School life in Kenya

Objective & content

This sheet on school life in Kenya starts from a video call between Ellie, a pupil in Leeds, and Amani, a pupil in Kenya. Amani walks five kilometres to school, studies agriculture in the school garden, has githeri for lunch and sings the national anthem at assembly; her big sister is revising for her national exams at a boarding school in Nairobi. Pupils learn to talk about a school day and compare it with their own. They answer six multiple-choice questions, write six words such as assembly, dormitory and school garden under pictures, match eight words such as journey, agriculture and to revise with their meanings and complete eight sentences. The sheet ends with Ellie's email to Amani about her own school, where pupils circle the right word in eight brackets.

Pedagogical guide

The call carries the words of the topic, so pupils meet each one in context before working on it. Amani tells her school day with pride: the long walk, the class of fifty-two and the shared textbooks are stated plainly, next to what she enjoys (the school garden, football practice, teachers she calls great). Keep that tone in class: the aim is to compare, not to pity. In the picture task and in the sentences, two words in each box are extra, so pupils have to choose. The final email turns the comparison round: Ellie describes her school in Leeds with the words of the call, and each bracket has one right word only. There is no word-form task on this sheet. Every task tests words, never grammar.

Suggested procedure

1. (5 min) Show Kenya on a map and ask "How do you go to school? How long does it take?"; write the answers on the board.
2. (10 min) Two pupils read the call aloud; the class answers the six questions.
3. (10 min) Pupils write the words under the six pictures, then match the eight words with their meanings.
4. (10 min) Pupils complete the eight sentences.
5. (10 min) Pupils read Ellie's email and circle the right word in each bracket.
6. (5 min) Check with the answer key on page 4.

Adaptations

[S] Before reading, pupils find Kenya on a map and say what they know about it.

[A] Pupils write four sentences comparing their school with Amani's ("In Kenya, pupils... In France, we..."). To take it further, the class writes a letter or records a video for a partner school abroad.

Materials & prerequisites

One copy of the three pupil pages per pupil, in colour or in black and white. Page 4 is the answer key: keep it. Pupils should know the present simple, the present continuous for now and for plans, and comparatives.