REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON

Paix – Travail – Patrie Peace – Work – Fatherland

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REGION DE L’ADAMAOUA ADAMAWA REGION
*************** ************
DELEGATION REGIONALE DES ENSEIGNEMENTS REGIONAL DELEGATION OF SECONDARY
SECONDAIRES EDUCATION
*************** **************
INSPECTION REGIONALE DE PEDAGOGIE CHARGEE DE REGIONAL INSPECTORATE OF PEDAGOGY IN CHARGE OF
L’ENSEIGNEMENT ET DE LA PROMOTION DU BILINGUISME TEACHING AND THE PROMOTION OF BILINGUALISM
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B.P 54 / Tel. 222 25 13 17 courriel : ipregbilinguismed@yahoo.fr

SCHOOL VISITS AND PEDAGOGIC SEMINARS IN THE

ADAMAWA REGION
(01st -11th November 2022)

PLENARY SESSION PRESENTATION

THEME: The efficient preparation of a vocabulary lesson:

the setting of vocabulary exercises

By
NGA Marie Marguerite
Regional Pedagogic Inspector in charge of Teaching and the Promotion of
Bilingualism

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 INTRODUCTION
During the numerous counselling and graded inspections carried out by the RPIs-BIL during the
academic year 2021-2022, it was noticed with great disappointment, when observing vocabulary
lessons, that the practical phase was not properly conducted: neither was the oral practice done, nor
were the written exercises given to students of good quality. These significant blunders were without
doubt the result of poor or lack of preparation by teachers, hence the production of this exposé which
aims at getting teachers revisit the vocabulary lesson preparation process and furnish them with an
efficient method that will simplify the setting of vocabulary exercises according the CBA approach.
I- THE VOCABULARY LESSON PREPARATION PROCESS
This process consists in some steps that the teacher should follow in order to ensure a successful
delivery of his/her lesson in the classroom:
1- Choose the lesson and the words to be taught. The choice of the words should be made
according to students’ level, their previous knowledge, their needs and the context in which
they live. These words should also be of a reasonable number, 05 to 07 maximum, to give
room for sufficient manipulation by students within the 50 minutes allocated for the lesson.
2- List the various competences that could be exercised using these words and select the one
that best suit the level of your students.
Example: choose, among the competences listed below, those that are suitable for 6ème
students:
- introducing one’s family to a friend;
- drawing a family tree;
- Role playing a debate on the family;
- Describing one’s family.
- Writing a descriptive essay on one’s family;
3- On a paper, draft a graphic representation of the stages of a CBA lesson, carefully decide
what will be done at each stage and set a time limit for each stage.

GRAPHIC REPRESENTATION OF THE STAGE OF A LESSON

TIME STAGES CONTENT INTERMEDIARY PEDAGOGIC TEACHER’S ACTIVITIES LEARNERS’
OBJECTIVE ACTIVITIES
Introduction
Discovery
Research
Comparison
Institutionalisation
Consolidation
Partial integration
Remediation
Bilingual game
Homework

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 4- Gather all the useful materials, that is teaching aids (pictures, realias) that could be exploited
at some crucial stages of the lesson such as introduction, discovery and partial integration.
5- Set the vocabulary exercises the will be given to students. Before diving into this activity, the
teacher should remind himself/herself of the various types of vocabulary exercises and the
features of a quality vocabulary exercise according to the CBA approach.
6- Set the bilingual game and the homework.
7- Draw the finished lesson plan in the lesson preparation book.

II- The setting of efficient vocabulary exercises

II-1- Types of vocabulary exercises
Vocabulary exercises can be classified into two categories: oral vocabulary exercises and written
vocabulary exercises.
II -1-1 Oral vocabulary exercises
They are set to enable students to use the new words taught to solve real life problems orally. They
are therefore golden opportunities for learners to exercise various oral competences and boost their
speaking skills.
II-1-2 Written vocabulary exercises
Unlike oral vocabulary exercises, they are meant to achieve various written competences and enhance
learners’ writing skills.
NB: These exercises should be planned according to their level of complexity. The simplest exercise
should be given at the consolidation stage of the lesson while the most difficult should be tackled at
the partial integration stage.
II- 2- The characteristics a good vocabulary exercise
The effective setting of vocabulary exercises requires the mastery of the features of a good vocabulary
exercise according to the CBA approach.
Be it oral or written, a quality oral vocabulary exercise should:
1) be set within the scope of the lesson objective. In other words, it should seek the achievement
of the competence targeted by the lesson, that is the outcome expected by the end of the
lesson;
2) be a problem-solving situation or a real life situation that relates to students’ social context;
3) be captivating enough to arouse learners’ interest and increase classroom participation;
4) be at the reach of the slowest learners;
5) last 10 minutes maximum.
III- EXAMPLE
LEVEL: 6e
DOMAIN OF LIFE 2: ECONOMIC LIFE AND OCCUPATIONS
TITLE: USING LANGUAGE TO MAKE INFORMED CHOICES ON CONSUMPTION OF GOODS AND
SERVICES (BUYING AND SELLING) AND EXPLORE JOBS AND PROFESSIONS.

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LESSON TITLE: VOCABULARY: fruits
WORDS TO BE TAUGHT: pineapple, watermelon, pawpaw, apple, banana, orange, mango.
PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE: students have seen many fruits in their daily lives. Moreover the majority
can identify fruits such as mango, orange and banana by their English names though they might not
pronounce them well.
EXPECTED OUTCOME: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to narrate a story on fruits.

III-2 WRITTEN VOCABULARY EXERCISE

Complete the story below with suitable words from the box.

apples , juice, mangoes , watermelon, pawpaws , washes

Every Saturday, my mother makes fruit salad. She goes to the market and buys some fresh fruit:
pineapples, ______________ (1) ___________, oranges, _______________(2) _________________,
___________(3) ___________ and a big ________(4) _________. At home, she prepares the salad. She
_________ (5) _________ all the fruit and peels it. Then she cuts it into small pieces in a big dish and
adds orange_________(6) ____________. Everybody loves my mother’s fruit salad.
Culled and adapted from Interaction 6e, old version, Pg 98.

III-1- ORAL VOCABULARY EXERCISE

EXERCISE 1 : Observe the picture below; narrate the story related to it by answering the
teacher’s questions.

YESTERDAY IN THE AFTERNOON

Paul’s grandmother
mother

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 Question :
1- What do you see on the picture?
2- Who bought the fruits?/ Who is this lady?
3- When did she buy the fruits?
4- Where do you think she bought them?
5- List the fruits that she bought yesterday?
6- How many pawpaws, pineapples, watermelon, bananas and apples did she buy?
7- Look at the pawpaws and pineapples once more, what can you say about their size? how can you
describe them?
8- How was Paul’s grandmother when she went back home? Did she still had a lot of energy?
9- What do you think she will do with these fruits?
10- What is she going to do before eating the fruits?

CONCLUSION

A proverb says: “He who fails to plan, plans to fail.” This entails that a teacher will not be able to deliver
his/ her lesson successfully if he/ she does not prepare it diligently, if he does not plan his activities
judiciously. The success of a lesson solely on its effective preparation. Teachers are therefore called
upon to take this activity seriously and make it a must! Having been schooled on and involved in the
setting of quality vocabulary exercises according to the CBA approach, they are henceforth well
equipped and expected to produce efficient vocabulary lessons, that is lessons aiming at training
competent students (students able to use new words taught to solve real life problems either orally or
in written).

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 REPUBLIQUE DU CAMEROUN REPUBLIC OF CAMEROON
Paix – Travail – Patrie Peace – Work – Fatherland
************** ************
REGION DE L’ADAMAOUA ADAMAWA REGION
*************** ************
DELEGATION REGIONALE DES ENSEIGNEMENTS REGIONAL DELEGATION OF SECONDARY
SECONDAIRES EDUCATION
*************** **************
INSPECTION REGIONALE DE PEDAGOGIE CHARGEE DE REGIONAL INSPECTORATE OF PEDAGOGY IN CHARGE OF
L’ENSEIGNEMENT ET DE LA PROMOTION DU BILINGUISME TEACHING AND THE PROMOTION OF BILINGUALISM
**************** ***************
B.P 54 / Tel. 222 25 13 17 courriel : ipregbilinguismed@yahoo.fr

SCHOOL VISITS AND PEDAGOGIC SEMINARS IN THE

ADAMAWA REGION
01st to 11th November 2022

WORKSHOP

THEME: The efficient preparation of a vocabulary lesson:

the setting of vocabulary exercises

By
NGA Marie Marguerite
Regional Pedagogic Inspector in charge of Teaching and the Promotion of
Bilingualism

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 EXERCISE:
You have to prepare a vocabulary lesson on the topic below. Fill in each blank space with
suitable information.
LEVEL: 5e
DOMAIN OF LIFE 3: ENVIRONMENT, WELL-BEING AND HEALTH
TITLE: USING LANGUAGE TO CREATE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND TO EXPLORE INTERESTS
AND HOBBIES IN RELATION TO HEALTH.
LESSON TITLE: VOCABULARY: Cleaning tools
WORDS TO BE TAUGHT: ______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
PREVIOUS KNOWLEDGE: _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
EXPECTED COMPETENCE: _____________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________

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ORAL VOCABULARY EXERCISE

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 WRITTEN VOCABULARY EXERCISE

PLANNING OF THE EXERCISES AND JUSTIFICATION

Plan your exercises and justify your choice

CONSOLIDATION: _____________________________________________________________________________________

PARTIAL INTRGRATION: ________________________________________________________________________________

JUSTIFICATION: _______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________
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