PEOPLE
IMPROVEMENT
GRADE 1 CURRICULUM
ORGANISATION
Curriculum content and activities for Grade 1 classes at PIO
TEACHING GRADE 1 ENGLISH AT PIO
INTRODUCTION
Thank you for coming to work at PIO. Volunteers make a valuable contribution to PIO. The
students gain much from having the opportunity to learn English from foreigners. In turn all
volunteers find their experience at PIO rewarding.
Teaching is a challenge! Volunteers are keen to teach but usually lack teaching experience.
Therefore there are a number of important things to consider before teaching your class. Please
discuss these with the Volunteer Supervisor before starting work.

PIO uses the Let’s Go Series as its default curriculum. Higher grades also use the
Essential Grammar textbook. There are copies in the library at Stung Mean Chey but
students do not have their own copies. The class teacher should have a copy you can
use.

Each unit will last for 6 weeks. The Let’s Go book is a guide to content but it does not
contain the activities that you need to teach that content.

Please keep to the syllabus, do not move onto the next unit until the current one has
been completed.
Please email lesson plans, worksheets, tests etc to john@teacherjohn.org so that
they can be added to the website for use by other volunteers.


Plan lessons thoroughly. Without proper preparation it is impossible to teach
effectively.

Discuss your lesson planning and preparation with the Khmer teacher and the
Volunteer Supervisor.

Be realistic in your goals and objectives. Education is a long process. If you are only
here for 2 or 3 weeks then set simple achievable objectives. It is far more important
to teach a little well, rather than attempt to teach too much.
Before you start teaching you will receive a short period of training to help you in your teaching
English to Khmer children at PIO. The training is conducted over the first three mornings at
PIO. The afternoons are spent observing the class you will be teaching.
TEACHING NOTES - GRADE 1
DAILY PROGRAM
It is important to establish routines but at the same time present varied and interesting lessons.
With Grade 2 you can expect the students to have developed the ability to:
❖ recognize and use an English vocabulary of 20 words, including colours and verbs
such as run, jump, write etc..
❖ Introduce themselves
❖ use the present tense
❖ write some of
the alphabet
❖ use a phonic strategy to pronounce new words .
❖ write numbers up to 10
RANGE OF ACTIVITIES
English teaching should focus on the following activities
❖ Reading
❖ Listening
❖ Speaking
❖ Writing
❖ Songs and word games
During the week each of these activities should be incorporated into the lessons. The Let’s Go
student book provides a framework from which the activities can be developed.
At Grade 2 level each activity should take no more than 15 minutes for the students to
complete.
The textbook does not have sufficient content for each unit. Each unit is 8 pages and that
material needs to be spread over 25 teaching days (75 hours). Therefore teachers need to
develop activities to supplement what is in the book. There should also be a regular review
and reinforcement of grammar and vocabulary taught earlier in the year or in previous years.
The learning objectives and themes are used to provide ideas for the activities.
TIMING
Each unit should last for 5 – 6 weeks, allowing time for review and final assessment. The lessons
should be planned on a weekly basis with each week divided into a number of activities. The
objectives for each lesson should be clearly specified, and those objectives should align with the
learning objectives for the whole unit.
ASSESSMENT
Use regular informal assessment to measure student progress. Summative assessment should
be limited to an end of topic test.
KEY ACTIVITIES
These are the activities that will be conducted on a regular basis each week. Keeping to a core
of essential activities provides structure and a sense of purpose for the students. It also
provides a good foundation for formative assessments.
UNIT 1 - THINGS FOR SCHOOL
In this unit students will learn about
CONTENT

Introducing yourself.

Asking someone’s name.

Suggesting an activity.

Identifying objects (singular).

Asking about objects.
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Clarifying possession.

How are you?

What is your name?
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My name is?
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Verb to be - present tense.
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Present tense of verbs for actions: eat; move; sit; stand.
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Verb + prepositions - up / down.
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Definite and indefinite article.
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Is / is not / isn't
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Is this a .... / yes it is / no it isn't.
UNIT 2 - COLOURS AND SHAPES
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Greetings.
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Requests.

Colours, identifying colours.
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Shapes, identifying shapes.
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Describing objects with colour and shape.
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How are you / I am / I'm fine / well.
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Thank you / please.
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Verbs put and take.
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Use it is to identify colours and objects.
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Adjectives plus noun e.g. red ball, blue shoes.
UNIT 3 - AT THE STORE
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Introducing others.

Describing abilities.

Asking about numbers.

Identifying objects (singular and plural).

Identifying characteristics of objects.
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Contrasting objects (singular and plural) .
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Possessive my + noun.
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I can / can not + verb
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Definite article
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They are / they're
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What are these / those?
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What is this?
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Verb to be am / are

How many
UNIT 4 - PEOPLE AT HOME
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Introducing family members.

Describing abilities.
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Identifying and asking about people.
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Describing people.
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Asking about and describing family members.
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Reinforce work on previous grammar structures.

What is / what's

What colour is ?

Greeting - nice to meet you.
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Verbs: find; touch; reach; see; hear.
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Can / cannot / can't
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Possessives my, our

Who is.
UNIT 5 - BIRTHDAY AND TOYS
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Birthday greetings.
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Asking and telling age.

Giving gifts.

Asking about abilities.

Describing objects.

Guessing based on size, shape and colour.

How old?

I am x years old.

Verbs: ride; fly; jump; play; know.

Is it / yes it is / no it isn't.
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What can you / he / do?
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I know / I don't know.
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Opposites - new / old, big / small, square / round, tall / short, long / short.
UNIT 6 - OUTDOORS
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Asking about and describing weather.

Counting.
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Describing a situation.
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Asking about a location.
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Specifying a location.
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Identifying objects in a location.
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Counting objects in a location.
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How many / there are N / there is 1.
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Where is / where are?
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Prepositions: in / on / under / by

What day is it? / It is...
UNIT 7 - FOOD
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Expressing hunger and thirst.

Giving and receiving.

Describing everyday activities.

Asking what someone wants.
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Expressing wants.
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Expressing wants with descriptive adjectives.
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Indefinite article - a / an
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What do want? / Do you want?
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I want a / I don't want a
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Yes I do / no I don't.
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Adjectives (colours)
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You / you're
UNIT 8 - ANIMALS
CONTENT
In this unit students will learn about

Asking about favourites.
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Describing everyday activities.
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Asking about likes.
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Asking and talking about likes and dislikes.
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Contrasting wants and likes.
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What is your favourite?
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Do you like? / Yes I do / no I don't
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Adjectives (feelings).

Happy / sad, angry, tired,scared, hot / cold.
SAMPLE LESSONS
MAKING LEARNING FUN – PEDRO
Teaching Grade 1 at PIO
I started by teaching them how to introduce themselves. To do so, I made them interact among
each other. I also created a song. (which became very popular among all grades and I've listen a
lot of kids singing it at the school... Pacy has some videos and Peter knows how to reproduce it.)
Hello, good afternoon.
My name is_____
I am a student.
How are you?
I am fine thank you.
The vocabulary learned:
- Shapes (square, triangle, circle, diamond, heart, star)
- Colors (red, yellow, blue, green, orange, pink, black, white, purple and brown - some of them
show some difficulty with the two last colors)
- The classroom (board, marker, pencil, pen, bag, map, door, table, chair)
- The playground ( grass, insect, flower, rope, kite, bicycle, tree, friends)
- Animals ( cow, dog, cat, chicken, bird, big, horse; they knew butterfly, tiger and lion)
- Movement verbs (walk, run, jump, sit, stand, dance, fly - while teaching I asked them to mimic
the verbs so they could associate the movement to the word)
- Classroom verbs ( write, listen, read, draw, speak, sing - I may have taught them "writte"
instead or "write"; Im not quite sure but I think that is something important for you to know. As
the vocabulary above, I also used mimic and reproduced some of the verbs so they can create
the association. These words were taught last week, so it is very recent, I advice to review this
on the next few classes).
In terms of grammar:
- Pronouns I, you, he, she and it.
- To be and Not to be (singular)
I strongly correlated He to boy and she to girl. He is a boy, she is a girl, so they associate the
pronouns to gender and it also made it easier to teach them the negative, He is a boy, he is not
a girl.
- This/that (using the vocabulary learned, using distance to explain; drawing people near and far
away from objects, leaving sentences with blank spaces for them to complete... ______ is a ball.
I also made them answer the question "What is this/that?", "This/that is a....". In the last week I
started mixing this with the negative. "Is this/that a ball?", "Yes it is a ball" or "no it is not a
ball".)
I tried to make my teaching the most dynamic and interactive I could: songs, games, drawings,
small competitions... Most of it was completed with Khmer notes, which I asked the teacher to
make, and small exercises.
I decided not to teach them the plural, neither "these and those", they first need to be
comfortable with the singular and the negative.
A thing which they had a lot of difficulty and I didn't have time to teach them properly was the difference
between words and letters. I think the main reason behind that is the difference between our alphabet and
the kamai alphabet. This step is a very important one for them to start improving their reading skills.
For the next few weeks I would suggest to teach them this difference, review the classroom verbs again,
teach them some vocabulary related with their reality (this as been one of my main rules, teach them
things they can relate to), topics such as The Market or The city. After being sure they are comfortable
with all of this I would suggest to start with the plural.
My goal was for them to have fun, I think they did, but in the end I was the one taking the most of the
situation. I don't know if a lot of what I taught will stay with them, but what I've learned I'll take home
probably for the rest of my life. In this way, let me thank you for this amazing opportunity and I want to let
you know how honored I am for have had the chance to participate on such a noble vision.
SENTENCE ACTIVITIES
Activities used by Cherie can be found on the Teacher John website as resources in the Grade 2
section. Click on the link to view the resources.
http://teacherjohn.org/mod/folder/view.php?id=32
Although intended for Grade 2 the exercises can be adapted for Grade 1.
PHONICS MATERIAL
Phonics is a powerful tool for teaching children to read. It is a good way to teach Khmer
children how to pronounce new and unfamiliar words.
The material in on the Teacher John website in the Phonics material section of the Grade 2
material. View the material by clicking on this link.
http://teacherjohn.org/mod/folder/view.php?id=56
The phonics approach can be used with all classes from Kindergarten to Grade 6.