Developing Oral Skills Through Games and Role Plays in Fourth Grade Students of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño School

8/20/2019 Developing Oral Skills Through Games and Role Plays in Fourth Grade Students of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nari…

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Developing Oral Skills through Games and Role Play in fourth grade students

of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño School.

Camila Alexandra Cortés Jaimes

Universidad Pedagógica Nacional

Facultad de Humanidades

Licenciatura en Educación Básica con Énfasis en Humanidades Español-inglés

Bogotá, Colombia

2015


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Note of acceptance

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Signature of the President

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Signature

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Signature

Bogotá D.C. April 2015


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Acknowledgments

This research project would not have been possible without the unconditional love,

encouragement and support I received from my parents and sisters. I do not know how to

express the gratitude that I feel for all their effort and dedication. I am very grateful for the

guidance support, valuable comments, and suggestions received from my adviser Nathalia

Lamprea, who shared her knowledge in order to help me and guide me in all this process.

Finally, I am grateful to the teacher Luz Dary Arias for her support and words of

encouragement since the beginning of this project.


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RESUMEN ANALÍTICO EN EDUCACIÓN-RAE

1. Información General

Tipo de documento Trabajo de grado

Acceso al documento Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. Biblioteca Central

Título del documento

Developing Oral Skills through Games and Role Play in fourth gradestudents of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño School.(Desarrollo de la habilidad oral a través de juegos y role plays enestudiantes de cuarto grado del Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño)

Autor(es) Cortés Jaimes, Camila Alexandra

Director Lamprea Abril, Nathalia

Publicación Bogotá. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional. 2015, 123 p.

Unidad Patrocinante Universidad Pedagógica Nacional

Palabras Claves Habilidad oral, vocabulario, role plays, juegos, pronunciación.

2. DescripciónLa presente investigación da cuenta de los procedimientos y fundamentos de un estudio orientado aldesarrollo de las habilidades comunicativas de las estudiantes de cuarto grado del Liceo FemeninoMercedes Nariño, implementando actividades como role plays y juegos.

Teniendo en cuenta lo anterior, esta intervención pedagógica contempla las necesidades e intereses de lasestudiantes y la falta de motivación y oportunidades la hora de expresarse en inglés. Role plays y juegosfueron empleados como recursos para desarrollar la habilidad de habla en los estudiantes y brindarles laoportunidad de aprender de manera divertida.

Después de la implementación de role plays y juegos en las clases de inglés, las estudiantes pudierondesarrollar su habilidad oral y adquirieron consciencia sobre la importancia de hablar en inglés en elcontexto en el que se encuentran.

3. FuentesBryman, A. (1988). Quantity and Quality in Social Research. London: Routledge.

Brown, G & Yule, G. (1983). Teaching the Spoken Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brown, H.D. (2001). Teaching by Principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy, New York:Pearson Longman.

Byrne, D. (1976). Teaching Oral English. UK: Longman group.

Gairns, R & Redman, S. (1989). Working with Words. A guide to Teaching and Learning Vocabulary.Cambridge: C.U.P.

Hadfield, J. (1998). Elementary Vocabulary Games: A collection of grammar games and activities forelementary stydents of English. Pearson Longman.


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Mack, N. Woodsong, C. & McQueen, K. M. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods: A data collector’s field

guide. North Caroline, USA. Family Health International.

Nunan, D. (1989). Designing Task for the Communicative Classroom. New York: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Richards, J. (2006). Communicative Language Teaching Today. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Wallace, M. (1998). Action Research for Language Teachers, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

4. ContenidosEl presente trabajo de grado se encuentra compuesto por siete capítulos distribuidos de la siguientemanera:

El primer capítulo da cuenta de la identificación del problema, formulación de la pregunta, objetivos y la justificación.

El segundo capítulo expone el estado del arte y marco teórico, en los cuales se presentan investigaciones previas que se relacionan con el proyecto la actual, y de igual manera los constructos de la propuesta pedagógica.

Por otro lado, el tercer capítulo presenta la metodología de la investigación. El tipo y método de paradigmade la investigación, los instrumentos para la recolección de datos (video, entrevista y cuestionario), ladescripción de la población y el diagnostico.

Respecto al cuarto capítulo, este da cuenta de la intervención pedagógica, los objetivos de la intervención,las fases y el cronograma.

El quinto capítulo el análisis de los datos recolectados, teniendo en cuenta las unidades de análisis.

El capítulo sexto expone los resultados obtenidos.

Finalmente, el séptimo capítulo presenta las conclusiones de la investigación, las limitaciones,implicaciones y recomendaciones para su futura aplicación.

5. MetodologíaEl presente estudio fue cualitativo e igualmente investigación acción. Para la recolección de datos seemplearon videos, entrevistas y cuestionarios que en conjunto permitieron demostrar la credibilidad de lainformación obtenida.

Por otro lado, la investigación se dividió en las siguientes etapas: Identificación del problema y diagnóstico,en el que se caracterizó la población y se realizó un proceso de observación. A continuación, se realizó laintervención e implementación de los recursos (role plays y juegos) con el fin de desarrollar la habilidad dehabla en los estudiantes en sus clases de Inglés. Seguido a esto se recolectó información haciendo uso delos instrumentos mencionados anteriormente, se interpretaron los datos y finalmente se presentaron losresultados obtenidos.


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6. ConclusionesA través de la implementación de role plays y juegos cooperativos y competitivos, las estudiantes de cuartogrado del Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño desarrollaron su habilidad oral. De igual manera, laseducandas incrementaron su vocabulario a través del uso de role plays y juegos en las clases de inglés.

Asimismo, los juegos y role plays contribuyeron a mejorar la producción oral y la participación de lasestudiantes en sus clases de inglés. Sin dejar de lado que hubo una mejora en la pronunciación y elreconocimiento de este idioma en la comunicación oral.

Finalmente, las estudiantes reconocieron la importancia de hablar en inglés fuera del aula de clase, encontextos y situaciones reales.

Elaborado por: Cortés Jaimes, Camila Alexandra

Revisado por: Lamprea Abril, Nathalia

Fecha de elaboración delResumen:

25 05 2015


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Table of Content

Abstract………………………………..……………………………………………………………. 10

Chapter 1 ...................................................................................................................... 11

Statement of the Problem, Research Question, Justification and Objectives. .................... 11

Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................... 11

Research Question ..................................................................................................... 12

Justification ............................................................................................................... 12

Research Objectives ................................................................................................... 15

Overall Objective ................................................................................................... 15

Specific objectives .................................................................................................. 15Chapter 2 ...................................................................................................................... 16

Theoretical Framework and State of Art ......... ........... .......... ......... ........... .......... ......... .... 16

Communicative Language Teaching .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..... 16

Speaking skill ............................................................................................................ 18

Vocabulary ................................................................................................................ 21

Pronunciation ............................................................................................................ 23

Role Plays ................................................................................................................. 24

Games ....................................................................................................................... 28

Chapter 3 ...................................................................................................................... 31

Research Design ............................................................................................................ 31

Qualitative research ................................................................................................... 31

Action research .......................................................................................................... 32

Units of analysis ........................................................................................................ 36

Hypothesis................................................................................................................. 37

Instruments to collect data .......................................................................................... 37

Population ................................................................................................................. 40

Diagnosis .................................................................................................................. 41

Chapter 4 ...................................................................................................................... 43

Pedagogical Intervention ............................................................................................ 43


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Communicative language teaching ............................................................................. 43

Cooperative learning .................................................................................................. 44

Pedagogical intervention Objectives .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... ..... 45

Phases ....................................................................................................................... 45

Chronogram .............................................................................................................. 48

Chapter 5 ................................................................................................................... 53

Analysis of Data ........................................................................................................ 53

Role plays and games to foster vocabulary .......... .......... ........... ......... .......... ........... . 54

Role plays and games to improve pronunciation in English ......... ........... .......... ........ 60

Games and role plays to improve the participation in English classes ....................... 64

Role plays and games to improve cooperative work .......... ........... .......... ......... ......... 69

Chapter 6 ...................................................................................................................... 74Results .......................................................................................................................... 74

Chapter 7 ...................................................................................................................... 78

Conclusions, limitations, implications and recommendations ............ .......... .......... .......... 78

Conclusions ............................................................................................................... 78

Limitations ................................................................................................................ 79

Implications ............................................................................................................... 80

Recommendations...................................................................................................... 81References .................................................................................................................... 83

Appendixes ................................................................................................................... 88


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Table of figures

Figure 1………………………………………………………………………..33

Figure 2………………………………………………………………………..34

Figure 3………………………………………………………………………..55

Figure 4………………………………………………………………………..57

Figure 5………………………………………………………………………..55

Figure 6………………………………………………………………………..59

Figure 7………………………………………………………………………..59

Figure 8………………………………………………………………………..59Figure 9 ……………………………………………………………………….63

Figure 10……………………………………………………………………....63

Figure 11…………………………………………………………………..…..63

Figure 12…………………………………………………………………..…...64

Figure 13…………………………………………………………………..…...65

Figure 14…………………………………………………………………..…...67

Figure 15…………………………………………………………………..…...68

Figure 16…………………………………………………………………..…...70

Figure 17…………………………………………………………………..…...70

Figure 18…………………………………………………………………..…...70

Figure 19…………………………………………………………………..…..75Figure 20…………………………………………………………………..…...77


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Abstract

This action research project presents the procedures and fundamentals of a study

that was carried out with the purpose of motivating students to speak English. Also, it was

developed due to a concern about the students’ difficulties when attempting to speak

English and the lack of opportunities to work on speaking skill in English classes. The

project was implemented in a group of 38 fourth grader students of a public school located

in the Rafael Uribe Uribe district in Bogotá, called Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño. Role

plays and games were used as main resources to develop speaking skills, giving the

students the opportunity to learn in an enjoyable way. Videos, questionnaires and

interviews were used to collect the data that allowed to identify the changes in the students

after the implementation of role plays and games in their English Classes. Likewise,

different theoretical constructs were taken into account to understand the problem presented

by the population and also to analyze the information obtained through the use of the

instruments mentioned. After the implementation of role plays and games, the students

could develop their speaking skill and acquire a consciousness of the importance of

speaking English in the context that they are living in.

Keywords: Speaking skill, vocabulary, role plays, and games.


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Chapter 1

This chapter presents the statement of the problem identified after a diagnosis

applied to fourth grade students at the beginning of this study. Likewise, the reader will

find the research question that guides the development of the research, the justification and

the objectives that lead this project.

Statement of the Problem

This research project aimed to develop the speaking skill of the students, taking into

account the lack of motivation and opportunities students had to speak in the language

during their English classes. This fact affected the oral production of the students and their

learning process in this subject.

The previous problem was identified during an observation process in which the

researcher applied three questionnaires (appendix 1): one for the parents and two for the

students. The responses to these questionnaires allowed the researcher to be able to

recognize some concerns related to the academic aspects of learning English. The students

said that they did not like English because they did not understand what the teacher wanted

to say; the vocabulary and the activities were too difficult. Besides, the girls mentioned that

they would like to speak in English in order to travel abroad and know other countries.

Also, some field notes (appendix 2) were collected as evidence of the lack of

practice of the speaking skill in the English classes and the students’ insecurity when they

participated in the few class activities that included speaking in English. In these field notes

it is prominent that English classes were focused on the development of writing and reading


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skills. In the majority of the classes, the students had to write a story taking into account the

simple present structure, some vocabulary and linking words. They did not have

opportunities to speak in English because they had to finish writing their stories and they

had to check the grammar carefully.

Hence, the problem presented above in the English classes of the fourth graders

demonstrated that it was necessary to look for some tools that could motivated and

developed the speaking skill among the girls and promoted the use of the language not only

in the academy, but also in different environments and moments of their lives.

Research QuestionWhat is the impact of employing role play and games as resources in the

development of speaking skills in students of 402 at Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño

School?

Justification

As it is known, English has a significant role in the process of globalization since it

is used as a tool for exchanging information, ideas, research projects, and it also permits to

increase and facilitate intercultural communication. As a result, this language is essential

for the development of the students and nowadays it is considered as a need.

The students of grade 402 were affected by the lack of opportunities to develop their

speaking skills in their English classes. Thus, their English classes were too short (one hour

per week) and the teacher was focused on doing only writing and reading activities;

students did not speak in English but they were interested in oral communication.

Due to the fact that students were not working on their speaking skills, they could

not be able to achieve the standards that the Ministry of Education proposes, which are


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focused on monologues and conversations. Also, if students did not develop their

communicative competence soon, it could be difficult for them to express their ideas and

their feelings and even to have a simple conversation in English. It is known that for having

better opportunities in the academy, society and economy is necessary to have a good level

in all English skills but for communication the most remarkable of these skills is speaking.

Moreover, if students did not speak in English in the classroom, particularly in their

English classes, they could lose the opportunity to develop this skill as in their homes and

in the external environment, there are few or none opportunities to practice or have

conversations in English.

With this problem solved, the fourth graders could increase their opportunities to

have intercultural competences and possibilities to have access to scientific and

technological advances which are necessary nowadays for studying and working.

In terms of their social development, the interaction with others is essential for

communication. In the same way, role play and games include working in pairs and groups,

so hopefully, they could learn how to work with others and help each other to correct their

mistakes in a positive way, not judging or making jokes. As it is known, it is important to

learn how to work in group because out of the school, in almost all the jobs and

occupational environments, the interaction with others is an indispensable factor to have a

kind atmosphere and good relationships.

This project was developed in English classes, as was mentioned before, in the

fourth grade of the Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño School. To achieve the objectives it

was necessary the implementation of an observation process in which the problem was

detected and also some questionnaires were applied during the first phase of the project

(Appendix 1). It was important to solve the problem due to the fact that students needed to


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lose the fear of making mistakes. Moreover, they needed to increase their oral and

communicative skills in order to express themselves in different fields.

The contribution of this project to the knowledge of education and pedagogy of

English as a foreign language is evident, for instance, taking into account the projects that

are in the data base of the Universidad Pedagógica Nacional, the majority of research

projects related to the learning of English as a foreign language are focused on writing and

reading skills and strategies to develop or improve those abilities; but there is a lack of

research regarding speaking skill and oral communication, specially employing games and

role plays as resources. This project can also help teachers to find a better way of teaching

or developing their students’ speaking skills in their classes, changing the traditional

methodology of classes focused on writing and reading, which let aside the importance of

working on communicative abilities. The project could be a basis to obtain the quality of

the educational system especially in the area of English, taking into account the needs of

the country in terms of science, technology and social aspects.


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Research Objectives

Overall Objective

Identify the impact of employing role plays and games on the development of

speaking skills in fourth graders students of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño.

Specific objectives

To provide children with specific vocabulary to develop communicative skills.

To employ games in classes as a tool to improve speaking skills in the students.

To use role play as a tool to internalize the concepts of English classes.

To identify changes (if any) in the speaking skills of students after implementing

role play and games.


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Chapter 2

Theoretical Framework and State of Art

For the development of this project, it was essential to study some important aspects

that were useful to better understand the idea of the research. In order to do this, different

theories related to the principal topics of the objectives were explored, these theories were:

communicative language teaching, reading skill, vocabulary, role plays, games, and

pronunciation. Also, there were previously published pieces of research closely related to

the topic of this study and therefore contributed in a significant way since they were useful

as guides and could give some ideas of the application of role plays and games in the

English classes. For that reason, it was necessary to take them into consideration.

Communicative Language Teaching

The first concept that was important to understand was Communicative Language

Teaching, whose principal idea according to Nunan (1989) is to employ the language as a

dynamic and active tool for creating and internalizing meaning.

Communicative Language Teaching is an approach of teaching English as a foreign

language, in which the teacher is a guide for the students, who gives them the opportunities

and motivations to speak and express their ideas. Nunan (1989) expresses that this approach promotes interaction among the students which is the main purpose of this project: to create

an environment in which students feel confident and motivated while they interact in

English with their classmates when they perform a role play or play a game. This


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interaction through the use of role plays and games permit that students learn to

communicate with their peers while developing their speaking skill.

According to the concept explained above, it is important to recognize some

characteristics of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach in order to

understand the goals and the process students undertake during the project implementation.

This approach is focused on communication and it is based on the needs of the students. In

addition, Quinn (1984) establishes that this approach uses a genuine everyday language and

its principal goal is that students communicate their ideas effectively by taking into account

their context. The student is the center of the approach and the content is more important

than the form.

In contrast to the traditional methods of teaching and learning, in the CLT the

students are the focus of attention during the development of the classes and the activities.

This permits that the learners can better develop their communicative competence as

Savignon (1972) mentions is the ability to function in a real communicative setting that

means, that it is a dynamic exchange in which linguistic competence must adapt itself to the

informational input.

Moreover, according to Legutke and Thomas (1991) the employment of this

approach in the classroom allows a unique social environment where the students are able

to construct a particular cultural reality, which will imply a communicative potential that

students will take advantage of while they learn. The classroom can become a comfortable

place for motivated real communication.

Taking into account the good results that can be presented if we apply the CLT in

the English classes, the researchers Adnan and Abdullah (2011) developed in their foreign

study, the importance of the employment of the communicative approach in relation to role


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play for developing oral skills. They used role play as a tried and tested method to develop

the speaking skill in Malaysia. They began with a general definition of role play as a

resource that is connected to Communicative Language Teaching and embodies the

principles of the Communicative Approach by focusing on the act of communication and

meaningful spoken language. They looked at the uses of this technique to improve the

speaking skills of students in upper secondary classes in Malaysia. They found that role

play activities are directed to engage students in class discussion and exchange ideas,

providing the students with the opportunity to practice their language skills during

communication. Also, they mentioned that around the notion of the Communicative

Language teaching combined with the employment of Role plays and other communicative

activities the students become more active and encouraged to learn the language and

cultural aspects on their own.

Speaking skill

The Communicative Language Teaching approach is closely related to the speaking

skill, which is the second concept that is necessary to point out. According to Brown and

Yule (1983) spoken language is related to short and sometimes incomplete statements or

utterances in terms of pronunciation, there are often a lot of repetitions.

This does not mean that in the speaking skill grammar has no place and the

sentences spoken make no sense or are not coherent. This means that the main goal during

a speaking activity is the communication of ideas and expressions, which are not affected if

the students make some grammatical errors.

It is important to note that there are other points of views related to the speaking

skill. For example, Brown (2001) states that: “when someone can speak a language it


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means that he can carry on a conversation reasonably competently” (p.267). In addition, he

states: “The benchmark of successful acquisition of language is almost always the

demonstration of an ability to accomplish pragmatic goals through an interactive discourse

with other language speakers” (p.267). Those pragmatic goals are what the students

achieved in the English class by implementing activities such as games and role plays

which helped them to have short conversations full of meaning while taking into account

their context, their mind set, and group work.

In turn, Byrne (1976) asserts that the main goal to develop the speaking skill is the

ability to communicate one’s own ideas with security and intelligibility. To achieve this

goal the students have to follow a model or the stimuli that they receive from their teachers

until they can use the language to express their thoughts and feelings. Through the use of

games and role plays the students felt more secure and confident when they spoke in

English, due to the fact that they participated actively and they felt motivated breaking with

a traditional class in which the main activity was related to developing the writing skill.

On the other hand, during the application of this project the idea was to develop the

oral communication between the students; this oral communication is a “two-way process

between speaker and listener (or listeners), involving the productive skill of speaking and

the receptive skill of understanding (or listening with understanding)” (Byrne, 1976, p.8).

Although the main objective was to develop the speaking skill, the listening skill was not

left out or aside. If there was a student or a group of students who were going to speak or

perform in front of their classmates, it is obvious that there were some students who assume

the role of listeners. This role is as important as the role of the speaker and both (listener

and speaker) can have positive results transmitting and understanding the message. For that


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reason, it is important to clarify that although the main skill here was speaking, the listening

ability was vital to achieve the goals of this project and develop the oral communication.

To recognize the importance of the speaking skills, Duarte, Tinjacá and Carrero

(2012) propose some procedures in their research that can help to motivate students to

speak in English. In fact, they observed the lack of confidence of the students at the

moment of talking and their little motivation towards learning English. They employed

songs as a main resource with other activities that gave the students the opportunity to learn

in a fun way during their first years as foreign language learners. They carried out the

project with 84 students from 11 to 13 years old who were sixth graders at the Álvaro

Gómez Hurtado School in Bogotá. The results of the research show that the learners could

pronounce many words freely in a non-threatening environment and they acquired

vocabulary and learn by the use of songs in the classes. Also, they highlight the important

role of the songs in the daily teaching activities, allowing students to improve

pronunciation and modulation, and to understand the usage of grammar items in a real

context.

On the other hand, Gutierrez (2005) shows in her research project an analysis about

the lack of practice regarding speaking skills in ninth grade students at the Institución

Educativa Distrital Britalia, in Bogotá. Forty students participated in the project: twenty-

three girls and seventeen boys, whose ages ranged from 14 to 17 years. Three interactive

tasks were designed and implemented, a free conversational activity and two basic oral

defenses. She employed direct observation, videos, and audiotapes in order to obtain

evidence of the improvement of students’ oral communication. The changes in the

pedagogical practice, in the role of the teacher, in the syllabus design, and in learners’

attitudes towards their learning process were notorious. As a result, the learners improved


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their communicative skill by developing interactive and communicative tasks, which let

them interact in different situations employing the foreign language in a fruitful way. The

students were capable of expressing their ideas and arguing them.

Reading these projects, it was evident that there were some problems associated

with the speaking skill in the schools and the idea was to recognize them and seek strategies

and solutions that permitted an improvement of the failures presented by the students in

regard to this ability. If there is awareness in the schools about this aspect, the students will

be better prepared in English and they will have cognitive, professional, and cultural

benefits.

Vocabulary

As Swan and Walter (1984) mentioned, the acquisition of vocabulary is one of the

most important tasks in the foreign language learning process. For this reason, during the

implementation of the project the use of the vocabulary learned was one of the main

categories of analysis. If the students could develop their speaking skill they should

improve their vocabulary in order to express some ideas or answer some questions.

Vocabulary is defined by the American Heritage Dictionary (2006) as “the sum of

words used by, understood by, or at the command of a particular person or group.” And this

sum of words and expression is what the students express when they try to communicate

their ideas. In the diagnosis, the majority of the students said that they did not know how to

say many words in English and for that reason they did not speak in English in the classes.

If the main idea of the project was to develop the speaking skill and an oral competence in

the students, it was necessary to give the students enough vocabulary, with these new

words the students could be able to participate in class.


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As it was mentioned before, in the current project, the approach used was the

Communicative Language Teaching. In this approach the principal aspect is the

communication and if the students want to communicate themselves they need to learn

more words than grammatical aspects or specific rules: “If you spend most of your time

studying grammar, your English will not improve very much. You will see most

improvement if you learn more words and expressions. You can say very little with

grammar, but you can say almost anything with words!” (Thornbury 2002, p. 13).

Therefore, if the students know a lot of rules related to the pronunciation or grammar but

they do not know the necessary words, it could be impossible for them to establish

communication with their classmates and the teacher.

According to Gairns and Redman (1989), there are some possible groups in which

the vocabulary can be better organized in semantic fields. This is necessary in order to

facilitate the acquisition of the new words. Some of the possible groupings are:

1. Items related by topic, e.g. types of fruit, articles of clothing, etc.

2.

Items grouped as an activity or process, e.g. steps involved in taking a

photograph, opening an account.

3.

Items similar in meaning, e.g. ways of walking, ways of looking, etc.

4. Items which form pairs, as synonyms or antonyms.

5. Items along a scale or cline, which illustrate differences or degree, e.g.

temperatures, ages, etc.

6. Derivatives, e.g. psychology, psychologist, etc.

7. Items grouped by grammatical aspects

8.

Items forming a set of idioms or multi-word verbs, e.g. ring up, get through, ring

back, etc.


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In relation to this research project, during the role plays and the games the students

had the opportunity to learn and practice vocabulary related by topic, such as numbers,

colors, fruits, months of the year, sports, food, etc.; items which form pairs such as qualities

and defects and some vocabulary related to grammatical aspects such as personal and

possessive pronouns. In role plays for example, the students employed this vocabulary

when they performed some role plays based on real situations, and for that reason all the

new words acquired meaning for them, because they knew how to use them in real life.

Pronunciation

Pronunciation is another important concept that is closely related to thedevelopment of the speaking skill. Orion (1997) expresses that “There are those necessary

movements the speaker has to make for the production of any given sound, and there are

also certain ‘notes’ the speaker must combine in order to give meaning to his or her words”

(p.1). All those sounds and movements can affect the understanding or the meaning of the

words that the students say. For that reason, it is essential to pay attention to the production

of the sounds students make and the possible mistakes that they can commit while they

communicate ideas.

Within the pronunciation we can find two main concepts that took an important

place in the project. These two concepts are stress and intonation. Stress “refers to the

degree of force or loudness you give to a syllable in a word or to a word or words in a

phrase or a sentence. Stressing a syllable indicates the importance of that syllable” (Orion,

1997, p.17) and intonation “refers to the various tones of the voice. By using different tones

the speaker gives meaning and expression to the words he or she says. ” (Orion, 1997, p.17)


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Both, stress and intonation can improve the way in which the students make use of

the language. As it was mentioned above, it is important that students communicate their

ideas or experiences employing the English language, but as soon as they take into account

some rules related to the intonation and the stress these ideas can be better understood and

can be meaningful.

During the classes there were not specific moments in which the teacher explained

the rules, but when the students presented the role plays or when they played the games, the

teacher paid attention to the pronunciation of the words, the question and exclamation

marks in order to guide the conversation.

Role Plays

In order to understand the idea of the development of the English classes and the

project itself and to foster the communicative competence in the students, there are two

essential concepts which have to be mentioned. One of them is the role play. Related to this

term, Ladousse (1987) affirms that:

When students assume a ‘role’ they play a part (either their own or somebody else’s) in a

specific situation. ‘Play’ means that the role is taken on in a safe environment in which

students are as inventive and playful as possible. A group of children carrying out a

successful role play in a classroom has much in common with a group of children playing

school, doctors and nurses, or Stars Wars. Both are consciously creating their own reality

and, by doing so, are experimenting with their knowledge of the real world and developing

their ability to interact with other people (p. 5)

For that reason, a role play can be assumed as a tool to develop language skills, especially

speaking, because learners have the chance to express their feelings in their own context


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and culture, surrounded by things that they can recognize and can help them to feel

comfortable.

Ladousse (1987) suggests some reasons for using role plays in English classes.

Among the most important reasons we can find:

1. The students will be capable of expressing themselves in any situation.

2. Role play helps the students to build up social skills, avoiding the idea that

language is only to transfer specific information.

3. Practicing role play helps the students to learn how to interact with people in

different contexts and in specific roles in their lives.

4. It is fun and develops the imagination of the students. They will enjoy the idea of

acting as someone else while they practice the language.

Therefore, the use of role play was good technique to improve the speaking skill in

the fourth graders. As the students had had little contact with English speaking activities,

employing role plays allowed an approach to English and develop oral proficiency. The

girls felt motivated and the interaction in the classroom increased.

The role play activities were worked in pairs because “ it is very easy to talk to one

person in front or behind without disturbing the whole class… if people are in direct one-

to-one communication with no one looking on, they will get on with the task better”

(Ladousse, 1987, p.12). The students were more comfortable working with a friend or a

classmate who was close to them, because they were not ashamed of making mistakes

while they were practicing the dialogue.

On the other hand, Harmer (1998), states that students on several occasions imagine

that they are in different social contexts and that they have diverse roles in the society. In

role play activities, the teacher gives the students some parameters and information to


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perform such as, who are they? What are their feelings? Or what experiences are they living

when they assume that these situations can be possible in real life? At this point, it is

important to emphasize that the role plays that the students performed were directly related

to real situations in real context; with the purpose of students recognizing the importance of

communication in a foreign language and that the activity had a true meaning for them.

According to Byrne (1976) there are two main choices that teachers can offer the

learners when they are performing a role play. One of them is that students can play

themselves in an imaginary situation and the other refers to students playing imaginary

people in an imaginary situation. In this case, both choices were taken into account. There

were classes in which the girls acted as themselves in imaginary situations such as a

meeting with their friends, a trip, a party, etc. But also, there were role plays in which the

students acted as someone else in an imaginary situation, for example a job interview, a

shopping in a supermarket or a meeting with foreign or famous people. It does not mean

that the “imaginary” situations was not based on real life or on the real context of the

students, because the idea was to create a meaningful environment for them. It means that

even though the students had to assume the role of adults or famous people, the situations

were real and related to their context.

As an example of this, Aliakbari and Jamalvandi (2010) propose in their work about

the effectiveness of task-based language teaching (TBLT) the importance of the satisfaction

of the communicative needs of learners employing role plays. They relied on the theoretical

background of this paradigm and focused their study on role- play as a praised technique in

task based language teaching (TBLT) to investigate and display their effect on boosting

EFL learners' speaking skill. The project was carried out with EFL sophomores who were

studying in different universities in the city of Liam-Iran. Out of this population, 60


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learners were selected at random. The selected subjects were 40 female and 20 male and

their ages ranged from 18 to 30. The conclusions of this work show role plays as an

underlined and recommended activity that helps students to improve their oral ability and

express their feelings and ideas, taking into account that the group that was intervened

presented better results in speaking performances.

Furthermore, Oradee (2012) proposes in the research Developing Speaking Skills

Using Three Communicative Activities (Discussion, Problem-Solving, and Role Playing)

the study and comparison of speaking skills of grade 11 students using three

communicative activities and the students’ attitude towards teaching English speaking

skills employing the activities proposed. The sample group consisted of 49 students of a

secondary school in Udon Thani, Thailand classified according to their abilities in English

speaking proficiency level. The research findings show that the students’ abilities speaking

English after implementing the three activities were considerably higher than before and the

students’ attitudes were positive and had further improvement.

These two examples show that by employing role play, students will have the

chance to work in real situations by avoiding those feelings of fear and insecurity that can

be presented when they are in an oral presentation or answer a direct question from the

teacher. Also, it is a dynamic activity that breaks with the traditional class where the

students usually learn isolated vocabulary without contextualizing it and as a result,

children only develop writing and reading skills.

If students practice English using role plays they could have the opportunity to deal

with real life situations, to develop communicative skills, and to learn how to solve

different problems.


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Games

Lastly, another important concept is Games, which plays an essential role in the

development of the project due to the fact that it is the other tool that will be used for

developing speaking skills in the students. Hadfield (1998) affirms that:

A game is an activity with rules, a goal and an element of fun. There are two kinds of

games: competitive games, in which players or teams race to be the first to reach the goal,

and cooperative games, in which players or teams work together towards a common goal.

(p.4)

In this project, the games employed were more cooperative than competitive,

because the idea was not to create environments of discussion and rivalry. Also there were

some competitive games but to avoid disputes among the students some rules were

established since the beginning.

Additionally, according to Krashen & Terrel (1995) games are employed as

mechanisms for stimulating interest(s) in learners; that offers an important experience in the

acquisition process as games are designed to be used for giving a comprehensible input.

That was the goal of employing this tool; the purpose was to create in the students the habit

of speaking in a non-structured way. This means avoiding the use of examples out of their

context or avoiding giving more importance to syntactic aspects than the real and

significant content of what the students say.

By employing games, the teacher can create different contexts in which students

have to use the language to communicate, exchange information and express their own

opinions and ideas as Wright, Betteridge and Buckby (2006) state. Taking this information

into account it is important to recognize the role of games not only in the common life of

the students but also in the teaching and learning process. Hadfield (1998) refers that games


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are designed to be enjoyed, but when games are played in the classroom they are not just

for fun or for changing routines in the classes. They must help to develop the language

proficiency in the students using the language while they are immersed in the game. During

the application of the project the students had to play some games but the main objective of

them was to promote the speaking in the class. The students had to speak if they wanted to

win; the games included a lot of questions that had to be answered employing vocabulary,

sounds, expressions, grammatical aspects, etc.

Moreover, as Hadfield (1998) mentioned,

The inclusion of games as an integral part of any language syllabus provides an opportunity

for intensive language practice, offers a context in which language is used meaningfully and

as means to an end, and acts as a diagnostic tool for teachers (p.5).

With games the teachers have the opportunity to show the students the importance

of using the language for expressing ideas, feelings and opinions. While the students play,

they are internalizing meaningful words or expressions that they will use in a real context

when they have the opportunity to interact not only with foreign people but also with

Colombians who speak English.

As an example, Urrutia and Vega (2010) implemented games in their project with

tenth grade students of a public school called Federico Garcia Lorca, in Bogotá. The

population was composed of 20 girls and 20 boys from 14 to 18 years old. They decided to

develop the study because of the concern about their students’ difficulties when they tried

to speak in English. They talked about the fears that some students could feel when they

were involved in an oral interaction. The idea was to implement games in the English

classes in order to explore the possibility of solving a problematic aspect related to the low

level of students’ speaking participation. The results show that students felt better, free and


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confident when they participated in oral tasks, particularly during games. They saw

collaboration, solidarity and interaction among the students. Also the conclusions present

the importance of games in learning a second or foreign language as a motivational tool.

Finally, considering the concepts explained above and the studies which

demonstrate the importance of English, especially the development of the oral skill in the

learning process, this project will be better understood.


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Chapter 3

Research Design

As it was mentioned previously, the specific objective of this project was to identify

the changes in the speaking skills of fourth grade students in Liceo Femenino Mercedes

Nariño after implementing role plays and games. To develop this project, it was necessary

to employ a methodology which helped to guide the process in order to achieve theobjectives. In this chapter the reader will find the needed methodological aspects for the

design and execution of the current research. These aspects correspond to: the style and

paradigm of the research, the instruments and methods for collecting data, the units of

analysis that permitted to better examine the result and the ethical and moral

responsibilities taken into account in the data processing.

Qualitative research

According to Bryman (1988) the qualitative research aims to observe and analyze

the way people act in their daily life taking into account their context and how they see and

interpret their world and their reality. Being a qualitative research project, the study starts

with a process of observation in order to identify the aspects that can be improved and

consequently, propose possible solutions to those problems.

Creswell (2007) states that the main idea of working with a qualitative research

method is to understand and explore an individual or a group of people who present a social

or human problem. To provide solutions to these problems, it is necessary to follow a


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process which involves data collected in the participant’s environment, data analysis and

interpretation of the information collected.

In addition, the idea of employing a qualitative research methodology is to collect

data to develop some concepts, constructs and theories that permit the understanding of the

social world as Hancock (1998) says. With the data collected through this research process,

pedagogical and educative practices can be improved and positive changes can be done.

On the other hand, according to Mack & Woodsong (2005) this method of research

offers some advantages especially at the moment of collecting and analyzing information.

The qualitative method permits the use of open-ended questions in instruments such as

questionnaires and interviews, giving the participants the opportunity to express their ideas

employing their own words instead of selecting one of the provided responses. Hence, the

participants have more flexibility, freedom and confidence when responding.

Action research

The style of research implemented was action research. Burns (2010) defines this as

the process in which the researcher takes part by exploring his teaching as well as some

problems that affect the teaching and learning process to obtain understanding and supply

meaningful improvements in their practice. Also, action research gives solutions to a

problem that, in this case, was the lack of opportunities the students had in relation to the

development of the speaking skill. The goal was not only to solve this problem and finish

the research, but also to help other teachers to achieve the goals and the standards

established by the Ministry of Education. As an action research project, it was a reflective

process and the main idea was to have an educative and pedagogical impact, according to

Bur ns (2010).


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Additionally, there are some other authors that have different points of view in

relation to the action research. One of them is O’Leary (2004) who sees action research as

an “experiential learning approach, to change, where the goal is to continually refine the

methods, data, and interpretation in light of the understanding developed in each earlier

cycle”. This can be better understood if we take into account the graphic model that

O’Leary proposes.

Figure 1: O’Leary’s cycles of research.

On the other side, Kemmis and McTaggart (2000) present this research as

participatory. They say that this is a spiral of self-reflective cycles composed of planning a

change, acting and observing the process and the consequences of the change, reflecting on

these processes, acting and observing, etc.


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Figure 2: The action research spiral.

Although the graphics and some of the ideas presented are not the same, the main

objective of these two authors is to show that the action research is a process of reflection

that seeks to create a proposal and a change in order to solve a social problem.

Moreover, there are some principal steps or phases that are important during the

development of an action research. Ferrance (2000) proposes the following: identification

of problem area, collection and organization of data, interpretation of data, and action based

on data and reflection.

1. Identification of problem area: In this step, the teacher identifies and delimitates

the question of the problem that he/she wants to work on. In the case of this research


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project, the problem was related to the lack of practice and development of the speaking

skill during the English classes in fourth grade students.

2. Collection and organization of data: In this phase, the researcher or teacher has to

take into account the variety of resources for data collection that exists and choose the most

appropriate for the problem. Also, it is necessary to use at least three sources that

complement each other, the use and the articulation of the information obtained through

these three sources is called Triangulation. The triangulation consists of taking different

sources of information and in that way proves through different perspectives the reliability

of the information get as Guion, Diehl & McDonald (2011) state. For collecting data in the

current study, the researcher used videos, interviews, and questionnaires.

3. Interpret data: this step consists of analyzing the data obtained through the

instruments mentioned before. The information is organized taking into consideration the

main goal of the project which was to develop the oral skill in the students through the use

of role plays and games.

4. Act on evidence: Regarding the information obtained through the collection of

data and the theoretical framework, the researcher designs a plan of action. This plan of

action consists of making a change or studying the implementation of a new technique to

improve research.

5. Evaluate results: finally, the teacher evaluates the effects of the intervention in

order to identify changes (if any). The researcher establishes some conclusions after a

process of reflection.


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Units of analysis

The representative units that were utilized for the analysis of the data were: use of

vocabulary, pronunciation, participation and cooperative work. These units of analysis

permitted a better orientation of the project and focused the attention on important aspects,

responding to the research question without rambling on unnecessary issues. This graphic

better shows each of the units of analysis and a relation with the different stages and

instruments employed in this project.

Categories of analysis Sub-categories Instruments

Role plays and games to

foster vocabulary

Conversationactivities

Daily expressions

Videos

Interview

Questionnaires


improve pronunciation in

English

Stress

Intonation

Videos

Interviews

Questionnaires

Games and role plays to

improve the participation

in English classes

Answer questions

Ask questions.

Videos

Interviews

Questionnaires


improve cooperative

work

Pair work

Group work

Videos

Interviews


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Hypothesis

The fourth grade students from Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño will develop their

speaking skill after the implementation of role plays and games in the English classes,

recognizing the importance of English language in their life and improving vocabulary,

pronunciation, participation, and cooperative work.

Instruments to collect data

As was mentioned before, in this stage of the project it is essential that the

researcher documents what is observed during the implementation of role plays and games

in the English classes through the use of instruments of data collection. In this sense, someinstruments that contribute to the project requirements were used. One instrument that was

useful for collecting data was the interview (Appendix 3). An interview is a “flexible tool

for data collection, enabling multi-sensory channels to be used: verbal, non-verbal, spoken

and heard.” (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2007, p.49). The interviews can be structured,

semi-structured or unstructured. In the current project, structured interviews were used.

According to Wallace (1998) In this kind of interview, the questions are cautiously

prepared and read in a specific order, similar to a questionnaire but the difference is that the

questions in an interview are presented orally

This tool was useful because it allows direct contact with the population and the

understanding of the ideas that the interviewer wants to express, avoiding

misinterpretations. Also, because sometimes the students prefered to express their opinions

using an oral discourse instead of a written one.

Another instrument implemented were questionnaires (Appendix 4). Siniscalco &

Auriat (2005) express that the questionnaire functions as a tool to collect data from the


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population, especially about their environment such as the school, family, and the society.

For this project, closed questions were used in which the students had the opportunity to

choose the closest response to their point of view among a number of possible answers.

Additionally, open-ended questions that do not have options to choose were used to

provoke free responses as Siniscalco & Auriat (2005) state. These instruments were applied

in order to identify and recognize the impact (if any) of games and role plays as well as the

ideas that the students have related to the process that they accomplish.

The use of technological resources was necessary for collecting the required data.

Video recording became useful in this project since it avoided the loss of relevant facts.

Derry (2007) exposes that videos are information sources in which important data can be

identified; it facilitates a comprehension and re-analysis of the process. The analysis of the

data collected through the videos was carried out taking into account the following

Checklist for evaluation:

This checklist was taken from Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners

by J. Michael O'Malley and Lorraine Valdez Pierce, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company

(1996).


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Videos were chosen because the project was focused on speaking skill and the use

of these resources can help to directly prove whether or not the students improve their

communicative abilities.

Data collection was developed not only at the end of the project, but also during the

implementation or performance of the role plays and games. Therefore, monitoring videos

were used too in order to analyze and demonstrate the changes, as well as the process and

the responses that the students presented and experienced, specifically in terms of speaking

skills. Also, to analyze appropriately the data collected and ensure or increase the validity

of the information, data triangulation was employed. Guion, Diehl & McDonald (2011)


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express that the triangulation consists of taking different sources of information and in that

way prove through different perspectives the reliability of the information

Finally, since the beginning of the project, the parents of the students signed a

consent form (Appendix 6), in order to avoid some ethical issues that could be presented.

This consent form protects and respects the right of self-determination, and places some of

the situations and the effects that the participants will receive during and after the research

in order to achieve the goals as Cohen, Manion & Morrison (2007) state. Also, the

confidentiality of the data was respected therefore the students’ names were changed or

omitted in order to protect their privacy. It is important to clarify that the information

collected through the implementation of interviews, questionnaires and videos was used for

academic purposes only.

Population

This project was developed with a group of 38 students who studied in the afternoon

shift. They were in fourth grade of the Institución Educativa Distrital Liceo Femenino

Mercedes Nariño. They range from 8 to 10 years old. The majority of the students live near

the school and they belong to 1, 2 and 3 social stratification levels according to Bogotá

planning.

The students liked to participate in class and to use technological resources. They

had some problems with discipline because sometimes they disrespected their classmates,

interrupting when they were speaking. Also, they enjoyed working in group and in pairs.

They liked to go to the school and spend time with their friends. The students recognized

the importance of learning in their personal and academic life.


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They took subjects like English, Mathematics, Sports, Computer science, Spanish,

Philosophy, Music, Biology, Social sciences, French, Ethics and Religion. They liked

English but only if they could understand what the teacher say due to the fact that for them

this language was too difficult to comprehend. In addition, their favorite subject was

mathematics since they enjoyed doing activities such as adding, subtracting, multiplying

and dividing.

When school was dismissed, they spent their free time studying at home, helping

with chores and going out with friends. They also were connected with social networks like

Facebook and Twitter and they spent part of their time using technological tools.

Diagnosis

Taking into consideration the previous diagnosis, it is important to mention that the

fourth grade students should be in level A2 according to the standards proposed by the

Ministry of Education, but they had a weak background in English, especially in their

speaking skill.

The students were able to write short sentences about topics that they like and

describe situations related to images. Regarding the reading skill, the students could

associate pictures with their written description and they could understand short

descriptions of people, actions and places, using dictionaries for those activities.

Moreover, English was only taught to the students once a week for a period of 45

minutes or less. They could only work individually because of the way in which the

classroom was organized.

During the English classes the students did not have the opportunity to express their

ideas or their feelings in English in an oral way because they were mainly focused on


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writing and reading skills. They were afraid of the English class since they consider that

this language is difficult to understand and speak.

Finally, for them it was important to learn English due to the fact that it is helpful

for their lives in terms of success. Also, there were two main facts that affected the girls

learning process: the loss of time at the beginning of the class and the lack of meaningful

homework for the students.


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Chapter 4

Pedagogical Intervention

This pedagogical intervention aimed at providing solutions to the problem that the

students presented related to the speaking skill. First, it is important to remember that in

order to develop speaking skills in students of fourth grade, the approach used was

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).

Communicative language teaching

According to Richards (2006) this approach sets the teaching of communicative

competence as its most important objective and includes aspects such as knowing how to

use language in different situations taking into account its functions, how to vary the use of

language according to the context or environment, how to produce and understand the

diverse types of texts that exist and how to keep a communicative situation without

allowing external factors to affect this process.

This approach was selected since it is directly related to the main purpose of this

project, in which the students developed their abilities in terms of speaking skills by the

implementation of games and role plays that permitted them to acquire and learn the

language. That means, students not only memorized structures and rules, but also they

internalized some expressions in English and some vocabulary.


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Cooperative learning

Also, the development of this speaking skill was carried out working in groups or in

pairs. This was a process of cooperative learning which allowed the students to help each

other and overcome their difficulties when they tried to establish an oral communication.

For that reason, it was necessary to know what involves this cooperative work or

cooperative learning.

According to the Johnson & Johnson (1998), cooperative learning is a way of

learning that involves students working in teams in order to reach a common goal or

objective, this cooperative learning involves some elements such as:

1. Positive interdependence. The members of the team have to rely on one another

to achieve the goal.

2. Individual accountability. All the members in a group have to work.

3.

Face-to-face promote interaction. Although some of the group work can be done

individually, some must be done interactively, for that reason the members of

the team should encourage one another and share their ideas, engaging good

communication.

4.

Appropriate use of collaborative skills. The students are encouraged and helped

to develop and practice trust-building, leadership, decision-making,

communication, and conflict management skills.

5. Group processing. Team members set group goals and they assess what they are

doing, identifying some problems that can affect their process.

During all the pedagogical intervention the students had the opportunity to share

with their classmates and work in groups, in the case of games and in pairs in the role plays.

The goal of this was to increase the confidence in the students when they spoke in public.


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lack of practice in the speaking skill, due to the fact that the English teacher was focused

only on the writing and reading skills.

Diagnosis

In this step, some questionnaires were applied in order to recognize the problem and

to limit it. Also, these questionnaires helped to characterize the population.

Understanding of rules and adaptation

In this part, the researcher started explaining the rules of the classes and the way in

which the classes were carried out. They started playing a few games and preforming some

short role plays to better understand the idea of the classes. This time was a kind of

adaptation to the new way of learning English because the students were used to only doing

writing and reading activities.

Implementation

This step was developed over a period almost one year. In all the classes, the

students acted a role play or participate in a game. In the case of role plays, the teacher

organized the students into groups and then, she assigned each group a dialogue related to

the topic that they were going to work on, and they had to perform it in front of the rest of

the class. The students could make some changes in the role plays in order to improve their

performance taking into account real situations that they had experienced and also to foster

their abilities of creation (Appendix 7).

With regard to the games, they prompted an internalization of the concepts or the

topics of the classes. While the students played the games they practiced the concepts

learned in the explanation, answering questions or establishing relationships between

images and words. The games were implemented with all the students but in some cases in

groups (Appendix 8).


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The classes started with an opening activity or a warm up activity that gave the

students the input (this opening activities were videos, songs, images, etc.), then the

students started a pre-activity taking into account the opening activity (answering questions

or talking about the topic presented). After that, in the “while activities” the students started

either to create the dialogues for the role plays or to play the games (the teacher guided the

students in this part by helping them with vocabulary or unknown expressions). The games

used were cooperative games which included some songs, guessing games, lotteries,

memory games, among others.

When they finished the “while activities” in the case of role plays, they performed

the dialogues and in the case of games they applied the knowledge in a short activity. This,

in order to prove the understanding or the acquisition of the topic. It is important to know

that the teacher followed and oriented the process of the students while they were preparing

the role plays.

The resources employed for the development of role plays and games were: videos,

workshops, readings, posters, etc. Also, some technological resources were used such as a

computer, projectors or the smart board that is located in the language classroom. The

videos, workshops, and readings were selected taking into account the topics of the classes

and the needs of the students; all of them were contextualized. The time used for the

implementation of this pedagogical proposal was 45 minutes per week during an academic

year.

Final Production:

This last part consists of a presentation by the students in which they performed

some role plays that they had prepared in pairs, in order to show their classmates what they


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learned during this entire process. At the end of the academic period, they had two classes

to write the script and one to practice the role plays and finally one for the final

presentation.

Chronogram

In order to better understand the process of the pedagogical intervention, it is

necessary to take into account the following chronogram:

General topic Week

Objectives Activity Materials time

Communicative Language

Presentationof the project

1

To understand the

concepts of role playand games in order tocomprehend betterthe idea of the

projects.

Present the

students theimportantaspects of the

project,explaining thatthe main ideais to developtheir oral skillsemployingrole plays andgames.

45

minutes

Personalinformation

2

To talk about myselfin a real context(meetings,interviews…)

To identify theuse of expressionssuch as:My name is… I am ___yearsold.I am from…

Present thestudents a role

play whichthey are goingto performemployingexpressionsrelated to

personalinformation.

Role play photocopies

45

minutes

Nationalities3

To be able to expressthe place where theywere born.

To be able to talk

about nationalitiesand countries in a realconversation.

To identify somenationalities andcountries

To use of where

are you from? andI am from

Present thestudents somenationalities,employingsome images

and flags.

Pictures andflags of thecountries.

45

Minutes

Nationalities 4

To be able to expressthe place where theywere born.

To be able to talkabout nationalities

To recognizesome nationalitiesand countries

To use of where

To perform arole play inwhich thestudents aregoing toemploy

Role playmodelFlags of thecountries.

45minutes


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and countries in a realconversation.

are you from? andI am from

expressionssuch as “I AM

FROM” and

“WHEREARE YOUFROM”

The alphabet5

To be able to spellsome words in a realconversation if it isnecessary

To identify theletters of thealphabet and thecorrect

pronunciation.

Present thestudents theletters of thealphabet, singa song of thealphabet and

play a spellinggame.

Poster withthe letters ofthe alphabet.

Bag withwords forthe spellinggame.

45minutes.

The months ofthe year

6

To be able to talkabout dates andimportantcelebrations in theirown context.

To identify themonths of theyear.

Present thestudents theMonths of theyear untilJune, sing asong and draw

some picturesrelated to thecelebrations.

Pictures ofthe months

Poster withthe monthsof the year.

45minutes

The months ofthe year

7

To be able to talkabout dates andimportantcelebrations in theirown context.

To identify themonths of theyear.

Present thestudents theMonths of theyears untilDecember,

play a memorygame relatedto the monthsand someimportant

dates of ourcountry.

Memorygame

Pictures ofthe months.

45minutes

The numbersfrom 1 to 100

8

To be able torecognize and use thenumbers in a realconversation and forgiving personalinformation (phonenumber, age, address)

To identify thenumbers from 1to 100

Play a game inwhich thestudents haveto add somenumbers andsay the correctansweremployingwhat theylearned.

Bag withnumbersfrom 1 to100.

Poster withthe numbersfrom 1 to100

Photocopies

of thenumbers.

45minutes

Exam9

To check thestudents’ progress in

terms of learning andacquisition of thetopics presented

Photocopies

45minutes

Exam10

To correct the examin order to identifythe problems with

exams 45minutes


50/123

50

correction some topics and alsofor solving doubts.

Personal pronouns

11 To replace the namesof people employing

personal pronouns foravoiding repetitionsin a real conversation.

To identify the personal pronouns.

Play a gamerelated to the

personal pronouns

Poster of personal pronouns

45minutes

Personal pronouns

12 To replace the namesof people employing

personal pronouns foravoiding repetitionsin a real conversation.

To identify the personal pronouns

Role playtaking intoaccount the

personal pronouns

Photocopiesof the role

plays

Poster of personal pronouns

45minutes

Possessive pronouns

13 To be able to expressideas aboutsomeone’s´ (family or

friends ) possessions

To identify possessive pronouns.

Role play inwhich thestudents aregoing toemploy the

personal and

possessive pronouns.

Role play photocopies.

Poster of possessive pronouns

45minutes

Weather

14 To be able to describethe weather and itschanges.

To

Documents

Developing Oral Skills Through Games and Role Plays in Fourth Grade Students of Liceo Femenino Mercedes Nariño School