At School
Primary 2 · English
At School
Lesson 2 of 3
12 min
Let's begin
Teacher Mutesi claps her hands twice. The room goes quiet.
"Open your books," she says. Every child opens a book. Then she says, "Sit down, Gatete." Gatete sits down.
Nobody was confused. Everybody knew what to do. Today you will learn those words too, so that you always know what your teacher is asking.
Listen to this: Close the door.
The very first word is close. That word tells your hands what to do. Then the door tells you which thing to do it to.
An instruction always starts with the doing word. It does not start with a name and it does not start with "you".
Read each one and do it with your body. That is how instruction words stay in your head.
Your book is open. Now push the covers together so you cannot see the pages. You just did the opposite. You closed it.
Many classroom instructions have an opposite:
| Instruction | Its opposite |
|---|---|
| Open the door. | Close the door. |
| Stand up. | Sit down. |
| Come here. | Go there. |
| Put up your hand. | Put down your hand. |
If you know one, you almost know the other.
When teacher Mutesi says "Listen carefully," she is not asking you to talk. She is asking you to stop talking and to use your ears.
Listening is a job you do with your ears, not your mouth.
Uwase says to her friend: "Pass me the ruler." That is an instruction. It starts with the doing word pass.
But friends are kinder when we ask kindly. So Uwase adds one small word at the end:
"Pass me the ruler, please."
Same instruction. Much warmer.
Tip
The first word of an instruction is the word for your body.
Open — hands. Sit — legs. Listen — ears. Look — eyes.
So when your teacher speaks, catch the first word and your body will already know what to do.
Answer out loud, then tap Show answer to check.
What you learned today
Quick check
What is the opposite of Open the door?
