Comprehension/ Vocabulary Development – JSS1 English Lesson Note (First Term)

Vocabulary development is learning new words, their meanings and how to use them correctly. In this lesson, students read “Tolu’s New School” and learn seven job words: butcher, carpenter, cashier, electrician, labourer, tailor and hawker.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

1. read the passage “Tolu’s New School” (Effective English, Unit 2, page 31);
2. say what a butcher, carpenter, cashier, electrician, labourer, tailor and hawker each do;
3. match each job to the work it describes;
4. use each job word correctly in a sentence;
5. spell the seven job words correctly.

What is comprehension?

Comprehension is the ability to read a passage and understand what it says.

• Reading: looking at the words and saying them correctly.
• Understanding: knowing who, what, where and why in the passage.
• Answering: using the passage to give correct answers to questions.

How do we read the passage “Tolu’s New School”?

Content: Effective English, Unit 2, page 31.

1. Read the title and say what you think the passage is about.
2. Read the passage silently from start to finish.
3. Listen as the teacher reads the passage aloud.
4. Read it again and underline words you do not know.
5. Find the job words in the passage and read the sentences around them.
6. Say what each job word means before you check the table below.

What is vocabulary?

Vocabulary is the set of words a person knows and uses.

• Job words: words that name the work people do, such as tailor and cashier.
• Why we learn them: they help us speak, read and write about people in our community.

What are the names of some jobs?

There are seven job words in this lesson: butcher, carpenter, cashier, electrician, labourer, tailor and hawker.

What does each job word mean?

Butcher

• Meaning: a person who cuts up meat and sells it.
• Where: a meat stall or market.
• Sentence: The butcher cut the meat into small pieces.

Carpenter

• Meaning: a person who makes things out of wood.
• Examples of work: tables, chairs, doors and windows.
• Sentence: The carpenter made a new desk for our class.

Cashier

• Meaning: a person who receives money and pays it out.
• Where: a bank, a shop or a supermarket.
• Sentence: The cashier gave me my change.

Electrician

• Meaning: a person who puts electric wires into houses and mends electrical appliances.
• Examples of work: fixing sockets, switches and lights.
• Sentence: The electrician repaired the fan.

Labourer

• Meaning: a person who does hard work, such as carrying heavy things or digging.
• Where: a building site or a farm.
• Sentence: The labourer carried bags of sand.

Tailor

• Meaning: a person who makes clothes.
• Tool: a sewing machine.
• Sentence: The tailor sewed my school uniform.

Hawker

• Meaning: a person who moves about selling things.
• Difference from a shopkeeper: a hawker carries the goods from place to place.
• Sentence: The hawker sold oranges along the road.

How can we find the meaning of a new word?

1. Read the whole sentence that contains the new word.
2. Look at the words near it for clues.
3. Guess the meaning from the clues.
4. Check the meaning in a dictionary.
5. Write the word and its meaning in your notebook.
6. Use the word in a sentence of your own.

How do we spell the job words?

Most job words end in a letter group that students must learn: -er, -or, -ier or -ian.

• Labourer: British English keeps the letter u after o.
• Electrician: comes from the word electric, with the ending -ian.

Evaluation

1. Do practice 2, 3 and 4 on page 32.
2. Who cuts up meat and sells it?
3. Which worker makes things out of wood?
4. Write one sentence with the word “cashier”.
5. Explain the difference between a tailor and a hawker.

Assignment

Write seven sentences, one for each job word in this lesson. Each sentence must show what the worker does.