A2 Family Part 4: Family
Lesson 24 of 10 in this unit.
π Reading Passage
Our school has a small garden behind the classrooms. Every Friday, Class 4 waters the plants and pulls weeds. We grow tomatoes, carrots, and sunflowers. The sunflowers are taller than the teacher now. Last month we picked ten kilos of tomatoes and gave them to the school kitchen. The cook made soup for everyone. We also keep a notebook with drawings of insects we see. Yesterday we found a ladybird and a fat green caterpillar. Gardening teaches us to wait: seeds sleep for weeks before they wake up. In October we collected seeds from the biggest sunflower. We dried them on a tray and put them in paper bags with labels. Our teacher showed us how to test old seeds: put ten on wet cotton and count how many open. Seven grew, so we planted them in small pots on the window sill. We also made compost from fruit skins and dry leaves. It smelled sweet, not bad, because we turned it every week. Next year we want to grow beans up a frame and sell the extra vegetables to buy tools. Gardening also taught us to share: we always give the first tomatoes to the kitchen staff. Next spring we will measure the tallest sunflower every Friday and write the numbers on the classroom wall.
π Vocabulary
20 words from this lesson
- call
- To reach out with one's voice.
- βThey discussed call during the lesson.β
- head
- The part of the body of an animal or human which contains the brain, mouth and main sense organs.
- βThey discussed head during the lesson.β
- men
- (The) people, humanity, man(kind).
- βCould you lend me some money? I'm short of cash at the moment.β
- national
- Pertaining to a nation or country, especially as a whole; affecting, shared by, or existing throughout all of a nation; the state.
- βThe international situation is becoming grave.β
- small
- Not large or big; insignificant; few in number.
- βThey discussed small during the lesson.β
- white
- and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.
- βThey discussed white during the lesson.β
- came
- A grooved strip of metal, traditionally usually lead or brass and today sometimes stainless steel, used to hold panes of glass together in glazing.
- βBlack smoke came out of the chimney.β
- far
- Distant; remote in space.
- βTake a bus number 7 as far as Seventh Street.β
- job
- A task.
- βThey discussed job during the lesson.β
- side
- A bounding straight edge of a two-dimensional shape.
- βHis nephew was brought up to be modest and considerate.β
- though
- Despite that; however.
- βThey discussed though during the lesson.β
- try
- To attempt; to endeavour. Followed by infinitive.
- βThey discussed try during the lesson.β
- went
- A course; a way, a path; a journey.
- βThe actor went on stage to deliver his lines.β
- yes
- An affirmative expression; an answer that shows agreement or acceptance.
- βThey discussed yes during the lesson.β
- actually
- In act or in fact; really; in truth; positively.
- βThey discussed actually during the lesson.β
- later
- Afterward in time (used with than when comparing with another time).
- βThey discussed later during the lesson.β
- less
- To a smaller extent or degree.
- βThey discussed less during the lesson.β
- line
- A path through two or more points (compare βsegmentβ); a continuous mark, including as made by a pen; any path, curved or straight.
- βThey discussed line during the lesson.β
- order
- Arrangement, disposition, or sequence.
- βThis is the last order.β
- party
- A person or group of people constituting one side in a legal proceeding, such as in a legal action or a contract.
- βWhen shall we have the party?β
π Grammar Notes
Possessives map relationships: my mother, their cousins, Anna's brother. Use present simple for habits and past simple for shared history. Relative clauses add detail without new sentences: the uncle who taught me, the house where we meet. Keep pronoun reference clear so every they points to a named group. Practice by labeling each sentence in the reading: underline the main verb, circle the time marker, and check that every they and it points to a named noun. Rewrite any three sentences in your own words while keeping tense and meaning intact. Theme: family. Reading: The School Garden. As a final check, read the passage once more and label every verb for tense, every noun for countability, and every connector for function. Keep a short error log of your own recurring mistakes and review it before writing. This routine turns isolated rules into durable habits across all five hundred lessons.
Practice Exercises
Work through each exercise to complete this lesson.
I bought an eight-acre farm for my retire___t.
Do you know where I might find ___ cowboy boots?
They had not gone very ___ when they met an old man.
The ship ___ down slowly.
What does 'call' mean?
What does 'head' mean?
What does 'men' mean?
What does 'national' mean?
Write a sentence using 'call'.
Summarize the passage in two sentences.
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