Chapter 3 techniques Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Creative Problem Solving Techniques - Assignment Example According to the research findings, it can, therefore, be said that careful evaluation of the performance of the students who were bullies showed that they scored poorly in classwork. We used this information to discourage other potential bullies as it leads to low grades and poor relations with the administration. We used the examples set by the best performers as obedient and disciplined students. The benchmarking was essential in comparing the best practices and behaviors of students with their performance. The students understood that best behaviors and discipline translates into better performance. The use of teachers and invited guest to speak to students about the effects of bullying helped in transforming the students’ perception of the vice. Looking for opportunities starts by reading and asking on new trends and the methods of realizing these opportunities. I believe that benchmarking is an essential approach to problem-solving in schools. Comparing the behavior of b est-performing students helps to send a message that discipline translates into success. The researcher is endeared towards solving the problem of bullying in school and brainstorming has provided me with an opportunity to find ideas. He consulted with fellow students on the means of ending the scourge that has affected performance. More so, many students feel that their safety and psychological being is threatened. The brainstorming session provides an avenue for students to air their views on the best approach to solving bullying. The author has learned through the process that it is critical to listen to the ideas as they provide means of solving the problems, although others are farfetched. One student suggested that the bullies should be expelled from the school. The ideas proposed are extreme and against the school regulations; however, the lesson learned is that we should listen to others so that we can envision opportunities. Identifying the problem of bullying required that the researcher explains the students the side effects such as an emotional breakdown, poor performance, disciplinary action, and disharmony.

Walking Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Walking - Essay Example It is a well-known fact that walking has many advantages. It indicates that walking session of at least 30 minutes is essential for a good health if the person adopts an appropriate walking posture then he is at lower risk of cancer, heart disease, anxiety and depression . But, it is sad that in some part of the world particular in United States people are no more pedestrians. With emergence of modern cars people prefer to travel more their luxuries car rather than spending some time in walking on their foot. Walking also strengths your joints and bone .According to Zivot (185) it was reported that in United States that there was a drastic decrease in rates of mortality which was 39 percent for the individuals who adopted walking as their regular habit. By walking the life expectancy of such diabetic patients increased greater but it is distressing that people in USA still ignore this fact. There are some electronic devices due to which people gave up walking, these mobile devices in clude treadmills. There are increase rates of road accidents this also contributes in declining the number of pedestrians the number of pedestrians have declined to 30% in downtown Los Angeles since 1961. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Assaily.JP(258) the rates of pedestrian accidents have increased in United States hence safety of pedestrian has become a burning issues these days. One of the reports of NHTSA showed that annually 4,100 pedestrians die in road accidents after every one or two hours, various rules should be formulated in order to provide safety to the pedestrians like designing zebra crossing and placing signals everywhere especially on all the busy roads like enforcing laws to limit. However, it is responsibility of pedestrians to take some protective measure too like they should pay full attention to roads while crossing it instead of being busy on a call as it diverts their

Effective Leadership and Potential Obstacles Assignment

Effective Leadership and Potential Obstacles - Assignment Example Leaders should be social people (extroverts) and not timid. Since people listen to us, they should focus on the positive rather than the negative. It is also important to differentiate leader`s official duties from his personal life. It is very easy to attack and destroy the reputation of a leader so it is imperative that a leader shy away from situations and individuals who wish to do just that. Self-awareness plays an integral part in each of our lives since it simply makes us aware of whom we are as well as our traits, character, feelings and our desires. Any person with any ambition to become a leader should first identify all these attributes. David Keirsey and Richard L. Daft are the most renowned scholars in the field of effective leadership. They state that every person has four kinds of temperaments, and each of them differs from person to person. They include diplomatic, strategic, logistical and tactical (Keirsey & Marilyn, 20). According to David Keirsey, an individual tends to identify with one temperament and then ranks the rest in second, third and fourth in that order (Keirsey & Marilyn, 1984). As we leaders, I should be able to influence other people into embracing diverse cultures and also influence public opinion. I will gauge my payoff by the number of conflicts I determine as well as how well I do my job without any complaints from my subordinates. As a leader, I am prone to encounter many obstacles along the way from individuals who do not appreciate my leadership roles to those who seek to assume leadership. As a leader, I mostly identify with the diplomatic temperament. This is because I deal with lots of conflicts, and it is my job to come up with solutions to quell these conflicts. If I was to list, how I identify with my temperaments, diplomatic comes first followed by logistical, strategic then tactical. As a leader, I need to improve my feelings and my desires because I tend to become biased when it comes to some  very delicate issues such as discrimination.

Nutrition and fitness (answer the questions) Essay - 2

Nutrition and fitness (answer the questions) - Essay Example While exercising, muscular endurance is essential because the continual pressure exerted on the muscles makes it possible to carry out heavy tasks without becoming tired. There exists a relationship between muscular strength and muscular endurance because one cannot exist without the other. Muscles occupy forty percent of body mass. The body depends on muscles for movement and because of this mass they are responsible for a portion of the metabolism that takes place inside bodies. Strong, well toned muscles help make work that had seemed difficult become easy to do and complete. To increase muscle endurance, an individual has to have strength in the muscles. This is because if a person has the strength, then building up endurance will happen rather quickly while a person with little or no muscle strength may take longer to increase muscle endurance. The continual exertion of force on the muscle with much heavier loads over a long period causes the muscle to harden and expand thus increasing the endurance level the muscle has to stress. This goes to show that muscle endurance goes together with muscle strength. This means that these two processes depend on each other for optimum results. Training teenagers is usually very difficult since they are impatient. This is usually very difficult since they work on gaining muscle endurance without first putting on muscle strength and want results in the quickest way possible. They use any avenue to get the results they need. This is usually very difficult since they work on gaining muscle endurance without first putting on muscle strength. Such actions lead to catastrophic results and injuries such as strains, sprains, dislocations, fractures and tendonitis. Further disregard may lead to other chronic complications, for example, nerve damage, bone stress injuries, muscle overloads and rotator cuff

THE EARLY REPUBLIC Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

THE EARLY REPUBLIC - Coursework Example He one time owned more than 40 slaves in his plantation in early 1774 including children belonging to his slaves who began working for him at the age of ten. People felt that his acts contradicted his belief where every human had a right to liberty. He was forced to abolish the slave trade, thus upsetting other elite planters who depended on slavery for their riches. Thirdly, Artisans in England consisted of individuals such as Paul Revere who is termed as a revolutionary of his time. In 1964, he opposed the British policies that touched on revenue, thus spending much of his time attending meetings and educating people through his anti-British slogans. One of the policies that he was upset at is referred to as â€Å"Resisting the Navigation Act† which restricted their trading practices with other people. (Andrews 31) Yeomen farmers occupied the smallest lands in the southern colonies an idea that made fee neglected by the government. Despite spending much of their energy working hard on their farms, they found themselves in powerful positions in the imperial government. The main reason Yeomen wanted political positions were for them to get a favorable channel where they could address their grievances such as the infringement of a free man’s right. Lastly, the frontier settlers included the Scots and Germans who were awarded a piece of land under the â€Å"Declaration of trans-Appalachian settlement policies† by King George III (Andrews 53). He declared that the mountainous land situated to the west of Appalachian would not be occupied by any white because it belonged to the Indians. The whites’ were upset with this decision because this land was not to be sold to them and that the existing residents were forced to

Reflection on Teaching Essay Example for Free

Reflection on Teaching Essay In order to challenge my theory of teaching I first need very briefly to define it. When I was taught science it was mostly through direct teaching. Any experiments performed were deductive in nature with very little input from me. When I got to college and I started performing experiments then I suddenly started having little epiphanies where facts I had learned off by heart were unexpectedly connected in ways I hadn’t understood before. So I came to think that this was what was lacking at secondary level, the experimental experience that allowed people to physically test the ‘how’ of the world around them. To put it simply people are innately curious and that exploiting this curiosity is the way to teach. From the moment they learn to talk, children constantly ask questions about everything, from â€Å"where eyebrows come from?† to â€Å"what do worms eat?† Asking questions is the way they find things out and this really is just one small step away from learning. From personal experience of teaching I think that Arnstine (1967) was correct when he said â€Å"the arousal of curiosity can lead to learning†¦for learning to occur, curiosity must be guided†. Designing lessons in such a way as to tap into the natural curiosity of students and to connect the topics on the curriculum with their everyday experiences is surely the best way to teach science. I find enquiry / constructivism extremely interesting as it encapsulates the whole get their attention approach but I think it’s misused by an awful lot of people. I think that analogies and real world examples need to be reflective of the scientific concept yet simple enough that the student can grasp it. Also it requires that the student be actively involved, activities must provide the opportunity to demonstrate learning.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"To instruct someone is not a matter of getting him to commit results to mind. Rather, it is to teach him to participate in the process that makes po ssible the establishment of knowledge. We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student to think mathematically for himself, to consider matters as an historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing is a process not a product.† (Bruner. J, The Process of Education: Towards a theory of instruction 1966: 72) So in approaching this assignment I realise that I am an ardent supporter of teaching through enquiry. I agree with Bruners theoretical framework of building on pre-existing knowledge by presenting new material in a logical manner at a level the student can understand, revisiting topic in stages and building layers of ever increasing complexity. I find the concept of a spiral curriculum to be a sensible one, but also to be at odds with the way in which individual schools plan the teaching of science. There is far too much relience on the text book, with strict adherence to the material inside. I prefer to leave the text book at home, for the student to be assigned reading and questions from it for homework so that it is new and different and provides a slightly different aspect to the same topic. At the very least it will provide the same information as was covered in class in a slightly different manner and provoke recall instead of boredom. A consequence of supporting enquiry is an aversion to direct teaching. Those who support direct teaching say that it is a highly effective method of teaching. The basic components are careful content analysis, sequencing of information and use of appropriate examples, specific instructional formats where both teacher and student responses are scripted and testing to mastery. The part that receives the most criticism is the scripted responses. Here is an example I found at Brainsarefun.com http://brainsarefun.com/Teachtk.html EXAMPLE 1. All: Teacher and students touch the answer to be learned. 2. Teacher: The answer to this question is, 1492. 3. Teacher: When I signal I want you to answer, 1492. 4. Teacher: The answer is 1492. 5. Teacher: What year did Columbus discover America? 6. Teacher: Get ready. Watch the students to make sure all participate. 7. Teacher: Signal by pointing or snapping fingers. 8. All: 1492. 9. Teacher: Thats right, Columbus discovered America in 1492. 10. Teacher: Reward. Good job saying 1492. Make eye contact with individuals. Smile. 11. Teacher: Next answer, or repeat until everyone is participating and firm. If any student is unable to participate or answer correctly, start at the top of the sequence again. Most teachers believe that this type of teaching is too restrictive and prevents the students from developing critical thinking skills. I have to say that on my first reading of this example of direct teaching I was horrified at the way the students were indoctrinated. I knew that this method of teaching was not for me and I continued to develop my lesson plans along the constructivist enquiry model. I researched guided discovery and found that discovery learning is described as an inquiry-based, constructivist learning theory that occurs in situations where the learner draws on their existing knowledge to discover facts and comprehend relationships. Students interact with the world by manipulating objects, wrestling with questions or performing experiments. As a result, students are more likely to remember concepts and knowledge discovered on their own (in contrast to a transmission / direct teaching model). Proponents of discovery learning say it has many advantages, including encouraging active engagement, promoting motivation, autonomy, responsibility, independence, aiding the development of creativity and problem solving skills and is a tailored learning experience that helps minimize classroom management problems. Detractors point out the amount of time needed to teach a topic and that students do not always achieve the intended outcome of the lesson. That is they may draw erroneous conclusions about the investigation they are engaged in. My action research Now that I have explored my theories on teaching I need to test those theories by comparing the outcomes of direct versus enquiry teaching. Ideally in order to compare the two methods I should keep the conditions of the lessons the same and only change the method of instruction. Rigor would  dictate that I teach two groups of students that have been randomly segregated. The students would be in the same year of secondary school and assumed to be at the same academic level. Ability within each group would be expected to mimic normal distribution with some students excelling and some struggling with the curriculum content. Unfortunately in my teaching practice placement I have one class of first years and one class of second years. I am also following a subject plan laid down by the science department in the placement school, which further restricts my research topic. Hence rather than directly compare and contrast two sets of lesson plans that differ in instruction but not content, I shall attempt to make my methods of instruction the subject of the action research. My intention is to design a number of lesson plans along the guidelines of both approaches and to deliver these lessons as independent of personal bias as possible. I shall assess the success of each lesson plan as a measure of student value and under a number of points such as participation, motivation to learn, interest of students, as well as proficiency in summative tests. Bearing in mind my own learning, I will also be critically examining something about my ability to deliver a constructivist lesson; do I do as I say? In assessing participation of students I will make reference to number, frequency and relevance of questions asked. Time spent on-task will be used to measure motivation and interest as will content of questions asked. In line with standard research methods I established a baseline of knowledge on the topic of energy by giving the students a questionnaire which was designed to probe existing conceptions. (more here on the results of the questionnaire) From my understanding of enquiry teaching there seems to be a number of activities that should feature in my lesson plans and I have tried to incorporate these in the enquiry based lesson plans. I have included a list of these activities here and have also identified them in the appropriate lesson plans. Enquiry activities †¢ Think about scientifically orientated questions that are at an appropriate level and ask ‘how’ rather than ‘why’ (teacher provides questions at first) †¢ Gather and consider evidence using the tools of science †¢ Make explanations based on prior gain fact and ‘new’ knowledge gained through the process of enquiry / evidence gathering †¢ Compare  conclusions to currently scientific understanding and account for differences †¢ Communicate and negotiate their findings and explanations with others After the brainstorming session I jotted down as many of the words and phrases as I could during class. Light, wave, geothermal, heat, renewable, sun, plants, photosynthesis, comes from food, plants make it, atomic bombs, it keeps you moving, you are tired without it, it can change, there’s energy in batteries, joules, oil. Then I asked a series of questions designed to clarify facts that they needed to know (3A6 Energy, 3A7 Energy conversion: Junior Certificate Science Syllabus). From the answers it was clear to me that the students could not distinguish between forms of energy and sources of energy. Because the discussion section of the enquiry lesson plan is open-ended I was able to direct questions and highlight information on the board that students could use to ‘discover facts’. I tried to give minimum guidance but I found that the students were floundering and unsure of what they were trying to accomplish. This was a recurring theme during the discovery lesson plans and it seems to me from my readings that this is the main detracting feature of enquiry instruction. Those who oppose constructivist / enquiry instruction such as Kisherner, Sweller and Clark (2006) argue that minimum guidance during instruction does not work and Clark (1989) goes further to suggest that his data shows that ‘lower aptitude students’ show a loss of learning on post instructional testing. My Conclusion It is essential that the teacher do research work, i.e., he should comb the subject of chemistry from end to end for facts and for methods of exposition that will make such facts live and real to his students. (Patrick, W. A. (1924) What kind of research is essential to good teaching? J. Chemical Education, Volume 1, Issue 1, p16.) I have come to the conclusion that there is a need for direct teaching in the classroom in order to build up foundation of facts in long term memory to provide wellspring of knowledge which can be used to provide data when needed. Enquiry or discovery learning encourages the use of this knowledge so that students can put facts together to think critically. Dewey supported inductive teaching as the way to improve scientific teaching for a better educated society and said science lessons should include learning the process of science not just the facts, (Dewey, 1903). By this I believe he meant that the two methods complement each other and need to be used in tandem. But direct teaching cannot be taken as an excuse for unimaginative lessons recycled every year with minimal input from the teacher needed in the delivery. If investigatory activities are designed deductively, ie have only one conclusion, need more here about factors to consider when designing lesson activities.

Gaming in Education

Gaming in Education EDUCATION RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The effectiveness of game playing activities helps students retain English vocabulary CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Vocabulary is a key element in the second language class. Without vocabulary, no message is conveyed. In communication, vocabulary plays an important role, it requires learners have to acquire many of the words and know how to use them to communicate effectively. Although Vietnamese students realize the importance of learning vocabulary, they neglect in some English courses. In a vocabulary lesson, a vast amount of teaching time is consumed by explanation and definition, classroom blackboards are often littered with masses of new lexical items, and students compile page upon page of word-lists that they rarely have chance to practice. Obviously, vocabulary arises in the classroom regardless of the chosen activity, and in spite of any conscious design on the teachers part. As the result, most students, not just those with learning problems, rarely retain the meaning of vocabulary items. That is why, for most students, learning vocabulary in language lessons is time of failure and disappointment in which they gradually feel boring, often resorting to misbehavior in the classroom and a gradual rejection of the work that the teacher is doing for them. Nguyen Khuat (2003) state that students study the second language, vocabulary learning is regar ded as boring because of remembering unfamiliar vocabulary and their learning habits. With the increasing emphasis on vocabulary in foreign learning, nowadays, various vocabulary teaching methods have been introduced to help students to retain vocabulary items. And it is my experience, as a teacher of English, that vocabulary has to be presented in a way that helps students find language lessons, especially vocabulary lessons more interesting and comprehensible for them to learn, I have chosen the topic: The effectiveness of game playing activities helps students retain English vocabulary. Game playing activities not only can help reinforce students vocabulary, grammar, but also can create a non- stressful and effective learning atmosphere. This paper will aim to investigate the effectiveness of game playing activities in English teaching in my College. 1.1. Background of the school and the students. As a teacher of English for non-major English students at Viet Hung Industrial College (VIC), I can clearly see the present situation of students English knowledge and vocabulary at VIC. The students ability to use English for communication is still limited. This is due to: the students level of English when entering college is low and of mixed ability. Many of the students come from the rural areas, they did not have a lot of chances to practice English at the high school. Some of them have learnt English for the three years or seven years at the high school where only written English is taught. Therefore, they can hardly ever communicate in English. They often feel shy because of poor English knowledge and vocabulary. As a result, the teachers often find it confusing to teach to improve individual skills for the students. Thus, my school has used basic material to teach, that is: New English File Elementary. This material integrates four skills, it helps students revise knowledge and practice skills, which is important to their career. 1.2. The aims of the study. The study aims to investigate the effect of using game playing activities in teaching and learning English vocabulary at VIC. It is also to find out the students interest and progress toward game playing activities in lessons. 1.3. Research questions. 1. Are game playing activities effective in teaching and learning English vocabulary at Viet Hung Industrial College? 2. How do the students react upon the use of games in lessons? 1.4. The scope of the study. There are a lot of activities that help students to retain vocabulary. However, in this study I would focus my research on game playing activities in term of English vocabulary teaching and learning in order to help students at VIC to learn vocabulary effectively. 1.5. The significance of the study. It is hoped that the findings of the study will be useful for the researcher as well as other teachers at VIC to help students vocabulary retention be effective. It is also hoped that students and teachers will have a good habit of using interesting and active activities in teaching and learning vocabulary at VIC. 1.6. Structure of the report. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Teaching and learning vocabulary. 2.1.1. What do learners need to known about words and word learning? Gain Redman (1986) show that learners should attend to two large aspects when studying a word: Word meaning (conceptual and affective meaning, style, sense relation, collocation, idioms etc). Word formation (grammar, word building, and pronunciation). For word meaning and word formation, we find: 2.1.1.1. Word meaning. In teaching the meaning of word, teachers should teach students that a word have more than one meaning when used in different contexts. For example, the word â€Å"string† has at least fourteen different meanings when used in context. It has four meanings as a verb, five meanings as a noun, and five different meanings when used with prepositions as phrasal verbs. One can say â€Å"The string is very dirty†; another â€Å"He strings in the tree†. Teachers should make the teaching and learning vocabulary process clear and easy for their students when learning any meaning, otherwise students feel bored with learning vocabulary. Nation (1990) suggests that teachers teach meaning to students, they can use techniques and activities to motivate students such as: demonstration, pictures or verbal explanation. 2.1.1.2. Word formation. Students also need to know word form like word grammar and word building in order to use them. For example, for the common prefixes and suffixes, if students know the meaning of un-, dis- and able, this will help them guess the meanings of words like unhappy, disadvantage and sustainable. Another way, vocabulary items are built by combining two words (two nouns, a gerund and a noun, or a noun and a verb) to make one items: a single compound word, or two separate, sometimes hyphenated words (bookshelf, stand-by, air letter). Lewis (1993) points out that vocabulary, which includes not only the single words but also the word combinations that we store in our mental lexicons. Therefore, word formation is a very important in teaching vocabulary. In conclusion, relating to words students have to attend to variety of lexical areas such as word meaning, word formation, word grammar and word use, etc. However, which of these areas the teachers choose to highlight depend on the item they are teaching and the level of their students But to whatever word or what level the students are, word meaning and word formation are the first two areas they must acquire well. 2.2. Games for teaching and learning. Linguists, teachers and students think that language games are a negative activity or a waste of time. Many of them, who have not tried using language games yet, still doubt if these language games would be useful or practically possible with their students. However, there are views which are far different from those above. For them, in teaching and learning, games are one of the most useful strategies to encourage language acquisition. They have been used to promote students language proficiency in variety of aspects: grammar, vocabulary, writing, speaking etc. â€Å"Games should not be regarded as a marginal activity filling in odd moments when teacher and class have nothing better to do† (Lee 1979: 3). In this part, we will explore a clear understanding of game in the classroom. 2.2.1. Definition of games in teaching. In order to understand the concept of games in teaching, we see ideas of the researchers about games in general. Deesri (2002) gives the definition to game as one kind of effective activity that you do to have fun. Hadfield (1990) says that game is a language activity with the rules, goals and elements of fun carried out by cooperating and competing players. Greenal (1990) also defines games as an element of competition between students or teams in the language practice. Thus, we can see that games consist of plays governed by rules, relaxation, cooperation and competition. Games can motivate the students to focus on learning, because they do not feel forced and stressed. For this, games are used for developing skills, vocabulary, or grammar, etc. 2.2.2. Advantages of using games in language classes. Games have advantages and effectiveness in the language classes. What are these advantages? Games are used to motivate students very highly, whenever they have opportunity to play a game, they are encouraged to choose their players and this motivates them to participle in playing game. However, sometimes, choosing the player is made by the teacher in order to help the weaker students interact with the more able ones. As a result, the weaker students are helped to gain confidence or knowledge by being guided by their fellow students. Games are also an element of competition between players. According to Saricoban Metin (2000), games provide competition to enhance the motivation of the students. I-Jung (2005) also suggests that games create the competition for students having opportunity to work together and communicate using English with each other. Thus, competition will help students pay attention to learning and engage in the activities in the class much more. And Nguyen Khuat (2003) also point out that games involve friendly competition and they make students intereste d. These help the motivation for students of English to get involved and participate actively in learning. Students always feel tired of grammatical lessons, words and long time learning periods. Games are used to change learning atmosphere to help students reduce the stress in the classroom. As a result, games will bring students fun and relaxation, they will study more effectively. Richard-Amato (1988:147) shows that â€Å"games can lower anxiety, thus making the acquisition more likely†. It is clear that students naturally want to play language games because these games can help them practice their language through playing. Therefore, it is the right time to offer them a game when they are tired of acquiring new lessons that they do not want to continue. Carrier (1990) suggests that games can be used to emphasize long formal teaching units and renew students energy before returning to more formal learning. Games stimulate students to work together in role-playing, talking, arguing and debating, and using the language in a variety of contexts. Even when played competitively, games demand a high degree of cooperation. It proves that student-student communication is created. On the other hand, when using a game, the teacher acts as a helper. He helps his students what they need to complete the games, such as: new words, new structures or some suggestions. Carrier(1990) claims that games are often used in the classroom to encourage students participation and corporation and can remove the inhibitions of those who feel intimidated by formal classroom situations. When using games with classmates in groups students do not worry too much about mistakes or they will be corrected by other students. In addition, to each game more proficient students or less proficient ones have their strong points so they can corporate to one another to get their teams goal. Therefore, games help students improv e their team-working and group-working spirit. Finally, games help increase students proficiency, so when students play a game they have to work with others, they interact and use skills concerning language. To complete the game, all the members work together to score as many points as possible. To win the game or to solve the problem, students have to think and answer the questions addressed by the teacher or other students. In order to do so they must understand that the teacher or the classmates order to practice. Games in the language classes can enhance students ability in practicing language because students can use language in the situation provided (Deesri, 2002). Zdybiewska (1994) agrees that games are the good way to practice language, they supply for learners to use the language in the real context. Kim (1995:35) summarizes the advantages of using language games as follows: 1. Games are a welcome break from the usual routine of the language class. 2. They are motivating and challenging. 3. Learning a language requires a great deal of effort. Games help students to make and sustain the effort of learning. 4. Games provide language practice in the various skills-speaking, writing, listening and reading. 5. They encourage students to interact and communicate. 6. They create a meaningful context for language use. 2.2.3. Advantages of Vocabulary Games It is not enough if only advantages of using games in language classes are considered in this study. I have decided to study the advantages of vocabulary games, too. These advantages can be understood as follows: Vocabulary games make fun and relaxation for students in learning words because they are not alone in learning process, they are learning in exciting atmosphere of groups. This activity motivates students to enrich their vocabulary. Nguyen Khuat (2003) also affirm that games create relaxed and fun atmosphere for learners, thus, they help learners learn and remember words more easily. According to Urberman (1998), after learning and practicing vocabulary items, students have chance to use language in an unstressed way. Vocabulary games help English used in the classroom be flexible and communicative through real world context which is useful and meaningful. Frost (2002) says that using pictures, interesting contexts and stories can help memory and giving the students the opportunity to practice the new vocabulary in personalized and meaning tasks are also essential tools. The idea is that if the students are asked to analyze and react personally to new information, it will help them process the language more deeply, facilitating their ability to retain it better. Vocabulary games provide students some chances to discover the meaning of words and the form of words by themselves and efforts to understand them, therefore, new words will be remembered and understood much faster and better. Hadfield (1990) states that when introducing word games paid much attention to reinforce vocabulary. In his opinion, to retain a word in one memory after presentation of it, learners should go through three distinct processes: fixing the meaning of the word in their mind, making the word their own by personalizing it so that it takes on a color and a character for them and become part of their individual word store, and then using it creatively in a context for themselves. Therefore, he classified the games in accordance with these processes: memorization games, personalizing games and communication games. Vocabulary games include many encouraging exercises that really help students revise the learned words effectively. â€Å"Word games are useful for practicing and revising vocabulary after it has been introduced† (Haycraft 1978: 50). Frost (2002) suggests that some activities and games as using word cards, word bag, word tour, etc and with which students can revise words in a funny and meaningful ways. He emphasized that by encouraging the students to retrieve the words in subsequent lessons and repeatedly re-exposing them to what has been presented, teachers are able to counteract the effects of forgetting. Teachers are advised to do this as many times as possible. Uberman (1998) also agrees that games are useful for revising any types of words or aspects of word in a more amusing way than most of the other techniques. Playing a game is a great opportunity to repeat the material in a way which is encouraging and not intimidating. Therefore, games in teaching and learning vocabulary are very useful in the classroom and the use of vocabulary games is a factor to create the lessons more enjoyable, interesting and effective to motivate students to learn vocabulary. 2.2.4. When to use games? Games are necessary for language practice opportunities for both general and specific language skills, and they should be seen as a necessary part of a teaching program, and their use should be planned and monitored. Carrier (1990) suggests that games can be used to open or close a lesson, to relieve tension after a test or concentrated practiced session. Rixon (1981) also shows that games can be used for stages of the lesson. Thus, games can be use at any time that the teacher feels appropriate. It is important they are used positively, to give students enjoyment and useful practice, as well as being used as a thing that reduces harmful aspects in situations where students interest or motivation is flagging. Although games should be used regularly, this should not become a meaningless habit. The elements of surprise and variety should be carefully maintained. However, the mount of teaching time for games will depend on the individual teaching context, but it will probably be a relatively small proportion of the total teaching time. According to Deesri (2002), teachers have to cover contents and materials that the curriculum asks, and it is difficult to combine games into the class. Nevertheless, games become one of the means to achieve teaching objectives and improve students communicated ability and help them gain their goals. The difficult task for a teacher is how to choose the suitable type of game, the time devoted to it, and the opportunity of using it. CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY This chapter provides readers the detailed description of the study, namely the research methodology, the data collection instruments, the data analysis and discussion of the findings. 3.1. The English teaching and learning situations in VIC. English have been taught in VIC for.years, however, English department has been formed for 4 years with 14 teachers. The learners in VIC are mainly vocational students; their need of English learning is very low. In particular, the students of technical departments with about 100 percent male students, they almost have no interest in learning foreign languages. In recent years with the development of the college, VIC has trained a lot of students in tourism and business administration, who with high need of English learning. It is a good signal for the college in general and the teachers of English in particular. The course book is being used in the college is New English file-Elementary. This course book consists of nine lessons with grammar structures, vocabulary, pronunciation, and skills to get students speaking English. A curriculum has been designed to teach the units in the course book in 1 semester and in 75 lesson periods. During the semester, students are required to do three tests that concentrate on grammar, vocabulary, reading and writing to be given marks. At the end of the semester students have to do the written final semester test and the speaking test that of course given marks to be qualified together with 3 marks mentioned above. 3.2. Research methodology 3.2.1. The subjects. The subjects in this study were the teachers and the students in VIC. 3.2.1.1. The teachers: There were 14 teacher subjects in this study. They were all trained in universities in Vietnam with MA in English. Among of these, two teachers have had BA and three have been doing a BA course. They are teaching English to non-English major learners at VIC. They are from 30 to 52 years old with at least 5 years of teaching experience. 3.2.1.2. The students: In this study, there are 100 student subjects were selected randomly from different classes represent different departments in VIC. Their ages vary from 18 to 25. 3.2.2. The instrumentation. 3.2.2.1. Interview: The interview questions (Appendix.) were formatted and used for all the subjects in two separate group interviews (the group of the teachers and the group of the students) to discover their opinions, problems and progress toward the games in vocabulary teaching and learning. 3.2.2.2. Observation: 3.2.2.2.1. A self-observation: A self-observation checklist was created (Appendix.) to ask the teachers and students about their teaching and learning abilities. 3.2.2.2.2. Real observation: The researcher observed the classes of three teachers at VIC to discover how they teach vocabulary and how their students learn. 3.3. Data analysis and discussion of the findings. CHAPTER 4: CONCUSION 4.1. Summary and review of the main findings Games have much more advantages, they are used both entertainment and educational purposes. Using game activities is a useful technique in teaching and learning the English language to non-native students because it creates fun, interesting and motivation in lessons. The research aims to investigate the effectiveness of game activities and the real situation of teaching and learning of Viet Hung Industrial College. The experiment was carried out with the participation of two groups (the group of the teachers and the group of the students) at VIC during a period of 8 weeks. An interview and observations were used as data collection instrument. The result of the experiment shows that in retaining vocabulary, games are the most effective and games also receive positive attitude from the students in the experimental group. Although few students did not really like games, the majority of the students agreed with the use of games in vocabulary classes. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that games should be used for vocabulary teaching and learning at VIC because they can bring about a great deal of benefits to learners. However, the teachers have to pay more attention to some unanticipated problems during the conduction of the activity in order to get successful results. 4.2. Limitation and suggestions for further study. Although the paper has accomplished the objectives set at the beginning, the research can not avoid some limitations. The shortcomings of the present study are essentially about the subject of the study and the content of interview and observations. Apart from that the interview and observations focus mainly on the investigation into games activities based on teaching techniques, so there are possible inadequateness of their content. Besides, the research is carried out in a very limited scope in term of classroom based vocabulary teaching and learning: game activities that help students retain vocabulary. 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