Food, Health and My Day
Primary 2 · English
Food, Health and My Day
Lesson 1 of 3
12 min
Uwase goes to the market in Kigali with her mother.
She sees bananas, beans and tomatoes. She sees fish from Lake Kivu. She sees milk in a big silver can.
Her mother smiles and asks her, "What do you like?"
Today you learn the words to answer that question — in English, all by yourself.
Say each word out loud. Then look for it at home.
| Food | Where you meet it |
|---|---|
| rice | white and hot, in the pot |
| beans | cooked in a big black pot |
| potatoes | in a sack at the market |
| bananas | hanging on a big bunch |
| an avocado | green outside, soft inside |
| maize | roasted at the side of the road |
| fish | from Lake Kivu |
| an egg | from the hen |
| bread | from the shop |
| meat | on a special day |
A drink is something you swallow. You do not chew it.
water — the best drink of all
milk — white, it comes from a cow
tea — hot, in a cup
juice — from fruit, like passion fruit
porridge — warm and soft, in the morning
Beans are food. Milk is a drink. Now you can name both.
Listen to Mugisha at the market. He wants to buy one of each.
"I want a banana."
"I want an egg."
"I want a mango."
"I want an avocado."
Say a egg out loud. It bumps in your mouth. Now say an egg. It slides.
Here is the rule your mouth already knew: use an when the next word starts with an a, e, i, o or u sound. Use a for every other sound.
an egg, an avocado, an orange, an apple
a banana, a mango, a fish, a potato, a cup
One banana. Two bananas.
One egg. Three eggs.
Add an s, and now you have many. That is all.
But some words never take an s, because you cannot count them one by one. You cannot count rice, grain by grain! So we say rice, water, milk and bread, with no s at the end.
This is the big question of today. Here is how you answer it.
Question: What do you like?
Answer: I like rice and beans.
You can also say what you do not like.
I do not like fish.
Or, the quick way: I don't like fish.
Don't is just a short way of writing do not. The little mark takes the place of the letter o.
Keza asks Gatete: "Do you like beans?"
Gatete loves beans, so he says: "Yes, I do."
If he hated them he would say: "No, I don't."
Now you ask a friend. Then let your friend ask you.
After I, we say like. Never likes.
Say: I like milk.
Do not say: I likes milk.
Keep the word plain and short. It sounds better, and it is correct.
Tip
Let your mouth decide
Say it out loud. A egg bumps. An egg slides. If it slides, it is right.
An goes in front of the a, e, i, o and u sounds. A goes in front of all the rest.
a or an? ___ avocado
a or an? ___ potato
One banana. Two ___ ?
Uwase does not like meat. Write her sentence.
Gatete asks you, "Do you like milk?" You do like milk. What do you say?
an avocado. Avocado starts with the a sound, so it takes an.
a potato. Potato starts with a p sound. That is not a vowel sound, so it takes a.
Two bananas. Add s for more than one.
I do not like meat. (Or: I don't like meat.)
Yes, I do. Short and polite. Then you can add: I like milk!
What you learned today
Quick check
a or an? ___ orange
