like and don't like
Opinions — the first thing a child genuinely wants to say in a new language, and the easiest to make real.
From age 4Building sentences →
✏️ The pattern
- Saying it
- I like apples
- Saying no
- I don't like apples
- Asking
- Do you like apples?
- Short answer
- Yes, I do. / No, I don't.
🗣️ Sentences a child can say
Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.
🩹 What you will actually hear
The three mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one.
I like apple.I like apples.
Liking a whole kind of thing takes the plural. One apple is a specific apple you are holding.
I no like fish.I don't like fish.
English builds the negative with don't, not with a bare no in front of the verb.
He don't like carrots.He doesn't like carrots.
He, she and it use doesn't. It is the same -s that catches everyone in the present simple.
🎯 How to teach it
- 1
Use real food and real preferences. A child who is pretending to like carrots is practising a lie, not a language.
- 2
Two columns on the board — a smile and a frown — and every child puts one card in each. That is the whole lesson.
- 3
"Do you like…?" is a survey. Send them round the room with a tally sheet and let the counting be the reward.
- 4
Favourite is worth teaching early even though it is long — children reach for it constantly and are proud of it.
🗂️ Topic packs that pair with this
Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.
💬 Questions teachers ask
Like, love or favourite — which order?
Like first, because the negative is where the real practice lives. Add love as an intensifier a few weeks later, and favourite when they start comparing — it needs a group to pick from.
How do I stop "I like apple"?
Only ever show a plate of many. If the flashcard has three apples on it, the plural comes out on its own — a single-apple card teaches the singular by accident.