ELATE
PHASE II
“JOB-MARK
INITIATIVE”
ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
Authors: Mr. Peter Songa, Ms Rose
Nakalanzi
Mr. Ismail Magezi, Mr.
Paul Lwere
Unit
Three
TOPIC : SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
SUB-TOPIC : 1) The use of
active voice in scientific instruction
2) The use of passive
voice in procedural instruction
SKILLS : READING/WRITING/SPEAKING/LISTENING
SUB-SKILLS: Description of a process/critical thinking/problem
solving/note making/ minute writing/role play-appropriate behavior
CLASS : S.4
CLASS SIZE : 60
Objectives: i) To equip the learner with the language
appropriate to the observation and reporting of processes in science
and technology.
ii) To equip the learner with the appropriate use of language in a
business setting.
iii)
Brief Description:
Following
instructions is a core requirement for any learner especially one in
a candidate class. This unit explores the use of the active and
passive voice in procedural instruction and reporting of processes
where one is expected to expeditiously follow step by step the
guidelines given. A student is expected to give a feedback on what he
has learnt using the passive voice. The question is: what is the
active voice and what is the passive voice?
In
grammar, the voice of a verb describes the relationship between the
action that the verb expresses and the participants identified by its
arguments- i.e. the subject, object e.t.c. When the subject is the
agent or actor of the verb (what has been elementarily expressed as
the ‘doer’), the verb is in the active voice. When the subject is
the patient, target or undergoer of the action, it is said to be in
the passive voice.
For example, in the
sentence:
The cat ate the
mouse.
The verb ‘ate’ is in
the active voice, but in the sentence:
The mouse was eaten
by the cat.
The verbal phrase ‘was
eaten’ is passive.
In a
transformation from an active-voice clause to an equivalent
passive–voice construction, the subject and the direct object
switch grammatical roles. The direct object gets promoted to subject
and the subject demoted to an optional status. In the examples above,
the mouse serves as the direct object in the active-voice
version, but becomes the subject in the passive version. The subject
of the active-voice version, the cat, becomes part of a
prepositional phrase in the passive version of the sentence and could
be left out entirely.
The
passive voice is not a single word form but is made up of a form of
the auxiliary to be and the past participle of the main
verb.
With
the active voice, the action is expressed by the verb.
Tools of thumb:
- Active verbs move the action and reveal the actors
- Passive verbs emphasize the receiver, the victim.
- The verb to be links words and ideas.
Lesson duration:
Activities:
Activity One
Exercise A
Instruct
the students over a music lesson….following the instructions in
learning to play a piano.
The
piano has a pattern of black and white keys which guide us on how to
place our fingers when starting to play one. To get started, place
your right hand thumb on the left hand side of the two black keys in
the middle of the keyboard. Place the rest of your fingers on the
white keys that are next to that key as you move to the right. Each
finger should be placed on a separate key. Press the keys one after
the other beginning with the thumb to the small finger as you listen
to the sound produced. You have just played the dominant sounds of a
major scale in music on the piano.
NB.
This only applies if you have access to a piano or keyboard-but if
you do not have one then try and use any local melodic instrument
like a tube fiddle, lyre or a set of xylophones.
Now
instruct the students to tell some one else what is done to play the
dominant sounds of a major scale.
Exercise B
- Find a list of common experiments students of S.3 and S.4 have carried out recently from teachers of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. Make a list of actual apparatus used and provide these to the class to help them recall vocabulary they can use to fill in the descriptive text.
- Guide learners on observation, recording and note-making skills.
Complete the following
description of an experiment you carried out in class. Prepositions
of time, place, and movement are provided. You
have to find suitable verbs and nouns to fill the blanks. For words
in brackets, choose the most appropriate one.
First,
we ………… (a, some) …………. .in the………… and
a………..at the ……..of the………. Having ……….the……….,
we ………..the …………into (to, above, under) the ……..
Then we ………………..the ……..to the …………..by means
of a (flexible……………………….).
The
next step was to………….the ………… (through, into,……..)
and …….it to the………….of the …….. We adjusted the
position of the ……… so that its………..was……… We
then…………..the ……….with …………..up to …………………(
above, below, the middle/top) of the ………….
The
whole apparatus was then………….. The purpose of this was
to………….of the ………..by ……….the ………..with………….
We ………..other ………..and ……….
After
…………,we ………..the …………and …………As the
………….(through, into, out of) the ………., there was a
…………..of …………. This was the result we had been
waiting for.
Now report the experiment
without focusing on the actors or “doers” but on the actions and
the instruments used. For example: “First, some … acid was poured
in the test-tube and the top closed…” instead of: “First, we
poured some acid in the test-tube and closed the top ….”
Activity two
Reading Comprehension:
Prepare the students for reading
using the strategy of scanning the paragraphs and subtopics of the
passage. Before the learners answer the comprehension questions, pose
some key questions.
Passage:
So you want to make
some money?
How
do you make money? There are many ways of making money, but with a
few exceptions they all boil down to two. One is to become an
employee and to trust your ability and luck to get you ahead as an
executive, working with and through other people. The other is to
become an entrepreneur - an independent operator who takes charge of
the risk and management of his or her own business. Fair warning:
your chances are mathematically small in both instances. The question
is not which one guarantees you big money promptly, but which offers
you the better chances for it. Suppose you decide to take the latter
course to become an entrepreneur, the person whose reward is
determined not by any system of formal compensation but by the
energy, resourcefulness and ingenuity he or she puts into doing or
making something people are willing to pay a price for………
What
kind of business should a young person get into? One well-known auto
executive has remarked that if he were a youth again he would get a
Chevrolet franchise in a medium size growing town, work it diligently
and end up richer than he could ever be working for an
auto-manufacturing company. But it takes money to set up a
dealership, and it would almost take this executive himself to get a
franchise. Thus his advice can plainly be followed only by a lucky
few.
The
advice nevertheless makes a point. There’s no one thing that even a
few hundred entrepreneurially minded graduates can get into. But what
can you get into? ……. The world bristles with excellent
opportunities …… in selling, in running shops and restaurants, in
advertising, in real estate (property), in marketing gadgets and
innovations, in speculating, in building houses and motels, in
special farming deals, and so on. Generally speaking, your chances
are better if you pick something whose sales will be large compared
to plant investment; otherwise your financing problem may become very
difficult. It is a temptation to say that your chances will be
improved if you have some money. Actually they will be only if you
have the traits and abilities that make the entrepreneur. For if you
have them, you will sooner or later get the right people to back you;
if you do not, all the money in the world won’t help you. What are
they?
- A sense of the opportune. Given energy, ambition, and an unashamed longing for money, the overriding characteristic you need is a resourceful, aggressive sense of the opportune, perhaps accompanied sometimes by a little opportunism.
- Intelligence, of a special kind. You need above all an intuitive, almost feminine ability to size up (weigh) situations and people that ‘great’ minds have often lacked. An intellectual named Max Beerbohm seems to have had an inkling of this. “Men of genius,” he remarked, “are not quick judges of character. Deep thinking and high imagining blunt this trivial instinct by which you and I size people up.”
This does not mean that
the entrepreneur is uneducated or incapable of reasoning closely.
Almost invariably he has a great capacity for absorbing and retaining
practical knowledge. Aptitude tests have demonstrated that he has a
large vocabulary though he doesn’t show it off. Unlike many who
have been formally educated, entrepreneurs do not let their knowledge
get the upper hand, but are ready and happy to ask basic questions
even when they think they know the answers.
- The common touch. The entrepreneur is an unaffected, down-to-earth democrat - that is, he or she naturally understands and recognizes the traits that are common to the greatest number of people. What the people like, he or she likes; what the people desire, he or she desires; what the people need therefore, he or she knows how to supply.
- Self - confidence that is tangible and genuine. It must be backed not merely by a show of enthusiasm but by a relentlessly thorough knowledge of the demerits as well as the merits of his or her ‘proposition’.
- A mechanical bent, if not a downright aptitude for mechanics, will be useful. Many recent successes, such as the Paper Mate pen and Copper Brite cleaner sprung from a simple little idea or innovation. The wise enterpriser, however, usually does not try to handle an invention or product that needs a lot of development expenses and thus let the government share the burden.
- Optimistic visualization; Let us define this special blend of imagination and resourcefulness as a faith in the nation’s future, combined with the capacity to see a commercial opportunity in anything imperfect. The entrepreneur who has it can imagine doughnuts that don’t fatten, socks that never develop holes, buttons that never pop, suits that never need cleaning. He or she can see a great suburban development replacing a filling station.
- A talent for risks. This, the classic trait of the entrepreneur, is here given last place because its successful application depends on the possession of most of the other traits. Any fool can merely gamble. The successful entrepreneur does not merely gamble. Precisely because of his or her knowledge, intuition, instinct for the opportune and capacity for visualization, he or she approaches a risk with more than a vague hunch that it is worth taking and generally ends up with a high record of success.
If you have all these
traits, plus a normal endowment of luck, it is hard to see how you
can fail to make money. As a matter of fact, they would almost
certainly guarantee you success either as an entrepreneur or
employee, for they would drive you to seek the job where you could
use them to best advantage.
From Gilbert Burck
‘Fortune magazine’ (June, 1953)
Questions:
- Explain in two or three sentences what two ways there are of making money.
- Which one does the writer say offers more chances of making a lot of money?
- Define an entrepreneur briefly.
- What could make your financing of a business difficult?
- What else do you need besides some money to start a business?
- Explain ‘opportunism’ in your own words within the context of the passage.
- Explain the statement ‘entrepreneurs do not let their knowledge get the upper hand.’
- What do you understand by ‘demerits and merits’ of a proposition?
- How does the wise entrepreneur usually avoid large expenses on a product?
- Explain the full meaning of these sentences:
‘Any
fool can gamble. The successful entrepreneur does not merely gamble.’
Activity Three
As a follow up to the comprehension
exercise, let the learners use their knowledge to do the summary
writing task
Summary Writing
Without enumerating them, make a
summary of the seven traits and abilities that make an entrepreneur
in about 100 words.
Activity Four
Designing an
Experiment or Project
Before giving the
assignment:
- Guide the learners on finding out from their community environment what experiment or project is feasible for them to design an experiment or project on.
- Gather information from newspapers, magazines or reference sources that the learners can read. Include pictures.
- Instruct the learners to name and describe what they have observed in their surroundings that they will concentrate on. Give the words relating to seeing, touching, smelling, hearing and (where it is safe) tasting (not chemicals).
- Guide them to recognize unusual situations – is there anything different or unusual about people (affected), a setting or an object?
- Instruct them to take on their observations to aid their memory before coming to class. They should ask questions to categorise their observations e.g. Who? What? \Where? When? Why? How?, recording the facts as they are.
Assignment
Design
an experiment or project on one of these topics:
- Using biogas in a home or a farm.
- Using solar in the home for heating water for both (not solar panels; using the principles of heat absorption and transfer on different surfaces).
- Waste disposal using one of these:
- Coffee husks
- Wood shavings / saw dust
- Banana stems
- Millet sorghum head waste
- Sunflower seed husks
- Preventing / reducing chemical pollution of a water source.
- Guide the learners on comprehensive report-writing.
- Assess the individual and group work.
Activity Five
- Guide the interviewees and interviewers on types of questions normally asked in interviews.
- Questions seeking information (e.g. current status of the interviewee – background and experience, interest and goals).
- Probing questions (meant to find out more about answers given; challenging statements seeking reasons for actions).
- Questions checking understanding (to clarify their own understanding of interviewee’s answers).
- Questions requiring interviewee to take a stand (to see how interviewee responds under pressure – e.g. Why do you want to work for this organization?)
Activity Six
Group work:
Role play: Interview
schedule for a job
- Guide the learners on writing a better application for a job or a place in a school.
- Organize the learners into groups of 5 to simulate an interview in which four members will play the roles of members of the interview panel and the remaining member is the interviewee.
- Guide the learners on some key points on preparing for an interview. Some of these may help:
- Mental preparation
Asking
the organization inviting the interviewee for details around the job
(position) – job-description; how long the interview could be; size
of the interviewing board; whether a test will part of the interview.
- Homework on the organization
Knowledge
of organization’s products, policies, plans, motto and structure.
Getting information from brochures, website, newspapers or friends
with contacts there.
- Appropriate dress and appearance
Personal
presentation should be at least one’s best; clean and appropriate
preferably dark coloured clothes, white
shirt, dark socks and shoes. Clean-shaven and well groomed look.
- Appropriate posture and poise
Sitting
up with feet firmly on the ground. No fidgeting or shifting of
position. Being confident and assured – not showing nervousness.
- Punctuality
Being
there before time – and checking oneself for readiness in every
way. Inform board ahead of interview if there is an inevitable delay.
- Documents ready
Personal
certificates and other required documents arranged ahead of the
interview and presented when asked for.
- Focus during interview
Don’t
rehearse (partly adapted from: info@careerconnections) prior
answers to questions. Focus on individual questions asked.
Answer
fully.
Chairman…….
Activity Seven
Functional writing and
oral presentation
(a) Letter writing
- Guide the learners on the format for writing a formal letter before they write the letter.
Write a letter to a
factory manager or head of a family or community business project
seeking permission for your class to visit the factory or production
plant to observe the process of making one of these: (a) sugar; (b)
fruit juice; (c) cooking or medicinal oil; (d) a local brew or mild
drink; (e) soap; (f) if, bark-cloth or other textile; (g) ghee.
(b) Report – writing
- Guide the learners on writing a report on a process. Use of the passive voice, correct prepositions, the past tense and appropriate vocabulary and spelling should be stressed.
Your class did visit
the factory or plant. Make a report on what you observed. Describe
the key parts and equipment or tools of the factory or plant, the raw
materials and how they were used, and the process of making the
product. Give further information on how the product is marketed
before and after production.
(c) Oral presentation
- Let some members of the class present the reports orally after you have assessed them and selected a representative sample of good reports. Individual reports should be considered as compositions and receive appropriate assessment comments before the presentation.
Activity Eight
Section A
Composition writing
- Guide the learners on the rubric given by the examination body on the compulsory and free choice sections.
Write an account of about
300 to 400 words on the subject of how you earned your first wage or
salary. Cover the following points in your composition:
- why you wanted to earn money;
- how you came to know about and eventually got the job;
- what you actually did in the job;
- how you felt about the job;
- how you felt when you received the first payment for your work;
- When and why you left that particular job.
Section B
Choose one of these
topics and write a composition of between 500 and 700 words on it.
- Describe the traditional bee-hive which has just been used in your area for a long time and the newly designed bee hive recommended by The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries. How does the new one improve the harvesting of honey?
- Climate change is influencing policies in agriculture and farming. Explain the changes that are already being felt in this part of Africa and how farming policies and practices can be adjusted.
- What simple water-catching and conservation technologies can be employed to address climate change in your area?
- “There is too much superstition and fear of the unknown in Uganda today”. How do you think science can help fight superstition and fear in society?
- ‘Science helps us to apply theoretical knowledge’ Demonstrate how this can be done.
- Which subject in the secondary school curriculum do you think could enable you to be self-employed after leaving school or college? How would it enable you to do so?
- Modern milk-handling has improved the quality of milk and its products in the market. How has this been down in recent years in Uganda?
- Describe an experience about your efforts to become an entrepreneur
SAMPLE
LESSON PLAN
|
DATE |
CLASS |
SUBJECT |
DURATION |
No. in
Class |
|
…./…./…….
|
S4
|
English
|
80
mins
|
60
|
Topic: SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY
Sub-Topic: The use of
active voice in scientific instruction.
Skills: Reading /
Writing / Spreading / Listening
Sub-Skills: Critical
thinking / Description of a process.
Objectives: i) To enable the learners to use the active voice as they
communicate practical subjects/ experimental exercises.
ii) To equip learners with the language appropriate to the
observation and reporting of the processes in science and technology.
Method of Approach: Class Discussion, Group work….
|
TIME
|
STEP
|
CONTENT
|
TEACHER’S
ACTIVITY
|
LEARNERS’
ACTIVITY
|
|
5-10
mins
|
Introduction
|
Ice
breaker
|
Teacher
greets the learners and instructs them to respond to their names
as he takes roll call.
|
Learners
do as instructed. Any one who doesn’t answer stands up.
|
|
10
mins
|
Step
I
|
Writing
notes on active voice.
|
The
teacher writes notes on the active voice on a writing board giving
examples.
|
Learners
write their notes in their note books.
|
|
20
mins
|
Step
II
|
Practice
using the active voice
|
Teacher
instructs learners to get in groups of 5 and give them
instructional tasks for each group member.
|
Learners
get into groups and practice using the active voice as instructed.
|
|
15
mins
|
Step
III
|
Reviewing
of group work
|
Teacher
gets feed back from a sample of the groups.
|
Learners
give their verbal feedbacks.
|
|
25
mins
|
Step
IV
|
Writing
down the active voice instruction
|
Teacher
gives a ‘fill in the gap’ exercise for the active voice.
|
Learners
write down the exercise in their notebooks
|
|
10
mins
|
Step
V
|
conclusion
|
Teacher
gives examples to the answers and corrects work or collects books
|
Learners
correct their work and hand in books
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
