can and can't

Ability, permission and the first polite request — one small word that unlocks three different lessons.

From age 4Cambridge level: Pre-A1 Starters

Age: Ages 4–11
Level: Pre-A1
Skill: Grammar
Format: Teacher guide

The pattern

Saying it: I can swim
Saying no: I can't swim
Asking: Can you swim?
Short answer: Yes, I can. / No, I can't.

Printable worksheet Presentation (PPT)

Sentences a child can say

Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.

Mini exercise: choose the right word

Five sentences from this page, each with a word missing. A child taps the word that fits and, once it is right, hears the whole sentence.

I blank swim.
A bird can blank.
A fish can't blank.
Can I blank to the toilet, please?
She can blank a bike.

What you will actually hear

The mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one, with a tag on those a first language makes typical.

I can to swim.I can swim.

Can never takes to. The verb comes bare, straight after it.

She cans swim.She can swim.

Can has no -s for he, she or it — a relief, and worth saying out loud.

Do you can swim?Can you swim?

Can makes its own question — no do needed. Move can to the front and stop.

How to teach it

1
Teach it standing up. Can is about the body — jump, run, hop, clap — and a child who is sitting will not feel it.
2
Animals make the negative safe. “I can't fly” about yourself can sting; “a dog can't fly” never does.
3
Keep “Can I…, please?” as a fixed phrase for classroom life from day one. They will use it every lesson for years.
4
Make a class can-do wall. Each child adds one thing they learned to do this term — it is grammar and it is pride at once.

Topic packs that pair with this

Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.

Actions Sports Animals My body Music

Questions teachers ask

Can for ability and can for permission — same lesson or different?

Different. Teach ability first as a full pattern, and let permission live separately as the fixed classroom phrase “Can I…, please?” Children use both happily long before they notice they are the same word.

How do I practise can't without it sounding negative?

Put it on animals and on grown-ups. “A fish can't walk. My dad can't do a cartwheel.” The joke does the drilling for you.