Create English competitive environment in teenaged class

CREATE ENGLISH COMPETITIVE EVIRONMENT IN TEENAGED CLASS

I. Introduction English is an International language, almost people in the world are studying English as a second language. In Vietnam, parents send their children to English centers at very early age to help them to get acquainted with this language as soon as possible, that why there is a considerable number of children and teenagers learning English in Vietnam and espeacially in some big cities such as Ho Chi Minh city, Ha Noi, Hai Phong.. As a teacher to be in Ho Chi Minh city, i concern in developing the way to help teenagers study English effectively. I found out that in many high schools, students learn English with pressure, and the class environment is quite quiet, students are focused to pay attention on the lesson, they dont have any interest in the lesson because there are no chances for them to prove themselves. That is a impulsive dynamic for me to share my idea about creating English competitive environment in teenaged class. II. Why should create English competitive environment in teenaged class? 2.1 Do teenagers like competition? The answer is yes. Following the Maslow's hierarchy of needs (picture 1, page 2) which shows the humans need in a pyramid shape from low level in the bottom to high level in the top. To the top of the pyramid, human needs morality, creativity, spontaneity and all of this elements exist in most competitions. That explains why not only teenagers but also other ages would like to attend in any contests.

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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class

Picture 1: Maslow's hierarchy of needs 2.2 Competing is a good way to review lesson In some high schools, to review old lesson, teachers usually ask 1 or 2 students to go the board and write or read vocabularies in last lesson. Students learn English like their duty not their hobbies, they sit and pray the teachers dont call their names. Instead of that, why dont we create a competition environment for students? Surely, they will not realize that we are checking their old lesson and more than that, they can prove themselves, there will be no pressure in English class anymore. Example: If the last lesson was about fruit, teacher can devide students into 2 or 3 or 4 groups, depends on the number of students. Then let them write any words about fruits as many as possible, the one who gets more words will be the winner. 2.3 Competing help students to release energy effectively Sitting all time during the lesson is easy to drive students into sleeping, otherwise, they will start to talk with friends, use cell phones, eat junk food, and even rouse their friends. Creating an active competition for them is very essential. An active competition will change the mood in class, students can run, jump, scream, talk freely.

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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class Then, all energy is released and students are pleased for that, visibly, they will focus the lesson to prepare the next competition. Example: Teacher can divide class into some groups, then asks them to sing a song which they have learned or plays a music video with lyric to help them sing well. The student will try to sing well to be the winner, so that, they are releasing their energy. 2.4 Student will be closed together Usually in new class, students feel shy because they dont know each other, all they want to do is sitting quietly and listen to teacher or talking a little with friends if teacher requires. We need new thing to break this barrier, and a competition can do. To win the competition, students need to work together and share their knowledge. Naturally, they will understand each other and speak more, willing to do anything to win the game. That is the way student get closed together, solidarity! Example: teacher ask students to divide into groups and then play a game I know you (A student in a group will come to the board, teacher will ask some questions like what do you do in your free time? What animal do you like best?......, he/she and his/her group need to write the answer and if his/her group have the same answer with him/her, they will get point), to win this game, students need to know some information about their members so they have ask and understand each other or in other way, they are getting closed together. 2.5 Change the air of class

Picture 2: Humans heart beat

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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class The humans heart beat is like the air of class, without up and down, that means your class is in dead situation. To avoid from this, you should change your class and competition is a good way to be considered. Depend on forms of competitions, you can ask your students to move around, draw, shout, dance, singThat makes your class more exciting like a alive heart beating. 2.6 Students can prove themselves Following the Maslow's hierarchy of needs in picture 1, which shows the humans need in a pyramid shape from low level in the bottom to high level in the top. To the top of the pyramid, human needs morality, creativity, spontaneity and all of this elements exist in most competitions. That explains why not only teenagers but also other ages would like to attend in any contests. Every competition needs the attenders show their abilities, once they show their abilities, they have chance to prove what they can do, once they have chance to prove, they will find that they are important and try to go to class regularly to compete with other students. Example: If we learn about family topic, teacher can ask student to attend a drawing contest to draw a picture of their families so it helps them show their ability in painting. 2.7 Motivate students There are always loser and winner in a competition. A winner certainly will recive gift, and contrarily, the loser will try their best to win in next time. Both of them will go to class regularly, focus on the lesson, listen carefully to the teacher to gain knowledge to win the game. That is how competition motivate students.

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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class III. Unexpected problems when create english competitive environment in teenaged class and recommendations Any teacher creating competition for teenager will have noticed that there are certain types of student which they find from year to year. Below are some of the types that have given teacher some stress in classrooms. Briefly they are: the silent students, the genius, the sulker, the know-it-all, the active students and the dreamers. Some of them are, of course, much easier to deal with than others; and sometimes they only need to be recognized for the solution to appear. 3.1 The slient students When creating any competitions to teenager we always have students who never join in the class, unless the teacher ask them. Even then they were so quiet that teachers has to put their ears inches away from students mouth to hear, and teacher still sometimes has to guess what the student was saying. Often these students could read and write well. On occasions they could write very well, and they sometimes have a better vocabulary than some of their noisier classmates; but they couldn't, or wouldn't speak. In that case, it would be better to work with their strengths, rather than focus on their weaknesses. When they were holding their notebooks in front of them they could speak with much more confidence. Just recognizing where their strengths may lie, and then giving them plenty of opportunities to approve it in the competition. 3.2 The Genius Even if you've been teaching English to teenagers for a while, there are still some bright students. It's easy to mistake them for troublemakers. This is because they often become bored or disillusioned with the pace of the class. If they see the difficulty of competition as being too easy they will usually either switch off and become disengaged or become disruptive.
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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class To check if there's a genius in classroom, ask the most difficult questions. Use some language structures teacher thinks they won't know. See what happens. If the student makes a good attempt at it teacher may have a genius, or at least, probably have a student who needs more challenge. If the student answers easily, then quickly check how many other students can do the same. Because they won't always tell you whether the class is too easy. The solution is to create more, but not too much, private challenge. It's good to do this gradually. So they need a little extra vocabulary to make learning more and be interesting to the lesson. 3.3 The Sulker Unhappy about something, this student keeps the anger or resentment within and broods. Unhealthy and unpleasant, but not as much trouble as active students. They seems tired and dont want to attend in any competition. Teacher should keep things moving. Keep the pace fairly fast, and ignore their mood completely. Don't pay any attention on it. Be neither concerned nor irritated by the cloud around this student. Activity, and tasks to do, if set at the right level of challenge, will be usually enough to bring these students into the class;, or at least should lessen the moodiness. 3.4 The Know-It-All The name describes this student, and it's not only when teaching English to teenagers where teacher might encounter the know-it-all. Occasionally this may be a Genius in disguise, but often only a little more knowledge than the rest, with an uncontrollable desire to show-off leads to this. The general cure of a fast paced class, with a wide variety of tasks will lessen opportunities for smart aleck behavior to develop. However, it also works to ask for the

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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class student to stand and speak to the class, not as a punishment, of course, but as assistance to the students language development. Teacher could ask the student questions using recently learnt language, or ask them to become a 'little teacher' and teach the class a small language point during and after the competition. Quite good when teacher has a few things to write on the board or simply talk for 30 seconds on a random topic. Usually this reduces the know-it-all behavior. 3.5 The active students The teenager who can't keep still, or even in the seat is usually just a very physical student, and like all teenagers, has a low attention span. The active students is a useful reminder for the teacher to include physical activity in the class - TPR, competition involving movement, mingle activities for example. All students will benefit from this. Also, when teachers need help to give out photocopies, crayons and so on, this is one of the students to ask to help them. 3.6 The dreamers The Dreamer is often absent from the class, in another world. This kind of student is seldom a problem to the teacher, but still needs to be focused in the present. Gentleness works better than harder discipline here. Lead student back into the class when you see the eyes wander off elsewhere. Engaging and imaginative activities help - as always when teaching English to teenager. Individual competition can benefit this student, and they can often become absorbed in active competitions like running, singing. Working with another student when doing pair work can help dreaming students too. 3.2. Recommendations Classes with many changes of pace (neither too fast, nor too slow), with interesting and fun competitions, a teacher who maintains eyes contact with the students, who is enthusiastic, and a little unpredictable. For example, don't go round the class one by one in order asking questions, randomly ask students, and remember who you have
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Create English competitive environment in teenaged class asked, so you don't keep asking the same student. Grade your language and activities to the language level, and age of the students. When teaching English to teenager, involve all of the students as much as possible. Switching to group drilling, when some of the students attention is going helps. Also involve the students on a deeper level. Trust them to do activities themselves. If you have high expectations of behavior, you will usually have good behavior. If you have low expectations, then too, you will usually get what you expect to. Having clear, fair, and consistently and fairly implemented rules is important. However, don't have too many rules, keep it simple.

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