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West Africa Geography Lesson Plans

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Pacing

Openers

Slides & Notes

Activities

Key Terms

Learning Targets

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA BUNDLE

Give your students a solid background in the Geography of West Africa with the Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa Bundle.

  • 4 Google Slides lessons with note-taking guides: East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa and West Africa 
  • 20 Daily Openers with student worksheets
  • Activity Packet (print, digital, editable, and answers)
  • Intro Diagnostic Activity
  • 5 Map Quizzes: East Africa, Southern Africa, Central Africa and West Africa and all of Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Unit Test: regular multiple choice, modified version with fewer choices, answer key and study guide
  • Africa Poster Project
SEE BUNDLE

PLANNING this MINI-UNIT

West Africa is the fourth and last, mini-unit or topic taught in the “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa” unit.  This topic covers: major land and water features, the Sahel, desertification, slash-and-burn farming, zemidjans and pirogues, historical events, standard of living comparison, Liberia, Economic Community of West African States, population analysis, religion in West Africa and drumming in Ghana.  

 

This mini-unit covers the following twelve countries:

Political Map of West Africa
  1. Benin
  2. Burkina Faso
  3. Cape Verde
  4. Cote d’Ivoire
  5. Gambia
  6.  Ghana
  7. Guinea
  8. Guinea-Bissau
  9. Liberia
  10. Senegal
  11. Sierra Leone
  12. Togo

Pacing

Teachers should plan three to five days to teach this unit on a traditional schedule with one-hour class periods. However, for those on a block schedule with 1 1/2 hour classes, teachers should plan for 2-3 days. An effective way to structure this unit includes:

Openers

The “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa” unit has 20 openers that review the following topics: Relative Location, Per Capita Income Analysis, Tourism, Wildlife, Population Pyramids, Climate, Flags, Travel Advisories and more,  CLICK HERE for more information on openers for the “Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa” unit.

Sub-Saharan Africa Openers for World Geography 1
Sub-Saharan Africa Openers for World Geography 2
Sub-Saharan Africa Openers for World Geography 3

OPENER TOPICS

East Africa

  1. Relative Location
  2. Per Capita Income Analysis
  3. East Africa Tourism
  4. East Africa’s Wildlife
  5. The Locust Crisis in East Africa

Central Africa

  1. Nigeria’s Population Pyramid
  2. Average Temperature in the Congo Republic
  3. Movement in Central African Republic
  4. The Okapi
  5. Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea

Southern Africa

  1. Traveling in Southern Africa
  2. Apartheid in South Africa, 1978
  3. Swaziland to Eswatini
  4. Average Rainfall in Angola
  5. Literacy Rates in Southern Africa

West Africa

  1. West Africa Relative Location
  2. Cape Verde Flag
  3. Agricultural Land Use in West Africa
  4. Transportation in Benin
  5. Sierra Leone Travel Advisory
Get the OPENERS HERE

Google Slides

GOOGLE SLIDES:  After the opener, begin the 🔗 Google Slides lesson. Students can take notes on paper using the note-taking guide provided with the Google Slides lesson, or they may take notes digitally with the electronic version (also included with the Google Slides). 

view lesson on TPT
Click Here
Previous slide
Next slide

TEACHING TIPS

⭐️ TEACHER TIP: I post a PDF version of the Google Slides to Google Classroom so that students can review their notes if they are absent. Click “File, Download, PDF” on the Google Slide to do this.   

⭐️ TEACHER TIP: Some teachers post Google Slides in their Google Classroom and digital note-taking guides for students to complete as homework.

⭐️TEACHER TIP: When pressed for time, I will edit the note-taking guides to include answers for some boxes or delete boxes and slides entirely. Teachers should feel free to modify the lesson to meet their student’s needs and individual learning targets.

Get the Google Slides HERE

Activities

Note-Taking Guides

This West Africa Geography Note-Taking Guide should be paired with Google Slides (see above).  Teachers can walk students through these notes or post lecture notes on their chosen platform and have students record the information.  Here is a preview of the print and digital versions of the note-taking guides
Get Google Slides and Note Taking Guides HERE

Student Worksheets & Activities

There are ten pages of activities to choose from to enhance any of the Geography of Sub-Saharan Africa mini-units.

  1. Political Map
  2. Latitude and Longitude Practice
  3. Physical Geography Questions
  4. Physical Geography Labeling and Elevation Coloring
  5. Health and Society Data Analysis
  6. Health and Society Special Purpose Maps
  7. Climate and Precipitation Data, Analysis, Summaries and Questions
  8. African Union Reading and Questions
  9. African Wildlife Poster
  10. 5 Themes of Geography Paragraph: Africa
  11. Current Event: Africa
Get the Activities HERE

UNIT: Map Quizzes

“Sub-Saharan Map Quizzes” is a quiz bundle that offers quizzes on each of the four regions of Sub-Sharan Africa, plus a quiz on all of the regions combined:

 

1. West Africa

Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Senegal, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Togo

 

2. East Africa

Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda

 

3. Central Africa

Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, Sao Tome and Principe


4. Southern Africa
Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini
 

Each quiz includes the following:
1. Quiz without countries listed
2. Quiz with countries listed
3. Answer Key

UNIT: Introduction Diagnostic Activity

Prior to teaching your geography unit in Sub-Saharan Africa, discover what your students already know about the geography of the region.  

 

This activity asks students to name countries, place physical features on a map and answer critical thinking questions.

 

What Comes with the FREE Download:

1. Teaching tips and lesson plans for the activity.

2. Student Worksheet

3. Answer Key

 
 

Helpful Videos

Break up direct instruction by showing a video that reviews concepts they just learned.

Key Terms & Vocabulary

COUNTRIES of WEST AFRICA

  1. Benin
  2. Burkina Faso
  3. Cape Verde
  4. Cote d’Ivoire
  5. The Gambia
  6. Ghana
  7. Guinea
  8. Guinea-Bissau
  9. Liberia
  10. Senegal
  11. Sierra Leone
  12. Togo 

PLACES of NOTE

  1. African Savanna
  2. Parc National De Tai Forest 
  3. Karfiguela Waterfalls
  4. Santo Antao (Cape Verde)
  5. Bunce Island (Sierra Leone)
  6. Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire)

CLIMATE and the LAND

  1. Guinea Highlands
  2. Gulf of Guinea
  3. Lake Volta
  4. Niger River

OTHER
key terms

  1. Desertification
  2. Slash-and Burn” Farming
  3. Conflict Diamonds
  4. Zemidjans
  5. Pirogues
  6. Economic Community of West African States
  7. Sufism
Learning Target

LEARNING TARGETS

  1. Students can identify the twelve countries in West Africa.
  2. Students can argue about the factors that distinguish West Africa as a region.
  3. Students can compare and contrast the four regions of West Africa: Sahel, Sudan, Guinea, Congolian.
  4. Students can define desertification and explain its impact on West Africa’s population and environment.
  5. Students can define slash-and-burn farming and explain the positives and negatives of this method on the environment.
  6. Students can define conflict diamonds and argue how conflict diamonds impact West Africa’s political, social and economic stability. 
  7. Students can explain how underdeveloped roads and infrastructure in West Africa impact the theme of geography: Movement. 
  8. Students will be able to describe the following places in West Africa and argue their significance for the region: African Savanna, Parc National De Tai Forest, Karfiguela Waterfalls, Santo Antao (Cape Verde),  Bunce Island (Sierra Leone), Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire).
  9. Students will be able to argue how illegal fishing affects West Africa’s economy. 
  10. Students will be able to outline events of historic significance in West Africa, particularly: the Kingdom of Ghana, European Colonization, the establishment of Liberia, Independence, Sierra Leone’s Civil War. 
  11. Students will be able to review the purpose of the Economic Community of West African States and its argue its impact on West African countries. 
  12. Students will be able to compare and contrast religon in Togo and Senegal
  13. Students will be able to argue how natural hazards and human activity affect ecosystems in West Africa.
  14. Students can evaluate the level of economic stability of West Africa countries using key economic indicators to justify their response.
  15. Students can identify and locate major land and water features in West Africa. 

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Thank you for stopping by Teacher Bistro.  I created this place as a resource for educators who wanted an easy way to find resources.  In my first ten years of teaching, I can’t tell you how many hours I spent gathering lesson plans, video guides, and lectures.  Hopefully, you have added this site to your bookmarks, and this place can make teaching a little bit easier.