By Le Thi Hong Tuyen
Robertson & Acklam (2000) define that warm-up activities are short activities for the beginning of lesson which help the students begin to think in English, review previously introduced materials and become interested in the lesson. Velandia (2008) also pointed out some principles to make up a warm-up activity. He emphasizes that the right time when a warm-up activity should be carried out is at the starting point of the class. It will make the students pay more attention to the lesson. That activity should be interesting enough for students to be engaged at the beginning of the lesson. Also, it must be short because it is considered a preparation stage for other stages of a lesson. That warm-up activity must be connected to the lesson topic; therefore, students can take part in different activities more easily to develop their language skill in other stages.
Warm-up activities help create a good relationship between learners and teachers, which contributes to making a successful learning process. Lassche (2005) supported that by developing rapport with students, teachers can help them share their ideas and opinions with more relaxed activities. The teachers should know the effectiveness of using warm-up activities which can create an opportunity for all students get to know each other and for the teachers to understand the general level of that class in the first lesson. Those activities help build the connection among the whole class (Senior, 1997).
Warm-up activities help motivate students. Many researchers have examined that motivation plays a very important role in a language class. By spending five or ten minutes for warmup activities, leaners can be motivated from the beginning of a class (GarcĂa & MartĂn, 2004). Learners’ interest in class activities has an influence on their motivation. Learners will be interested in the lesson if class activities are interesting enough to attract them to the lesson. So, the warm-up activity used to motivate students should be interesting.
Finally, warm-up activities help attract attention. When people pay enough attention to something, they will learn quickly and more effectively. Thanks to warm-up activities, learners will pay attention and start to think of the topic or the new lesson. Moreover, students stop being distracted and focus their attention on the lesson. These kinds of activities lead the students to learn language effectively from the beginning (Velandia, 2008).
References
GarcĂa, A. M., & MartĂn, J. C. (2004). Something Old and Something New. Techniques to Improve the Lexical Inventory of EST Students: A Proposal. RevistaEstudiosIngleses, 17, 6-44.
Lassche, G. (2005). Proceedings of the 13th Annual KOTESOL International Conference: Warmup for Language Learning. Seoul, Korea: KOTESOL Proceedings 2005.
Robertson, C. & Acklam, R. (2000). Action Plan for Teachers a guide to teaching English. London, UK: BBC World Service.
Senior, R. (1997). Transforming language classes into bonded groups. ELT Journal, 51 (1), 3-11.
Velandia, R. (2008). The Role of Warming Up Activities in Adolescent Students’ Involvement During the English Class. Profile Journal, 10, 9-26.
From Le Thi Hong Tuyen “Using Warm-Up Activities to Improve the Students’ Speaking Skills: An Action Research Project at Dong Nai Technology University” Published in International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456-6470, Volume-5 | Issue-2, February 2021, pp.484-492, URL: www.ijtsrd.com/papers/ijtsrd38429.pdf. Creative Commons Licensed (CC BY 4.0)