I'm really excited to explore this with you because it's something we all experience every single day—whether you're buying a snack, saving your pocket money, or helping your family shop at the market. Here's the big idea for our lesson: How money enables trade in our daily lives. Think about it—without money, we would have to trade things directly, like swapping your sandwich for my apple. That's called barter, and it can be really tricky! Money makes it much easier. In this lesson, we'll learn the words and ideas that help us understand buying, selling, and all the ways money moves around. First up, we have some important vocabulary. These are words you'll see again and again when we talk about money and trade. Words like 'currency'—that's the type of money a country uses, like shillings or dollars—and 'foreign exchange', which is how we change one currency into another. We'll also learn about 'wholesale', 'retail', 'import', 'export', and many more. Don't worry—we'll go through them step by step, and by the end you'll be using them like experts. Finally, let's look at our learning objectives. By the time we finish this unit, you will improve your listening and speaking skills by discussing trade, your reading skills by understanding texts about money, your grammar through sentence building, and your writing by creating short pieces about trade. That's a lot, but I know you can do it!
Listen carefully and repeat after me as we go through each one. First, let's look at /ʌ/ and /ʊ/. /ʌ/ as in 'cup', 'money', 'currency'. Say /ʌ/ with me — good. /ʊ/ as in 'put', 'good', 'push'. Say /ʊ/ with me. Can you hear the difference? Let's practice: cup, put, cup, put. Next, /ʊə/ as in 'poor', 'tour', 'sure' — repeat after me: poor, tour, sure. /eɪ/ as in 'pay', 'save', 'rate' — say: pay, save, rate. Notice how /ʊə/ glides from 'oo' to 'uh', while /eɪ/ glides from 'eh' to 'ee'. Excellent practice. A minimal pair drill. Listen carefully to each pair: cup–cop, put–pot, poor–paw, pain–pan. Repeat after me: cup–cop, put–pot, poor–paw, pain–pan. Try to feel the difference in your mouth. You're doing great! Keep practicing these sounds.
Our lesson is called 'Intensive Listening: Picking Out Details'. We'll listen to a short story about a hawker buying and selling maize, and then find the key information. Here is the trade scenario. I'll read the passage aloud. Listen carefully for the amounts and the days. On Monday, a hawker bought 50 kg of maize at 200 shillings per kg. He sold it to a retailer on Tuesday for 250 shillings per kg, making a profit. Did you catch the numbers? 50 kilograms, 200 shillings, 250 shillings. The days: Monday for buying, Tuesday for selling. The sequence is: first you buy, then you sell, and the difference gives you a profit. When you listen, pay attention to what happens first, next, and last. Great work, everyone! Let's answer a few questions to see how well you picked out the details.
This will help us become more fluent readers. Building reading fluency means being able to read smoothly and understand what we read. By practicing with real articles, we get better at this skill. Here's our plan: First, we'll read a short 150-word excerpt from a business article about trade in Kenya. For example, we might read about M-Pesa's growth or Naivas expansion. Then we'll practice skimming to find the main idea and scanning for specific details like names and dates. Finally, we'll answer three comprehension questions: What is the main topic? Which company is mentioned? When did the event happen?
Great work everyone! They're very useful in business and trade conversations. First, let's look at prepositions of time. We use 'since' to talk about a starting point that continues now — like 'since 2020.' 'Before' means earlier than something — 'before the sale.' And 'until' means up to a certain point — 'until the market closes.' For example: 'We have been trading since last year.' That means the trading started last year and still continues. Next, prepositions of direction or position. 'Above' means higher than something — like 'above cost,' which means the price is more than the cost. 'Below' means lower — 'below retail price,' which is cheaper than the normal price. If I say 'Our price is above theirs,' you know it's higher. Preposition of agent: 'by.' We use 'by' to show who or what does an action. For example: 'Goods go by truck.' The truck is the agent that moves the goods. Or 'This letter was sent by express.' Preposition of instrument: 'with.' We use 'with' when we talk about the tool or method used. 'Paid with M-Pesa' means M-Pesa was the way of paying. Another example: 'He cut the box with a scissors.' Let's read some example sentences together. 'We have been trading since last year.' That uses 'since' for time. 'Goods are transported by truck.' That uses 'by' for agent. 'She paid with M-Pesa.' That uses 'with' for instrument. 'Our price is above the competition.' That uses 'above' for direction. Practice making your own sentences with these prepositions. Done, everyone!
Everyone, this is our final slide for today's lesson. Let's quickly go over the key takeaways from our class. We learned important vocabulary words like currency, profit, export, and trade. We also practiced our vowel sounds and listening skills. Great effort on the reading exercise too! Never forget: keep practicing, because your skills will grow every day! You all did a fantastic job. I'm proud of your hard work. See you next time!
