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At School

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Primary 2 · English

At School

3 lessons

Lesson 1 of 3

Classroom Things

12 min

Let's begin

Uwase walks into her P2 classroom. She stops at the door and looks around.

She sees so many things! A door. A window. Desks. Chairs. Her friend Mugisha is already sitting down with his bag.

Uwase knows all these things in Kinyarwanda. Today she will learn to name them in English too. Come and learn with her.

Naming one thing

Point at the thing. Then say its name with the little word a in front.

a book
a pen
a pencil
a desk
a chair
a bag
a ruler
a door
a window
a board

Say each one out loud. Touch the thing if it is near you.

Sometimes we say an

Listen to this word: eraser. It starts with the sound e. Your mouth opens wide at the start.

So we do not say "a eraser". That is hard to say! We say an eraser.

We also say an exercise book, because exercise starts with an open sound too.

Here is the rule, now that you have heard it: use an before a word that starts with the sound a, e, i, o or u. Use a before all the others.

One thing, or many things?

Mugisha holds up his book.

"I have a book," he says.

Now Uwase puts her book next to his. Now there are two. What do we say?

"Two books."

Look carefully at what happened. The word grew a little tail: book → books.

Try more:

one pen → three pens
one desk → six desks
one chair → ten chairs
one bag → many bags

So here is the big idea for today: when there is more than one, add s to the end of the word.

The word a goes away

We say a book for one. But we never say "a books". Once there is more than one, the word a leaves and a number comes instead.

a book → two books

Some words need es

Say this word slowly: box. It ends with a hissing sound, like a snake: ks-ss.

Now try to add only s: "boxs". Your mouth cannot say it! So we give the word more room. We add es.

one box → two boxes
one brush → two brushes
one bench → two benches

Words that end with a hissing or shushing sound (s, x, sh, ch) take es.

One word does its own thing

There is one child in the classroom. Now ten more come in.

We do not say "childs". We say children.

one child → ten children. This word is special. Just remember it, like a friend's name.

Tip

Here is a trick. Think of the s as a little hat that a word wears when it brings friends along.

One book goes alone: a book. Two books come together, so the word puts on its s hat: books.

And if the word already ends in a hissing sound (box, brush, bench), the hat is bigger: es.

✦

Try it yourself

Say each answer out loud first, then tap Show answer to check.

Keza has one pen. Ishimwe gives her four more. Now she has four ___.
Write the many word for desk.
Write the many word for bench.
Which is right: "a rulers" or "a ruler"?
One child sits down. Then nine more come. Now there are ten ___.

Answers

1. pens — more than one, so add s.
2. desks — add s.
3. benches — bench ends with a shushing sound, so add es.
4. a ruler — the word a means only one, so the word cannot wear its s hat.
5. children — this is the special word. Not "childs".

Did you get them all? Well done. If one was wrong, read that part again slowly.

Quick check

Which one is right?

What you learned today

You can name classroom things in English: a book, a pen, a desk, a chair, a window.
For more than one, add s: one book, two books.
Words that end with a hissing sound take es: box → boxes.
One word is special: child → children.

1Naming one thing

2Sometimes we say an

3One thing, or many things?

4The word a goes away

5Some words need es

6One word does its own thing