Notes from SKO: Teacher Chronicles, Part Three

Adverbs and Adverbials: How I Started Teaching by the Syllabus

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one40plus tMe

6 min readMar 2, 2016

Two weeks into the school term, the Principal of GDSS Gidan Dare walked up to me after a class and caught me off-guard with the following question:

"What topic are you teaching your students?"

I had been using the first chapter of the English textbook for my preliminary assessment tests, and I had assumed I would just continue with the flow of the textbook.

I was wrong.

The Principal directed me to go through my copy of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Junior Secondary School (JSS) English syllabus, divide the topics for JSS Class 3 into three terms, and get to work covering the portion for the second term.

After looking closely at the syllabus, I realized that I had 6 major topics to cover by the beginning of April. And while reviewing my students' performance on the assessment tests (described in Part Two), it dawned on me how big a task I had on my hands.

I freaked out for a bit (after putting on a brave face for the Principal). And then I got to work on the first topic, 49. Adverbs, Conjunction and Preposition (sic). So far, I’ve spent about a month on it.

Although there’s a significant difference in how much individual students are picking up and I’m not moving at the speed of an experienced teacher, I think I’ve covered the topics pretty thoroughly. In addition, to avoid carrying to much into the next term, I’ve managed to sneak in a bit of one of the next topics on the syllabus.

Phase 1: Jan 26 - Feb 2

(Intro to Adverbs and A Surprise)

In this period, I introduced the topic and gave a take-home assignment. I discovered that although the textbook covers the topic of adverbs it sprinkles it across several chapters which doesn’t work for my case. I even had to use a definition of adverbs I found online because the textbook assumes that the students will remember the definition from previous years' lectures. They didn’t.

Also during this period, inspectors from the Sokoto State Ministry of Education visited our school for an inspection. One of the outcomes of their visit was the proposal of debates between the JSS 2 and JSS 3 students in English. The first debate topic was: "Living in the village or living in the town. Which is better?"

So in addition, to covering a tricky English topic, I also had to begin preparing the students for a debate. I think about two out of four classes were partially spent on the debate in this period.

Phase 2: Feb 2 - Feb 8

(First review and The Great Debate)

Although the debate was approaching, I managed to do the first review of the material we had covered up to that point. Then preparation for the debate took over.

The three representatives for the class were chosen and I tasked the students with generating arguments for them.

Unfortunately, while the class as a whole came up with good points, the representatives refused to deviate from the points they brought to the class. You can watch a video clip of Attahiru as an example.

These points were not as polished as the final list, but they resisted my attempts to change their material.

In the end, the JSS 2 students beat my students. I must confess that I did not expect my students to win. I wanted them to learn a lesson about the importance of preparation and use the first debate to give them a taste of what to expect in the future. I wasn’t surprised that they lost; I was more surprised that the gap between the teams’ scores was pretty slim. I’ll give more details about why I wasn’t optimistic about my students’ chances in my next essay.

Phase 3: Feb 9 - Feb 15

(Adverbials!)

In the excitement about preparing for the debate and having done one review of adverbs, I was surprised to find that we had not covered adverbial clauses and adverbial phrases. I then had to find new definitions and break them down into the various types.

I have to mention that the UBE syllabus failed to mention adverbials as a topic and I was lucky they were covered in the textbook.

However, this meant that I would have to spend more time on adverbs. When I tried to rush through the looks on my students' faces and the questions they asked made it clear that I had to slow down.

Phase 4: Feb 16 - Feb 22

(Testing Testing)

In this phase, I tested them on both adverbs and adverbials. Along the way they got a taste of both conjunctions and prepositions, so all I had to do was provide definitions and they could identify them in sentences and start adding them to sentences.

I also decided to tie all the new material they had learned into a Parts of Speech interactive exercise.

I even used the same format for a bigger take-home assignment to round off the topic.

Etcetera

Earlier, I mentioned that I had managed to sneak in a topic while going through Topic 49.

That was an exaggeration.

What I really did was lay the groundwork for Composition and Letter Writing in the future. I have tried to revisit the same exercise and assignment subjects repeatedly (the story of Adamu and Sonkowa from the first week, GDSS Gidan Dare and its surroundings, and the students’ homes and neighborhoods). So, by the time we reach these topics, all of them should be used to writing about them.