SKKN Applying active learning techniques into english speaking class Grade 10 at Thai Hoa High School

ew way of 
learning. 
- Develop self-study skills 
II. MATERIALS 
- Grade 10 textbook, Unit 8, Speaking 
- Computer, smart phones connected to the internet 
- Projector 
III. PROCEDURES 
Notes: 
In each activity, each step will be represented as following: 
* Deliver the task 
** Implement the task 
*** Discuss 
**** Give comments or feedback 
Stage Stage aim Procedure Interaction Time 
WARM-
UP 
- To activate 
students’ 
knowledge 
on the topic 
of the unit. 
- To set the 
context for 
the 
speaking 
part. 
Game: Jigsaw puzzle 
*T asks Ss to guess the name of 
each device in each puzzle and 
guess the key picture behind after 
each puzzle is opened. 
T-S 
5 mins 
41 
Picture 1: 
Picture 2: 
Picture 3: 
Picture 4: 
Picture 5: 
Key picture: 
42 
Answer: 
Picture 1: earphones 
Picture 2: headset 
Picture 3: laptop 
Picture 4: wifi router 
Picture 5: Zoom 
Key picture: Online learning T 
leads into the topic of today lesson: 
Online learning 
BRAINS
TORMI
NG 
To provide 
students with 
additional 
ideas for the 
following 
speaking 
task 
TASK 1: FILL IN THE TABLE 
*T shows on the screen the 
following table. 
**T asks Ss to refer to the 
advantages and disadvantages of 
online learning when compared to 
face-to-face learning from the 
Reading lesson and fill in the 
table. 
- 
- 
*** T asks 2 Ss to give their 
answers 
**** T gives feedbacks and shows 
the correct answers on the slide 
Suggested answers: 
T-S 
T-S 
 S 
S 
S 
5 mins 
43 
CONTR
OLLED 
PRACTI
CE 
To help 
students 
collect 
materials 
from the 
previous 
lesson for 
the following 
speaking 
tasks 
TASK 2: FILL IN THE CHART 
(p.90) 
Put the advantages and 
disadvantages of online learning 
from the box into suitable 
categories. You may add more to 
each category. 
*T asks Ss to open the book, work 
in pairs and put the following 6 
statements into 2 columns: 
Advantages and disadvantages of 
online learning 
** Ss work in pairs and fill in the 
chart. 
*** T asks 2 pairs of Ss to give 
their answers. 
**** T gives correction on the 
slide. 
Answers: 
Advantages: a, d, e 
Disadvantages: b, c, f 
T-S 
S-S 
T-S 
LESS 
CONTR
OLLED 
PRACTI
CE 
 TASK 3: FILL IN THE TABLE 
(p.90) 
Work in groups. Each group 
chooses to be either For or 
Against online learning. Discuss 
and provide explanations to 
support your side. Use the table 
below to note your ideas. 
10 mins 
44 
*T asks Ss to give 
examples/evidence for each 
advantage and disadvantage 
mentioned in Task 2 by filling in 
the table. 
** Ss work in groups and fill in the 
chart. 
*** T asks one group to give their 
answers and asks if other groups 
want to add anything else. 
**** T gives correction on the 
slide. 
Suggested answers: 
FOR 
– We can learn anytime and 
anywhere with an Internet 
connection. (We don’t have to go 
to 
school and we can save a lot of 
time travelling. We can do 
assignments when we have free 
time as they are uploaded online.) 
– We can organise our own study 
schedule. (We choose to attend the 
courses that are suitable 
for our schedule. The timetable 
may not be fixed.) 
AGAINST 
– This can harm our health. (If we 
sit in front of a computer for a long 
T-S 
S-S 
T-S 
45 
time, it can cause shortsightedness 
or backache.) 
– We may have technical problems. 
(We can't follow the teacher's 
lesson or submit homework.) 
FREE 
PRACTI
CE 
To provide 
Ss with 
useful 
expressions 
for the 
following 
speaking 
task 
- Teacher asks students to work in 
pairs: one role plays an MC and 
one role plays a guest - an 
educational expert. 
- Teacher lets students imagine 
that they are invited to a Talk 
Show programme. 
- Teacher calls on some pairs to 
present their talks. 
Suggested information for a Talk 
Show: 
- Greeting 
- Introducing the topic 
- Talking together 
- Closing 
Suggested answer: 
MC: Good morning, Miss Mai. 
Welcome to our Talk Show 
today. 
Guest: Good morning, Mr Tuan. I’m 
really happy to be joined this 
programme. 
MC: I know that, you’re an 
educational expert so can you 
share with us some advantages 
and disadvantages of online 
learning? 
Guest: Well, learning online has 
become a popular way that 
students choose to get knowledge. 
As you know, due to covid-19 
pandemic, teachers and students 
through our country had to learn 
online. 
T-S 
T-S 
S-S 
T-S 
17 mins 
46 
MC: That’s right. Could you tell us 
about the advantages of online 
learning? 
Guest: First, we can learn anytime 
and anywhere with an Internet 
connection. So we don’t have to 
travel long distances to school. We 
can stay at home to attend lessons. 
Second, we can organise our own 
study schedule, for example, we can 
take evening classes and have more 
time during the day. 
MC: Sure, we can’t deny the 
advantages of online learning. But I 
think there have some disadvantages 
of this way of learning. Can you 
share with us? 
Guest: As learning online, we 
may have some technical problems, 
such as bad internet connection or 
broken mic, and so on. Moreover, if 
you sit in front of the computer for a 
long time, it may cause eye 
problems, body aches. Next, you 
can’t discuss and talk face-to-face, it 
means you can't ask questions, can't 
understand the lesson fully 
 MC: I’m sure, many people 
think it over. Thank you for your 
sharing. 
Guest: It’s my pleasure. 
Good bye and see you later. 
WRAP-
UP 
To 
consolidate 
what 
students 
have learnt 
in the lesson 
Teacher asks students to talk about 
what they have learnt in the lesson. 
T-S 
2 mins 
HOME
WORK 
To review 
the lesson 
and prepare 
Do exercises in the workbook. 
T-S 
1 mins 
47 
for the next 
lesson 
5. Results and Discussion 
Having applied these activities to teach English 10 - Global Success in this 
year, I have carried out some surveys among students. The results of my work are 
counted as the table below: 
School year 
Total number 
of students 
Communicating in English effectively 
Before doing 
experiments 
After doing 
experiments 
Number of 
students 
% 
Number of 
students 
% 
2022 - 2023 
10A (47 Ss) 15 31,91% 28 59,57% 
10C (43 Ss) 14 32,55% 27 62,79% 
10M (41 Ss) 10 24,39% 21 51,22% 
As we can see from the table above, communication ability of students has a 
lot of clear improvements. Although students may pronounce incorrecly and use 
wrong words in some situations, they become more confident and active. In 
addition, they enrich their vocabulary and grammar. 
48 
PART III: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 
1. Conclusion 
After applying this method to teaching process for tenth - grade students at Thai 
Hoa High School this year, I see that the students participated in the lesson actively. 
Not only the high level students but also the low level students can use English in the 
speaking lesson. 
Using active learning technique in a speaking lesson makes the lesson more 
exciting. Students are motivated and feel free to express their ideas in front of the 
whole class and among their group. It makes students feel comfortable and relaxed. 
Day-by-day, students’ speaking skill is clearly improved at the end of the school year 
in compared with the beginning of the new school year (2022-2023). A majority of 
the students can talk in English confidently. Whereas at the beginning of the school 
year only about 30% of the students can certainly speak their ideas in English. During 
this school year, I found that students at the class 10A, 10C and 10M really like the 
teacher using active learning technique in teaching the lesson and they are eager to 
get involved in the activities. 
Through teaching process using active learning techniques, I have faced with lots 
of difficulties. First of all, it is time-consuming. The teachers have to take lots of time 
to prepare for the activities. Secondly, the teachers sometimes encounter the problem 
of losing control in each group activities. In my class, some teams are not working 
well. Some team members do not join the activity. It is hard for others to complete 
the learning tasks. Team working together on doing tasks may always rely on one or 
two members to handle presentation or report the result of discussion. The others may 
then be reluctant to speak when they are assigned to speak individually. 
Although there have been lots of problems when applying active learning methods 
into teaching speaking skill, the teachers should overcome that matters to bring 
students with many interesting and exciting lessons. Active learning strategies 
including lots of advantages and their application are considered helping students 
achieve their learning goals. 
49 
2. Limitations 
The research only focuses on the teachers’ views, attitudes, thinking and 
knowledge on the benefits of learning in term of creating communicative activities for 
students, improving speaking skill, learning autonomy and teamwork skills. 
The research was conducted in the form of mixed research method but there is a 
limited number of participants. If there are more participants, the results might have 
been more reliable. 
3. Recommendations 
With the teachers: While active learning places an emphasis on the student’s role 
in the learning experience, there is no doubt that the success of any active learning 
strategy starts with the thought and planning of a conscientious instructor. 
When applying any of these strategies for your course, be sure to ask yourself: 
 Will this be engaging and exciting for my students? 
 Is the student placed at the center of this learning strategy? 
 Will this encourage my students to discuss a topic with one another? 
 Am I giving students the opportunity to reflect on the learning process? 
 Is this activity getting my students to think deeply and critically about a topic or 
lesson or is it simply a comprehension exercise? 
With the headmaster and authorities: 
 More equipment will be given to the school especially school library. The teachers 
can access to the new teaching method materials. 
 The size of the class will not be too large so that the teachers can easily control 
students’ activities 
 The teachers have more chance to take part in method training courses to upgrade 
their teaching methods. 
Through this research, I would like to suggest an effective way for the English teacher 
to make the lesson more exciting through using active learning strategies. This way of 
teaching is used not only in the grade tenth but also grade eleventh and twelfth. Here are 
my suggestions in hope that they will help improve the way we teach foreign language 
to students. If there are any mistakes, I would like to be received any of your comments 
to make my research more perfect. 
50 
References. 
1. George. P; Mc Callum. 1980.101 word games, oxford University Press 
2. Shelagh, R. 1991. How to use games in language teaching. Modern English 
Publishcations. 
3. Shult 2, Matthew and Fisher, Alan. 1988. Warm-up for all reason. Addidon 
Wesley Publishing Company. 
4. Lee, W.L.1994. Language teaching games and contests. Oxford University 
Press. 
5. Victoria University of Wellington- Language Teaching Techniques 
6. Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language 
classroom. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
7. Grace Stovall Burkat(1998) - Learning Strategies, London: 
Routledge and Prentice Hall Publishers. 
8. McDonough J, & Shaw, C. (1993), Materials and Methods in ELT. A 
Teacher‟s Guide, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. 
9. Jo Mac Donough (1995) Spoken Language: What is it and How to 
Teach it: Cambridge University Publishers. 
51 
APPENDICES 
Appendix 1: 
SURVEY 1 
(For students after joining active learning activities) 
Could you please express your ideas on the questions raised below or put an (X) in 
the boxes or lines. Your opinions are very valuable to my survey. Such comments 
will only be used for scientific research purposes. 
Question 1: What do you think of speaking skill in learning English? 
 really important important 
 less important unimportant 
Question 2: How do you think about the communicative activities adapted in 
each unit? 
A. Interested and motivated 
B. Excited and ready to talk 
C. Boring and uncomfortable 
D. Embarrassed and nervous 
Question 3: Communicative activities should be _____created 
 regularly 
 sometimes 
 never 
Thanks for your help. 
52 
Appendix 2 
SURVEY 2 
(For teachers at Thai Hoa high school ) 
To do this topic: “Applying active learning techniques into English speaking 
class grade 10”, Could you please express your ideas on the questions raised 
below or put an (X) in the boxes or lines. Your opinions are very valuable to my 
survey. Such comments will only be used for scientific research purposes. 
Question 1: I think using and adapting communicative activities in speaking 
class in textbook grade 10 is ______ 
 Really necessary 
 Necessary 
 Less necessary 
 Unnecessary 
Question 2: How do you think about the communicative activities adapted in 
each unit? 
Adapted 
activities 
Really 
feasible 
Feasible 
Less feasible 
Unfeasible 
Unit 1: Poster session 
Unit 2: Discussion and game 
Unit 3: Guessing Game 
Unit 5: Role play 
Unit 6: Matching & Find 
someone who 
Unit 7: Discussion 
Unit 8: Talk show 
Thanks for your help. 
53 
Appendix 3 
Some images were taken in classes which were applied this teaching method. 
1. Images of reporting the video for Unit 1: Home life from 10A and from 10C 
(school year 2022 -2023) 
Class 10A: 
Group 1 
Group 2 
54 
Group 3 
Tam Tri from Group 3 
55 
Ngan Thuong from Group 4 
56 
Class 10C: 
Group 1 
Group 1
57 
 Group 2 
Group 2 
58 
Group 3 
Group 3 
59 
Group 4 
60 
61 
62 
2. Images of reporting the video for Unit 5: Inventions from 10A and from 10C 
(school year 2022 -2023) 
Class 10C: a robot 
63 
3. Images of reporting the video for Unit 1: A new way to learn from 10A and 
from 10C (school year 2022 -2023) 
Gia Khanh and Khanh Chi from Class 10C 
64 
Trung Hieu and Chau from class 10A 
65 
Minh Thai and Phuong Linh from class 10A 
66 
APPENDIX 4: Pictures for communicative activities 
Pictures for Unit 3: Music 
Picture number 1: Vietnam’s Got Talent 
Picture number 2: X-factor 
Picture number 3: Rap Viet
67 
Picture number 4: pop Idol 
Picture number 5: Vote for five 
68 
Pictures for Unit 6: GENDER EQUALITY 
Picture number 1: surgeons 
Picture number 2: A shop assisstant 
Picture number 3: A nurse 
69 
 Picture number 4: An airline pilot 
Picture number 5: firefighters 
Picture number 6: A kindergarten teacher 
70 
Picture number 7: Engineers 
Picture number 8: A secrectary