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Unit 3 At school

About this unit

In this unit about school and what childrenenjoy there, pupils practise answeringquestions and start to work in groups. Theyread a passage and a story and answerquestions about the texts. Pictures form thebasis of the writing exercise and thelanguage focus is on prepositions. Pupilsenjoy a rhyme about school and practiseusing known and new sight words.

Lesson 1

Lesson aims

Listening and speaking: answeringquestions; taking part in group work

Reading: school vocabulary (flag, school,bell, classroom, book, desk, teacher,chalkboard, learning is fun)

Grammar: the adjective

Writing: words in personal dictionaries.

Resources

Chalkboard

Pupil's Book

Workbook Flashcards of school vocabulary Personal dictionary for each pupil

Cardboard to record the spelling list forclassroom use.

Starting off

1. Demonstrate how to raise and lower yourschool flag. Let pupils have a turn.

2. Use flashcards to introduce schoolvocabulary.

Listening and speaking

(Pupil's Book p. 14)

Encourage pupils to increase theirvocabulary by discussing and interpretingpictures. Ask questions that connect thepictures to pupils' own school life.

1. Ask the pupils what they can see in thepicture. Let them respond in their homelanguage and repeat the Englishequivalent for that word.

2. Ask pupils to tell the class what they cansee in the picture of the classroom: I cansee ... in the classroom.

3. In groups of 5, pupils take turns to saywhat they like learning at school: I likelearning ... Each one should try to say adifferent thing. Watch for correct groupbehaviour: listening quietly to each other,waiting their turn and listening to ideasthat are different from their own.

4. Ask pupils to take it in turns to say whythey do or do not like about their school.Encourage positive rather than negativeanswers.

Grammar and writing

(Workbook p. 8)

1. Ask pupils to remind you what anadjective is, and give examples. They doExercise 1 (WB p. 8), underlining theadjectives.

2. Pupils write new words in personaldictionaries.

Answers (Workbook p. 8)

a) big b) brown c) sweet

Support

Ask pupils to work in pairs to find the thingsin the picture that are also in your school.

Extension

Practise correct group work behaviour.1. Ask for and list the golden rules of group

work, for e.g.: listen quietly to eachother; wait your turn; do not laugh at orargue with ideas that are different fromyour own.

2. Create a discussion activity for pupils topractise group work behaviour.

Leon 2

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Lesson 2

Lesson aims

Listening and speaking: singing a rhyme,

Reading: a passage, answeringcomprehension questions; schoolvocabulary (again, friends, I like to learnin my …)

Writing: words in personal dictionaries.

Resources

Chalkboard Pupil's Book

Flashcards of school vocabulary plus newvocabulary

Personal dictionary for each pupil

Spelling list for classroom use

Sentence cards you have made of thestory Emi's school(PB p. 14)

School is such fun on the board.

Starting off

1. Teach the following as a rhyme or sing itto the tune of 'Brother John':

School is such fun. School is such fun.Play and learn. Play and learn.Reading, writing, singing.Reading, writing, singing.School bells ring.Ding dingding.

2. Use flashcards to introduce or revisevocabulary. Add new words to theclassroom list.

Reading (Pupil's Book p. 14)

1. Tell pupils they are going to read about aboy called Emi and why he likes school.Refer to the pictures on p. 14 of the PB.

2. Discuss the pictures and ask which childthey think is Emi. What do they think helikes about his school? Help them torelate their answers to their ownexperiences.

3. Read or listen to the paragraphs, one byone. Let the pupils follow your eye andfinger movements while you use thesentence cards at the board.

4. Select pupils at random to read thepassage to the rest of the class.

5. Discuss the comprehension questions asa class to be sure that pupils can answerfactual questions about simple sentences.Then, in pairs, let pupils answer thequestions together. Listen for correctanswers and use of new words.

Answers (Pupil's Book p. 14)

1. Emi is at school. 2. He likes his teacher

because she helps him to learn. 3. Emi

listens, reads and speaks. 4. Yes, Emi likes

to learn.

Writing

Pupils add new words to their personaldictionaries.

Support

Observe pupils while reading with them andmake notes in your observation book. Ensurethat pupils point to the correct word beingread and use correct eye and fingermovements, reading from left to right only.

Extension

Sing or say the School is such fun rhymeagain. If pupils know how to sing in rounds,it is a good song to use. A new group beginssinging after every line.

Lesson 3

Lesson aims

Listening and speaking: saying a nurseryrhyme; answering comprehensionquestions about the story, asking andanswering questions

Reading: a story; Reader vocabulary(rivers, Africa, proud)

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Writing: new words in personaldictionaries

Resources

Chalkboard

Pupil's Book

Reader

Flashcards of previous vocabulary plusReader vocabulary

Sentence strips of selected sentencesfrom Reader pp. 8–9

Spelling list for classroom use

Personal dictionary for each pupil

Mary had a little lamb on the board

Brick-sized piece of paper for each pupil;crayons, glue and large sheets of paperfor the wall (Extension activity).

Starting off

1. Do your pupils know the song aboutMary who took her lamb to school? Letthe class enjoy this funny nursery rhyme.Explain that fleece means wool:Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, littlelambMary had a little lamb. Its fleece waswhite as snow.It followed her to school one day, schoolone day, school one day.It followed her to school one day, whichwas against the rules.It made the children laugh and play,laugh and play, laugh and play,It made the children laugh and play, tosee a lamb at school.

2. Use flashcards to introduce or revisevocabulary. Add new words to theclassroom list.

Reading (Reader pp. 8–9)

1. Call the pupils to the mat. Help them tofind At School on p. 8 of the Reader. Putup sentence strip 1 on the board. Point tothe words as you read the sentence withthe pupils. Point to individual words and

ask the pupils to read them. Ask pupils toread simple sentences as a whole.

2. Repeat with the other sentence strips.3. Point out that there is talking or dialogue

in the story. We know this by looking atthe punctuation (show quotation marks).

4. Read out the story as the children listen.Use a different voice to show whensomeone is speaking. Explain difficultwords (assignment, major) but do notexpect pupils to learn them. Talk aboutand use new words.

5. Read the story again and ask pupils tofollow in their books as you read.

6. Read again slowly and let them read afteryou.

7. Instruct them to read on their ownsilently. Monitor this to be sure thateverybody participates. Look for goodeye and finger movement.

8. Ask the comprehension questions to besure that pupils have understood thestory. Listen for correct answers. Letpupils enjoy question 5 by making up atune with a partner. Invite pairs to sharetheir tunes.

Answers (Reader p. 9)

1. They must find the names of the five major

rivers in Africa. 2. Emi asks her brother. 3.

They are the Nile, Niger, Senegal, Congo,

Orange, Limpopo, Zambezi 4. Emi's teacher

is proud because he asked for 5 rivers and

she named 7/ because she knows them off

by heart/ because she had a good way of

remembering them.

Listening and speaking

(Pupil's Book p. 15)

1. Pupils turn to p. 15. Explain that, inpairs, they will practise asking andanswering questions. Model the firstquestion with one of the pupils. This wayyou encourage pupils to say simplesentences about themselves in the simplepast tense. They will do the same withtheir partners.

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Teacher: How old were you inPrimary 1?Pupil: I was 6 in Primary 1.

2. Let pupils begin their conversationsusing the questions provided. Moveamongst pairs listening for correct use ofsimple tenses.

Writing

Pupils add new words to their personaldictionaries. Take in the personal dictionariesto see that the words have been written underthe correct letter of the alphabet.

Support

1. To revise the sight words from previouslessons, use the sight word flashcards topractise reading and spelling. Toconsolidate this, let pupils come to theboard and identify the sight words from agroup of similar words.

Extension

1. Give each pupil a brick-sized piece ofpaper.

2. They write their name in bright colourson the paper. Remind them that the firstletter must be a capital. They can draw asmall picture of themselves next to theirname.

3. Stick their names onto large sheets ofpaper to make a wall of their names.

Lesson 4

Lesson aims

Listening and speaking: practise askingand answering questions

Writing: sentences about themselves inthe simple present tense and drawingpictures with a written caption

Reading: vocabulary (school sightwords).

Resources

Chalkboard

Pupil's Book

Workbook 10 × small sets of sight word, pictures

and phonics words playing cards youhave made to play a matching game

Starting off

1. Ask the pupils to work in pairs topractise asking and answering questionssuch as: What do you do every morning?What do you do at home? What do youdo at school?

Writing (Pupil's Book p. 15)

1. Ask pupils to remind you of the thingsEmi enjoys doing at school e.g. Emi likeslistening/ reading/ playing/ singing etc.List the verbs on the board as pupilssuggest them.

2. As a class, describe orally what Emi isdoing in the pictures on p. 15. Read theexample under the first picture as amodel answer.

3. Pupils write a simple sentence about eachpicture. Let them use the list of verbs onthe board. Remind them to add a full stopat the end of each sentence and to startnew ones with a capital letter.

4. Now pupils write three things they do inclass every day. Give examples using thesimple present tense.

Answers (Pupil's Book p. 15)

Expect variation, but check for correct use of

present continuous or simple present tense and

punctuation: 2. He is pointing/ looking at a

picture/ speaking/ talking/ drawing/ writing

playing/ singing.

3. I draw/ listen/ read/ talk/ write etc. every day.

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Practise writing (Workbook p. 8)

1. Pupils go through the instructions inExercise 2 (WB p. 8) and read thesentences.

2. Pupils draw a picture and rewrite thesentences. Check writing and spelling.

Support

1. Remind pupils when to use capital lettersand full stops.

2. Pupils rewrite the sentences in Exercise 2(WB p.8) in their notebooks using capitalletters and full stops.

Extension

In pairs, let pupils play matching games withthe sight, picture and phonics words playingcards.

Lesson 5

Lesson aims

Grammar: identify and use prepositions

Reading: school vocabulary

Resources

Chalkboard Pupil's Book.

Starting off

Let the pupils choose one sight word fromyour word list for this Unit. They draw apicture of it and label the picture with thatword.

Grammar

(Reader p. 4; Pupil's Book p. 16)

1. Introduce prepositions. Explain that theytell us where things are. Let pupils turn tothe picture on p. 4 of the Reader. Askwhere questions: Where is the ball? (inthe net), Where is Simi? (under the tree).Talk about position: The girl jumps overthe rope, the children stand behind eachother. Simi sits on a chair,etc.

2. Place objects in different places in theclassroom and ask pupils to tell youwhere they are (in the cupboard, underthe table, behind the door, on the chair).

3. Guide them through the notes andexamples in Exercise 1 (PB p. 16).

4. Pupils do Exercise 2 by copying thecorrect sentences into their note books.

5. Exercise 3: Pupils write a sentence usinga preposition. For example: The book isin the bag. The bag is on the floor etc.Check for the correct use of prepositions.

Answer (Pupil's Book p. 16)

2. The pencil is on the book. The bag is under

the table.

Support

1. Revise prepositions by writing thequestion, Where is your pencil? on thechalkboard and say it for pupils to listento and repeat.Ask individual pupils the question. Forexample:Teacher: Kwame, where is your pencil?Kwame: It’s in my bag.Teacher: Good. Esi, where is yourpencil?

2. Repeat the process with the questionsWhere is your bag/book/lunch?

Extension

1. Ask pupils draw a picture of themselvesdoing something they enjoy at school.They write a sentence underneath it: Ilike to help my teacher, I like my friend, Ilike to sing, etc.

2. Let groups perform one of the rhymesthey have enjoyed in this unit:School is fun / Mary had a little lamb