First Words: Greetings, Numbers and Colours
Build a small stock of words you can use straight away: hello and goodbye, please and thank you, the first numbers, the colours, and the names of everyday things. These are the first words a learner owns rather than recognises.
What a learner can do afterwards
- Greet someone and say goodbye in the new language without being prompted
- Count to ten in the new language from memory
- Name five everyday objects or colours in the new language without help
1 · Read
Start with words you can use straight away. Hola means hello in Spanish. Say it all day, to friends and strangers. Then add colours and names of everyday things.
Amir learns bonjour. It means hello in French. He says it when he enters a shop and when he meets his teacher. Saying it first is good manners there.
Counting is a superpower. In Spanish it goes uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez. Say the chain slow, then fast like a train. Clap on each number.
Reuse the same drill for two more tongues. German starts eins, zwei, drei and runs to zehn. French starts un, deux, trois and runs to dix. Then teach a chain to a friend.
Own a few greetings and the count to ten, and say them from memory.
2 · Watch
Take it off screen
Where it sits
Learn first
This opens up
Where this leads
Jobs that lean on this skill. Follow one to see everything it is built on.
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.