Lesson Plans
Prepared by: Marielle Soniat and Sarah Robinson
Lesson notes are given first, then the activities which the teacher should so. Last are homework ideas. The lesson notes are only the things I plan to have the students write in the notebooks. I also plan to discuss and explain more in-depth on each topic. I haven’t actually tried these, so they’re just basic ideas/outlines.
Oral Practice: In every lesson, have the students practice saying old and new vocabulary words. What I did last year, and it seems to work well, is the following:
Write the words on the board in English and Swahili. You read, they repeat together as a class until you think their pronunciation of the words is okay. Then, call on students individually. If you say a word in Swahili, the student should give the word in English, and visa versa. I call on everyone in class at least once. It takes a lot of time, but I really think it helps the students to learn.
Lesson 1: Nouns
Notes: Nouns are words which give people, places and things.
Teacher: should choose about 40 nouns from the Baseline or First 850 list. Give the nouns in singular and plural form, with the Swahili translation for both singular and plural forms.
Homework: The teacher should choose 10 words (a combination of singular and plural forms). The student should draw a picture for each word. The student should draw only one item if the word is singular and many items if the word is plural.
Lesson 2: Pronouns
Notes: Pronouns are words which take the place of nouns.
Swahili / EnglishBefore the verb / After the verb
Mimi / I / me
Wewe / you / you
Yeye / he / him
she / her
it / it
Sisi / we / us
Ninyi / you / you
Wao / they / them
Make use of “it” for animals and things, not for people. “It” is for one thing. “They” is for many things or many people.
Homework: Matching with pronouns and nouns from previous lesson.
Lesson 3: Verbs
Notes: Verbs are words which give activities.
Teacher: should give the infinitive form of all the verbs in the First 850 list.
Homework: The students should do matching (like on a NECTA test) with new and old vocabulary.
Lesson 4: Verbs, Imperative
Notes: Imperative is to give instructions. Negative is for events which will not be.
Teacher: should give the positive and negative imperative form of all verbs in the First 850 list.
In-class activity: Give simple commands to students. They should follow the commands.
Lesson 5: Verbs, Present tense
Notes: Present is time which is now.
Teacher: should give the positive and negative present tense for all the verbs in the First 850 list. See the “conjugation of verbs” document for an example.
Homework: The students do a simple translation exercise.
Lesson 6: Verbs, Past tense
Notes: Past is time which is before now.
Teacher: should give the positive and negative past tense for all the verbs in the First 850 list. See the “conjugation of verbs” document for an example.
Homework: The students do a simple translation exercise. OR give a description of what they did yesterday.
Lesson 7: Verbs, Future tense
Notes: Future is time which is after now.
Teacher: should give the positive and negative future tense for all the verbs in the First 850 list. See the “conjugation of verbs” document for an example.
Homework: The students do a simple translation exercise. OR give a description of what they will do tomorrow.
Lesson 8: Adjectives
Notes: Adjectives are words which give qualities of nouns. In English, we put adjectives before the noun.
Teacher: should choose 20 adjectives from the Baseline or First 850 list. Give the adjectives in English and with the Swahili translation. Make simple sentences with the new adjectives and previously learned nouns, pronouns and verbs.
Homework: Students make simple sentences. OR bring objects for students to describe.
Lesson 9: Comparisons
Notes: We make changes to adjectives to make them more strong.
More = zaidi
Most = kuliko zote
Example: new, more new, most new
Homework: Students change between regular adjectives, comparative (More) form and superlative (Most) form.
Lesson 10: Questions
Notes: In English, we make change to the organization of words in order to make a question. Usually, we put the word “do.”
Why? = Kwa nini? Kwa sababu gani?
When? = Lini? Saa ngapi?
Where? = Wapi?
How? = Vipi? Kwa jinsi gani?
What? = Nini?
Which? = Gani? Ipi? Yupi?
How many? Or How much? = Ngapi?
Example: What animal do you like? I like cows.
Do you go to school? Yes, I go to school.
Homework: Students answer simple questions. Students write simple questions.
Lesson 11: Possessives
Notes:
Yangu = my, mine
Yako = your, yours
Yake = his, hers, its
Yetu = our, ours
Yenu = your, yours
Yao = their, theirs
Example: “Is this your pen?” “Yes, it is mine”
Homework: Students make simple sentences and/or questions.
Lesson 12: Adverbs
Notes: Adverbs are words which give qualities of verbs. We put “-ly” at the end of adjectives in order to make adverbs.
Examples: slow --- slowly He is a slow boy. He goes slowly.
Quick ---- quickly She is a quick girl. She comes quickly.
Homework: students change adjectives to adverbs, and vise versa
Lesson 13: Prepositions, clauses
Notes: Prepositions are words which give place, method or time. Clauses are short sentences inside of long sentences. Clauses give details.
Teacher: should pick 15 prepositions and words which start clauses. These words are listed under operators in the first 850 list. Give the English word and Swahili translation. Discuss the use of each word.
Homework: Fill in the blank sentences with the correct preposition or clause word.
Lesson 14: Review/ Mchezo Time!
Teacher: Make three sets of cards, one with verbs, one with nouns, and one with verb tenses. Have the students choose one from each set of cards at random and then make a sentence using the words on their cards and the correct tense. Encourage the students to have fun with this.
Example: See Future tense Cow
Sentence: She will see the cow.