EnglishGrade 2ages 7–8

🍎 I like / I don't like

At this age, two separate things can trip a child up at once: telling food apart from other objects, and remembering that "don't" is the one word that flips "I like" into "I don't like."

Updated September 22, 2026 · Maya Tutor

No card needed. The first lesson is free.

What your child learns

The mistake most kids make here

Try one question

How Maya teaches it

Your child tells Maya what they did in class. She teaches this topic at her desk, asks questions with tappable answers, and when the answer is wrong she explains why that answer was tempting instead of saying “try again”. She remembers what did not land and comes back to it.

Your child has it when they can: Say I like apple and I don't like about another thing.

How to help at home

"I like" is followed by a real food, like "I like apple." A chair is a seat, not food — it belongs in a different sentence entirely.

"I don't like" means "I do not enjoy." Without the word "don't," the sentence flips its whole meaning back to "I like" — so that one word is doing all the work.

Practice at the table: point to something edible and something not, and have your child say "I like ___" only for the food, and try "I don't like ___" for something they genuinely dislike.

A good sign of mastery: they only use "I like" for real food, and they remember to include "don't" every time they mean to say they dislike something.

Questions parents ask

Why does my child call a chair food?

The categories "food" and "not food" are still being sorted out at this age, so an object that's simply near the food — like a chair at the table — can get grouped in by mistake.

Why does my child drop the word 'don't'?

"Don't" is a small word doing a big job — it's the only thing separating "I like" from its opposite. Small words are easy to skip, especially in a sentence a child is still building.

What's a good practice activity?

At mealtime, point to real food and other nearby objects and ask your child to sort them out loud, using "I like" only for the food.

How does Maya teach this differently from flashcards?

Maya asks the child to complete a full sentence about a real thing — food or not — so both the category and the missing word "don't" get practiced in context.

No card needed. The first lesson is free.

More English lessons

• one two threeGrade 2
• mum dad IGrade 2
• Sunday…SaturdayGrade 2
• this / thatGrade 2
• Hello and ByeGrade 1
• red blue yellowGrade 1
• Please and Thank youGrade 1
• head hand legGrade 1

Sources: English Curriculum 2020 for elementary school – Israeli Ministry of Education