students hang their posters on the board. All groups can check
and add more words for each other with teacher’s controlling.
* Suggested answers:
-cure, pure, during, curious, furious, durra, pure, lure, bureau…
-bush, push, push-cart, pushchair, ambush, pusher….
-bull, full, pull, bell-pull, bulldog, mournful….
-cook, book, look, crook, gook, shook…
- For advanced:
* Puzzle: Teacher prepares many questions for words containing short vowel /ʊ/.
Students try to guess the word to fill in the table. After the correct answers are
filled, they have a special word. For example:
1. V A L
U E
R
2.

C

R

O

O

5.

B

U

L

L

E

T

6.

C

O

U

L

D

D
R

4.

/ u:/
………………………………………
………………………………………
………………………………………
………………………………………
……………………………………
1. boot
2. good
3. soot
4.woman
5. hook
6. suit
7. pussy cat
8.full
b. Find / u:/ or / ʊ / way

/ʊ/
………………………………………
………………………………………
………………………………………
………………………………………
………………………………………
9. tube
10.pool
11.do
12.food
13.should
14. Undertook
15.push
16.tooth

Food

gune

pool

Soot

stood

croup

facebook Good

c. Write what you hear. Teacher get students to draw the table with two column
containing /u/ and / u:/ and then Teacher read a list of words containing long
vowel u or short vowel u out and ask students write the words they hear in the
right column. After reading, the teacher takes some of students’ papers to check.
Both teacher and students correct the answer. Students can do the practice
individually, in pairs or in groups.
d. Odd One Out
Prepare a list with sets of three to four words that have the same vowel
sound, plus one somewhere in the middle that is different. For
example, food, good, boot and fool. Divide your class into two teams and have
them form two lines in front of the board. Write the first set of four words on the
board. The students at the front of the line must read the set of words, race to the
board once they have identified the word that sounds different and circle it. The
first student to circle the odd word scores a point for the team.
e. Four in a Row
Here’s a good one for young learners! Divide your class into groups of

do it the same.
3. Check if students always remember the rules and if they can write long or short
vowel u by oral test, five minute test or fifteen minute test after teaching .
4. Give them homework for example, practice reading sentences, write 5 or more
words containing / ʊ / sound and you have to check and correct homework for
them.
5. Teach words listed as "common exceptions" only if they are fairly important
words that your students are likely to need and try to use pictures, images and
games to reduce difficulty and tension.
6. Encourage students by good marks if they do well.
2.4. Result after applying the research in teaching.
2.4.1) For education activity.
- Students recognize two vowel sounds and they can explain the answer.
My students told me that they could recognize two vowel sounds after lessons.
Here is one of four groups’ correct answer for a practice activity within 3 minutes
photographed in our lesson with the students in the class. They did it without
looking at their notebook .We were proud to see the following perfect answer.

- Students became more attentive and conscientious in lessons.
I was really happy when I saw my students look at the board and listened to
my teaching more concentrated. They asked me questions during the lessons to
catch on the knowledge instead of sitting and listening quietly. When they
practiced, they discussed altogether in groups and good learners help the weak
ones. These positive changes show that my effort is helpful and useful.
15


- Students became more enthusiastic
I used to be so depressed and angry when looking at their uncompleted
homework exercises. After applying the research in teaching, I was satisfied with

5, E.notebook
7, G.truth
Exercise 3
1. A. hear
B. clear

C. there
C. placed
C. stranger
C. threw

2,
4,
6,
8,
10,

D. than
D. showed
D. longer
D. flew

B.fun
E.boat
G.sugar
I.butcher
K.pudding

2, B.choose
4, D.move

B. could

C.would

D. put

2.4.2) For subject’s quality.
Be used during two school years at Luong Ngoai secondary school 2017-2018,
2018-2019. Subject’s quality has improved clearly and more effective. Detail such
as:
* Before applying
16


Table 1. Result English 8 marks (general lesson), school year 2017-2018
and 2018-2019:
Gra
de

Total

8
8

15
15

Good
Amou
%

4
26,6

Poor
Amo
%
unt
1
6.8
1
6,7

Table 2. Survey result emotional index of gifted students for English
pronunciation:
Like so
Like
Nomal
Dislike
much
School year Total
SL
% SL
%
SL
%
SL
%
2017-2018
15
0


Good
Amou
%
nt
3
20
4
26,65

Fair
Amo
%
unt
5
33,35
6
40

Medium
Amo
%
unt
5
33,35
5
33,35

Weak
Amo

%
2017-2018
15
2
13,3
8
53,35
5
33,35
0
0
2018-2019
15
3
20
9
60
3
20
0
0
Compare datas between two tables, I found that studying effection of
students in school year 2018 - 2019 had increase clearly. Emotional index had also
become possitive. It means that applying this method brought the better results
and necessary. Students could practice easier and pronounce more naturaly.
2.4.3) For myself.
After using these methods through the year of teaching in Luong Ngoai
secondary school, I had divided my class into three ability groups. I had also
designed special instructional materials for the weakest students. I spent more
time with them while the others were engaged in reading or writing activities. I

In conclusion, I found my teaching effective. My students made much
progress in learning. In terms of their behaviors, they studied seriously. I have
learnt that a successful lesson includes many factors: teacher, students,
environment…,so to make classroom teaching more effective and useful for
students, teachers have to try to make each lesson purposeful and interesting and
students have careful preparation before class hours. Teachers should also try to
make the classroom environment relaxing in order that students do not feel tense
while learning. One more important thing is that when you test your students,
notice to their different abilities to give them suitable tasks. In short, the research I
made was effective. I am so thankful to receive more contributive ideas to make
it more improvable.
3.2. Proposal
Based on the findings, I suggested the following:
+ For the ethnic minority students in the same class to facilitate teachers can help
students more in the learning process .
+ Organization of English club 1 time per month to help them to have a chance to
talk the language they have learned , opportunities to communicate .

18


+ Do Lab to give students more opportunities to hear the exact pronunciation of
native speakers , due to the time teachers in the use of teaching aids in the
classroom
+ The textbook should include tape scripts at the end, students should also have
tapes for practicing speaking outside the classroom and have a revision speaking
unit after each three units.
+ Topics for speaking are not interesting from students point of view, so topics
from daily life experience are recommended these are like customs of marriage in
their tribes, interviews with famous football players or journeys.

Chức vụ và đơn vị công tác: Trường THCS Lương Ngoại.

TT

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Tên đề tài, Sáng kiến

1

Các phương pháp quản lý tốt tiết
dạy tiếng anh lớp 6.

2

Experience helps students in
grade 7 of Luong Ngoai secondary
school to learn vocabulary well.

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