Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term - Senior Secondary School 1

TERM: FIRST TERM

SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

CLASS: SS 1

REFERENCES

• Effective English Book .1-Michael Montgomery et al.
• Countdown English – O. Ogunsanwo et al.
• Goodbye to Failure in English, Book 3 Ken Mebele et al.
• Communication in English – Blessing Dupe el al.

WEEK ELEVEN                                  

TOPICS: ESSAY WRITING: INFORMAL LETTER- “A LETTER TO THE SISTER WHO PLANS TO DIVORCE HER HUSBAND ADVISING HER AGAINST THE DECISION”

STRUCTURE: DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES 

SPEECH WORK: MORE ON CONSONANTS.

1. ESSAY WRITING: INFORMAL LETTER 

Content 

Definition 

Features 

Informal letters are private or personal letters. They are letters we write to people who are very familiar to us such as our parents, relatives, friends, classmates and other people with whom we have close relationship.

FEATURES OF AN INFORMAL LETTER

Writer’s address 

Salutation e.g. first name as in

‘Dear Peter’,Dear Chike’, 

‘Dear Kemi’, Dear Father or you include “My”   

“d” must be small when “My” is included e.g. My dear Mother

 Introduction  

It is best to start with acknowledging the receipt of a letter written to you by the person. You may also start by asking after the person’s health or any other way you like. 

Body of the letter: Do exactly what the questions says you should do to earn more marks.

Subscript: Informal letters close with “Yours sincerely”. However, a few other forms are accepted such as “Yours affectionately”, “Your loving daughter, “With love from” e.t.c. These are usually written at the bottom right hand of the page. No signature is required. Write your first name and put a full stop like this:

Yours sincerely,

Audu.

Yours ever,

Lizzy    

or                                                                                                                          

Yours affectionately,

Andrew Scott                

EVALUATION 

Write a letter to your sister who plans to divorce her husband advising her against the decision.

READING ASSIGNMENT 

Page 70-72 of Countdown by Evans

1. STRUCTURE: DEFINITE AND INDEFINITE ARTICLES 

CONTENT 

Definite Articles 

Indefinite Articles 

TYPES OF ARTICLES 

Articles can be definite or indefinite 

INDEFINITE ARTICLES

“A” and “AN” are indefinite articles and are used to indicate indefinite references to a noun. While ”a”  is used before a word starting with consonant sound such as boy, goat, house, hoe, elephant, aeroplane etc. NOTE that the following words begin in consonant sound despite having vowel letters starting them. They must therefore attract article ‘A’, e.g Europe as in A European man, University as in A university. Others include: Eucharist, Eunuch, unit, union, uniform etc, 

 “an” is used before words that start with vowel sounds.

Examples: an egg, an apple, an orange.

NOTE that the following words have silent ‘h’ and they must attract article ‘an’. E.g an hour, an honest, an honour. But words like house, home, hoe, etc attract article ‘a’ because they do not have silent sound ‘h’, e.g,  a house, a hoe, etc. 

DEFINITE ARTICLE “the”

This refers to particular person or thing (i.e. a definite reference) 

How the definite and indefinite articles are used:

All nouns use “the  as the word that makes definite reference. So, “the” is definite article making reference. 

Uses of the definite article “the”

When there is only one of the things being referred to- the sun, the moon, the wind, the rainfall.

When the hearer or the reader is able to know which particular thing or things are being referred to: 

Give me the bag under  the bed. 

(Both the bag and the bed are already known to the speaker and the listener)  

 The letter in the envelope.

‘The’ is also used before the title of a newspaper. E.g  The Punch, The Nation etc. 

(Both the letter and the envelope are also known) 

Descriptive Use 

Here the definite article describes a noun. 

The accused was acquitted for want of evidence.

She has the courage of Esther.  

Generic Use

Here, the definite article is used to refer to what is normal or typical for a member of a class.

The banana is found mainly in the Southern Nigeria.

The tiger is a very ferocious animal. 

It is used before the noun that indicates that there can be only one such thing or group of things.

The Soviet Union 

The Principal  

The Minister of Education 

EVALUATION

Fill in the gap with the correct article 

________ European woman was here before 

I know that _______rich also cry.

I desire to become _______ heir of God’s kingdom.

Joseph dreamt that ______ sun, ____ moon and ____ star bowed to him.

Reading Assignment 

The articles(determiners). Complete English Course for Senior Secondary School page 216

1. SPEECH WORK: MORE ON CONSONANTS

CONTENT: CONSONANTS /b/, /d/, /f/, /g/, /dz/, /h/, /k/

/b/voiced bilabial plosive    

Spelling variants and word examples are 

“b” –baby, bank, break, barber, lab, embark,

“bb” – rubber, robber, babble, e.t.c.

/p/- voiceless bilabial plosive

Spelling variants and words examples: 

“p” – pain, people, leap, leper, emperor

“gh” – hiccough 

/f/ -voiceless labio dental fricative:

Spelling variants and words examples are:

“f” – form, frog, faith, fruit, proof, soft

“ff” – cliff, stuff, sniff, cuff, huff, 

“gh” – rough, tough, cough, enough,

“ph” – physics, physical, Philip, phantom

“v” – Gorbachev, Volkswagen

/g/- voiced velar plosive 

Spelling variants and words examples are:

“g” – goat, gun, bag, vogue, vigour, garnish, goose, gamble, group,

“gg” – haggle, baggage, baggy, struggle, bigger, shaggy

“gh” – ghost, aghast, getto, ghoul

/dz/

Spelling variants and words examples are:

“j” – jug, junior, Jew

“ge”- germinate, damage, badge, germ

“gi”- ginger, giant, giraffe, gigantic

“gy” – technology, archaeology, gym

“du” – educate, graduate, gradual, due

/h/ _ voiceless glottal fricative 

Spelling variants and word examples are 

“h” – hope, horse, holy, perhaps, hunger

“wh” – whole, wholly, who, whose, 

EVALUATION 

Pick out the odd items from the list of words from options A-D

(a) gentle (b) educate (c) jug (d) gear

(a) hope (b) whole (c) perhaps (d) honour

(a) gift (b) beggar (c) ghetto (d) germ

(a) barber (b) blood (c) blue (d) plumber

(a) junior (b) geography (c) government (d) gradual 

Reading Assignment 

/v/, / θ /, /ð/, /n/, /t/, /d/ on page 2-4 of Standard Speech 10 Book Diction in English Course:

GENERAL EVALUATION/ REVISION QUESTIONS:

From the words lettered A to D, choose the word that best completes each of the following sentences.

1. The patient has been ------------ for several years.  (a) bed-ridden  (b) detained (c) diagnosed  (d) examined  (e) recommended
2. The trader ------- his income by repairing sewing machines.  (a) added  (b) integrated  (c) replenished  (d) supplemented  (e)terminated
3. Dauda is said to be serving a two year -------- for rape.  (a) conviction  (b) penalty  (c) punishment  d. sentence  e. verdict
4. He won the election by a ------- of 500 votes.  (a) consensus (b) gap  (c) majority  (d) margin  (e) surplus
5. The Governor paid a -------- call on the Oba.  (a) courtesy (b) crank  (c) farewell  (d)

 roll  (e) wake up

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Choose the right option: 

1. I stayed with my cousin, the one ____husband is an engineer (a) who’s (b) whose (c) which
2. You can’t give alms ____ you have something to give(a) unless (b) while (c) if 
3. I asked him how his promotion had come ____ (a) around  (b) about  (c) to
4. It isn’t easy to succeed in becoming an airline pilot, but I am sure you will ___ in the end. (a) make best  (b) make do (c) make it
5. You fill the application form so that ____ there is a vacancy, they will let you know (a) if and when (b) although (c) only when

(ii) Choose the alternative nearest in meaning

1. Her parents have endorsed her marriage to the widower (a) criticized (b) refused  (c) approval 
2. Corporal punishment is still used in some schools as deterrent to indisciplined students (a) discouragement  (b) prevention  (c) measure 
3. A reasonable man will never refuse to review his actions if it becomes necessary (a) re-examine  (b) recapitulate (c) inspect 

(iii) Choose one of the following each expression to fill the blank provided:

1. I will send a _____ to you (letter, mail)
2. The girl was given a ____ for her attitude (blame, rebuke) 
3. She asked me to come for a (meal, lunch) 
4. We experienced a terrible ___ this season ( harvest, weather) 
5. She played a _____on me (fun, joke)